Snow Day Tuesday

And I just heard it will be Snow Day Wednesday tomorrow and I'm betting Snow Day Thursday and possibly Snow Day Friday. . .the weather forecast doesn't look too promising. The problem is, the roads aren't getting cleared off. The temperatures have stayed above freezing and you would think that it wouldn't be all that difficult to move the slush off. . .but I guess the county actually needs the equipment to move the slush off. . .???

Here's a rundown:
Monday
*6:15 a.m. - alarm goes off
*7:30 a.m. - Leave the house on the first timer ring. . .yea! (Technically they have 5 rings to get out, but 1 is superb)
*Drive to tennis. . .the roads are much worse than I anticipated. Still got there close to on time so I was happy. When you only have 1.5 hours of court time a week, every minute matters!!!
*8-9:30 - play tennis. . .none of us were especially "on our game" but we were out, hitting the ball so all is good. . .the kids were GREAT. . .
*9:30-10 a.m. -- find the donut shop in town, Ralphs, that has eluded us for the past two weeks. "Best donuts in town" everyone says, but no one can give specific -- i.e. street names -- on how to get there. Anyway, we finally found it this week. And YES, best donuts in town, hands' down.
*10 - 11 a.m. -- Get an hour in at the YMCA working on sports. Couldn't find the person I was supposed to meet with so worked by myself and got quite a bit accomplished. Yea.
*11 a.m. -12:30 -- let the kids play in the pool. They had a couple of friends show up too so that was fun. Now is the dilemma. . .Marie has a 2 p.m. orthodontist appointment but home is 20 good minutes away. What to do??? Ran to Hobby Lobby to pick something up for my bedroom project then let the kids spend their allowances at the Dollar Tree. Not fun for me, but fun times for them :)
*2 p.m. Laura has her appt. . .her 45 minute appt. was over at 2:30. . .yahoo!!! When does something like that ever happen.
*3 p.m. -- FINALLY home. Whew! Kids have to clean their rooms (under beds, closets, the works) before any screens go on in this house. Boys accomplish that pretty quickly, not the girls. So boys start on next task. . .writing their 5-week over-due Christmas Thank You notes. Done!
*5:30 -- try my hand at some candy making with Marie while dinner roasts in the oven. Not bad, thank you Kelly. The candy. . .not great but I'll try it again.
*6:30 -- sit down to dinner. . .nothing exceptional but nice to be around the table, the kids conversing. . .I love my family!!!
*7:00 -- watch the second half of One Night with a King. The kids really liked it. . .don't know how much they really got out of it, but I thought it was good.
*8 - 8:45 -- staggered bedtimes last night. . .
For me, 8 p.m. - 11 p.m. had a GREAT catch-up conversation with a friend I do not spend nearly enough time with. . .

Today:
*6:15 - alarm goes off. . .we don't actually get out of bed for another half hour :)
*7-8 - get ready to head out. . .breakfast, snacks packed, etc.
*8-8:15 -- MAJOR crisis. . .I asked Thomas (11) to go get something out of my trunk. Instead of opening the garage door and then opening the hatchback (it's a van), he decides to go the "lazy" route and open the back as far as it will go and crawl through. Problem is, Frederick comes out and OPENS THE GARAGE DOOR! Aack! Now the door is stuck on the van door. . .major, major problem. Nothing would budge. . .finally was able to pull the van up enough (after crushing a magazine holder by doing so) to close van door/open garage door. One of the garage door wheels is off the track. Then the road from our subdivision leading out to the main hwy (1.5 miles) was in bad shape so I had to take it slowly when I was already late. . .stay calm. . .pray with the kids in the car because I was an ugly, ugly momma with that door incident. Not proud of that. . .no excuse. . .made them ride to the Y in silence instead of listening to their book on tape. . .needed that silent time to calm down before heading into a crazy morning in Childcare at the Y!
*8:40-12:15 -- YPlay was CRAZY!!! Got to work with the school-age kids (my favorite) with our night supervisor. . .we had a good time even though space is l-i-m-i-t-e-d for those big guys!
*12:15-1:00 - pick up a friend for Thomas, then for Frederick before finally pulling in the driveway.
*1:00 - 3:00 -- actually relax a little!!! Why is having 6 kids in the house easier and more relaxing than just four???? Made Jello with Margaret, then made her the tuna too. . .love being able to say "yes" instead of "no, later" and "no, I'm busy now". LOVE IT.
Speculating: 3:15 - leave the house to take said friends home. Get the boys to swimming at 4. Margaret has ballet at 4:15. We need milk. . .can't believe we've gone through 3 GALLONS since last Friday!! Anyway, gather all kids and hopefully on the way home by 5:45. And here's the bonus: a movie with my girlfriends tonight!!!! Yea!!! School has already been called off so I need some time out. . .and what better night than when the theatre has $1 soda and $1 popcorn?!? We're going to see Extraordinary Measures. . .haven't heard a thing about it but did see a preview and love the actors. . .plus, it's a night out, right???

So. . .I hear I will look back on these days and treasure them. Thing is, I already do :)

And than the greatest compliment of all came today. . .someone sincerely told me that she admired the mother that I am. How I take time with my children and how they interact with one another. Truly, I will carry that with me for a long, long time. I fail, and I fail a lot (see 8-8:15 this morning) but what I want my legacy to be is the kind of mother I am. I hope my children will always know how important they are to me. . .and how grateful I am to our Lord for giving them to me. We are perfectly imperfect.