insta.friday!

For a three-day work week, it sure has felt long! I  have lots of grading to be done in the next three weeks before the semester ends – anyone want to read some essays?

You know what Friday on my blog means: a look back at my week in cell phone pics. If you’re on instagram, you can follow me at kellisamson. Because that’s my real name.

I know – “Mrs. Fresh Scratch” suits me so well, I almost had ya fooled.

This was last Friday. In the last pocket of our advent calendar, we put a slip of paper telling the girls we’d take them to The Old Spaghetti Factory and then on to the ice skating rink.

They were beyond-excited! Being a household that makes meals from scratch, we rarely go out to eat. Also, we were taking them to said-restaurant because it factors in largely with their favorite book we’ve ever listened to in the car together, Mr. and Mrs. Bunny–Detectives Extraordinaire!

Anyone else read it? It’s so wacky. We all loved it. The audio version is particularly crazy because the author reads it, and she has a massive lisp that incorporates well with the unique voice she gives each character.

It’s an experience unlike any other.

We had fun at lunch, especially since they seated us in an old trolly car!

Teeny-Weensy and Daddy. This was her first time ice skating, and she really rocked it. “Step, step, slide; step, step, slide,” she kept repeating to herself. After a while, she wanted us to let go. Sniff.

It was also Teensy’s first time. She hugged the wall, but had a blast!

“That’s the only exercise you’ve had, Mom,” she said on the way home.

Why, thanks for pointing that out.

Sigh. Got this for Christmas. Spent many-an-hour in the glow of the tree, gazing at the amazing pictures. It’s on the fancier side of things, as one would imagine.

Best part? Martha has a picture of a beautiful, hand-made Nativity scene. The caption says something like, “This is the Nativity scene I made while I was incarcerated.”

I about spit out my tea.

Have I told you Teensy asked me recently why Martha had to go to jail? Try explaining that to a kid.

You may wonder how I spend my Saturday nights.

Check out my pantry – wouldn’t you want to hang out here, too?

I got all freaked-out reading about the moth infestation another blogger experienced this past fall, and I tried to put as much as I could into Mason jars. The Mr. thought I went a little overboard, putting his Lara Bars into a jar. Well.

It was fun, somehow.

Snowstorms? Bring it. I am totally stocked up. Especially with beans. We could eat beans for a month and maybe not finish them all.

These are the glasses I mentioned. I am wearing them right now. It’s amazing the difference they make.

I love the tortoise-shell ones because tortoise-shell anything is my fave. I also love the black ones; I keep them at my bedside.

The grey ones I begrudged to my husband, who also has found himself needing a pair. I think I will need to pick up another pack on my next trip to Costco, because we are addicted. Within one hour of using them, my husband and I started earnestly asking questions like, “Wait. Where are my glasses?” “Have you seen my glasses?” and so forth.

Guess we kind of needed them.

New Years Eve? Awww, yeah.

The night before, we went on a double date with my husband’s cousin Craig and his super-fun wife Anne. We split a delicious bottle of wine and had an amazing dinner while Matt’s aunt and uncle had all four kids. We went to see “Les Mis,” then slept over at Uncle Stan and Aunt Angie’s, too. Because their house is better than a bed and breakfast, man.

Nice family arranging to take my kids so that we could have fun? That felt like New Year’s Eve to me.

But so did the photo above, which was actually taken on NYE. It was just the four of us this year. After all that hosting I did at Christmastime, I decided I just could not do it one more time over that break. So we made Shirley Temple’s for the girls {which Teensy-Weensy does not like. What is wrong with her?!} and Dirty Shirley’s for us.

Divine.

I spent the evening making a photo book online, and I think the Mr. watched old “Star Trek” on his iPad. Oh, baby, do we know how to ring in the new year, or what?!

Pretty hoar frost on the trees yesterday morning. Yep – it’s this dark when I leave for work. Why do teenagers have to start classes so dang early? Makes. No. Sense.

To avoid grading, I make stuff. Last night, I baked a cake and got my turkey carcass from Thanksgiving out of the freezer to make stock.

Nothing like a stock pot doin’ what it was born to do.

Wishing you a little time to sleep in this weekend under lots of heavy blankets,

Mrs. Fresh Scratch