Happy Mother's Day!

I've had a lovely Mother's Day. I've had a lovely weekend actually. Contrary to what the weather forecasters predicted late last week, the weekend has been glorious! The temp has been in the low 70's, sunny, perfect!

I started the day out today with a surprise call from Tyler! Apparently you can actually make phone calls on Skype. Who knew? I almost didn't answer the call since called id said the number was "unavailable" but I'm sure glad I did. I miss you son and it was so good to talk to you today.

While I was talking to Tyler, Amber called. She and her little family are visiting family in Tennessee this weekend and they were on the road. She sent me a sweet little necklace that said "Mimi" on it. So cute.

Then Scott offered to go get me my favorite breakfast, a sausage biscuit from McDonalds. Unfortunately we had waited too late and breakfast was over so he brought me a small fry instead. It's the thought that counts, right? I loved his thoughtful card though.

It's been a nice, quiet day. I've been on the deck doing a lot of reading. H and I took a trip to the garden to plant potatoes. Sadly, the stupid electric fence is still not hooked up so I still haven't been able to plant my broccoli or lettuce. H put in a few hours out there yesterday building a pergola.

The pergola is nice but let's just say a fence would have been more useful.

We also took the Mustang for a ride yesterday with the top down. We drove out to a nursery and picked up some onions slips, peppers and squash plants. Right now they are on the porch, at least for a couple more weeks, just in case we have a late freeze. We (well, H really) also bought this lovely Gardenia tree.

It looked a little worse for wear but was on sale. I think with a little tlc we can bring it back to it's former beauty!
It has a couple flowers on it now and some nice buds that will open soon.


Not much else is going on around here. I do have one really exciting thing to look forward to this week. I have been selected to sit in on the interviews for our building Principal. One teacher, one support staff, one parent and the building secretary from our building were chosen. I've never done this before so I don't really know what to expect but it should be interesting. I hope we have some good candidates to choose from.

The pups got to go to the high school field both days. I took them on Saturday and Scott took them for me today. Yesterday they had a collision and Zoe came back with a bleeding tongue!

It was dripping blood all over and she got a few drips on her chest and Charlie ended up with some drips on his foot. Thankfully she didn't loose any teeth and it stopped quickly.


I can't believe we only have 5 weeks of school left. Summer vaca will be here before we know it!!

Have a good week!

Happy May! :-)

There's nothing much new this week and I almost just blew off this post completely. But when I started to think a little I decided there were a few things to blog about but no pictures really.

Friday night was our last night of real bowling, position night. We were in 7th place and fought hard for 3 points. We could end up anywhere from 4th to 6th, hopefully. We bowl again in two weeks but that will just be for fun. It will be 9-pin No Tap which is a good game for me since at least half of the balls I throw can knock down at least 9 pins! I should have a super high score!

Saturday morning H and I headed out to the farmer's market. Since it was the last day of April I was hoping people would start bringing their seedlings, etc. There wasn't much there at all. A few people had some herbs but I'm not ready to put those out yet so I figured I could wait a bit. I decided to head out to the local nursery after that to see what they had. I had a little better luck there. They had lots of lettuce so now I have my porch lettuce out.


I also picked up some broccoli and cucumbers and a few tomato plants. It's still too early for the cucumbers and tomatoes but I was really hoping to get the broccoli planted out in the garden.

So, out to the garden I went today. I was hoping by now the deer fencing would be up. I received an email about a month ago saying they were starting it. When I got out to the garden this afternoon there was no sign of any progress of any kind. Well, I take that back. It looks like they had built some compost bins in a very inconvenient location, far from the gardens (whose idea was that?) but no sign of fencing, new or old. When I got to my plots I could see recent evidence that the deer having been meandering through my section of the garden as there were all sorts of footprints through both my plots. So, I wasn't able to plant the broccoli or lettuce I had but I did plant carrot and radish seeds. I also turned over both plots and that took about an hour and I will definitely feel that pain tomorrow. I hope the lettuce and broccoli will keep another week and hopefully they will make some progress on the fencing by then. After all, it's May 1, time to get planting!!

The pups got to get out for a little frisbee both days. They were so happy.

