Football Update: THS Senior Night and Homecoming at Huntgindon

You didn't think I'd make it through and entire football season without a post, did you really? But seriously, things have been crazy super busy (in a good way!) around here lately.  I had not one but two grants get funded at work (yay!), plus dance has started back up, and I had forgotten how much energy puppies have [so so so much energy to burn off every day!], so unfortunately this little blog has taken a back seat for a bit. However, I am here today so let's get to it!

Football is still going strong for us.  We started off the season 4-0, but hit a giant bump in the road on week 5 after a rough game and some injuries and have since gone 1-3.  We have a must-win game this weekend against a very good team to get into the playoffs, so be thinking happy purple and gold thoughts for us on Friday please!

Senior Night was this past week....yes already...and with it came all of the Senior Night activities.  Eric escorted one of his D-Linemen onto the field again this year, which is quite an honor.  Each student gets to pick a teacher or coach who has meant a lot to them over their high school career, so it's pretty special.  Eric coached this particular kid to a couple of state appearances/championships in wrestling in addition to football.

R to L: 1) Escorting his D-Lineman (64) on the field to his family.  2) Coach Cagle doing his thing...he's the little white dot in the middle of the clump of purple and gold. 3) The team came back out of the locker room to watch the band perform their halftime show after the game.  It has been a great show this year, complete with majorettes juggling batons (I am still super impressed at this) and the entire band dancing through part of the show.  

As much as I would have loved to stick around for the reception for the seniors and their families after the game, we packed up and headed home because we had some friends from college heading to our house to stay with us for the weekend because it was Homecoming at Huntingdon! It's only one of my most favorite weekends of the year!

This one was a little out of the ordinary for us, but we had a blast!  Why was it out of the ordinary?  Well because Eric was skipping out on the game this year for a fishing tournament. He finished a respectable 4th place in the tournament, and made it to Montgomery shortly after the game ended to hang out with everyone.

I on the other hand had no desire to miss out on any of it.  One of my teammates was being inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame, so I walked the pups, whipped up a quick breakfast for out guests, got ready, and told our friends I'd meet them at the game.  Host of the year right here.

I made it to the ceremony with about a minute to spare and got to see her accept her award!  She's the second women's basketball player to receive this honor in the NCAA era (which started my freshman year in 2003).

Some of the oldies (front row) with the current team after L-Bo's induction ceremony.

After the ceremony we headed over to one of our favorite Mexican restaurants from our college days and met up with a few more of my old teammates. There were several girls there this year who I had not seen since our wedding so seeing them all after 6 years was awesome!

Parts of my Lady Hawk Family.  I'd like to point out that in the picture on the left I am the Senior....all of these girls graduated after I did.  In the picture on the right I am the freshman....these girls made me want to be a part of their family and taught me so much over the years! 

We made it back to the school just before kickoff and I headed over to the football tents to mingle with all of those friends who I see once a year at the game...and answer the question, "Where's Cagle [Eric]?" about 4,000 times. Needless to say not a single person was shocked when I said he was fishing, and were glad when I assured them he'd be there later.

The wives (and some future Hawks). I feel like these girls are as much a part of my HC family as anyone even through most of them didn't go to school there.  

Huntingdon won big 48-27 and we all headed back to the one couple who still lives near the school's house to watch the end of the UT/Texas A&M game (ugh) and the Alabama/Arkansas game.  To be honest there was not a ton of game-watching going on.  There was significantly more telling old stories and laughing and just soaking up the moment with people that I miss like crazy all year long and am so thankful that I get to call my friends.

At the Athletic Hall of Fame induction ceremony that morning Coach Turk (the AD and head football coach) said something to the current student athletes in the audience that really stuck a chord with me.  He said that once it's all said and done and your career is just a memory, you may remember bits and pieces of the games, but the times that will stick out in your mind are the times in between the games: the 5AM practices, the road trips, the tough times you went through with the help of your teammates, the dinners in the dining hall, and just random nights in the dorms.  He said that those things that you will really cherish and when you come back years later and see your old teammates, those are the times you'll recall and laugh about. I found myself nodding along and knowing that the girls currently on the team who were all sitting behind me at the ceremony had no idea how special what they are a part of right now will become in their lives, and how lucky I am to have a family of Lady Hawks that I can always lean on.

