Time Flies When You're Having Fun...

So the saying goes.

I've been having trouble taming the flurry of thoughts in my head and organizing them into a somewhat coherent, succinct post, so of course, I abandoned my blog once again. Good thing my blog can't abandon ME - it's always here when I decide to come back. (Unless Blogger decides to pull it for inactivity. I don't think they do that, though?)

We FLEW through Advent and Christmas, and I felt like I couldn't catch my breath, and then, it was all over. I hate that feeling. I struggle with wanting to celebrate the season of Advent solemnly, ignoring the secular world which tells us that the Christmas season begins on Black Friday and ends at 10pm on Christmas Day. So we don't decorate for Christmas until well into the month of December, and that just seems to make it zip by even faster. And my goal to celebrate Advent more this year failed pretty miserably. I felt like I had my head in the clouds the whole month. Ah well, there's always next year...

I have decided to finally finish the ol' bachelor's degree. I really should have continued going to school when we got married, but at the time I was perfectly content with my nice little Liberal Arts AA degree diploma framed on our wall, and had no further plans to continue my education after I found out we were expecting Nate, who was due in May, which would make it impractical for me to take spring classes since HE MIGHT BE BORN EARLY AND I WOULD MISS FINALS! (The babe was born 4 days late on May 28th. Finals were well over at that point.) But something has been tugging at me recently, and I finally feel that desire again to finish up those last few classes and to have the degree COMPLETE. Granted, it won't happen in just a semester or two, since I am only going part-time, but I am hoping to complete it by December 2012 (which really is technically NEXT YEAR!) The classes are online and completely doable while the kids are napping or in bed.

Because the classes in my major were already full, I am taking upper-level electives this semester since I need BUNCHES of them. Two art classes - an art history class and a photography class (the technical aspects of photography, not so much the "putting into practice" aspects, although this will certainly help with that as well.) I am already surprised at the very little amount of coursework we have for the semester and sort of wishing I had decided to take another class or two, but now I know for next time. I forget that the last time I was in college I was also working 55 hours a week and taking a full course load, along 90 minute round-trip commutes each day. Compared to that, having a baby and a toddler seems like a piece of cake (in terms of having free time!)

I'm hoping this will challenge me, stimulate my mind, help me to budget my time better and stick to more of a routine, and blah blah blah (all the other things people say when they talk about doing something that is supposed to be "self-fulfilling.") But really, I just want to learn something new.

Oh yeah, we have snow now! We got our first REAL snowfall of the year last week (the half-inch on Christmas Eve didn't count according to the meteorologists) and an additional 6 inches fell last night. We are way behind the rest of the country in our snowfall accumulation this year, but I personally am fine with that. (Come on, Spring!) Nate went out to play in the snow for the first time today. Sledding at my parents' house with Brian & my siblings - he wasn't exactly sure what to think about the cold, but he didn't cry, and that's always a good thing!

and my cute little Ben-Ben in the boys' bedroom - sitting up and growing fast!

Time to write this blog post: 1 hour 15 minutes
Interruptions by crying children who are in bed for the night: 6

Number of children still awake in their beds: 1

My analysis: This could be a long night...