January 5 || Snow Day.

 Thurs, Jan 5 began with blustery white snow that had fallen during the night.

It was mostly icy underneath and it was unseasonably cold.

Most of our snow comes when it is around 30 so it is perfect for playing- and then melting.

I worked until 2 and then came home to my snow family.

Boys and I bundled up to move around in the snow, there was not much.

It had already melted off our concrete, roadways weren't so lucky.

This guy ate tons of snow, tons of it.  Joe and I kept asking him to get up and play.

And then we built shelters to hide from dad when we came back from the farm.

It was too cold to wait and hide from dad, so we settled for showing him our forts.

Boys warmed up with homemade hot chocolate from Pastor Ed.  It was perfect.

The next morning I was up enjoying

our winter mantle and my new coffee cup from Blake when we got the snow day call

for Friday.  A full snow day with my boys!

The house quickly became this.

They were both laughing uncontrollably - chasing a teasing.

I am gonna miss these days.

I taught Joe how to make Biscuits and Gravy for brunch since

we were pretty lazy that morning!

And we made sure pretty kitties had food and water and shelter because they wouldn't come in!

Winter Happenings.

January seems to whiz by with cold days, school, busy month at work, ballgames...but we make to most of each of those moments!

Jan 1 we were snuggled back at home and this was coming down later in the day,

but Sam snuggled with me that morning enjoying the last of Christmas lights.

I've been adhering to a Whole 30 (clean eating) plan since Jan 2, 

it was a snap in the beginning because we had fresh veges and fruit from FL...

the last few days have been a struggle. Lettuce boats are a lunch staple for me!

Boys spent the night with Blake, she missed them over break!

They had game night with Mo and E.

I love this picture, a treasure for sure.

Sam sent this selfie to my friend Melissa who was teasing him about Purdue.  We have about 5-10 minutes of Sam and mom time in the pick up line while we are waiting on Joe.  Lots of good talks - when it is Sam's idea (of course).

We snuck in a couple snow days from school.

Kitties were glued to back window but wouldn't come in!

There was time to create with the snow on the ground.

Joe made a chainsaw with his Knex kit from Scott and Chris,

I also got one snow day at home with my boys - love that pharmacy never closes but my partner made it in and boys were home from school.  They asked me to join them for video games.

Games were off for Saturday, but a tourney was back on Sunday.

We played well - many teams cancelled so we just played games and won all.

I dabbled in this stash again...August is around the corner.

There was a time for game night!

And a full mouth of whip.

Sam finished a Smart Choice class at school, he had some great questions,

hope he always brings those to me.

Joe wrote a story at He and Sam.  Sweet.

I took the time to order a couple blog books, getting closer to have my collection caught up.

Reminded why I blog, these books get some attention from our family for sure!!

We started a project in Sam's room, new shelves!

And time for a science project!

A reward day for Sam's school - I might have stolen this from twitter account!!

And my trusty BU mug from 2000 is still my go to for large coffee days.

Friend Sonya got it for me for our graduation.

Crafty Ladies!

Morgan tagged me in a opportunity on Facebook to 

do a 3 hour class and redo a piece of furniture.  

This guy immediately came to mind.

It was my mama's and I've always loved it.

She used it as a night stand in her bedroom and refinished in in 1980 something

complete with floral/brass handles.

 It was serving a a side table in the basement, but needed a new life.

The official before.  I was as excited about spending 3 hours with Morgan as I was about doing the piece.  Some thought I should not paint this antique, but I knew my mom would be on board - so I went for it!

Morgan chose a cute side table from her mama's shed.  It will be perfect in her new home.

This is the inside of my chest, it was red in a previous life.

Very hard to take pics while creating, after sanding washing and coat one.

It was gorgeous on Saturday so we took our pieces out to dry

and get some sunshine ourselves.

There were about 10 of us there, each brought their own creation.

It was SO worth it.  To start and complete and project AND leave the mess behind, perfection.

We had to concentrate on the sanding part!

And this stuff was awesome, had not worked with it before.

It will be added to my collection as a great finish,

With our finished pieces!  We both used chalk paint and distressed with the electric sander,

pleased as punch with my new Hoosiers/St. Louis Cards table for the basement!

DH informed me it is the wrong color red for either, not sure

it is cream and crimson, remember!

Now to choose some handles...

Grabers in Pinecraft || Around Sarasota

 We spent a chilly Friday exploring Sarasota - 

we found a batting cage AND driving range all in one.

I enjoyed visiting with the owner's mom and bit who was a snowbird down from Canada.

We shared places to visit and the owner was pretty lax with the boys using the batting cage.

Ahem, all the boys.

Sam was interested in the huge collection of golf balls for sale inside.  He chose his favorite dozen.

And finding the Lamborghini place was on our Sarasota bucket list.

We were able to get a few pics with Sam's favorite car ever!

We rolled up in our mom van and no one even came out to see if we needed help, SMH>

 Sam holding his hands after my strict instruction not to touch.

 First time ever that a parking lot has felt like a china shop!

 And we found a local tourist shop to find a souvenir!

My boys humored my request for my one last view of the beach, it had turned cold and windy

and we were headed out the next morning.

A little walk on the beach didn't disappoint.

 We were on the road by 4 the next morning and had a great trip home with Grandma and Grandpa!

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