Working our Way Through Winter!

 I will be honest.  The month of January is not typically my favorite month of the year.  It gets dark so early in the evenings and it is so cold outside, making it hard for our boys to enjoy the outdoor activities that help get their endless energy out!  We have had snow the last three weekends.  The first snowy weekend, we were able to enjoy the winter weather while up in the mountains.  The last two weekends, the snow has been just enough to cancel basketball games and other plans that require commutes.  So, we just continue to work at school Monday through Friday, enjoy some family time on Saturdays and then spend time at our church on Sundays at our morning and evening services.  The weeks have gone smoothly enough.  It's just my summer-loving personality and my Florida roots make the winters hard to enjoy! haha  So here is what we have been up to in the last couple weeks!

Burke got a bath which is a normal occurrence.  However, I feel that each time we bathe him, he enjoys it less and less, giving me the saddest eyes while we attempt to get him clean! haha  Prayers are appreciated for him tomorrow.  He will have an abdominal ultrasound to determine what is keeping him up at night, drinking a lot of water throughout the day and causing him to have dropped some weight in the last couple years.

We had the 90th day of school and we dressed from the 90s!  I have to say I LOVED this decade growing up!  Who wouldn't love and cherish the decade where you were still living at home with your parents, enjoying the teenage years and all the fun that high school has to offer!?

Zack and I had a date night to celebrate our 17th dating anniversary.... I am at the point where I will find any excuse to get a date night in! haha  Ironically, our first date was on a Saturday and we got snow.  This year was no different!  Snow came again on this significant date in our lives. 

Linds and I fit in our weekly 8 mile run on a Friday afternoon due to the snow predictions that were coming Friday evening.  We could not have planned it more perfectly!! It started to rain (sleet?) as we finished up the last mile!  It took a lot of planning to execute this Friday afternoon run:  getting off work as soon as possible, Grammy and Grandpa watching all the grandkids and having enough daylight to make it happen before the winter weather arrived!  It takes a village and I continue to be thankful for mine!!

I took the boys out for dinner a couple nights last week.  Mommy was on the struggle bus after having a week off of school due to snow the week before.  Now we were back into the daily school routine which meant early mornings and rushing around until our heads hit the pillow at night.  I enjoyed these dinners with my boys as daddy had to work late.  Maddox continues to make me smile, saying the most exciting place he has gone is Disney World, asking if he could go back for his next birthday! haha

We also fit in haircuts!  They have class pictures in the next week or so which meant we were opportunistic one day to get their hair looking good for the upcoming pictures. ;)  Somehow Maddox got cut by the razor while the barber was cutting his hair.  The barber swears M didn't move a bit and of course M was a champ about the whole thing!  

A Weekend Away!

Back in August (a couple weeks after my grandma died), I had the idea to go away for the Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend and rent a tiny house in the NC mountains.  I was missing my grandma terribly and continued to think of all the memories we shared camping together and taking trips in general.  I knew it would be a fun weekend for my family of four (five including Burke) so I enthusiastically booked the cabin and counted down until the weekend arrived.  Little did I know that it would be the perfectly planned trip for us.  On Friday, our dear next-door neighbor, someone that has been like a grandma to our boys, died due to complications from Covid and other health issues.  Judy has been such a special part of our lives, letting us swim in her pool in the summers, getting the boys treats like popsicles and ice cream bars and ensuring they always had the large size candy bars at Halloween.  We have been so sad about her sudden death, and I can't tell you what a relief it was to take my boys away from our house for a couple days, so we didn't look next door and miss her even more.  Here is a picture of our neighbors a few years ago on Halloween.   Her husband, Doug (dressed as a lady here), is still in the ICU and we continue to pray for his recovery.  

Not only was this weekend perfectly planned because of the unexpected loss mentioned above, but the meteorologists were predicting a big snow for the area we were planning to visit!  This made the boys incredibly happy!  So here are some pictures from our mountain adventure in a tiny house where we got snowed in for two days!

It really did feel like camping with my family when I was a little girl.  The accommodations were a little bigger than the camper we would stay in, but I enjoyed planning and preparing each meal for my boys!

We played board games, enjoyed the nice warmth of our cozy home and even ventured to the yurt at the top of the hill for the boys to get a little exercise (a.k.a. get a little energy out)!

The main attraction was the SNOW!!  We enjoyed hiking on the trails on the property, sledding down our driveway and the boys even enjoyed a swim in our hot tub that was connected to the house!

Here are some comparison shots from before the snow came and after the snow arrived!

