These Four No More

Sunday, June 9, 2013

Phone Dump

1:22 PM 2 comments

I promise, the days are soon coming where I'll have more time to post something other than a phone dump. Just one more day of school, and then freedom.

And my freedom, I mean staying at home and trying to keep my house clean with all the kids running around being counter-productive.

But at least I won't feel the need to be in bed 10 minutes after they are, because I don't have to wake up super early. So there's that.

Until then, here's a few pictures from the past few days :)

All I have to say is thank goodness for free cookies.

3 kids - 3 belly sleepers, and none actually on their pillows.

Little man fell in love with my living room throw blanket. So it's his now.

Home made taco salads - with fresh grown veggies from our garden outside.

It took him forever to eat, mainly because he enjoyed hulk smashing it with his fork.

Natalie: "Take my picture with my beautiful hat"

Dinner of champions - or a really tired, not wanting to cook or wash dishes mom. Don't worry, the kids ate Rasin Bran. Ewwww!

Went to wake the girls up, couldn't find them. They snuck out to the couch.

5 kids, playing with toys

I try to cook dinner, the girls dress their brother up in costumes. And hello, mountain of laundry in the background.

This was all Eddie's idea. He looks like a little Padawan!

The girls were playing hide & seek. Audrey pushed me out of the way (I was folding clothes) to climb on top of the dryer, opened the washer door, and lowered herself down in. She'd have been the champion, except for her giggling.

No children were harmed in this photo. Even if she begged me to turn the washer on so she could take a bath.

Almost There...

10:01 AM 2 comments

I'm sure by now you've read Jen Hatmaker's post gone viral, "Worst End of School Year Mom Ever" - unless you've been hiding under a rock.

And I would like to just say, it's a good thing my girls' school ended in mid-May, or else I would have been that mom, too. Because as a teacher, I'm still here, sitting in my classroom, counting down the hours for today to be over. But wait, there's more! I have to come back on Monday. Yes, that's June 10th. And we're not one of those schools that waits until Labor Day weekend to start. Oh no, we go back in mid-August. I suppose I'm just thankful that the weather is somewhat rainy and overcast, because as soon as students leave (yesterday was their last day), I'm fairly sure the district likes to turn off the a/c around lunch time to save money. No bueno in South Carolina during the summer!

So I'm sitting here with nothing to do. Honestly, absolutely no school work left (well, until we receive the report cards to stuff in envelopes and mail out). I started packing up my room in early May, because we can have no instructional materials or student work hanging before standardized testing. You can bet your bottom dollar I also used my free child labor (both students & my twins that came up here for a bit on my half days) before they left for summer break, so my desks have been wiped off, my bookshelves neatly arranged, and my large wardrobe completely gutted and nicely organized. Since I've been teaching the same subject for 9 years, and I'm the most OCD person I know about backing up files and organizing, I've already done lesson plans through the end of September next year. I've used my roll-over copies and printed off my syllabus, welcome letter, and orientation information. I've even updated my school website to welcome next year's students. So, I'm done.

Did I mention I still have two days left? There's only so much Candy Crush Saga I can play on my phone before I spend my nights dreaming of matching wrapped and striped candies, so I've been working on curriculum for the girls this summer. I've made a few lapbooks and printables to keep them busy, and me sane. I've also tried to find everything within driving distance offering free, kid-oriented fun this summer (preferably indoors!) and added events to my Google calendar. The girls will go to VBS at the church they used to attend K3, and I won't lie that I'm half tempted to VBS hop around our neighborhood churches all summer. Because snacks, crafts, songs, & playing with other kids is exactly what the girls love to do - and momma likes the free part. We'll also do our library programs on Tuesdays & Fridays, and some of our state parks offer ranger led "hikes" on Wednesdays. I'm trying to find a good swimming class to enroll the girls in, too.

So two more days. I can make it...maybe. What are your plans for this summer? How will you keep your kids busy? And, most importantly, how will you keep your sanity??

Happy 2nd Anniversary

10:53 AM No comments

It's been two years since Eddie & I eloped and went to Chateau Elan for our honeymoon. Back then, we had debated staying in Greenville and doing a honeystay, instead of a honeymoon - so we toyed with the idea this year of booking a hotel room downtown and enjoying our museums and fabulous restaurants. But, alas, it's wedding season and our downtown hotels were pretty packed, (and I spend my Friday outside in the hot sun for 8th Grade Day) so we packed up Saturday and headed to North Carolina instead.

Saturday we spent kayaking down the Tuckasegee River. The weather was gorgeous, in the high 70s, with a slight breeze. The water was a bit cold, but we didn't get all that wet (except Eddie, who was crazy enough to jump off large boulders in to the river). In fact, we enjoyed ourselves so much that we wanted to kayak the Nantahala on Sunday.

After getting off the river, we headed in to Bryson City and stopped at the first Inn we saw to book a room. Not wanting a traditional hotel/motel, but also not wanting a super tiny Bead & Breakfast, the Fryemont Inn was the perfect choice. First of all, we were the youngest people there, besides the 12 year old on a trip with her grandparents. It was quiet, and large, and we had the entire second floor to ourselves. Not to mention they keep all of the unoccupied rooms open to get a nice draft going (no a/c up in there), so we got to explore a little and choose our own room. The Inn was so steeped in history, from the story of it's builder in the timber empire, to a binder full of letters written in the early 1930s asking what room rates were ($27/week!). Breakfast & dinner were included in the rental price, so we definitely spent so much less than we would have staying in Greenville for the night and eating out.

Unfortunately, we woke up Sunday to some pretty nasty thunderstorms. So we made our way back to Greenville, stopped in at a hobby shop, picked up little man from the in-laws, and got the girls back from their dad's house. We're in the process of planning a family trip to the mountains next month, to either stop at Tweetsie Railroad, or head to the Great Wolf Lodge.

Wordless Wednesday

10:09 AM 4 comments

Memorial Day Weekend

9:39 PM 2 comments

Sorry I've been MIA, but like I've mentioned before, it's the end of the school year and there's just so much to do. It also doesn't help that I happened to misplace my teaching portfolio and realized it the day before it was due to my evaluator. Talk about putting in a long day at work!

We had a great weekend here. I took all 4 kids to the park (by myself!) on Saturday. We went and ate at Chick-Fil-A, where Corbin met a little girlfriend. Sunday, we ventured to Aloft, an annual balloon festival in Greenville. However, the balloons didn't start launching until 7, and since we arrived at 1, we didn't last that long. But now we know what to do next year (pay $5 to park, go in to the free playground, ride the $2 train, and see the balloons - instead of $12/adult admission to fairgrounds to pay out the wazoo for food/rides/junk).

Today I swear I did 10 loads of laundry, and cleaned each room roughly 6 times. I'm almost ready for the work week to start to give me a "break", lol.