Another School Year Underway!

Summer went by way too quickly and I'm faced with a very different type of school year. This year I have decided that it's best for my family if I take a step back and do some part-time teaching. I have to say that I am so blessed to be able to continue my teaching experience in Melba - it's my home away from home and I love it out there. It reminds me of how I went to school as a kid, with parties and Christmas programs (yes CHRISTmas programs with the nativity and everything), fun art projects and popcorn sales at recess, colorful classrooms and a teaching staff that cares for it's students and not their test scores. And we can still watch reward movies out there - WHAT???  It's a place where the District Superintendent still prays before our inservice meals and we get together at the local Christian church and have teacher prayer meetings on Tuesday mornings. Our little rural school out there is just what my generation wants for our kids - a place where learning is stressfree and fun, a place where kids can develop their special talents and the teachers work overtime to make sure that the needs of every student is met - and it's safe. I wouldn't want to work anywhere else - I'm afraid that I would be disappointed if I did.

So - this year it's Kindergarten for me and so far it's been a challenge. They have a lot more energy than I expected and those little ADHD kids have not been diagnosed yet or are on meds. Even though I had diagnosed them within 10 min. I could save the doctors a lot of trouble if I could just write perscriptions. However, I won't go into great detail about how my journey began or how difficult it's been. I've created a Kindergarten blog for that story so feel free to hop on over anytime and check it out. It will be a great year once I adjust and I look forward to that time of the year where it becomes a piece of cake. I look forward to the many fun moments I will have teaching this age group.

Someday I do hope to journey back up to 4th grade. I think that's my teaching niche but for now I will dwell in the land of the 5 year olds singing songs, dancing, reading those fun picture books and listening to their hilarious stories, and laughing a lot. I'm sure this year will do good things for me - how could it not!!

http://www.mykindergartenadventure.blogspot.com/

9th Anniversary!!

Well, even though being married for 9 years isn't exactly a milestone or anything it definately makes me feel old, especially when I realize that we are 1 year away from number 10 - what??? Where did the time go? We have experienced a lot in our lives together and I have to say I wouldn't have wanted to go through life with anyone else. What an amazing fabulous man I married, a man who loves me unconditionally and knows the "real" me. How lucky am I? The day we married I honestly didn't know how well we would work together and become best friends in this journey - it's been amazing. I look forward to forever with this man and can't wait for many more wonderful memories with the family that we have created. God is good!

Summer Fun!

Spending time with my grandparents once a week!

Learning how to climb trees - and be completely serious about it!

Visiting the rose garden at Julia Davis Park

Going to the zoo with friends

Sparklers on the 4th

Rhett's blanket babysitter - it was great while it lasted!

Our Newest Addition!

So - if you know me well you know that I LOVE antiques! They intrigue me and I think it comes from my LOVE of history. I look at each piece like it has a story of it's own and I feel proud that I get to have them displayed in my home. Ever since I've been married I have wanted a piece of antique furniture but our meager income did not allow for such frivolities so I put that dream on hold for what I imagined would be a LONG time. I do have little antiques laying around that I love dearly, mostly my collection of antique books - all of which I hope to read one day. And some of my most precious heirlooms from my grandparents and great-grandparents such as a few antique trunks, some teacups and an old milk box. I love looking for new things to add to my collection but time doesn't present itself with many opportunities for me to go around looking for as some would say "old junk".

However, on Saturday Jeremy and I had a rare opportunity to go look at an antique store. My kids were at my sister's apartment and we were in Boise to pick some relatives up from the airport. We had some time to kill and an antique store was first on my mind of places that I wanted to go. Luckily, I married someone who appreciates antiques as well, probably not as much as I do but he does enjoy antiques which I'm grateful for. We had a fun time looking through all of the old stuff when towards the end of our journey through the wonderland of history we ran across an antique pump organ. My eyes caught it immediately - it was so cool looking and fun. I had never seen anything like it before. That's when Jeremy pointed out that it was only $149 and my heart skipped a beat. I was hooked - I had to have it. I suddenly became giddy and excited and constantly letting Jeremy in on how much fun it would be to have it and where I would put it and that I really, really wanted it. The look on his face gave him away and I knew that my excitement had spread to him and that we were going to leave this antique store with a late 1800s pump organ. I could not tell you how much fun it was to be spontaneous - as we were driving away we looked at each other and I was just beaming and he said "Do you have any buyer's remorse?" And the funny thing was that I didn't. On big purchases like that I usually do have a little bit of remorse because I always wonder if it was the right thing. But strangely this time I waited for that feeling and it didn't come - even for him which is extremely rare. The bottom line was we enjoyed ourselves and had more fun together than we have in a long time. I will cherish the memory of this outing forever and I really can't put my finger on the reason why because it's not that I have a new piece of antique furniture - it was something more. I think that after almost 9 years of marriage we can still make each other laugh, be giddy together, have fun, be spontaneous and truly enjoy each other's company - just the two of us and I guess I just feel so blessed that our marriage has been so great. And I can tell you that even now with this new piece of furniture in our house I still do not have buyer's remorse. I LOVE it!!! The pictures below do not do it justice - you'll just have to come over so I can gloat over my new treasure.