Zoe has been worrying me a little lately though. Yesterday after we got home she was walking very stiff-legged and slow. She goes full bore at the park and then walks like an old lady.

I guess now that she's 7 and officially a senior citizen I'm gonna have to take it a little easy on her.

So, that's pretty much it. Oh wait, I haven't really talked about the weather!! What would a post be without weather-talk. We've had lots of rain and a few nights of thunderstorms. Last night Charlie was acting like we were having thunderstorms. He woke me up a few times panting and shaking but I never did hear anything that sounded like thunder. It's supposed to rain this next week too and be mostly in the 50's. It's time to have a little more warmth!! The good news is the trees are starting to bud out a bit and everything is looking pretty green. And the peepers are still peeping at night.

Have a good week!

More Signs of Spring...and Happy Easter!

First, Happy Easter. We don't do as much around here to celebrate as we did when the kids were little. I bought Scott a chocolate bunny, H some Almond Joy eggs and only made a slight effort at an Easter dinner. I did make these today since we had some extra eggs.

And we had some leftover ham in the freezer to I warmed that up and made these! I just love popovers!

So we had a pretty decent weekend, for late April. Late April, I can't believe it's late April already. Only one more week until MAY! The sun was in and out and the temps were in the high 60's. We had thunderstorms Friday night which I might have slept through except Charlie was panting and vibrating so neither of us got much rest.

Saturday H broke out his baby and took it for a couple drives.



Then he helped me in the yard and we got a couple flower beds cleaned out and got the rose bushes trimmed back.

Then I saw this.




And this.

And when I finally saw this today


I knew Spring had really sprung and things were only going to be looking up from here on in.


I took the pups to the high school field on Saturday and today. Yesterday was a little soggy and they came back with wet, slightly muddy paws. Today was a little better and they had loads of fun!











So that's it for this week. Countdown to May!!

Have a good week!

Early Spring Happenings...

It's been a relatively uneventful week. Now that testing is winding down we are back to our normal ESL schedules, except for a snafu at the high school level which required all three of us aides to make an emergency run and finish testing that a teacher couldn't manage. The good news is the testing is completed, on time. It's also the time of year when layoff notices are being handed out. Several teachers, who have also received them the last couple years, are receiving them again. Chances are they will be rehired but you never know for sure. So far the ESL department appears to be safe. Our money comes from Title III funding, federal level, and so far we haven't heard of any cuts. Time will tell though what our numbers will be for next year as this population seems to fluctuate from year to year. I really love this job so I hope it lasts for another year.

Friday night was bowling and I won't go into too much detail except to say it was ugly and painful and we beat ourselves and deserved to lose all 4 points. No one on our team really bowled well and as usual, we brought out the best in the other team and they creamed us! Next time is position night and I think we will finish somewhere near the middle of the 14 teams, hopefully.

We are still seeing some signs of spring but this weekend it's been cold and gray. Oh wait, the sun just popped out! Maybe this day will turn out ok. Although the forecasters are predicting "snow showers" later in the week along with thunderstorms. We also have a high wind advisory for today. It's takes Spring a while to make up it's mind here in Michigan. The grass is greening up though and my tulips and daffodils are making a valiant effort to push up toward the sun!

Here are my Hyacinths almost ready to bloom! Guess it's time to clean out those Fall leaves.

I think that super warm day we had last Sunday helped everything along. I even noticed one of my rosebushes starting to get some little branch buds on it.

Of course the wild life comes and goes. Here's just a sampling of things I've seen around the house this week.

There were two pairs of Wood ducks by the feeder. The picture isn't that great since I took it out the kitchen window.

They have the prettiest markings!


One male kept trying, and finally managed, to chase the other pair off. The girls stayed out of it!


This young mourning dove sat on the deck railing for a long time just watching me at the sink.

This egret was out on the pond for quite some time.


These two ducks landed right in front of him and he just stood there.


He was quite busy and there will probably be a few less peepers peeping this evening on the pond.

I took the pups to the field this afternoon. It was really windy and therefore really cold but they had fun, as usual. I thought Charlie was going to run for the hills one time when the wind was whistling through the bleachers on the football field but he finally stopped, turned around and came back to me.