A Chilly Birthday Weekend

Good ole South Alabama, we got passed over by the Snowpocalypse.....again. We haven't had even a smidgen of snow in 2 years since the last big snow event that shut down the south. Thankfully the southerners who did get hit by the storm were prepared this year. I heard there were some flurries around our area but nothing too exciting. I told Eric that if it snowed while we were at the movies Friday I would make a snow angel in the parking lot. Sadly, said snow angel did not happen. But we did have a little bit of ice on the truck after dinner. I'll take what I can get.

little baby ice droplets

We spent our Friday celebrating Eric. We started our evening at the movies to see The Revenant. My review: Fantastic movie, but quite graphic so if you get woozy when you see someone get stabbed in the leg, or eating raw meat from a freshly killed animal carcass that you just watched them kill, look away. But the story was great, and the acting was superb. Leo for the Oscar! The movie had very little dialog, but the 2.5 hours went by pretty quick. Eric was a bit underwhelmed by the ending, but I googled Hugh Glass (the main character) earlier in the week, so I knew bits and pieces of the story going into it, so I didn't mind it. Since we didn't get out of the movies until after 8, we wanted something quick and had a nice dinner at Newk's where I ate a salad as big as my head.

It took me a while but I made it through most of it. 

With a side of Bacon Pimento Mac and Cheese. You didn't think I went all healthy on you, did you?! We passed on dessert there because I had birthday cake waiting on us at home. I made mini-cakes like last year, which tasted great, but left a bit to be desired visually. My icing did not want to spread and I had no patience, so it ended up looking like a 3 year old iced the cake.

It was delicious and lasted all of 10 minutes so who cares about how pretty it is, right?

After a delicious breakfast at 1220 on Saturday morning, Eric took off for the woods. He and some buddies decided to hunt and camp out for the night. I told him he was nuts as the high on Saturday was in the low 40s with 20 mile per hour winds. I stayed home (because I'm smart) and enjoyed movie time in front of the fire. I know 2 movies in 2 days....it might be a record for me. Eric rented Woodlawn the other day and we had on the DVR for a few more hours so I decided to watch it. Eric said it was pretty good and it was. It was a really great movie, I highly recommend it. It's a true story about the Woodlawn High School football team, in Birmingham, AL, in the mid 70s. Rent it. Watch it. You won't regret it.

After I finished the movie, I begrudgingly decided to take the pups out for a walk. I rarely don't want to take them, but I was dreading it. But I knew that it would make their little puppy hearts happy so I did and they loved every second of it. I'm not sure why they love the cold so much but they do. I skipped on a second walk for the day that afternoon and just took them out to play for a little while, until my hands were so cold they hurt. The things I do for those 2.

                   Hawks favorite way to play               vs.               Peanut's favorite way to play

In between playtime in the frozen tundra I finally made it to a THS basketball game. I know this is only the second year I haven't coached, but it seems like it's been much longer. The girls played really well, and ended up losing by only 2 pts. They have a winning record this year, which is all I ever wanted for them and I'm so glad they are winning games now. It does help that the kids who were freshmen and sophomores when I was their coach are now juniors and seniors - experience is definitely something you can't teach. And no I don't miss coaching. The girls, yes;  but the long nights at practice and games every Friday and Saturday night, not at all. I ended my night with church and an Insanity workout before crashing on the couch at 8:30pm. It was a wild night, what can I say.

Want to know how to tell you're in the South? Instead of putting THS on the wall like normal people, they painted it like you would a monogram. 

Eric came home Sunday morning and we spent the day on the couch, watching football games (in between puppy walks because it was so much nicer on Sunday). I can honestly say that this is the first time in a long time that I have actually been excited to watch the Super Bowl, and not just because I can actually say that I have seen both quarterbacks play in person. True story: I was at the UT/Memphis game in 1996 when Memphis beat Peyton and Tennessee, and we got to go to the Auburn/Clemson game in 2012 when Cam brought Auburn back from a 17-0 deficit to win the year they won the National Championship. I have a feeling that it's going to be a really exciting game to watch!

One Week Closer!

In case you aren't counting there are only 10 days left until Christmas and only one weekend left before the holiday! I'm almost ready with just a few loose ends to tie up before the holidays. I need one more afternoon of getting things done and I will be ready I think. This past weekend was another productive one for me.  Eric was off on another duck hunting excursion and he had a blast! He said it was probably the best hunt he'd ever been on.

If that's not the face of a hunter in his element, I don't know what is.  

