embracing winter::number 3

so many days spent entirely indoors means priming the pump of creativity. I'm grateful for the tiniest morsel of inspiration to occupy little minds and hands. the latest: mixed media snowmen.

little Nanuk was happy to swirl the glue and pat down the "snowballs" with a little guidance,  and Piglet was especially fond of dabbing (not so lightly!)  the glitter gel. Mommy knotted the scarves and the little ones glued.

embracing winter::number 2

Masterpiece Classic on PBS. Most always a great selection of cinematic storytelling. This season's roundup is not as familiar to me as others, but i'm never disappointed. View 2011 schedule here.  Add a blanket and a cup of hot cocoa into the mix and it's a practically blissful way to spend a Sunday evening.

embracing winter :: number 1

I'm trying. Really really trying to embrace winter, to find some joy in this season of brrrrrr.

I think I'll start with my latest issue of Sunset, which featured several gorgeous winter getaways that seem positively blissful, snow included, and not just for skiers. Winter never seemed so inviting! So today I'm fantasizing about a weekend of solitude and crackling fires and mountainside bistros and about snuggling up in one of these cozy cabins.

mustering

My little ones are naturally enthralled and energized by snow and seem impervious to the chill. This photo was snapped at the onset of our first snowfall 2 weeks ago. He perched on the windowsill for nearly an hour, watching each flake build upon the next, anxiously awaiting some play time. And Santa.

I wish for a smidgen of such excitement.  I'm just never quite prepared, mentally, for the first snowfall of the season here. I know it's Idaho, I know winter is inevitable, yet still the first storm of the season takes me by surprise and puts me in a funk. Here we are with our second wave of snow piled and drifting and I'm no more welcoming of it than before.  I tell myself  it's just a fleeting storm and that the skies will brighten again soon before winter really truly sets in. But I also tell myself to muster every bit of fortitude I can find because it might just be here to stay.  And those thick grey skies above and icy earth at my feet will serve as my prison cell for the next 6 months and oh just say it ain't so. it's too cold, too much, too soon, for far too long.

 

If it weren't for Christmas to look forward to and for the delight on my little ones' rosy faces, it really would seem the depths of despair. Brrrrrrr.  I even put on the Christmas music last week in an attempt to bring some kind of cheeriness to my outlook. Muster some positivity I must. Somehow. In the meantime, another round of hot cocoa please.

advent

we haven't done an advent calendar in decembers past, but I think this might be the year to start. I am considering making one myself, hence the early holiday post. I really like this one, but not the price tag. Anybody care to help me come up with a knock off?

happy for...

ugly warm boots
cheerful manners: "oh, thank you mommy!" and "you're welcome very much!" and "please, may I _______?!"
a book to read
cute paper buntings
leftover cake
nanuk's gleeful, lightning-speed tongue-trilling
an extra blanket on my bed
and today especially: soup simmering, bread baking, baby napping, toddler "reading," sun-shining, diet-coke-sipping.

cozy pajamas

I've got a thing for pajamas. good pajamas, cute pajamas, and especially in these arctic winters, cozy pajamas. My pajama love runs deep. And lately for me, it's all about the flannel menswear pajamas; there's something Doris Day-ish about them, I think.  Like these:

lots of cute patterns and colors. I'm partial to the blue stars on white.

these I find utterly adorable

and these are pretty cute, too

brrrrrr

It never occurred to me that I would ever live in a place where school gets cancelled because it's too cold outside.  I'm beginning to wonder exactly how it happened that I landed in Idaho, where one can actually be too cool for school.

When I married Mr. J, I naively and stubbornly stated that I would follow him anywhere but the mid-west because it's just too flippity flippin cold out there.  I know Idaho isn't the mid-west geographically speaking, yet, here I am, anticipating that in the morning, it will be too cold outside for kids to go to school. Which makes the fourth rule-of-my-life I've broken since meeting Mr. J: Never live in the midwest (or anything like unto it). Ugh.

On the bright side, if the kids don't have school tomorrow, neither does he! Hooray!

for the locals: the skating rink

photo here

So, the  local rink isn't exactly Rockefeller Center, but this is a small town and winter is making itself comfy for the long haul. Might as well go skating; something out of the ordinary for date night.

Public Skating at Tautphaus Park Ice Rink

Tuesdays, 7pm-9pm

Fridays, 3pm-5pm

Saturdays, Noon-4pm

Sundays, Noon-4pm

About $3 for skate rental and about $3 admission

ugh

cough cough sniffle ache cough cough sniffle ache cough cough cough

I feel like infectious aliens are colonizing in my lungs.

