Big Snows Call for Cozy Quilts!

We have 16" of snow on the ground and more coming tomorrow! It's just crazy having that much -it's actually over the heads of our dogs! Can you imagine? This is the biggest snow we've had since I moved up here & I love it!! (The good thing is that in this state it snows so often that there are hundreds of plows & salt trucks so even with this huge snow the roads were cleared by the next day!)

This snow plus reading this blog: http://orphantrainsfromfinn.blogspot.com/ has me in the mood to make a quilt! Think I will do that after the holidays... I haven't made one in a couple of years so it'll be fun!

Procrastination, Projects, & Precipitation

Can you believe that this time next week it will be Christmas?? I have so many things I want to do before it gets here! I don't know why, but it seems like I always wait til the last minute to make gifts & therefore don't end up making many. I don't know why I do that (procrastinate). I do it with things I enjoy as well as those I dread, which puzzles me.

Anyway, I hope to get several projects done this weekend! I want to make some American Girl doll clothes for W, and I'd like to make a scrapbook album for my mom (both for Christmas). I still haven't finished the little sweater I'm knitting for Andrew but I doubt that I'll be working on it any more until after the holidays.

We're supposed to get between 9 and 12 inches of snow tonight! If it does that I won't be going to work, so I brought some of my work home with me to do here. I love snow, and it'll be nice to work here at home, snuggled up under a blanket with the dogs beside me, a hot cup of tea steaming on the end table and the curtains open so I can watch it snow.

Sure, it might be more efficient to work at the table with everything within reach, but the comfort makes up for the inconvenience of working using a big book as my lap desk. I used to have one of those lap desk things that has a flat, hard surface with a pillow-like base that you put in your lap, but when Garcia was in his chewing stage he kind of destroyed it. They're very handy but I just haven't gotten around to looking for one. (Aha, see there - procrastinating again!)

Think I'll go look outside & see if the snow has started yet. We still have about 4 inches on the ground from last week, so if we get as much as predicted the snow will be way taller than the dogs!

The Cutest Santa Ever!

If you look closely you will, in the midst of these pretty girls, spot a tiny Santa! He is absolutely the cutest little Santa I have ever seen! It is (as if you couldn't guess) my grandson Andrew, age 3 1/2 weeks old, surrounded by his big sisters aka my sweet granddaughters. Just seeing this picture makes me smile - I hope it makes you smile too! Merry Christmas!

Safe in God's Hands

I am so thankful that I'm at safe and snug at home tonight and not in the hospital as I could easily have been.

This afternoon on the way home from work ice was hitting my windshield like pellets. The road was terribly slick, and even though I was driving very slowly and carefully I suddenly slid sideways & crossed 3 lanes of traffic!

I then spun around in a complete circle, did another sideways skid, and then another circle. This was all done amidst fairly heavy traffic, but miraculously I didn't hit anybody & nobody hit me.

This was an unusual thing for me to have happen because normally when there's ice or snow I drive the Kia, and it is fantastic in bad weather. Today I was in the Mustang which is the coolest car in the world on dry roads but just ghastly on slick ones.

Anyway, while I was doing my highway ballet I felt a total sense of peace, an assurance that everything was going to be alright. At a time when one might expect to be screaming, or at least gasping, I was calm. I truly felt like I was being held safely in the palm of God's hand, just as these marzipan babies are being held in the hand of their creator. What a wonderful feeling, and so unexpected. Thank you, God, for keeping me safe today and getting me through all of life's hurdles.

Sometimes Things Happen for a Reason

Yesterday we found out that Ashley has something she wants more than an AG doll. I'm SO glad we hadn't already ordered one! (For history on this read the last blog.)

Yesterday afternoon DH bought her what she wants (it's in the dining room waiting to be wrapped) and I went ahead & ordered the AG for Whitney (the one that "looks like her" with the same hair color, eye color, etc.) If Ash decides she wants an AG doll later on then we will get it for her birthday in May.

Problem solved - HURRAH!

BTW, if you want to see something amazing, you should check out www.mytwinn.com They make dolls to look like your child, even to details like facial shape and birthmarks! They're very cool. The price is frightening, but the dolls are cool, almost to the point of being spooky!