As for me, I had another extremely productive weekend of getting stuff done. Hence the reason I feel pretty confident in my "level of ready" for Christmas. I was out and about all day Saturday for my P.E.O. Chapter's Christmas Bazaar, doing some Christmas shopping, and catching a basketball at my Alma mater. Sunday was my Christmas "baking" day. I don't actually do any baking for the holidays but I do make treats, and I made a TON on Sunday. 4 batches of Christmas Crunch, 1 batch of Pistachio Bark, and 1 batch of Fire Crackers (which I may have eaten half of on Sunday).

1. One of my P.E.O. Christmas Bazaar purchases. I have some super talented sisters!
2. I had some time to kill and needed lunch in between the bazaar and the game on Saturday so I tried out a new pizza place we have in town, Pizza 120. It's like a Subway, but with pizza. And it's delicious! I'm trying to convince Eric we need to go one night this week. He's still bitter because he says he thought of the restaurant concept a long time ago.  I told him he should have acted quicker on it!
3. My old stomping grounds at HC. I like to make it to at least one game a year to watch the girls play. So many wonderful old memories!
4. I checked off another Christmas movie that I have to watch every year this weekend. It was as wonderful as I remembered it, too! And yes I still wish I was Vera-Ellen, she is amazing!
5. You never know who you'll run into at and HC Lady Hawks game! I knew I'd see one of my old teammates because she coaches, but the other one was a total bonus!
6. Not one of my Christmas classics but Mary Poppins was on this weekend!!!  I absolutely adored the movie as a kid and apparently watched it a lot, because I found myself nearly reciting the entire movie.
7. & 8. The pups were glad to have me home on Sunday since I'd been going all week and Saturday and Eric was gone. They made sure I walked them more than once, played ball with them outside, and was available for snuggles.
9. The fruits of my labor on Sunday (part of them at least). This was 3 batches of Christmas Crunch. I had to bag some up to make room for batch #4!
10. My sweet hubby knows the way to my heart is through my stomach.  We are both obsessed with a particular potato soup from none other than a truck stop. Yes truck stop soup. You can get it at any Flying J Truck Stop (we've found it at a couple of them).  There is one of these truck stops halfway between our house and my parents' house and since it's such a convenient place to stop we always go in, and we always get soup (and pizza because it's 2/$5 and the crust is amazing!). On his way back from duck hunting this weekend that sweet man made sure to pick me up a cup of soup! It was lots of fun explaining to coworkers where my soup came from and that I promise it's absolutely delicious and not weird that I was so excited about soup from a truck stop.

Happy Tuesday!

Weekend Recap

This past weekend was one where I feel like we did a whole lot, but when I think back we really didn't do THAT much.

We kept it simple and lazy on Friday night.  Eric was going turkey hunting early Saturday so Friday was basically shenanigan-less. I had big plans to grill flat bread pizzas and I still do because I decided on a whim after looking through the week's grocery ads that we were going to have tuna steaks for dinner. The result was one of the prettiest (and delicious) meals I have ever made.  It was shockingly simple and I can't wait to make it again!  I am so ready for Eric to go on a tuna trip with his brother this summer so they can bring back some super fresh tuna steaks! This might be the first time I will tell him he better go catch some fish!

I was super proud of this gorgeous plate of food.  I used this recipe for both the tuna steaks and the dressing.  

The rest of our weekend consisted of taking in a little league baseball game, eating fresh oysters (Eric not me), hanging out at a crawfish boil (once again, Eric ate them I didn't), a fun Saturday evening with friends, sleeping in on Sunday, a little house cleaning out, a quick run, puppy dog walks, Sunday dinner with friends, and lots and lots of basketball.  I don't even want to think about how terrible my brackets are this year.  It makes me want to cry.  On the upside, there have been some very exciting games, so I can at least enjoy the games while they are going on.

Clockwise from top left: 1) Have I mentioned how much I adore my new shirt?  It makes me smile.  We just need to work on Peanut's posing skills so he doesn't look like I just snatched him up.  Note to my photographer (ahem, Eric): make sure to have the dog's attention, too, when taking a photo of your wife and the dog; 2) Hawk and his buddy Ringo.  These two played ALL DAY Saturday.  I didn't think it was possible for two dogs to play that much fetch, but they did and loved every minute of it; 3) Our first peach cobbler of the year (not made by me).  I am so ready for summer so this can happen more often; 4) Saturday night we went to a crawfish in the booming metropolis of Notasulga, AL.  You know you're in the country when you head down a driveway lined with cows.  This one had several who happily posed as we drove by.

