A Winter's Day

It may no longer be a deep and dark December, but the wintry weather is sinking its teeth deeply into our January as well.  It feels as though we've had more snow days off from school this month than we've actually had on.  And the worst part is, that it's SO freezing, and the snow is not really good for packing, so there's not much for anyone to do outside.  Obviously, that hasn't stopped them from giving it the old college try, but when it takes forever to get all bundled up to go outside and then they only last about 15 minutes in the cold, it certainly makes the hassle (and all the mess once they're done) totally not worth it in my book.  

 I can always count on Ethan to help out with shoveling the snow.  Thank goodness.

As for what else we've been doing to take up our time, allow me to paint a picture: lots of TV, quite a bit of fighting, an occasional game here and there, and one small blip of cooperative creativity and benevolence in the form of a "surprise" for me on Sunday afternoon.  I'm still not quite sure of the WHY behind this act of unity and generosity, but I'll take it!  Hahaha.  Regardless of the motivation or thought process behind the event, I was thrilled to receive a written invitation after church for a relaxing day at the spa, courtesy of the girlie bugs.  

At some point during the morning (or perhaps the evening before?) they had transformed Sophie and Jane's bedroom into the "Spectacular Spa & More."  Complete with just about everything.  Hahaha.  I *think* the initial idea to pamper me was Sophie's, but Grace hopped right on board that train as well, and Jane was just tickled pink to be included in one of the big girls' schemes.  

Unrelated, but how hilarious and adorable is this "snow globe" of Jane that she made at her class party before the winter break???  Hahaha.  I wish the picture did it justice, but it is so cute and she wrote a story to go along with it, too, about what she would do if she were trapped in a snow globe.  It mostly involved a lot of repetition of "if that didn't work, then I'd yell help! and if that didn't work I'd hold up a sign that said help! and if that didn't work, I'd bang on the glass until someone came and then I'd ask for help! and ..." well, you get the picture.  Hahaha.  I'll spare you the actual play by play of the entire story because it was LONG.  ;)

After "signing in" at the front desk (where Grace had hilariously decorated the dresser with pictures of her fake husband and children), I soaked my feet in a relaxing foot bath while Sophie and Grace massaged my calves.  Then, while Sophie gave me a manicure, Grace french-braided my hair while Jane looked on.  The final bit of pampering included a mini-makeover with a facial (which I passed on because I did not want any lotion on my face) and my choice of any of Sophie's lip glosses.  Hahaha.  It was a delight.  And I think they had a blast.  

Hahahahaha.  Grace created a waver for me to sign.

 I'm pretty sure they put pink food coloring in the water to give it a little something extra.

The nail polish, lip balm, hand sanitizer, and lotion station.

As for ME, I had a blast today getting back to work on a quilt I'm making for a friend's baby girl.  I'm working under a bit of a time crunch -- you know, since I subconsciously thrive on chaos -- and I'm racing to try and finish it up by her baby shower next week.  Yikes!  We'll see if I can pull this off.  Although, even if I can't, I can obviously still gift it to her at any time over the next few weeks.  

For the record, quilting math still makes my brain hurt.

And that's all for THIS particular winter's day.  ;)  Now we just need to keep our fingers crossed that there will be NO MORE snow days for the rest of the year!