Summer at last!

I am so glad summer is here. I am so ready to spend some quality time with my kiddos and get some stuff done around the house. I will be off June and July from school but I am working a few days here and there in a private office.

I have a new found respect for teachers of all ages. I teach on the college level, which I am sure is much different than elementary or high-school but I would have to argue that it is just as challenging. There were a few times that I was doubting my decision to go down this career path and I was seriously considering going back to private practice. But I stuck with it, Jerome and I survived, and my kids made it through the school year. It is very rewarding to know that if you do your job right and to the best of your ability that you are shaping people's futures for the better. But almost as much as it is rewarding; it is hard. Several of my students are older than me and that has its own set of challenges on top of everything else. There are just so many different obstacles to overcome, I almost can't put it into words. Oh, and I should say, that I am not teaching English so if my punctuation and spelling is wrong...sorry.

But now I have 2 months to rest and relax and be a mom and a wife. I just hope I take full advantage of this time and don't let the temper tantrums of a 2-year-old get to me so much that I wish I was back at work :)On top of my 2-year-old, who limits our outings because she has her own ideas of what we should do when we get to our destination, I have a 9-year-old to keep entertained this summer. I'm sure we will go to the pool some and he will go to friends and grandparents to hang out. But I hope I am able to connect with him and grow our relationship too. So I am trying to think and schedule some things that will be fun for him but bring us closer too. I'm planning on potty training Ava. I will have to let you know how that goes. Other than that I just want to get her on a better schedule and eating healthier, good luck right.

We have a few trips planned. The boys are going to Lake Texhoma on father's day to go fishing and then 3 days after they get back we are going to Texas to see Mimi & PawPaw for a few days. I'm not sure exactly what we will do but it will be nice to just get away. Ava is not a good traveler so we are praying she will do okay. This will be a good test run for our big trip in July. In July we are going to South Carolina. My dad lives there so we are staying near him this time but we will still spend most of our time at the beach. We will be gone for a whole week for this trip...oh I can't wait. We will return just in time for my nephew to be born. Little Gage...I hope I am as much help to my sister as she is to me.

Of course I will be working on course work off and on this summer. I hope this will ease alot of my stress during this next semester. But I won't be doing too much here at home, probably just during nap time or if the kids go to their grandparent's house.

Jerome is working all summer. He will get the few days off when we go to Texas and South Carolina but other than that he will be at the gym. I'm sure he would love to be home with us but we are thankful he has a job :)

Well...I hope you all have an awesome summer. I will try to do better about keeping you posted on us...

The Longacre Pool is Open for Business

We set up our poor excuse for a pool for the summer. It took all of 10 minutes. Brennan was so excited about setting it up until we got it out and all of a sudden it seemed so much smaller than it did last year. Brennan has only grown probably a foot since last summer. And to top it all off we couldn't even fill it up to the top because Ava was already going under the water in the small amount that is in there now. The fun lasted for about 15 minutes and then they were both cold and got out. Oh well...maybe someday we will move up in the world, until then we will just have to make due :)






It didn't take long for the meltdown to start because she was cold.

Easter 2009

I think Brennan had more fun throwing the "real" eggs at his dad to see if he could get one to break and go all over him.



Ava is such a sweet girl, sharing with her bubba.


Brennan was such a trooper. He helped Ava find her eggs, he is getting too old to think hunting eggs is fun.