Notice I titled the girls entry as a “getaway” and the boys entry as an “adventure”. I decided not to go with “the boys” because I knew it would not be a getaway for me. However, THEY had a fantastic time. I asked Dennis in a text if they were having fun and he texted back: fishing, basketball, alligators, deer, eating and sleeping. Sounds like boy paradise!
Here are a few pictures of their fun:
I got to spend some time at the beach with my sister in law, 2 nieces and my cousin and her daughter. We had a great time on the beach looking for shells, shopping and eating. Autumn actually coaxed me into the water a little bit to find shells. She kept saying, “it gets warmer Aunt Michelle, you’ll get used to it” and she was right but I did not venture past my knees…it is still MARCH! We saw dolphins, ducks and lots of birds. We had a great time walking around Pier Park and buying some goodies. It was a short trip but I did get lots of sun…ouch!
Lauren
Autumn
Got my toes in the sand!
The girls and Katie
Almost sunset from our table at the restaurant
Dolphin
View from our room!
We are busy with boys AND bees! Ryan is still practicing 3 nights a week for the Sound of Music production and squeezing in baseball practices and bee events. He just went to a bee “outing” to learn how to load new bees into a new hive. His bees will come in the mail soon (yep: in the regular mail). He jumped right in and volunteered to help. Although he did say Dennis volunteered him, he was excited to help and did a good job. Dennis found a guy who was selling a hive with bees and bought it/them! He said this will be our comparison hive. **Pictures soon:can’t find them! The three performances of The Sound of Music will be Easter weekend. Preston’s varsity baseball team was ranked 7th in the state in 2A but then lost 4 straight. I have not seen a ranking list since. He is playing catcher and 2nd base and playing really well. Grant’s JV team finished their season last week with a game cancelled due to rain. They did not win many games but Grant played well. He also plays 2nd and catcher and has pitched a few times. He will now play Babe Ruth Rec ball. Preston even has a tournament over Spring Break. He is also busy taking Graduation exams (scary) and talking about turning 16 soon (even scarier). I want him to take the ACT this summer too. Wow, he is growing up! FAST!!
This picture should have gone in my Spring Post (this is the 3rd of 3 I did today so you better look back and check out the other two! Ryan went mud ridin’ on our land after a bunch of rain. P and G did too but I missed them.
Preston hitting
Grant…and yes he caught it
Grant pitching
Dog Update: They go out every night and come back filthy and tired and then sleep all day. Grant did get them to ride in the gator with him and he was thrilled. Sport is on antibiotics. He somehow lost one of his toenails and it got infected. He has also broken a tooth and other toe nails as well. At the vet this time, he weighed 25 lbs less! He is actually closer to his ideal weight for a dog of his breed. Not sure where they go or what they do but as long as they come back, we are thrilled. Ryan rides his bike on trails and Ozzy stays right with him. They love life in the country. I knew they would and would tell them to hang in there (in the city) until the house was built but they did not listen and made our life miserable.
Cat update: Rosie is fine. She is still very playful because she STILL does not go out without me and since I am not walking around in the woods at night, she is not either. That is my goal this spring break: get her used to the outdoors here. Dennis is tolerant: to an extent.
SPRING BREAK IS HERE!! Dennis and the boys (+ a friend) went with Kenny and his boys to Uchee Creek, GA to fish for a few days so I am left ALONE!!!! WOO HOO! 
Fall is my all time favorite season and I really miss the fall in Maryland. Usually Summer is my next favorite season for obvious reasons as a teacher: No School! BUT this year, Spring is gaining on it. In Alabama we usually get a day or two of Spring before Summer weather rushes in. I think the groundhog was wrong because we have been having sneak peaks of Spring since January. Today is just beautiful. I was sitting in the sun, drying off from running in the sprinklers (I just misjudged as I was moving them around), and 2 butterflies were playing right near me. They came so close I thought they were going to land on me. Then another one joined in and all 3 flitted and fluttered around me. Before I could get my camera they had moved on and split up. I could never get a good shot. I have seen many butterflies of all different colors in the last few weeks. The birds are singing (one annoyingly so) everyday and I do not have to bundle up for late baseball games. LIFE IS GOOD. I LOVE driving down my driveway, winding through all the trees with bright green leaves and we have several dogwoods in bloom. Azaleas are still in bloom everywhere. We planted some but they are not blooming yet and may not this year.
The weather is supposed to be fantastic at the beach so I will add more pictures when I get back. Then it is on to the TO DO list that never ends and keeps getting longer!
Here are a few pictures of the house and yard as “before’s” or “in progress” pictures. We have sod and have planted a few things here and there. Many people have given us plants and trees. Some we can plant this year and some will have to be in pots for a year. I still have not had an open house but plan to soon (I hope). We have also not taken a family picture for our 2011 Christmas cards, new year, Valentine’s Day, Easter cards….you get the picture (or really-you don’t :).
Happy Spring!
Dennis has been wanting a pool table for our upstairs game room and after searching Craig’s List he found one owned by someone we know and he bought it. It still needed to be put together and felted. Finally, late one Sunday afternoon, it was done. The boys were so excited and in the spirit of March Madness, made up a tournament bracket for us and my parents. Some of us had NEVER played and others had a bit more experience. We had a great time and all but one game was won by default (hitting in the 8 Ball or scratching on the last shot). I think one person ended up winning without ever sinking a ball. I had a hard time aiming and missed the ball many times. The one with the final laugh was my mother who beat my dad to WIN the 1st Griffin/Howe tournament! (He scratched or missed or something). We have all practiced a lot since then and the boys have played many games. Preston had a few friends over afterschool when the weather cancelled baseball games. I am hoping there will be thousands of games played on our table. Making Memories. **We still don’t have the game room decorated but I am searching for fantastic ideas.
