Five On Friday

Happy Friday! It has been a crazy week here. Monday was a holiday, Tuesday and Wednesday were "snow" days (with no snow), and the past two days there's been a 2 hour delay because of our record low temperatures. I promised the boys pancakes this morning which I need to start cooking! Keeping with my theme of random thoughts, here are my five thoughts on Friday:


1. Have you checked out Target lately? I have really fallen in love with their spring items! 

Target Spring Kids Collection by playgroundprepster featuring a spring outfit

They are carrying Eric Carle pjs like Gymboree did. There are other styles, but I thought the caterpillar was precious. I love the dino rain set and T would too. The girls' tassel cover up is just way too much - if they make it in my size I'm buying. 

2. We consume a lot of hot chocolate in the winter. I feel totally silly about this, but did you know you can make it from cocoa? All you do is heat water/milk (I do 50/50), and add equal tablespoons of cocoa and sugar. Sometimes I make it darker than others and do one less tablespoon of sugar. We always top it with homemade whipped cream. While this is still a lot of sugar, I love that it's ingredients I control and Chris loves it more than the packaged stuff.

I had a few candy canes left over from Christmas for Valentine's Day hot cocoa. And I realize our table looks crazy in all our pictures - I need to sand and restain it as it's covered with all our crafting paints.

3. The past three weeks I decided to start waking up with Chris. I'm pretty impressed I've been able to do it because I LOVE sleep. My alarm goes off at 5:15am and I usually have coffee in my hand by 5:20 (thanks to my parents purchasing a Keurig for us). I thought I would hate it and wouldn't last more than a week (Chris thought the same thing), but I LOVE it. It is so nice to have thirty minutes with him the morning and dawn is one of my favorite times of day (I blame being on the East coast - when you are at the beach it's the sunrise that's usually stunning instead of the sunset). My mornings with the boys are so less rushed since I have hours to prep for the day and I feel more relaxed. It's a win/win/win/win. 

4. Chris and I haven't seen Frozen. We tried to get the boys to watch with us on the ice days, but they didn't want to. I think we've finally talked them into it this weekend. It's supposed to rain on Sunday so it looks like a perfect time for a movie. I'm excited to see what all the hype is about and understand why everyone thinks Elsa has gotten us this week.

5. We had KC's 6 month pictures (a month late) and I can't wait to share them! Here's a sneak peek (as always images from Bower Studio Photography):

Linking up with my favorite Five on Friday ladies!

Have any great plans this weekend? We're doing our usual thing!

Thoughts on Thursday

February is flying. The boys are back at school today after two "snow" days. Between the snow days, weekends, and being sick, N's been at school once in the past 12 days. He's been living it up and hasn't missed school at all. 

Yesterday was the big UNC v Duke game. I've mentioned before that we have lived two years with DirecTV or cable so usually we can't watch games (which in all honesty is the only thing we miss from having the service). We listen on the radio or go to a sports bar. Well, a new option came on the market a couple weeks ago and since then we've been enjoying televised sports once more! 

SlingTV

They offer the whole line up of ESPNs along with some other networks like ABC Family. They still have some kinks to work out but so far it's been awesome. It's $20 a month, which completely beats the $100 we paid for DirecTV.

 This is how we felt at the end. 

We'll see you again dookies, we will see you again.

I've become addicted to Smocking Hot Mama's on Facebook. I used to check Facebook once a week or so and I'm searching this group any free chance I've get. I've purchased a few adorable things so far and it's making me excited for consignment season! My latest purchases:

Last, I was searching for something to read (I am really really picky about what I read) and had two people mention Harry Potter in one week so I started the series. I'm on book 4 and so far so good. I know I saw the first movie but I don't remember it. I'm wondering if the others are worth watching. 

I used to check my phone during the looong carpool wait, but then I thought I'd read and set a great example for T. He hasn't quite caught on. He likes to perform stunts in the van or take pictures - hence the ones below:

 I'm linking up with Annie and Natalie for Thoughts on Thursday! I hope your Thursday is going well!

Life Lately...

Wow it's been awhile. I have so much to catch up on in the blog world!! Here's a bit of what we've been doing:

This little peanut is now 8 months old and is getting two bottom teeth. N has decided that Junie B Jones was right, and when you lose teeth the toothfairy gives them to a baby because KC is growing the two he has lost. 

Usually she wakes about once a night (although this week it's been three times) and a few times I've found her with her legs hanging out of the crib. I used bumpers with the boys because whenever this happened they would wake, but baby girl could care less.

 My big guy has had piano concerts, basketball games, and a special art night at school.

My middle guy has been living it up. Games, cooking, "fun" baths, and playing with KC. We usually call him trouble but recently he has been incredibly sweet and helpful, except for last night when he said how excited he was that I have another baby in my belly. Yea, no baby, just fat.

The past two weekends the weather has been beautiful. We've had picnics both weekends. 

Last week Chris needed to travel to Richmond for a day. T was out of school so I mentioned us tagging along. My dad retired in December so I called to see if he would come down to stay with N since he was in school and it seemed like everything would work perfectly! 

It was quite a drive, we left at 2pm and arrived at 9:00pm (stopping by my old high school for dinner). T was so excited to sleep in a hotel room! KC was not a fan of the pack and play but loved snuggling up with me. Chris had a room with two queen beds and he ended up sleeping on the couch because T isn't one to share a bed.

We dropped Chris off at work and thanks to Allie's recommendation, we headed to the Children's Museum. It was really interesting to watch T without N. He is such a follower that it took him a while to warm up and run around without following someone.

 We needed to pick Chris up at 3:00 and as we left the museum, it was pouring snow. It was all over us and it was beautiful! By the time we reached Chris it was just slight flurries, but still fun to watch. 
We headed back home, stopping once again by my high school for dinner. It was such a special time, I always love going by and visiting my old haunts.

While we were away, N became sick and my poor dad had to do laundry and clean carpets. He was feeling better the next day but couldn't go to school so my dad entertained him by visiting the aquarium and the lego store. Needless to say he didn't miss us one bit. 

I hope you had a great Valentine's weekend. We don't usually do anything but we were dragging so we stopped by Dean and Deluca for lattes and sweets. The boys were thrilled. We are expecting a bit of snow and ice tonight, maybe tomorrow will be a snow day!