Could this be a hint

The last three mornings I have woken up on my own a little before 5am. On Saturday, we bought a home gym. Not a real expensive one, but it fit the requirements for a wellness reimbursement of $250 offered through Dan's work. Before you start thinking that we workout fanatics, just know that prior to having bought this piece of equipment that it had been a very, very long time since we had touched our bike, treadmill, exercise ball, free weights or Wii fit. So maybe my body is telling me that since I am already up at 5am, I should go workout before the kids get up. As much as it makes sense, I see two distinct flaws: 1. I don't want to get out my warm bed that early (really more about me being lazy) and 2. Generally the moment my legs dangle over the side of the bed and the very edge of my toenail skims the floor, the kids start to get up. They instinctively know mama is awake. On Monday I had the kids ride their bikes in our unfinished basement so I could workout. They rode bikes for 5 minutes then decided that they just wanted to watch me. They watched me play tennis with the Wii, do yoga with the Wii, walk on the treadmill and pump some iron. :) I can tell you that really wasn't helping my motivation. Let's just say, hypothetically that I made a New Year's resolution about exercising, I would have no excuses.

Getting My Crafty On

My attempt at being crafy with the help of a friend who has floral design experince. Can you guess which bow I made?

Our Advent Wreath I made each of the girls this wreath for their bedroom door
Little Man's wreath for his bedroom door

Stepping Out on Faith

Well I am relived and overwelmed by what could be in store for me the next 2 months. I just sent off an application to MOPS International applying for a large grant to do a project called Reach More Moms. What our group has set out to do is to plan an elaborate event for a special group of moms. This an ambitous task to do in a 6-7 week time frame. If our group is accepted, it is truly on faith that I am able coordinate all the details than need to come together in such a short time in order to pull this event off. I should know in the next week or two if our application has been accepted. I will keep everyone updated on the project.

One more thing...

Is it ever too cold to clean your house?

In Like a Lion

Last Wednesday was the first of December, and although not technically winter, it sure felt like it. I don't know what the temperature was, but it was cold and it snowed the entire day. Then it snowed all day on Saturday and Sunday afternoon into evening. We are not buried beneath mounds of snow as total accumulation is maybe 2 inches, but it feels like a deep freezer. The temperature in my garage registered 24degrees this morning. By the time I backed out of my driveway at 8:30am and rounded the corner it plummeted to a nippy 14. Can I just say I am cold! Maybe not at cold as my friends in Boston or my cousin in Minneapolis but nonetheless I am cold. You would think that I just got off the plane from being in the tropics. After picking up my oldest from school, my 2 year old started complaining that it's too hot in the van. What?! The other two chime in agreeing with him. I was fine with the heat on dressed in my coat and hat. I can't believe they were hot. In my defense, I didn't even have the vents turned up that high in the back. I blame my issues with temperature regulation on my trip to Nicaragua when I was in college. I went for 2 weeks in June when I got back I was always cold. Ok, not outside in 90 degree weather, but inside in the air conditioning and especially all winter. As I remember, it did happen to be a cooler summer in Chicago that year but it wasn't snowing in July. I must have picked up some rare parasite that keeps my blood thin so I can never be warm when it's cold outside. It's days like today that makes me think that the beach at Christmas could be quite nice.

Backseat Driver

What comes to mind when you hear backseat driver? Are you imagining a 2 year old strapped in his car seat in the third row shouting, "Turn left, turn left!" or "Go this way!" pointing the way I should go. Of course, I can's see what "this way" is and he has a 50/50 chance that I will go left. If I don't go the way he wanted me to go he actually gets mad.