Less Words Wednesday

Still in our game era and I'm not mad about it.

Poor Carson has been stuck in the house so much in last two weeks. Even when no one wants to play anything, he and I have been playing Qwixx at night.

He went to work out with me yesterday morning. I didn't know he was going to. When I walked into the kitchen at 5:10am, he was sitting there waiting on me :)

I'm trying...

This was pretty, but everyone is ready to start living a normal life again. School has been out for 2 weeks. Miles can't drive in it. My car slides all over the driveway. The trash hasn't run in 2 weeks, which might be the biggest inconvenience of them all. Hurry up spring.
 

On a recent trip to Buckle, the sales person let Carson take the security sensor off. How fun.

I don't like coffee but I love a caramel frappuccino from Starbucks. Basically a coffee milkshake...expensive and lots of calories. I really want something I can drink in the morning besides water. I tried Javvy protein coffee this morning and loved it. I can't wait to have it again. It's my new reward for waking up early :)

Weekend Wrap Up

Blueberry pancakes and bacon for dinner.

Darrin is always the breakfast maker.

He doesn't always play games willingly, but we'll take him anyway.

Carson doesn't come to my office. He came and hung out before we both got hair cuts. 

Carson has our hairdresser wrapped around his finger. She washes his hair and styles it for him every time now. 

We are on a major Rock and Roll Sushi kick around here. They all eat sushi with chop sticks while I eat hibachi with a fork :)

This is still what my road looks like after a full week. The main roads are clear, but neighborhoods and parking lots are solid ice. School is out for day 6 tomorrow. Looks like it could be the end of the week before the roads are clear.

We had to finish cleaning out my mom's house this weekend, so I made sure to feed and fuel everyone properly first. 

Carson had a birthday party at a video game lounge for a boy in his class. 

Two minutes before this picture he was talking nonstop and asking if he could take some medicine to calm him down. 

I'm going to attempt to work out at 5am tomorrow with Miles so off to bed I go.

Less Words Wednesday

Less words Wednesday all the way back to October. Carson had his second football season. He loves playing with all his friends.

Of course there was baseball too. 

Miles had his first unofficial college visit to Lee University. 

I loved getting to hang out with friends watching baseball on my birthday weekend. Miles played at Lake Point in Georgia for the first time and it was a great time. 

Always fun to have one on one time with either of the boys. This was the first trip that Miles and his friends were able to drive so he spent the majority of his time with them. All good though, just part of the growing up process. I bought an electric blanket and stayed cozy in the hotel room :)

Baseball for Carson too.

I did trunk or treat at Carson's school with a friend. There were a lot of impressive trunks. We only had time for minimal effort, but it was enough. Carson and Max were so happy we were there. 

Miles had a baseball camp/showcase at Lee University. In a spur of the moment decision, we got tickets to the Tennessee/Oklahoma game which was a night game. It was just the three of us and I was so glad. The crowds would have made me a nervous wreck with Carson. The game was late and then it took us over an hour to get out of the parking garage and another hour to drive to where Lee is. It was a late night and early morning, but Miles rallied and did what he had to at the camp.

Carson asked that we take some pictures after church one Sunday because the leaves were so pretty. Since we haven't done professional pictures since Miles was shorter than me, I was very happy to have these.

Stephanie and I went on our annual Christmas shopping trip on a very chilly day and we remembered to take a pic! We love when we show up at each other's house to go somewhere and we are matching. It happens a lot...

Carson has had so much fun in the snow.

Miles had his first real date. They aren't dating anymore, but I had to document the occasion. 

More baseball. We love his passion!

Darrin took Carson on a Father/Son retreat where they got to fish. I love this picture. Both of them had a great time. 

Carson caught the biggest fish of the weekend. He was so proud!

And, we got together to celebrate Steph's birthday!!!

New Years Resolutions

I thought I usually posted some goals/New Years resolutions every year, but I went back for four years and couldn't find any :) I never have a set list with a very structured plan, but I do usually consider some things I'd like to do. My main goal for this year is to simplify/declutter/get rid of stuff in our house. Minimalism = sanity for me. It's why I don't have many pictures on the walls or stuff sitting around my house. Clean is calm to me.

