Red, Rudy and other Stuff

Reed may or may not have tried to kill me this past weekend!  He forced encouraged me to do manual labor for 12 straight hours Saturday.  If you know me at all, you know manual labor and me are not friends.  There was a time in our marriage when he would not allow me to paint -something about me being too messy with the paint!  I am very sad to say that he seems to be well over that now! I will say that when all was said and done, I was pleased with the results!! Next, we are moving to the foyer, hallway and den!

Reed is not a fan of my Pinterest  Projects, but I convinced him that I would really like to paint my cabinets grey!  He was a little skeptical at first, but we are both pleased with the results!!  I would like to add that he took several pictures of me painting, but they all reminded me a little too much of Honey Boo-Boo's family.  I was either sprawled out in the floor painting baseboards or standing in the sink painting......So, no  pictures of me!!

Before and After!

Reed also spent a day helping a friend at a local quail preserve.  He had lots of fun with ole Red and Rudy! I think this is something he wouldn't mind doing again!



After the epic day of painting, we spent part of the next afternoon exploring!  This was the view of the river from Reed's boat ramp.  This really makes me long for summer!

I am visiting with the girls this weekend, and I can't wait!!!

Fun with the Girls

Gus or "Gus Gus" as Lillian calls him is not too sure about the girls.  He's just a little jealous of them and usually prefers to ignore them.  However, they were outside playing with a ball, and he joined in the fun!

Both girls enjoyed spending time with Uncle C and Taylor.  They were only here a couple of hours, but still had lots of fun!

Maddie and Lillian both love to walk around the neighborhood to feed the horses.  (Lillian rides part of the way in the stroller.)  When they get tired, they just lay down in the road and rest a little bit!!

It's not all play at Nana and Pop's house.  Sometimes there is serious work to do!  One of Lillian's favorite jobs is washing the dishes.  This keeps her occupied for quite some time!!

We can't wait until our next visit!!

Tryouts

I am not sure about a world that asks 4 1/2 year olds to try out for anything, much less TBall.  But, tonight that it just what our sweet girl has to do!  She had outgrown her cleats, so Pop and I made a trip with the girls to Academy to try on a few pair.  We are quite certain that her new bright pink cleats will make all the difference in tryouts!!

Everyone should wear their prettiest sparkly dress when trying on cleats!!  Baby Sis insisted she needed to try on some, too!

 

 

They got lots of practice in the yard.

 



 

Uncle C and Taylor helped out, too!

Look out-this one will soon be ready to play, too!!

 

After a fun morning of practice, it's time for a walk and a little swinging!

 

Bring on those tryouts-our big girl is ready!!

 

Sunday Funday

Reed and I  traveled to Caleb's last Sunday afternoon, and we were joined by Lindsey, Josh and the girls.  We had a great time visiting and playing on the playground at Caleb's.  We ended the day with a trip back to Chuck E. Cheese.  I took some really great pictures-pictures of Caleb with the girls, pictures of the girls in there cute matching dresses, pictures of Lindsey and Caleb, and pictures of Josh and the girls.  I was so excited to look at these pictures...........Right up until I realized I had not put the card back in the camera!  No pictures-except these awful ones I took with my phone! I was so very disappointed!  But even without the pictures, we had an awesome time together.  I hope this is something we can do more often!  I've already found several fun outings for us to do there!!

The girls were here this weekend, and I doubled check my camera. More on our super fun visit soon!

2nd Snow Day of the Week

I so very much wanted to go to school today.  Why you ask?  Because at this rate, we will be going to school through June. Also, I am sitting on my couch looking out the window at a beautiful blue sky and not one single snowflake.  Don't get me wrong, I always believe the school administrators should be cautious in dealing with these issues, but really?

Yesterday, we left Birmingham amid warnings of rapidly approaching snow.  Luckily, we were able to leave just in time, and arrived home with no problems.  We did enjoy lots of snowflakes on the drive.  Later, Caleb sent some pictures of his surroundings.  Things changed pretty quickly there.

This was in between Birmingham and Tuscaloosa on the drive home.  It was quite beautiful and messy looking!

  

I took this photo from the UAB hospital parking lot of Caleb's Wells Fargo building as we were leaving. No snow in sight!

My buddy, James Spann shared this picture of the same area about 3 hours later.  Quite a change.

Caleb shared these pictures of his latest snow event. I am impressed.





