Winter Blues

We've been suffering with a bit of the winter blues around here. I really do like living in a place where I can fully enjoy all 4 seasons, but well, I'm done with winter. It has been so cold this last week that the thought of leaving my house gives me the shivers. We've been hunkered down in our little cozy house, which is a good and a bad thing. Good because I like my house. I like being here with the kids, crazy as it is. Bad, well, because it is crazy. My kids come up with new ways to make messes. My girls play well together most of the time, but there is also a lot of fighting and crying. I may or may not have worn trackies all week long, and put on makeup only once. I look forward to the day we can venture outside again. Spring is coming soon, right?

On a second note, Nick and I have once again jumped on the "we gotta be a little more healthy" bandwagon. I'm reporting here so we have a little bit more accountability. Our goal is to lose a combined weight of 20 pounds. When that happens, we'll be rewarding ourselves with a little family get away to somewhere warmer than 5 degrees. Like, maybe we could go outside with just a jacket? Oh, it would be so nice. So, that is our motivation. We started a week ago, and did pretty well - 3 pounds were lost between the two of us, but, well, something happened over the weekend and I think we are back where we started. Brownies and tapioca may have been made and consumed.

I just had to share this photo, because it makes me laugh. Maren still needs naps, but often takes an hour or more to finally settle down on her own. I went in one day to find this: She had climbed into Ellie's bed with two (maybe three?) princess barbies, one cabbage patch baby, two princess figurines and a princess book. Kids are so funny.