Snow!!! More Snow!

Good morning ladies! We are welcoming you, once again, from a land of snow and ice...normal for many of you but very unusual for us to experience more that once a year. Our house looks a little like this right now (although this was actually the last snow...finally got the pics to work)!

Last time we played a little and schooled a little. This time...I am wavering. Last time all the schools were out, we schooled. On Monday, all the schools were out and we schooled. Today, I am considering a free day...mostly because I want one and have a TON to do! We will see.

One of my big jobs is to decide whether or not to have a party tonight. You see, 8 years ago on January 22, a pregnant me was talking to a friend on Wednesday night. We were discussing the fact that I was 5 weeks away from my due date and laughing because we had not assembled the baby bed, we had no baby book and the stroller we had purchased wouldn't fit in the back of our vehicle. I said that I guessed we had better get things done that weekend. We had weather much like this and the big excitement of the evening was to predict whether or not we would have school the next day. I got up the next morning, about 4 a.m. to, well to take care of business, so to speak, and my water broke. Stunned, I said something like, "Oh my word!" My husband, thinking I had run into the bed...like I frequently did, asked what was wrong and was equally shocked when I told him. We jumped up and started getting ready to go to the hospital, calling our folks, packing a bag, etc. The weather had, indeed gotten bad during the night and we drove to the hospital in the snow and ice (by the way...schools WERE cancelled that day). I didn't really realize the gravity of the situation until they did an ultrasound and predicted the baby to be about 4 pounds. I suddenly realized just how early this baby was coming. On January 23, 2003 at around 10:00 in the morning, our little princess was born. She weighed in at a whopping 5 pounds 9 ounces. She was healthy as a little horse, even if she was little! We got to take her home in only 48 hours and, other than a bout with jaundice and a bili-bed, we never had a single problem. I was so excited to have a little girl after two boys. And she has been an absolute joy. My sweet little princess who loves fashion and baby dolls and crafts but can take any boy who tries to annoy her!

So, this weekend (weather permitting) we will have a few of her closest friends spending the night and celebrating eight years with the sweetest girl in my life!
In other news, I have decided to try to get my family eating healthier. I have been eating vegetarian (mostly) for almost a year and have seen a lot of benefits. I didn't really want to force that on everyone else...but I am starting to really crave an overall healthier lifestyle. I just don't want my kids eating all that food that is killing us as a nation...fat and sugar and chemicals, blah! SO this week, I decided to try out a couple of vegetarian meals on the whole family. Experiment one was Quinoa stuffed bell peppers. I thought they were great. Tigerfan ate his. Everyone else whined and told me they were disgusting! My next experiment was Taco Soup...I held out on telling them it was vegetarian. They did eat...but they were not astounded. I am not giving up. Next week, I have a chili recipe that looks promising...anyone else have some good vegetarian (or better vegan) meals that your family actually appreciates?

Well, I would love to chat forever, but there is breakfast and snow that needs attending to. Hope everyone has a great weekend. Be sure to check out Home Sanctuary for more Coffee Talk.