Fun Exhaustion

Yes, we slid down the hill and built a wall of snow bricks and caught snowflakes on our tongues and made snow angels and attempted a snow man and even raced the razor in the slush in the driveway. Yes, the first big snow fall is a completely different experience when there are children and wonder and awe and joy. And yes it was fun. And yes I’m grateful for my life.

But what these pictures don’t show is that it took me 15 minutes to get both kids (and me) zippered in to their snowpants and covered head to toe by coats and mittens and hats and boots, that both children took a turn at complaining about how this mitten or that boot didn’t fit and how the zipper rubbed their chin wrong, that the kids fought over who got to use the blue shovel and who got the red shovel, that I had to pull the sleds down the hill and then back up the hill, that both kids at one time or another disappeared around to the other side of the house without listening to my words, that we came in to the house just 25 minutes later and left a giant puddle on the kitchen floor and a trail of wet clothes down the hallway, that they dried out while I made lunch, that I put Eva in her crib and Sam in front of a computer screen while I went outside and fought with the snowblower for 15 minutes before finally getting it started, that Eva woke up before I was done clearing the driveway and screamed from her crib, and that yes, being a parent is fun, but yes, being a parent is sometimes exhausting even when it’s fun.

 Notice where he's aiming