Valentine's day fun and President's Day 4 day lake weekend

This has been another busy month...where the heck has the month of February even nearly gone??!! This is a short month but really it has FLOWN by this year!!! We had fun celebrating Valentine's day last week at school, It was a bit of a whirlwind as it was a 4 day week with the kids off school Friday and we headed out of town Thursday night after I finished my work and standing monthly meeting for my hospital district client. I had 4 real estate closings last week and my standing meeting week for my biggest client all crammed into 4 days, phew, plus Valentine's day but it was worth it when we got to the lake and did a whole bunch of nothing! We watched movies, slept in, relaxed, took naps, went out to breakfast one morning, and hit up the last night of the Highland's County fair one night! It was the best, and just our family there this time which is my favorite because we really just need down time sometimes and it seems hard to come by!!! Here are some pictures of the Valentine's day fun and then our relaxing 4 day weekend at the lake! Back to reality this week but it is another short week as we were all off yesterday for President's day and Friday Jon and I are taking clients down to Palm Beach to the Honda Classic golf tournament so it is a busy three days this week to get it all done!!! This coming weekend we are home and getting things done around the house and enjoying the weather outside in between yard work, etc. in preparation for Mimi and Papa to visit next week! March is surely coming in like a Lion this year!!! In house news we are working on our landscaping front and back as this is the time of year here to plant things ahead of the heat and rains of the summer! Pictures to come on that soon. We also finally got a dining room rug...kind of by happen stance but it looks great! We had planned it for the family room and it was too formal...perfect for the dining room

the dog days of work and school between Christmas and Spring break!!!

The daily grind is back to nearly killing us...we are in the dog days of the grind of work and school between Christmas and spring break and we are all feeling it!! We celebrated Jon's 37th birthday on a Monday where I got stuck in a code enforcement hearing that ran from 1:30 until 6:45 PM...and I had to meet Jon and kids at the restaurant for his birthday where they were patiently waiting for me and half way through a hibachi dinner:( We had a few quiet weekends at home and some cold weather to remind us it was January...we kept to our post holiday diets, I started a routine (and am still keeping it) going to the gym at the crack of dawn 3 mornings a week and one later morning weekend workout...and we buckled down with school and work. The days are long and tiring and very busy for both of us at work, the kids are learning a lot at school right now...Jackson has mastered multiplication and is on to division and is reading chapter books more and more (reading for boys, even those who are good at reading like him is NOT the same as reading for a girl I am telling you...it takes lots of patience and creativity to get him to read) and Sarabeth mastered counting to 100 and got her 1.00 bill with her photo up on the wall in her classroom and she is also working hard at her reading and sight words. Her glasses are really helping her to see and helping to improve her reading skills and overall classroom performance. Now February is upon us and we took advantage of another quiet weekend and snuck over to the lake just the 4 of us and did some basic maintenance and relaxed as well. Jon is painting the dock and water proofing it...a chore that proved to be more work (and more paint) than either of us anticipated...he will finish it when we go back in a few weeks for the long President's day weekend!! We are enjoying the wonderful Florida winter weather, no bugs, no humidity, blue skies, warm sunny days, cooler nights and mornings. We are looking forward to our spring visitors including Mimi and Papa in early March and then Megan and Erik who are visiting for Easter long weekend with us. We have more of a quiet spring break planned but are putting together two nights over on the west coast of Florida at the beach and a trip to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium to see the real dolphin from the movie Dolphin Tale, Winter! We are also planning a day at Busch Gardens and then we will head back for the balance of the time to stay at the lake house before heading back to Vero. In between all of the above we've fought off a nasty head cold that has lingered into a second week. It started with Jackson, then Sarabeth picked it up, and then of course I got it. It somehow spared Ann and Jon!!! If we can survive the daily crazy grind of work and school and then more work and school the next day this is actually a great time of year here...lots going on each weekend with season upon us and ALL OF THE NORTH in our little town..LITERALLY ALL OF THE NORTH IS HERE...you cannot drive or park anywhere in this town right now.......I will post pictures from the last few weeks later this week or this weekend. This coming weekend we are home again and have Jackson's boyscouts Derby car races and a playdate for Sarabeth with a friend one day. Here is to more sunshine and cooler nights and mornings in the coming weeks! We are also enjoying quite a bit of golf these weeks...trying to golf together on the Friday afternoons we can sneak away from work early!! Jackson will also be starting in a junior league in the area with tournament play one weekend a month and group play weekly one afternoon after school. More on that later as it develops but it sounds awesome and one of the pros at our club got him into this after seeing how well he plays!!!