jennyjennygenesis
homemaking, homeschooling, and striving for holiness
Is it Summer Yet?
I know it’s a necessary part of the year, winter. The time when everything gets frozen to death, mosquitos and other bothersome bugs. I know it’s a blessing -even if it is in disguise. I love Jack Frost’s amazing lacy designs he posts on my windshield. I DO. But then there is reality, and when it is this cold, there is a part of me that wants to scream. Screaming wouldn’t really do any good, I know- but in solidarity with all my fellow stay at home mothers who homeschool, I know how much you depend on these precious words: “Everyone, OUTSIDE!” And to those of you who, like me, don’t have a huge rec room complete with a trampoline and hanging ropes for the children to wear themselves out….I send you my dearest sympathies. This sucks. I know probably when my baby is 7 or 8 I will look forward to snow- take them all sledding for hours on end….but at this point it’s a little touch and go. I can drop children at the sled hill and sit in the van praying no one breaks any limbs off, and keep the hot chocolate in a thermos to distribute as the little ones wander back with wind chafed cheeks, to which I kindly supply a generous shmear of Bag Balm as quickly as possible, so they don’t complain. And then try to encourage them to go back for more. The baby sure is a hindrance to many an activity as much fun as she is, she doesn’t love being cold, and I don’t love hearing her scream. I am a believer in the younger children in a large family are smarter than your average child. My baby is aware of her influence on the household in a profound way. She uses her voice to dictate the outcome of many situations everyday. She is smart as a whip I tell you. And I am at her whim.
The winter comes with dreams of putting an addition on our house or moving to a larger one. The space our back yard provides creates an actual acceptable size home for our family. With the back yard covered in snow it feels like we were all forcibly shoved into a tiny sandwich sized ziplock bag. And sealed in. I hate running the furnace and feeling all dried out and stuffy. I much prefer the cool breeze blowing though open windows. Man, am I a complainer or what? No- really I am thankful for my house and the warmth it brings. It’s just that I am becoming aware of the tightness of this place, and how full our life is, indeed.
The spring will come, and I am inspired to organize and redecorate as much as possible the inside of the house so when it is nice out I won’t feel like I need to do spring cleaning, just spring playing! Going to the park, bike riding, and playing lots of outdoor soccer games. Sandboxes, planting the garden, fixing up the fort, hanging laundry out to dry on the clothesline, ahhh, the many beautiful things about warm sunny days.
SO, folks, that’s my take, on winter. I love looking at how clean it makes everything look, I love ice skating ,and would skate everyday if I could, but the rest of it kinda stinks. What do you like about the season changes? Tell me your favorite snowy activity. Really, I need inspiration.
jennyjennygenesis 
It is definitely Winter today & i’m going to take your mom either:
a) to see beautiful, frozen Boulder Falls
b) to hike (likely not more than 10 minutes) in Chataqua Park
c) to explore an abandoned insane asylum barely visible as you drive up Arapaho (a friend told me how to get there)
d) to the salt spa (i got a 2 for 1/2 price groupon)
e) to Eldorodo Canyon to visit Serena and her 4-yr old Isabella
or
f) none of the above because it is too cold so we’ll stay in cleaning and cooking and watching tv until it’s time to go to the airport.
Really the choice is up to my mom.
Taking my lovely lady to a cottage on a little lake in the woods with a bearskin rug and wood cackling in the fireplace. We go ice skating in the brisk air, lay in the snow banks and come refreshed to red wine, some good cheese and a lazy nap as we watch the late afternoon sun glare off the snowflakes through the glazed ice window. We wake to find a door that is unopenable because the snowdrift outside is so deep.
It’s hard to really enjoy winter if you have a little baby to care for. I hadn’t realised this (although I’m a mother of now grown up son) until I read your post. I guess in a few years once they’re all on their feet you will be able to join in the sledging and other outdoors fun? Until then I’m not sure what to suggest 🙂