Snow Day Fun

I have been wanting it to snow so much!  When Christmas was over and all the decorations were put away, I developed a longing for Snow. 

I hated to decorate for Valentines Day this early and my house looked so bare with all the decorations put away.  I decided to bring the snow I longed for inside the house.  I kept my snowman/welcome sign out.

Dollar General -- one of my favorite stores -- has marked their Christmas decorations down by 70%.  I stopped by to see what was left after Christmas, and I found some cute winter stuff to use in decorating for Snow.  Snowflake placemats and table runner. . . . white candles with epsom salt "snow" . . .

Snowflake kitchen towels . . .  Love me some Dollar General!  Especially 70% off!

For the past week or two, the boys and I have really enjoyed the snow decorations.  The boys especially loved the "snow" on the windows.  Can of snow -- 70% off!

Today . . .  I got the real snow I longed for . . . . outside! 

A true Snow Day!  This is what was waiting for us when we woke up this morning.  The sun wasn't even up yet!  Not much snow . . . but at least there was some snow!

I told Dave that I had "charmed" the weather with all my snow decorations!  Yes I'm taking credit for the snow!  :D

The boys were so excited.  Zach and Alex immediately went outside to play in the snow.  Shane didn't wake up so I went back to bed with him.  We slept until 9:30!  School was cancelled!  My office was closed!  Life was good!  And when we went outside . . . the snow had fallen more and more and covered everything in its glorious cleanness!

Shane and I got dressed and went outside to play in the snow.  Zach and Alex were busy making snowmen.

It was snowing pretty good outside.  The snow kept hitting my camera and made for some blurry pictures.

I like the way the snow/blurry makes the pictures look . . . a nice snowy effect.

Zach and Shane worked together to roll a ball of snow . . . This snowball got so big after a while . . . Zach couldn't move it anymore!

Alex played in the snow all day.  He loved it.  He absolutely LOVED making snowmen.

Shane tried to make a snowman . . .

 But he got bored with it and moved on . . .

The snow was falling so much that it was getting in Shane's eyes.  He didn't like that at all.  Look at his face!

My house . . . in the snow . . .

The boys were busy making snowmen . . . oblivious to the cold . . .

They had been playing in the snow since 7 o'clock!  By 10:30, they started getting hungry, so I whipped up some soup and sandwiches for them.  Notice the snowflake placemats I picked up at Dollar General for 70% off.

Some hot chocolate hit the spot for getting us all warm again.

After warming up, Shane, Zach, and I found something to do in the house.  Alex went back outside and made a snowman army.

He asked me to take a picture of his army from every angle.

As the snow was melting, I could see the disappointment in his face.  I decided to help him make one more snowman.  I went inside and got a scarf and a corncob pipe.

Alex loved it!  He especially loved having me help him!  

Alex is one little boy that truly enjoyed his Snow Day!  

Now the snow is all melted and everything outside is mushy and wet. . . . but we're still loving our Snow Day at the Farm!  I have two big bowls of snow in the freezer for snow ice cream . . . . and I have some secret snow surprises for the boys' lunchboxes tomorrow!  

No one's ready to let the snow go away and neither are  . . . 

                                the Ferrell boys and me!

Pancakes - A Ferrell Boy Favorite

Sometimes I get bored with cooking meals every day . . . planning the meals . . . cooking the meals . . . cleaning up after the meals. . . A Food Rut!

Every once in a while I like to do something different with everyday meals.  Like pancakes.  We have pancakes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner at our house.  The Ferrell boys love them!

Pancakes are so versatile.  You can add chocolate chips or nuts to the pancake mix when you cook them like my sweet friend Vicky does for her children.

You can cut a pancake into any shape you want for any holiday occasion.  A heart for Valentine's Day . . . 

You can put food coloring in the pancake mix and stack the pancakes up in various sizes to make a green Christmas tree for your children's Christmas breakfast.

Or you can just add a dollop of whipped cream and a couple of slices of banana to make your boys a Bunny Booty Pancake.

Trust me . . . they'll love it!

 Pancakes are fun and make for a very versatile meal for

                               the Ferrell boys and me!

I'm linking up to these parties:

Tasty Tuesdays -- Chocolate Gravy & Biscuits!

So in an effort to be more organized and consistent with my blogging, I'm planning to use Tuesdays to post about new recipes I've tried . . . or old recipes I love!  Basically I'm going to blog about food on Tuesdays!

This past Thanksgiving, our family from up North . . . the ones in Pontotoc . . . came down to our house for the holiday.  Dave's brother Joe, his wife, Marlana, and their daughter, Madison, came down on Friday and spent the night before the big Ferrell Thanksgiving on Saturday.  I know Thanksgiving is usually on Thursday, but when your sweet husband has to work on Thanksgiving . . . you move Thanksgiving!

