5 FRIDAY FAVORITES

Several blogs I read do a series every Friday where they post their "Friday Favorites." I love the idea and am going to start doing it too-- or at least attempting to!

So here are 5 of my favorite things right now:

Favorite 1: MY FRIENDS!
 

I am so lucky to have a wonderful group of friends.  More than just these girls pictured here.... I love that I can call on them and they will be there for me.

 When Molly passed, they all collected money to donate to the Patton Children's Education Fund in my name.  When one of my friends brought over the envelope with well over $600, I wanted to cry my eyes out. 

 Not only are these friends there for me in good times:

...but they are also there for me when I am at my lows and so so sad.  These friends are incredible and I can only hope to be that kind of friend to them-- the kind of friend Molly was!!!

 Favorite 2: big ol' drank

This sounds so silly.  I know.  I have been Diet Coke free for over a year now (those who know me well know this is QUITE a fete! I was beyond addicted).  I am now onto unsweet tea.  I love it.  I don't drink coffee so it is how I get my caffeine fix.  There is a gas station by the boys' school that has these HUGE Styrofoam (it's gotta be Styrofoam!) cups with the yummy crunchy ice and some perfect unsweet iced team.  And, the kicker? It is only $.87.  That is a good deal.  And it makes this place one of my favorites! ha! It's the little things....

Favorite 3: Polar Watch 

This favorite is more of an obsession for me.  I LOOOOOVE this watch! I wear it when I work out-- it comes with a heart rate monitor that I wear under my sports bra, around my sternum.  When I got the watch, I entered my height and weight and where I want my ideal heart rate to be (there is a chart for this).  I press start at the beginning of my workouts and it keeps track of my heart rate so I can see when I need to push myself more, etc.  At the end of class, I can see how many calories I have burned.  It.is.addicting! I can't workout without it now. 

You can find them on amazon here. Below is my watch after a kids pop class... I love you can see the calories and the heart rate (in the above picture, you can see your heart rate "range" of where to aim to have your heart rate, and the heart in the middle moves up and down as your heart rate rises and falls).

This watch is far more than a favorite... it is an addiction!

 Favorite 4: North Face Jacket

 My mother in law gave me the North Face Jacket I am wearing in the above picture for Christmas and it has definitely become one of my favorites! It is soooo warm! I love the length-- booties get cold if not covered! We have had a cold winter and I am definitely getting good use of this jacket! I can't find it anywhere to post a link to it...I think it sold out this year.  If you are looking for a good jacket next year, get this one quickly!

Favorite 5: Blue Diamond Almonds

 I have been trying to eat healthy.... we have a spring break trip coming up and this winter weight isn't going to lose itself (I should note that as I type these very words, I am eating reeses pieces....sigh).  These almonds are SO SO yummy! This flavor is sweet, so it gets my sweet craving and they are crunchy so that satisfies my cracker craving.  AND, they are filling! I sound like a spokesperson for these things and I am not... I just really like them! I threw this little can in my bag when we went to Connecticut for the funeral and it was perfect to have for a little snack when in the airport.  I also love the salt and vinegar flavored ones. 


Okay! That's it for this week!!! Let me know your favorites too!

 

Snow/Ice Day(s)!

It is COLD in North Carolina!

Monday afternoon, there was a winter weather advisory, which in NC, you can never know how serious that will be.

The snow started and quickly turned to ice....

We had to take the dogs out to see the glazing-- and it was slippery!

It became clear that school would be canceled on Tuesday so we had Tricia and Tommy over for some cocktails and playing outside.  We went sledding on the road out in front of our house.  The boys thought it was amazing...

We woke up Tuesday morning to pretty much a solid sheet of ice.  Our driveway had a thick layer of ice on it.  Andy decided to make an ICE angel. 

Cal apparently decided to work on his modeling poses...? 

And Bruce did not know what to think!

We went back out into the road in front of our house for some sledding-- when it is icy like this, you can't really sled like you can on snow.  But they had a blast anyway!

All three of these guys had fun sledding!

Wednesday, schools were canceled too... the roads were all pretty much fine, but there were some back roads that were still slick. Wednesday afternoon, REAL snow started falling down and the boys were in AWE of it! These were the BIG thick flakes. 

Cal watched it fall out the window- it really was beautiful!

 School was canceled Thursday as well... it has been a long week home with the boys!!! I am pretty sure they will be able to go to school tomorrow... it is still freezing (currently 17 degrees!), but the roads are looking good!


 

#carriedaway: week 5

Week 5:

 Day 29: perfect use of "slumber" filter.

 Day 30: loooooove sweet Lily!

 Day 31: my little baller

 Day 32: loving on the big red dog before bed.

 Day 32 part 2: how we watched the second half of the super bowl. #myfourleggedsons

 Day 33: heaven got the most amazing, beautiful angel today. It is way too soon to take her away from her babies, though.  My heart aches for my sweet, precious cousin and her children who had to say goodbye to her today.

