February iPhone Pictures

Here are some snippets from our life in February...it was full of running, gardening, injuries, baking and several fun celebrations! 

Eli took a box from one of our latest Amazon Prime deliveries and made a costume for himself. 

Now I had my very own Box Troll!

I grew Brussels sprouts this year and these were from my first harvest. 

I probably won't grow them again simply because no one in the family is crazy about them. 

They were fun to try though!

While training for the New Orleans Rock and Roll Half Marathon, I accidentally injured myself. 

I wasn't paying attention and tripped on an uneven part of the sidewalk. The part that really stunk was that I was about a mile from my house so I still had to run back AND it ripped my new workout pants my mom gave me for Christmas! Oh well, now I have a battle scar to talk about. 

Eli and I visited our favorite yogurt place after school one afternoon. What a great Friday treat!

When we were in town after Eli's arm injury (the first visit) he and Tinsley found some cool shades at Target. 

We spent a nice quiet afternoon at the library and Eli even got his own library card!

He was so excited to put it in his wallet!

Bread day always makes me happy :)

I spent a rainy Saturday afternoon making Valentine treat suckers for Eli's first grade class. 

I found these treats at The Idea Room several years ago and finally made them!

Lego look-a-like erasers from Target added the perfect touch to Eli's Valentine cards this year. 

Running down by the river is one of my favorite things. 

Sunsets from our backyard are also one of my favorite things. 

On February 20th, we celebrated Reve and Brian's wedding. 

Josh set them up a few years ago and the rest is history. We had so much fun at their wedding! 

I am so happy that this sweet girl found love again :)

The end of February brought bad news for me. The Monday before my half-marathon I started feeling badly at work one morning. I barely made it through the rest of the day and when I got home from school I had already started running fever. I immediately quarantined myself in our bedroom and wouldn't let Eli or Josh in to check on me. I ran fever all through the night and the next day as well so I had to call in a substitute teacher for my classes. After two visits to the doctor I found out I had the FLU! The doctor told me no school for the rest of the week and definitely no race on Sunday. All that training and no reward! Talk about MAJOR BUMMER! I spent the rest of the week in bed sleeping, taking Tamiflu, and binge watching the final season of Parenthood. It took a full week for me to feel normal again and I hope that's the last time I get the flu. I'm so thankful that Eli and Josh didn't get it. That would have been even worse! It wasn't the way I wanted the end of February to go, but I'm thankful it didn't last long! 

January iPhone Pictures

I'm finding myself using my camera phone more and more to capture every day moments in our lives rather than lugging my big camera around.  I still LOVE my big digital camera, but for everyday use you really can't beat the camera on your phone. Here are some pictures from January. 

On January 3, Josh and I celebrated 14 years of marriage. We've been through a lot together over the past 14 years, a lot of good times and some not so good. We've seen each other at our worst and at our best. We've loved each other on days when neither one of us were very lovable. We've laughed, cried, argued, celebrated, and much more, but we've done it all together. There is no one else with whom I'd rather do life. I thank God everyday for putting us together. I love this man more and more with each passing day and I can't wait to celebrate many more anniversaries with him!

One day after school, Eli and I had a hot chocolate date at the local coffee shop. He also whooped my bootie in checkers while we were there. I love these precious moments with Eli and I hope that they continue even as he gets older.

One of my student's parents gave me a bread starter and I began my journey of baking homemade bread every week. I bake three loaves of bread a week and we use it for everything-French toast, sandwiches, grilled cheese, garlic toast, breakfast foods, rolls, cinnamon rolls, and much more. Even with using the bread all those different ways, we still had multiple loaves in our freezer each week so I started I to give it away. It ended up being a great little "happy" for Eli's teachers this year. They looked forward to "bread day" just as much as I did! Baking bread is a three day process but I truly enjoy each second. I always feel such a sense of accomplishment when I take those three, golden brown loaves of bread out of the oven each week. Plus, there is just nothing better than fresh bread from the oven smothered in butter and local honey. Oh my word, get in my belly! 

Eli chose to forego soccer this year and play basketball instead. He loves shooting basketball at our house and was really looking forward to playing with a team. This was a quick picture I managed to grab before his first game. He couldn't wait to play!

Here in Louisiana, Mardi Gras season is so much fun to celebrate-parades, beads, and yummy food galore, especially king cakes! I can't tell you how many king cakes my students brought to school this month, but it was a lot! It's a good thing I was still training for my Rock and Roll half-marathon or else I would've been in big trouble with all those yummy treats. I decided to try my hand at making a king cake this year and it turned out okay! I made a cream cheese filled king cake and this was the result. I thought it looked and tasted pretty good for my first attempt. Next year, I'll definitely make this again :)

That was our January! It was a fun month filled with lots of happy moments :)