Bits and Pieces

February Love day 22

Okay...I admit this series proved to me that I am glad I didn't sign up the 365 day project over at Flickr. It was hard enough to stay caught up with 29 days. Here's what I have so far:

I love my Columbia boots (as does my younger son). They are the warmest boots I have ever put on my feet! Yes, they are not very fashionable...but warmth is the fashion around here during this time of year!

February Love day 23
My guys! They gave me quite a week while they were home during February Recess. You can read all about it here.

February Love day 24
We always have a candy dish going in our home. M&M's and Reese's seem to be our favorites. The dish belonged to my grandmother and always sat on her windowsill in her small home. I remember as a child I would visit her in Connecticut and it would be my job to fill it with mixed nuts.

February Love day 25
In case you haven't heard it's still snowing here in the Northeast. It's beautiful, light, fluffy snow which makes shoveling easy. The skiing season will be prolonged which is a good thing, since hockey took up most of our winter. Speaking of hockey we have our last four games this weekend! Yippee!

February Love day 26

List making helps me be a bit more productive around the house. That is, if in fact, I do make a list. It's a habit that I am trying to start. So, I guess I should go cross off "blog" on my list, since I finally gave you all an update!

Let's Get Cookin'!

February Love Day 21

This is my kitchen. It's one of the rooms that I fell in love with when I first saw our home. It's very small to cook in, but I love the uniqueness of it all. Someday, maybe, I will have a huge open kitchen with lots of storage and counter space. But for right now, I'm happy with the one I have.

The builders of our home searched Europe for many different one-of-a kind items to help make our house into a home. I'm glad they did!

BTW, we went and saw Spiderwick today and it was great! I wouldn't recommend it to kids under seven, but my guys LOVED it!

Yellow and Sunshine

February Love Day 20

The sun was out most of today, but it was still frigid outside. Decided to make one of our favorite summer foods. The boys are home this week due to Winter Break. Today they swam with friends, tomorrow we hit the movies! We are off to see Spiderwick. I hear it is scary but fantastic! Can't wait!

Eleven!

February Love Day 19

We are in full "tween" behavior here at Upper Pond! The sounds, the goofiness, the attitude are all abundant in this eleven year old body! Oh, lordy may I make it through this stage!

On the flipside we couldn't be prouder of the young man blossoming (do you say that about boys?) in front of our eyes. Matt's creativity, sportmanship, kindness, gratitude are just a few things that help make up this wonderful human being. We are so, so proud of his efforts at school, with his friends and at home. Well done Matt. May this be a great year for you!

Catch-up

Life is moving at lightning speed. Here are a few February Love shots. Today's February Love will be posted later in the day.

February Love Day 15
We collect shells from various trips down South and place them in our master bath. It is a warm reminder of all the fun we have had with family and friends.

February Love Day 16
Ry came home the other day with his artwork from the beginning of the year. "I can't draw a thing" was what he said to me as he handed me the collected art. This one is my favorite.

February Love Day 17
It has been gloomy and dull here in Central New York so when the sun came out the other day for a brief moment I quickly ran and got my camera. What you don't see here is all the dust that suddenly appeared with the sunlight!

February Love Day 18

Lastly, I've begun to dream about my garden. It's usually full of weeds, but I would take anything but snow right about now!

February Love Day 14!

Hearts were made all by hand in our workshop.

The boys spend hours designing and creating all sorts of wonderful objects.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Have a wonderful day!

I'm Here

It's nice to know that you are missed. Don't always feel that living around this house! Life has been kicking me in the butt lately and so it has been hard to get to picture taking. But I do have some catching up to do, so here it goes!

I was struck by the skateboard sitting by our garage door this AM. The boys are itching to use them outside, but the weather has not been cooperating. I don't even think we have a chance of using them until April!

I've been busy catching up with long neglected chores. Today was bottle day! Needless to say I have not attacked this chore since Christmas. It was long overdue. I probably picked the worse day weatherwise to haul these through the slushy parking lot. Got them to the new and improved bottle return only to find out that the machines were broken. Of course I asked if they could be returned at the counter. No was the answer! Not a good answer. Hauled them back through the parking lot, into the car and they now sit in my husband's garage bay.

I've also made a commitment to get back on track with my reading. I have been in a reading slump as of late. It's one of my favorite things to do and miss it. Trying to attack that in the morning as I enjoy my coffee.

