Old man winter has NOT left the building

Well, I heard it, but scarce believed it.
They were predicting snow for this weekend, but when I woke up to warmish temps and rain, I thought, well, it must have passed us by. Maybe old man Winter left gracefully after all.
Turns out, he hasn't.
He will go kicking and screaming, it seems.
His frosty fingers have caught Spring in his snowy, icy grasp, one last time.
Tomorrow, however, he will be sorry.
Sunny skies and temps in the mid-50s will send his sorry bum packing, and quick. Hopefully, for good this time.
But for now, this is what it looks like outside. . .
The big boys are on a date with dad this snowy Saturday afternoon. They went to see a movie . . . Monsters vs Aliens, or some such thing. It is the perfect kind of day for an outing with dad.
Daniel and I are watching the snow fall outside through the window, and playing with socks. You never know what he'll find interesting! We are relaxing.
We had a busy week.
It was hard, readjusting to school and activities after such a nice break the week before last. But, we are back in the swing of things.
We received our grain mill in the post this week. Joe got one from e-bay. We have a bucket of wheat berries that we can now grind into flour, or something like it, anyway. The mill leaves the grain a bit coarse, I think. We are going to try grinding corn too, to see what that is like.
Here are Joe and Daniel, trying out the new mill.
So far, this post has been a bit random.
In keeping with that spirit, here are some cute things Daniel has been saying these days.
Yesterday, he asked for "petch 'n munst-a" with this chicken nuggets (An old acquaintance reminded me in a note today that Josiah used to call chicken nuggets, "chicken nuts").
And when we were done praying for dinner, he yelled out "A-ben!"
He is too funny, and definitely too cute.
Josiah's birthday is right around the corner. He will be seven.
Where does the time go? The question I find myself asking a lot these days is, am I making the most of it? Time, I mean. And my life.
Am I savoring the time? Or am I wishing it away, rushing it along, not noticing things I should as they blur by me?
Am I living every moment, or just passing time?
I don't want to pass the moments. I want to stop. To live in them. To notice them and every commonly holy thing, every beautiful person in them.
There is so much for me to do this afternoon: laundry, dishes, dusting, vacuuming, cleaning the boys room, the bathrooms, my bedroom. These tasks all need to be done. And I will do them.
And I will watch the snow fall. I will play "socks" with my son. I will wait with anticipation for Joe and the boys to come home, full of stories and wanting to recount every scene of the movie back to me. I will look them in their wide eyes while they are talking to me. And watch their mouths form the words. I will laugh and ask questions.
I will love every moment of it.