Ending April

After church on Sunday, April 19, Devin and I went to visit mom for a while. We got back home early evening and I took a 2 hour nap.

On Tuesday, April 20, I finally got to drop off my car to get the rear end fixed. I spent the next couple of days in a Toyota Corolla, but they finally switched it out for a Nissan Altima which is a bit bigger.

To be honest, I  liked the features on the Corolla better. The Altima was a 2014 model, but already felt worn out.

Stroker had someone to come and move our damaged shed, so we had to move all of its belongings to daddy's basement. That took a couple of trips.

Brooke and I babysat Jett, Dash and Gray on Satruday night, April 25th while Delano and Stacia took a break for a couple of hours. We took the boys across the street to the playground. They loved it over there. Sorry, no photos of that...there was no time for pictures while running after those 3. LOL

Kota has figured out a way to escape here lately. She ran away twice on Tuesday, April 28. The first time, I had to pick her up at the Frontier warehouse because she jumped up on the dock and walked right in. That same evening, she ran away and we finally located her being walked out of Belk by an employee. He had made a make shift leash with a Belk bag.

Apparently she has figured out how to jump the fence. Brooke walked her back home while I drove along beside them.  It was ridiculous. Really.

Anyway....back to the delima of being without a storage shed.

After moving all of our storage stuff to dad's basement ( a half our away), we realized that we needed a canopy for the weekend, so we had to run back to his house to pick it up on Wednesday, April 29.

How Hollywood Effects Us

After church on Sunday, April 12, we moved a little more dirt and rock trying to get the new pathway finished up. We also set up the water slide for the first time this year. The weather was sunny and 80 degrees, so summer should be just around the corner.
I guess you could call Tuesday, April 14, Brooke's Day because we ordered her a new comforter for her bed and we took a trip to Belk and bought her some Clinique foundation powder. These days, she wants to cover up those freckles that I love so much. The realization that she is growing up is almost too overwhelming.

Some time has passed since we re-seeded the yard and we were finally seeing some new sprouts of grass on Wednesday, April 15.  Some spots look great, while others are struggling. 

On Thursday, April 16, I sat intently and watched another episode of American Crime. That is the BEST show. Have I mentioned my two favorite characters...Hector and Aubrey?

 Aubrey Taylor is a drug addict and the only thing she loves more than meth is ...Carter Nix. 

Hector Tontz wants to be a good person and father to his daughter, but time after time, he falls short.

On Friday, April 17, Brookelynn and a group of her friends went to see a scary movie. When we picked her up, she told us that the movie wasn't that good; however, she wound up sleeping in our bed Friday night.

Shaken Up

Alyssa spent the night with Brooke on Monday, April 6. we went to El Tap for dinner. I spent the rest of the night trying to recover some more of my blog photos. That is a very frustrating goal.

The week was progressing well up until Thursday, April 9 when we got rear ended on the way to drop Brooke off for school. We stopped behind a line of cars at a traffic light and just a few seconds later BAM, we turned to and looked at each other then BAM  again. It felt like my brake pedal was going to break of I was pressing it so hard. I was trying to keep the other cars from pushing me into the car in front of me. Somehow, i successfully managed. The guy got out of his car in front of us to ask if we were all right, but I just replied "I was trying not to hit you". He said he seen it happening in his rear view mirror. I'm so glad that I didn't see it coming or I would have tensed up before the impact.

The lady in the very back got out of her car crying, shaking and apologizing profusely. She kept saying "the sun was in my eyes and I couldn't see". The lady in the car in the middle didn't say anything. 

After the accident report was complete, Brooke and I decided to try to regroup ourselves over breakfast at IHOP. After it was all said and done, we ended up back at home for the day. 

Katey and I went by the funeral home midday on Friday, April 10 to check on my friend Amy, whose father-in-law had passed away. 

I cooked dinner on Friday night too. I guess the accident still had me shook up a bit. I don't cook when I am in my right mind.

We spent Saturday, April 11, working on the natural stone pathway from the patio to the gate. We accomplished quite a bit, but still had a way to go. 

I went on a small shoe shopping spree on the 11th too. 

We also took Phyllis her tiller back today and spent a few minutes visiting with her and dad.

Lastly, the big news for Cookeville today was the arrest of Nelly on I40 ;)

The Claw

I had a dentist appointment on Monday, March 30.  It wasn't a dreaded appointment this time...just a six month check up.
So the yard was coming right along, but we still needed a some final adjustments on a few areas. We borrowed a tiller from Phyllis to break up some of the clumpy areas. Only problem was, we could never get it started. We visited Lowes and purchased an extra shovel and some type of "garden claw" tool because Stroker thought it would help.

 

And it did. He had the entire top layer of ground removed in just a matter of hours. I couldn't believe how much he got accomplished with a $20 tool from Lowes.

On Tuesday, March 31, the fence people arrived to install the new additional gate to the back yard. It sections off the back yard and patio from the rest of the yard. We decided that it would come in handy when we have company over. If we are cooking out, the dogs can have the rest of the yard...if we are using the yard, the dogs can have the patio and back area. Stroker put down his first round of grass seed since this whole dirt adventure started.

I thought Devin was trying to fool me when he called to tell me that Kota ran off and he lost her when he chased her to Willow. Turns out, he wasn't joking. I left work to come help find her. As I picked up Devin at Subway, I received a phone call from Cumberland Pet Grooming asking if I had a dog named Kota. "Yes" I told them. "I will be right over".

The lady told me as I picked Kota up that she opened the door to the shop and Kota just ran right inside. Were gonna have to start being careful as we open the gate.

It was no April fool when Stroker offered to cook steaks on the grill on April 1. 

I watched another episode of American Crime on Thursday, April 2. I am addicted to that show.  The first time I watched, I spent an hour trying to figure out what any of the people had to do with each other. By the end of episode 1...I was hooked.

We spent Wednesday, April 3 working on the new rock pathway from the patio to the new gate. We had to work at it intermittently between rain showers. It is coming together quite nicely though.

The Easter Bunny still shows up at the Hayes House by the way.

Brooke's basket

Devins Basket

We finished up the first week of April with an Easter Egg Hunt at MaMa's on Sunday, April 5.

The egg hunters are all GREAT Grandkids of MaMa's these days.

Dash, Casen, Zander, Jett, Grey, Matasia and Braxton...Lennox is too little to hunt this year, but he will be in the group next year