January Winter Days

A beautiful and unexpected Wednesday afternoon snow...

Bringing the snow indoors...What we did with our Dollar Tree snowflakes of all sizes. This is in their playroom, and Tori and I had a great time this week putting them into patterns and hanging them from the ceiling!

My kitchen tree redo...I found some beautiful peacock ornaments at Pier 1 after-Christmas. I think they are a great addition to my bird/picture ornament tree.

My favorite additions to this little tree...My Hallmark family tree ornaments with pictures of the kids in them. This is JJ around four years old.

Having a good time in JJ's room on New Year's Day...We had grandparents over for a pork chop/black-eyed peas lunch.

Snow is the keyword this week...As you can tell from the above pics. Since before Christmas we have had more snow here than in the past four years combined! Midweek a beautiful snow fell in the afternoon and was gone by late evening. It looked like huge cotton balls falling from the sky! I really don't ever recall seeing such big flakes! By the time it stopped, many places in ET looked like a Winter Wonderland. This morning we woke up to find about 1/4 inch of snow, and the meteorologists are forecasting another ice/snow event late Sunday night and lasting into Tuesday. Of course Jonathan and I are excited about missing school, but I know that for Chris it is a big headache since he is in charge of the RSCC campuses.

This week we have all been trying to get back to the routine. Monday went by in a fog...It's so hard to get back to normal after the holidays! But, we are back so we just have to make the best of it.

Since we have begun another year, I/we have tried to make some goals for 2011. First, I am trying to be better about monitoring my health, so I have started doing circuit training at RSCC's fitness center. Some of my school cronies are going, too, so it makes for a better time and also accountable for each other. Something else that I am going to start again is my scrap booking! I love doing it, but I just don't make the time to make it happen. Chris helped me bring my desk and treasures down to our second floor landing, and now, I am researching how to get it better organized and make a scrapbook nook. Lastly, it seems that we are ready to begin our kitchen renovation late Spring/early Summer. Can I hear some cheers!!! This project is what I have been waiting for, but other things had to come before. Also we are looking at building a two-car garage. That would be nice, but we just about passed out when we saw the price of kitchen cabinets!

This year also brings our early Summer trip to New York City with our local travel club. Another teacher and I try to arrange a trip every year, so this year we decided to say within the U.S. We have about 40 students, parents, grandparents, aunts/uncles (including my parents and Chris's dad) enrolled. Chris and I thought that JJ would enjoy this one too, so he is going with us. Right now I am trying to get info together to maybe go back to the Nick Resort in Orlando for a later Summer trip. Whatever we decide to do, you know that the Whaley crew will have a great time!

Well, that about covers what I hope lies ahead for 2011. For this month anyway, we have Tori's 4th birthday/party and our Forever Family Day, so we are really looking forward to those occasions. Hopefully, after I finish laundry and a bit of housework, I can start decorating for Chinese New Year...starting around February 5.

Have a great weekend and stay warm in this winter weather,
Cindy