Life and Motherhood: Maybe this winter won't last forever after all

This morning started out a bit chaotic. I felt "behind" from the get go which is really silly because the only "race" to be "behind" at was the one I'd created in my head. You see, I had a mental to-do list of things I wanted to get done this morning, including write a grocery list, start laundry, do a little tidying up and return a few e-mails. But one or more of the boys needed my attention constantly through the morning and Owen didn't nap more than a few minutes before a sibling shrieking with excitement over play-doh woke him up (or maybe he would have awakened anyway... hard to tell these days). But before I knew it I was being impatient and rushing the boys out the door to pick up Colin at preschool. Then I brought an apple for an after school snack in the car and that was apparently wrong. He had hoped for a granola bar.

This morning was a fail. It always is when I loose sight of what my focus should be.

But then the sun came out, shining brighter than I'd seen it in weeks. The snow started melting, almost right before our eyes and I looked at my phone to see that it was 45 degrees out. FORTY FIVE, people! That is insane! That's about 40 degrees above our usual temperature. So after nap, Jordyn watched Owen and I took the older four boys outside. It was so good to be out breathing fresh air and feeling the sunshine! I mean seriously, I can count on probably one hand, the number of times we've been able to actually play outside this winter. Between the freezing temperatures and the amount of snow, it has been a very discouraging winter.

But today I felt hope that spring may be ever so slowly arriving. We took our first walk of the season and we played for almost two hours in the driveway. It felt so exciting and energizing! It felt hopeful. We even saw a neighborhood kid in shorts. I can't say it was shorts weather but I can certainly understand his excitement.