3 Simple Things: Advent Calendars, Snow, and Sick Duty

Happy Friday everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and that your week has been good. It’s been a busy week for us, hubby is away for business, both girls have been sick, we had a school concert yesterday, and I’ll be playing the part of Mary in a skit on Sunday. Whew! However all the craziness reminds me of a Scotty McCreery song called Dirty Dishes and makes me think of the joys that come with all the chaos. Here are my 3 Simple Things for the week:

Advent Calendars

Along with the busyness of drama practices, Christmas performances, gift buying, and home decorating, it’s also a great time to celebrate the season with my girls. We enjoy our Christmas book reading tradition as well as nightly advent readings. The girls get very excited about opening up a small gift from their advent calendar each evening. We chose to do a LEGO Friends Advent Calendar this year since it was such a hit last year, and we added in a chocolate calendar so each girl has something to open in the evening. Here’s hoping they have a Lego Minecraft advent calendar next year!

Snowy Days

Beautiful first snow of the season. Looks like a winter postcard. #alliscalmallisbright #snow #seattle #burbs

A photo posted by stuffedsuitcase (@stuffedsuitcase) on Nov 11, 2014 at 9:19am PST

Growing up in Kansas means I’m not unaccustomed to snow, but I really don’t like it. Especially in hilly, wet Seattle where it can warm up just enough to start to melt the snow and then cool off again to create a nice ice rink all over your driveway and roads. However, I must say that the beauty of a snow fall truly is a sight to see. The morning of our snowfall I awoke and took our sweet puppy Sophie outside. I wasn’t too sure how she would react and whether she would step into the snow. Turns out she loved the snow!

Sophie's first snow – she loves it! #labradoodle #snow #labradoodlesofinstagram #dogsofinstagram #seattle #winter

A photo posted by stuffedsuitcase (@stuffedsuitcase) on Nov 11, 2014 at 8:06am PST

After watching her play and investigate all the new white stuff, I was amazed at the stillness of the morning. “All is calm, all is bright” rang so true at that moment. How is it that without even opening the curtains there is a brightness to the windows that tells of fresh snow. And all is calm on a fresh snow morning, still in the sunlight. So, even though I still dislike the transportation inconveniences of snow, I found a new appreciation for the beauty of it.

Sick Duty

I’ve considered renaming our home the “Hot Bed of Sickness” after the past week. While others were enjoying Thanksgiving food and fellowship, I was caring for a sick little girl who was running a high fever and getting sick on a regular basis. She continued with her illness and stopped eating which eventually led us to the ER. They were able to treat her and get some glucose and liquids back into her to help her perk up enough to fight the remain virus. Two days later, Grace and I both got bad head colds. At this point you may be wondering where my joy is in all of this. It is this, to realize that I can bring my children comfort in their times of sickness and weakness is a wonderful feeling. I’m also I’m thankful that I am able to take my children into the hospital for care without worrying about the cost.