My Brain is Spinning with AG Doll Choices

See these 2 girls? You'd think picking a doll for each of them would be easy wouldn't you? That's whyI am SO disgusted with myself! DH & I had decided to get the 2 oldest DGDs American Girl dolls for Christmas. When I got out the catalog I saw a code in it that was good for free shipping 'til midnight last night. (Shipping is based on the amount spent, & with ordering 2 dolls it would've been $25., so it was definitely worth trying to beat that deadline.) As luck would have it, midnight was just a couple of hours away.

Based on the things the DGD's descriptions of which Just like You doll they wanted, I discovered that picking which dolls to order wasn't nearly as simple as it sounds.

Only 1 doll has the coloring & lack of bangs (they both specifically said "no bangs") that met their description. Even she had freckles which Ashley didn't want and her hair wasn't like either girl... plus, I really don't want to get them identical dolls (even though the 2 of them look so much alike)... so there was a quandry.

I thought about ordering Kit for Whitney (here is Kit) http://store.americangirl.com/agshop/static/kitdoll.jsf/title/Kit+&+Ruthie/saleGroupId/300/uniqueId/59/nodeId/11/webMenuId/5/LeftMenu/TRUEbecause she looks SO much like her (except that her hair is wrong color). However, she had said she didn't want Kit, she wanted a Just Like You doll... but to me Kit looks more like her than the other one did.

There is a Just Like You doll that looks SO much like Ashley except that it has brown eyes & Ash's are blue.

I went back & forth & back & forth until my head was spinning. Long story short, I ended up not ordering any. I am so disappointed in myself. DH reassuringly said it wasn't worth getting so stressed about, & that we'll just get them something else from their lists. I know how much Whitney wants one though, so I'm still not able to get it out of my mind.

Opinions? Suggestions? Reassurance that I'm not crazy for being so overwhelmed?

Two Weeks in Paradise

This morning when I woke up, the fact that my visit here is almost over hit me like a rock. Yesterday made 2 weeks that I've been here.. I have less than 48 hours left.

I have loved being here! I've enjoyed getting the kids up & talking with them while they eat breakfast & dress for school, driving them there, tidying the house, doing laundry (boy do 4 kids create a lot!), rocking the baby, talking with my daughter, making cookies, & doing all the day-to-day things that are part of a busy household.

I love seeing the girls' eyes light up when I walk into the gym in the afternoons to pick them up from school (did you know that all students must be signed out now when you pick them up from school? No more just ringing the bell & letting them all dash out of the building!) Driving home while they tell me about the school day is such a treat, and I even enjoy helping them with their homework in the evenings.

At bedtime the past 14 nights I've spent about half an hour telling them stories. Some nights they're tales of fairies, each one bearing a strong resemblance to one of the girls in the bed. The girls have always loved these, and during this visit a new character - Little Prince Artichoke - has joined the cast. Injust a year or two little Andy himself will be upstairs enjoying the stories along with his sisters!

When the girls get in bed late & there isn't time for a full fairy adventure, I share short stories about funny things some of the adults in the family when they were young. Particular favorites this visit included the story about G-mama and Papaw eloping on the train, and about the time Gran'ma wanted to have her hair short like the flappers (during the "roaring twenties) and her dad didn't want her to.

I love the giggles (and sometimes belly laughs) these stories generate. I know I'll be able to share bedtime stories with them again whenever I visit, but being here for an extended period has enabled us to have continuing sagas that just aren't possible during a weekend stay.

There are so many aspects of being here that I will miss. I'm not going to even begin writing about the baby - if I do I'll be sobbing in a puddle and that's really not the way I want to spend these last days here. Right now I hear him now making making little squeaky noises in his bassinet, so it won't be long 'til he's fully awake & ready for his mommy to feed him. Afterwards DD will give him to me to change & rock...

...I love that, the feel of his tiny, down covered head snuggled in the hollow of my neck, tiny bottom totally fitting in my palm, bitsy feet just reaching my chest. Hard to imagine that if he's like the other men in the family he'll someday be a six-footer!

Ok, gulping noises (he nurses like a champ!) are coming from the bedroom so I'm going to go get ready to enjoy another day of being a very present grandmother. I am so blessed to be able to be here for this experience, to have an employer who allowed me to be gone so long and a husband who understands (finally, after 4 grandchildren) just why I want to be here so badly!

Granted, I will soon be 400 miles away, but for now I'm right here & I will make the most of this chance to wallow in the joy of being a Nana!