First Full Week of School for Kiddos

We are tired but surviving! The new school (for Andrew and me) is amazing in so many ways.  2nd grade is hard and he is adjusting, but we will get there!

Every afternoon we get a chance, Andrew and I race each other in our school's courtyard maze. I mostly lose.

Ethan has been amazing, too! We celebrated the first few days back with a zoo trip last weekend.

Grandma Cathy is proud of her reflection/snapping turtle shot.

The climbing wall is getting a little too easy for Andrew!  We will head to the ropes course next, and then the zip-line!

Mellow Mushroom pilgrimage after the zoo, of course.

First Day of 2nd Grade and Last First Day of Preschool

Students Start Tomorrow!

The classroom is set up, bulletin boards are done (in progress, at least), and I am ready to greet the kiddos at the new school for my 16th year as a general music teacher!  Administration, my classroom space, my equipment, the faculty, the staff, and just the general atmosphere of the school is really positive and fun, and I couldn't be happier.  I am glad I was brave enough to apply for the gig and I can't wait to meet my new musicians tomorrow, including 2nd grade ANDREW.

Summer Send-Off

Tuesday, I officially went back to school for my 16th (gulp!) year.  So, the boys and I made sure to spend some fun time at the pool Monday afternoon.  It was awesome; we had the pool to ourselves the entire 2+ hours and got to take in the "super moon" that evening.... Great way to spend my last day of summer 2014.

7.25.14 Firepit and Shenanigans at the Homestead

The summer tends to get away from you after a while and you start scrambling to fit in all the fun you had promised back on June 7.  We haven't had many fire pits this summer, so we had one last Friday and maxxed it out with some s'mores.

Then, things got a little rowdy.

But it was a beautiful sunset kind of evening!

More mayhem.

And then it turned to bucket head.

Took these that morning.

At this time, we had a vet diagnosis suggesting Maddie might have cancer.  So we were wigged out and I took a lot of photos of her.

But three days later, I took her to the specialist and confirmed that her lumps and bumps are just fat!

Looking forward to more fun family time the last week of my break!

Cheat Lake, WV

We spent a lot of our Morgantown time with friends in Cheat Lake.

Jon enjoyed golfing with Kevin at Lakeview.

Dinner at Archie's Lakehouse

Babes

Lisa

Arlene

Heidi

Laura

Paul

We went there to hear Mark Palmer.  I have so many happy memories of going to his gigs over the years.  At one point, he mentioned that he knew of some music teachers in the audience, so he bravely, patiently got us on stage to sing back ups to "Closer to Fine."  We thought we were really good at the time.  Maybe we were.  Probably not.
Glad no one got video footage.

After-party at Tropics

SO. MUCH. FUN.
We miss our WV family and friends but know we will see them again soon.