Weekend Getaway

As I am writing this, I am comfortably sitting in a condo in Orange Beach. Beside me, is my sweet husband, my best friend, my everything. We are here to celebrate our two year anniversary. Yes, it has been two years! (It will actually be two years on Tuesday.) It seems like yesterday that we got married, but at the same time, it feels like we have been together forever. Not forever in the sense that we get on each other's nerves (occasionally that does occur), but forever in a sense that we love each other so much and know each other inside and out. It just seems like we were always meant to find each other.
This weekend is a much needed escape from the reality of everyday. The stress from work has been killing me lately. I some how have to figure out when to grade 75 papers several times a week. I have worked everyday till 4:30 or 5! I taught third grade for four years and seldom worked that late. Fifth grade is a whole new world! Don't get me wrong, I love teaching, but it's tough work.

Today, we took our time getting ready, leaving around 9:30. We arrived in Foley at about 1:00. Tucker had never been to Lambert's Cafe, so we decided to try lunch there. Believe it or not, the wait was only about 20 minutes. Any other time I have been there, the wait has been at least an hour, if not longer. I was shocked! The food was delicious, and Tucker caught a thrown roll! After lunch,we headed to the outlet mall to shop. Tucker bought me a Michael Kors watch for my anniversary present. I told him I wanted a watch, but I didn't expect that! It's rose gold, and so dainty. Just my style! I thank God everyday that my honey had a wonderful mother and sister, because he has fabulous taste! Tucker is getting a spear gun so he can go spear fishing this summer. I know, very romantic! It's what he wanted though :)

Tonight, we are still full from lunch! We are trying to decide where to stuff ourselves. Hopefully, the weather will be nice tomorrow, and we will be able to get out on the beach a little. We have plans for lunch at the Shrimp Basket and dinner at the Original Oyster House. Then I'll be cheating on Bruster's with Scoops Ice Cream ;)

Tucker and I are soaking up every last minute of this time together. I thank God everyday for my wonderful husband. I would be lost without him! I'll post pictures soon!

Amanda

Another Year Older

I'm a firm believer that a lady never tells her age, therefore, I refuse to mention how old I turned yesterday. Let's just say that I'm thankful for another year, not so thankful for wrinkles:/ So far I have only found three places that need a little botox! Ha! And because I dye my hair, I'm hoping to never find a grey!

When I was in high school, I always thought that people who are my age now were so old. Now I look in the mirror every morning  and try to convince myself that I still got it! Many things have changed since then. So far I have learned that I can't eat anything I would like. Now I actually have to exercise :( Boo! My bedtime is 10:00, and if I stay up till 11, I'm getting buck wild!And yes, sadly, this bedtime applies to Friday and Saturday night. Sleep is very important. I also wake up very early. When did 7:30 become sleeping late? I no longer enjoy eating at crowded restaurants. I actually complain about loud college students! These are just of the few things that come with becoming older and much wiser.

Yesterday was absolutely wonderful! All three of my classes sang (yelled) "Happy Birthday" to me. Ha! There were lots of birthday hugs and my favorite, homemade cards. One of my sweet students brought me a Gigi's cupcake and gave me a $10 gift card! I also received a beautiful bracelet and earrings. One of my kiddos from last year remembered my birthday. He brought me a candle and candy! The hubs took me to Amsterdam's for a delicious dinner, and we had Gigi's cupcakes for dessert! By 9:30, I was in bed and asleep. I had too much fun in one day:)

Thanks to everyone who made me feel special on my birthday! I was overwhelmed with love by friends and family. I truly am one lucky girl!

Amanda

A House Update and a Super Cute Bulletin Board

After months of much planning and other home improvements (painting trim, retaining wall building, etc.), we FINALLY had the house painted! It looks fantabulous!!!

Before

The above picture was taken before we had the roof replaced and the trees cut down. As you can tell, this has been a work in progress. Tucker and I have worked super hard making our little house the perfect home for our little family!

After

I love the fresh, updated color! I absolutely adore my new red door!!! I can't wait for spring to be here so I can spruce up my flower beds and decorate the front porch!

At school,Virginia and I have been working on this too stinkin' cute bulletin board. Those of you who may not be teachers, but are reading my blog, may not know that Dr. Seuss' birthday is March 2nd. On that day, we celebrate all things Seuss! Wanting to be in the festive spirit, we decided to decorate our hall Seuss style! I found the theme on pinterest and tweeked it for older kiddos. The students wrote their hopes, dreams, and wishes for middle school, high school, college, and their lives on the hot air balloons. And thank goodness for lab students! Our two sweet girls did this in one morning! It would have taken Virginia and I several days using every second of our much needed breaks!

I'm in teacher heaven!

One of my sweet kiddos...if only he were an Auburn fan! *sigh*

And in case you didn't know it....tomorrow's Friday ya'll!!! Have a fantastic Friday!

Amanda

Valentine's Day

Yes, I realise I'm a little late on this blog post, but let me explain. I thought when I graduated from grad.school things would settle down a bit, and I would have tons of free time. I was wrong. I have been busier than ever! This week and last we had DARE graduation practice. Graduation was yesterday, thank goodness! Tuesday, we took the students with good behavior to the movie theatre. Then that afternoon we had ice cream sundaes to celebrate Valentine's day. It was crazy! I was so pooped that all I wanted to do was rest. I nearly fell asleep on my way home from school, and I could barely keep my head up at the nail salon.

