Project 365

I have decided to attempt once again, Project 365. Last year, I quit less than three months in...but I am determined to see it through this time around. It's such a great way to document our lives in a simple, yet creative way. Here are the first pictures of the month of January.

This is something I do EVERY Monday morning....write checks and send lunch money to school.

This is a vegetable I have come to love lately. I adore asparagus when it's fresh and roasted in olive oil with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. YUM!

This is Matthew at the doctor's office. Seems his sinuses are the cause of some "not so sweet smelling" breath and an ear that has caused him some pain. No ear infection, thank goodness!

This was our third day back at school after Christmas break. Part of our afternoon routine is waiting in the car (for about 40 minutes) at the middle school to pick up Jonathan. Usually Matthew uses this time to start homework.

This is a snapshot of my computer screen....and Facebook, a place where I spend way too much time lately!

On this night, I prepared a meal so yummy, my kids would eat it several times a week if I let them. It was Bowtie lasagna, Caesar salad, and garlic bread. They LOVED it! Maybe I'll share the recipe soon.

This is Matthew's latest project....a pattern he's making with Legos.

Once again, I've included two snow pictures.

This is what I have been enjoying for breakfast a lot lately. Its a parfait with layers of mandarin oranges, vanilla yogurt, and low fat vanilla almond granola. Yum!

This is Matthew getting ready for school. I let him brush his own teeth in the morning, but I do it for him before bedtime to make sure they're especially clean!
Well, I hope you've enjoyed my first installment of Project 365! Until next time! :)

More Winter Photos

It was beautiful to see what the neighborhood looked like on day 2 of our snowcation! It snowed much of the night Sunday night, and then on Monday we had freezing rain. The frozen precipitation resulted in these photos.

Each little stem and branch of our dogwood tree was encased in ice. Looked so cool!

I wouldn't want to jump into this frigid water. Notice the icicles hanging from the diving board.

And the icicles on the lounge chairs! Brrr!

And the landscaping lights!

This was a neat sight, a bird's nest in the dogwood tree. It looked like someone had just scooped up some shaved ice and plopped it into the nest...almost like a sno cone!

The wintry weather, which is just so uncommon for our area of the south, also resulted in two days out of school and a third day when the schools opened on a two hour delay. That hasn't happened in several YEARS! But we enjoyed it, and I think the boys were actually ready to go back to school. I leave you with just a couple of more photos.

Matthew didn't play in it long. It was just too icy for snowman building!

The dogs even got to run around in it!

For now...we're staying warm!

Crazy Weather!

Don't get me wrong, I'm NOT complaining. I LOVE the snow! But it's amazing to me that we've had 3 snowfalls in less than a year. You must understand that in our neck of the woods we sometimes go for years without seeing one flake!

Currently, we have snow on the ground, but it's not a great snow to play in. It began snowing Sunday night, and we woke up this morning to sleet and freezing rain. It's a slushy mess.

First, I want to show you pictures of our white Christmas. We went to mom and dad's house (in upstate SC) on Christmas day. Below are a few photos from our snowy fun!

Then when we got home, it was snowing at our house too!

About two weeks later, here's what our current weather looks like.

No, there are no snow plows out where we live, at least on the secondary roads. This will probably be a frozen mess in the morning! Well, the kids are out of school, and hubby is home, so as long as the power stays on, we'll just enjoy it!

Until next time!!!!

Upcoming Posts and Blog Giveaway

Hi folks! I know I have been posting rather infrequently. One of my resolutions is to get better at this. I just need to manage my time better, obviously. So in the next few days, I promise to put up some more content, including pictures of our first ever white Christmas!!

In the meantime, head on over to my friend, Linda MacDonald's blog HERE, and enter to win three great family movies and a fleece throw to snuggle under while you're watching!

All the details are on her blog.
Happy New Year, everyone!

Five on Friday

1. Stayed home today except for a quick trip to pick up the boys from school...still got very little accomplished, though. Guess I wanted a day to be lazy.

2. Ed took the day off and drove the kids to school this morning. He even got up early enough to scramble eggs for them (something I rarely do)!

3. I finally have my annual Christmas letter finished! Hopefully the computer will cooperate long enough to get them printed.

4. I have just a few gifts left to buy. Anyone have ideas on what to buy for an 86 year old man who has no real hobbies anymore?

5. Planning to go to Christmas at Breezy Hill tomorrow night. Hoping the rain holds off until "AFTER" we get done!

Is it December already?

I figured I was long overdue for another blog post. Since it's December (geez...already?), I figured I would update my playlist to include some of my favorite Christmas tunes. My all time favorite? "O Holy Night!" And yes, I love the versions by Celine Dion, David Archeleta, Johnny Mathis, and Martina McBride, but my all time favorite is by a good friend who sings like an angel at my church every year. I don't feel like it's Christmas until I've heard April Sturgell sing "O Holy Night."

When I have finished my Christmas shopping, I'll update this blog by sharing some of my Christmas decor. I LOVE decorating for Christmas...and I've been very busy! But never fear....it won't be long at all because I am nearly finished with my Christmas shopping! But first things first! I'm off to the stores TODAY! Meet ya back here soon!

Fall Decor

Oh, I know. I am totally pathetic when it comes to this blogging thing. The whole point is to be consistent though, right? Okay....so I'm consistently pathetic about updating my blog. Here it is a month later, and I finally have Fall decor to show you.

These are so cute and easy. It's simply toilet paper rolls inside a brown lunch bag. The top of the lunch bag is squished down into the toilet paper roll, and then the whole thing is wrapped with an 18x22 piece of fabric, again with the top squished down into the hole. I then stuck a cinnamon stick down in the center for the stem and used leaves trimmed from a Dollar Tree fall vine. I hot glued them in place, and voila! If you like yours rounder, just smash the top down a little before gluing the leaves and stem in place.

This is a photo of our entryway table. I just took an old Goodwill chair that we painted, threw a fall throw across it, and laid my pumpkins in the seat. The big acorn on the floor is from Kirkland's (love their stuff), and the basket is just faux pumpkins, gourds, and pinecones with berries mixed in that I have collected over time. The cute fall candle holder on the floor came from Target! I also bought the "Family" word for a buck and just spray painted it to fit the color scheme. The little square photo is of the boys at the pumpkin patch (taken years ago). The frame and the candle holder came from Goodwill.

This is my coffee table. The hydrangeas are dried from our yard. The pumpkin was purchased at Hobby Lobby. I love how the colors all work together.

These are part of our built-in bookcases. On the bottom is a Dollar store pumpkin that I spray painted brushed nickle. The black and white pear candle came from Hobby Lobby. And on top, the black and white Argyle patterned candle came from Hobby Lobby as well (all on sale)! The numbered pumpkins are Dollar Tree faux pumpkins that I decoupaged using pages torn from an old dictionary. The numbers are foam stickers from my scrapbooking stash. You like? Hopefully I'll have more to show you in a few days! :)