Friday, July 31, 2015

More Summer Happenings

Here are some more updates from our summer.  It hasn't been an exciting summer, but it hasn't been horrible.  Summer is not my favorite season.  I don't like the heat, I don't like the lack of structure, and I spend my time wishing for fall.  However, I've tried to make the best of the months.

*As I started downloading photos, I realized that even though it hasn't been a super exciting summer, we actually have done quite a few things!  I've got lots of pictures that show that we haven't exactly sat at home all June and July!

 One of my main projects this summer has been purging, cleaning, and organizing.  The closet is still a mess, but all those hangars used to be full.  I have seriously downsized in there!

 Hudson texted me wanting ice cream.  I told him to solve his problem.  He did.

 Evan has done a lot of altar serving for funerals this summer since he was on campus at summer school.  One family appreciated the service of the servers and gave them money!  We had a long talk about how this was not something to expect, but that it was a nice gesture.  #momlecture

 As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I took a bunch of selfies.  There is a reason for that.  Bear with me.  It's been a long time since I've felt good about myself.  Weight gain, getting older, sometimes wrestling with blue feelings.  I've started exercising (again), and joined Weight Watchers (again), and bought new makeup.  All of this has helped me feel better about myself.  It's kind of a weird feeling to look in the mirror and like what I see.  So I took pictures!

 Harry has quite the ego and begged me to photograph him every day!  Ha!

 Oh that Harry!  He can't get enough of the camera.

 Don't mind the fact that he looks terrified!  He was doing a model face/pose!

 Who's a good puppy?

 Harry is!

 Feeling good about myself.  #sorrynotsorry

 Evan got sick.  This is highly unusual.  I knew he meant it when he said he was sick when I suggested he take a nap...and he did!  He was down for a few days.

 Harry begging for photos again.

 I am running a half of a half marathon on Nov. 1 (about six miles), so I started training.

This saved my sanity this summer.  Clovis school buses took us to and from our field trips.  Lord have mercy it was the best thing ever!  No more stressing about qualified drivers and Safe Environment on field trips.  Plus, the kids LOVED the bus.  They loved the bus ride better than the field trips!

 Best team ever!  Coach Washington is great to work with, he loves my kids, and he helps whenever needed.

My favorite field trip was ice skating.  Nice and cold.

 It's a blessing to work with great people.

 Then Hudson got sick.  Too much sun for him.  His little body goes into shut down mode when he's been in the sun too long.

 Evan's new game room.

 Horrible, awful picture of some sort of allergic reaction that Hudson woke up to.  It was gone in a day, but he looked pitiful.

 We moved our bed and nightstands into the formal living room just before July 4th so we could work on a flooring project in our room.  We ended up being out there for a month!

 We went to a Fuego soccer game.

 One of several loads of donations take to the drop off site

 Eric stripping and cleaning the floors in our bedroom and office (now couple's cave).

 Concrete floors.

 Painted concrete floors.  So pretty!

 It has a marbled effect, and I love it!

 Harry is always cold.  He looks like a little Russian grandma.

 When you reach your breaking point of a chaotic house with stuff all over the place!

 Nothing seems to phase the boys.  They just park it and play their games.

 So glad my bed is there so you have a place to rest your foot, Hudson.

 Mrs. Davis let the kids make s'mores at summer school.

 My mom and I enjoyed a movie/lunch date.  We saw San Andreas.  I loved it!  I got my love of disaster movies from her!

 More selfies, but looking a little sad.  Not sure why.


 That's better.  A half smile.

 Most days around 4 p.m, I enjoy a hot cup of coffee.  Weird, I know.  I never thought I'd be a coffee person, but I guess it's better than many other vices I could have.

 Everybody loves it when Dad comes home, including the dogs.

Endless Summer School blues.

 I bought this shirt for the best teaching partner a girl could have.  Amanda keeps me happy and she is always peppy and excited!

 Soccer tournament.  We didn't do very well.

 The kitchen counter that never stays clean.

 Bound and determined to keep it this way.

 Amanda plans to teach this book this year.  I enjoyed it.


The couch is in the Couple's Cave (with a great deal of effort and the removal of a sliding glass door), and Eric and I are thoroughly enjoying our evenings in there with peace and quiet.

I am almost caught up to current pictures and events.  Hang in there with me, and I'm sure to finish updating the summer happenings soon!

Thursday, July 30, 2015

Made It Through Summer School Just In Time To Get Sick

Hello!  Yeah, yeah, yeah.  It's been a while.  I know.  I know. No excuses to give.

Summer is zipping by pretty quickly.  Although, when I was in the middle of a six week summer school program, the time seemed awfully slow!

Here is how our summer has been going.

I taught two three-week sessions of summer school.  My favorite part is helping kids with algebra.  #nerd  My least favorite part was figuring out how to get 80 kids safely to and from the various field trips that we took.  #stress

 Evan was very sweet letting one of the little guys play on his iPod.

 I took lots of selfies (I'll be sure to share more later).  This was me getting in my 10,000 fitbit steps for the day.


 Soccer practice never seems to stop.  It just keeps going and going.  The kids were training for tournaments.

 I took the kids to 2 Extreme one afternoon.

 I bragged about my new necklace.  #trendy

 I love it when I see my boys purposely near each other.  I think they like each other, but they don't like to admit it.

 We got rid of our dining room table to make room for the office/game room.  The boys each have their own room back, so the gaming stuff had to go somewhere.  Since we NEVER use the formal dining room, we decided to use the space in a way that made more sense for our family.

 We have gotten rid of SOOOOOOO much stuff this summer.  I would estimate at least 30 bags of clothes, furniture, books, dishes, etc. have been take to the Salvation Army drop off site.  Feels so good to purge.  I always shake my head in disbelief at how much stuff we have that we don't need or use.  Let it go!

 A family date at Mickey's Yogurt.  We like it there because it is a treat that Eric can eat.  No fat, no sugar frozen yogurt.

 Love, love, love this little girl.  Chloe is the sassiest, smartest and cutest little thing.  She is the niece of our P.E. teacher, and I am so excited she'll be going to our school this year.

 Best of all?  She likes me and gives me big hugs everyday!

We had a Junior High iPad team meeting.  We are working hard to get our iPad program up and running this year.  Thank goodness I've got this amazing team to work with!  Go Team!

There are more pictures and adventures that we have had this summer, but I'll save those for another post.

*Like the title says, I'm sick.  I managed to get through six weeks of summer school, go to a wedding in Mammoth, just to come home to a nasty head cold.

I went to the doctor on Tuesday and he put me on antibiotics along with two inhalers.  I'm taking ibuprofen for pain and allergy meds for my usual sniffiness.  It's been great.  #itsbeenawful

Anyhow, feeling a bit better now that I've had three days of meds running through my system.  I slept pretty much ALL day yesterday.  That helped.