And more snow....

This is what I saw Sunday morning when I got up to have my quiet time. The full moon was amazingly bright over the trees. It looked so peaceful and lonely. The sky is deceptively dark in the pictures. It was really about 7 in the morning, but I haven't figured out how to get the pictures more accurate. We had another snow storm on Saturday. They called for 2-3 inches for us, and we ended up with 7. It snowed 3 more last night, and they are calling for another "significant event" from the south for Friday/Saturday. We've had 31 inches so far this year. It's been an amazing snow year for Virginia.

I'm officially done (so I hope to post more often), but it doesn't feel like it. Monday was a teacher work day which ended up being delayed and then made optional because of all of the snow. By Tuesday I thought they would go to school for sure since it had snowed on Saturday. As I took Peter to a friend's who lives even farther out than we do, I realized that school Tuesday was not going to happen. The roads out there were still too bad for Virginia school buses. Then, of course, today we have more snow, wet this time and heavy, so they are home again. I am not counting these days as "officially done" days since everyone is still here. For the most part, everyone has gotten along fine. Yesterday two friends came over to help break up the "togetherness." Today we are going to the library, the store, and to see some puppies. That will help. I pray they go to school tomorrow because it looks like we are in for another several days at home from this next storm.

snow part two

The Fultons

Posing on Grandma's driveway

Grandma

Fred's letterman jacket (he lettered in football and academics this fall)

Fun with cousins

It's snowing again so we are all home. We only have about 2 inches today, though. I got up to get ready for school, didn't see any snow on the ground from the upstairs window in the dark, so I proceeded to get ready for work. About 30 minutes later, while folding towels, I thought that perhaps I should check the web site. School was cancelled! There was over an inch of snow on the ground that I hadn't detected from the second story! I tried to go back to sleep, but at that point, I was too "up". Oh well, it's still nice to have a day to do laundry and catch up.

Here are some Christmas pictures. We went to South Carolina the day after Christmas, then stopped at my parents' on the way home on the 30th. It was a great time of togetherness with family.

Snow

Chris digging his way out to play basketball.

Last Friday found us all filled with anticipation. We were supposed to get a MAJOR snow storm. Our big ones always come from the south, and that's where this one was perched, ready to bring us yards of snow. On the announcements at school Friday morning, the principal warned us to take everything with us since school would be cancelled Monday and Tuesday if the storm panned out. We have been disappointed before. But this time, thankfully, there was no disappointment. Snow started Friday evening and kept up all day Saturday. All tolled, we had 17 inches of beautiful snow. I think they cancel school way too quickly for snow here, speaking as a mom, but as a teacher I was as excited as the boys. NO SCHOOL for TWO WEEKS!!! Woo hoo! That extra two days has done wonders for my attitude and my home. I have caught up on sleep that I've been missing. I (semi) cleaned the house. I'm ready for Christmas. This snow was my Christmas gift this year. Because there was so much of it, we'll have a white Christmas for the first time in 21 years. Merry Christmas.

Working

We spent Thanksgiving with some of our favorite people.

I started a long-term sub position last Monday. I don't know how moms do it! Last week was full enough each evening, but to be gone all day on top of it made life crazy. When I subbed at the high school before, I made friends with another English teacher. When I left, she asked me if I would sub for her when she went on maternity leave. I told her "sure." It finally happened. When I went to back to school night, another English teacher was expecting and not due until the first returned to work. I thought I could do it--back to back full time from Thanksgiving through April. As the start day loomed, I realized ( and God convinced me) that that would not be a good thing for anyone. I backed out of the second job, so now I only work until February 1. My first day went so well that I thought, "Maybe I should take the second job as well." Then I got home. Again, God convinced me that being home and taking care of my family is more important right now. In the meantime, I'm Mrs. Sutton. The kids have been great. She is a good teacher and she organized everything for me. It's a great gig. I have learned a new appreciation and sorrow for working moms, though.

Updates

The boys (except for Josiah--confined to a stroller) Caleb, Nathaniel, Ben, Peter, Fred, Joshua and Sam

The Toth children making a pile on Fred

The beginning of the pile--Fred, Tabitha, Caleb, Moriah, with Hannah getting ready to pile on

Ben is 14 today and likes to play with the camera.

The Toth family was here briefly in November. Their son Caleb was a finalist in the Bible Bee in Washington DC. Due to unforseen car trouble, they weren't able to make it back to our house for the weekend, so we headed up to DC to spend some time with them. We toured museums and saw the Declaration, but the most fun, by far, was all 16 of us in a hotel room! The kids had a ball together. We look forward to more visits.

Today is Ben's 14th birthday. He's excited to celebrate with his friends and with family this week. He was born just after Thanksgiving--1:22 am. The nurses put me in overflow and were actually suprised that I was truly in labor rather than suffering from indigestion like the rest of the women there. At that point, I KNEW the difference, especially after laboring all day. I'm so thankful for this young man. God has blessed him and us!

Birthday, or 40 Here I Come

Barbara, Helene, Donna, Paula and Kathy

Tomorrow I turn 40. Chris gave me the best gift ever--a party on Saturday. He missed my 30th. When we lived in Maryland, our group always celebrated 30 and the passing of the cane. It was tradition. We moved here before I turned 30, so I didn't get the cane or the party. I was very sad. Thirty was not a good day for anyone, so Chris was not going to miss 40. He was going to plan a surprise party for me, but decided that he couldn't pull that off, so he told me about it. A surprise party would have been very nice and a LOT less work. As I contemplated how I wanted to celebrate my birthday, I decided that less was more. Initially, I wanted to fly to Ohio for lunch with Liz, then fly to St. Louis for dinner with Cathy. Then enjoy time with my two prayer partners here. Realizing that was probably out of my range (although Chris did check on tickets and encouraged me to go), I decided to pare my list to just 4 couples so that I could actually enjoy time with them instead of trying to mingle with 20. I have to admit that at 2:00 on Saturday I was thinking, "I hope he NEVER wants to give me another party!" By 9 that night, however, I realized that all of the work was totally worth it. This was the best birthday party I've ever had. It was such a blessing. We enjoyed good food and great conversation. My friend Donna came up with a Scattegories game about me. Then she brought out a ball of yarn. She shared what I meant to her, and then passed it to me so that I could talk about her. Then we passed it around the room and made a web. I was so blessed and so humbled. It truly was an amazing night. I'm very thankful for my wonderful husband who would plan this for me, for my precious friends--those who were here and those who were not, and for the love of God poured out in my heart. So now I'm ready to face 40.

Halloween

I have always struggled in some way with Halloween. I wish I could just enjoy it, or not participate, but I seem to be wobbling back and forth. We have had so many fun Halloweens, so I can't say that the day is usually a bad one. This year I was determined that they were not going to trick or treat. Last year they did, and it was a fiasco. Maybe I have control issues???? This year we decided to have a party instead. It was so much fun for all of us and much more satisfying than trick or treat. I gave them money to buy candy, too. I wasn't a total scrooge. Fred had a couple of friends over, Ben had a friend and we had another family (our family away from family). We played games and laughed and ate pumpkin pie and caramel popcorn and caramel apples. This is how I wish every Halloween could be. For one of the games I had everyone blindfolded and handed them bits of food which they had to identify. Even the teenagers enjoyed it.