typical new england february

Sometimes when I am driving down the street with mountains of snow piled up on each side, I think to myself, "I can't believe I live in a place where this is normal. And where 25* is described as 'not too bad.'" But alas, I do live in a place where that is normal. Last week after a big storm dropped us a foot of snow, I took Zach and Katie outside to play in it. Except 2 year olds can't really walk in 15 inches of snow. I tried pulling them in the sled, but it kept tipping over into my footprints. They only lasted about 30 minutes.

I will say, the snow was beautiful. And on Saturday we bundled up as a family and spent 15 minutes building an enormous snowman that is waving to all the cars that pass by our house. So, there is that awesomeness. And not only that, I really appreciate spring and summer when they come around.

elementary school spirit week

Last week was "Spirit Week" at the kids' school. Basically each day was a different fun day. Ana was really in to it this year.

Day #1 was mismatch day. That was interesting. Mostly because I don't really care what my kids wear to school as long as it is clean and not raggity, so they kind of think that everything matches. Jack finally decided to wear bright red warmups with a nice striped sweater, but I am not quite sure he knew why they didn't match. He did get a big kick over the fact that he wore mismatched socks. It took a while to figure Ana's outfit out though because she kept asking "Are you sure?" when I told her that a bright red skirt didn't really match with a coral and purple shirt.

Day #2 was "favorite sports team." Ana insisted that I make her a Broncos t-shirt (she decided on her own that they are her favorite sports team).  I just so happened to have a bunch of plain white t-shirts to I traced the bronco onto the back. I am actually quite proud of the result.

Ana was a little disappointed to find out that not all of her classmates shares her love of the Broncos. In fact, when she got into the car after school she said, "Everyone said the Broncos stink." At which time I told her, "Welcome to fandom." But I didn't say it quite like that. I told her about how a lot of people like the Patriots around here and the Broncos beat the Patriots. I also said that Gramps likes the Cowboys and sometimes I tell him that they stink. She laughed at that and I told her it was just part of liking sports.  Also, that afternoon I chopped off her hair so I didn't have to deal anymore with crazy tangles like the one in that picture.

Day #3 was interesting. It was "crazy hair day."  Ana wanted really while hair, but after discovering that we have absolutely no hair products in our house, she decided to go with lots of braids. (And to wear her broncos shirt again. I guess she got over the trauma).

Jack on the other hand was super conflicted. First he wanted crazy hair, then he insisted that he was absolutely not going to school that day. Most of the morning was a struggle for him that included him breaking down into hysterics over crazy hair day. It seems that he didn't want to do it, but he also didn't want to be the only one without crazy hair and he just didn't know what to expect when he got to school. So I ended up walking him to class and showing him that most of the boys in the class didn't have crazy hair and then he felt better. That kid isn't the most flexible.

Day #4 was "favorite number day." Jack decided his favorite number was 23 (because that was Michael Jordan's number) and so once again I pulled out the stack of plain white t's and wrote a big 23 on it. I didn't take a picture but I loved what Jack did to it. He decided he needed to write different ways to describe the number 23. This included writing "twenty-three" along the bottom, writing "20+3 is 23" to the side of the big 23 and then drawing 23 dots, 23 tally marks and 23 squares on his shirt. I thought it was awesome.

The last day the kindergartners wore blue, and the 2nd graders wore red so that was easy.

It was actually fun, despite a few meltdowns and last minute throwing together of outfits. It was interesting to see what they wanted to do with each day. They are so different from each other and each day brings some new thing that they throw at me. And I guess they did go to school with a bit more "spirit."

my funny valentines

The kids had a snow day today. So far we have gotten about a foot of accumulation.

But of course, that just means we get to stay home and do crafts and eat heart-shaped pancakes and watch Robin Hood.

I love my little Valentines.

why my new year's resolution is not to lose weight

I have been feeling super ... blah... and grumpy. I always get this way in the winter. I know one of the reasons is because I get pretty sedentary. I am so so much happier when I am active. But I live in a climate where "warm" in January is 20 degrees, and so I don't go outside much.  And my waistline is showing it.

So, like many Americans I decided to set a goal of health. I want to feel good. I want my body to be strong and my mind to be clear. I want to eat more fruits and veggies and fewer treats.

But I am not trying to lose weight. Weight is an easy way to measure progress, but it is also flawed. People get discouraged when the scale doesn't reflect what they want it to, even if their new habits make them feel physically better.

I have never watched the Biggest Loser. I can appreciate the idea of helping people create new habits and changing their lives for the better, but I have never watched it. However, I was intrigued last week with the outcry over the winner. She weighed in at 105 lbs. So many people said she took it too far. All I could think was: What do you expect? You give a big reward to whoever loses the most weight, as if weight equaled worth, and then get upset when people take it too far. I know women, skinny women and not-so-skinny, who obsess over what the scale says or what size pants they wear. They talk about it to their friends. They talk about it in front of their daughters and your daughters. This has to stop. Stop talking about changing your body's shape.

I do not talk about my weight or my physical insecurities in front of my children. Ever. If they see me exercise, I tell them it is because exercise keeps my body strong and healthy and makes me feel good. If they see me eating fruits and veggies (and encouraging them to do so too), I don't tell them I am trying to lose weight or because treats make you fat. I tell them I eat it (and they should too) because it is good for them. It gives their body nutrients and energy. (Often when Jack is having a hard time eating his fruits and veggies, all I have to do is tell him what the nutrients in the food will do for him, and he is much happier to eat them.)

Please, let's stop the discussion about weight. Instead of telling people how much weight you have lost, let's talk about how good we feel and how much more energy we have. Let's talk about how much longer we can walk or run and how we don't get out of breath so easily.

Happiness is not found on a bathroom scale. Worth isn't found in a size 4 pair of jeans. My body is amazing. I want to take good care of it.

once upon a january....

... my friend and I went to a specialty Christmas shop. (We had wanted to go in December, but it didn't work out.) There were a lot of cool things. And some interesting ones too. Like this...

... in an attempt to get Dave's headphones off his dresser, Katie pulled the dresser over on top of her. I was in the room so I was able to catch it before she got really hurt. This was aftermath.

... I cleaned out a closet. I should have taken before pictures. See those drawers down there that now contain Katie's clothes? That thing was full of fabric in this closet. I also had a bin under my bed with even more fabric. So I combined it all into the one under my bed, got rid of a ton of potential projects that I never got around to in the last 4 years, and then put Katie's clothes in the drawers instead of baskets on the floor. And the closet is no longer overflowing.

... I took Katie and Zach to the Wal-mart. Katie leaned back in the chair like that and said, "Let's take a break, Zach."

...We made a huge fort in the front room. Despite Jack's face, he loved it! I think he was just mad that we were about to take it down.

... Katie and Zach played Super Heroes. Cutest thing ever.