Happiness

The good- Asher gave me such a sweet hug today. I love hugs early in the morning! The bad- Nothing The beautiful- Seeing the blue, blue sky after a long time of it being cloudy and grey and feeling the sun on my face! This is my blog. My name is Megan Abbott.

Josh requested some art work to decorate his office. This is what Elizabeth came up with- pretty cheery, huh? On another note, today is baby Charlotte's birthday. She is my sister's little baby girl and would be two years old today. She passed away on June 27th. We all love and miss her terribly. Our prayers are with you, Molly and family! This is my blog. My name is Megan Abbott.

Elizabeth's teacher at Church dropped this cute decorating kit off at our house a while ago. Elizabeth loved it! I let her do it sans brothers and she had a blast! They were yummy too! Elizabeth decorating! Elizabeth with her finished product! P.S. Happy Birthday, Amber!!! We are so glad that you have married our cute little brother David! Even if you call him Dave. That's okay. We understand!

Background: Elizabeth likes to whisper secrets in my ear that she doesn't want the boys to hear. Like "Can we bake something today, Mom?" If the boys hear it they will yell- "Yes!! Let's do it now!!" and "What are we gonna bake?" and "when? Now?" and I have no idea what the answers to those questions are (?, no, not now!) Asher also likes to whisper secrets in my ear, but whenever he does it, it is too quiet for me to hear. Usually I ask him to say it louder and he says it normally. This time I didn't. I just nodded: uh-huh. And he left excitedly. What did I just agree to? Obviously something to do with pants. Minutes later he came to the top of the stairs with no pants on and said "I need help!" Turns out he wanted to wear the extra pair of clothes he carries to preschool-in case of emergencies. He was decked out in everything new- new shirt, new underwear, new pants and new socks. Maybe it was good that I updated what he t...

Today the kids are having their Valentines Day parties, AND it's the 100th day of school. They were so excited about it that that was all they talked about at dinner last night and they woke up at 6 am this morning. They didn't even wake up until ten to 7 am on Christmas morning. A very exciting day for them today!

So, I'm going PUBLIC! Welcome to my blog, world! I'm excited to be here! Every Thursday I want to blog about something good, something rough that happened that week and something Heavenly Father blessed me with. Here's this week's: Good: Asher's warm little hand pressed into mine on a cold and snowy day. Bad: My twins waking each other- and me- up last night. As I was laying down with Ethan at 3:30 am, he says "Jonah!" Jonah sleepily says "what?" "Knock. Knock." (I'm thinking- what is going on?) "Who's there?" Jonah can barely eek out. "Nothing." "Nothing WHO?" "Nothing. Never mind." Aaahhhh!! Five year olds! Blessed: Pillow fighting with three little boys! This is my blog. My name is Megan Abbott.

I know I promised another installment of our love story, but I'll get to that later. I just wanted to write about how my session with Joe went today. It went really well. It's funny because most of the time he talks and I listen. He tells me about his other patients and asks me what to do about them. I guess I've been going to Counseling so long and since I am a good listener, he uses me for advice. Also, he says I'm normal 95-98% of the time and the few times I need him, I call but he's never there. We talked about blogging. He said that it would be neat if there was a blog, where all the people who felt like they weren't living up to their potential could go and cheer and support one another- like a big online therapy session or something. I think, in a way, we already do that. You know how popular blogs are with Mormon women- especially Mormon Moms. I mean, there is even a blog out there that makes fun of the whole craze (www.seriouslysoblessed.blogspot.com)....

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins My rating: 4 of 5 stars Josh told me that someone had said this series of books was better than Twilight. I don't really agree with that. They weren't better than twilight- but they are the best thing SINCE Twilight! I loved them and read them within two weeks! A little more aggressive/violent details and less romance than I would have liked, but that's okay. View all my reviews >>

Our Love Story: Part III, Our first date. Josh knew that the ball was in his court. I had come over to his apartment, alone, and talked to him. He knew that I would not make another move, without him showing at least some interest. So, he made the decision to come and ask me on a date. A problem occurred when another guy was in my apartment- Dan- playing scrabble with me, when he wanted to ask me out. I saw him walk by the window. "Yay! Please come in! Please!" He kept walking. Then he turned around and came in. Dan and I continued playing and we talked a while. Josh brought up the date subject nonchalantly "So...a bunch of us are going to see a comedy troupe tomorrow night. Do you guys want to come?" I looked at Dan and said "Yes! That would be great!" or something to that effect (Dan and I were at the seeing other people stage of our relationship.) Dan said "Nope. That's okay." He knew I was interested. Then, Dan and Josh started talki...

Every Friday I want to Highlight someone else's blog. Here you go: One Crazie Lady at onecrazielady.blogspot.com. This blogger is awesome! She is a Mother of one and has a great love of anything cupcake. From my understanding, it all started with cupcake bites (www.bakerella.com/cupcake-bites-made-easy) and then she started a cupcake club, where she delivers themed cupcakes to your home for only 50 cents a pop. This certain cupcake lady has now become Elizabeth's Church teacher. In the class are 2 other 7 year old girls. They love her! Friday Cupcake lady told me that she had something to drop off for Elizabeth. I thought it was a tutu. For some reason. I guess tutus have been on my mind lately. Turns out it was Elizabeth's own Valentines Day Cupcake kit- cupcakes- I should have known!-complete with 6 vanilla cupcakes, two flavors of frosting and 4 toppings. Wow! I saved it for her until quiet time and let her decorate until her hearts content while the boys were in the roo...

