Donuts and the "Talk"

Tonight I didn't feel like cooking at all.  The kids were begging for donuts, but we weren't about to go out and get any so I got creative with what we had on hand. A waffle, some chocolate peanut butter, and sprinkles is all it took.  They LOVED the faux donuts and I was excited that I provided them with a somewhat healthier alternative using what we had on hand!

 

 

In completely unrelated news, Elle and I have started the talk....the one most parents really don't look forward to but must do.  At school next week, they will be watching a video about how body changes are just around the corner.  I didn't want her to hear all of that for the first time from the nurse or some cheesy video so I ordered this book.  I have absolutely loved this book for us to go through.  It is spot on perfect for talking to your daughter about all kinds of stuff (not just the "embarrassing" stuff.)  We have been reading about 20 minutes a day together and all is going well.  If you have a daughter that is anywhere near this age, this is the PERFECT book!  Shawn and I keep looking at each other and saying "We are not old enough to have a child that needs this talk!" And yet, it seems we are!  Here we go!

We Bleed Blue....

....Blue, as in Camp Blue Haven and today we got the B E S T mail ever!!  Elle got into camp and will be a camper this summer!!!!  We've been very anxiously awaiting this info and I feel like a heavy weight has been lifted.  We all opened the letter together and then all jumped up and down screaming and hugging and going a little nutso as we celebrated such an exciting time!!!!  All of us are so excited for camp this year!

Two of a Kind

I gave Shawn and Levi matching bow ties for Valentine's and they wore them today.  Shawn absolutely loved the print and couldn't wait to wear it.  But don't be fooled by that sweet smile on Levi's face.  I had to bribe him with candy to get him to even agree to put it on and then he asked both of his bible class teachers to get it off of him!  He didn't want anyone to see him.  But who cares...they looked so cute together and this was one battle that was worth winning (and bribing!)

A Roarin (20's) Good Time

Our MASH group met tonight for a 1920's Murder Mystery!  We had such a fun time.  We did a lot of laughing, a lot of fake smoking, and a lot of using slang terms that we really didn't understand. We all did our best to figure out the killer but not one single person guessed it right! And guess who the killer was....ME! I think I could have been a pretty fun flapper back in the day and Shawn sure could have been a mobster.

 I was the only one brave enough to show everyone how a flapper dances....the fringe is movin'!

Today is one of my favorite days

Maybe you're scratching your head and wondering what's so special about February 15th?  This day signifies the end of the holiday season for me and a good long stretch of nothing to celebrate that involves decorations and/or activities (well...if you don't include April Fool's Day, but that one gives me lots of pleasure with no decorations involved!)  Anyway, it all starts in late September and goes till February 14th.  I am so glad to be D.O.N.E. with all of this!  I do love decorating and I like making it special for my kids, but seriously, I'm pretty much over it at this point.  I still have to plan and execute two birthday parties in the next two months, but at least that's just a one day decoration thing. 
Anyway, for Valentine's last night, as much as I didn't want to make my own dinner, I equally didn't want to deal with the crazy crowds with my kids and spend lots of money on a meal that took too long to get to us and then having to tip a waitress enough money that I could have bought my family a gallon of ice cream.  Anyway we stayed home and had a feast of chicken and beef fajitas which was DELICIOUS, guacamole, and homemade mexican rice.  It was SO good.  Dessert was one of the best things I've ever eaten and I've eaten a LOT of desserts.  It came out of Every Day with Rachel Ray and it was called Raspberry Caramel Sundaes.  I've never tasted a raspberry caramel sauce before and it was WORTH the little bit of effort it took to make.  I will definitely make this again!!!  Now to enjoy the clean feel of my house and the areas of my house that haven't been free of holiday decor since October!

We found ice!!!

