Another Snow Day ...

I hate to say anything that makes me sound older than my time but remember back when you were a kid and we actually had to GO to school! Today's is a snow day for Ashleigh. As you can see from the pictures we did get a few flakes but I remember having to shovel snow to get to the bus stop to go to school when I was a kid. I remember having so much snow that we couldn't open the door of our

house and my brother had to climb out the window and remove the snow from in

front of the door so we could get out to go to school. As a kid I LOVED snow days ... back then they were far and few between. Now a days if the weatherman says "chance of snow and ice" meetings gets canceled and school is out. At first I thought school being out was a great thing because there are so many things to do around the house (plus my work-work) I could use the extra hands (Travis stayed home this morning too). However here I sit typing my blog listening to Adam talk to his fish while Travis went back to bed and Ashleigh went outside to play with her friends in the snow before it melts. This has already led to two jacket changes and a couple of glove change outs because the snow is melting so fast! This in turn will lead to more laundry ... sigh ... but she is having fun and that's what snow days are all about! I have to remember that I was a kid once too and spending my snow day helping my mom with chores around the house wasn't exactly my idea of a good time ... I am assuming it's the same for Ashleigh but she hasn't say that ... yet :)

I think I need to take a moment to reflect on what a great daughter I have! She is the most special little girl you could ever imagine and we have the best relationship - ever though she is entering her pre-teen years and we do have some difficult moments :-) Whenever things get rough Ashleigh is always there to pitch in and help - sometimes without even being asked. A few weekends ago I was so stressed out that I took a little break and went to the mall - by myself - well kinda by myself - I had Adam but I went at his nap time so it was fine. When I got home I found that ... on her own ... Ashleigh decided to do all of her laundry and load the dishwasher! I was so proud of her! She does a lot of little things to help out and she doesn't always get the credit she deserves. She does things like sweep the floors, clean the bathrooms, watch her brother, put laundry away, etc. Not all the time but often enough that I notice the extra help she gives me! She has her own standard list of chores but she still helps out with a lot other random things throughout the week and I wanted to take a paragraph and publicly show my appreciation for the very special daughter that I have been given!

Ashleigh says's she is never going to leave us but I think we all say that when we are kids and then we grow up, go to college, meet our husbands, have babies and forget that we broke our parents hearts when we moved away! You don't realize how sad it must have been for our parents until we think of how sad you are going to be when your kids leave ... then it really sinks in and you wonder how you'll ever get through it. My original solution to this problem was that I would just keep having kids like me aunts and then I would always have kids around but I realize at some point I won't be able to do that so I've decided to focus on the prospect of grand kids! What a great thing that will be. I am sure a lot of you are thinking it's crazy to think that far ahead but those of you who know me well know I plan EVERYTHING that far ahead and your probably not surprised :-)