Snow, Small Town, Etc.

Snow is such a big deal for Texans.

We had snow earlier this week.  It wasn't as much as we got on Christmas, but it was still enough to get excited about.  Will had a hard time concentrating on walking into school.  He wanted to stop and play along the way.  I don't blame him.  I wanted to play in it, too.

The cold weather is the perfect reason to wear my favorite, cozy infinity scarf.  It was made by my talented SIL.  I sure wish I had a crafty talent.  Maybe I'll take up embroidery.

Life in a small town is great.  

You see things like "onion sets and taters are here" written on the lighted marquee sign outside of  the local hardware store.  Let me give you city folks a lesson in country grammar, taters are potatoes.  Onion sets are tiny onion bulbs you set out in your garden in the winter and early spring.  (I had to ask my father-in-law just to be sure I described it right.)

Another neat thing about small town life is our local newspaper.  A friend was cleaning out her house and found some old newspapers she'd saved from her daughter's years in high school.  One of the papers happened to have our engagement announcement in it.  She cut it out and laminated it for us.  I thought that was so sweet.  I can't believe that this was almost 11 years ago! 

We don't have a dog, but my in-laws do.  Coco is such a good dog.  Will says that we will get a dog when we move to the land, and we'll name our dog Lad. 

Speaking of good dogs...

Will's had this puppy towel for a long time.  Even though he's getting pretty big we still use it.  I'll be sad when he's too big for it.

Ben LOVES pajamas!

  He's all about wearing his pajamas and he would wear them 24-7 if we'd let him.  He's moved on from his superhero-costume-phase to the pajama-24-7-phase.

My little digital natives.  Isn't life different for our kids than for us when we were their age?

I'm so tired on weeknights that the last thing I want to do after work is prepare a big meal for dinner.  Thank goodness my family likes to eat breakfast for dinner aka brupper.  It's so easy.

I took some frozen blueberries and mixed them with a little water, sugar and corn starch and brought it to a boil.  Once it cooled it was yummy on top of the waffles.

This was yummy too! 

My SIL gave me lots of my favorite tea for Christmas.  

Tea in my favorite Anthro mug is always a good idea.

My good friend, Kacie, let me borrow her beloved copy of Wuthering Heights. I started reading it on Christmas break, but sprained my ankle and didn't get around to it.  I've gotten back into it now.  I love a classic.  Today I had a doctor's appointment (routine visit for my allergies) and I had about 20 minutes to spare.  I ended up at Starbucks and had a lovely moment of peace and quiet that I usually don't get during the day.  It was so nice to drink my white chocolate mocha and read.

I joined the Barefoot Book Club ;)

My first recipe to make was the Raspberry Crumble Bars.  Mark and I loved them.  The almonds on top added just the right texture and crunch.  Ina really knows what she's doing...well, that's obvious!

Have a wonderful weekend!

If you want to follow me on instagram I'm @redbirdblue

1 Timothy 1:5

1 Timothy 1:5 (NASB)

 But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

Mark and I have the privilege of being the teachers for the junior high students Sunday school class at our church.  Last week 1 Timothy 1:5  was one of the verses we studied.  If you'd asked me what memorable verse I could think of out of 1 Timothy, it would probably be 1 Timothy 4:12 (ESV) Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. There's no doubt that's an encouraging verse, but something about 1:5 jumped out at me when we studied it.

The verse was a like a checklist that I needed right now. 

We're getting ready to start our Ladies Bible study again and the thought of teaching that class gives me mixed emotions.  I'm nervous because I don't want to teach something incorrectly, humbled because my Bible knowledge pales in comparison to some of the ladies in our study, and most of all excited because I anticipate good things coming from this Bible study.   

As one of the leaders of the study my goal is 1 Timothy 1:5.  
I want to speak the truth in love.  
I want to have a pure heart.  
I want to have a good conscience.  
I want to have a sincere faith.

I know I have a lot of work to do.  I have so many flaws and feel really unqualified, but I'm willing to try.

By the way, we're studying the books of James and Jude.  I'll keep you updated on how it goes.

2013 Started with a Twist

You would think in 35 years I would have learned that things don't always go as planned. 

2013 started that way for me. 

I've been faithfully going to a workout class called P31 since August.  We had a week off for Christmas and then we started an intense week of workouts called the New Year's Blast on December 31st.  I'd been terrible with what I ate on the days I had off (one instagram friend appropriately called it Fat Fest 2012).  I also didn't exercise once during the break.  Since I had no self-control for over a week, I was really looking forward to getting my butt kicked in workout. 