 Day 34: finding the positive in a sad situation-- bringing the four of us together as we travel to celebrate the life of an amazing person. Thankful for family. Thankful for friends.

 Day 35: phew, today was not easy.  Molly adored her kids and after meeting them today, it's easy to see why.  I loved loving on them...wish I could do it every day.



 

Weekend Update

Baby, it's cold outside!!!! The temps dropped this weekend and made me want to stay inside and snuggle in front of a fire! We didn't do that, of course, but I was tempted!

Friday night, we went to the club for dinner and the boys did kids club.  When we got home, both wanted me to carry them up the stairs... I had on heels, one kid on the front and one on my back-- Andy wasn't thrilled about sharing this with Cal...

Saturday (Valentine's Day!), I co-taught a Burn 1000 popup class.  This is a 90 minute class that buuuurns! Here is my calorie tracker from Saturday morning:

 Mission accomplished! Woo hoo!

After class, we went and ate.  I ate a lot.  I actually ate a lot the whole weekend.  I have got to get back on the bandwagon this week!

Cal had a basketball game Saturday afternoon.  I am really loving this whole basketball thing.  They start out sitting both teams down and doing some sort of a lesson-- this week they started with a quote from Dean Smith and then discussed respect.  It was awesome.  Then the teams break up and have a little practice and then this week, the teams actually played each other in a full court game. 

Cal is starting to get really comfortable on the court-- he is gaining confidence and is really enjoying playing the game. 

Andy could play if he wanted to, but he was very happy just to watch this time-- we will see if he gets out there... 

...but he's no dummy.  He knows where the ladies are.  (and PLEASE, can you look at Janey's hands... I could die.  Could she be any cuter???)

Not sure if this video will work, but I took a bunch of fun clips at the game.  This one makes me laugh... Cal ends up getting the basket at the end and he was so excited! He scored a few times which helped his confidence.  

 Saturday night, Eddie's sister offered to keep the kids: THANK YOU, TRICIA!!! Tommy was out of town and she wanted the boys to be her Valentine! How sweet is she?!

So we went to a sushi restaurant and ate way too much and it was delicious! After dinner we went to another restaurant and had a few drinks along with some dessert.  As we walked to the car, I realized I needed a carriedaway picture so I took this one of our shadows...

Eddie didn't know what I was doing and turned to face me, so he looks super thin.  I had on a large coat and wide pants and look like I ate the entire waitstaff at the restaurant.  I will post this here, but just because it's funny...


So then we got in the car and I tried for a selfie-- homie can NOT take a selfie! The flash gets him every time! This was attempt 3... we were crying we were laughing so hard.  

We were home early and Sunday morning, woke up with Andy on our floor.  Of course.  I am so sick of him not sleeping through the night.  SO sick of it.  It is every night.  Every.single.night.  Lately he just calls out and doesn't need/want anything.  Just wants me to come in there.  I walk in, he goes back to sleep and then I have to pee and then I can't fall immediately back to sleep and then *someone* is snoring.... and then Andy wakes up again.  It's not fun. ANY WAY-- woke up to Andy on the floor, and then Cal came in and wanted to snuggle Andy:

 ... and then Hank wanted in on the action-- of course he did....

We really wanted to go to church this morning.  We haven't been in a while and I think Eddie and I were both needing it this week.

Lately, the boys dress pretty much like crap every day.  It just isn't a battle I have time/energy (see above re: lack of sleep) to fight in the mornings, so they wear sweat pants and t-shirts to school.  I used to make them wear collared shirts to school.  This was before the were going 5 days a week. I can't fight the battle every morning.

But for Sunday church, momma gets to pick.  They can fight all they want, but I win.  Seeing them this morning all dressed up makes me want to go to church every single week (which we should do anyway....)

How old does he look???

I love these two crazies so so much....

After church, we came home and changed and then Andy and I headed off to a birthday party at the little gym for one of Andy's classmates.  Andy was very hesitant to join in the fun, but once he did, he had a great time!

I didn't realize how tall he was in his class.  The tall girl with the white bow is a girl in Cal's grade-- everyone else is in Andy's class...

Working that tongue as he crossed the beam...

Andy and Charlie had a good time together! 

They had a balloon maker there who was seriously the most impressive balloon artist I have ever met.  Ever.  She looks like she is 12.  Maybe 18 at the max.  I told her how great she was at making balloon creatures and she replied, "I have been doing this a long time!." All I could think of was her making balloon animals at 3 years old.  ha!

Andy helped her blow up his balloons to make....

 ...and ninja turtle!

One kid wanted a monkey riding a bike... and she made him one! Another kid wanted a helicopter...and she did it! Crazy.  Obviously, I am easily entertained.

We had family dinner at Fire House and learned that kids eat FREE on Sundays.... guess where we will be going Sunday nights?!?!

It was a great weekend and another week is ready to go.  I have some fun fun fun travel plans for the weekend so I am excited!!!!