A look at our world

So I'm gonna try my hand at this blog thing...I'm fairly certain, as much as I love to write, that God did NOT wire me for this century, but I won't give up! 

We woke up to  the most beautiful morning; snow has been falling here for the last couple of days. Always amazes me how a simple coating of white changes the entire perspective of our world. All of the trees are just heavy with snow, and it makes our already still country air just absolutely cease to breathe. We have a stream at the bottom of our driveway (er, make that, small mountainous slope) that literally "babbles". It's an awesome sight. Of course, I'm a realist. Once I closed the front door, my postcard moment was interrupted with the sound of our 4 children arguing over where they'd sit at our breakfast bar. Because, you know, this is a monumental thing to people under the age of 10. (Heavy sarcasm should be noted here!)  In fact, I'm sure I just heard our 4 year old utter..."'I'm too tired to argue". Sigh again.

The kids had their first week of school (3 days, started on Wednesday).  Seems good so far. I really liked the way the school made our kids feel like VIP's coming in....they were all geared up to warmly welcome our small herd of new students. Stephanie is in 3rd grade, and already has made many friends; her class had earned a "crazy" day on Friday, for which she eagerly participated. Melanie, too, has made some friends; one little girl in particular has captured her heart. Emma is apparently a budding Van Gogh like our Mel, so they've clicked very quickly.  And Mel has already gained an admirer...on her first day, a little dude named William said (and this is an exact quote!)  "When I saw that face (referring to Melanie), I said, HOLY COW, I'm gonna like that girl!". Needless to say, we were all pretty amused at this:)

Ryan is beyond thrilled as he is in 1/2 day kindergarten. He goes in the morning, and comes home on the short bus to have lunch with us. Chris has been able to join us everyday for lunch (only 4 miles away) and he was able to witness the first day of Ry getting off the bus. The monumental part of this story is the greeting Ryan received from Kevin. Kev came flying down our (very steep) hill, propelled by the thrill of having his brother home (and the power of some serious gravity pulling him downward!) and tackled Ryan with the biggest bear hug. I'm fairly sure that image will never leave Chris and I.

As for Chris and I, we're just happy that 6 months of separation hasn't changed our relationship. Ok, ok, I'll admit...I did get quite used to feeding everyone cereal for dinner 4 nights a week, and now this whole cooking thing is sending me into the archives of cookbooks buried in my kitchen, but other than that, we've picked up right where we were 6 months ago.

We've been privileged to host some family gatherings, and I'm in my glory. I love playing hostess, and I'm pretty sure the gift of "hospitality" is an inherent part of my being. It's been so wonderful to call on parents, sisters and brothers, and actually connect with them in person rather than just on the phone.

All in all, we are settling in quite well and are trying to re-establish a routine (as if there is such a thing with 4 kids in our world!)