Happy Anniversary!!!

To my hubby, Michael!!
Wow, how 4 years have flown by...
Love him (and my sweet Paige) so much!

Oh Happy Day!!

Guess who is coming home today?!? Yippee!!!

Paige left for her summer visit to her dad's house on June 28th. I'm so thankful that she loves spending time with her daddy and gets to do fun things with her family there, but its been a long, long month without her!

Sam and I (and Michael, too) are ready for her to be home for good!

Home Sweet Home, for the rest of the summer...

Talk about a busy summer! We've been going, going, going...travelling with with family and work. I'm so thankful for all of the places we've been able to travel to, but there really is no place like home!

Here are some pics of a few places we've seen this summer:

The summer started off with Michael's trip to Tempe, Arizona...

To watch the Hogs...

And the Diamondbacks.

A couple days later we flew off with Michael's entire family to Moon Palace in Cancun, Mexico.

While we were there we visited Tulum,

caught a LOT of sun, and did some other fun things.

One day after flying back from Cancun, I went to Washington DC with 3 cutie pie ladies from work...

and we crammed in as many sights as we could in one week after working all day!

A couple of weeks after I came home from DC, Michael and I both flew out to New Haven, CT (with work again, of course). We went to NYC for the day, and got to see the Yankees play!!

Time Square.

And Yale University in New Haven.

I don't have pictures from New Orleans yet, but we just got back from there last night. I'm still stuffed from all the yummy food we ate! I'm hoping the next 2 weeks will be full of relaxation and family time...in our own home.

Summer is finally here...whew

I was beginning to wonder if I'd ever see summer break! Although its already cram packed with trips for work and a family vacation, I am so thankful that its finally here.

Outdoor Adventures on a Sunday Afternoon...

Today we've had some extreme outdoor adventures. It started when Michael chopped down a tree that hit a bird's nest and knocked out two babies as it fell. The baby birds were so tiny they didn't even have feathers...so, of course we attempted to be rescue-rangers and put the nest and baby birds back in the tree (while wearing gloves in the hopes that Mama bird would come back).

But things quickly took a turn...we went from rescuers to murderers!

Paige and I were walking through the landscaping trying to decide where to plants some things. I thought I heard something move under the landscaping fabric by my foot, but just to make sure I stomped in that area again, and that's when I saw a snake coil up about 3 inches away from my flip-flopped foot. Yep, I was terrified to say the least. So me, being the great mom that I am, pushed Paige out of the landscaping--I'm not talking about a gentle nudge to get her out of the way, I'm talking about a two-handed football-style shove--and started yelling at her to go get Michael. Things quickly progressed from bad to worse when Michael showed up with a flat-ended shovel as our first line of defense again this monster. He walked up and handed ME the shovel. I politely handed it back and asked him to kill the snake, which set into motion the chain of events that looked like a snake-slaying circus act in our front yard...

Michael tried his best to chop the snake's head off with the dull shovel, but he hit the wrong end, simply trapping it by its tail. Boy did that make the snake mad. It started thrashing around under the landscaping fabric...scary! Michael and I were both at a loss for what to do, so we came up with the idea that I'd go get the pick and hack it in half near its head. I returned with the pick and tried to figure out my best plan of attack. I've never been particularly good at aiming at things (my darts never come close to hitting the dart board, I usually miss the entire ball while playing pool, hitting a baseball is a major feat for me, etc), so naturally, I missed the snake during the attempted decapitation. However, I did chop a hole in the landscape fabric. The snake's head shot through the hole like a cobra, and it started striking at me with a vengance...which set Paige off screaming like a maniac, "Mama, get back, get back!!" Now I was really flustered! I was shaking like a leaf and could barely hold the pick, and there was no way Michael could let go of the shovel to help me (since he had the snake pinned down by the tail). In my head I was planning what to do when I got struck by this snake (1. Find a way to kill it without making my blood pump any faster than it already was. 2. Put the snake in a bag. 3. Get to the hospital FAST. 4. Give the snake to the doctor, and tell the him I needed anti-venom...yes, I thought it was poisonous, and yes, at the moment I actually believed that Siloam Springs Memorial would have the ability to make anti-venom). Thankfully, Michael was thinking with some sense, and he told me to hold the snake's head down with the pick turned sideways so he could chop it up. I followed his directions as closely as I could while trebling uncontrollably. And whew, it worked! Disaster averted. Mission accomplished, the snake was dead. We immediately ran in the house and looked the snake up on the internet. It wasn't the deadly pit viper that I feared, it was harmless Orange-striped Ribbonsnake.

