Catching Up

    It's months like these that I think to myself  "This teaching gig is really great!" Now around Feb/March I sing a different song.  :) 

    I haven't been blogging much because I've been enjoying summer.  It's hard to believe sickening that tomorrow starts July.  Slow. Down. Time.


   The great bathroom remodel of 2011 is still in progress.  My poor husband is working nights right now (12 hour shifts) so there hasn't been a ton of noticeable progress.  Remember the last stripped picture?  

It looks pretty....well, um....stripped.  I found out that it can get more stripped. 

I heard something about it would be easier to fill the sheet rock like this...go figure.  


June is a big birthday month for our family.  My brother, Renee, and my husband all share the same birthday (the 18th).  Michael's niece and nephew are also June kiddos, and my dear sist Jen.  I only managed to get one birthday photo....

I've filled some time working on some school projects.  It's kind of like a hobby for me.  I'm a dork, I know.  I created a new chart for behavior tracking next year.  Each kid will have a clothes pin and start off on "Ready to Learn" each day.  I like it because they can also move their pins up for good behavior.

I'm going to do a safari/explorers theme in my class next year.  So I  made a giraffe neck thingy to record the kids fluency.  This is just part of it.  It will go from floor to ceiling.  While laying it out for a picture I realized I need to figure out some way to better incorporate the head.  The white paper says 0-40 words per minute and etc.  The kids will move up the neck during the year.  I know that probably doesn't make sense but that's the best that I can explain it.  I did this last year however I just used multi-colored rectangles instead of the giraffe neck.

My last creation is a second grade banner.  I'll probably still trim the ribbon some so that it's easier to read.

    Our table doesn't make the best backdrop.  We have plans for a new dining room table to join our lil family in the near future.

That's it for June.  
     July promises to be a busy month with the fourth, vacation, campmeeting, VBS, and setting up my class room.  I'm sure I'll have lots to blog about.

The great bathroom remodel of 2011

Alternatively titled:  The great remodel of the smallest bathroom in the world!


So when we bought the house the extra bath looked a little like this:  actually it looked a whole lot like this:

Nice white walls....green accessories...and don't be too jealous but the green crusty toilet brush came with the deal!   Oh yeah,   and it was rockin this boarder:

Stephanie, you might say, you didn't take any other angles of the bathroom?  Not even a picture of the vanity?  Well there's two explanations for that....the crusty toilet brush was the most impressive thing in there...and it is seriously the smallest bathroom in the world (other than trains, and port-a-potties but those don't come with showers).  It is really hard to take pictures in there.  I seriously have to stand out in the hall to get it in focus.  

Before moving it we made it more liveable. The crusty brush was history.  The towel rack?  Gone!  A new shower curtain....some happy yellow paint and it began to look more like this:

  Liveable...yes!  Fabulous?  No!

Pictures from today you want? ...no problem....

 Notice the 80's lighting....and the lovely sink....Want a closer look at the awesome stick-on tile floor?  Sure thing:

Why isn't the vanity drawer closed? Because Michael had already taken it out to begin today's projects...but I needed fresh pictures.




So today began the great bathroom remodel of 2011.  On the agenda?

• new paint
• tile floors
• new vanity
• new mirror
• new accessories
• new lighting

So as of this afternoon, should you come for tea and need to tinkle...this awaits you:

I'm excited to be adding blog updates with bathroom updates.  A few more notes to consider:

• It's totally awesome to have a toilet sitting on the back deck...I hope the neighbor appreciates it.
• Anytime I mention the words "us" and "remodel" in the same sentence I'm totally referring to Michael in the singular form.  Although I did sweep the floor about ten times today!

Summer is FINALLY here!

     June 21st might be the official start of summer but as a teacher my summer began  on May 25th at 11:30 AM  when I wished my 18 lovelies a happy summer and watched them walk toward the buses. 
      Kiah graduated on the 21st.  I only took 200 pictures at her graduation, like any proud big sis would do. 

Notice momarazzi in the background...that was totally intentional with my mad photography skills.

She's either praising the Lord or throwing her hat...you decide....

It's neat having a sister that is 10 years and a day younger than you.

   Summer already has been pretty busy.  We've been to see Michael's family,  cooked a dinner for 15 people, and had a morning of math inservice.   I'm ready to slow down and have a few lazy days.  And read a few good books.  Oh and plan our official family (of 2) vacation.  :)