I managed to cross off most of the things on my to-do list this weekend. I had hoped to get out to the garden and maybe plant onions but that will have to wait. It was just too cold and windy. I have Friday off for Good Friday so maybe it will be a little warmer then. I also bought carrot and radish seeds today and I would like to get them planted too. Maybe I'll even head out to the nursery and see if any early lettuce or broccoli are in. I'm already planning (in my head at least) where I'm going to plant what this year and what all I'm going to plant based on what worked and what didn't last year. It's almost the end of April! It's got to warm up sometime, right?

Have a good week.

First Things First...

First, let me just say, since all I've done the past 6 months is complain about our Michigan weather, today is an ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS PERFECT DAY!! As I begin writing this post on Sunday at about 4:00 p.m., the sun has been out most of the day, the birds are chirping, the peepers are peeping, kids are playing outside and the temp is about 78 degrees!! Don't get too excited. That's just today's temp. The rest of the week will be in the 50's and tonight and tomorrow we are expecting thunderstorms and rain but today, TODAY, is wonderful!! I'll have to stop writing in a few minutes and finally take the pups to the high school field as they have been patiently waiting all afternoon. (Ok, when I took them to the field, which they thoroughly enjoyed, the thermometer in my car registered 82 degrees!!) They didn't last long. Too much heat too quickly and they are beat!

I wish we could have had some of this kind of weather last week during my Spring break and when Amber & Quinn were here. It was cold and gray and windy and rainy much of the time they were here. The one day we ventured outside and tried to take Quinn to the school playground for a little swing time, her teeth were actually chattering and we couldn't stay long.


Also unfortunately Quinn wasn't feeling too well most of the week. She had been fighting off a cold and after a pretty sleepless night on Wednesday we took her to the Dr. on Thursday to discover a pretty bad ear infection. :-( Poor baby! After that she was doctored up with drops, antibiotic, benedryl and tylenol. Amber wanted her feeling better for the return trip home. It's no fun flying (for Amber or Quinn) when someone has an earache.

Since we couldn't get out and go much, we enjoyed our time at home. Quinn had a great time with Charlie, as always. They are good buddies and I am so thankful that he's so good with her. He's very tolerant and puts up with all her baby ways like stepping on his feet, poking at his eyes and pulling on his fur. He loves her (and all the goodies she can provide him with.)


She also had her first experience in a big tub, a really big tub!!

We had this blow up duckie tub but every time Amber put her in it she would cry. Finally Amber tried her in the big tub, even though she had to get in there with her, and she loved it!

At one point the whole family was in there together watching her enjoy bath time!


The rest of the time we just hung out here at the house while Amber worked.

Playing piano with Mama.

Grandpa was home part of the time too.

They were blowing bubbles here. He took a couple afternoons off and Friday but Amber worked every day except Thursday and we took a little trip to the mall that day and that's also the day we had to take Quinn to the Dr.


Reading books in the office while Mimi was on her computer. Then she would come up to me and say "uh, uh, uh". That meant I needed to put Beyonce's Single Ladies on so we could have our dance party!!

More reading (in the great chair we found at Salvation Army for like $2)

Some good friends stopped by for a visit.


Playing with toys.


More play time with Zoe & Charlie on the deck. Zoe isn't quite sure about Quinn. Sometimes she gets a little rough and Zoe is sensitive. Zoe chooses to just walk away, which is good.

However, Quinn chooses to follow her.

She finally catches up. Zoe never does anything except send me this forlorn look like "can't you help me out, Mom?"


Some Mama time, with Zoe supervision.


Quinn and her buddy, Charlie.



Help me Uncle Scotty.

She loved chasing Uncle Scotty around the house.

We all love having this sweet little face around, even Zoe.


It was a great way to spend Spring Break. Just wish we had some warmer weather.


So now Spring Break is over and after today it's really going to start feeling like Spring. After all, I'm wearing capri's today and I actually painted my toe nails (just a stop-gap measure until I can get a real pedicure) and I've been hearing this wonderful sound the last few nights (and all day today).

Once I hear this sound for a few nights I'm convinced. Spring has sprung and warmer weather must be on the way! At school the countdown will begin counting down the first day of summer vacation. It's really only 2 months away! That's not long at all!

Have a good week!