Bye Bye February

I can't believe it's almost March already! This year is definitely flying by.

I made it out on another snowy hiking adventure, but this time I was ready for the deep snow with a pair of (borrowed) snowshoes! This time we hiked some back trails at Letchworth. Honestly it was still a major workout since the snow was so powdery and soft. However we made it through and got some great pics of the gorge and waterfalls.

Since it's cold outside, that means baking time inside! I made a new recipe for English muffin bread, and it did not disappoint. The recipe made 2 loaves, and they were delish. A keeper for sure!

I also made a big batch of healthy applesauce oatmeal muffins for the boys to grab before school for a quick breakfast.

And I also tried a new recipe for cake mix snickerdoodle cookies. They were so good! Another keeper.

For Valentine's day my sweet hubby gave me a pedicure, and we ate a nice dinner at home. Nothing better!

We got a few more good snow storms this month, and our yard has been covered for a while now. There's been a couple warmups recently that have melted off most of the snow, so maybe spring is around the corner?

My sweet little Jacob hit 25 Accelerated Reader points and got his picture in the school newsletter!

All the snow and cold weather gave me time indoors for nails and reading...

I'm a HUGE fan of Diana Gabaldon's series Outlander, and Nick bought me the newest book (#9) for Christmas. It was just released in November, so of course I had to hurry and catch up so that I could read it! I started rereading the series last summer in preparation of the new book, and I was able to finish reading the last 2 books just in time to dive into the new one! Just one more book planned in the series...hopefully we don't have to wait too long. Each book is typically 800-1000+ pages!

The new one!!!! #9

The boys are out of school this week for winter break, so we made some special outings! Monday I took everyone to see "The Croods" at Tinseltown in Rochester. We had amazing seats, and this was Jacob's very first movie theater experience! He had a great time, and the movie was pretty funny.

Yesterday we all went to the local bowling alley and plated a couple games (with the bumpers up of course!) This bowling alley had definite vintage vibes, and we had fun.

Brad is doing great in his 2 college classes that he's taking, so he's doing that school work this week since the college is on a different academic calendar than the public schools. Next week is March and I'm sure we'll have lots of new adventures to write about!

January at Home

I hope everyone is staying warm and cozy this winter, it has been a cold and snowy January for us!

My new favorite freezer prep is homemade crockpot refried beans! YUM. 1lb of pinto beans makes several servings of refried beans, and we eat a lot of Mexican food here so they come in handy.

Gotta keep the nails nice! I do DIY gel nails at home, they last 2-3 weeks before needing to be changed.

We've had a few cold snaps here getting down to 0 and below. This particular day I got up early and went hiking with a friend! It was 0 at my house when I left, and on the way there got down to -7. When we actually started hiking (Finger Lakes Trail at Letchworth) it was about 2 degrees. We broke trail in almost a foot of snow (with no snowshoes unfortunately!) for about 6 miles. The temp was up to the low 20s when we were done.

I love baking homemade bread in the winter! So quick and easy. I just throw a few ingredients into my bread machine where it gets mixed, kneaded, and first rising. Then I transfer it to the loaf pan for one final rising then bake. Yum!

And of course my boys keep me busy. Here they were cracking each other up jumping around like weirdos. Gotta love 'em!

More news to come, as always--check back soon for the updates!

Celebrating 19 Years

Today is our wedding anniversary! We have been married NINETEEN years! Can you believe it? Time flies. We went out for a special dinner with live music last week at a fancy new restaurant in Medina called Harvest. We had the best seat in the house right by the band, and the music was amazing. Great jazz style covers of classic big band and love songs. I requested "The Way You Look Tonight" and he did not disappoint. 

This outing was most definitely a splurge considering how frugal we usually are....but I figure it's a special night so we should loosen up a bit. We ordered some wine, and I started with a salad and Nick got soup.

I can not believe it, but I failed to take a picture of our entrees before we devoured them! I ordered chicken with lentils and kale, and Nick ordered pasta carbonara. It was delish and we ate every bite!

We sat there for awhile enjoying the music and finishing our wine, then the pastry chef brought out a special plate for our anniversary! So sweet. We almost licked the plate!

It was a fun evening out, and Bradley has become very responsible and is a great babysitter for his little brother. He even put him to bed that night!

Cuddles is enjoying the season, as you can see here in his very relaxed state. He has a birthday coming up next month, and will be 17!

You could say this was an anniversary present--tons of snow! Thankfully I did not have to work, and the boys were out of school for the holiday so we had no where to go. The prediction was 12-18" over about 24hrs, and I think we will get pretty close to it.

We woke up this morning to about a foot of snow on the ground, so we both bundled up and headed outside to start digging out. Nick used the snowblower while I shoveled the porches and sidewalks, then we started helping our neighbor dig out their cars and clear their driveway. It was hard work! We finished around 11am and came in to rest before lunch time.

After lunch we decided to surprise the boys and take them sledding! We haven't been able to go this season yet, and what better day than a holiday out of school to go have fun? I dressed them up in layers and boots, and we grabbed the sleds to head to the town park where there is a big sledding hill. There was only one other family there at first, then our neighbors showed up. After a little bit several others came so we finished up to go home and warm up.

They had a blast, and this was the first time Jacob was brave enough to go down the hill by himself on a sled. He did good! The snow was not the best for sledding since it was so deep and powdery, but we made it work and all had fun. We came home and had hot cocoa to get warm, then relaxed the rest of the day. I'm curious how much more snow will have fallen thru the night tonight!