Happy Mother's Day (all you mother's)

What a great weekend!! Imagine our surprise when bright and early Saturday morning Howard is looking out the window and sees someone walking up our driveway. Without his contacts he can't tell who it is. When I look out I recognize someone we surely were not expecting: AMBER!! She flew in for Mother's Day! What a great surprise! Those are the kinds of surprises I love. We spent the rest of that day shopping and checking into shower locations. Sunday was spent in the yard with everyone pitching in with planting and weeding. It goes so much faster when everyone helps! I planted some of my flowers and tomatoes in pots. Everything is starting to look so green. My dogwood is blooming this year, the second year in a row. Usually we have some freak frost just as the buds are setting and it doesn't bloom. It is so pretty right now.


Later in the day Scott went over to pick up my Mother so she could join us for dinner at Ruby Tuesday's. As she approached the table she did a double take when she looked at Amber and realized who was sitting at the table. We enjoyed a really nice dinner but then had to get Amber ready for her return trip to the airport and back to Virginia. What a whirlwind weekend! The weather was gorgeous, we got to see Amber and got so much accomplished! The cute little angel statue was a gift from Scott and Howard for Mother's Day. We really missed Tyler. This was the first Mother's Day without him here. He called me first thing this morning and I opened his gift while talking to him. He sent me some Hawaii souvenirs! He's doing well, spring classes ended Friday, summer classes start tomorrow and he says he's been going surfing every day. What a life!

This evening while cleaning up the kitchen I found this little critter cleaning up right outside my kitchen window. He likes to run through my window box and dig things up in there, probably looking for nuts he buried last fall.

Girls Weekend!!

What a nice weekend!! The Bunco girls (well most of them anyway) drove up north this weekend for some fun. We did a little shopping, a little eating and drinking and game playing but mostly a lot of laughing and catching up. Pam's new home was absolutely gorgeous and we all felt like we were staying in a beautiful Bed and Breakfast. The weather was sunny but just a little cool. Traverse City is a nice place to visit, known for it's cherries. The cherry trees were just starting to bloom and in a couple months the road side stands will be full of yummy cherries.

Here's Pam with her new friend, Pierre.

Sunset on the Bay

View from the Deck

Another Beautiful Weekend!!!

These are the days we wait all those long winter months for!! The weekend couldn't have been more perfect. Blue skies, sun out, warm temps, windows open!! Sunday morning I looked out the kitchen window to see this guy staring back at me! He just stood there and watched me for 5 minutes or so and then slowly walked back to the pond. Usually if ducks or geese see you watching them they take off right away but not this guy. He looked like he really wanted to see what I was up to!! There wasn't much to see because I wasn't up to that much this weekend. It was hard to stay inside and I found myself just walking around the yard to check out what's coming up, eating lunch on the deck, sitting in the sun reading, anything to stay outside. Sunday evening was beautiful too so we grilled out and ate outside too.

Today when I got home from work I decided to take Zoe to the park for a walk. After a few frisbee throws we went walking on a path through the woods and in a quick second Zoe was off the path, through the woods and hot on the trail of a squirrel. When she finally came back to me (recall isn't her best skill) she was black from her toes to her belly. We finally found a water faucet and rinsed most of the black off but I decided to put her in the pool when we got home. She was so hot she just layed down and stayed through for about 5 minutes. Two birds with one stone, she was clean and much cooler!!

There's not much else to talk about this week. Everything seems to be status quo, which is a good thing. Later this week I will be getting ready to go up north for the weekend with the Bunco Girls. We leave Friday and won't be back until Sunday. It should be very entertaining and fun!

Absolutely Gorgeous Weekend!!

WOW!!! Spectacular weekend! Perfect weather! Nothing to complain about weather wise. Saturday was 75; Sunday was 79! Little breeze, no clouds, perfect!!! Zoe felt it was warm enough for a dip in her pool. Watching her pant convinced me she was right! She splashed around for a while and managed to keep cool the rest of the day. Saturday I made a quick trip to Bordine's (our local nursery) for some hanging baskets for the porch (they were on sale!!). When I got back Howard helped me de-leaf the flower beds and then I trimmed back all the roses and other perennials. I took an inventory of what made it through the winter and what didn't. Looks like I'll only have to replace a few things this year. We also got out the deck furniture and had our first dinner outside tonight! It feels so nice after all these months of hibernating to be able to get back outside again. Zoe and I went to the Bark Park on Friday and then to our local high school field for Frisbee on Saturday and Sunday. All you people who live in warm climates don't appreciate this but the rest of you do!!

Guess Amber was busy this weekend (probably outside too) and we didn't hear much from her. She and Andrew have been adding things to their registry and narrowing down a caterer for the big day. On this end I've been gathering information so I can plan the Bridal Luncheon we are planning to have here later this summer.

Tyler has called a couple times. He's been very busy. Besides school he also enrolled in a SCUBA class and attended classes mornings before school and some evenings for a week. He is now a certified scuba diver. Then Saturday he took advanced classes so he could participate in an Earth Day dive today. They were diving down to clean near a seawall. I was hoping to have some pictures but I guess he's been too busy to get those to me. Maybe next week. He's also registered for summer classes so he will be staying in Hawaii right through until Fall. He's decided to look for a job to help pay for his new hobby (diving). He's hoping the owner of the dive shop may have something.

