The Middle Sister: January 2015

I pretty much crashed and burned on my “overachiever status” from November’s post. And I completely failed on my New Year’s Resolution to blog more.
*sigh*

Currently, I am looking out the window at what appears to be a spring day but alas it is mid-January! I even heard birds chirping this morning!! It took me awhile to figure out what the noise was.
Totally loving this mild winter! (knocking on wood now . . . )

The holidays have come and gone. Boyd had his first ever “Christmas Break” as a teacher so we took advantage and headed to Grand Marais, Minnesota. Northern Minnesota never fails to take my breath away.

We stayed at a Bed and Breakfast. We typically do this on vacation. In our limited experiences, we find that B&Bs offer such great local flavor to a trip. Plus, typically the hosts that run B&Bs are fascinating and easy-going. . . AND not to mention have crazy awesome breakfasts, the best advice for what to do, where to go, great stories, etc etc etc.

So yes, apparently I am recommending that you stay overnight at a stranger's house.
Embrace the adventure! :)

Coffee AND snowshoes. ;)

We ended up in the Twin Cities (where we stayed at another B&B) so that Boyd could snowboard with some buddies. I shopped after Christmas sales (booyah!), stopped in to say hi to the best neighbor/friend ever, and then ended at the Mall of America Waterpark. Such a lovely time. Did I mention that Boyd turned 40 over Christmas break?! 40!!!

Jordan and Boyd terrorizing the waterpark

Boyd, Ben and Kevin. Good friends are awesome.

This little peanut worked HARD at waterslides AND pizza.

Boyd and I celebrated 14 years of marriage. I won’t get all gooey on you all . . . but seriously . . . . marriage can be really awesome.

Gross . . . . . enough about that.

Brother2's JV team is currently undefeated and so much fun to watch. The season started off a little rocky but he seems to really be enjoying the game again which is a big RELIEF.


I have failed at getting pics of Brother2 actually PLAYING BB.

Love basketball and yet . . . . Is it over yet?! I love when our crowd has such great school spirit but then there are times that its quite lacking in good sportsmanship and I find myself a little embarrassed. Crazily enough the refs are TERRIBLE whenever we are losing . . . . and even the children start taunting them. *sigh*

EMBRACE the adversity! Work thru it! Build character! YOU CAN DO IT!!

(P.S. Boyd got roped into reffing an elementary girls game awhile back. . . he came home, plopped down on the couch and said it was the most unnerving experience of his life.)

Sucker.

****

I subbed for 2nd grade awhile back for 6 days.
6 days?!
I was bombarded with random questions and comments:

Guess how old my parents are?
Do you know my parents names? Guess!
How many days til Christmas?
Guess which book is mine?
My shoe is falling apart.
I don't know how to tie double knots.
So-and-so from Mrs. ___'s class was running in the hall!
Watch my shoes make marks on the floor! (stop that!)
Is that your computer?

And what is with sharpening pencils? All day long they sharpen pencils.
Adorable and yet . . . . .

When I sub for high school they mostly ignore me. :)

*****

Speaking of teenagers - Brother2 changed my phone identity at some point so whenever I have an email the heading says:

From: TripAdvisor (or whoever)
To: Poop

Nice. I haven't changed it yet because ALTHOUGH annoying it still makes me laugh every time.

Poop.
Hysterical.

*****

I have set a date for the Spring Lucky Day Sale - March 28th! So mark your calendars.

And Matilda Jane starts up again on February 1st. Again - mark your calendars. :)

I have been working like crazy in the basement on sale stuff. Hoping the barn will be ready by the time the summer sale comes around . . . so much to do . . . . so little time and money to accomplish it with.

Take care - enjoy this mild winter weather! Go outside!