Snow Day!

I woke up yesterday morning to the most pleasant surprise...a snow day! This is the second one we have had this school year...and they said I would never get a day off up here :)  Peyton thought it was fabulous to have me home. I watched Criminal Minds and Grey's from earlier in the week and she thought that was the perfect time to cuddle. I also got to clean the kitchen/dishes, do a few loads of laundry, and some living room pilates and ab workouts...which Peyton thought were my attempts at making her a human jungle gym.

It really didn't snow as much as I expected, but I wanted to see how much was in our backyard. This is about 6 feet from our back door... about 18 inches or, as you can see, up to my knees! Oh and there's two more waves coming next week...when will I ever see grass and roads again?!

I promise I am not that large...this is 3 layers of coat! Necessary to stay warm up here!

Yesterday also happened to be national Margarita day! It may or may not be made up, but I was going to err on the side of caution and celebrate :)  

J and I went to the gym around 5:00 and it was packed! Apparently that's where everyone goes when it snows. He knew I wanted a margarita so he drove me straight there after the gym, however I did not bring my ID out when we left. So my sweet husband drove home and back (30 minutes in the snow), not once complaining, to bring me my ID for my margarita. I did not order this size, but apparently our waiter thought that is the size you deserve after a 30 minute wait!

It also happened to be my spiritual birthday! My mom and I were baptized together on February 22, 1999 (I think, it could have been 98?--Mrs. Bonnie and Mr. Jeff would know!) What a wonderful, relaxing day to celebrate :)

Valentine's Schmalentines

For Valentine's day, we decided not to exchange gifts but rather make an attempt to spend time together to celebrate. The week of Valentine's day, we were both particularly busy (late night meetings, conferences, etc) so we had to spread out the time throughout the week/weekend. 

Sunday night we went to our mini-church group. In my stocking for Christmas, J got me the Taylor Swift Red CD, so it is one of the CDs that stays in my car. Often he takes my car when he has to run out somewhere (for safety reasons, better snow traction, and gas mileage). Apparently he jams to some T Swift when he drives it around because we got in the car to leave and he right away hit the button for her CD, skipped to his favorite song, and started singing along. 

Monday night I had a class to attend, Tuesday night I had a movie night fundraiser to chaperone, and Wednesday night I had two meetings to attend, so Thursday we decided to go out to eat so we could spend more time with each other rather than in the kitchen. However, when we got home, Justin did slave to make this delicious sweet surprise for me! You can only see two of the candles in the picture, but Justin found every candle he could in our house and "arranged" them on the table and lit them all. haha! It was quite aromatic.

For our "cheat" meal over the weekend I made homemade chicken and waffles. Yum! The way to Justin's heart really is through his stomach. We used our lovely picture trays from my Gram to eat while we watched We Bought a Zoo. Really cute movie!

After church on Sunday, we headed to Barnes and Noble and had a coffee date (along with a million calorie delicious muffin!) and then each picked out a couple books together. 

Saw this at the Menasha public library this week... what an awesome library and great quote!

Of course Peyton thought she needed some quality time with Justin as well. 

And totally unrelated, this great discovery... 

A Week Without Football

Justin snuck out yesterday morning while I was still sleeping and woke me up with a sweet breakfast. Love that man! 

Needless to say, I had to hit to the gym afterwards. Look at the amount of layers I have to wear just to walk to the clubhouse gym (only about .2 miles away)

This weekend has been unusual with no football to watch. We celebrated last week with pizza rolls and buffalo chicken dip. Yum!

I saw this awesome tip on Pinterest and have used it ever since when I need to shred chicken. Just take the hot chicken breasts and place them in your mixer with the paddle attachment. Turn on medium speed for about 10 seconds and viola! Buffalo chicken dip in no time.

I texted my mom a picture of our bunny, which Justin has named Peter, and she was very concerned if he was getting enough food in the snow. Hence the carrots, which he loves by the way. I don't think we are ever getting rid of him now. I just hope we don't make more "friends".

We have had quite a few big snowfalls lately and none of it has melted a bit (maybe later today when the temperature will reach above freezing). It was actually sunny one day so Justin took a picture next to one of the piles of snow that line every road for comparison.

I have started reading this PBL handbook for professional growth. I am hoping to learn some great ideas and improve my understanding and implementation of PBL.

It used to be very obvious that I was Peyton's favorite, but not so much anymore. Especially after I gave her a bath. She is either miss independent or Justin's girl now.

Last, but not least, the other advisors and I took our students outside to build snow forts this week. Here is evidence that I have, in fact, shoveled snow :) It is also evidence of how much I detest gloves, or glove in this case.