THE FLYING V'S

I'm the first person to admit that the months of January and February are pure torture. I've always had a sleeve filled with a few tricks to surviving the gloomy, grey, inversion filled days. But this year I re-discovered my favorite coping mechanism for the winter blues.

Thanks to a rockin crowd of fellow moms who were willing to take the initiative to organize a Friday ski club, I've been sailing through the past 60 days of expected melancholy. This has been one of my easiest winters to survive and I succeeded with the recruitment of 6 fantastic friends.

Friday mornings we meet at one of the "mom" houses with ski gear and toddlers in tow. One mom stays home with the 8 miscellaneous children (ages 5,5,4,4,4,2,2,1) while the rest of us pack our ski gear into a minivan and head to our playground - Snowbasin. We jam in as many John Paul or Needle runs as we can get our freshly waxed skis down. We hunt for untracked powder or fresh groomers from 9-noon and when our legs have given way to fatigue, when our laughter has echoed through the gondolas, and when the girl talk has filled our buckets we pile back into the minivan and head back to reality. 1pm kindergarten pick up gets underway after snatching up our little ones from the designated sitter and we re-commit to next Friday. We've had 9 solid weeks of empowering ourselves, pushing our skills, and strengthening our connection as fellow mothers and women who love the outdoors. It's totally worth babysitting 8 kids for a few hours twice this season and I wouldn't have traded my last 9 Friday's for the world.

Thanks Ladies!!!

Shout out to Jan, Jami, Jessica, Natalie, Lori, and the occasional visitor Casey... may our next few weeks continue with love, laughter and good old double diamond powder runs.

You can follow us on Instagram:

@findingsday

or

#momskiclub

#theflyingVs

THERE IS SUNSHINE IN MY SOUL TODAY

Oh how my soul is singing as the rays of sun are warming my body. March has greeted us with equal parts lion and lamb.

The weather has brought the perfect balance of spring skiing powder runs on the weekend and warm park days in between. Today the sun was beckoning me and the children out to the backyard.

The kids are such an entertaining age right now and it makes for guaranteed laughable moments each day. We played, bounced, danced, and laid on the trampoline for hours today. The blue sky and white tufted clouds were perfect laying on our backs in a heap and finding alligators, ducks, and lizards in the sky.  We rolled up our sleeves and let the sun kiss our skin while we kissed each others cheeks.  Spring is here and so is the funnest stage of toddlerhood, together they're going to make the perfect combination for a supreme summer.

 WELCOME SPRING 2014

BEHAVIOR BAROMETER

After a long three years of feeling like I was drowning in motherhood and well, drowning in life really.... I feel like I've come up for breath. I'd even go as far to say that finally I feel like I'm backstroking my way across the Atlantic and I've got my three little baby ducks cruising behind in my wake. 

But today felt a little more like chasing wild barracuda in a hurricane! 

I knew my kids were tired after a late night adventure the night before, and I knew Rider was potentially coming down with a cold. But I wasn't prepared for the naughtiness and chaos that unleashed on my poor unsuspecting neighbors. When some neighborhood moms offered a warm seat in the sun to chat for a moment before getting kids home for naps - I obliged. Poor ladies, I'm sorry to have unleashed my boys on you. 

I feel like I have a pretty good system down at home and the kids know the rules, they know what's expected of them and for the most part they behave like normal 4 and 2 year olds. Not to mention that we have a time out spot and "system" in place at home, but I swear they go berzerk as soon as we leave the house! 

Suddenly all three kids (including my very capable of sharing 4 year old) could not share or take turns if their lives depended on it. Layla reverted back to an 18 month old of screaming, pouting, and whining. Owen would.not.stop climbing on top of his siblings in order to force himself in the little people car, of which was not big enough for two kids. And Rider whined the entire time until he pooped his pants. Suuuuper. 

I decided to corral them into the car one by one in an attempt to get outta dodge as soon as possible. That backfired. Rider was all over the front seat - hazard lights on, windshield wipers full blast dumping baggies of goldfish crackers in every nook and cranny available. Owen went kicking and screaming (and head butting... seriously never put your face near his when he's in a mood) into the car, and once there, poured diet coke all over the seats. Double suuuuuper. 

They make me afraid to leave the house sometimes because they have the potential to be award winningly sweet or mind blowingly naughty and I never know what I'm going to get. Would someone please invent a barometer to predict the behavior of my children? Thanks. I'll pay you in lifetime supply of dirty diet cokes. 

BUT I TOOTED

She's beyond obsessed with two things in this life.