Did I mention I'm in charge of the science fair for 5th grade too? We are also preparing for a curriculum night where I get to present information on the Alabama Science Assessment to parents! Every free second I'm not teaching, I'm preparing for these! But I have to say that I have the sweetest students ever! On Valentine's day, I was showered with candy and gifts. One sweet parent even baked me the most delicious cookies! I'm so fortunate to have a job, and I thank God everyday for my blessings. I just wish it wasn't so exhausting sometimes. I'm really looking forward to the long weekend ahead! Thank goodness for Abe Lincoln and George Washington!

In addition to being showered with gifts at school, my sweet husband took very good care of my on Valentine's day. I woke up early to make breakfast for Tucker. I wanted to surprise him with breakfast in bed. When I walked into the kitchen, I found my coffee already made and a sweet card awaiting me. Then he had flowers delivered to me at school. Isn't he the sweetest?!?! We didn't want to fight the crowd at the restaurants, so we decided to cook in. I made a pork tenderloin and green bean casserole with chocolate chip cookies for dessert! Yum! It was the most perfect Valentine's day!

I'm hoping to get lots of rest over this long weekend! Hopefully, I'll have more time for blogging and pinterest soon!

Amanda

Retaining Walls for Dummies

Tucker and I enlisted the help of his sister and brother-in-law last weekend to help us rebuild a retaining wall. Sadly for us, the existing retaining wall had cracked due to the removal of some trees this past summer. We had one sweet gum and three pine trees removed. These trees soaked up lots of water apparently. When we removed them, the water soaked into the clay and had no way of draining. We had one little pipe for water to exit. How were we supposed to know that tree roots soaked up so much water?

The morning started off very well. We were ahead of schedule, making great progress. I was just sure we would finish the wall that day. Little did I know that a ginormous root system lurked under the dirt. See we had the stumps ground up this summer, and for some reason we thought the roots would disappear too. We have a whole new respect for root systems. This basically halted production. Handy husband attempted to rent a stump grinder from Home Depot. He rented the largest one they had, yet it was not even close to getting this daunting task completed. We finally had to call a professional stump grinder. Thank goodness one was available on a Saturday!

At dusk we were mixing concrete and setting posts. I also had a mountain of dirt piled in my driveway. Day 1 of building over, with not much accomplished. This left us with the realization that this project would need to be completed Sunday. At dawn, we awoke for the second day of torture. At one point, I wanted to just lay in the dirt and squall, but I put on my big girl panties, grabbed a shovel, and got busy. I don't know how we did it, but at dusk on Sunday, it was finally over. We all shoveled until every muscle in our back ached. Emily and I pounded dirt until we were sure our feet were bleeding. When the last wheel barrow of dirt had been filled and I could finally see my driveway again, I never it was over.We owe a huge thank you to Andy for designing our new wall, and another huge thank you to Emily for busting their butts. I'm pretty sure they may never help us do anything else or come visit us! I don't blame them!

I have never been more tired and sore in my life. Tucker and I are still recovering. The hubs even took off today, to landscape the retaining wall area. Thank goodness for him! It looks wonderful, and I didn't even have to get involved. Plans tomorrow include finishing up painting the trim, snuggling, and eating Mexican food. Only two more rooms to go!

The cracked retaining wall.

Mini scoop!!! Ha!

Backing the mini scoop in the driveway.

A big mess!!!

Darn roots! Handy husband 0, roots 2

The new, beautiful wall, designed by Andy Fuller!

Landscaping provided by handy husband!

Amanda

Hooray for Andy!

This blog is dedicated to my fellow in-law, Andy! In December, he graduated too! I'm not sure what his actual degree is in, but I know you have to be really intelligent in order to get one. (He wears glasses, so I knows he's smart.) Andy knows all things dirt, engineering, and politics. He also builds fabulous sea walls and retaining walls.  I may even start calling him Handy Andy, because he's just handy and fun to have around! But in all seriousness, we are all very proud of his accomplishments and we all know (especially me) how hard he has worked. We celebrated Andy's graduation last Saturday (I know it's been a while since I've blogged-another day, another blog!) at Provino's in Auburn. Two whole tables of Boswell's and Fuller's were there to show how thrilled we were for Andy! It was a truly special day!

Table 1 full of people who love Andy!

Table 2 full of people who love Andy!

Emily and Andy

Just one of the many family photos taken that night!

The graduates! We did it!

Amanda

Cleaning Out and Moving On

This weekend was difficult. Period. My family had the daunting task of cleaning out my grandmother's house. This was it. This would make it final. She is gone. It was the period at the end of the sentence. It was hard, harder than any of us let on. Everything went fast. We only had one weekend to move, which was good because that left no time for us to look through everything. Looking through everything and reminiscing would only make the move harder.

I was proud of myself. I was very anxious about everything. So anxious that I actually drove to Sand Rock and back. I never drive if I don't have to. I wanted to do anything to distract my mind from thinking about what we had to do that day. I only had one break down. Cleaning out my grandmother's closet and remembering each and every outfit and where she wore it just stung my heart. She still had the dress she wore to my high school graduation, and I lost it when my aunt pulled out the dress my grandmother wore to my wedding. I never thought clothes would affect me so much!

Thank goodness for Tucker! He is a moving machine. His poor back really got a workout! Not to mention, he was my rock during all of this. I don't know what I would do without him. Now that everything is final, I feel like I can move on. It's hard and I know there will be times when I still get upset and cry, but that's okay. A good cry is just what I need sometimes, and then I'm better.

Till next time,
Amanda