Seven days is all it took for me to get sick. Maybe it’s from the lack of sleep, stress over our floor situation, and hard work. It could possibly be all of my germ infested friends. Oh, I can’t wait to tell you all about them. They are too cute for words. I guess they are worth the sickness. Who am I kidding….they are totally worth it!

It was great. Nothing really eventful. My kiddos are cute. I got an “I love you” at the beginning of class and lots of hugs when they went home. I’m sure that I will have a better idea of their personalities in a few weeks, but for now I am really happy.

I can hardly believe that starts tomorrow. It has been a really busy summer, but I don’t think that I would have done anything different. I worked for Bossman for a few months, spent awesome time with my cousin G, got Ryan’s eyes fixed, had my wisdom teeth taken out,  strengthened relationships with family and friends, fell in love with and read all the books in the Twilight series, was there the day my cousin Gracie was born, was able to throw her a shower that rocked, painted the office, saw Harry Potter at midnight on July 15th (Ryan’s b-day), got Charlie fixed (no more peeing on things. Woohoo!), went to Austin for a kindergarten teachers conference, worked on my classroom, and spent some time getting to know my new co-workers. Whew! No wonder I’m so tired.

I really like my co-workers. I can already tell that I am going to have some characters in my class. This one parent came up to me at meet the teacher night and told me that I was going to have a tough year this year with his son in my class. Then the dad walked over to my desk, picked up some papers, and started reading them. No wonder his child doesn’t behave. He also listed lock picking as one of his son’s skills (and I’m pretty sure that he wasn’t kidding). I also had several kids attacking the smart board while there parents just sat there and watched. I kept thinking to myself, “Go ahead. Enjoy running wild right now because it will be the first and LAST time you get to act this way in my room.” I’m laying down the law tomorrow and having a come to Jesus meeting.

Naughty kids aside, I think it is going to be a good year. It can’t be any worse than last year. I’m off to finish a couple of things and make playdough for tomorrow. It’s kind of funny that this will be my first first day of school. Hopefully I will not cry (just kidding, kind of). I’ll keep you posted. Be looking for updates on Project 365. I have kept taking pictures, but I haven’t been really good on posting.

Last Friday I had my wisdom teeth taken out chiseled out of my jaw bone and sinus cavities. I did ok after the surgery, and I even woke up Saturday morning with no pain. I thought “Great! I’ll be back in my routine in no time. I don’t know what everyone was so excited about.” Let me just state (and Ryan you better keep track of this because you don’t hear it often) that I was completely WRONG!

Let me back up and say that I went into surgery with high expectations that my recovery would be easy. I’ve had surgery before and I can endure quite a bit of pain. Everyone around me kept saying how painful it would be and that I would be recovering for at least a week. I chose to not believe them since some of my advisers tend to be on the dramatic side.

Everything was roses until I woke up at around 11pm on Saturday night. My face had started swelling with a fury. The skin on my checks was tight. I looked at myself in the mirror and began to sob. The swelling is supposed to peak on the third day after surgery. Here I am five days out and my swelling is just now starting to go down, maybe. I’m not counting on it because I don’t want to get my hopes up.

So, if you’re wisdom teeth are impacted and you have to have them taken out, just know that it is a BFD! Let me repeat it is a BFD!

Take off a week from work if you can because even if the pain isn’t there do you really want people to see you with your face swelled up like a balloon? I didn’t think so.  Stock up on soup because the pain involved with eating is just not worth it. Also plan on sleeping non stop for the first three days. My pain meds had me so doped up that I think I was only awake about 10 hours TOTAL the first three days. The lack of productivity really pissed me off, so I cut out the pain meds on Monday. I wish I had taken care of this when I was a teenager with no responsibilities to conflict with my recovery.

But hey, I’m not bitter, not one bit…… unless I feel so crappy that I can’t enjoy going to Six Flags this Friday or eating at Maggiano’s this Sunday. Then there will be hell to pay (shaking an angry fist towards the sky in indignation)!

One year ago today I started this website. I have to honest that I don’t post nearly as much as I had hoped to, but I plan and hope that will change this year. I have so many stories to share with you. I look back at the huge twists and turns that my life has taken in the past year, and I can hardly contain my excitement for the upcoming year.

Scrapbooking is something I love because I think it is so important to preserve the past. Unfortunately,  I end up spending most of my time on projects for other people. This blog will be something to serve in its place in case I never have time to put my memories down in my scrapbook. Thank you for those of you who follow along and encourage me.

None of this would be possible is it wasn’t for my hubby and his vast web knowledge. Happy Birthday Ryan! I hope you enjoy this little token of my gratitude! You’re my best friend!

Last week, I was blessed to have a day to do pretty much whatever I wanted to do.  I started it off by sleeping way too late! After putting a super easy dinner in the crock pot, I headed out to do some shopping.

First stop was JoAnn’s to pick up some scrapbook paper to make invitations to Gracie’s Sip and See.

I ended up returning the paper the next day for something else, but it was fun to start planning such an exciting party. Next I drove across the street to the closest teacher store. Jen, Mark, and Garrett were so sweet to get me a gift card to celebrate my new position in McKinney ISD.

I got a construction paper organizer. I know you are all filled with jealousy and envy (NOT!), but to me, organization products give me a thrill and make me happy. Half of what I enjoy about scrapbooking is organizing all my products! Next I went to Barnes and Noble to pick up my latest obsession…

the Twilight series. I know it’s silly, but her books are well written.  It reminds me of high school romance with some suspense, and I have a hard time putting the books down once I start them. I’m on the final book now, and I’m a little sad about my obsession being over.  Last year I read through all the Harry Potter books. I wonder what I should read next..and suggestions?

