A Trip Down Memory Lane!

I was able to take a trip down memory lane today.

I had the opportunity to sub for someone that works at Camp Tawanchi, where I worked for 10 years. It was fun, but I sure don't know how I lasted there as long as I did. So much of Camp T. has changed, and yet so much of it is exactely the same!

The activities and schedule of the day were almost to a tee of what they were in yesteryear...but the kids...oh my, have the kids changed. Some of my favorite campers (I know, I know, I wasn't supposed to have favorites) are now the Jr. Counselors, which means they are just a step under what I was when I was there. They are all grown up and way to cool to acknowledge that I was their favorite counselor! :)

I was in charge of crafts today, which was an easy task. We made (really just colored) really super cool Dr. Seuss hats. We got to have the world's best popcorn for snack (I don't know how the director does it, but it's definatly worth writing home about!) and I even got to go to the pool with them. (On a sad note, the pool rats that used to be a pain in the neck when I worked at Camp are now the lifeguards! :(

Camp Tawanchi, run by Camp Fire USA River Bend Council is an amazing place to send kids for the summer. The staff does an excellent job with those kids...and some of them are tricky! It was fun getting to take that trip down memory lane...but, boy-oh-boy, am I glad I don't have to go back tomorrow!

A New Guest...

So...a couple of weeks ago, I was blogging about the surprise guest in our fern outside our front door. Most of you remember...the plant that talked back. Well, I'm glad to announce the bird has left the building! Mama and baby are happily somewhere else in the world!





It was a little bittersweet...I had kinda gotten used to her being in there and looking at the cute baby.





Well...here we go again! Dave and I got home last night and I noticed something wiggling around near our bush right under our kitchen window...wouldn't you guess....A DUCK HAS SET UP CAMP! Yep, that's right. We are now host to a mama duck who is happily sitting on her nest. I haven't been able to bribe her out of there yet to check how many ducklings we are going to have...I will let you know!

If you look carefully under the greenery..you can see her sitting there!

Are You Kidding Me?

Evidently...when kids get bored on the weekends...they figure out what they can do to create the most damage in a short time. Here's what 9 of our windows at school look like...The best guess is the
vandals got onto the roof and repeatedly threw rocks at the windows, causing this kind of damage to them inside our courtyard area!


Good News: They weren't able to break the inner window of the double paned glass. So there was no broken glass inside the building.

Bad News: They weren't able to break the inside window so that the alarm would go off and they would have had a higher chance of being caught!

Maybe We Should Have Rented...

I Love Summertime Toes!

I LOVE summertime toes...when they are all cute and painted. I try to make my toes looking cute a priority...if I have the money! :) That way I can sport my fun little flip flops, which I love!

I went and got a pedicure this morning. I usually go to the mall, but today, I stepped out of my box...I tried something new! I had a gift certificate that needed using otherwise it was going to expire.

Well, I waltzed right in and got to go to the comfy chair with the massaging buttons and the swirly bubbles. My tootsies felt right at home in that warm, bubbly water.

Some cute little Non-American came over to get to work. Right away, I could tell we were going to have a communication barrier. I couldn't understand a thing she was saying...so I just kept smiling. I would say something and she would do the same...nod and smile, nod and smile. She was getting ready to do the painting and asked me something. I gave it my all, I concentrated as hard as I could...I just didn't get it. So what else was there to do, but...smile and nod. Maybe not the best idea...I had picked out a sassy lil' pink color...here's what my toes ended up looking like...

I don't even know how this happened. I was WAY to embarressed to say anything when she started her artwork...she was feeling really good about herself...with a big ol' happy smile.

So there you have it...instead of pretty in pink, sassy toes...I have pretty in patriotic toes! Oh well!

At least I'm in season!

I Found The End Of The Rainbow...

And sadly...it's at my neighbor's house!

This amazing rainbow showed up about 9:30-9:45 last night after the storm came blowing through. If you look closely at the picture to the right, you can see the start of the double rainbow...it never fully developed though. It was a pretty cool gift after the scary storm!

We're Taking Advantage Of This Wonderful Weather...

Here's where we've been the past couple of days, taking advantage of this awesome weather. It's not warm enough to swim, but it's not nearly cold enough to keep us indoors!

We visited the zoo yesterday and went to play at the park for a bit today!

The Joys of Home Ownership...

Just a few of the joys of being homeowners...

Happy Father's Day

I have a lot of important Dads in my life. The first and foremost these days is my hubby, Dave. He's an amazing father. He has awesome insight and his love for his two children is unspeakable in amount. I've learned a lot about parenting just by sitting back and watching him interact with Caleb and Hannah. I hope they both realize what an amazing father they have.

