Snow days

 Normally I'm not a big fan of the snow.  It's pretty and all, but it's so cold, it takes longer to get ready, clean the car, driving gets scary, and people get sick when it's cold.
Today I am grateful for the snow.  Everything is better with kids. It's magic.  My boys have been looking forward to the snow as much as I have been dreading it.  The first snow storm I stayed inside warm and cozy, but there was no way I was missing this one.  It was perfect.  Perfect sledding, skiing, snow man building, fort making, snow ball throwing perfect.  Se we bundled up...except me who can't fit in anything any more (I got cold and wimped out way before they did)  Anyway, I bundled them up so we could play out there for a while.  We ended up spending the next hour having snow ball fights, making snow angels, and eating snow.  Then Josh, Glen's best friend,  had the idea to us the hill on the side of the house as a sledding hill.  Most of the hour was spent sledding.  It was perfect because it didn't take forever to get to the top, but it was still long enough to enjoy.

So today I am grateful for the snow, warm clothes so we could play so long, perfect packing snow, fun neighbor kids to share in the fun and come up with good ideas, and hot cocoa to warm us up after all that cold fun.  Oh yeah, and lets not forget the kids. I am grateful for my boys today, without them I would not have gone out in the snow, I would have stayed inside warm and cozy with a book.  I am grateful that they remind me how much fun life can be.  They force me out of my bubble and into a fun filled, magical place called childhood. 

Help

Today I am thankful for help.  Benjamin was up for 2 hours playing, then it took me 45 minutes to get him back to sleep once I figured it out, I also had to get up to help Glen after he had a nightmare. Add that to getting up 5 times to use the bathroom and not sleeping well since I'm as big as a whale and let's just say I am one seriously tired mamma.  Tired to the point of tears.  Tired past my ability to function well.  Too tired to read...well, maybe not  that tired.
So my ever helpful neighbors offered to feed my kids dinner, I may be too tired to eat, then asked my babysit their son while they went to the temple.  Their son is 10, and my kids hero worship him.  Babysitting him really translates into be there if there is an emergency and he will baby sit your kids while you rest.  Would I do it?  YES!!!
This kid is so good with my children, he is always willing to help, always willing to baby sit so I can shower, take a nap, take a break, clean, whatever I need he is there to help.  I'm on the verge of hero worship myself.
So today, and forever I will be grateful for the hero who always help me, entertains my kids, gives me hugs, and is one of the sweetest people to have ever walked the Earth. Yep, pretty darn close to hero worship here.  :)

Back yard camp out

Glen roasted his own hot dog

Benjamin's first taste of marshmallows

This evening Glen was getting bored and looking for something to do So I  asked him to help me with a project outside.  At first I had just planned on having him help me hammer some nails into a board, maybe bring out my drill or something, but then I thought of a camp out.  We brought out the mini grill and filled it with bricketts and wood to get a nice fire going.  We found hot dogs, marshmallows, and gummy bears, yup gummy bears.  I'm basically addicted to the things so I brought some out and roasted them instead of marshmallows.

Glen's 3rd marshmallow? ( He lost count. :)

I roasted gummy bears, YUM!

For a last minute thrown together thing it went off well and was a lot of fun.  We invited to family upstairs, grabbed camp chairs, a tent and sleeping bags, and got a nice fire going.  Some of the marshmallows were pink, but hey, we had some.  After eating our fill of hot dogs and marshmallows (and gummy bears)  we set up the tent and put out the sleeping bags.  Glen was so excited to sleep in his blue sleeping bag with his special blue pillow (Thanks for those mom)  Then we cleaned up and came inside while the older kids were at boy scouts and young women's.  Now the kids are out there sleeping. Well...sort of.  Benjamin had to come in because he kept getting out of the tent to sleep inside then changing his mind.  Glen just came in for a bathroom break and I can still hear talking, but I am sure they will all fall asleep eventually.  I'll be surprised if Glen sleeps out there the whole night, we'll see.

Hot dogs and marshmallows for John and Jacob

The kids are getting the tent ready to sleep in when it gets dark.

I'm not super mom, I'm sleeping in my own bed, but I sure try.  Sometimes I wonder if my kids will look back on their childhood with tons of great memories or if they will remember the time I got mad and yelled, all the times I told them, "Not now I'm not feeling well."  and all the mistakes I made.  At least for tonight I am a great mom, I'd say a super hero, but I think Glen has too much hero worship going on with Josh to remember that I'm even here.  :)  I think the bacon, eggs, and pancakes will help him remember tomorrow morning. =D