I love these two pictures below... showing the trail we went on prior to the snow and after the snowfall.  It was the perfect weekend, and I loved every minute of spending time with my boys!

This past week, Zander was recognized with a PACE award for showing perseverance and academics!

Maddox got 2nd place for our verse-a-thon at church... he memorized 18 verses which he recited on our first Sunday night after the Christmas break!

I love getting pictures of my boys while they are at school.  Their teachers love them so much and they are learning a great deal!  I can't believe how fast they are growing!

A few firsts!

We woke up Monday morning (January 3rd) to our first snow of 2022.  It wasn't much but the boys were so excited to get all of their snow gear on and head outside for a bit.  They liked collecting the snow while we took Burke for a walk, hoping to make a sizeable snowman for the front yard! haha

For the first time (since probably having Zander), I decided to take a bath!  I used a bath bomb, some foaming bath bubbles and topped it off with an adult beverage!  I sent my sister a text saying, "who am I right now?" I definitely enjoyed relaxing for a bit in the tub while Zack took the boys to basketball practice!  Maybe it will happen more often than once a decade! haha

We are starting to be back in the school routine which means I give you the "first" selfie by Maddox while he waits for the bell to ring!  He loves entertaining himself with mommy's phone while he counts down for the start of school some mornings! haha

Linds and I had our "first" cold run of 2022!  Last Saturday, I ran in shorts and a t-shirt and this morning required a few extra layers!  I love getting to spend time with my sister, no matter the weather!

The boys had their first ever basketball games today!  After trying baseball and soccer, they are giving basketball a try during the winter months.  I will say the weather for this sport is a lot better than some of the outdoor games I have attended for baseball and soccer! haha  It was so fun watching them hustle up and down the court, in the action of every play.  Maddox even contributed some points to his team's score (which his age doesn't keep score but you know what I mean! haha)  Emerson and Maddox are on the same team based on their ages and Maddox is pretty excited he has his Uncle Boomer as his coach.  I love watching the three kids on a Saturday morning with the rest of my family!  It made for a great Saturday!

This week we also had our first "work from home" day due to the inclement weather mentioned above.  Fortunately, the boys didn't have school online.  It was a workday for mommy which meant that I spent most of the day on the computer in online meetings/trainings and trying to knock out some of the back-to-school to-do list before kids came back into the building the next day.  It reminded me of all those days that the boys and I worked from home in the spring of 2020.  This particular day provided a lot of technology time for them and not much academic learning.  I'm praying we stay healthy in 2022 so these work from home days are few and far between... although we have a four-legged pup that enjoyed the extra time with his family members!

Happy New Year 2022!

The Houstons had a fairly quiet week between Christmas and New Year's Day.  We always love the ability to have a "staycation" while Zack is off work and we aren't in school.  On Sunday, I took down the Christmas tree.  On Monday, Zack and I had a "day date" where we spent most of the day cleaning out closets that haven't been touched in the 13 years we have lived in our house.  We did fit in a lunch date at East Coast Wings in between all the work being done.  On Tuesday, we went to Stone Mountain for a hike with all the boys, Burke included!

On Wednesday, we took the boys to the pool at the YMCA and alternated swimming with the kids and getting a 30-minute workout in.  I went to dinner on Wednesday night with some of my co-workers who have the same instructional facilitator job at the neighboring schools.  It was so nice to see them outside of our work commitments.  On Thursday, we took it easy at the house while Zack vacuumed and shampooed all of our carpets!  On Friday, we grabbed lunch at 66 Pizzeria in between Zack getting the grass cut and our outside Christmas lights taken down.  We had friends come over for our annual New Year's Eve celebration.  We partied until about 9:30 p.m.! haha!  We missed the Kennedys who were on their way back from watching Wake Forest win their bowl game in Jacksonville, FL.  

We had our traditional pork and sauerkraut at Grammy and Grandpa's on New Year's Day and enjoyed some time with family before we head back to school and work this week!  It was a great Christmas break filled with productivity and rest!  I enjoyed having this guy home more than he typically is... it was so nice to share the parenting duties and sometimes have moments without parenting duties. ;)  We are testing out his new selfie stick he got for this phone in these pictures below....

I somehow managed to keep up my running pace throughout 2021 and finished out the year with running at least 1,000 miles for 2021.  I am noticing my motivation to run is dwindling so I hope to find other exercise alternatives in 2022 so I can continue to love running like I used to, just with less frequency. ;)

I guess we are officially in 2022.... so let's do this!!  I can't wait to see what this year has in store for the Houstons! :)