Jack loves his stuffed animals. Red and Piggy (from Angry Birds) and Mickey have the cherished positions in his bed while the others are on top of the cab of his bed. He would have them all in his bed if I let him. There is nothing like your bedtime buddies.

Saturday night Jim and I went out to dinner with friends, so the boys had a babysitter. They hadn’t seen Megan, the babysitter, for a while. While I was getting ready to go, he came in and showed me several notes he had written for her. When we arrived at dinner I noticed the note below in my purse from him. Jim and Will got notes too. He wanted to make sure that we all knew that he loved us. How cute is that?

Early Sunday morning I woke up to a raging sore throat and felt awful. Needless to say, I spent most of Sunday on the sofa. Again, Jack made a personal note for me as he was concerned and hoped it would make me feel better. It certainly raised my spirits but unfortunately couldn’t raise rid me of my illness.

Monday I found out it was strep throat (thanks Oliver) and I started to feel a bit better with the help of antibiotics. Jack told Jim he wanted to make breakfast in bed for me, because “that makes moms feel better, like it does on Mother’s Day.” So this morning I didn’t get full breakfast, but I got orange juice and tea (the best Jim could do on short notice). He wanted to bring flowers too, but since we still have snow in our flower beds, there were no flowers to be found. So instead, I received in a vase a dry sprig from our Christmas wreath that is still hanging on the front of the house. What a good way to wake up.

Jack is truly unique and his sensitivity and care for others is such a blessing. I hope these traits will remain with him forever. His wife and kids will love him for it, as do the rest of us.

1. Watch our San Jose Sharks win their first Stanley Cup and University of Washington Huskies win another National Championship
2. Travel throughout more of the United States — see the Grand Canyon, Alaska, Chicago, Washington DC
3. See Will get his driver’s license
4. Meet my daughters-in-law and see all my grandchildren
5. Watch my boys graduate from college
6. Get my first of many books published
7. Own a horse that lives in a pasture next to our dream home
8. Go to graduate school
9. Participate in, or at least see, a flash mob live
10. Travel more outside the country — visit Iceland, stay in a hut over an ocean, go on a safari

What is on your list?

Saturday – Auntie Steffi, Unkie Paul, Oliver and Finley arrive to find scattered snow flurries. Luckily we were cozy inside watching football games.

Sunday – We woke up to about an inch of snow on the ground. The boys headed out to play in snow – round one. After round 2 of snow on Sunday we ended up with about 4 inches. More fun for the boys!

Monday – A morning of errands for some and more snow play. Then an afternoon of Xbox.

Tuesday – We were supposed to take the kids up to the pass for a little skiing (we were going to keep Jack home from school, but they ended up canceling school), unfortunately we woke up to the pass being closed for six hours. We reworked our plans and went sledding at Snoqualmie Ridge instead, since we had very little snow at our house. Sunday’s and Monday’s accumulations had melted.

Wednesday – No school again and bunches of snow. We took the boys to a small hill in the neighborhood to give the little boys (Will and Oliver) a chance to try out skiing. Unfortunately or luckily depending upon how you look at (airport closed on Thursday) it our visitors headed home.

Thursday – Ice storm. The storm was supposed to be over and instead it got worse. School was canceled again. We had freezing rain all morning and then more snow again in the afternoon and evening. Our power went out at 8 a.m. By 2 p.m. it was 58 degrees in our house. Luckily we have good neighbors who have a generator so we headed there for dinner and much needed warmth.

Friday – The power came on at 12:30 a.m. and the cable came on late morning, so life is almost back to normal. We still have inches of snow on the ground, but the ice is melting. Hopefully school will be back in session by Monday.

We will be back to our normal programming next week.

Photo Credit – Unkie Paul and me

Will looks so cute in his hoodies. He doesn’t mind having his hood up. We were finishing folding laundry the other day in my room and he was playing in the curtain.

• Snuggle time – The time right after my kids wake up from either the night or nap and are warm and snuggly. It just melts my heart to hold them until they wake up and wiggle away.
• Comfort me – When my child looks at me with tears in their eyes with a look that says you are the only one in the world that can make their hurt go away.
• Look of wonder – I love to watch their faces when they see something new for the first time; that look of wonder at the unknown and then the joy of the discovery.
• I understand – There is something amazing about watching my children connect the dots in their mind and figure something out. I can see it in their eyes.
• Reaching for a hand – Even Jack will still reach out to hold my hand as we are walking along. It reminds me that even though he is getting older he still needs me.
• Look at what I found – I have been shown so many surprises. Worms, robots built from Legos, sticks or leaves. These are life’s real treasures.
• Family movie night – We have so many things that pull us in different directions so we make it a point to have regular quiet family time. The boys love movie night, complete with special popcorn.

What are the things you love about being a parent?

It isn’t anything to life altering, meaning I can function normally; I am just not happy. Sure I can put on a happy face for an hour or two, but as soon as we are back home the funk settles in again.

I have been trying to find the source of the funk, since for me that usually helps with getting rid of it. However I haven’t been able to pin point just one thing.

Some of it is the post-holiday let down. You know after all the decorations get taken down and parties are over and life goes back to normal.

Then there is the gloomy Seattle weather. While this normally doesn’t start to get to me until March, I think our constant grey is bugging me. Plus there isn’t any sign of snow and I love the snow.

Next could be the few extra pounds that appeared last month. GRRR! Those are never good for the mindset.

It could also be that the beginning of the year reminds me how fast life goes. Jack is seven. Will turns three in March. And I am 37. While I usually love my birthday and don’t mind getting older, that changed this year and I have started to think about closing in on 40. Ug.

I am also reminded of the things I didn’t accomplish last year and how I want to do them this year, but am having trouble getting motivated.

So put all those elements together and you get funk. Funk usually means a shorter temper, no patience and lack of motivation, all of which don’t help the funk.

I am hoping that the visit from my sister’s family this weekend will help. We always have a good time with them. Paul and I cook fun dishes. I get to see my nephews and spend great time with my sis. Too bad she is still breast feeding, so I am not sure if she will be up for drinking champagne. Maybe champagne, football and Baby Finn will rid me of the funk.

Jack’s 7th birthday was Tuesday. I can’t believe my little boy is growing up so fast. We had cupcakes with friends on Monday night during the Rose Bowl get together. He chose dinner of Five Guys Burgers on Tuesday. Good choice Jack!

• Make photo books of our family photos – I made one for our Disneyland trip and realized that I was making this project more difficult than it needs to be.
• Write the book about Jack – I really am going to complete the book this year. I got all of his medical records last year, so now I need to lock myself in a room and just do it.
• Continue to develop my photography skills – I am hoping to actually take a class or two this year to learn some new techniques.
• Try a new recipe every two weeks – I get stuck in recipe ruts periodically, so this way I can find some new ones for the rotation.
• Have a date night once a month – Jim and I always talk about wanting to do this, but haven’t really executed on it (it’s not as easy since most of our family lives out of state). So I am putting it out there.

I think that is a good list. I want to make it achievable, but also get things accomplished that I’ve wanted to do for some time.

What are your goals for the year?

I am participating in Mama Kat’s Writers Workshop this week.