flower girl (AR senior photographer)

Time is the funniest thing. The way a day can seem so long, but then you turn around and many days have passed in the blink of an eye. As a young mother I remember so well how slowly the days passed with diapers and nap times and play dates and restless nights. But today as I look at my 10 and 12 year olds I truly have no clue where the time went. It makes me sentimental, but more than that it has helped me appreciate the days as they come....certainly easier to do on this side of the diapers and such.

Time really must fly because as I shot these photos (last spring....time got away) I couldn't help but see, behind this beautiful young woman's eyes, the glimmer of my two year old flower girl. Big grins as she stood atop a heater vent on a cold December day and spun circles while her dress made a bubble around her. What a joy to stand on this side of time and see the woman she has become. A love for music and photography and Jesus. She is a part of my framily, because these friends are more like family. And I can't wait to see what time has for her.

snow day

Today is our 3rd day off school for weather in the last week. Last week we had lots of ice and I had three boys who would have been home anyway because of strep. We stayed in and laid around in our pjs, but this time we got snow. It is beautiful and fluffy and when you look out the window it looks like you are staring into a snow globe. I love it! And my boys love it too, especially Campbell. Campbell has always loved snow. He jumps straight in without holding back at all. He rolls in the snow and licks it off his gloves and stays out in it until his face is chapped.

Tomorrow I might feel differently, but today was a great day.

#icepocalypse

Each time I see on the extended forecast that the weather here in Arkansas is going to dip below freezing something inside me grows excited and hopeful in such a childlike way. I might say "it's not going to happen" but secretly I am wishing for snow. See in Arkansas it is a rare treat and I am immediately taken back to being nine years old and my mom letting me stay up to watch the late news and holding my breath as the school closings ran across the screen. L...M...N and as they approached our district, the same one my boys now attend, we would break into a cheer of delight....SNOW DAY!!! The irony is that before my family moved back to Arkansas, the year I turned 9, we had lived for a couple of year in Ohio. In Ohio in actually snowed and I don't think there is such thing as a snow day, you might get out of school for a full on blizzard or wind chills in the negatives, but certainly not the dusting it takes to close things down here in the south. I love a snow day even if it is usually (like today) a thick layer of ice covered by white sleet that only resembles snow. 

I don't really know why it is so thrilling. There is a lot of hype as the impending ice heads your way and the will it/won't it conversations begin, then the excitement of a day off school that somehow feels like freedom to do exactly as you please. Around here we start the day with a fire and warm drinks, warm drinks are very important on a snow day, then you dig out boots and long underwear and funny hats and head out to survey the snow. Then maybe snow men, angels, balls, sledding. You get to see all your neighbors, some four wheelers, and all the people who like to try there luck at taking a drive on the abandoned roads. My mother in law once took my kids to do doughnuts in a local grocery store parking lot, securing her cool grandmother status. After all the snow fun we usually end up inside for more warm drinks and a sit by the fire. Then maybe a movie, some games, a craft, an indoor s'more or other sweet treat and then you do it all over again. End the day with soup and cuddles on the couch. Perfect!

But then....the dreaded second snow day. I really don't know why, maybe it's like staying too long at a party or finding out what is really in your favorite junk food, but for some reason day two starts to go horribly wrong. All that was new and exciting is now cold and messy and loud. Your hot chocolate stash is depleted and someone left a snow boot outside and it is full of slush. Maybe the power went out and you forgot to charge the iPad and now you are thinking about how much you don't want your kids to be in school until the middle of June. Whatever the reason it somehow happens and a switch is flipped. All that was good and exciting has lost it's luster. This is when I need a plan and actually when I can make a choice to loose it or come up with a plan. Last year we saw this idea somewhere and it totally saved many second snow days. We call it ninja lasers.
All you need is a roll of scotch tape and a roll of streamers (probably any ribbon or string will do, but streamers are cheap and easy to tear which makes them the perfect choice). My boys are 9 and 11 so I just hand over the supplies and they get to work. Creating is half the fun (and time). My kids started out doing this in pjs, but soon had changed into long underwear (ninja clothes) and were climbing through Mission Impossible style.

What is your favorite snow day activity? The forecast is not looking super promising here so we might be looking for a new day two activity.

Other snow things....

my favorite soups:
Zuppa
Chicken Wild Rice
Tortilla
Lentil Sausage

movies we love:
white christmas
home alone
newsies
frozen

we are always drinking Starbucks coffee, but also loving taza wild sweet orange tea and this homemade hot chocolate