Has it really been 5 years??

This is me 5 years ago! I was 25 years old, had just had my first baby, and had not even imagined how wonderful my life was about to become! Oh sure! We had prayed for a baby, we had longed for a baby, we had ached for a baby, we had lost a baby. But none of that had prepared me for how truly wonderful motherhood would be. None of that prepared for the emptiness I would feel when I was away from him. Or for the pure joy when I see him smile. Or for the rage the fills me when I hear of someone who has hurt a child.

Becoming a mother completely intensifies every emotion I've ever felt. I've loved before...but not in the complex way that mothers love. I'd hurt before....but not like I do when he hurts. I'd cried before...but not like I do when he hurts and I can't fix it. I'd felt anxiety before...but not like I do thinking of all the things that I could do wrong. I'd laughed before...but not like I do when he says things that are so funny, and I wonder where he gets his sense of humor. Oh how I love that boy!

There are no words adequate enough to completely describe how I feel about being a mother. It's everything I've ever wanted. And more. Much. Much. More.

Snow day in NE Texas

Yesterday morning it started snowing!! The kids in my class went crazy! I tried to figure out how many times in their 10 or so years on this earth they've seen snow. I think this might be the 2nd or 3rd time! You wouldn't believe how many pencils needed to be sharpened, noses needed to be blown, hands needed to be sanitized, bathroom emergencies that just couldn't wait for the bell, and things that needed to be thrown away just so they could get to the window to sneak a peek! Well we aren't heartless, mean teachers so we let the kids out to play in the quarter inch of snow, and they had the best time! We took pictures, and I wish I could post some of them here! I loved how excited they were. Of course, my Texas, post-civil war class discussion that I had planned didn't hold a candlestick to what was happening outside the window so I had to adjust my lesson plans slightly! Oh well! They can learn about Reconstruction any day, but here in Northeast Texas, they may not see snow again for a few years! Seize the moment!

My own kids were even more excited than my 4th graders!! None of them had ever touched, tasted, or played in the snow! When Layton got off the bus at the middle school yesterday, the first thing he wanted to do was see what it felt like. "Oh, soft..." was his reaction. I think he was built for colder climates, though, because later he crawled, rolled, and plopped himself down in it without a flinch. A few years ago, when I first became a mother, my friend gave me a helpful tip. She said when taking my kids out to play in the snow, to put one pair of socks one their hands and feet, then cover it with a plastic bag, then cover that with mittens on their hands and another pair of socks on their feet. That way they can stay out much longer because their hands and feet won't get cold and wet! It worked!! Dry hands and feet make for much longer playtime!

Ainslee looked like a little snow princess. She laughed and giggled and threw snow everywhere! She made lots and lots of snow angels. She didn't last quite as long as Layton would have, but she really had fun while we were out there!

Ava wanted nothing to do with the snow. Even while I was bundling them up, she told me she didn't want to go because it was too cold! I thought I could convince her once we got out there, but it was no use! I held her for a little while and then put her inside the play house where snow hadn't gotten. She lasted in there for a few mintues. Eventually, I just took her next door to my mom's house and she happily watched from the window!

Well now the sun is trying to poke through the clouds, and this year's snow will soon be gone! It was fun while it lasted, but spring is just around the corner! We can't wait for t-ball and Easter and day lasting until 8:00!!!

Did I really just talk about cows???

We had a kid-less weekend this weekend, and it was great! I had big, big plans to get the house totally clean and organized and to throw a bunch of junk toys away while the kids couldn't see. None of that happened! Not even a little bit! In fact the basket of laundry sitting on the couch didn't even get folded! ha! Friday night we went to bed EARLY, like both-of-us-asleep-by-8:30 early! Saturday morning I got up and gave the ACT. That's an easy $100 right there!! Then I came home, sat down, tried to get motivated, and my mom called and asked if I wanted to go see Dear John so of course I said yes!! So, you see, I didn't have TIME to clean. I don't know how I thought I was going to get that much done anyway! I only actually had a few hours!

On a side note, Trey is watching the Super Bowl while I'm typing this, and he keeps making random comments to me about what's going on. I haven't responded yet, but I don't think he's noticed! He loves football! I do not!

Anyway back to my totally boring recap of the weekend...After I went to the movies with my mom, I met Trey at Wal-Mart to do some grocery shopping. We were unsuccessful in that endeavor because neither of us could make a decision about what we wanted to eat. I was thinking pasta and sweet, romantic movie; he was thinking hamburgers and The Office reruns. Oh he knows how to romance me! ha! We ended up renting The Proposal, which was my 5th or 6th time to see it, but it was Trey's first. I told him he would laugh his head off, and I truly believed that he would, but for some reason he didn't. I guess he doesn't have an appreciation for Ryan Reynolds' antics like I do.

When we got home, we drove by our neighbor-down-the-road's house, and there were two cows in their yard. COWS! I could not believe that they had gotten cows! I mean we live in the country and are surrounded by pasture, but cows?? I texted her "Did you get cows???" She didn't write back, but as we pulled in our driveway, I noticed something very strange. WE had cows! Five of them! We stopped the car, and they started walking toward it! We had no idea what to do, but I knew I wasn't about to get charged by a bunch cows! Did I mention that a couple of them had horns??? Well, they did! They got a little sidetracked on the way to our car by some grass and crepe myrtles so we just sat there, watching them for a minute. Well then something even stranger than having cows in our yard happened. Apparently there's some signal to come home because the owner came out and started yelling and we heard a few gunshots and all the cows came running down the road! There were at least 10 of them plus a bull. It was the craziest thing I've ever seen! I just have to stop and wonder if the men of the old Texas cattle drives had known about that secret signal that made the cows run home, would they have had to have all the cowhands and cow dogs?? It could have been a one-man show! I teach Texas history so sometimes thoughts like that enter my head! Well on the cows' way back to their own yard, they managed to trip over our phone line (phone line isn't buried..I'm not sure why...I can't even come up with a guess!) so now we have no phone line, but this was the perfect excuse for discovering that my dad's wireless Internet reaches our house!

I can't imagine what someone reading this is thinking about where we live! Picture an old dirt road with pasture on one side and woods on the other. Now sprinkle in about 5 houses and evidently some cows, and you've just pictured my world!