Where did January and February go? Time is going by TOO fast. I feel like I wake up one day and it is the first of the month and when I wake up again it is a NEW month! Our January was FULL of basketball. All three boys played on different teams and usually on the same nights so we would have to split up. Now we are already into baseball games. Preston is on the varsity team and plays catcher and 2nd base and Grant plays the same positions on the JV team. Both boys are playing well and their teams look good. Ryan is still in the practice stage of his baseball but misses half the practices due to his Sound of Music rehearsals. He is Kurt in the Enterprise State Community College Spring production and is loving every minute of it. They will perform 3 times Easter weekend!
The weather here has been crazy….warm most of the winter when we had inside basketball games and now cold at night with lots of rain and storms. Tornados all over yesterday with one touching down right “on the hill”. Dennis’ uncle’s house had some minor damage. They have even let us out of school early one day due to weather concerns that never materialized. I am really worried about the summer….bet it is SUPER HOT!
Animal update: When we moved in we built a large pen for the dogs and let them out often. They ran away twice. Found by hunters after 7 days the first time. The next time someone called about Sport after 7 days and Ozzy just showed back up after 11 days! We decided not to pen them up and they are still here. They go every night and come back in the morning filthy and tired. Sport has lost many toenails. Not sure what they are up to but it involves lots of dirt!
Not sure if you can tell how red they are….Sports face should be mostly white like his back!
House update: I am way too excited about shelving but I can now park in the garage! We (and I say “we” loosely) built shelves for one of the closets in the garage. Maybe soon we can both park in the garage and I will have a beautiful master closet! Still more to do in the yard and house but most rooms are 98% done. We found a pool table but still need to get it felted. One thing always leads to another.
Some of the shelving!
We are in the midst of our Spring birthday season": Dennis’s mom,my niece Lauren, my dad and his brother Kenny, Dennis’s dad, ME and then Preston! (Jan-April) I am not telling my age (the boys keep up with that) but Preston will be 16!! WOW and driving on his own WOW WOW
Dennis’s mom and my dad
Other CRAZINESS:
The boys spent a whole weekend trying to put crazy notes on each others backs which they thought was HILARIOUS!
The cats favorite toy: a plastic insert from some one’s Christmas present; Go Figure
Preston playing ……and Ryan in his Bee Keeper stuff. He is going to be a junior bee keeper!
and…..Donkeys that wandered into our yard!!!
Our life is CRAZY but it is interesting to say the least!!!
This is an almost typical day in my life these days: Last Thursday, I had to take off work 1/2 day in the afternoon (actually it was less than half because I had an meeting at noon and then took off) so that I could finally get a prescription filled. I got gas and went straight to the pharmacy. Those familiar with large or military pharmacies will get the picture: my “C” number was 753 and they were on 701! There are also “A”’s which are military in uniform and they get priority and “B”’s which were prescriptions which were issued inside the facility (which mine was not). I had been there 10-15 minutes and they had called 4 TOTAL numbers. I had to pick up some chicken fingers at 2:30 from Wally World and get them to the high school by 3 (another reason I had to take off early). Anyway after a friend got there and her “B” number was called almost right away and they were still on 711, I took a “B” number (what could they do to me?). Not too many minutes later my number was called and after a brief scare, they found my prescription and never said a word about having the “wrong” number. I WILL REMEMBER THIS NEXT TIME….and as I gave a poor soul pulling a “C” 770 number my 753 number, I told him to “get a B, they go MUCH quicker”. That whole story was really beside the point but is kinda how things seem to go.
I left base and went to Wal Mart where I saw an old HS friend while I waited on the chicken. Picked up LOTS of chicken fingers, plates, napkins and ketchup and drove to the HS. I got there just as the bell rang and I texted the boys to come help. They each brought a friend and everything was unloaded in no time. The parents are taking turns feeding the basketball teams each home game because some of them are there until after 8 at night. We are there from 4:30 until after 8 since Grant plays first, then the varsity girls and then the varsity boys.
I went home, laid on the couch with a slight headache. Ryan came home. Then Ryan said, “Mom are we going to Grant’s game?”. I had fallen asleep and it was time to go. We jumped up and made it to the game (luckily we live 3 minutes from the school now). Ryan and I had to leave in the 3rd qtr to go to play practice.
Our local community college puts on a musical every year. This year it is The Sound of Music (my all time favorite movie)! Ryan wanted to audition and then they day of auditions came and he was so nervous he almost did not go. He thought he was going to have to sing a solo but they sang in groups of 5 around a piano and the director listened to each one. The next day Ryan was not asked back for call backs so I thought he did not make it. He really could only get the part of Kurt because he is too young for the few other boy parts. Anyway he called me the next day afterschool and said he saw the cast list and he was KURT! I was so excited (he was too) but now we have to juggle play practice with basketball games! So after we left Grant’s game we went to play practice. As soon as it was over, Ryan changed in the car and we drove to his basketball game. We got there in the 1st qtr and he played well, scoring 6 points! While there Dennis would send me texts on Preston’s game. We did not get home until almost nine and there were a few chicken fingers left! Now eat, bath, bed and start all over again! AND I just signed him up for baseball….guess when they will probably practice….on play practice night I am betting!
Quick Update: Dogs are back….a hunter found them about 4-5 miles from our house and called us. The house is coming along more slowly than I would like but with a schedule like ours, that’s what it is. I “lost” the thing I need to upload pictures so none with this post 
