Sunday, February 8, 2015

February Follies!

February is officially here! And along with it have come many a folly:
fol·ly
ˈfälē/
noun
  1. 1. Lack of good sense; foolishness.

 The months are really dwindling down before the "Great Move," and I feel like all the stress and pressure we're feeling from its looming presence has made us a little crazy. But we're trying to make the most of each day left here in the grand ol' South and have been up to quite a bit in these last few weeks. Here's a folly-filled recap:
 Jon picked up a few extra days of moonlighting at Day and Night Dental in Fayetteville, including a Saturday, so instead of sitting at home bored with the kids, I decided to brave it alone and drive out to Rockingham to visit the Discovery Kids Museum before our pass expired.
 It was my first act of folly, but I'm so glad we did! The kids all had a blast and it was the perfect way to use up a freezing cold Saturday in winter. It broke up the monotony of being at home all weekend, and Leah even snoozed on the drive back to Pinehurst she was so tuckered out from all we'd seen and done!  
 Not too long ago it was revealed to my friend Jennifer-- who is a local-yokel who's lived here all her life-- that we had NEVER been to Granny's for some donuts! February Folly #2! Granny's is down in Aberdeen, literally 100 yards away from a brand-new Dunkin Donuts ironically, and let's face it, based on their signage I was a little freaked out by Granny's face. Wouldn't you be?? But she swore up and down that they were the best donuts ever, and the reason it always looked closed was because they WERE closed; they only make a certain amount of donuts each morning, and when they sell-out they close up, which on the weekends is as early as 10 a.m. 
 Well, if they're THAT good I knew we were really missing out on a best-kept-secret, so Leah and I did indeed get there early one morning to test them out. I don't think Leah minded too much, do you?
 Jennifer said their glazed donuts were fabulous because they put some sort of sweetened cream cheese mixture in the center, so I got these to take home to Jon and the kids as a surprise, and an old-fashioned cake donut for me. What an awesome local treat! Yum! 
 I think I must have had Granny's donuts on my mind the rest of the week, because that Sunday I decided to make a "healthy-er" version of donuts for our Sunday night dessert. I bought a donut pan, and whipped up some devil's food chocolate cake donuts that were BAKED, not fried, and then dipped them in a most scrumptious chocolate glaze. Oh! And I added some heart sprinkles for good measure. They were AMAZING! 
 Who doesn't love donuts??? And you could hardly even tell they weren't the regular fried kind. All dozen were gone by Monday morning, so I think that speaks for itself.
The kids helped me do a little decorating for Valentine's Day, and Zach already has his Valentines signed, sealed, and ready to deliver to his friends at school!
Speaking of Zach, we are SO proud of him! He recently got his report card back for his first semester of Kindergarten, and he had completely surprised everyone (even his teachers) with how well he'd done! He'd started the year off being one of the lowest readers in his class, and he had to meet every morning with the reading specialist. He just didn't seem to care about letters and numbers and learning to read, so he was just very apathetic about everything! We kept working at home with his letters, then gradually his sight words, then with his take-home readers until he became more and more confident. This time when they tested him, he knew ALL of his sight words, and more importantly he read at a level C (which is back up to grade-level and where he should be), and he basically blew away his teachers with how far he'd come in such a short amount of time. We (of course) always knew he had it in him, but school finally clicked and he's a rockstar. Now that's no folly! WAY TO GO ZACH!
Meet the Queen of Folly herself. She has been working hard to remind us she is officially in the "Terrible Twos"-- and nothing she does makes any sense. Holy moly! She is a two-year old terror if ever I saw one, and she is smart, sneaky, and sassy to boot. Don't let that adorable smile fool you! 
 She absolutely HATES getting her hair combed, and sometimes we go days without washing, combing, or styling it, and we show up at the gym with hair (and Leah) looking like something the cat dragged in. I should feel embarrassed, but I don't. Those gym ladies love her to death, and they know I'm just very wisely picking my battles!
 She is constantly making messes. Mess after mess after mess. If I leave anything within her reach, I can pretty much guarantee it'll end up on the floor or in her tight little clutches. She dumped an entire bag of Cheerios all over the floor one morning while I was showering, and then very "helpfully" swept them up for me.
One afternoon driving home from the grocery store I gave her a bag of marshmallows to hold, thinking she'd just eat a few as a snack, only to discover upon our arrival home that she'd been chewing them up and then smearing them all over her feet, face, hands, car seat, chair, etc. It was a HUGE sticky mess-- similar in fact, to the one she'd made a few days prior involving a poopy diaper of hers. I'll spare you the gory details, but the concept was the same. LEAH!
 February Folly #1,00,001: I got called to be an Activity Days leader last month over the 8-11 year olds, and it's been a fun and challenging calling. Jon and I team teach the 9-10 year olds in primary on Sundays, and he also got called to be a Cub Scout leader, so now the whole family has to be at the church Thursday nights at 7 p.m. for our activities. I have one leader helping me (who is a cute young 20-something newlywed), and between us we have over 20 girls to entertain! We basically have no budget, no room, but plenty of silly, sweet, and enthusiastic girls so it'll definitely keep me on my toes these next few months.   
 This past weekend was filled with folly as the doldrums of wet winter weather, lots of work and no play, and a yucky cold the kids were passing around all kind of caught up to us. We were all in need of a little break-- and when that happens, my motto is to throw good sense to the wind and just get outta town as quickly as possible! So Saturday we hit the highway and drove the 2 1/2 hours to Myrtle Beach. The kids couldn't figure out why we were headed to our summer retreat when the weather was so cold, but it was nice just to wave goodbye to Pinehurst in the rearview mirror, despite knowing it wasn't really a true Beach Day. We drove straight to the outlet malls for some power shopping, and then got half-priced milkshakes at the Steak 'n' Shake during Happy Hour. 
 Next we headed straight for the beach. I knew the sun would be setting soon, and I wanted to catch the last light of day with a little salt breeze on my face before we turned around and headed back home. Although freezing, it was worth it! The sunset was absolutely INCREDIBLE.
 The outside temperature was around 54 degrees, but with the wind chill off the ocean, it was much, much cooler than that! Brrrrr! 
 I am really getting depressed as my beach opportunities dwindle further and further down. They've been the absolute best part about living in North Carolina, and are my sanity in the summer months. I made Jon promise we'd come every weekend in May and June-- which are right around the corner!
 
The sea foam was so beautiful!
We spent a few minutes enjoying the fresh air, chasing the seagulls, and just soaking in the breathtaking scenery. Lucy, ever impervious to the cold, even wanted to put her feet in the water. She's nuts. But we had the entire beach to ourselves-- there wasn't a single other person in sight when we looked up and down the shoreline. It was pretty cool.
Sometimes I'm really grateful for folly-filled, impulse decisions that say, "Let's go jump in the car and head to the beach and not look back!" But more particularly for a husband and kids who are game to do it. Jon didn't even laugh at me, when I'm sure the last thing he was expecting to hear when he asked was, "What do you want to do today?" We had a super yummy dinner at Carrabas (which is NOT on the list of 10 restaurants here in town-- hooray!!) and then drove back home. All three kids zonked out about 30 minutes into the drive, so it was actually a very pleasant, quiet ride home, with lots of time to talk to my main squeeze. I'm sure thankful for all the fun follies February has brought so far!