A New Normal?

 Welcome back to my family blog. It’s been a few years and I missed it. I am hoping this will help keep everyone informed of our latest journey. 

Last September, I had a kidney stone, infection and surgery. I was in the hospital for 4 days. During that time, Dennis had a spider bite that started getting red and painful. I told him to go downstairs to the ER. They cleaned it and gave him medicine. Then his BP shot up and the nurses and I told him to go back down. They did a CT scan due to the high BP. The CT of his head was fine but they found the mass in his neck (under his left jawbone).  

He had a biopsy which showed that the tumor is cancerous. As I type this, we are headed back to UAB to meet the ENT oncologist surgeon. We also have a “survivorship” appointment. The sound of that one is ominous. The temperature has dropped 30 degrees and the roads have been pretreated for potential icing!!  Tomorrow the HIGH is in the 20s!  Praying for safe travels and that the weather does not affect our appointments! 

All is Well...

I cannot believe that it has been over 6 months since I "blogged"!  I used to love it so much.  Then life got in the way I guess.  I know I have said it before but I really want to get started again.  Many things have happened since June 2016!
*Dennis RETIRED! and Started Working again!!,,,after several months "off" doing all the things he loves, I made him go back to work!  Three kids in college (if you count Ryan's dual enrollment), land and house payments etc,  He works just a few miles from me and we have close to the same hours so we have been riding together since January.  So far he only has one strike and it is working out well.  Sometimes we talk all the way to work and home, other times we just chill and listen to music or Rick and Bubba!  He had an official ceremony at Rucker in October.  He seems to like his new job and still gets to piddle around on the "farm" on the weekends and after work.
*Grant started college at ESCC in Enterprise and walked on to the baseball team. He was red-shirted at the last minute so he is not playing games this year.  We are proud of him for walking on especially after his hand injury and surgery (May).  He is doing well in school.
*Ryan finally got his driver's license in September and continues to enjoy the band.  He is in the marching band, concert band, jazz band, and saxophone quintet.  He is taking dual enrollment college English classes and maintains all As!
*Preston is in his Junior year of college and has three semesters to go.  He still plays intramural sports and enjoys life in Auburn.
*The dogs will turn 10 this spring and are feeling their age.  Sport has a spine thing going on that requires medicine from time to time.  They have both slowed way down.  Recently all of my Facebook memories were of me posting "the dogs are gone again"!.  I do not miss those days!
*Rosie is still here.  Dennis has not run her off yet.  She stays away from him and close to me.
*The farm continues to grow.  We have had several new lambs and calves recently and Dennis has bought more land for pastures and hay.
*I still love teaching.  My case load goes up and down all year and recently spiked.  I am also surrounded by two groups of 15-20 four year olds every day who keep me laughing and give me hugs and flowers (from the playground) every day!  Funny from this week: Teacher: she forgot something at the end of her sentence,,,Little girl: "her pyramid"!
I already wrote this post once and saved it....it was longer!! but when I went to "publish" it, 3/4 of it was not there!  So I am going to add a few pictures and try again!  Maybe now I remember why I don't blog as often as I used to!!

From left to right:
Jordin, Phyllis, Brent, Sandra, Preston, Dennis, Michelle, Grant, Ryan, Lauren, Nicki, Autumn and Kenny

QUICK CATCH UP :) and Family Reunion

I looked back at the last few posts and saw where I explained my blogging dilemma LAST JULY!  I am still struggling with posting the way I want to but will try and do a better job this year.  I really enjoy it (when I do it).  You can get an idea of how we spent much of the year by looking at Grant's SENIOR Year post.  He spent many days at doctors appointments and so did Dennis.
Dennis is getting ready to retire THIS FALL (officially Jan 1) and has been getting all his injuries looked at and fixed.  He had carpal tunnel surgery in January, an ACL repair in March and is having his shoulder looked at soon.  They also changed his CPAP and re-checked his neurological function from the ear infection five years ago.  His hand is perfect and his knee is on the mend!  It has not slowed him down much.  He had the surgeries in Huntsville but recouped with us.  He still comes home every weekend and stays busy with his cows, sheep, bees, honey and hay!

Ryan finished his 10th grade year with all As.  He played in the marching, concert and jazz bands as well as playing JV baseball.  He is taking drivers ed this summer and attending band camp and church camp.  He made the county honor bands and all state for middle school.  He also played with the University of South AL and Auburn bands this year.

Preston is officially a JUNIOR in college!!  He is home this summer :)  taking two online classes.  He is so much help when he is home which is working out great while Grant recovers, and while Dennis had his surgeries.

With all three boys at home, we have had a house full already this summer.  We went to the Coleman-Howe family reunion last weekend and are planning a trip to Nashville next month.  Trying to find time for a family trip is almost impossible!

The whole bunch!