I sound like Kathleen Turner

therefore I need:

peppermint tea with honey (lots of honey) and a blanket (for me)

crackers and "Peter Pan" on the TV (for my little monster)

90 minutes of R & R

Rx on the way

I might survive. Oh, wait a sec, I'm a mommy. Survival is the only option.

My boys in the frozen wilderness

Last Friday afternoon, I packed and bundled my boys for an overnight trip in the wilderness, 2 hours from civilization. 4 Daddies, 4 toddlers (boys ages 2.5 to 5), 4 snowmobiles (it's just what people do around here), and a one room rancher's cabin with a concrete floor, wood burning stove, no electricity or running water. Sounds like fun?

(my boys, all ready to go--that's M's new camera face)

(the instigator)

The idea: male bonding and wintertime fun while Mommy got 24 hours all to herself. A nice theory. And a strange feeling, I must admit. I didn't sleep, wondering all night if they were safe and warm and sleeping.

The reality for them: Our boy didn't fall, nay, collapse into sleep until 1:30AM, after everyone else had been slumbering for hours. He awoke at 3:30 and screamed like a banshee until 5AM. "I wanna go home! Go home! Want Mommy! Want Mommy!" Note: our boy doesn't wimper. He wails. To wake the dead. Another collapse into sleep at 5 until 7:30. Also note: had I been present, he'd have wanted nothing to do with me.

(that haze in the photos? smoke, from the fire, they'll all probably get cancer!)

The reality for me: Friday night was spent prepping for Saturday's baby shower, which occupied all of Saturday morning (I was happy to do it uninterrupted, mind you). Afterward I decided to treat myself to lunch and a chick flick. Precisely at that moment my filthy boys arrived home, earlier than planned. And with them, their dozens of layers of clothing and gear permeated with the aroma of campfire. Which meant instant laundry for me, and immediate bathing for them.

So much for 24 hours of me-time. But, they did manage to have a blast. Especially M who is still talking about it a week later, and that makes me happy.

comings and goings

I'm packing up my guys for an overnighter and hosting a baby shower in their absence. Back to the blog in a few days. 

Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo

Terrible 2s. Potty Training. Winter Blahs. The daily grind. 8+ months preggers. Terrible 2s Winter Blahs. Still 8+ months preggers.  Mommy needs a day.  A vacation is out of the realm but a daycation sounds nice. Maybe something like...

A quick workout   *  A long, uninterrupted shower, plus shaving   *   Shopping   *  An art museum   *  Lunch made by someone else, cleaned up by someone else   *     Manicure, pedicure, massage    *    A  stack of magazines   *    A movie--a silly chick flick would be best       Dinner out with B, plus dessert to go (to share with M)    *    A clean house and fresh linens at the end of the day.

Honestly, I'd settle for any two items from the list on the same day. Even one would be just grand.     Anybody know a fairy godmother?  

Snow play

He's apparently impervious to the cold. Loves walking, climbing, tumbling and sledding in the snow, along with tasting, throwing and shoveling. Built his first snowman, "Charlie Bob" over the weekend.  Returning indoors for dinner might as well be the utter end of the world in his eyes, at least his "time to go inside" tantrum would lead us to believe so. But, a bowl full of mommy's homemade chicken soup with dumplings usually suffices as an antidote. 

What to wear

I'm a little envious of the trips I see fellow bloggers enjoying or planning or remembering. Steph went to Paris, Design Mom is going to Mexico. Both offering fabulous tips on what-to-pack for such lovely and exotic vacations. But, if your travel plans include a thrilling visit to Idaho between now and June, here is what you'll need:

Big, warm, not-necessarily-cute boots.  Traction, warmth, and water-proofing really say "style" in this locale.  Stilettos this time of year will only invite mockery. And likely injury. 

Thermal underwear.  Which can double as pajamas, because if you have to pack those boots, there won't be room for much else.

Vaseline.  Your average body lotion is useless; you'll need industrial strength moisturizing against the refreshing arctic breezes. 

Cozy hat. Really cozy. Fashion statement optional. 

ATV or Snowmobile. Everybody has one, or both. Everybody. For getting from point A to point B, snow removal, or for pulling sleds full of children through the neighborhood.  So, you might as well arrive in style. 

Friendliness. 