This week is going to be jampacked and lots of fun! I am so excited about it! I just hope that my excitement doesn't make it last twice as long, but hey it's already Tuesday so I must be doing something right!

High Five for Friday

1

We made it to spring!  I didn't even realize until I was driving in to work this morning that today is the official first day of spring.  Although it has felt like spring around here the past couple of weeks, we can now officially complain if it gets cold again.  The fog this morning kind of killed the springy vibe, but check out this beautiful sight I got to see earlier this week.  One of these days I am going to get up on the weekend early so I can watch a sunrise like that WITHOUT having to look back at the road every 2 seconds.

2

I guess the spring bug bit me early this year (or maybe it was because I actually got the flower beds weeded last weekend) because I am in full on flower planting mode.  We had carseat clinic at work this week and it just happens to be right next to the Farmer's Market which just happened to have a gorgeous array of beautiful flowers that were calling my name.  We had a couple of cancellations at one point so I ran over to take a look, and low and behold 3 little beauties jumped in the back of my car when I headed home. I ended up getting a Butterfly Bush, a Mexican Petunia, and a Reiger Begonia.   I have been talking about planting a Butterfly Bush for several years and have just never gotten around to it, but they other 2 were new for me (and my Mom AND my Grandma which was a total shocker).  They are absolutely gorgeous and I can't wait to see how they like our yard!

Reiger Begonia                                                      Mexican Petunia

3

I mentioned yesterday, the NCAA Tournament has started and my brackets already look like someone stuck a knife in them and just kept stabbing them.....there is so much red on them it makes me want to cry.  I usually pride myself in early round picks with some upsets here and there, but this year is not the case.  The upsets I picked have not happened, but the other games I where I was counting on the favorite to take care of business have seen the little guys pulling through. Maybe this means my brackets will hold up in the end? Maybe I 'm just telling myself that to save myself from admitting my brackets aren't my best work? That being said, the tournament has been quite exciting so far and I get to watch games ALL WEEKEND LONG.  I've already warned Eric and this is the one time of the year he will usually give up the remote and let me watch as much basketball as I want....until we're on game 4 or 5 of the night and then he usually hits a breaking point and we end up watching tv in separate rooms.

4

I made a deliciously superb dinner this week that I had to share because it's not nice to keep such wonderful concoctions to yourself.  Mom gave me a suggestion for a Pinterest recipe she found called Easy Greek Chicken Bake from this blog.  I tweaked mine just a bit.  I marinated my chicken over night in a Greek seasoning marinade (1 TBSP each of Greek seasoning, olive oil, water, and lemon juice) to give it a little extra flavor, and  swapped the roma tomatoes for halved grape tomatoes.  This dish was absolutely delicious! I will be making this again and again and again.  It says to pair it with rice, but since we are trying to eliminate carbs as much as we can during the week I paired mine with Sauteed Brussels Sprouts with Bacon from one of my most favorite recipe blogs, Plain Chicken. I seriously pin 3 out of 5 recipes she posts every week.  I told Mom that if Brussels Sprouts tasted like that when I was a kid I would have eaten them all the time.  She told me I was lying, which is probably true, I was Picky McPickerson about food when I was a kid. But seriously you need to make these 2 recipes.  They will make your taste buds sing!

5

I was so excited this week for the mail to come because my new most favorite short I think I have ever owned came in the mail!

Isn't it the best?!  It came from this awesome Etsy Shop and 20% of the proceeds go to animal shelters!  It's a win win if you ask me.  Just make sure you order a size up because I didn't and had to send it back to get a different size (which was super easy to do).  I ended up getting an XL which fits like most of my Medium t-shirts. I was so excited to finally have a shirt that expressed my feelings to toward life most days.  I mean who wouldn't want to hang out with these two cuties all day??

I sent this picture to Eric last night as I was walking out the door to teach dance with a caption that said, "Please take us on a walk tonight Daddy." I guess it worked because he said he let them play outside for at least 30 mins while I was at dance.

Happy Friday!  Now go watch some basketball!

March Madness....A Poem

I did a little something for today's post that I NEVER do.....I wrote a little poem in honor of today's momentous occasion: The beginning of the 2015 NCAA Basketball Tournament (for anyone living under a rock)  I am not a poet, nor an I a huge fan of poetry, but this one just felt right and the process was no nearly as painful as I thought it would be.  So without further ado:

March Madness 

 (to the tune of It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year [obviously])

It's the most wonderful time of the year,

With buzzers a-sounding,

Hearts will be pounding,

And the crowd, they will cheer!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

It's the hap-happiest season of all.

