Boating Fun

Last weekend John & Emily invited us all to go to their family's lake house and spend the day with them. We were very excited to go and the weather could not have been better! We had all 3 kids who were awesome while we boated, picnicked, and even tubed.

LOVE these two boys and are so lucky this terrific family is in our life!

Mr. Patriotic

Dave and I were in SHOCK when we discovered our three year old can recite the ENTIRE pledge! Dave has been reciting it for month every time Will points out an American flag in the car or on a walk. For the first time a few days ago, he decided to do the thing where he said "I pledge allegiance to the..." and wait for Will to fill in the blanks. Well Will knew "flag" was the next word... and then he went on to recite the rest of it in it's entirety without messing up once! WOW. It's just amazing what kids will absorb. PledgeVideo

Busy Weekend Trip

I'm pretty behind on posting this. We actually went to Columbia about 4 weeks ago but I have never gotten around to blogging it. Will and I went by ourselves and had a pretty easy trip up there. It was as hot as can be so when we went to the park Will was actually happier to stand and watch the ducks and throw rocks than climb and run around.

One of the big highlights for us both was the public library. We listened to some books on the computer:

We also made a long stop at the doll house. I know... Will's a boy yada yada yada but he seriously was so involved in this thing. Look how 1920-mod this house is! I secretly loved it.

Gamma may have loved it, too ;)

On the outside of the library is this giant sculpture. This poor piece of art received some harsh criticism when it was first put up many years ago, but I love it and Will loved it, too. He called it "The Future."

Little cutie waiting on a snack.

I also got a chance to visit with one of my college bf's who has a son the same age as Will.

It's so fun to be able to take my kid to some awesome spots around my hometown and re-discover some fun things to do!

New Classroom

Tomorrow begins my first day as an Old High Knight. I see many comments on Facebook about "first day jitters" and such from teachers. I can't say I'm feeling any of these tonight. Am I excited? Of course! I love the start of new adventures. Am I nervous? I can honestly say no. I feel seasoned now and more confident than ever before. Plus I have an AWESOME new teaching partner this year who I know will help me if I stumble. I can say that I am crazy excited about my new classroom! I am coming from a classroom that was exceptionally tiny. I mean. For REAL. I had 2 tall cabinets and 6 short ones to store supplies and paper for 600 kids. This new room? Uh-ma-zing. I keep saying we could have a basketball game in there. Plus, in the back of the room is a second room that I believe was once a physical therapy room. I have a fridge, sink, washer and dryer, and handicap accessible bathroom with a shower! Yes, friends, the room is a keeper. However, there was some bad news with the good. I had to clean. A LOT. The last teacher was the stereotypical art teacher/boarder line hoarder. Ya'll these pictures do no justice to the mess I walked in to.

Yikes. But I could see the potential! After COUNTLESS days and evenings up there and some super fantastic assistance from my husband, good pal, Emily, and my mother and father in law, we got it done! And it. Is. Awesome.

Paper Center:

Table by the entrance door.

The storage area in the back (why yes that IS a ping pong table!)

And here is a 360 view of the room. If you're on a smartphone I would LOVE for you to walk over to your big computer and check this image out!!! I'm so proud :)

I think this is the perfect way to start off a new year. I have a freshly cleaned and organized space and it is unbelievable. I am looking forward to a great year!

Blog by Will

Three years old and his art is being published for the first time! Last Friday night the three of us went to the square and listened to the pickers. Every Friday night people of all ages bring their stringed instruments to the square and just sit together and play. My mother described it as "so Americana." It's such a neat little hometown thing to do. Anyway, we were talking to a couple that Dave knew from work and Will had swiped my phone. He walked around and took some photos of the square and I thought he did a pretty good job capturing some of the cool little parts. So here are his photos of what he saw!

The rest of the photos I took of the actual "pickin" part of the evening.

If only Will would learn to upload photos and use the Blogger website. I would HAPPILY share this beast of a job with him! I think he shows promise as a photographer, though ;)

Summer Crafts

This summer I have really enjoyed spending way too much time on Pinterest and way too much time in Hobby Lobby. I have a new house and it needs some cute! Here are some of the things I have done recently. (and sorry- most of these were taken in poor light!) First of all- I loooove my new kitchen island. It is big enough to spread out and do multiple projects on!

I was working on the following project for our bedroom. It is the lyrics to "At Last" by Etta James which was what we dance to at our wedding.

Also in our bedroom I blew up a picture my brother took of Dave and I in Grand Central Station. It was not a $13 project like the lady on Pinterest said it would be, but I still LOVE it!

Will's room has gotten some new art as well. I made him a new collage with more grown up colors:

Purely by accident one night we started this Spiderman painting thing. Dave and I were spray painting some outdoor chairs and we needed to occupy Will. I gave him a scrap piece of foam core and a plate of paint and he was set. When we asked him about it he said he was painting "Spiderman because he is red and blue." Dave loved it and painted a web on it and hung it above his bed.

Which led to a great idea on Dave's part. So Will got a second piece of foam core and painted again. This time Dave used an x-acto to cut the shape of a web out! So cool.

In the toy room I am using teal and lime green to decorate. I painted some letters to hang above the storage bins.

It has been so fun to actually get to do some projects instead of just watching my students do them!