here we go!

Apparently, I have taken the summer off from blogging.....

I share so much of my day on Instagram now, that I find blogging sometimes is redundant.

I am spending my last day finishing up things around the house.  Trying to get it in some kind of order so I'm not overwhelmed when I come home each evening.  This morning was a nice, slow morning.  And Ollie enjoyed a morning nap on my lap.  I think this little pup is going to miss us not being here with him all day.

I was able to get one last summer manicure yesterday.  This has become something I enjoy doing for myself.  I deserve a little pampering each month.

This was a sure sign that it's time to go back-- Carson's trip wire that he strung through the entire house on Friday.  He managed to do it as I took a quick shower.  I was only in there for about 8 minutes!

I did get some things organized this summer, but not much decorating that I had planned was finished.  I did get the front door painted!  It looks FAB!

I celebrated my birthday with the boys at Haruno's!  We had sushi and Carson loved it!  YAY!

Our vacation to North Carolina was super.  We stayed with Ang and Mindy and then on to the Mountains!!  We drove out with some of our favorite vacay buddies- the Scott and Kel family.

The cabin was great along with the above view.  And Kel kept us eating well!

Now, it's time to go back to work.

I won't lie.... I'm a little sad.

It will be good to get back into a schedule.  I do much better with a schedule.

And it will be great to see my teacher friends and all my students.

I just wish our schedule didn't get so stinking crazy during the school year.  

And I'm going to make sure to focus on my relationships with my parents and students and growth in learning and not get caught up in all the other stuff that isn't important and tends to stress us all out.

As a parent, I want my son to be liked by his teacher, have a great relationship with her, and learn and continue to grow from where he is currently.  THAT is what I need to remember as a teacher.  Those things have always been my focus, but many other distractions tend to stress us teachers out.  And I'm going to try to stay the course this year and not listen to all that NOISE.

To all the teachers, students, and parents------ Let's have a great year working TOGETHER for the benefit of our kids. 

fishin' and tubin'

Carson, KJ, and Eric went to Ava last Friday to go fishing at Eric's family's Fish Farm.  It was a VERY HOT day, but they had a great time fishing.  I'm so glad Carson has taken a liking to fishing because it is something that Eric really enjoys and they can spend time doing it together.

This is a deer butt that is mounted in the store.  The boys thought it was pretty funny. 

The next day, Carson and Eric went to the lake with the Johnsons to tube.  He absolutely loved tubing with Aunt Angie and Mindy.  So, he was looking forward to this.

After his to fun days in the sun... he was pretty tired on the trip home. :)

pool time!

We had a playdate today with some ladies and kids from church.  We met at a neighborhood pool and spent the afternoon swimming and playing in the sun!  It was a really nice day today... not too hot.  We had such a great time.  I wish our city pool didn't get so crowded.  Spending the afternoon there, made me want our neighborhood to have a pool... or one in my own backyard. ;)











-on location with my iPhone...

summertime

Summer has begun, and we have pretty much done a whole lot of nothing.  Which has been wonderful... no real plans, just lots of fun, relaxing days.

Samantha came to visit and played with Carson.  He was absolutely thrilled to have her come!  They made a tent on the bed in his playroom.

Carson also went to Sam's to swim in her pool.  He loves the water and his cousins, so this made for a great time!

Uncle Scott jumped in and played for awhile... then he made pizza rolls and green beans with sugar and butter for dinner.  That's Carson's kind of meal!

Cereal was his meal of choice for dinner on this night... Captain Crunch to be exact!  I'm such a cool mom!  NOT!

AND, Carson has been chomping at the bit to make s'mores.  Last Sunday evening, the Daily's stopped by and we did just that.  I think the boy was happy...

Can you believe the marshmallows?  They sell huge marshmallows now for making s'mores. 

 We had to cut them in half-- they were so big!

And, what fun would a s'mores party be without a water gun fight?

So far, our summer has been not too eventful and pretty fly by the seat of our pants... 

just the way we like it.

Cool Website, Cool Weather

I went to a workshop yesterday at school. Our presenter was our TECH TOSA, Lori. I always get such great ideas from her, and she makes the workshop enjoyable. I had a great day, and learned some new things. One of those new things (Really, I knew about it from our TOSA, Cheryl, but never took time to explore it.) was smilebox.com. It is a neat website that allows you to make slideshows, e-vites, photo books, and all sorts of things. So, I made a quick one of our vacation. This would have made downloading pictures on vacation a lot quicker.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Last night, Eric cooked a chicken on his new rotisserie for his gas grill. The weather was wonderful, and we enjoyed the night outside.

It was even too cold for the pool. We filled it, but he didn't get in.

Bubbles are always fun.

The finished masterpiece...

Grandma Pat came to eat with us...

Carson was excited about his surprise from Grandma.

Oh my gosh! I didn't notice that A Baby Story was on TV and they were taking a lady in for a C-section. Carson asked me, "Do doctors make tents?" They put the sheet up for her procedure and were getting ready to take the baby, and he thought they were making a tent to play. He said, "I don't make tents in my bed." HA! Too funny...