Instafriday

Happy Friday!!

I love looking back at my week through the little moments I capture on my phone. It is amazing how all these little moments add up to the big picture of our life. 

We have had lots of snow but very cold temps the past week so it was hard to make it outside. However, last weekend it warmed up and Michael got to go outside to play for a bit. He had been begging to play in his sandbox and he had a blast. He loved how some parts were like a little ice rink for his cars and trucks. Also double bonus that all our outdoor toys work just as well in snow as they do in sand!

(and yes we wore our Cyclone hat all day to celebrate ISU defeating the evil empire known as the Iowa Hawkeyes in bball!! We even wore it the grocery store where it never fails that a sweet old lady will comment on it)

I have been plugging away in the kitchen making treats for Christmas. I made about 4 big batches of this sweet chex mix to share with friends and also for treat day at school. I think it makes a good school snack because you can keep munching on it all day....a teacher's favorite thing to do! 

I also made chocolate crinkles, sugar cookies and peanut butter cookies for Christmas. My first round of peanut butter cookies were not good as I forgot a pan in the oven and they spread way out and were hard as a brick! I probably should have taken that as an omen to just quit my holiday baking then and there but I kept plugging away. Interesting enough, I made my first batch using a cookie mix from the store to save time. They were not very good so I made my second batch using a recipe from the classic red cover Betty Crocker cookbook and they came out fantastic! Actually I used all my cookie recipes from there and they were all so good- why mess with Betty? 

Michael had his church Christmas program debut on Sunday (he is in the red in the back row). He did such a good job and I appreciated that the 3 and 4 year old team kept it simple with singing "Away in the Manger" and then ringing some bells to a recorded song. We were just beaming with pride! I tried to talk Michael through what would happen before the service to calm his nerves but he had no problem at all, running right up there when they were called and standing still with a big smile on his face. 

We also had a fiesta get together with our friends last weekend- thank you for having us over! I love seeing people's homes at the holidays and need to make it a point next year to invite people over more often even if just for dinner. 

And finally, one of my favorite photos of my two guys! Scott and Michael shoveled off part of our pond to do a little ice skating. We got Michael new (and sharp!) skates this year and he is already doing way better than last year. I think Scott is so excited to share something important to him with Michael so I hope Michael continues to find joy in it. I am so terrible and nervous about doing anything sports related but being married to Scott has forced me to lace on a pair of skates once in a while. It paid off big time when we took a field trip to the ice arena last month for school and our P.E. (yes...P.E.!!) teacher asked ME (the very dorky and uncoordinated band director) if I had "grown up skating" because I was that good on the ice. I think Scott was happy to rub off on me a little bit....a testament that enthusiasm is contagious- something we need to remember every day!

Have a great weekend!!