Ponderings....

Last week we bought season passes to the local ski area. We bought four. Garrett didn't go. Grouchy declared Mondays as ski day. Everyone needs P.E. class for homeschool, right??? So last week we put Garrett on the bus and then had a sitter meet the bus back at the house and another sitter (daughter of the first one/our main teenage babysitter) come relieve the first one in the afternoon. We had an absolutely perfect day skiing!! And the drive was beautiful and PEACEFUL (read: Garrett wasn't in the car to scream). Ainslee finally got her legs under her and was skiing all by herself!!! We made a couple of stops on the way home to get Addie's birthday gifts and do a few other things, then came home at bedtime. It was such a dreamy day!! We stayed on the bunny slopes and just cruised down over and over to help the girls (AND US) just get more confident.

Some friends are here for two weeks, and they are coming with us to ski tomorrow. We are all so excited~~but then there is this cloud of sadness lingering over me about not being able to take everyone. Don't get me wrong, we will have a great time, and we will focus on the girls, and we will have more, much, much more freedom to stay longer, have more fun, ski all day....but we are not ALL there. Last week there were three year old children skiing, no joke. Grouchy calls them Weeble-Wobbles!!!! They are so stinkin' cute out there with their tiny skis, little helmets, all bundled up and all....but not my little guy. My little guy will be with a sitter. He LOVES his two sitters...LOVES THEM!! They get here when we are leaving him with either of them and he says, "Mommy, Daddy, go now. _______ is here to play with me! Bye!" And I am so aware how blessed I am to have him be that way. We could have to peel him off my leg while he screams as he sees us leaving him out, but he doesn't. SO I am thankful, but still, will things ever be normal around here? Can we go do things as a family without either the separation of our family for sanity's sake or the walking on glass feeling of taking him places and wondering how it will go and if we will all arrive home safely AND sanely AND give the girls our attention!!!

On the flip side, last night we took a Polar Express-type train trip with the kiddos. My friend Vicki and I took our combined six kiddos, and it was a blast. Garrett tested us some both directions of the total 3 hour drive, and he had his moments on the train and once were were at the North Pole, but overall it was positive. So there, that was pretty normal for a family with three kids, one being a 2 or 3 year old. But Garrett is now about 5.5 years old. And did I mention what it was like to change an over-flowing poopy-diaper with him standing on the lid of a very tiny toilet in a smaller-than-airline-bathroom on the ancient train??? It was interesting. So that was a good trip overall. But there were still moments that I thought were terrible. And I would seriously question ever taking a train ride with him EXCEPT this one most awesome moment where he was in the outdoor observation car and looked out into the snowy night with his bright red, very cold cheeks and said, "Mommy, I had a fun day today." I was mush!! THANK YOU JESUS!!!!

So I am thankful for the time Grouchy and I had to ourselves in Houston this week. I am very, very thankful for my friend Vicki who flew here from Louisiana for a visit but came early to keep our kiddos so we could go on our Houston trip. The children and I had fun on the train last night. We had a good day at church today and at home with the fourwheeler-sled gig we are getting into more these days in the 6 inches of snow still here. And tomorrow will be just great, too, I know!!! But then I have to leave my little dude behind. I don't want to. But I cannot imagine taking him. He would be miserable. Just the drive there...... Yes, I would like a small order of NORMAL!!!!

Those are my ponderings.
Godspeed,
CL