I am ready for sunny and 75 degrees!  I have discovered that I don't like snow days without snow!!

Total Mayhem

About a week ago, I began noticing an horrific smell in my school closet!  A few days later, I noticed some signs of MICE!  Trust me when I say I am not a fan!  I was in a meeting in Northport Thursday when I received a text from Jessica Tolstick from across the hall telling me a mouse had run from her room into mine!!!  The next morning I opened my closet door to get something for her, and actually saw one running on a shelf!  She later opened my closet door, and saw TWO of  the little darlings! (She also killed one that morning in her room!)  Did I mention that those sightings resulted in me running in the hallway and LOUDLY screaming! That resulted in a hallway full of other teachers coming out to see why we were screaming!  I called Reed and asked him to stop what he was doing and bring me some traps quick!!!!  Later, I was having a grade level meeting with the kindergarten teachers, when one calmly said, "Mrs. Marine, a mouse just ran across the floor behind you."  Well, let me tell you that's one very good way to break up a meeting!! 

Jessica comes from across the hall, and was on a mission to catch this very traumatized mouse that was scampering all over the place!! During all the excitement (as I am standing in a chair and once again screaming), I didn't get a picture of Houston sitting on top of my table or Lisa standing in the chair. I also missed the shot of Phyllis falling on the floor as he ran by her foot! ( Or in other words, by the time I stopped screaming and jumping in the chair, and thought to get my phone out, I had missed a lot of good stuff!) Total Mayhem, I tell you!!

Teachers had come from far and near to help by now, while others ran for safety!  Rhonda produced a sticky trap, and lo and behold, he was caught in a matter of minutes!! Scarlet is probably the kindest, most tenderhearted person I know.  Can you  tell by this picture that she was TRULY upset that he was a goner? I, however, operate on the principle that the only good mouse is a dead mouse.  Mr. Smart was coming down the hall with a student and heard the screaming.  He said the little guy with him looked up and innocently said, "They must have seen another mouse." He joined the fun and helped set mouse traps and even tried to get in the door.



 



 

Lauri is straight up my hero!  If I had a dollar for every time I have screamed for her to come help me, I'd be rich!  She can fix anything!!  However, I learned that she is not a fan of mice!  If I hadn't been so terrified, I would have really enjoyed the sight of her on top of my desk!!  Did I mention that she saw this thing go in and out of my school bag!?! Well, about an hour after the first little critter was caught and disposed of, I had  been out of my room.  Lauri and I thought we'd check the 3 traps in the closet and see if we'd had any luck.  Somehow in all the chaos, the key had broken off in the lock and we couldn't get in..........Good grief! Lauri tried to get in but had no luck!

 

 

I called the Central Office and told them this situation had gotten way out of hand!!!  Within minutes, one of our wonderful maintenance men was there and took the door knob off.  Guess what he found?  Two more dead mice!  Oh my!  He called a pest control company that will be there in the morning!  Hip! Hip! Hooray!  But just in case, there are four more traps ready and waiting in my room! This is the first time in 30 years that I have seen any evidence of a rodent, except for the classroom hamsters I use to have.  Could this possibly be a sign!?!

(Have I mentioned how much I love my co-workers?)

Twister

Maddie and Pop enjoyed playing Twister.  Well, actually Maddie enjoyed it, and Reed enjoys making her happy.  I must also say that Nana played, too.  I adamantly refused to have my picture made though!!

Love, love, love these sweet girls!!

Something All the Time

Let me begin by saying that the pictures in this post have nothing to do with the actual post.  I took pictures of this event, but they are not blog worthy.  So, we got a new refrigerator.  My old one leaked water on the inside, and it was quite a mess.  We ordered this one the week of Thanksgiving, and it just came in......That should have been our first clue.  I am going to just give the highlights of this event.  You would think that you would just roll the old one out and the new one in, but not at our house.  First, we had to take the kitchen door off.  Next, we had to take both doors off the refrigerator.  Then, the kitchen door fell and broke the window out.  In the midst of this, Reed had to maneuver himself in about a 6 inch space to undo the icemaker.....Well, you get the picture.  Six hours later, we had it in!!!! (And I love it!)

Now, I want to share these pictures of the girls from Reed's phone.  Reed spent the day with them during the epic stomach virus, and they spent lots of time exploring and playing outside. I think they had a great time together!

 

Have a great week!