When in Rome? If you want to blend in with the locals, be nice. And carry a tool of some kind. Folks around here are friendly, and they all know how to build stuff and fix stuff and live off the land and stuff like that. 

Hallelujah

Who knew the sight of one of these:

would make a girl so happy?  

Please come back soon, Mr. Snowplow. 

All Aboard

There is a little boy in our house who is absolutely, positively enamored-even obsessed--with The Polar Express. Both the beautiful story book and the movie. Both are requested several times daily.  Throughout the day he describes every detail, every action of the book and the movie with complete enthusiasm and awe. This past week, upon requesting a reading of the book, he insisted that he needed a ticket. The yellow scrap of paper I handed him would not suffice, so to M's delight B printed off a facsimile of the ticket shown in the movie. He then proceeded to punch holes in it while a wonder-struck M observed. I found a jingle bell for him to play with, which he clutches during the show or the story with every detail committed to his memory: the cocoa tastes like "chocolate bars,"  the bell has a "sweet sound,"  and so on. He shrieks with delight when Santa appears, and at the end of the book he whispers "I believe!" For some reason this lovely story holds special magic for him which I'd love to preserve. Partiality aside, it's quite precious.

2 nights ago at dinner, he stopped eating and sweetly and quietly asked: "M go on a train? M go on a train?" He repeated this with sincerity for several minutes. I had no clever answer for him, and I think he sensed that there was no train for riding because his precious questioning eventually became sobbing: " M go on a train! Go on a train? Pwease?" Trust me, your heart would have broken, too, so fervent were his pleadings.

Which brings me to my question: Have any of you out there ever taken the Heber Creeper Polar Express?   There's no doubt M would love it, and comprehend it, so I'm willing to fork over the required cash (wow, it's pricey) for  tickets.  But, I must also consider travel expenses and the hassles of a speedy there-and-back-in-a-day trip between IF and Provo, which would require a day off work for the hubby. (All weekend dates for the Polar Express are booked). Thoughts? Suggestions? Is it worthwhile? Tell me everything you know!

Woe the sensible winter shoe

Despite my protests, I know that Mother Nature will be sending Old Man Winter my direction sooner than I'd like to admit. Last winter found me ruefully unprepared wardrobe-wise for the harsh reality of the season. So, I'm shopping for winter gear, as I foresee that M will insist on playtime in the snow. Tricky, considering I'll need to find maternity styles. To make it easier, I'm starting with shoes. They need to be warm, waterproof, and budget-friendly; I never considered shoe shopping a chore til now. Seems those that keep feet toasty and dry are not exactly attractive. Maybe a splashy color will soften the blow? For reluctant consideration:

1. Timberland Fauna

2. Tretorn Skerry Vinter

3. Sorel Caribou Snow Boot

4. Sorel 1964 Pac Snow Boot

5. Trotters Blast Too

seen anything better?

outings and treats

Last week I accompanied the young women from church, along with the young men and their leaders, on a snowboarding outing at Kelly Canyon. Not a resort for die-hards or those seeking a luxury experience, but great for kids and families. Alas, I was assigned to stand sentinel in the lodge in case of wayward teens or injuries, so I didn't get a snowboarding lesson--something I've been wanting to try for years. The kids, though, had an absolute blast! It was a long evening, but a fun one thanks to this guy, and this guy who rounded up all the gear and gave all the first-timers their lessons. And thanks to M.H who scored the lift passes and G.P. who kept the hot cocoa hot all night!

As a "thank you" the YW signed card that went along with these sweet treats, all stacked in a clear bag. B loved them so much we did a repeat...What I'm going to do with 2 dozen giant oreo cookies is a complete mystery (whatever!)...but the treats really are easy and fun to share.

Brrrrrr.....Wheeeeee!

 Since it warmed up to a balmy 32 degrees yesterday, B took M outside for a little sledding. Cabin Fever is taking a toll and I suppose if 18 inches of snow is here to stay we ought to get 10 or 15 minutes of enjoyment. M, unlike his mommy, doesn't seem at all bothered by the coldbut actually seems to find it thrilling. He is also quite fascinated by the snow which he expressed by several exclamations of  "oooooooohh!" 

The sled, of course, is a big hit. I think we'll have a repeat this afternoon since it may be just as warm.  I can assure you he is amply protected from the elements: onesie and baby legs, long sleeved tee and jeans, fleece pullover, knit cap and mittens, hoodie, socks and snow boots. (His daddy dressed him).  So cozy he threw a fit when we went back inside!