First cousins with Aunt Earlene

Howe clan

Grant's SENIOR Year

2015/16 was Grant's senior year.  His class is very fun and had events all year long starting and ending with pool parties and included a wonderful homecoming bonfire party.  He played three sports (as usual) but had a few set backs in each.  Our football team played well and won many games with such a high score that Grant only played half.  He suffered a deep thigh bruise and he missed one non-region game.  He and 20 others missed two games due to a suspension for an on field fight ( a looonnng story and not really our fault or as bad as it sounded). He missed playing but really supported the younger players and helped the coaches.  He still ended the year with five interceptions-2 for touchdowns.  We made it to the playoffs but lost in the first round.
Basketball started and Grant ended up breaking a bone in his hand with a few games left in the regular season.  He finished the regular season and area tournament before going to the doctor.  They put him in a cast and sent us to the hand surgeon.  He was wonderful and told Grant to play his senior baseball season as long as he could.  He wore a brace 100% of the time and just taped his hand during games.  He made it though the season.  They had a great season but ended up losing a tough series in the 3rd round of the playoffs.

He even got to pitch a little!

After baseball we could concentrate on graduation!  We had several awards days and sports banquets where Grant received many awards.  We are very proud of his athletic abilities through adversity this year but more so of his good grades throughout his high school career.  He was one of the county's scholar academic award winners.

Graduation was perfect.  Grant looked happy and relieved.  The weather was nice and he had lots of family and friends there to congratulate him.

A few days later, he had surgery on his hand.  The surgery went well and Grant recovered for a few days on the couch.  They had to take bone from his radius and add to the broken area with a screw to keep it in place. The day he got the stitches out, he watched, got a little woozy and fell off the table onto the floor.  I had just spoken to him (he seemed fine) and turned away to look at the nurse.  We were no help and his head hit the hard floor.  We had to leave the clinic and head to the ER where he had a CT scan (normal) and 7 more stitches right above his right eye!  It has been quite the summer for him so far!  He now has the eye stitches out, a brace on the hand and is waiting the next appointment to see if he can start therapy.  He would like to try out for the Enterprise State Community College baseball team.  He will begin his college studies there in August!

What a senior year!  It has been fun, busy, a bit scary and a little sad!  We are so excited to see what he will do with his life after high school.  He has grown into an amazing young man--which for some who knew him as a baby, toddler and little boy is astounding!! haha

Halloween Fun

TRUNK or TREAT @ church

I was a dalmation and Autumn was a cat...grrrrrr

 

 

 
 
 
oh and look close...that's the new van!!

Cruella found me at work!

Work buddies!!

 

Happy Halloween!!

Homecoming Dance

This is the first year that NBHS has had a formal homecoming dance,  We used to have dances right after the game in the auditorium.  Once or twice we had a street dance on main street.  The dance was held on Saturday night which allowed them to meet for pictures and go to dinner before the dance,  Ryan went one place and Grant another so I went to take pictures of Ryan and Randi and I had other moms take pictures of Grant and Madi.  Grant's group went to a steak house and Ryan's group went to a Japanese restaurant with the hibachi tables. They seemed to both enjoy the night and looked very handsome!

Ryan and Randi

Grant and Madi

Noah and Abby with Grant and Madi

Ryan with group: Randi, Katie, Nicole, Anna, Shelby and Zach

Someone snuck a picture at the restaurant...wasn't me.  I was at the grocery store getting more food to feed the boys left at the house!! Preston was home and some of his friends were there and then we had a few kids that did not go to the dance. Always a crowd at our house on weekends and holidays!!

 Homecoming 2015 is over.  We are now getting ready for band competition and the next few football games.  This Fridays game is a biggie!  Go Gamecocks!!

Homecoming 2015

 

We had a great Homecoming week!  I am in the "overachiever mom's" senior class so we moms had a busy week.  We practiced and performed a dance at the Homecoming Pep Rally, decorated a senior float for the parade, planned a senior bon fire and fed the football team and cheerleaders before the game! Part of the week's tradition is "rolling houses".  Our house had three attempted "hits".  The dogs ran off the first attempt and Preston and Ryan ran off the last attempt. The 2nd attempt was semi-successful :)
This year we had a formal dance and both boys went.  Both of them also escorted girls in the Homecoming court during the pep rally. They looked handsome and had a good time.
We won the football game BIG! It was 41-0 in the first quarter so needless to say Grant did not play much after that.  But he did get his 5th interception of the year.  After the game, the A Club put on a great fireworks show.
Here are some pictures of our week:

Usually paint names and numbers on main street but this year they had a circle to paint in in front of school

outdoor theater where they had music,pictures and then played the movie "Friday Night Lights"

Photo area with a table full of props

 Friday was the Pep Rally, Coronation of Homecoming Queen, Parade and Game

Grant escorted his girlfriend Madi as a Senior attendant

Ryan escorted his friend Bethany as Sophomore attendant

Senior moms dance

Senior moms and seniors

Parade begins with the band

Grant riding with Senior football players

It was also Senior Night so all seniors for fall sports were honored before the game

Grant making a tackle.  I missed his 5th interception of the year.  He ran it back about 15 yards to the 5.

Halftime

We won 55-8.  One of the coaches took this picture of Grant watching the fireworks show after his last regular season home game.  We are hoping for a home playoff game.  Big game next week!

 There are literally a hundred more pictures so I will post this and make a separate one for pictures from the dance.
Oh and in the middle of all of this fun, we bought a new van,,,,went with the 2016 Honda Odyssey. LOVED my old one but it was 15 yrs old and had 273000 miles on it.  We traded her in for one with all the bells and whistles!  It is a dark gray with lighter gray leather interior.  I am still learning what all the buttons do!  Pictures soon!!