What a fun coincidence that we had planned a trip to the ice skating rink on the weekend we had a non-ice snow day.  Our congregation works with the Central Texas Children's Home down here and we go every three months and throw a birthday party for the kids who's birthday is around that time.  This time our church planned a trip to go ice skating....something I haven't done in a LOT of years and the girls have never done.  They were very excited to go and I was curious to see how we'd all do!  It really wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.  Granted I never went zooming across the ice but I also never fell.  :)  Elle and Ava did absolutely great and it was fun to watch them try something new and do good at it!  So take that central Texas weather; we found ice anyway.

The two "oldies" showing all the young 'uns how it's done!

One of these was too young to ice skate and the other has delicate ankles. lol  But they very patiently hung out and tried to stay warm while the rest of us had some fun!

Worst Snow Day Ever

And we have a winner...for worst "call" on a bad weather day EVER!  The award goes to Central Texas (the whole region!!) for canceling school by 9:15 pm the NIGHT before anything was even supposed to fall.  Everyone was in disbelief that they would cancel it that early when there was not a single speck of precipitation even close to coming down.  The weatherman was predicting a 10% chance of extremely light precipitation between 4 am and noon.  Well guess what.....NOT.A.DROP.  Yet another scheduled day off, burned up. (or frozen)  I had to really talk myself down quite a few times yesterday about the kids not being in school and not seeing any snow or ice, yet seeing friends on facebook in other areas with LOTS of snow.  Either way we did what we always try to do and put a big ol' fake smile on and make the best of the day!  We did get a lot of things accomplished and ended up with a really enjoyable spontaneous "day off". 

This is the face of a perturbed Central-Texas-Snow-Day Parent.

We decided to redo the girls room since we were stuck inside from all the nonsnow drifts.  The girls had been wanting to go back to bunk beds so we let them!  They are loving how much more room they have now!  The top bunk is Elle's and we realized yesterday that having the world map near her bed has actually been really good.  Not only has it showed her how many places there are in the world to explore, she has also been studying the Bible lands and can pretty much trace the route of Paul's missionary journey!  wowzer.

Here's a close up of Elle's little area

And for fun I also took pictures of each of the girls other areas in the room...you can kind of tell current personality based on what you see.  Here's Elle's side of the mirrored dresser.

Ava's side (and this is cleaner than usual!)

Elle's arts and crafts corner

Ava's arts and crafts corner

The girls' door

And here they are working away at their class set of Valentine's cards.

 

I've said it before and I'll continue to say it, life is what you make of it.  Attitude is everything!  But seriously, no more nonsnow snow days please.

Cupid's Chase 5K

This weekend was the annual Cupid's Chase 5K.  Shawn ran this for the first time 2 years ago.  Last year I joined in.  This year Elle wanted to run it too!  Here we are waiting for the start and excited.  I have officially run enough of these kinds of things not to be nervous and not to hold myself to ridiculously high expectations....translation= I walk some.

Elle and her running buddy Gwen.  She was dressed as cute as could be and they stuck together the whole time and encouraged each other throughout :)

One of the positives of being a slow runner is that I can always get Shawn to take pictures of me crossing the finish line (although it says start?!).  He, on the other hand will never have his picture taken unless I'm not running.  And while we're on the subject, my husband CAN RUN!  Like REALLY FAST!  He finished with a time of 23:6 and was 5th in his age division and 47th overall and there were about 600 participants!!!!!  That is CRAZY!  My time was...slower...but I stayed on pace with my typical pace and that was with some walking and pushing a stroller so I was pretty proud...

Last year and this year, our congregation sponsored a water stop at the one mile mark of the race and also had a little table at the end of the race.  We handed out sweat rags, granola and bibles!  We also get to have our church logo and name on the shirt that all participants get and in the race day package that every gets...pretty great advertising!

Here's me and my running buddy Valerie.  We've probably done 5-7 races together and by together I mean, she's at the finish line hanging out and cheering for me by the time I get there! ha!

 

And here's our group from Gabriel Oaks that ran!  It's great to have such a great turnout in this fun little event!