Definitely a white Christmas!

I know, I know, it's been DAYS since I updated! I'm so sorry!! This week has been a whirlwind ~~ but look what happens when Mother Nature decides it's time for everyone to slow down:


Yep, we got *walloped* with snow last night. We knew it was coming....for many days they were saying we were going to get 8-12" last night. When we got home from Cub Scouts at 8:30 last night, there was nary a flake in sight. We woke up to about 11" of snow & school closings galore, including our district. Yay!! I sooooo needed a day to catch up! The above picture is my kids helping dad clear the driveway. If you look closely (you can click on the pic for a larger view), you can see a lot of white on Michael's hat (the one in the foreground). That's because he throws the snow up in the air instead of to the side, lol. It might take dad a bit longer than usual to clear that driveway!




Just for perception, I took a whole bunch of pictures ~~ here is my little flagpole ~~ looks a lot littler since half of it is buried in snow!




Here is my front walkway, lol!!




Here's our swingset ~~~ the snow on the trees DOES look beautiful. But can you see the bluebird house?? It looks about 2 feet tall!!




Here's my deck ~~ the box is my planter. I should have put a ruler in it before I took this picture.


Yeah, all the pictures kind of look the same ~~~ white! LOL!! I'm dedicating this to all of you living in the south. Just look what you are missing out on!!

I also wanted to tell you about the job situation. I told you I was torn between a steady, almost FT job at the school district office, & staying on as a sub. Well I decided to stay on as a sub. The other job was just too many hours, & wouldn't have allowed me to volunteer at all. I love helping out, & Michael's only going to be in kindergarten once (I hope!). It's important to me to be as involved as I can. Well, as it turns out, one of the special needs aides at their school ~~ whom I had worked for a lot recently due to her & both her kids being sick ~~ is taking a family leave of 8 weeks. Her little 3 yr old daughter broke her leg last weekend, & will be in a full cast for 8 weeks. I'm so sad for her, especially this time of year ~ what a Christmas for her :( But it's good for me because they asked me to be her sub! So I will be working steady hours (which means a steady paycheck!!) until February 9th. I am going to get licensed & get some medical training so I can work with *all* of the kids (there are some with medical needs that as an unlicensed sub I can't be with). The best part is, it's in the afternoon, so I can still help out in the mornings. So I'm excited. I feel guilty for being excited, but unfortunately that's the life of a sub. I get to work when others are sick or hurt.

Along with that comes the "how am I going to get everything done?". Which brings me back to the snow day today. All week I've been trying to finish up my Xmas shopping in the morning, & be at school in time to eat lunch then go to work. So everything I bought is just thrown into my closet. Today is a day of wrapping, cleaning (my house has been very neglected), laundry (dirty clothes have been even MORE neglected), baking & gosh, maybe even some stamping!! I'm battling a killer headache today, hopefully it will go away soon. But I've still got the weekend so hopefully I will get everything done I need to!!!

To all of you in the midwest ~~ stay warm & dry, & take caution when shoveling this heavy stuff!! Have a great weekend!!