As far as I'm concerned-

Summer officially begins today! The girls have a half day today and then *they* are done! I look forward to sleeping in tomorrow.

Sneaky Madeline surprised me yesterday at her Honors Day. Turns out she *knew* she was getting the award for being the TOP AR reader in her grade, and she kept it a secret! Her teacher pulled me aside afterward and said how excited she and the rest of the team teachers were when they found out she would be getting the award. Suffice it to say, we are VERY proud of her! Bella didn't get any awards, but we are proud of her too. Her spelling grade kept her from making Honor Roll, and I know she was disappointed. But I told her it just gave her a goal to work on for next year.

I've been busy rearranging the house, and so far I haven't spent any money. :P I'm trying to be more frugal. I'd like to make it through the summer with most of my last paycheck left. We'll see, I guess. At any rate, moving things around always makes me feel like I have new stuff, and I'm pretty happy with the changes. For now. ;)

Our big summer fun is a trip to U.S. Space and Rocket Musuem in Huntsville, AL. We're going to be staying with a family friend and I'm looking forward to seeing her. She works at the center and is going to give us a "Behind the Scenes" tour! I'd be lying if I said I was *very* excited for this. :P

The girlies should be home momentarily. When they get here we'll clean out the backpacks and lunchboxes and then hide them away until AUGUST!!! Woo-Hoo!!

Better Late Than Never

A few years ago, Mom told us she didn't mind if we missed Thanksgiving, Christmas or Easter, but by golly we HAD BETTER be at the Family Reunion. (Third Weekend in May since 1986!) This year had an amazing turn out, with cousins coming from near (those who still live in Tift County) and far (Indonesia). The food was plentiful and delicious as always, and ins pite of the rain out on Saturday, and fabulous time was had by all.

*Insert Witty Title Here*

(My class -minus two- in disguise for St. Patrick's Day)

School is over for me, hooray! It's always bittersweet though, and that's especially the case this year. This class was the perfect mix of personalities, and I know I won't have it this good again anytime soon. It's amazing how much you can grow to love those kiddies, even though they don't "belong" to you.

My only complaint is that our End of the Year Party was *quite* rainy. Luckily it was a Swim Party, so the kids were ready to get wet! (Me? Not so much. :P) The parents got together and bought Starr (my partner) and myself a gorgeous monogrammed bag each, plus a gift card to Target and a gift certificate to our favorite Mexican restaurant in town. (The presents are one of the main reasons I will never give up teaching preschoo. :P)

The girls still have to go back next week on Tuesday, then a half day on Wednesday. It's ridiculous to go back for a day and a half after Memorial Day, but what can you do?

I know I should take a few days to relax, get the projects done that I've been putting off, etc, but I can't stop thinking about some of the stuff I want to do NEXT year! I already know that I will have two younger siblings of kids I had this year next year, and I was talking to their moms today about some of things I want to do different, improve, try, etc. I don't ever want to become bored or complacent or unchallenged (OH NO! NOT THAT WORD!! :P) with this job, because that's the moment I know I need to find something else to do with my time and energy.

At any rate, the first thing I have to do is a thorough cleaning of my house, followed by some major rearranging. And if this rain ever goes away, I'm ready to do some lounging by a pool. ;) So preschool stuff will have to wait.

And YES Mom, I will put up reunion pictures this weekend! Sheesh!

Does this mean I'm a Trekkie?

1. Who knew that reading Spock/Uhura fanfiction could be so much fun? I'm particularly enjoying this story. Even better, the author seems to be updating every day! And it's not crap! Sweet!

2. The weather here is CRAZY! It's been in the 40's at night, 60's during the day, and crazy wind. The rain is supposed to arrive on Friday, right in time for our Last Day of School Swim Party at preschool. Luckily the party moms have a Plan B.

3. I can't decide what I think about this blog. It's where authors can submit their worst review in the chance to win sympathy and prizes. Honestly, it kind of makes me want to either 1) never read any of the author's books or 2) read them and and hope I dislike them in order to leave a bad review.

For the record, in spite of what some of the authors say (that the reviewers would NEVER leave bad reviews if they had to say them to the authhor in person), I would TOTALLY tell Meg Cabot that she and her ghostwriter jumped the shark with Ransom My Heart. I would also tell Diana Gabaldon that Outlander made my eyes bleed. I would also ask Charlaine Harris if she was smoking crack when she wrote A Fool and His Honey. And finally, I would ask Katie Crouch to give me back the hours I spent reading her book.

But you know, I'm just mean and snarky in that way. Call me, ladies! :P

I love this!

"In this world of competing claims about what is right and what is true, have confidence in the values with which you’ve been raised and educated. Be unafraid to speak your mind when those values are at stake. Hold firm to your faith and allow it to guide you on your journey. Stand as a lighthouse.

But remember too that the ultimate irony of faith is that it necessarily admits doubt. It is the belief in things not seen. It is beyond our capacity as human beings to know with certainty what God has planned for us or what He asks of us, and those of us who believe must trust that His wisdom is greater than our own.

This doubt should not push us away from our faith. But it should humble us. It should temper our passions, and cause us to be wary of self-righteousness. And within our vast democracy, this doubt should remind us to persuade through reason, through an appeal whenever we can to universal rather than parochial principles, and most of all through an abiding example of good works, charity, kindness, and service that moves hearts and minds."

Life Among Four Year Olds

You haven't lived until you've sat amongst a group of four year olds discussing the pros and cons of skinny dipping.

