Catching Up and Looking Forward!

I've had a hard time knowing what to write about after writing my last post about anxiety. I'm so glad that I wrote it. I couldn't believe the amount of comments I got from others who have dealt with the same thing. I even received several private messages. I'm thankful for all of you who posted support and words of wisdom!

Anyway, I suppose I'll just catch back up on life!

A couple of weeks ago we went to Villa Grove for the weekend to celebrate Christmas on the Elam side. We had planned to go Saturday and come home that Sunday, but we decided to go a day early and headed over on Friday. We all had a really fun time together. Daniel was exceptionally good, and had a great time with his Mimi and Pa. He even slept better than he usually does there. Of course one of the nights he did wake up at 2, and since he sleeps in the same room with us there, he saw me and I start to hear, "Mommy? Mommy?" I tried the ignore tactic. Then I tried whispering, "It's nigh-night time. Go back to sleep." Ha! Instead he wound up in the middle with Jacob and I for awhile and then went back to the pack n play without a fight. Phew!

We had fun celebrating Christmas again too! It's of course, mostly about Daniel, but Jacob and  I loved all of the things we received as well. We have some great parents!











Then this past weekend we had ourselves a lovely snowstorm. You wouldn't think living 4.5 hours away from where you grew up would make that huge of a difference in weather, but it does! I've been pretty spoiled living here, even though it still gets cold and I will always complain about the cold, it's still "warmer" than Iowa. My first winter here we had a "snowstorm" of sorts. I think like maybe 2 or 3 inches and people were freaking out like it was the biggest snow ever. But, even we couldn't escape the arctic blast that hit the Midwest.

I will admit that it sure was beautiful coming down...although it got so windy that at one point we couldn't even tell if it was snowing or just blowing. By 4:00 on Saturday afternoon they literally shut down the county. Well...the roads. Of course some people still had to be out in it anyway because some businesses didn't close. It was bad though. Lots of drifting. They said some roads had 8 foot drifts.

I think all in all we got around 8 or 9 inches. Honestly, I kinda like the white. It's better than staring at brown grass all winter. Who would've thought? The horrendously cold temperatures though? I could do without those. At least we all got an extra snow day. Well, Jacob and Daniel got 2 extra days!







I'll only be able to deal with this for so long though. It's only a matter of time...more likely a matter of days before I'm sick of it and begging for Spring! We're supposed to get freezing rain tomorrow, and if I have to drive in that I will take back everything nice I may have said about Winter. (Which wasn't much to begin with!)

Daniel still hasn't been out to play in it though since it's been too cold. Although yesterday he decided not to listen to me and I may have let him learn his lesson. He ran away from me and fell in the snow with only his coat and hat on. He was not happy about his hands getting cold, or his pants and shoes being wet. He probably didn't learn his lesson though...so I carried him today.

I'm excited! I've got my first Iowa road trip of the year planned. And if Mother Nature gets in my way I will not be happy. My parents were planning to visit here this month, but talking with Kendra she really wanted me to come there. I decided since Jacob will be away that weekend, we'd head over there! I need good Iowa and Illinois weather. In January. During one of the worst winters in years. Wish me luck.

We're waiting for Jacob's family to get here soon! Rachel and Micah are visiting, so we're all going out for supper tonight. Looking forward to seeing them even though it will be a short visit!