Snow...Part 2

It was positively balmy Thursday. While it only hit 52, it was declared a heat wave--no coats!! It really felt so warm. When you consider lately it has been below zero with the windchill, it was a significant boost! Today, the snow returned. Pretty snow. Sometimes it fell in big heavy flakes, sometimes light, but all straight down. So today was a Sunday at home. No work for me. A special treat was going to a breakfast buffet. This is our second time out to Frisch's for the buffet and the kids just plow through their food. It was a delight to watch. They got a kick out of getting theor own food from the buffet--Ryan was better with the tongs. Charlotte really tried. I was good--I ordered a Eggbeaters spanish omelet and fruit. No fried potatoes, bacon or sausage. I am drinking tons of water and eating more salad, fruits and veggies than ever. I feel better when I move around. I can't call it working out yet. I did 2 sets of push ups today--the modified kind and I'll get on the elliptical tonight. I still have to log my food for the day, my exercise and goals. The nice thing about this plan is I am taking it slower this time. I am meeting the goals for the first stage which is really cool. In case this is Greek--I am doing Bob Green's The Best Life plan.

I have found a new source of joy. Last night was movie night so we had Pizza Hut and went to Blockbuster. The kids picked a Tom and Jerry movie. I balanced the occasional guilt I felt by letting them watch something so ridiculous with the fact I watched Tom and Jerry as a kid, along with many others. They got to pick, so that was it. I settled down with them under a blanket, holding a book--totally planning to read while they watched. The first giggles killed that idea. I mean all out squeals and giggles. I didn't watch the movie, I watched them. It was ultimately so relaxing. I laughed at their laughing.

Had a brilliant idea today. The kids were playing nicely in the living room, Greg was busy in the den. Clothes needed to be washed, folded and put away. I do all of these better with music--but the boom box was out because I didn't want to disturb the kids playing. So I hooked into my ipod and got to listen to all my grown up music (read not kid friendly) while I boogied and shimmied all around the house. Ah, fun and productive (and loud).

School is blessedly low-key this rotation. My instructor is a very busy woman it seems. She has a link to her professional website in our course info (tacky, I thought). I'm not sure why she teaches on top of being a lawyer, forensic nurse, disaster nurse and I forget what else. She has been a very absent instructor, which really bugged me the first week, now I am calmer. Grades are very late and her contributions to our discussion threads are almost nil. I am learning a great deal thru self-study. What a difference from last rotation. But I still would like more interaction and direction. I am so much better at managing time for school now. Getting stuff done early really is the key!

Charlotte is writing her name. She knows the letters and I can recognise what she writes--even if the letters form a circle or travel up the side of the page. She was tracing her hand and my hand today. She is drawing more. She spends big hunks of time just looking thru her books. Ryan is reading like a fiend. He is still fixated on numbers, their value, putting sums together in his head, figuring out how it all works. the next purchase for him will be a joke book. He is reading jokes off his juice boxes now and tries his own knock knock jokes on us. His curiosity and sweetness have not been dampened. I hope they won't. Public school for both next year. Charlotte will go to all day kindergarten. She'll be so wiped out. I will be glad for the money in the bank, who knows how much longer the Toyota will last? But I am sad all the same. The Antioch school will remain a goal. Such a wonderful community of people and no freaking whistles!

In other fantastic news--Greg has consented to a pooch! We are planning for a trip to California this summer, so we will aim for a new family member mid to late summer after we get home. The kids talk about a pet or Snickyy daily. A golden retriever seems to be in the lead at the moment--and likely a rescued one at that. I would love a puppy, but realistically (and this is a big step for me folks!) we can't handle a pup. We haven't told the kids. We'll wait a bit for that. I am excited but it will be so hard to be patient! Reality is, though, we really don't have someone to watch an animal while we are gone, so it is better to wait.

Lots going on, as always:)