With trash talking greetings and tense pre-game meetings,

And can you believe they just missed that call?!

It's the hap-happiest season of all!

There'll be brackets for posting

and experts a-boasting

their bracket picks are second to none.

There'll be elaborate stories 

And tales of the glories

Of tournaments long long ago.

It's the most wonderful time of the year.

There'll be much basketballing and a good bit of fouling

When the game is on the line!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

There'll be mascots a-cheering

Cinderella's appearing, 

Shocking everyone but their own fans.

There'll be bands playing fight songs

And fans up all night long, 

To make sure they get their team through!

It's the most wonderful time of the year.

There'll be heroes emerging and team spirit overflowing,

When the Final Four is near!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Even better than bowl season time of the year!

The absolute BEST time of the year!

2014 In Review

The time has come for another annual recap.  I can't believe how fast this year has gone by; I feel like I've just gotten used to writing 2014 on everything and now I have to change again!

I started out 2014 in survival mode which sounds terrible but it was so true.  We had a killer basketball schedule with tied me up 4 out of the first 5 weekends of 2014 with back to back Friday/Saturday games.  But we did manage to slip in some fun. Eric turned 30 and since I was tied up with basketball I sent him to Las Vegas for a weekend of shenanigans with his best friend.  While he was gone Mom came and stayed with me for the weekend and we made my quilt rack for the beautiful quilts my aunt and great-grandmother made.

February was a lot more fun for us with a 3 days snow/ice in thanks to the polar vortex that brought a beautiful blanket of snow to the south.  We rang in my last year in my twenties by heading to Steamboat Springs, Colorado [part 1, part 2, part 3] for a few days of fun playing in the snow with our friends.

In March I got to take a business trip to Arkansas which meant I got to spend the weekend prior in Memphis and even took a trip over to Waldron to visit my grandmother.  The end of March was a wedding whirlwind as one of my good friends finally tied the knot.

In April we got to take in an Auburn baseball game and watch 2 of our hometown kids who are best friends square off against eachother and ended the month with the first of many beach trips we took this year.

We kicked May off with our Dance Recital, which is always one of my favorite weeks of the year and my BIL and SIL announced they were expecting (though we'd known for a few months but I was so excited I could finally start talking about the arrival of our nephew)!  We finished off the month of May with a relaxing Memorial Day weekend with my parents in Destin.

I need that tan back stat!

I stayed on the road in June heading to Memphis to perform in my old dance studio's 50th recital, and then got to spend a few days in our Nation's Capitol for a work conference.  It was my first trip to DC so I did as much as I possibly could in our spare time! We also celebrated Peanut's 7th birthday. However, June ended on a not so happy note as our Hollow puppy went missing.  I am holding out hope that he found a new family to love him.

We celebrated the 4th of July at the beach with my BIL and SIL and the boys' cousins and did some serious blueberry pickin which yielded some delicious treats! We finished up the month with a 4th Anniversary trip up north to spend sometime in my childhood hometown with my grandparents and some time in Chicago with my Aunt, Uncle, and cousins which included a surprise appearance of my brother and a bike race.

August brought the beginning of another football season and the end of our major travels for the year, but we ended it on a high note by hosting a Baby Shower for my BIL, SIL and soon-arriving nephew! We also celebrated Hawk's 7th birthday with peanut butter milkshakes from Diary Queen (his favorite).

September brought a low-key Labor Day on the river with just Eric, myself, and our river dogs since football was in full swing at this point. We ended the month with a fun weekend at the Yokohoma Tire LPGA Championship with my parents.

We kicked off October with Homecoming at Huntingdon which is always one of my favorite weekends of the year since we get to see all of our college friends. This October marked my first October in 3 years not coaching which was a little bittersweet, but mostly sweet. =)  I still got to play in the Lady Hawks Alumni Game with is always a blast.  However, the best part of the month was the arrival our nephew, Wyatt!

November was full of family time for us: getting to meet Wyatt for the first time, spending several fun but very cold Friday night with our football family, and hosting Thanksgiving again this year for both of our families.  I also moved in to my new office...with a window...and a door.  It's the little things I tell ya!