 

We've been cleaning out my mom's house and I've been very conflicted between my goal to clean out my house and keeping stuff of hers either because I like it or because I want to remember her. I've tried to be very selective. I kept this green lamp and took it to my office at work. 

Another goal for this year that kind of goes with the last but could contradict if I'm not careful is I want to do some random repairs, improvements, and decorating to our house. We've lived here for almost 11 years now and it's time to do a few things to maintain and spruce it up if you will. I have a One Note file with a page for every room in the house. Some rooms need more than others. We fixed a major water pipe issue last week under the house that has been a problem since we lived here. We've tried a couple times to get it fixed over the years with no luck. We finally found the right person and got it fixed pretty easily. Carson can now take showers in his bathroom instead of mine!! He sent me this pic and said he wants his hair to look like Miles'.

The next two things are actual goals. I want to prioritize exercising again. It's been a while since I've done anything consistently. Taking care of my mom over the last year took priority and while life is still very busy, I definitely have more time than I have had in a while. And this next one is probably doomed from the start, but I'll throw it out there anyway. I'd love to wake up earlier on workdays. I am a snooze for an hour kind of girl. My alarm goes off at 5:45 every morning and the earliest I get up is 6:30am. I would love to get up & get ready for work first and then have time to relax, read, or do things around the house. I know I would love it, but I also love laying in bed until the last second. We'll see where this gets me. Side note...I had some very hard days taking care of my mom. One night Carson surprised me and spent the night with me. God blessed me with an easy night with my mom and a fun night with Carson. His surprise made me cry and he was so happy to make me happy. I'll always remember that night. 

Last, I want us to "take the trip" this year. We've limited travel over the years for various reasons, but this year, we are going to start making it happen. Disney made me realize that our family thrives on shorter trips. We don't need a week at the beach anymore. We need 3-5 day trips with stuff to do. So far, we have trips planned to Hot Springs (Darrin's work), Aruba (Darrin's work), Boston (Fenway to watch the Braves!), and Houston (wedding). I'd love to plan something next New Year's again too.  

I couldn't be more excited for this year. Here's to 2026!

Weekend Wrap Up

I had a very busy day at work on Friday, so I made sure to fuel properly :) I had a long to do list that had to be done before our expected weather rolled in over the weekend and we had inevitable closings this week.

Friday night, we met Darrin's cousins for dinner. We did the same thing last year and have found that January is a good time for this big group to get together. 

I had to come straight from work and we were 25 minutes late, but we made it! 

We were projected to get 2-27" inches of snow, sleet, and/or freezing rain. The forecast was ALL over the place.

We planned for all of the above and even a possible ice storm where we could lose electricity for days. I woke up at 3am on Saturday morning and there was nothing outside. At 6am, it looked like this.

It came down pretty much all weekend and Carson was here for it! 

He has played outside endlessly all weekend. 

Several of the neighbor kids are in the neighborhood only half the time. I am so thankful they are here this week. It's funny to me that Carson is the youngest and he drove everyone around all weekend. He's going to be a good driver one day. He can already drive the side by side better than me. 

The four of us have been out everyday playing in it too.

I bet he played outside for at least 8 hours this weekend in the freezing cold. He was living his best life. 

The side by side has been exactly what we hoped it would be for times like this.  

This looks like Darrin is contemplating his life choices and counting down until we were ready to go inside. I think his hands were just cold because he had on the wrong gloves. He also had on my scarf. There is no shame when it comes to snow clothes.

We found an open field and they did boy things on the toys. I just watched and prayed for no injuries. Literally.

We have played a ton of games. We take turns picking the game. I'll have to share all our favorite games sometime. This one is called Qwixx. Super fun and easy.

We've made tons of good food. I have finally perfected shrimp hibachi at home.

We had some steak and salmon too. I don't like salmon, but they love it. I randomly put some raw veggies out while we were cooking and they were gone in seconds. I need to do that more often.

Miles cooked the streaks and they were perfect. Secretly I had a hard time giving up the control but I reminded myself that I want him to know how to do this stuff one day. He nailed it.

We finished off the weekend by watching two great football games. I love watching the NFL playoffs because I love football, but also because that means we are getting closer to baseball season...the best time of the year!!