I made it through Monday's workout surprisingly fine considering I'd been so lazy.  I was excited about working off all those calories I'd consumed during the holidays.  Day 2 of the workout was on January 1st.  About 10 minutes into the workout I was running a sprint, turned, and rolled my ankle.  I heard a loud pop and felt sick and lightheaded.  I knew it was a bad ankle sprain because it swelled up and bruised immediately.  Mark had to come to the gym and carry me to the car (very dramatic).  He's my hero!  Two reasons--he was able to carry me all the way to the car and he got up at 5A.M. to come and get me.  I have several friends at workout and one went to our house to sit with the boys so Mark could come and get me.  They took amazing care of me when I got hurt.  I'm thankful for those sweet ladies!

Once I got home I didn't feel as lightheaded and woozy, but I realized that I was going to be out of workout for several weeks.  I really like workout so that made me sad.  Yesterday I had a physical therapist examine my foot.  He confirmed that I had a really bad ankle sprain.  He recommended that I don't do any strenuous exercise (running, jumping, etc.) for several more weeks.  It's been over a week, and I'm thankful that I'm finally seeing some improvement.  The swelling and bruising have improved tremendously.  The first week was terrible--my ankle felt bad and looked even worse.  

Things I've learned from this...

#1 I hate a bucket of ice as much as I did when I was in high school. That's standard treatment for ankle sprains.  You stick your foot and ankle in a bucket of ice and water.  The pain of the ice bucket is about as bad as the sprain. Ugh!

#2 I'm a lot older than I think I am.  Sometimes I think my body will still move and react like an 18-year-old and I'm 35 not 18.  I must remember that!

#3 It takes longer to recover.  Goes with #2.  I had a bad ankle sprain like this when I was a senior in high school.  I recovered much faster.  This is taking a lot longer than I remembered.

#4 Moms don't have time to get hurt or sick.  Even though I was supposed to stay off my foot, there were still things that had to be done around the house.  Will and Ben didn't understand that my ankle sprain meant I was supposed to rest.  No rest for the weary.

Here's a pic of my ankle just after I twisted it.

Several days had passed.  You can see how swollen and bruised it is. 

I have a cankle!!!  Gross!

The next photo is really gross so don't look if you are squeamish. 

This was one of the worst days.  The swelling and bruising is awful.

Well, workout gear...I'll get back to you as soon as I can!

Happy and Excited

I'm so excited about my new blog design!  

I can't thank Danielle enough for patiently working with me to create a blog that I was proud of. I haven't been the best blogger in the last 6 months, but this new design has inspired me to get back in the saddle.  I'm going to try to do a better job blogging.  The reasons I blog have evolved since I started back in 2010.  The main reason I'm willing to spend so much time with this blog is for my boys.  I want Will and Ben to have memories of all the special things our family did together.

I haven't completed a New Year's Resolutions list for 2013 but blogging more will definitely be on it.

I can't think of a better way to start the new year for my blog than a happy redesign.

Christmas Break Memories

Christmas Break 2012 in Pictures

Ben as the Abominable Snow Monster

Roar!!!

Cutie!

Will's one tough little guy.  He started the break with strep throat (again!) but once he took his antibiotics he was as good as new.

I'm usually in such a hurry when I wake up that I don't have time for treats like hot cocoa in the morning.  I indulged since there was no one to get ready for school and no place to go.

We get out the messy toys since it's Christmas break.

Lots of Christmas traditions

Making cookies for Santa

Santa was very happy with the cookies the boys left him.

We had a good visit with my precious grandmother, Mama Winnie, in the nursing home.

She really enjoys the boys.  At this visit they colored for her.

I love this sweet photo.

More fun in the kitchen.

The boys made a Rice Krispies holiday train.

It ended up being more fun than I thought it would be.

We spend every Christmas Eve with Mark's family.  We have breakfast and then exchange gifts. 

I took Blueberry French Toast.  Recipe here.

These are the gifts from my very talented sisters-in-law.  They are both so creative.  One painted me a cool mug and the other crocheted this gorgeous scarf.

If the scarf was clean, then I was wearing it.  Love it!

Christmas morning chaos!

We ate lunch with Mark's brother's family on Christmas day.  Will and Ben love their cousin Maggie.

White Christmas!

This is the view from the front porch at Mark's brother's house.  If we build our future home at the land, then we'll be neighbors.

Mark and his dad watching it snow.

This is our backyard after a couple of hours of snow fall.

The boys didn't stay in it long because the wind was blowing and it was very cold.

Snow fort!

The boys had a good visit to the dentist over the break.

We watched Elf over and over and over and over!

Toys. Everywhere.

While watching the movie Will and Ben like reenact the World Grand Prix race from Cars 2.

Happy to cheer on our Aggies to a big win in the Cotton Bowl!  

Gig 'em, Aggies!  Whoop!

The boys let me pick the restaurant the final night of Christmas break.

La Madeleine 

We even did some shopping at Trader Joe's.  I stocked up on easy to prepare meals once I'm back to work.

I'm sad that Christmas break is over, but I'm happy to start a new year.

 

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