1. Purple

2. Frozen

I'm pretty sure I could recite the lyrics to the Frozen soundtrack in my sleep, with my hand tied behind my back, a gun to my head and being dragged down the road behind a kidnapper van. 

It'. all.we.listen.to

ALL DAY

I love that she loves it so much. 

I'm just happy she finally likes something as much as she likes purple. 

3:49 IS THE BEST. 

Brush it off sister and change the subject... way to go girl.

We told her we'd make a CD of her own singing that she could listen to... that explains 3:11.
Her facial expression! Need I say more. 

YEAR OF THE HORSE

Last week was Chinese New Year and we celebrated the only way the Day Clan knows how...
over the top.

This is a long standing tradition that Kday and I cherish for numerous reasons, all of which have to do with Layla's adoption story and heritage. I hope to always instill a love and respect for her Chinese lineage. And let's be honest, who doesn't love an extra holiday to celebrate every year!?

Kday's mom always out does herself with the table decorations and prizes for the games. Chinese Bingo is a must.

With awesome prizes like these sweet shades Uncle Clay won.

The boys ate their weight in M&M's (or Rider calls them M-O nem nems), we ate our weight in chinese food and we celebrated through the night. Fortune sticks were drawn and I think I sealed my fate. We'll see, I may have made an illegal wish because I wished for something to happen next year... and my fortune said my wish wouldn't come true. It did however say a business wish would come true... do I dare predict again? Especially since I've sworn off more adoptions? Meh, who believes in that kinda stuff anyway. OH WAIT. I do! Like 100% believe in it because it predicted Layla 5 years ago and then again with the boys 2 years later! Eh, whatever. It also mentioned that someone seeks revenge against me for an imaginary wrong... yikes.

CHEERS TO THE YEAR OF THE HORSE!

IF THERE EVER WAS A VILLAN....

Dear January,

I loathe you.
But I will retaliate tomorrow. 

The end. 

I almost made it through the perils of a gloomy, cold, wet January unscathed. With less than 48 hours to  crossing the threshold into February,  the wrath of winter blues snuck in. My children and mother were the unsuspecting recipients of my tantrum. By 4:26 pm I had eaten through a half a bag of chips and cried all my makeup off. I knew the last 24 hours of January would be bearable because of my ski club and the glorious 10 inches of fresh powder I'll be shredding tomorrow morning... but getting to tomorrow felt like trudging through 45 miles of lava, uphill, and barefoot. So I did what any other defeated mother of three squalling toddlers would have done... wrestled the kids into their car seats and headed for freedom. Boondocks. I shelled out $15 for an hour of survival while the kids climbed around the indoor play zone. It was enough time to pull myself together,  buy a $5 pizza and chose to survive 24 more hours until the sweet relief of the sanity February brings. Good bye January. You scored one on me... but I plan to retaliate with friends, powder skiing, and a family date to Fiiz, the new fandangled soda shop in town.

IN BABY TALK - IT'S REALLY ONLY 24 MONTHS

Ohwee Bear is 2. 

I don't feel like talking about it. 

If I had my way he'd be a newborn forever. 

And if you ask him how old he is... he speaks the truth of my heart, "Baby." 

I love him for giving me pregnancy.

I love him for giving me labor and delivery.

I love him for being strong willed enough to ignore my infertility and demand to grow inside me.

I love him for giving me hope.

He is a force to be reckoned with...

January 2013

February 2013

March 2013

April 2013

May 2013

June 2013

July 2013

August 2013

September 2013

October 2013

November 2013

December 2013

This wild little man loves anything to do with bikes, outdoors and dogs.

When he's having a hard day I usually find him with his best friend. Kashi is so patient with Owen's energy. 

He cries a lot... always has, I'm sure he just feels stifled about 100% of the time because he likes to live larger than life and he's stuck inside a two year old size body. 

His spirit is bursting at the seams to bust out of the confines of a toddlers physical limitations.

Owen reminds us of an ever faithful and loving puppy, he wakes up bouncing and ready for fun at any moment of the day.

He rarely leaves our side and is most happy to go anywhere and do anything with mom and dad.

He loves to work. 

He's every bit me and every bit Kday, and how that works I have no idea. 

He's all things opposite.  (which is also me and Kday)

Stubborn and sweet

Hard and soft

Wild and snuggly

Non stop and sleep

Independent and needy

Fast and slow

Charming

Brave

Social

Open

Busy

Busy

Busy

But just like his mom... there's no such thing as too much love and attention. 

And just like his dad... there's no such thing as too much time on the bike or playing in snow.

Owen came to this life to live it to the fullest and we're merely trying to keep up.

xoxo - love to you little blondie.

Happy Birthday my Ohwee Bear.