Back to School!

Well despite the fact that we are having record high temperatures, summer vacation has come to an end. I returned to work last week. Evan earned a free ticket to Six Flags last year, so Ladd and he went together. Evan is starting to get a taste for the thrill rides, but is working his way up to the more serious roller coasters. Evan also played a few games, and brought home a 5 foot tall Scooby Doo on his first attempt at a ring toss. Evan also got to spend some time with a friend, and made one last trip to Hawaiian Falls for the summer.

Evan and I went shopping during the back to school tax-free sale. We spent the day together and he got some new things for school. The funny thing was, he was most interested in 2 things....a pair of new shoes and a new hat. It is really intriguing to watch him develop his own little sense of style.

Monday, was the first day of school. It marked the start of my 12th year of teaching, and Evan's 2nd grade year. It seems like just yesterday, he was starting Kindergarten, and was small and unsure. Sometimes, he is still unsure, but he acts like he is confident. He is growing so tall, and is growing into such a cute little man (not that I'm biased or anything). I really hope that this is a happy and successful year for him.

Claire has returned to her Preschool, The Octopus Garden. This will be her 3rd year there, and I am so glad that she is happy there. She is also getting so big. When she wakes up in the morning, she gets up and gets dressed right away. She is big on picking her outfits out the night before. She is definitely a girly-girl. She loves wearing dresses and cute outfits most of the time. In fact, I have a hard time getting to wear an outfit with shorts. w

Ladd has been so busy this weekend. He wired the whole back porch for light, and installed a flood light to light the back yard. This will be so nice once the time change happens, and the weather cools. I have to say I am so impressed with the job that he did.

Flag football is starting this week. Evan is very excited, so we will be spending a lot of time in the next few weeks doing that. I am looking forward to things to get into full swing for the year. More to come as they do!

New Jersey Trip

The kids and I recently returned from a trip to see my parents in New Jersey. Here is a summary of our trip.

Friday--We loaded up my sister Jennifer's car. She had arrived in the wee hours of the morning after taking finals at LSU the day before. We drove for about 14 hours and stopped in Tennessee only to realize we had lost an hour so it was even later than we thought. However, we made sure to wake up early so we could get our free breakfast.

Saturday--Drove for another 10 hours, and about half of it was in the rain. The kids started getting really restless because we couldn't let them out to run--not the most fun day. We finally arrived about 9:30 that night.

Sunday--Church and resting up. The kids played with their cousin. That afternoon Grandpa took them to the park, while Jennifer, my Mom, and I went to TJ Maxx.

Monday--My brother, Stephen, drove in and spent some time with us. He lives about 2 1/2 hours north of my parents. Grandpa took Isaac (my 9-year-old cousin that lives with my parents) and Evan to see Karate Kid. That afternoon Evan participated in Isaac's MMA class with him.

Tuesday--Grandpa, Evan, Claire, Jennifer, and I drove to New York. We had lots of fun. We saw the Statue of Liberty from the shore, saw Battery Park, rode the subway, and went to FAO Schwarz (where we played on the Big piano and Grandpa got the kids a toy). Then we went to visit my sister Emily's new apartment. She lives on Wall Street, so we walked past the New York Stock Exchange, and Trump Tower to get there. Her apartment is beautiful, but she has to pay quite a bit for that little bit of real estate and 2 roommates. We had some delicious New York pizza for dinner, and then took the subway to Time Square. In Time Square we walked and saw the sights, but the highlights for the kids were M&M World (where we got M&M's), taking a picture with SpongeBob, and getting their I heart NY t-shirts. Finally, we took the subway back to the car, and drove home. The kids passed out as soon as they hit their seats. It was a great day!

Wednesday--We needed to recover a bit from the big day before, so we took it easy in the morning. Then Jennifer decided to take the boys to the batting cages. Unfortunately, they were inexplicably closed. Instead they settled for McDonald's ice cream and playground. They boys went to the MMA class again, and then Jennifer took them to play Putt Putt golf.

Thursday--Grandpa, Jennifer, Isaac, the kids and I went to an indoor water park called Sahara Sam's. With the exception of a lunch break, the kids played in the water and went on slides non-stop for a 5 hours. The boys then went a MMA class. That evening, I held down the fort by staying with my Grandmother and all the kids, and my parents went to dinner to celebrate their 38th wedding anniversary. Claire was beyond exhausted and quite a mess this evening.

Friday--Grandpa, the kids, and I went to see the Statue of Liberty. You can actually go their from the New Jersey side of the shore, and since many people do not know about this, or have a way to get there, the lines are considerably shorter. We were able to get on the first Ferry after we got there. I would have liked to spend a little more time at Ellis Island, but the kids did not find it as interesting as I did. Evan was being kind of miserable because he was "Starving." We got back on to the ferry and headed over to the Statue of Liberty. We ate lunch, and Evan had a "New York" hot dog, which improved his mood considerably. Then we saw "The Lady" She was pretty amazing, and I was surprised that she made me feel a little emotional. Evan had lots of questions, so we stopped at the gift shop and bought a book that told her story (we also got Statue of Liberty suckers). We said Goodbye and headed back on the Ferry.
We got home, and had time for the Grandma, Jennifer, Claire, and I to go shopping. Jeffrey and Stephen, drove down after work, and got there around 9:30, so the kids stayed up late to play with their uncles.

Saturday--We got up, packed up, and headed to the airport for our ride home. The flight was uneventful, and the kids did pretty well (as long as you don't talk to the guy that was sitting in front of Claire and kept getting his seat pushed on). Ladd picked us up and I came home to a wonderful surprise. Seriously, one of the most awesome things that my husband has ever done for me...he redid our bedroom while I was gone--painted, put down wood floors, and put up a new ceiling fan. It is beautiful.

Well, we are now down to the last week of summer vacation. I hope to get lots done. Will let you know soon!

1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you this award.

2. Share 7 things about yourself.

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1. - Thanks Lindsey!

2. 1)Evan and Claire are our beautiful children that keep us hopping. 2)Ladd and I have been married for almost 10 years. 3)We have an American Bulldog named Nox. 4) We would like to take a trip to Disney World, and I would love to stay on the resort, and we would like to go to Hawaii. 5)Ladd and I had only dated for 8 months when we got married. 6)We are a technology oriented family....we all love gadgets! 7)Once a week we have Family Dinner Night when we all go to dinner together. The kids (and Ladd and I) really look forward to this every week.

3. I would like to pass this award on to

Happiness is Homemade