Check out her uber cute blog, and her cute family. All you Mountain Mum followers, please leave her some love!
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I am a 20-something Pennsylvania girl, wife to a handsome teacher, and stay-at-home mom to a one year old boy. I am learning to cherish the little joys that life can bring as I see the world through the eyes of a child once again. I have been chronicling my successes, failures, and kitchen disasters at www.countrymousetales.com since 2008.
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Reclaiming the Ordinary Day
-'Mama' he cries. His little hands tangle in my hair as he clutches my neck, his eyes still heavy with sleep. We slowly make our way down the stairs to being our morning routine.
-Coffee percolates and I prepare his bowl of oatmeal as he sips apple juice from his favorite blue cup.
-Laundry to the left, last night's dishes to left, and a laughing boy chases the dog around the kitchen, leaving a trail of juice behind him.
-We bundle in our coats and run to the car. 'Dog!' he yells excitedly as he sees the neighbors pet looking out the window. 'Woof, woof' he proudly barks, showing off his newest skill. I strap him in and he gives me a smile before we head out.
-Hours later, the turn of the key in the door. A smiling face, handsome eyes, and a squeal of 'Dada!' as he toddles as fast as his legs can carry him to the entryway.
It's not perfect, but it's mine, and now that the hustle and bustle of the season is quickly dying down, I can finally take a look around and appreciate the gifts (not the presents, although those are nice too!) that I have been given over the last year. The life, the love, the laughter, not so much the laundry but I'll take the good with the bad.
It is so easy to feel down at the end of the holiday season. The parties, the glitter, the lights, it's all gone - basically overnight. January 1st rolls around, and the discarded Christmas trees at the curb mark the end of another year. Three months of winter are staring us dead in the eye. Three months of 'Ugh it's so cold' and 'I miss my flip-flops' as we trudge through another snowstorm. I know I tend to wallow, to get stuck in the misery of the everyday instead of choosing to see it's beauty. This winter, reclaim your day. See the beauty in the ordinary. It doesn't come naturally to me, but this is what I have learned in the last year - we don't get these days back. We will only have their memory to cherish through the years to come. I want to remember the beauty of now, the laugh of my toddler, the faint beginnings of smile lines on my husbands face. There is beauty here.
