Baby it's cold outside

It's a good thing I usually do my blog posts at night. If I had attempted to type this post this morning after walking with Randie, it would have been ugly. We met at 5:15am and it was a chilly 24 degrees. It proceeded to get even colder while we walked - or at least that's what accuweather.com says happened. I eventually was able to bend my fingers again, but I'm not sure I ever really got warm in my core today. But all coldness aside, I'm still really glad we went. If I have to do this morning exercise routine, at least I have some really great people with whom to do it!

So since it was so cold today, I decided to post some snow photos from the Christmas break. I took these with my awesome new zoom lens.

Eli trudging up the hill while Rachel takes a break.

Isaiah walking with Caleb and catching a snowflake on his tongue.

Rachel borrowed Caleb's snowboard and gave that a shot.

Eli loved the snow. He would stay out until his face and hands were pretty much raw and loved every minute of it!

I was home for about 3 minutes this afternoon after picking up the boys from school and snapped this picture out the kitchen window:

Mornings might not be so bad

Morning is not one of my favorite parts of the day. In fact, it's in the running for my least favorite part of the day. I have been a night owl for as long as I can remember. It's not uncommon for me to start a project at 9pm that will certainly take several hours to complete. Even though it's not something new, I think the reason behind staying up late has changed over the years. As a wife and mother of 3 kids, the main reason I stay up now is because it's quiet. I think I suddenly get a burst of energy once it isn't being sapped by constant chatter and questions. I don't know how accurate this is, but it's my theory anyway.

But I digress... So mornings = bad in my book. But what I also have discovered as a mother of 3 active kids is that if I don't get up early to exercise, it's just not going to happen. It really was a sad day when this knowledge kicked in a few months ago. So basically I'm a night owl by nature, but an early bird by necessity.

So this morning - the morning of my mom's 61st birthday - I was up by 4:45am and on a treadmill at the Y by 5:10am. I was back home an hour later sitting at the dining room table reading "Jesus Calling" by Sarah Young. After I wrapped up my reading and woke up Isaiah for school, I glanced out the sliding glass doors to our deck. Light was slowly creeping into the sky that had been pitch black just minutes earlier. I grabbed my camera and shot this photo out my kitchen window.

I stood there and watched a tiny glimpse of yellow turn into a glowing ball in the sky right outside my window. I know it's something that happens every day, but that doesn't change the fact that it's simply amazing to watch. I am thankful I was up early and wasn't too rushed to take in one of God's beautiful works of art.