Scott has two finals this week and then he is finished with his freshman year of college. I think it was harder than he expected and he has found he's going to have to put forth a little more effort to do well. He's still working to save for his car repairs. It's a slow process. When he's done with finals he will be back out there looking for a second or third job. Working 3 nights a week at Mr. B's isn't quite enough.

Guess that's all the news for the Mitchell's. Nothing much happening here other than the weather. That's the big news and everyone will be talking about it tomorrow!

Spring Break is Over

Spring Break is over and it's back to work/school tomorrow. It was nice having the time off but the weather could definitely have been better. It snowed, rained and never really got out of the 30's most days though today is a warmer 45 degrees but windy but at least the sun is out. Spring takes sooooo long to get here, as I've said before. Some people find the topic of the weather to be annoying. When you live in Michigan sometimes the weather is the main topic of most conversations. So, enough about that. I'll let you know when it warms up (probably in June). As for what's new this week, Howard has been out in the backyard chopping down trees and burning brush. It's good for him to get out since he spends most days cooped up and chained to his laptop. He had a big presentation this week and said it went well.

Amber and Andrew have been trying to find things to put on their wedding registry and also spent some time this past weekend "tasting" with one of the caterers they are considering. That sounds like a fun task!!

Tyler is back from his Spring Break but has been staying busy. I went 5 days without hearing from him and was starting to worry. He's been busy trying to find classes to take this summer. He also signed up for a Scuba class that started last week. Again, he's been so busy I haven't heard much about it yet but I hope to soon. Maybe he'll call me today (hint,hint). I haven't seen any pictures from his trip to Maui yet either. That was another weekend jaunt he took after Spring Break.

Scott has two more weeks of school until Finals. He's still driving Grandma's car and saving up for his new engine. It's gonna take some time, unfortunately. Maybe once school is out he will start looking for another job to add to his fortune. Some lessons are learned the hard way.

Now for some exciting news!! Zoe was chosen for the Puppy of the Day on dailypuppy.com. She will be the "Puppy of the Day" tomorrow, April 16. The pictures they will show are from 2004, when she was just a puppy. Hence, Puppy of the Day. She was 3-4 months old in most of the pictures I sent. If you just type "dailypuppy.com" in your search bar it should take you right there tomorrow. I'm so excited for her!! Her 15 minutes of fame, or maybe it's more like 24 hours! Make sure you vote and give her all the "biscuits" you can.

Happy Easter!!

Happy Easter!! It's quiet around here this morning. Scott spent the night at a friend's house and it's just Howard, me and the dog. Later today things will liven up a bit as I'm cooking a nice Easter dinner and my Mother will be over to share it with us later. It's very cold here today, in the 20's. We've had quite a bit of snow (for April) these past few days and it's been quite gray. The weatherman says it's not even going to be warmer until Saturday. Guess my spring break will be spent mostly indoors. I've managed to take Zoe up to the high school field a few days this week but it was extremely cold. Not just the temperature either but the wind on top of that! Can't stay out long in those temps. Just long enough to throw the frisbee 10 times and then run back to the car! Hope it's warmer where you are and you are enjoying Spring and Easter!!

Cool Slideshows

Another Mitchell Birthday and other happenings

Well, another Mitchell birthday this month. March 31 our little Zoe turned 3!! Admittedly, there wasn't much of a celebration, no party, no cake but I did buy her a present. This new stuffed doggy. Her old bear had most of the stuffing picked out of it so it was time for him to "retire". This new doggie has a nice squeak inside so she'll be happy with it for a while. Also, here is her newest trick. She can "sit pretty" now. I know, this doesn't seem like a difficult trick and it probably isn't for most dogs, but you have to "up " the difficulty level when you have no tail!! She has practiced long and hard to achieve this trick and she's gotten quite good at it!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZOE!! and many more.
In other exciting news, Tyler was on Spring Break last week. Spring Break in Hawaii. Doesn't get much better than that!! He and some friends took a "hop" over to the big island and spent 4 days exploring. He sent pictures of beautiful beaches, waterfalls and flowers. This picture was taken at one of the volcano's and it's still active. He sent some pictures taken at night and you can see the lava glowing. He also went to a black sand beach where the turtles came right up on the sand to sun themselves. Sounds like he had a pretty good Spring Break and now it's back to the books. Tomorrow he sees an advisor about signing up for summer classes as he's planning to stay in Hawaii for the summer and catch up a bit. He probably won't be heading back this way until September for the wedding.
Not too much else to report on the home front. Scott did have a rather nasty case of the flu earlier this week. While the flu is bad and no one wants it, for a diabetic it becomes extra tricky. He was on popsicles and Gatorade for a day or so until he could finally keep some soup down. He's back on the mend now and was back to work and school by Wednesday. He hadn't been this sick in probably 10 years so I guess we've been lucky, overall.
I only have 3 days of school this week and then we are off for our Spring Break! I'm really looking forward to the time at home to get some things done. I'm hoping for some nice weather so I can get outside and clean my flower beds out. I can see some green starting to peek through the dead leaves and flowers from last summer. Before that happens, however, we are supposed to have snow showers later this week. Good old Michigan weather, snow one day, 70 the next!! Gotta love it (or at least live through it).