Kind of wishing we had a winter birthday in the family, but also knowing we could never pull it off

Here I am! Coming up for air! If I thought the first part of the winter was busy, then I had no idea what I was talking about. This past week really drove home just how busy things can get. Work has been plagued by issue after issue after issue, and just when we think one more thing can't possibly be layered on top... it happens. Never before have I so looked forward to March Break, just by virtue of the fact that Cindy heads south and it gives me an excuse to take a few days off!

(This year, most of my staff are also taking off. Which means that while I think I am taking the week off... should anything else go wrong, I will be among the only ones around to handle it. Let's not even go there.)Anyway, today the kids headed over to a Winter Carnival-themed birthday party that was really just so much fun and such a fresh take on birthday parties. I'm sure the parents of the birthday girl had a few nerve-wracking moments, because about four days ago every last bit of snow melted away, and it looked certain that the theme would have to change. As luck would have it, this is The Winter That Just Keeps On Giving, and within 24 hours there was a fresh foot and then some. In fact, it snowed throughout the party today, too, though the temperature was hovering right around freezing which made for some perfect packing snow. The party was in their back yard and was just so totally festive. There were pathways shovelled through the snow and lined with a wall made of snow blocks, and a 'dance floor' cleared for games of Freeze Dance and Musical Chairs. (Poor Liam is not assertive enough to push the other kids out of the way when the music stops - that's him as the first kid out, above.) The kids dug with sand pails and shovels for a treasure chest hidden somewhere under the white stuff:It really made me long for a winter birthday in the family so that we could do the same thing, but who am I kidding? Now that I do what I do, I think my ability to pull off a party between the months of January and March just hit nil. I think having back-to-back April babies was a lucky break, after all.