Wait a minute....

Today we decided to take the family tubing for the first time this winter. There was snow from our storm yesterday and we had brand new tubes that our family had got for Christmas. It seemed like a perfect idea, but as with most perfect ideas things didn't go as smoothly as planned. First, I told the kids to get dressed in layers. I even explained what kind of layers..2 layers of pj bottoms and then a top layer of levis. My oldest child thinks that her mother doesn't know anything..an affliction I'm afraid I'm going to have to deal with for many more years...so she put on 3 layers of pj bottoms and then tries to squeeze into the tightest pair of levis that she owns. I mean these pants are painted on when there are no layers, but with layers I was surprised she could walk. So I pointed out that these pants were perhaps two sizes too small, to which she replied that she had plenty of room and proceeded to pout. Since the pants were already mostly on, I helped stuff her the rest of the way in and buttoned them with extreme caution. After everyone was dressed we gathered our hats, gloves, and scarves, pumped up the new tubes, and loaded into the car. It is about a 30 minute drive up the mountain and since there was snow here in town we decided to check out the hills by our house and see if they were tubing material. Bayden spied what appeared to be a great hill, so he got the tube out of the car and trekked up to the top. We of course were watching from the car with the windows rolled down, cheering him on with a long loud honk! As he climbed onto the tube, I knew instantly that there was going to be trouble, but it was too late to stop him. He pushed off and started down the hill. About halfway down, his arms and legs began flailing and the tube took a sudden turn off the nice snowy path. As he plummetted to the bottom of the hill, he was stopped suddenly by a very large and very unforgiving "wait-a-minute" bush! For us in the car this was a very funny site and of course we laughed until we saw our flat tube emerge from the bush followed by a not very happy Bayden. (For those of you reading this who were on the Christmas tree expedition you will understand how hard I was laughing) I got out and went to make sure that nothing, besides the tube, was broken. He wasn't broken, but he was very scratched up. What makes this story priceless is the run in with the bush...this is the second run in with those bushes in the last two months, one ending with ripped pants and bottom and the other ending with a brand new popped tube and several scratches. Needless to say, he was not happy! We spent the next hour seaching for a new tube, patching the broken one, and cheering up the driver. We finally made it up the mountain with 3 great tubes and one slightly flat one. The snow was amazing and extremely deep..I was afraid we were going to lose Kenna in a drift. We made a great snow trail for the tubes and spent the next hour playing in the snow. It was great and the best ride was the slightly flat tube! After we finished, we all peeled off our wet layer of clothes so the ride home would be dry and comfortable. As I was taking off my overalls, I hear the words that so many moms love to hear.."Mom, I think you were right" Kaytlyns pants were stuck on her and it took tugging on both legs, while she held the tops of her jammies so she didn't moon her brothers, to get them off! After all that it turned out to be a fabulous snowy day!

Snow Day!

I love it when it snows! It is a great excuse to stay inside bundled up reading a book or doing a puzzle or taking a nap! Of course, if you are a child the snow is a great excuse to go outside and get really frozen so that your loving mom can brew you some hot chocolate! That is exactly what my boys and my nephew decided to do on this wonderful snowy day. The girls stayed indoors napping and puzzling and still got in on the hot cocoa train...pretty crafty if you ask me. Anyways the boys built an amazing snowman complete with a broccoli nose and hair..(don't judge we were out of carrots), after that one thing led to another and they ended up tackling and snowballing one another while I laughed and took pictures.

Now what?

Ahhh...so Christmas is over, and the New Year is just around the corner and I am sitting here wondering where the days went? I feel as though the Christmas holiday passed me over and I'm not entirely sure I was even there. I wonder if I will ever learn to just live in the moment? It seems like I am always waiting and worrying about the next thing, and never truly enjoying the moments that I have. I am usually not very good at setting New Year goals and resolutions, they have often had to do with losing weight and are quit within a few months. This year I want to set a goal to live in my moments. I want to enjoy my life and the blessings I have been given. But how does one do that? How do you go from living for the next moment to simply living in the moment? An article called, "The Art of Now: Six steps to living in the moment" by Jay Dixit has some great ideas. The full article can be found here: http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200810/the-art-now-six-steps-living-in-the-moment
My interpretation of these six steps are:
1. To improve your performance stop thinking about it..unselfconciousness
The article talks about losing yourself in the music if you are dancing. It is about living without constantly wondering what others are thinking of your efforts.
2. To avoid worrying about the future, focus on the present...savoring
Do I savor life? Do I truly enjoy the cookies I baked, or the chocolate I am eating? How about the laughs and giggles in my house? Am I so worried about what to have for dinner, that I forget to savor my breakfast? This step is about savoring the moments, I wonder if chocolate tastes different when savored?
3. If you want a future with your significant other, inhabit the present...breathe
Inhabiting the present gives you more control over your life. It allows you to take a step back from a situation, breathe, and then say to yourself, "I am experiencing an emotion, what should I do about it." Focusing on your breathing propels you into the now and has a powerful effect on the way you deal with others.
4. To make the most of time, lose track of it...flow
Flow happens when you are so engrossed in an activity that you lose track of time. This signifies a not a loss of time, but time that is being so well spent that you are truly living in those moments.
5. If something is bothering you move towards it rather than away from it...acceptance
I tend to pull away when a situation is bothering me. I am non-confrontational and prefer to just ignore situations that are tense. This step implies that the best moments to learn about ourselves are the ones where we are inclined to back away. The article says that when we avoid our feelings, we create new feelings about our avoidance. The best way to combat these unnecessary feelings is to accept the things we cannot change.
6. Know that you don't know
This step is about turning off the autopilot in our life and opening our eyes to new experiences, scenes, smells, and sights. It is about noticing the now. The article talks about driving to work and not remembering the drive at all, zoning out and just running on autopilot. Life passes us by when we allow the autopilot to take over.

Living in the moment is not about getting to a destination, it is about realizing that this is it. This moment, as I sit in my semi-comfortable chair I can hear my kids running through the house, I can feel the breeze from my ceiling fan on my arms. I can feel the keys beneath my fingertips. I can feel my breath as it fills my lungs and I can feel my chest fall as that breath is exhaled. I am alive and living in this moment and I am happy. What more do I need?

On the first day of Christmas...

In 1897, eight year old Virginia wrote to her local newspaper and asked if there was a Santa Clause. The touching response has become a popular Christmas story and is indeed one of my personal favorites. Francis Church wrote, "Virginia, your little friends are wrong. Yes, Virginia there is a Santa Clause. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Clause. It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias."

I believe in the spirit of Santa Clause. Just recently, my children and I chose a child off the giving tree at one of the grocery stores. My children asked if they could shop for this child so he could have a wonderful Christmas. It was amazing to watch how excited they were to shop for someone they didn't know, and Kenna kept telling me that "He was gonna love it!" As I stood on the aisle watching my children be Santa Clause for another human being, I was humbled by their immediate willingness to give. It was a teaching moment, them teaching me, that yes, there is a Santa Clause. He comes in all shapes and sizes, male and female. Santa Clause is present in every loving act of service we provide for someone else. It is sometimes easy to get all wrapped up in the commercialism of Santa Clause forgetting that underneath that red suit and white beard, Santa is the spirit of true giving. I believe!