Snow Filled Clothes

Our day started off a little rocky when Carter found out he had a snow day today. He LOVES school and was so bummed it was cancelled! But I knew we’d make the best of it. Both kids were up early and ready to get the day rolling! I personally haven’t been sleeping well this week, I can’t seem to shut my mind off at night lately! But I tried to push the tiredness aside.

I had planned to take only one child to the grocery store today, because I had planned on Carter being at school! I couldn’t really push it off until Thursday, and it was too late for grocery pick up at this point SO, we loaded up for the store. We walked into the store and the first thing Carter sees is this cute Easter display, with some trucks and cars. I saw his eyes light up. We stood and looked for about five minutes, I didn’t want to rush the “you’re not getting a toy today” speech. Not sure if that made it worse or not… oh boy here come the tears. He was so upset he couldn’t get the black police car, which mind you I’m pretty sure we have about five similar police cars… but not like this one! I had to DRAG him away from the toys. As I’m praying to Jesus to give me strength and patience, it was a solid ten minutes of grocery shopping before he finally calmed down. I’m standing at the deli counter and he is just SOBBING. Some days he is so good about when I say “not today.” Today was not one of those days LOL.

I ended up making grocery shopping into a game, and was pretending we were being timed down each aisle we had to go down. It seemed to distract Carter and he was giggling again in no time. But that meltdown before… LORD PLEASE SEND HELP. My patience was already a little low just from other things but I honestly did my best. We got what we needed, and headed home. But then I forgot I needed to stop by the bank, so back in the car we went LOL. Thankfully there were zero meltdowns for the trip back into town.

When we finally got home Carter asked if we could go play outside before lunchtime. I knew it’d help get some energy out. So we bundled up, Payton included, and decided to head out. Only after about 15-20 minutes of Carter diving into the snow, and Payton walking around the driveway trying not to fall, we headed inside. And there we were for another 10 minutes taking off all of our snow-filled clothes.

The kids walked into the living room, and I looked down at the snowy winter clothes on the ground. I couldn’t help but smile. You know when you feel like you just go nonstop, and you kind of forget to enjoy the little things? This was it. Payton’s little snow pants, and Carter’s snow filled mittens, it’s all I needed to see. To stop, take a deep breath, and appreciate the moment. It was only 11:00am and we had accomplished so little yet so much, if that makes sense? I won’t always see those small winter coats and boots on my mudroom floor like this. I won’t always get a chance to be a kid again and roll around in the snow. I won’t always have these two little adventure bugs who love to spend all the time in the world with me either.

So DEEP BREATH. One more. There. You got this. Embrace the moment, even in the chaos sometimes. And don’t let one small thing like a grocery store meltdown ruin the rest of the day. It can only get better from here, and that little pile of clothes proved that for me. I love being your mama Carter and Payton, and I will always be here. God is good, all the time. And all the time, God is good.

Lots of love & God Bless,

-Alyssa