The next important dad in my life is my own dad. He's just awesome. I can't even begin to go into the important life lessons he's helped me learn, and the things he's taught me. He's simply amazing. When I was little, I knew that no matter how mad I made him, (and I did my fair share) I knew that he loved me unconditionally and would forever. I can't tell you how many times he's helped me...everything from putting things together for me, teaching me to ride a bike, being a transport for my chinchilla, helped me move and just hugged me to know that he loves me. He's always there and I know that he always will be.

The third important dad to me is my grandpa. There are not nearly enough words to express what my grandpa means to me. He's the rock of our family. He's been through so much...so much more than any man should have to go through. He's lost both of his children, one of which was his best friend. Through all of his heartaches...he still manages to smile and laugh and most importantly love. We all know that where there is no one else to turn to, you turn to Grandpa...he'll be there. I've built so many AMAZING memories with him over the years, spending time at their house, getting to go on trips, having him help around here...everything! I hope that when I'm 81, I'm 1/2 as spunky and giving as he remains to be!

To all the "dads" in my life...I love you dearly! Happy Father's Day!

Give Me Courage

As most of you reading this blog know, I attend Granger Community Church in Granger, IN. I have really grown to love and appreciate all aspect of this church and the community of people it serves.
Last week, we started a new series called "One Prayer." The idea behind this series is that hundreds of thousands of people around the world are praying and serving God together during this time. There is concentration on praying one prayer and watching what happens around us.
This weekend, we had the priveledge of hearing from our very own Senior Pastor, Mark Beeson, and his message of his one prayer. If our paster had only one prayer, he would pray to Make Us Courageous.
Anyone that knows me well, knows that this has been a struggle for me lately! I have been weak on the courage aspect in my life. I've been dealing with some things that have been hard for me and I've really been struggling with the right thing to do and how to handle the stress that I have been feeling regarding some important things in my life.
Dr. Beeson's message certainly hit home for me as I was sitting in service last night. He spoke of a time when he was a young child in the midst of an intense game of "Kick The Can" and was faced with hard decisions as to what to do next in the game. I'm at the point...I need to fully focus on what is in front of me, find the courage to make good things happen and be happy!
Mark shared a story from Luke 19:1-10. To paraphrase, in the story, Zacchaeus was out on a limb. Jesus called out to him, to get him down from the tree to let him know that he needed to stay in his house. Zacchaeus came down immediately and welcomed Jesus into his house.
I'm at that same point that Zacchaeus was...I'm out on that limb. Most of you know that I'm also pretty stubborn, so it's not an easy task to be called down and listen to others. It's something that I need to work on and I'm making it a goal. I'm ready to get down from my limb and be courageous. But I also know that I need His help to be the best person I can be.
Mark told us last night that "What Jesus calls us to do requires great courage."
I'm ready to face the challenge...I'm ready to make the most out of what is in front of me, I'm ready to be the best person I can be..."Please God, make me COURAGEOUS!"

I Just Don't Know...

So...up at 6:25 this morning, out the door by about quarter till 7 getting things pulled out of the garage. Dave rolled out about 7, Keely and Jeff pulled up about 5 after. It didn't take very long to get everything out and ready. First costumer pulled in about 7:30ish...just looking! :( Other's soon followed!

I just don't know if all the work was with it. We had a lot of "lookers!" I wish we would have sold more, but so goes the day.

By far, the best part of the day was just chillin' outside with Dave, Keely and Jeff. Oh, and the people watching. You get to do some quality people watching when you are either at a garage sale, or hosting one!

The clean up was super easy with everyone's help! Thanks for the great day, Keely, Jeff and Dave!

My First Official Week Of Summer...

My first official week of summer...and this is how it was spent:

40 hours sitting at Discovery Middle School in a class called Benchmarks of Effective Teaching.
15+ hours of homework not including the paper I have to write...
10 page paper that I have exacetly 1 page done of...
6+ hours of preparing for a garage sale on Saturday...
Dinner with Grandma, Grandpa, Keely and Dave tonight...

Yep...that about covers it!

I guess it can only get better from here...

Here's Hoping It's Worth It...