I just picked up our Valentines Day Dinner at the store today- 2 T-bone steaks (one for Josh and the rest for us to split), baby red potatoes, a good salad mix, good poppyseed dressing and all the good stuff for a chocolate fondue pot. I love Valentines Day! Have I said that before? Although I always feel a little bit guilty when I say that. Shouldn't I love Christmas more? Christmas encompasses your whole life it seems- the music, the decorations, the food, the family. It's wonderful and yet it can be a little overwhelming at times for me. Give me a holiday where it comes just for a short time, where I get to spend time with just Josh or just my kids, where I get to eat chocolate, smell roses (my middle name is Rose- so I am especially partial to them. Should we name a girl Rose if we have another one?) and watch romantic comedies? Yep, that's the Holiday for me! My only regret is that I live in a state that snows in February- I don't like being cold- and that Sees Ca...

but all we can really talk about is the snow! Luckily we were able to make Valentines Day crafts- a crown, treat bags, snow crafts- snow scoopers and do some baking- heart sugar cookies- while the snow came down! Sadly, the kids school Valentines Day parties were all missed- maybe they will reschedule them for next week! Here are more pics of the snow. There may be a storm headed here for Monday. If school is closed on Tuesday, it will be crazy! Happy Valentines Day, everyone!

We made it through the snow! We got another 10 inches of snow Wednesday and that won us the record for the most snow ever in one year for D.C. The last time we got this much snow was in 1899. 55 inches! We'll be seeing white until March! Here's what the kids do while it's snowing (they play school and Elizabeth is the teacher.)

As if 30 inches of snow wasn't enough, we are on another storm watch for this evening and tomorrow! 10-20 inches are expected to fall. School is closed for the week and Monday is President's Day! Wednesday was supposed to be the 100th day of school. Friday was their Valentines Day parties. In a town where we usually get 6 inches of snow a year and to get 24 from the first storm, 30 from this storm and ten from this one, we have nowhere to put the snow! Literally! Townhomes have especially been hit hard since they have more street than yard. People clear off a parking spot and put a chair or garbage bin down to save their spot. People from Wisconsin say "Break out the snow blowers!" Snowblowers? What snowblowers? Most people don't have snowblowers! This happens once every 10-15 years! It should be a fun week this week!

Here are some pictures of the fourth biggest snow storm ever to hit the Washington D.C. area! There's no Church today and everyone is trying to shovel out of the deep!

So, the weather forecasters talked up this storm all week! 12-36 inches of snow, with winds and everything! Schools let out early on Friday, the Federal Government let everyone out early. Even Josh's firm shut down at 1 pm. He got home at 2 pm. We happily turned on a movie, broke out the popcorn and waited for the snow to hit. It started slowly around 11:30 pm with a crazy drop in temperature and kept coming down slowly. At six pm we only had an inch on the ground. We laughed it up. This is the big storm? Oh, so big! We are so scared! Four hours later, a couple more inched and the lights began to flicker on and off. Hmm... a little more scary. This morning I have never seen so much snow in my life! It's like a story book. If you picked up Asher and put him in the snow, it would reach up to his chin. It took me a half an hour to shovel a small pathway in the two and a half feet deep snow. We're not laughing anymore! This is my blog. My name is Megan Abbott.

Here comes more snow! They predict 16-20 inches on Friday and Saturday. Everyone is running to the grocery store and events are being rescheduled! I am grateful that we usually have a weeks supply of food- and extra food storage- that I don't have to be too worried when a big storm is supposed to hit!

Here's Ethan behind a bubble from his bubble machine. Ashe is trying to pop the bubble and Jonah doesn't want him to! The hat Jonah is wearing used to be mine when I was little. Jonah! Hilary, I practiced your zooming in and natural lighting- what do you think? Snow in front! Snow in back! Today is a snow day! We went to a Math Night at the school last night and it started snowing right before we left. Snow had been predicted. I didn't even know - I was informed of this by at least three teachers at school yesterday when I went and volunteered. "It's supposed to snow tonight and Saturday!" one teacher gleefully exclaimed. Another teacher: "it's really supposed to snow tonight!" and the third one- when I was picking up the kids from school- "Any news on the weather?" Nope. I don't really have a ton invested in what the weather is like. Yes, my kids stay home but that's about it. The snowflakes came down slowly starting at 6 pm a...

Well, everyone- it's a new month and with it I am analyzing my goals for this year: Running, so that I will be prepared to run a 5k. Check. Working on the Happiness Project with resolutions each month. Change. Instead of doing the resolutions the author of this book has set, I have decided to do my own. Each month will be different! This month I am working on my weakness of comparing myself with others. I will do this by comparing myself only with myself. How am I doing this week as compared to last week? I've written down things I would like to accomplish each week: playing with my kids, keeping the house clean, etc. and I will strive to do those things each week- not comparing myself to other's strengths and abilities- but my own. Here's to a great February! This is my blog. My name is Megan Abbott.