Today

Today I was secretly hoping for a 2-hour delay, but no such luck. It's cold today! Wind chill of -10 this afternoon. It's windy and it's been snowing on an off. I got to eat breakfast with Thad and Ana, and send Ana off on the bus with a good breakfast, warm coat, and a healthy packed lunch in her back pack. Thad and I read our scriptures in peace and quiet for a few minutes before Benjamin tiptoed down the stairs and made his way into the kitchen to snuggle on Thad's lap. Thad cherishes those morning hugs and snuggles.

I made it to the gym, which is good. Gym days are usually good days. Even if all I do is walk on the treadmill at a 3.0 pace for 30 minutes (which is about all I can do right now). It does my mind and soul good. And usually I run into a friend or two from tennis so it's always fun to say hi and spend a quick minute catching up.

Ana learned about George Washington at school today. She told me all about him when she got home. Her favorite parts of school were lunch, recess, and computer lab because that's when she gets to talk, play, and do computer games. But she likes learning too; she said when I asked :)

Benjamin and Jane always enjoy playing with toys at the gym. It takes like 20 minutes to get them to leave and get coats back on. Usually Jane poops while she's there and no one ever smells it so I have learned to bring a diaper and wipes into the gym with me so I don't have to change her bum in the tight confines of the van.

Benjamin was excited to play cars with me after the gym. He jumps at any chance he get gets to play cars with me. It doesn't happen as often as it should. We played while we ate our ham and cheese sandwiches at the table during lunch. Then it was off to story time at the library. I've made a concerted effort this new year to spend special time doing things with Benjamin that he enjoys. It's hard because the time that we have alone while Jane is sleeping is usually when I'm most tired, and I often end up taking a nap next to him on the couch while he watches, "Wild Kratts" or "Octonauts." But we have been going to story time, which he enjoys, and also we work in his pre school work book a couple times a week to help him with his numbers and letters. He likes it for about 5 minutes and then his mind wanders.

Jane is the biggest scavenger in our family. She is always pillaging for food and snacks. She's in the pantry more than anyone else in the family, always emerging with something in her mouth. Just this afternoon she came upstairs with the container of black beans that Thad left on the counter after his lunch. It was empty when she walked into Benji's room with it, and my first thought was that she dumped it out. She's in to dumping everything out nowadays. But then I noticed her black lips, and smelled beans in her breath, so I asked, "Did you eat those, Jane?" She proudly replied, "yah! I ate dem!" It was cute, and made me chuckle. Her vocabulary is quite impressive.

Well those were the highlights of my day.