By this time I was pretty hungry, so I stopped for my favorite meal under ten bucks.

I think I could eat this a couple times a week and never get tired of it. After lunch I headed to Home Depot to pick up a sample paint color for the office. I never was quite happy with the color we put in there, and I made the mistake of getting a flat finish. I’ll feel really good when I get the color right. I have thing about paint, but that’s a story for another day. I had one more stop on my way home.

A day just isn’t right without a route 44 Sonic happy hour diet mango limeade. I caught up on some blogging while watching Roseanne episodes. Then I finished these cute burp clothes for Gracie Kate.

My crock pot dinner turned out awesome! Ryan and  I chilled and watched some of our new favorite show How I Met Your Mother. The last thing I did was go over the curriculum for church in September. They asked me to pick the activities for the kindergarten/1st graders. I feel so honored, and I hope Ryan will not complain this year about any of the activities we do with our class being lame!

It was a great day! How would you spend a day for yourself?

Grace Katherine was born on July 1st at 10:40am. She weighed 8lbs 2oz and was 20 inches long. Jen was able to send us emails all throughout the day with the status. I was so thankful for technology.

I love this picture of Garrett. He was so happy to have a little sister. I have never seen him smile this big.

The family all took turns holding sweet Gracie Kate. Here’s my Aunt Debbie, cousin Rachel, and cousin Ian.

Rachel gladly surrendered her throne to Gracie. Rachel was the last girl to enter our family almost 18 years ago. Papa got to hold his newest granddaughter, and he kept trying to talk Mark into naming her Mary after his mom.

This is my favorite picture from the day.

It may seem silly, but that bracelet caused me to break down and cry in the hospital room. Gracie was a gift to our family from God. Mark and Jennifer are unable to conceive children. They adopted Garrett over six years ago when he was three weeks old. I got so emotional that God had blessed us in such an awesome way.

Not only did a new baby join our family, but Mark and Jen got to have the experience of being in the hospital when the baby was born. They had their own room that she slept in with them on her first night in this world. Our family got to visit her in the hospital the day she was born. And Jennifer got to wear her badge of honor, a hospital bracelet that told everyone she was Gracie’s mommy. It was such a moving experience for me.

Mark and Jen got to take Gracie home the very next day!

Ryan was not able to go with me the first night, so we hurried to visit last Friday.

She is such a peaceful, beautiful baby. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for her, and I feel so blessed to be able to watch her grow up and be a part of her life.

Us cousins have to stick together!

Yesterday we had a picnic at the local splash park. Ryan and I picked Garrett up, and he made a list of what we should have at our picnic. His sandwich of choice was cucumber. He had never had one before, but that is what he wanted (he ended up eating Cajun roast beef like Ryan).

After everyone had eaten, we let them hit the water. It’s so hard to believe that last year the girls would not even get in the water.

I told her to strike a pose, and this is what she did.

Garrett enjoyed all of the splash area, but the buckets that dump on your head was his favorite. He even “tricked” Ryan into getting under a bucket.

Jonathan jumped in front of the camera, but check out G in the background.

And then there’s this:

I’m not sure what was going on here. The Heimlich, showing some man love, or saving a small child from Jonathan spraying water in their eyes???

Then there was this thing to climb on. We called it the Death Trap.

They were even a little scared by it. Who builds something that tall without serious padding underneath? I guess the thrill is why they liked it so much.

We had made Garrett sit still long enough to put a fresh coat of sunscreen on when he said this, “This is fun. Can we come back here on our next play outing?” How sweet is that.

He ran around in the water for at least two hours straight. That didn’t stop him from being silly in the car on the way home. He kept saying, “Look! I’m Ryan!” Silly boy.

Unfortunately the only photo I got of Caitlyn was when she was throwing a fit. She did calm down and have fun after this. We all had a good time.

Bossman is going to place an ad for our business in a trade magazine. He’s done this before, and we worked with a great gal at an creative agency. He work has always been really good with a modern edge. When tasked with a new ad for our company, this is what she sent to us today.

I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time. Leave  me a comment if you don’t get it because your mind doesn’t easily wander to the gutter, and I’ll explain it to you.

Hope this makes your Wednesday a little funnier!

Since I have Fridays off this summer, I thought it would be a great opportunity to spend some time with my cousin Garrett. He is about to be a big brother. Our first day out together was last Friday. We went to the zoo with the Websters. It was really neat to see what a sweet boy he is. At the middle of the day he looked up at me and said, “I’m having a lot of fun today.” He totally melted my heart.

I forgot that in the children’s section they have a stream that the kiddos can run through and cool off. It was fun to get a little wet and forget that it was rising towards 100 degrees outside.

Jonathan wasn’t feeling very good, so he rested wherever he could find a spot.

Garrett is growing up into such a little man. He was jumping down off the curb and fell. He quickly said, “I meant to do that!” Then at lunch I had him carry our tray to our table while I made the drinks. By the time I got there, he had eaten half of my hamburger. His reply was, “I was just checking to make sure it is good. It is. You can eat it now.”

No trip to the zoo would be complete without a ride on the monorail. Actually, we were too exhausted by that time to walk around the Africa part of the zoo, so we road around it instead.

Garrett has a real passion for taking pictures. He photographed the whole monorail ride. I have one question. Is this a boy thing or what? I have several pictures like this taken by Ryan.

We all had a great time. I can’t wait to see what other adventures this summer will hold. I also am so excited to get to know this awesome boy better.