Baby, It's Cold Outside

Today's forecast looked a little something like this...

Cold and Wet!  I'm not going to lie - a little part of me hoped to wake up to a phone cal saying school was cancelled and I could go back to sleep under my electric blanket and cuddle with my husband and furbabies just a little while longer.  Especially since I had car duty this morning & Andrew took the last of his vacation this week so he gets to sleep in and stay home.  I might be a tad bit jealous.

But no such luck.  It's probably for the best.  It would have made going to school tomorrow that much harder.  I'd rather save our snow days for the middle of January when a break is much needed.  Not waste it on a two day work week.

I did receive a text from my principal last night saying we could wear jeans today and tomorrow.  Ya'll if you are not a teacher you probably don't understand the full joy that is experienced from a text like this.  I often joke that wearing jeans makes me a better teacher.

Our fence was supposed to begin taking shape today.  That didn't happen.  All in good time though right?

Last night I curled up in bed under my electric blanket with my hot chocolate and enjoyed some cheesy Christmas movies on the Hallmark Channel.  I love this time of year.  Our DVR gets filled with cheesy Christmas movies.  Andrew isn't a fan of that part.  I wish I could just stay home and watch them all day every day.  

Speaking of hot chocolate...I'm already planning ideas for hosting family at Christmas.  I want to have a hot chocolate bar.  I think that would be fun for everyone.  I'm finding all kinds of interesting "mixers" on Pinterest like Reese's Pieces.  I would have never thought about putting them in my hot chocolate but it actually sounds yummy.

Hope you all have a warm and cozy evening.

Sunday Thoughts

Only two more sleeps until Thanksgiving break.  I am more than ready.  I'm ready to sleep in and stay in my PJs all day.  I'm ready for Mommom's chicken & dumplings.  I'm ready to have our house full of family.  I'm ready for Black Friday shopping with my momma & SIL.

Andrew & I are having fun preparing Weaver's Bed & Breakfast.  :)  We bought our home with the hope that we would have the opportunity to host family.  We love that they are all coming here for Thanksgiving and that several of them are spending the night.  We hope all of our guest enjoy their stay and will come back for Christmas.

I sweet talked Andrew into watching Hunger Games last weekend so that he would be caught up on the story when he took me to see Catching Fire.  We had plans to go see it Friday evening, but they were all sold out.  We ended up going to our nephew, Waylon's, basketball game.  I was bummed about missing the movie, but our evening turned out even better.  It was fun to get to watch Waylon and visit with Jayna & Tony.  It blesses my heart when my husband gets to spend time with his siblings.  He loves every minute of it and so do I.

We have hired someone to build a fence.  He is picking up materials and starting tomorrow.  We could not be happier about this.  The LBs will be excited to be able to go outside without being on a leash.  Last weekend when it was so warm I went out with them and just sat in the yard while they roamed around and sniffed.  They were still on leashes but they didn't have to come right back in the house like they normally do.  It's probably the longest they've been outside since we moved.  We are hoping the fence will be finished before everyone gets here Wednesday night.

Five on Friday

I can't seem to get one of these posted on Friday so I this is my Five on Friday on Saturday.

  

  

1      ONE.   Thanksgiving is less than two weeks away and Andrew & I could not be more excited about hosting his family.  He is the youngest of six and most of his siblings along with his parents will be spending the night with us Wednesday night after we celebrate.  I’ve been trying to find time to do some little things to make it a very special time.  One of the things I’m doing is making place mats for all the little ones.  I’m really pleased with how they turned out.    

I made them using my creative memories software and then had them printed out as 11x14.  I glued them on poster board just to make them a little thicker and then used contact paper to laminate them.  A little keepsake from Thanksgiving 2013.

Every year we go around and share what we are thankful for.  It always ALWAYS results in laughter and tears.  I personally could do without the tears part – I’m not a fan of crying in front of a room full of people.  However it is a sweet tradition and I’m secretly glad that we do this every year.  This year Andrew & I are putting a fun little twist on it that I’m excited about.  I had an idea that Andrew helped bring to fruition in an even bigger way than I ever imagined.  I will share that after Thanksgiving. 