I was so flustered from the whole event that I couldn't do anymore yard work. Laundry seems like a safer alternative... :)

My little runner...

Well, she's not so little...
Paige had her first track meet this past Monday. And it appeared to be a learning experience for her, but she still tried her best! By Friday, though, she was ready. She ran the 400, and finished 3rd in her heat and 5th overall! I'm so proud that my little runner is trying her best at something! :)
Yea, Paige!!!

Another Spring Break...

That's what I'm wishing for!! This one was great, but it went by way too fast!
I've decided I'll write about my favorite things Letterman-style.

Spring Break 2010 Top 10:
10. Seeing the Hogs win against LSU (one game, anyway)
9. Michael: "The Judds, Brooks and Dunn, none of those singing pairs have anything on us!"--as we sang horribly after getting lost in Louisiana
8. Painting the front portion of my house a new color (eventhough it gave me painter's-arthritis in my hand the next day--and I'm still waiting on Michael to finish the rest)
7. Watching so much ID tv that I feel like I could solve any cold-case murder in the tri-state area
6. Enjoying the beautiful sunshine in Louisiana and missing all the yucky snow at home
5. Friday night BWW with Jordan, Mel, Bryan, Amy, Michael and the spoiler table behind us
4. The Myrtles Plantation
3. Waking up last Friday (3/19) morning and knowing I didn't have to work for over a week!
2. Spending time with my Mama and Paige Saturday and Sunday
1. Hearing Paige say, "Thank you, Mama!" after we went shopping

*Notice the triple mullet didn't make the list???

Friday nights and little boys

Friday night I kept my nephew, Zayne, while my sister was in class. Z is hilarious on a regular basis, but Friday night, he took the cake. He tries so hard to act like a big kid (he's only 3 1/2) and has quite an impressive vocabulary for a little guy. Paige, Zayne and I pulled in to Clarksville to drop Paige off to go to her dad's, and Z spied a Wendy's. He piped up from the back seat, "Aunt Jody...on special occasions I get to eat at Wendy's." Paige and I both looked at each other and smiled, and I said, "Oh really?" Z replied, "Yeah, and sometimes Nana lets me get a coke on special occasions." Now, by this time, Paige and I laughed out loud. Less than five seconds later, Z blurts out, "Can I have a coke?" faster than I have ever heard him talk and with the funniest little grin on his sweet face. What a little hinter.

Later while we were still driving, he was telling me his whole name. I asked him if he knew my whole name. His reply: Aunt Jody Gruff.

Oh, I love that kid!

Gotta love those 5th graders who make A's

This week the lesson with the fifth graders was about learning styles. After they did a self-inventory and figured out which way they learned best, I asked the kids to use an exit ticket (fancy word for scrap paper, cut into squares) to tell me if they were going to use any of the study strategies they learned about for their identified style. One kid wrote, "Yes, I will because I want to get a higher A'ss." :)

Warm fuzzy

I decided that I'd take full advantage of my snow day today and get my puney rear to the doctor (my REAL doctor this time, not the walk-in clinic quack who had on sandals-in January!-with dirty toe-nails) to find out why I can't shake this junk I've had for three weeks.

He decided to check out my throat after he discovered my lymph nodes were pretty comparable in size to little Cuties oranges. He looked in with a light, backed away quickly, and said, "Looks like you have some strep to go with those infections." In my mind I was thinking, "man, that's odd...he's not going to gag me with the extra long q-tip?", but not daring to ask how he knew for sure without doing a culture.