This brings us to December.  The family theme continued, although for difference reasons with Eric's Dad and Aunt both being in the hospital.  It was stressful, but it really brought this family together more than I have ever seen in the time that I have known them.  They both improved enough for us to get away to Memphis for a few days to see my family for Christmas and we finished off Christmas with his family.

I know I say this every year but it really does blow my mind when I sit down to write my year-in-review post because I can't believe everything we pack into one year's time. This year certainly turned out to be a trying one at times for us, but overall it was a wonderful year.

Looking ahead to 2015, it's going to be hard to top.  With it being my 30th year I am expecting BIG things!  Cheers to to 2015!

High Five for Friday

This might have been the longest, craziest week I've had in a really long time.  It seemed to take forever to get through yet I am sitting here, wondering where all of the time went!

Im going to break this down into a Friday 5 list because it's Friday and I like lists.  =)

#1

Last Friday night did not go quite as we had planned.  The boys ended up losing 34-12.  Thew good news is they played as hard as they could.  It's just really hard to win when the other team has twice as many players who are all a good 6 inches taller and much bigger than our kids.  I hate to see the end of the season come, but at the same time I'm happy to have some more free time for the two of us.  Although I am really going to miss hanging out with all of the coaches wives on Friday nights.

#2

Part of the reason my week has been extra crazy is that I've been at a training for work most of the week and I am now a Certified Car Seat Installation Technician. I learned that there is way more than I ever dreamed possible involved in putting a car seat in a car and putting a kid in a car seat correctly.  According to my class instructors, as many as 90% of car seats are installed incorrectly.  I was shocked when I heard that. Out of my class, I would venture to say that I had the longest way to go from the beginning because when they brought out the dummies and the car seats and told us to put the kid in the seat I asked how I was supposed to take the seat off the base. I got some crazy looks, but then I explained that I had never put a kid in a car seat.  More looks of what the heck?! I explained that although I am the oldest child, I was only 5 when my brother was born.  I didn't grow up with any family with small children near by, and my first nephew was born just a month ago and I've met him a total of one time, so frankly the opportunity to put a kid in a car seat has never presented itself.  The good news is I caught on pretty quick and I passed with flying colors!

#3

I think I am almost ready to have Thanksgiving at the house.  I have my extensively detailed spreadsheet with menu items, their ingredients, and where I am going to purchase said items. What can I say, I am my father's daughter. If I don't have it all neatly written down in front of my face, there's a good chance I'll forget something and end up having to make a last minute run to Montgomery or just scrap it all together.  I've decided I am going to try to get all of my shopping done today before I head home because I really don't want to have to fight crowds at the grocery store this weekend or any time next week.  Plus if I do forget something I will at least have the opportunity to pick it up next week.

#4

I think missing coaching is actually starting to creep up on me.  I didn't think it would, and certainly not this early, but I guess with football ending I found myself ready for the next sport and games to watch.  That being said, there's a very good chance I will be catching my old team's home season opener this weekend.  I just can't help it!

#5

I can't think of anything else so I will leave you with 2 of my favorites.  It's been super cold here this week--Wednesday morning it was 18 when I left the house...same as my brother's AM temp in Wisconsin--and thankfully they have been extra snuggly this week.  This was our situation one evening.  Gotta love a built in bed warmer!


Happy Weekend!

Weekend Recap: Fun Fun and More Fun

You know you've had a good weekend when you're laying in bed Sunday night and your husband says what a fun weekend we've just had.  And it was it was an awesome weekend.  It ended up being pretty busy but everything we did was so much fun I could do over and over again.

We started off with a football game Friday night (what else would we do, amiright?).  This was a must-win game for us and after the dismal game we had the week before we had some motivation to take care of business. What we were expecting to be a back and forth battle quickly became anything but.  We ended up winning 34-7 and from what I've heard from everyone who was at the game the week before, we looked like a completely different team.  Let's just hope we can continue on that high because we have another biggie this week.  It's not a region game, but it's the biggest rivalry game we have and it's Senior Night.  The other school is literally 10 minutes from us and the way the playoff seedings are being put together this year, we really need to win that game.

1-2. I found this little slice of heaven at the grocery store Friday afternoon. It tasted like a glazed donut filled with chocolate pudding.  It was calling to me as I headed to the checkout line.  I just wish I'd bought more than one.  