This has been quite a busy week. Other than taking my class all week, I've also been busily preparing for a garage sale on Saturday. If there was one thing our Mom instilled in us, it was if you were going to bother having a garage sale, make it a good one. I currently have 8 tables set up in my garage, all covered with items, and tons more boxes that still need unloading. They are to be put on the remaining 4 tables...not to mention what we will have to lay out on the driveway!
I love garage sales, I just am not sure I've ever fully appreciated how much work they are to get ready! Wow! It probably doesn't help that the past two days that I've been working on it, it's been like 90 degrees in the garage. Thank goodness Keely came over last night to help out! It's a huge task!
Our whole neighborhood is having sales this weekend! I'm hoping for good weather on Saturday and lots of shoppers! I just hope all this hot work will be worth it in the end!

Come see us!

The Newest Discovery...

Here is the newest discovery in our backyard...a peony!

This Is How I'm Spending My Days...

This week, 2 of my team members and I are taking a one week, intense course for credit through Valpo University. The class is pretty interesting and I am learning lots of things about myself. The main point of the class is the fact that you have to take care of yourself before you can take care of your students and be an effective teacher. There are a lot of exercises that we have to work through that really get me thinking about who I am and how I handle some of the stresses that I deal with in my everyday teaching job. It's a fun class with a great instructor.

In addition to the work in the books we do, we also get to "play!" Today for instance, we got to play in the gym. We rotated through 3 stations...walking, badmiton and basketball. It was fun. This afternoon, we were engaged in a rather vicious game of Musical Chairs. Keep in mind, these are all adults....all teachers. There was a little more shoving and pushing than I had anticipated. I guess it's true what they say...the competitive side of you never waivers.

Here are some pictures of Kendra (who was quite serious about this game) playing for the title...she was the last one of our group standing...she made us proud. Unfortunatly, she got out after this round! :(

Look What Bloomed In My Backyard!

Dave and I purchased this house shortly before our wedding last October. Dave moved in prior to the wedding, and I joined him after. Because we weren't here last Spring and Summer, our backyard is a new adventure everyday! I often go back there for a scavenger hunt to see what I can find! The people that owned our house prior to we did, were amazing flower planters. We have all kinds of fun stuff out there...much of which we have no idea about!

These beautiful roses are the newest addition to blooms. I love it! There are lots more buds that are waiting to open...I only hope they continue to survive all our recent storms! It's fun going on flower hunts without even leaving your own property!

Home Sweet Home

So...it looks like an ordinary fern. There's a matching twin on the other post on the other side of our front door. I was outside yesterday afternoon watering the plants on our front porch since they are partially covered and much to my suprise, when I was watering this one, it started talking back!

I couldn't quite figure out what was going on, until I looked a little bit closer and noticed that a bird had taken up residence in my fern! Just sitting there all happy like...squawking and carrying on because I was trying to help my thirsty plant!

So later, when she had vacated out, I was rooting around in there and there are 5 eggs! Are you kidding me? This is one quick birdie. We just got the ferns a couple of weeks ago. In that time, she's built a home, taken over my plant and now she's going to raise her young in there. Good grief!

Looking For The Perfect Berry...

This past Friday morning, Kim and I were most excited to find that the Hilltop Farms sign was out and the strawberries were ready! For as long as we can remember, every year, my mom would take us out to the strawberry field and we would pick berries. Well, we decided to do it again this year. Only with us this time...we had a 3 year old! Wowie, wow, wow!

So, Kim, Brady, Barney the Purple Dinosaur and I went out into the field to fill our boxes with the delicious berries. They were perfect for the picking! Much to my suprise, two of the girls that I used to babysit are now the Hilltop Farm Strawberry Seller girls! Oh my!

It didn't take us long at all! Kim worked on a box for herself, another one for her in-laws and I worked on one for us and then another for Keely and Dad and Diane. Brady worked on finding and picking the perfect berries for our row neighbors! He had absolutely no interest in helping fill our boxes, but he was more than willing to help fill theirs. It was a mother and son, who was about 10, who pretty much fell in love with Brady from the word go, so they thought it was fantastic! He spent almost an hour filling their boxes with red strawberries, pine cones, straw, green berries, leaves and anything else he could find. He was very proud of himself for being so helpful! He even convinced both of them to hug and kiss Barney during our picking fun!

The yummy berries made a wonderful topping for Hannah's 10th birthday cake we had last night! If you have time, and they are still picking...go! They're worth it!

My First Blog

Well, well, well! My first blog! I'm most excited about this new adventure I'm embarking on! Blogging seems like the "thing to do" these days! I hear it's pretty therapeutic! I can't wait! There are many blogs that I try to keep up with to fill my time...I hope to do this new task justice! As I'm just starting, make sure you check back often! Leave a comment too, I love mail!