A Day of Gifts!

My, I feel as if I've been given a gift today! My children went back to school after 5 consecutive days home because of our lovely ice storm. Yes, this is the same type of ice storm that helped me with my little accident three weeks ago Tuesday. The national weather service is no longer calling ice storms in Missouri rare because we are having them so often....sign of the times? We really tried to have as much fun as possible on our days off, but there is only so much one can do when it is 20 degrees outside and everything is covered with an inch of ice. I feel like I live in Narnia where the ice queen reigns, or is she the snow queen? Well, it sure is sparkly outside.Gift #2: It's 9:00am and my youngest is still sleeping! After several attempts at crawling into our bed last night and being taken back to her own room, she finally won and snuggled down into our covers where she has blissfully slept. What a dream!

Gift #3: We never lost power during the ice storms for more than a couple hours during the night, and so we have no damage to repair, no black smoke to clean off the bathroom walls from using candles, and no propane heaters to put away. My house is warm and cozy and actually pretty tidy. :)Gift #4: I got a call from Mama Jibson last night! It just happened to be minutes after I got done yelling at a child for being sassy and rude and splattering paint water all over my sink, cupboard, counter, dishes and fruit all because this child didn't want to help clean up. Mama Jibson must have been prompted my the Holy Ghost to call me. She reminded me that I too used to be a silly little girl and she told me how wonderful I am and how much she loves me. I guess I need to start my New Year's resolution over and say from February 14th and on I will try to speak lovingly to my children no matter the situation. We live and we learn and tomorrow is a new day.


Gift #5: It's Valentines Day and I get to go to TWO fun parties at school. There, I will secretly eat cookies and candies without William's knowledge.Gift #6: William is off work today and home with me! Cancel that, he just got a call and is leaving around lunch time.

Gifts to my children this week:
We went to Incredible Pizza on Ice Storm Day #1. To our delight there was NOT a bus in sight (school was not in session) and we were one of about 6 cars in the entire parking lot...PARTY! There, we gorged on pizza, pop, slushies, ice cream, pasta, cookies....watched old movies....played arcade games and won tickets.....got silly prized that have all broken by now....and then for good measure shoved some more food in our mouths before exiting the building. I think this is the very reason I gained yet another 2 pounds in one week.
We had a tea party on Ice Storm Day #2. We daintily ate heart shaped egg salad sandwiches, orange slices, crumpets (animal crackers), rice pudding and fruit slushy. The girls thanked me for the gift of juice instead of herb tea. Yes, I'm in my pajamas still. Why get dressed when you won't be going out?All four children got to join me for my weekly doctor's appointment on Ice Storm Day #3. I loved the looks I got as I walked in like a mother duck, waddling with my big belly while four children followed along. Several people actually asked if they were ALL mine. The girls were ecstatic to finally be able to HEAR the baby's heartbeat after seeing him somersault in my ever-growing belly. While waiting for the doctor, we weighed all the children and measured them. Fully clothed with shoes on the statistics are as follows: Claire, 67 lbs and 54 inches. Jane, 57 lbs and 51 inches. Hank, 37 lbs and 40.5 inches. Kate, 31 lbs and 36 inches. I weigh almost three times as much as Jane. Only 3.5 weeks left!

And finally, my gift to give today....for Mama Jibson. I will now allow anonymous comments to be posted on my blog so I may receive the gift that you have to give each time you want to share with me. Thanks for the call, I loved it!

What gifts large or small have you been given this week?