Yes, my friends, this was the main topic of conversation at lunch today after a harmless conversation about swimming took a turn for the bizarre when one of the little angels declared that she and her sister "liked to go skinny dipping". Half of the kids started giggling uncontrollably while the other half looked confused. One boy asked the fatal questions, "What's 'skinny dipping'?". Before I could steer the conversation back into safer territory a voice piped in (and imagine this being said in the most south Georgia-est of accents), "That means you're swimmin nekkid!"

It was all over then.

The conversation went on from there, from one little girl (who is actually the best friend of the first little girl) stating she didn't like to go skinny dipping, to the first little girl informing us that her grandmother liked to go skinny dipping too! (And if you knew the grandmother in question then it makes the conversation all the more hilarious.)

So this afternoon found me at car pick-up apologizing to my parents and assuring them (amid gales of parental laughter) that a discussion of skinny dipping was not a recent addition to the four year old curriculm.

I'm really looking forward to our Teacher Appreciation Luncheon tomorrow, as I'm sure the story has made the rounds to all of the moms. ;)

Compostin' with the best of them

This is post is dedicated to my lovely stalkers friends Christy and Amanda. Maybe someday they'll actually make a comment! :P

If I'm really very honest with myself, I'd love to be a true blue living off the grid, growing my own food, dying my own handwoven cloth Earth Mother-type chick. Unforutnately I'm also incredibly lazy, and like McDonald's a little more than I should. At any rate, I do the best I can.

We have a little garden going, with plans for a bigger one (eventually)


Remember Madeline's cabbage from last year? Here's Bella's cabbage:


My next step on the path to Earth Mother-hood involved a bit of the wood James brought home. I've been wanting a Composting Bin for awhile, and a few months I ago I came across this blog post. I loved that this family had used recycled wood to build their bin. When I showed it to James, he said he could build it, no problem.

And he did!

James assembled the sides and laid everything out


while I pulled all of these dandelions out of a square foot spot in the yard. Is it just our yard or is the dandelion population out of control this year?


It was about at this point that we realized just how big this bin was going to acutally be.


And it was. BIG


Since I was taking pictures, I told James to get inside and lay down so we could show the scale. He said it was wrong that I made him lay down in his own coffin. Hee! Notice the dandelion weeds in his cold, dead hands. :P


It was right after I snapped this picture that noticed our next door neighbor had wandered over to see what we were up to. He could only shake his head when he saw James laying in the bin. I told the neighbor it's wht we did to keep our marriage exciting. ;)

And here's the finished product!




CAUTION! Manly man pumped up on testosterone!


So now you're probably asking yourself what our next project is. Well, it's something that James has been promising me since Valentine's Day 2003...

My, what a large pile of wood you have!

About two months ago, James comes home from work and says, "I can get a bunch of free wood from work. Do we want any??" Of course, I say! It's free! We can use it on a few building projects we want to do here at Ye Olde Homestead. So two weekends ago when we went to Tifton for our nephew Dallin's blessing, we borrowed my Dad's truck and trailer for the week so James could haul wood.

This is what we ended up with:









No joke, we know have wood -good quality, heavy duty wood- coming out of our ears! The only drawback is that for the most part it's full of nails and screws. (The wood is what's left after the military takes apart the crates and shipping containers used to crate heavy duty vehicles, materials, etc.)

These pallets weigh at least 150 pounds each. It was quite comical I'm sure to watch James and I unload these suckers from the back of the truck. I asked him how he managed to load them by himself. His answer? "I used a forklift." I was sorry we didn't have one at home!


James finished up the first project yesterday, but that will have to wait for another post. Ooooh, the suspense!

Listing

1. Two weeks of school left! Hallelujah! Our preschool graduation was last week, and while it was great and I cried my eyeballs out (as I do every year) I am SO GLAD it is over and done with. Bring on summer vacation! (Yes, it's alittle weird to have graduation three weeks before school is actually over with. But it gets it out of the way, and we can just do fun things the last few weeks.)

2. Both Madeline and Isabella were in the top ten AR readers for their grade, which meant they got to go on the reward trip this week! This year's reward was a movie (Earth or Hannah Montana, both of which they'd already seen), lunch at the Mellow Mushroom and the bowling. Bella chose to see Earth, but Madeline chose to see Hannah Montana because, as she put it, she "couldn't watch those animals die again". Heh. They were very excited for the trip, and we were VERY proud of them!

3. When my friend Adriana was here, these little babies in Target. I bought two packs, and we promptly inhaled one of them. They are SO GOOD!! I went back a few days later and bought three more packs (leaving two on the shelf. Can I tell you how much I am regretting that??). Then I came across this website as I was searching online for a source to buy some more. I am so sad they were only available for a limited amount of time, as they became our family's favorite cookie. I just ate the last one today (after hiding it from the rest of the family :P) and now I'm despondent and desolate. You Aussies are SO LUCKY!!!


4. Did I mention there are only two more weeks of school left?? But why am I already thinking of *next year*?? I guess that's the curse of being a Type A control freak. ;) Actually, I know why I'm already thinking about next year. It's because I already know who some of my kids will be, and I know some of them are going to be a challenge to teach! I would say I've already started praying for patience, but you know what happens when you make that mistake. So let's just say I'm gearing up mentally and thinking of things I can do better to make next school year a great year. ;)

5. Now I leave with this picture, as proof that I can overcome my crazy, anti-social-like tendencies! It's me! Out of the house! On a school night! Past 8:00 pm! ;)