Blessed

I feel like I've been a slacker on this little blog of mine.  I would say it's because we've been busy, but really, no extra busy-ness has happened.  I quit my facebook account for a little while and I think I've just been enjoying the break from social media.  I am, by no means, anti-facebook.  I just felt like it was an extra stress in my life and I was putting too much priority in it, and it was time to simplify for a bit.  And most importantly, I don't want my children growing up, thinking their mom can't live without her phone.  I know they're young but it has to start somewhere.  I read an article that was talking about how hard it is for kids growing up now.  They go to school where they're bombarded with peer pressure and then they come home and they still don't get away from their peers because they hop on facebook,  instagram, or twitter or whatever else is out there. When my kids come home, I want them to have a conversation with me.  I want them to want to have a conversation with me.  If they're down, I want to be there to help pick them up.  I want them to know family is the most important thing.  Friends come and go and are great in your life, but social acceptance from everyone isn't everything in this life.  And they're not going to get that message if I'm not being a good example.

So, that was a random tangent, but this little break of mine has been good.  Life isn't perfect, never will be, but it's good.  And I am so lucky.  I guess this is my Thanksgiving post-this time of year is always a good time to take extra time reflecting on the blessings in our life.  I have a cute little family, that I adore.  My husband has a good job that fits our lifestyle perfectly.  We are surrounded by people we love and people who love us.  We are stable.  We are on the path to where we want to be in life.  But most importantly, I have a Savior who is completely aware of my life.  No matter what goes wrong in this chapter, someday, it will all be made right.  I love this time of year where we focus on the Savior's birth.  We can get side-tracked with all of the holiday festivities, but when it comes down to it, we're celebrating the birth and life of our Savior who made it possible for all of us to be eternally happy.  And that's a great gift.

Today was our first major snowfall of the Christmas season.  Patrick and Aiden had an unnatural amount of energy and I thought it was the perfect time to take them out in the snow.  I loved it.  I've admitted many times I'm not a snow person but how can you not love looking outside to see the world covered in fresh, white snow?  I actually got giddy at the thought of dressing the boys up in their warm clothes and seeing their excited faces.  I can't wait to take Patrick sledding because I know he will be in little boy heaven.  I've been watching my kids a lot lately and it's refreshing to see the world through their eyes.  Something so small can be so exciting to them and it's a blessing to be reminded of the little joys in life.

That sweet face...

You'd think I like posting pictures of myself when I'm not ready for the day.  Really I don't, but I post them anyway.  You're welcome.

 You know it's been a good day when you freeze your tails off, come inside to warm up, turn on some Christmas music, drink hot chocolate, and get a chocolate mustache.  I don't make it a habit of feeding my baby sugar, but I couldn't resist his pleas.  I had to. ;)  Maybe I was trying to make up for the fact that I didn't catch him falling off the step earlier and he face planted in the snow...

   
And while I'm on here, I think I'll add a couple pictures from this past week:

I'm obsessed with his little feet

And with watching my kids sleep

I never knew this Mater would become one of our favorite inside toys.  Is there room for it?  No.  Do we play with it every single day, anyway?  Yep.  Our kitchen floor has skid marks to prove it. 

I know little kids can be exhausting but some day I'm going to look back on these days and wish I could go back to when I was Patrick's best friend.  Hopefully that won't change for a long time.  I'll miss seeing the look of excitement on Aiden's face when I walk into a room.  I can kind of see why some people have a lot of kids. ;)

Life is good.