High Five for Friday

Hi there! Today I'm linking up Jennie to share some of my favorite stuff from the past week.

1) Friday was Grant's Valentine's Day party at school. He's been so excited about this! I was out of town for work Thurs-Sat but I couldn't wait to get him on the phone as soon as I could so I could hear all about his party. It sounds like he had a really good time!

Most of Grant's Valentine's (all but the ones for his teachers) had his name
on them already but he wrote all his classmates names on the envelopes.
And *braggy mom moment* he could read most of them off the
list. I was pretty impressed by this!

He really loved the Valentines he gave out!

These are the crayon hearts Grant gave to his classmates
(Also Tiny Prints - where the Valentines came from - put my craft on Twitter!) 

And these are the cupcakes I made for his party. I made kind of
a lot but I hear people got to bring some home so that's good!

2) Every year my co-worker, Janis, and I are out of town for Valentine's Day at the Cattlemen's Conference. We joke about spending that day together every year. This year was our last one together since Janis is retiring!

Me & Janis

As a side note: this was LUNCH :)

3) We actually only spent half of Valentine's Day together since the conference was over that day. I came home to some gorgeous flowers...and then we took Grant to Monster Jam! How's that for romance? Grant had a blast, it really was a great way to spend the evening!

My pretty roses

So excited for the show to start!

Imitating the El Diablo truck. We cracked up over this! He'd never seen
this one before and I think it was his favorite that night
(maybe more so than Grave Digger).

Gotta love the crashes!

4) We had a couple "snow days" this week. More like ice days. Daycare closed Tuesday & Wednesday so Grant & I had some fun. Back in November I bought a sled just to be prepared and I thought I had jinxed us! But even though there was no real snow, the yard was still slick enough that we could use the sled. Grant had so much fun! Day 2 wasn't as sled friendly so we did stuff around the house like some workbook stuff and learning games.

Snow day smiles!

My little half-Yankee loves the cold weather like his Mama :)

Wednesday evening we had some exciting snow flurries but they didn't last long.

5) I like to meal plan for the week and I'm always so excited when I stick to it. This week I was glad I did it early because I really don't enjoy the craziness of the grocery store when winter weather is coming. And tonight I shall be rewarded by not cooking! 

This very cheesy baked ziti was a hit the other night!

Happy Friday everyone!

Have a great weekend!

The Doggies of NY

One of the things that excited Grant (and Husband) about our summer vacation was the promise of doggie play time. Since our doggie, Brodie, passed away last year there has been a serious lack of doggie loving for those two and some serious Doggie Fever going on. My sister and her boyfriend have two dogs - why do you ask? - Lennon (a black lab who's mom, I think, had an affair with a horse and never told anyone) and Kiya (a boxer). Lennon we know and gets along famously with Grant. Kiya...well, we'd met briefly. 

Grant, I think, adjusted quickly to living with two dogs for a week. It helped that neither of them is the type of dog that will swipe and eat his toys. And Husband spent as much time as he could laying on the floor cuddling with Lennon.

Lennon is a very handsome guy and Grant adores him (I believe the feeling is mutual - you can read about their doggie BFF relationship HERE). He's a good boy unless there is good around...for instance: if there is a little boy not much taller than Lennon who is about to take a bite of a piece of cold pizza but Lennon wants it - so he takes it. And let me tell ya, the "drop it" command doesn't work then. It happened so fast that Grant just stood there stunned. And even after that, I can't tell you how many times I tried to keep Lennon from eating something when Grant would defend him with "He's a hungry boy, Mama!"

Taken shortly after the pizza theft.

He's a rather photogenic guy, don't you think?

"Oh hey. I'm just sitting here being huge."

"I have pretty eyes too. Want to give me pizza?"

So, I'm not gonna lie. When I met Kiya briefly last year my reaction was "Oh my". She's got some wonky eyes that are a little off-putting at first. But she grew on me quickly and I found out she's a very sweet girl. And much more polite about food! Grant loved her too and she put up with a lot from him (I'm pretty sure she was shot with a Nerf gun at least once) so she's OK in my book :)

She's pretty mellow too (unless you just got there).

"Quit talking about the treat and just give to me already!"

When she gets tired, her tongue sticks out :)

I think these two are probably still recuperating from our stay. We - especially Grant - wore them out.

Always had to say goodnight to Lennon.

"I love you Lennon"

 All week, if you were trying to find Lennon...you pretty just had to find Grant:

"Hey! Why are you upside down?!"

High Five for Friday

Today I'm linking up with Lauren and Jennie to share some of my favorite stuff from the past two weeks. I skipped last week because of vacation so I'm combining them!

1) On Saturday, July 26, we left for a vacation in upstate NY to visit my family. We make this trip once a year and look forward to our summer vacation! Grant loved it because we stayed in a hotel on the way up and the way back AND he got to play with doggies all week at my sister's house!

He's allowed to jump on hotel beds (when Husband isn't looking).

Grant loves Lennon! (And Lennon loves Grant)

2) We did a TON of good eating on vacation (and by "good eating" I mean not the least bit healthy). My sister and I were desperately craving some exercise - never thought I'd say that - and got to go on a hike one evening just the two of us. It was a great trail with some awesome views!

Me & Sis

Seriously gorgeous, right??

3) It was pretty chilly for summer while we were there but on our last day before our two day journey south, we managed to get over to my Aunt & Uncles house for a swim. I just had to. I spent so much time there as a kid and LOVE swimming in the lake. It was too cold for Grant to willingly go any farther than his waist so I was the only one actually swimming (and it was really too cold for me but I had to!).

So pretty and peaceful :)

I love bringing Grant to the places where I spent so much time as a kid!

4) FOOD. There is so much food I miss from back home and I bring back as much as I can with me. This time it consisted of my favorite cheeses, favorite hot dogs (3 packages in my freezer and I'm the only one in the house who likes them!), favorite store-bought cookies, and salt potatoes - which are really just little potatoes boiled in extremely over-salted water and they're fantastic!

THE best store-bought chocolate chip cookies!

Salt potatoes cooked with Monday night's dinner

5) For about year we've been scouring places looking for the perfect toy box and just haven't found anything worth buying. My sister still had the toy box my dad built for us when we were little and was willing to part with it so we brought that home for Grant's room. I started re-organizing his room this week and got the toy box set up in its new home. I love that we're able to use what my dad made!

Happy Friday!

Have a great weekend!

High Five for Friday

Today I'm linking up with Lauren to share some fun stuff from my week.

1) We packed up Saturday for a quick weekend road trip for my soon-to-be-sister-in-law's bridal shower and some family time on my in-law's farm. 

Noting quite like a road trip nap.

In our driving around we found this pretty spot to walk around for a bit.

2) Not only did we get to spend some good time with my in-laws but we got to watch Grant have so much fun on their farm. He was very much wanting to stay.

Playing some serious fetch with one of the four dogs.

Clinging to uncle Sparky's leg so he doesn't have to leave.

3) One of the foods I miss from back home is french fries with cheese and gravy. I had to get Grant early from school on Monday and get groceries...so I calorie splurged on my craving for fries with cheese & gravy. So good!

I ate it all.

4) Speaking of back home, I got a ring in the mail that I ordered! I got a NY one for me and an NC one for my sister. I love it!

I got it from THIS Etsy seller, if you're interested.
She was very accommodating and quick!

5) I didn't make coffee yesterday morning like I usually do so I had to make do with some instant stuff I keep on reserve in my desk drawer. It was actually so good, I made two cups. What made it even better was getting to use my mug that my co-worker gave me for my birthday a couple years ago :)

Happy Friday!

Have a great weekend!