2     TWO.     I have been working at our After School Program two days a week.  Students have a snack, a quick recess, homework time, and an activity.  I get to scrapbook with some awesome students every Monday & Tuesday.  I LOVE it!  Though I do struggle with letting them make their own pages.  They LOVE stickers and want to put hundreds of them on every page.  I will get a new group of students after Thanksgiving and I plan to be a little more structured with what they can do on each page.  These two days a week give us a little extra money that we are using to hire a housekeeper.  I was a little hesitant about the idea at first because I feel like I should be able to clean my house myself.  But I HATE cleaning.  Can’t stand it.  Andrew finally convinced me to spend two days a week doing something I enjoy to avoid doing something I despise.  Our house keeper started today and I must tell you it is so incredibly nice to come home to a clean house on a Friday afternoon.  People can judge me if they want for hiring someone to clean my house and I don’t care.  It was a great decision for our family.  It is one less stress in our lives.

3    THREE.      In four short weeks I get to attend the Spring Premiere for Thirty-One.  I cannot wait to see all the new products and prints that we will be offering in January.  I am so thankful my aunt convinced me to start selling.  I LOVE my second job and have been blessed more than I every could have imagined by it.  Extra income and new friends.  Can’t beat that.

4     FOUR.  We have picked out and purchased bedding for 4 out of the 5 beds in our house.  The one bed missing out?  Our own.  Thanks to Pinterest I have this vision in my head of what I want our bedroom to look like.  I either haven't been able to find the perfect bedding or I haven't been able to find it at a price that won't break the bank.  Andrew wants to have something picked out and on the bed by Thanksgiving.  We made a special trip last night to look for something.  We were out until almost midnight looking and still came home without bedding.  I think he was a little frustrated, but he is a good sport and wants me to be happy with it.  I'm hoping to find something online today.  Anyone know of any good sites I can shop?


       FIVE.  I bought my first Piko a few weeks ago and am now obsessed.  Mine is red but I'm pretty sure I need one in every color.  Any great places online to get these at a great price?

Three on Tuesday

I cannot believe it’s been almost a month since I last blogged.  I have so much that I want to blog about for my own personal memories.  I love looking back at our adventures.  I had started this post for Five on Friday but never posted it so I decided to make it Three on Tuesday.  Creativity at its finest ladies and gentlemen. 

1. We have been in our new house for three weeks now.  Our lives have been a crazy blur of boxes for the past three weeks.  How can two people have so much stuff?  Not only do we have all of our things to unpack and put away, but we also bought A LOT of stuff from the previous owners.  It has been fun going through all of it.  There are several things that are a mystery to us.  We have had lots of good laughs over our guesses at what these items are.  I tend to believe whatever Andrew says even when he is just making something up. 

Two of our nephews came over to help us move.  We could not have done it without them.  Cody and Pryce are seriously some of the sweetest boys ever.  They are such sweet gentlemen and don’t mind helping us with whatever we need – except moving scrapbook desk back down stairs.  Ya’ll I thought they were going to die carrying my scrapbook desk up stairs.  It is huge – even when it is broken down into three pieces. 

2.   Moving has been hard on Liberty & Lincoln.  Liberty doesn’t do well with change.  She likes her routine.  She has been a little distant the past three weeks.  A lot of it has to do with the fact that she doesn’t a fence right now.  She can’t just go outside and run around.  She is cooped up with her crazy brother in the hallway all day.  It absolutely breaks our heart.  She will sit at the door and just cry because she wants to go outside and play.  We are in the process of finding someone to build a fence for her.

Lincoln on the other hand…. Oh My!  Sweet boy has never had to be inside for so long.  He might just eat us out of house and home.  In the past three weeks he has eaten rat poison, three coats, cardboard, a night light, Swiffer pads, and who knows what else.  The little guy thinks everything is food.

In the mornings they get up with me and I take them outside to potty.  As soon as we come back in Liberty goes and gets back in bed with Andrew.  Lincoln is my little morning shadow.  He lays on the bathmat while I shower and follows me everywhere I go.  I have no idea what he does after I leave and before Andrew gets up.  I’m sure he eats something.

3.  We took Christmas card pics Sunday afternoon.  Our sweet friends came over to help us out.  Amanda was able to capture a shot of Andrew & I that we both love.  If we are friends on facebook then you’ve seen it.  I’m a little disappointed that I posted it on facebook.  Normally I don’t like sharing the picture we are going to use ahead of time, but when I posted on facebook I didn’t think we were going to use it.  It doesn’t have the LBs in it.  I took the dogs out and tried to capture a good picture of each of them to add to the card.  With a sick day yesterday I was able to get our card made.  I LOVED it.  Andrew didn’t.  I was a little bummed that I couldn’t do what I wanted.  We have had so much change in our lives this year that I wanted to do a year in review card.  That isn’t happening but I will say I’m pleased with the changes that I made and it will be a lot less expensive because it is no longer double sided. 

Christmas cards should not be as stressful as I make them.