Improvise

Yesterday morning at 6:45 my alarm went off.  I sat on the edge of the bed and mumbled to Jonathan, “can I have the morning off?”  Sometimes I find getting the kids off to school the most daunting task.  I think it is because I am still half asleep, and I hate fighting them to get going.  I guess one would suppose after many school days the phrase, “how come you don’t have shoes on, or please eat your breakfast” would no longer have to be uttered.  They do.  I say them every morning.  In fact, sometimes I say them very loudly.

I did not take the morning off.  I got up, and got them going.  I made breakfast, and almost packed them a lunch.  Then Stella decided that she would like to try the ham and cheese sandwich that the school would be serving, so I talked Jex into is also.  At 7:45 we were out the door, and as I was driving I noticed the snow flurries begin to fall.  I waited in the car line, and told the kids I loved them as they jumped out of the car.

By 8:00 I was back home carrying around a very grumpy 15 month old, and by 8:15 the snow was really coming down.  At 8:20 I turned on the news and I knew it was time to take action.  It was time to go back and get the kids, and ten minutes later I got a text from the school saying they were closing at 9:00am due to weather.

Thanks so much school district.  I could have taken the morning off.  Next time there is threat of snow, I am just letting them sleep in.  I am just glad I didn’t make lunches that would have given me something to be really bitter about.

…and as Jex walks back through the door at 9:00am he says, “we are going to be going to school until July.”  I thought to myself that he was right.  If this crazy weather doesn’t let up you will.

My plans this whole week have been up in the air.  I planned to make it out to one of my favorite fabric stores.  I  have this sample I have been staring at and want to make pillows out of.  I had a play date scheduled, lunch with a friend, and funeral to go to.  I also need to get to the grocery store so I can finish my kids Valentines, and make food for the a super bowl party tomorrow.  Oh, and we have been invited to a friends for dinner tonight, and I needed ingredients for the dish I planned to take.  I also wanted to take some Love Photos of my kids this week.

SICK KIDS AND SNOW CHANGED ALL MY PLANS!!

I literally canceled almost everything that I had on my social calendar, and lets not forget my to-do list.

That is when it is time to improvise.

My plans were to go downtown with the kids for a fun photo shoot.  When it started to snow yesterday, I decided to take action and just cross something off my list.

Sometimes plan B turns out great, and you are grateful that plan A didn’t work in the first place.

The snow in the backyard seemed a great backdrop for Our Love photo shoot. (remember I already took pics of Tess.)

I had a lot of fun with Stella.  She really plays with me, and most of the time I just have to capture her being herself.  She loves to play up to the camera.

Here are a few of my favorites.

I think she loves pictures so much because I let her wear some of my jewelry and lip gloss.

I love the small little flecks of snow that are falling down.

She makes photography fun.  I love coming in and plugging these pictures in to my computer and being so pleased with the results.  A good subject really makes great photos.

The boys are never as fun to photograph.  They say things like, “okay, but only one photo”, and “are we done yet?”  I never seem to get all I want out of them.

After I loaded them and started looking I reminded myself that although they don’t play with me, that I am so grateful that I captured them today.

They are mine, and I am taking these pictures as a reminder of what I love about them right now.

I love that Jex looks so grown-up, and I was actually so happy with the few that he let me snap.

Isn’t he awesome flashing his “I love you” sign.

It was a good reminder of what I wanted these pictures to represent.

…and I was positive I had nothing good on Isaac.

….and then he looked at me with those eyes and I was smitten.

He makes me just want to pucker up and smooch him back.

Now I have something to cross off my list:

take Love photos in the month of February

make Valentines for the kids

 

I also crossed one more thing off my list.

Record what you love about your kids in the month of February

Done, Done, and Done!!

I made a scrapbook page for each child yesterday using these photos.  I wrote about them and what I love about them.

I will post the pages and thoughts tomorrow.  It’s just too much for one day.

I guess I am grateful we were snowed in.  I crossed some of the important things off my list.