Out of curiosity when I got home, I looked in the mirror at my throat. It was quite interesting...my throat was more than a little furry. It looked like I had a cross between those warm fuzzies (from the send-someone-some-flowers commercials) and moldy bread hanging around my tonsils. No wonder he jumped back so quickly!! Needless to say, the humor in it all has helped me feel better already today!

Ice cream from the sky and a sassy little snow-woman

We've had such a fun time in the snow yesterday and today! Last night Paige and I went out while it was still snowing to collect some fresh snow (before the cats could jump all over it) for snow ice cream. It was such a sweet little treat! Paige nicked-named it "Ice cream from the sky".

Paige and I ventured outside today to attempt to assemble a snow-woman. We froze our bippies and knees off rolling up snowballs, fighting off the dogs, and trying our best to make the perfect snow-woman. Well, she was a little less than perfect...she had one large hip, so we decided to make her pose like our niece, Alyssa, in the famous "hips" stance. We scrounged up some twigs for arms and a mouth and stuck on some rocks for eyes. Man, she's a beauty! Paige informed me while we were building that she'd never made a snowman before...what a neglectful mother I must be! Anyway, here are a couple pictures of the sassy snow-woman and Paige.

Kid germs and more...

So, I was eating lunch earlier this week with the kindergarten teachers, and one of them told me something funny her little kids said. The way our school schedule works out, I only see kids once every 12 days for 30 minutes each, as a whole class. So the kids were bugging her about where they were going that afternoon for their specials. She told them they had computer and counselor, and their reply was, "Who is the counselor, again?" One little boy piped up and said, "You know, she's the girl that teaches us about our feelings." Yes, he called me a girl...and feelings is all he got from me? Glad I'm sooooo very effective!
On another note, one of my biggest fears has finally happened...
I'm not the sickly kind of girl, when it comes to things other than self-induced personal injuries, maybe, but not the "I'm just feeling gross" kinda sick. Well, I've caught the crud, and I'm blaming it on the little kid germs! I guess all their funny little mannerisms and sayings make it OK, though. I just hope they don't breathe on me on Monday!

It's 2010!

A new year, a new decade! How exciting, but not quite sure what to call it...two thousand ten, twenty ten, oh ten...whew, its exhausting me just to think of it. Kind of like the house full of girls we had over last night. We chose to stay home and let Paige have some friends over to ring in the new year. She invited 10, but only 3 showed up. They were loud enough to be mistaken for 10, though. They were funny...they celebrated by making themselves sick on sparkling grape juice and taquitos and throwing confetti everywhere upstairs! It was cute, but I definitely made Paige clean it up today as soon as she was fully awake (actually, she cleaned it up on her own, without me telling her to...I guess she could tell from my face last night that she had better get it cleaned up quickly today)! I can't wait to see what 2010 (whatever we call it) has in store for my family...hopefully it will be full of love, laughter, and fun times!

On another note, I wanted to share a really good recipe (if you like Italian food). I don't have a picture of it to share because we woofed it down so quickly!
16 big shells, cooked according to package directions
1 lb of ground beef, cooked and drained
1/4 onion, diced
1/2 block of cream cheese, softened and cut into pieces
2 cups of mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 egg
8 oz of frozen spinach, thawed and drained
1 big can (28 oz, I think) of spaghetti sauce (I used Hunt's Zesty)
1 tbsp oregano
1. Brown the beef and onion, drain
2. Cooked the shells, drain and set aside
3. Mix cream cheese, meat and onion, spinach, 1 cup of mozzarella, the egg (beaten), oregano, and all but 1/2 cup of the spaghetti sauce
4. Stuff the shells full of the mixture and place in a baking dish with the shells facing upward
5. Cover the shells with the remaining 1/2 cup of sauce
6. Bake covered for 25 minutes at 350 degrees
7. Remove from the oven and cover with sauce with the remaining 1 cup of mozzarella
8. Bake uncovered for 15 minutes more
9. Let it cool for about 5 minutes before you dig in!