Wrapping Up Summer

We hit the ground running as soon as we got home from our NE/OK visits. I had to start teacher in-service, which meant the kids stayed home and played on their own with Brad keeping an ear out for them as he worked. This was a rough couple of weeks as I felt like I had a full-time job keeping me from doing the job I feel is most important...however I kept reminding myself it was temporary insanity and would get better. This definitely motivated me to work extra-hard at squeezing in just a few more memory-making summer moments amidst the start-of-school chaos.

We fit in a trip to Main Event for some laser tag, putt putt and bowling with friends.

We enjoyed having the spray-park almost all to ourselves a couple of Monday afternoons.

It always helps the back-to-school blahs when you can still head to the pool after school work is done for the day. :)

Brad enjoyed playing in a golf scramble with his cousin.

Kicking Off The School Year - 2nd and 4th

Meet The Teacher
Lorelei has two teachers for fourth grade. Ms. Carver is her homeroom teacher officially, but Mrs. Edwards will teach history all year (she had her last year as well) and is currently helping Ms. Carver as she gets used to the demanding workload she has going right now. This is Ms. Carver's first year of teaching, and adding University Model to the equation and the fact she is also teaching other classes MWF is a lot for one person. She seems very sweet and we have great hopes for a fun year of learning. She has already done some great hands-on science activities I have loved seeing pictures of. Lorelei is actually at least as tall as she is, this picture I'm pretty sure was in heels. :)

Ms. Carver

Mrs. Edwards

If you think this second-grade teacher looks familiar, you would be correct. We are excited to have Mrs. Harris AGAIN. She taught Makin in Kindergarten and then moved up to second, which is her favorite grade level to teach. She has her hands full with our biggest class size yet of seventeen students. Thankfully she has an aid this year to help out. We are excited for a great year!

First Day
This year's first day was a bit off. After our first home day, right around bedtime I noticed Lorelei's legs appeared to be covered in hives. We headed to the children's urgent care and she was diagnosed with strep. This girl didn't feel a bit sick even once, but this meant she was contagious and had to miss her first day. For a girl who likes to know the rules and routine, this wasn't ideal, but I'm super thankful our bookworm contentedly read and I was able to mostly have a normal day. We took her official first-day pics the following week and went out for ice cream then as well.

He was THRILLED to finally have a rolling backpack.

Just a bit of a load to take in the morning...

New Challenge
This year we have taken on a new challenge. I am now teaching yearbook at GCA one hour a week. This seemed doable when Brad and I were discussing it last year trying to decide if it was the right fit for our family. The weeks getting started involved more hours than we bargained for, but we are hoping we will hit our stride and it will be running smoothly soon. I loved my four years of yearbook in high school and thought I might start teaching it when Lorelei was a freshman, but as I was pitching in to help with the yearbook last year I realized just how much I know, because of the amazing staff I was on, that I take for granted. SO hopefully the year will go smoothly and the yearbook will be GCA's best yet. :)

Logistically, this means Monday mornings we leave the house by about 6:45 - I get dropped off at GCA while Brad takes the kids and homeschools them at the nearby coffee shop. They pick me up as soon as my class is done and then we head to the library for our usual work day. (That used to be Wednesdays, but we made the switch they needed my class to be Mondays.) Right now I have a class of nine enthusiastic students, ranging freshman through senior, and I can't wait to see how they bring that energy into the book. :)

Coffee Shop Cuties

Watermelon Day

This year it was a barely-fit-in Watermelon Day, PLUS I'm working on my photography skills and forgot to check the settings before it was too late, so that's why the pics are a bit off, so we may try to tweek the lighting a bit more later. But, here it is. :) Just realized this is our 8th annual Watermelon Day!

Oklahoma Summer Visit

We stopped off for a short summer visit at my parents on the drive home.

A bit of our fun included home-made ice cream, dirt (always a request) and a trip to the city pool. Being a small-town pool they had no restrictions of using floaties down the slide so we decided it looked like too much fun not to make that happen. Although Lemon Lime has caused plenty of arguments since this purchase, he has also given us lots of laughs. :)

Lorelei looked forward to helping bottle feed a calf.

They always love the swing set.

Thanks for a great visit Nana and Papa!