Lastly, we have been preparing for Valentine's Day. Cupcakes and brownies have been baked and cards have been signed. Well not exactly cards. For the boys it's all about the candy. I would like to know when this day of celebration turned from cute little foldover cards with heart stickers to an all out sugarfest? It's difficult to even find cards these days without candy attached to it. I remember, way back when, that it was a HUGE deal when you got a homemade valentine with a sucker taped to it. That was pretty special. My kids come home with more candy on Valentine's Day than they do on Halloween.

One very last thing to send you off! Something beautiful for these gloomy days of February!

Quiet Evening at Home

Everyone is home and settled in for a quiet evening.

February Love Day 9

We love to watch our cat play with his catnip toys. Yea...we know how to have fun here at Upper Pond!

A Quickie..

February Love-day eight

Our playset was one of the best investments we ever made. The boys still play on in it no matter what the season. Most of the time they are standing on top of the playhouse part. Swinging is still their favorite though.

The sun came out briefly today so I ran and got my camera. It felt good to be outside taking pictures.

The Hemlock Ring blanket continues to grow. Although, I am in the middle of ripping out the last row I knit...grrr!

P.S. Wonder how many hits I'll get with that title?

On the Fast Track!

Slapped on the running shoes and went top to bottom today! I miss the dog hair, believe it or not.

What's up with Project Runway? Why are they making the contestants make such hideous designs?

February Love Day 6

I have no idea how people can take a picture for 365 (6 ) days a year. I'm only on day six and having a difficult time finding inspiration. Possibly, the gloomy weather is playing a huge part in my lack of motivation. So today, you get my son's fixation on toothbrushes. Call it an obsession...somedays I wonder!

When It Rains It Pours!

(Do I ever need a long, hot bath after today's antics!)

Thanks for all the well wishes towards Ry's speedy recovery. He is well on his way to being the ever moving eight year old that he is! However, he is still home with a nasty cough and is still contagious for another eight hours. Just helping to break the cycle at school. Matt is home also with a ugly growth on his foot. I won't go into the details as it would probably ruin whatever you might be eating. We traveled to the plastic surgeon today and it has since been removed.

Thank you to Joslyn of Simple Lovely and Sarah at Thistle Downs Wool Design (go check out her felted bags-they are gorgeous!) for awarding me a You Make My Day Award. It's so weird to think people, other than my family, actually stop to read my blog.

You make my day-Award" works like this:

1. Write a post with links to 5 blogs that make me think and/or make my day.

2. Acknowledge the post of the award giver.

3. Display the "You Make my Day Award" logo with a link to the post that I wrote.

4. Tell the award winners that they have won by commenting on their blogs with the news.

Here are the 5 blogs that I enjoy!

Leslie has received this award from many others and is one of my first stops in the morning. Her site is inspiring and makes me want to knit a lot faster.

Gabrielle at Design Mom offers great ideas for all walks of life. Plus, she has great give-aways!

I look forward to Jane's Friday Five over at The Speckled Egg. This week she is discussing Fashion Week.

I know the next two aren't necessary blogs but they are places I visit often on Flickr.

Go check out Camilla's and Knitswreck's photos. Camilla takes wonderful pictures of her children and her surroundings and Knitswreck's knitting is beautiful.

February Love-5

It has been a grey day here in the Northeast so it was hard to find good lighting to take a picture today. I finally settled on a little primrose that my neighbor gave to us after Murphy passed away. It was just the thing for today's February love.

Crazy Weekend

What an eventful weekend. We had two hockey tournaments in two different places, hours apart. My husband took Matt to his in Saranac Lake and I took Ryan to Saratoga Springs...in the middle of an ice storm, because hockey is NEVER EVER canceled.

Nerves were a little frayed and I am sure I grew many more grey hairs, but we all arrived in one piece. Long story short...Matt's team won his tournament and Ryan came down with strep. Ry played in one game and was sick the rest of the weekend. We stuck around hoping it was only a twenty-four hour thing, but it wasn't. He tried to play his second game but it was too difficult for him. There will always be another game, in fact, he has two next weekend.

Saturday night, his teammate got sick too. I am sure by this time the whole team is sick, thanks to Ry!

We all made it home in time to watch the Superbowl as a family. Too bad for the Patriot's fans out there. It was a tough loss after such a great season, but it was an exciting Superbowl to watch!

I have to go tend to my sick kiddo...and change the sheets on the beds.

February Love-Day 4

Welcome to Our Home

Not the best picture due to the storm door being on for the winter. And, yes, I know that my garland is still up. Do the red bows count for Valentine's Day?

I won't be near a computer until Sunday, so no post tomorrow. However, there will be two on Sunday.

Have a happy weekend everyone.