3-4. I've been quite impressed with our band this year, they've added some guitar and dub-step to the halftime show this year.  It's been quite entertaining.  But they blew me away Friday when the majorettes busted out the flaming batons....FLAMING BATONS.  Coming from a girl who is just now learning a thumbflip from one of my 6th graders, I was beyond impressed. More flaming batons!!!

We did not stick around too long after the game because Eric had to get to bed so he could take full advantage of the first day of hunting season.  He was like a little kid anticipating Christmas morning.  I didn't even hear him get out of bed (around 4am apparently) to head out to the woods.  I cleaned up the house and got myself ready because we had a very important birthday party to attend Saturday afternoon for none other than our favorite neighbor kid who is now officially 5 years old.  I can't believe how fast that kid is growing up.  The party was great, and how could a party not be when it includes a bounce house...yes I jumped. =)  We finished off the night with burgers and sausages on the grill and football.  I have to brag on Eric for a minute.  He is certainly one of the best grill masters I know but he made some burgers this weekend that were amazing!  I don't know why we don't grill burgers more often because they really are my favorite!  I realized at one point Saturday night that we had 7 yes SEVEN dogs running around the house/carport.  It was our 2, plus my MIL's dog, plus our neighbors' 2 puppies, plus 2 of our friends' dogs. Talk about chaos, but it was so much fun!  They all got a long quite well and were beyond entertaining.  Considering 3 of the 7 are puppies who are in the 11-15 weeks age range it was almost too much cuteness to take.

1. Eric and his first kill of hunting season.  To say he was pumped was an understatement.

2. Bounce house castle = best birthday party idea ever!

3. I tried really hard to get my Tennessee Vols going on Saturday, but Bama was just too much for us.  And now I have to listen to how dominant Bama is for another year....awesome.

Sunday we slept in and just hung around the house all morning, perfection in my book.  Eric left for football meetings a little after lunch, and I got ready for some basketball! Don't worry, I'm definately still not coaching.  This was my annual alumni game at Huntingdon, which is always so much fun! We ended up losing to the current team 68-48, but I'm pretty sure they should be us.  It took us about a half to get our shots to fall and start clicking as a team, but what do you expect, we're old and it takes us a little while to get going.  =)  I am paying for it today.  I leaned over to brush my teeth this morning and had to push myself back so I could stand up straight again, but I would play again today if they asked.  It's so much fun to go back every year and meet a new group of alumni.  That program means so much to me and my teammates played a big role in shaping who I am today.  I am hoping to make it back for a game or two this year.  Since I am not coaching, I should have time this year.

 Lady Hawks Alumni Team....we keep getting bigger every year!  

 We may be the oldies, but I'm pretty sure thing just bet better with age!

 Both teams after the game...#hawkabirdsforlife

We've got another busy one this week, Senior Night, dance classes, Halloween, and hopefully getting to meet our nephew this weekend!

Happy October 15th!

October 15th has rolled around again.  I have mentioned what this day has meant to me for so many years once or twice around these parts.  It will surely forever hold a special place in my heart because of all of the wonderful memories of basketball seasons past that truly were "the good ole days."  The girls I played ball with are still some of my closest friends.  They are the kind of friends you don't see all the time, but you know you can always count on them when you need them or you can drop in on them and pick up right where you left off.  We share a bond that is truly unique and I absolutely love all these girls so much!!!

The past three years I had my own little team of basketballers to coach and attempt to guide through the crazy thing we call life.  It was fun, challenging, exhausting, and rewarding all at the same time.  I enjoyed each season, but this year I decided to hang up my whistle.  They say you should do something for as long as you love it.  And as last season wore on I stopped loving it.  It became a chore and I knew that it was time for me to move on.  It seems a little surreal not bringing my practice clothes to work with me and rushing out of the office at 3:30 on the dot to make it to practice. But at the same time I am looking forward to free Friday nights and Saturdays (in 4-6 weeks) when football season ends and [hopefully] a less stressful holiday season.  Someday I may pick that whistle back up and coach again, but who knows.  I always said it was crazy that I was coaching because I was never one of those college athletes who planned on coaching one day.  I just kind of fell into it, and I enjoyed it so I kept going.  I am looking forward to catching at least a game or two this season because I've crossed paths with some of my girls already this school year and they made sure I got a copy of the schedule so I can come watch them play.

So Happy October 15th to all of you current and former NCAA Basketball Players!  And I guess I have to throw in a Happy October 15th to all of the bow hunters in Alabama, including my hubby who starting today will be spending most of his free time in the woods trying to get a big buck!