Summer again...

I am sooo glad to have summer here again. Maybe more happy than ever before. The life of a teacher is not an easy one, even though we hear lots of comments about how lucky we are to be off work at 3:30 every day and get the summers off. I would challenge anyone who thinks that teaching is not one of the most challenging and stressful jobs around to give it a try as a substitue for a day or two. It is AMAZING the difference in my stress level since my last day at work last Friday. I sat out on the front porch for a few minutes this afternoon and listened to an approaching storm and I could FEEL the difference in my neck and back... so relaxed. If I had to teach year round, I would honestly not be able to do this job. The summers refresh me and give me a much needed break from the constant business of the job.

Sam and Lily both had GREAT school years. Lily (who started out crying for the first 2-3 weeks) because she didn't want to go to school, cried the last day because she didn't want to leave her teacher. Her teacher was just awesome. And just like Sam did in Kindergarten, she learned SOOOO much!!! Sam had an awesome teacher, as well. I am so glad because, to put it bluntly, last year for him just sucked. This year his teacher took the time to show Sam that she cared about him and boy, did he respond to that. He made straight A's all year and he was so proud of himself.

Speaking of Sam, I have been so proud of him lately. He is such a great kid. He is full of energy and he and his sister fight incessantly BUT... he is so well rounded and easy going. He LOVES to fish and I am amazed at the patience he has when it comes to fishing. He will literally sit and fish ALL DAY LONG. He has also learned to use Brad's lawn mower and today he actually mowed the entire yard all by himself. Brad has gone to Raleigh for the night and he is going to be so proud when he sees what a great job Sam did. I just watched out the window and grinned. Sounds stupid I guess, but I really did get a kick out of watching him maneuver that lawn mower around the trees and fences. Hey, I can't do it! Since Brad got his big fancy lawn mower, I couldn't begin to tell you how to cut the grass.

Lily has been busy losing teeth. She is SO cute with her front tooth missing. I can't get enough of it. I remember how much it melted my heart when Sam had that snaggle-toothed look. I was sad to see his teeth come in! There's just nothing cuter.

I have a busy summer planned. We bought a new camper (named her Velma) and we are planning to spend a lot of weekends camping from now on. We went to Jellystone campground in Marion a couple of weeks ago and we all had a blast. I have a beach week planned, and another weekend in Marion for Lily's birthday so far. I have been researching campgrounds and I'd love to hear any advice from any fellow campers.

I am also taking a couple of online workshops. One to learn more about a program called Geometer's Sketchpad, which I used some in Grad School. It is really cool (in a nerdy, math teacher kind of way!) and I am excited about learning more. I am also signed up for an online "summer camp" at PBWiki to learn how to use wikis in the classroom. I am making the move back to the high school next year and I am hoping to learn some things to make next year fabulous. I also have to attend a week long curriculum workshop which will be a great way to get started on planning for next year. Not to mention I have to move my stuff up to the high school at some point!

I am also so behind on my scrapbooks that it scares me. I don't think I have ever been so far behind. More than a year. There's just so much other stuff that I need and want to do and scrapbooking just seems to always get pushed aside. I did go buy myself some new pens the other day because Lily had gotten into mine and left the lids off. It kind of got me in the mood for scrapping. And then the other night, I did a little scrapbooking thing with the Daisy girl scouts at their sleepover and it also made me want to get back into it. There's just nothing else I have ever done that I am more proud of. If my house caught on fire and my family was safe, the next thing I would want to save would be my books. They are irreplaceable.

Well, hopefully I will be back soon to write. I have lots of doctor's and dentist's and haircut appointments that I scheduled for when school was over so once I get those behind me I should be able to get down to the business of relaxing and enjoying my kids for the summer! TTYL.

Conversations about Velma...

I know I haven't written in a long time but I decided that I am going to quit trying to write big comprehensive posts so that hopefully I will be more likely to post more often. Having said that, here's the conversation I just overheard my children having.

To set this up, let me say that they are watching Animal Planet together and Sam is eating a pack of Scooby Doo fruities.

Sam: Look at this Velma fruity, Lily. Isn't she ugly?

Lily: Yeah, she really is ugly. I don't like her, cause she's all like "I'm the smartest person in the family" and stuff.

Sam: Yeah, but she really is smart and she's not scared of stuff either. That's cool.

Lily: Yeah, I guess that is cool.