Warmth? Anywhere?!

Well, if you live in North America, it is pretty much guaranteed that you are experiencing below normal temperatures. Where I live, it is something like -20 but feels like -35. Yup. Cold. So cold that even the garbage men are having a day or two off due to fear of frostbite! So where are all the Global Warming gurus now?! (well, except for the two yahoos in B.C. that managed to sneak on stage where our Prime Minister was sitting). All I've been hearing lately is about a Polar Vortex. A what?! Where do they come up with these words?! Has it even been used before?

I don't mind the cold because usually that means the sun is out. But it is the wind. That howling, blustering, bone-chilling wind that keeps me indoors. Having said I don't mind the cold, I also definitely wouldn't complain if winter was a short 2 months - well, maybe 1 month, and it was spring, summer and fall for the rest of the 11. No, wouldn't complain at all.

With it being so cold, I don't know about you, but I sure could use some heart-warming pictures. The following pictures are still from the last few weeks of December, which was filled with many heart-warming moments:

Heart-warming Moment #1:

When a dear friend comes out on a Saturday night to rescue you and your family from the first snowstorm. We were stranded in our car, a car that apparently sprung an oil leak, which we didn't know until, well, we had no more oil! Due to the oil leak, dear friend piled us all in his nice warm car and took us home.

Heart-warming Moment #2:
Opa reading to his grandchildren. He does this almost every time he comes. Seeing our parents with our children is a sight we thought would never happen. And so we treasure this.

Heart-warming Moment #3:
One Monday night, a very kind and caring soul came knocking on the door and delivered a very full bag of mostly Dutch treats. And if they weren't Dutch treats, they were chocolate treat!!! This bag was packed with yummy things like peppernottens, chocolate peppernottens (you haven't tasted nothin' until you've tasted chocolate covered peppernottens! ), chocolate letters, cheese, meats, sour herring, chocolate bark, pistachios, cookies, stropwaffles, candy canes, very yummy caramel and chocolate patties, a Ti-Cat shirt (my very own!!), a Bible Story book, and well, you name it.

Lincoln and Keziah did not think the mosquito cheese was heart-warming (mosquito cheese....toenail cheese....it's the gouda cheese with the spiced little fleckies in it. I have no idea what the real name is of this cheese), but that is okay. More for me!!

I did think that I had the whole jar of sour herring to myself, but apparently my son loves it as well! I don't mind - having something in common with him warms my heart ;o)

Heart-warming Moment #4:
Our family is unique in many ways. One of them being, that our names are all in alphabetical order.

Getting warm yet? No??! I know, it's THAT cold out there. Well, here's a few more then:

Heart-warming Moment #5:
Watching my husband be a kid. He can be so serious sometimes, and work can weigh him down, yet when I see him with our children, he is a different man. Fun, loving, crazy. My heart melts. He will do anything for them.

Heart-warming Moment #6:
My children. It isn't easy for me to be at home, all day, every day, and sometimes my children feel the brunt of that. However, it never lasts long, especially when I take the time to enjoy my time with them, that we are under no schedule pressures (like school or work etc.). I love them. Dearly. And they warm my heart every day.

Hopefully now you are warmed up a bit. I am. I may very well just sit here all night long and stare at these pictures to keep me warm. Going to bed alone on such a cold night is not so welcoming. 2 more nights sleeping and he'll be back home! Yippee!!