A New Era and Some Catching Up

Last week I had an epiphany.  This is the first time since we've been married that he isn't coaching and I am not coaching or teaching. We had our dance recital the weekend before last - which was amazing and awesome, so I am done teaching for a few months. And I can say with confidence that I officially believe Eric that he isn't coaching football this year. They had spring practice a few weeks ago and he did not go....shocker, I know. We're kind of in thie weird "what do we do now" place right now but it's kind of fun. As far as I can remember this has not happened since before we got married almost 6 years ago. Our softball team even took a year off so we don't even have games to be at a couple of nights per week.  But don't worry we're keeping busy...we still have not sat down to eat dinner before 8PM a single night this week #oldhabitsdiehard

As always, a lot has been going on in our little world since I last hung out around this space. So in true Cagle Chronicles style I'll try to do a full update in a single post....ha! In list form no less!

1) Joneses Descend on Alabama

My Daddio turned the big 6-0 last month, so Mom and I decided we needed to have a party for him, because you have to celebrate birthdays - especially the milestone ones...amIright?! My parents drove down and Matt-Matt flew down (3 days after he closed on his new house - what a nice guy!) and we celebrated for the entire weekend.  We had Strawberry Shortcake Birthday cake, the boys got to golf to their little hearts' content and Mom and I did what we do...a little of this and a little of that and had a great time doing it! It was so awesome having all of them at our house! It's been a few years since we've been able to, so I was pretty excited to host them all.

One of Dad's birthday presents was a Bocce Ball set, which we had to take outside and try out, naturally! 

Mom and Dad brought their pup, Maggie (Hawk's daughter) with them for the weekend and we were so excited to see her. She is a complete nut an so much fun, basically everything you'd expect from a 1 year old lab puppy.  Lucky for us (well for Hawk and Peanut anyway) we had a secret weapon. Eric's Dad has been sick (but doing so much better now!) so we've been keeping his almost 3 year old bulldog, Belle, for the past few weeks.  She and Maggie were a match made in heaven and spent at least 2 hours every morning wearing each other out, playing tug-of-war and chasing each other around the house. It was fantastic!  They'd play and play and play and play and play and play....you get the picture, and then they'd collapse and sleep for hours! She even got a swimming lesson from her dad and has been using her skills in the water since she's been back home!

This is about as good of a picture as I could get....they didn't stay still very long unless they were sleeping.

And what's a family get-together without a good-ole faceswap session?  Let's just say the pics were quite a bit disturbing.

See...just a tad bit creepy....especially the last one!  I knew my Mom and I look quite a bit alike, but it barely looks like anything has changed in the photo, don't you think??

2) Recital 2016

The week after my family was here really kicked into overdrive for me with a really busy week and work and recital week at the dance studio!  We all kept saying how fast this dance year had gone and we could not believe that the recital was already here. Needless to say the show was a complete success and the girls performed so well!  I didn't even have an Abby Lee moment!  I wish I could say I had more pics, but I don't. We were going nonstop all day long and I barely had time to look at my phone, so pics just didn't happen.  But how gorgeous is this stage?!

Our recital theme was Once Upon A Time (obviously) so it was princess everything! The little ones thought it was the best thing ever!  We even had some of the older girls dress up as some of the Disney Princesses and make cameos in the little ones' numbers. Those precious babies had no idea they were the high school girls and called them by their princess names the whole time!  What's crazy is that we're only 2 weeks out and already scheming for next year! I know we've got 4 months until we start back up again, but I can't wait!

3) Tournament Fishing

With all of his non-football free time, Eric has been spending it where you would expect: on the water. He dipped his toe in the Tournament Fishing waters a few weeks ago and had a great time doing it!  He and one of his fishing buddies fished a Crappie Tournament near us at the end of April and came in 17th out of 32 boats.  They were .4 lbs out of the top 10, and had a 2lb fish die on the first day before they were able to get it weighed in that could have put them in the Top 5.  This tournament fishing is a whole different world than what he's used to, but I was really proud of his finish! He and his fishing partner considered and scouted out a couple of other tournament sites in Tennessee and Mississippi with the intention of fishing in a couple more tournaments, but ultimately decided to forego the tournaments because it wasn't their kind of fishing....they would have had to troll which means you put a rod with 8 hooks in the water and ride really slowly up and down the bank until you get a bite...for hours.  He prefers fishing with an actual pole in your hand where you can feel the fish hit the line and have to set the hook....such a purist... =)

But don't worry...he's still practicing on the lake for next year. =) 

Don't let that look fool you...he was having a great time. 

Whew!  That was a long one, I know....my bad.  I had more but I figured 3 bullets was enough for now. I promise to be back with my usualy weekend roundups and a few fun trip recaps that have happened the past couple of months! Happy Friday!