Marlana, Madison, and I had a great time cooking in the kitchen preparing the food for the next day.  We also took a break while the ham was cooking to do a little painting and crafting .

We had a  lot of fun together.  I really enjoyed cooking with Marlana . . . . so the next morning when she suggested we have chocolate gravy and biscuits for breakfast . . . I decided to trust her and give chocolate gravy and biscuits a try!  I mean . . . chocolate -- check -- gravy -- check -- biscuits -- check!  What's not to love about any of those ingredients?!?

Apparently Marlana's mother makes chocolate gravy for the grandkids whenever they spend the night with her.  They love it.  So here we go!

Pour a cup of sugar in a sauce pan.

Add 3 Tbsp of self-rising flour and 3 Tbsp of cocoa to the sugar.  Mix the ingredients together so that all are mixed evenly with no lumps.

Add 4 Tbsp of butter to the pan.  ( I think that looks like more than 4 tablespoons Marlana!)

Then cut the heat on the stove . . . low to medium heat stirring constantly and add 1 to 2 cups of milk (Marlana used approximately 1- 1/2 cups) to the saucepan stirring all the ingredients together as the gravy starts to heat and all the ingredients start to melt together.  Stir the gravy constantly as it heats up and thickens to the consistency of gravy.  :)  Serve over biscuits.

Marlana thought her gravy was a little too thick.  I thought it tasted wonderful.  The only problem I saw with her chocolate gravy . . . . she didn't make enough! 

What did it taste like . . . . This chocolate gravy on a biscuit . . . It tastes like chocolate pie!  Yum Yum Yum!

I wish I had a picture of the chocolate gravy on a biscuit, but I forgot . . . the chocolate mesmerized me and all I could do was eat it up!  So no picture!  Sorry!

The Chocolate Gravy was so good and made for a very special breakfast treat for 

                              the Ferrell boys and me!
          ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chocolate Gravy:


1 cup of Sugar
3 Tbsp of Self-Rising Flour
3 Tbsp of Cocoa
1/2 stick of Butter
Milk (about 1 1/2 cups of milk.  Enough to get the gravy to the right consistency)

Mix all ingredients together on the stove over low to medium heat until all the ingredients are melted together and the gravy thickens to the right consistency.  Serve over biscuits . . . or ice cream!  Yum!

-- Recipe compliments of Marlana and her mom :)

I'm linking up to these parties:

Makeover Monday -- Beginning In The Breakfast Nook

I'm trying to be more organized with my blog.  I am constantly doing things around the house and taking pictures with the intent to "blog" about it . . . but so many times I don't follow through with my plans.

Well I'm going to try and change that . . . I may be taking on more than I can actually do!  :)  We'll see!

We moved in this house over two years ago, and I still don't have pictures hanging on the walls . . . still don't have doorknobs on some of the doors . . . still don't have mirrors hanging in the bathrooms . . . I could go on and on.

I decided to try and slowly get my house in order beginning with the breakfast area. . . .

The back door needed to be painted . . .

My kitchen table used to have 6 chairs . . . we are down to 3 chairs . . . there are 5 people in the family. . .

The porcelain tile floor was pretty, but the grout was not . . . Dave mixed some grout sealer stuff in the grout when he laid the floor, and supposedly, we weren't ever gonna have to seal the floor in the future . . . Seeing how dirty the grout has become over these past 2 years . . . I'm thinking that grout sealer stuff didn't work!

This is the tile underneath the table . . .  See how dirty the grout had gotten in some places . . . yuck!

So here's my Makeover Breakfast Nook plan . . . my list of things to do . . .

1.  Hang some curtains.
2.  Paint the back door.
3.  Clean the grout in the floor tiles.
4.  Refinish and paint the kitchen table and chairs.
5.  Buy more chairs for the table.
6.  Find some bar stools.  (We have a bar, but no bar stools.)

I started making over the breakfast area this summer.  First I unpacked some balloon curtains I had in my apartment back when I was single . . . 11 years ago.  I had made these curtains for my sunroom in the apartment on 8th street.  I loved that room.  I loved those curtains, but I just didn't have anywhere to put them in my old house on West Street . . . besides they are pink . . . not really a color that goes with boys!  Ha!

I hung them up temporarily to see if I would like them, and we lived with them for a couple of weeks before I committed to the curtains permanently.

I decided that I liked them and proceeded to hang them . . . with the Ferrell boys' help.

And then I painstakingly pulled the strings to make the curtains "balloon" up the way I wanted. . . . .

It took a while and many times working with the strings . . . but I finally got the curtains the way I wanted.  I'm really pleased with the end result.  I think the curtains go great with the paint color too.

My next item on the list . . .   Paint the back door!  That should make for an exciting blog post!  Ha!

So door painting next week for Makeover Monday with

                            the Ferrell boys and me!