Any names?

O.K. - I'm in need of a name for my Kindergarten blog that I'm going to be starting on soon. I need something cute and catchy. Hopefully some of you can help me out.

Day 8 - Magic Kingdom

Day 8 - Magic Kingdom

This day was sadly our last! We had a blast making it through Magic Kingdom again and doing all of the things that we missed doing the first time. We enjoyed riding on the Dumbo ride, standing in long lines to meet the characters and enjoying a romp through Tom Sawyers Island. It was a wonderful day. I wish that I had more to post but our trip ends here - I am even a little bit sad to post this last day. We had so much fun on this vacation and look to return to Disneyworld sometime soon.

Addison and Tinkerbell
Waiting in line for the Barnstormer

Yo! Ho! Yo! Ho! A Pirate's Life for Me!

Tom Sawyer's Island

Addison and her favorite princess - Sleeping Beauty!

These pumpkins would make really cool jack-o-lanterns at Halloween. It would have been fun to borrow one from Mickey!

Rhett and Daddy in Mickey's House

Rhett finally got the hang of what to do on the rides! Scream!

Addison on the Dumbo ride

Mary Poppins and Addison

Getting ready to drive like a maniac with Daddy

Apparently you have to be a King to pull the sword from the stone - nice try though Addie!
Bye-Bye Disneyworld - We hope to return real soon!

Memories, Moments and Miscellaneous!

* We stood in line for see the Disney princesses for 20 min. and we waited to see the Fairies for 90 min. with Addison about ready to pee her pants. I'm seriously surprised that we made it without an accident.

* No one should go to Disneyland without having an adventure on Tom Sawyer's Island. It's so much fun - great caves, mines, bridges, streams, and forts to explore.

* I enjoyed pushing a double stroller through all of the Disney shops - Just kidding!

* Jeremy had to end the vacation with a bang and he decided to lose the keys to our rental car this time. They must have just fallen out of his pocket sometime during the day. And so, we piled the kids in my parents rental but they couldn't leave because we had Rhett's carseat in our car and Jeremy and I made our way back to Magic Kingdom by way of trolley car and the monorail, found the Courthouse where the Lost and Found must be and the lady at the desk looked in the back and came out with - low and behold - our car keys. Amazing!! I'm encouraged to report that Disneyworld does not disappoint in the Lost and Found department - incredible!

* All in all this vacation was fantastic - a little too short but so much fun!

Day 7 - Epcot

Day 7 - EPCOT!!!



This day was different than the rest. It wasn't really an amusement park but rather a park that you walk around and experience music, food, shopping and culture of different countries. Epcot has always been very interesting to me and even though we were there for an entire day we did not come close to seeing everything there was to see. Maybe next time!

Trolls in Norway!

Addison with her new pink parasol that Mimi bought her in France!

Posing with Jasmine and Aladdin!

Hot guy in Moracco!

Together in France!

Gotta love those little red phone booths!

Family pic inside the mouth of Bruce from "Finding Nemo"

Addison and Stitch

Addison and Daisy Duck

Getting ready to watch "The American Experience" and apparently Addison is pretty excited about it.

Memories, Moments and Miscellaneous!

* The Aquarium was probably one of the highlights of this day. We were able to see dolphins, sharks, ride on the Nemo Ride, talk with Crush the turtle from Nemo and enjoy various fishtanks.

* We were able to sample Coke from around the world at the Coca-Cola store which was fun for my Dad. Our favorite was the Coke from China - it had a watermelon flavor to it.

*In one day we visited Canada, France, Moracco, Japan, China, Great Britain, Germany, Norway and Mexico - we were exhausted! Ha!

* We experienced another amazing thunderstorm during the light show at Epcot. God definately outdid them in the fireworks department. It was kind of fun!