Another Assignment?

My children and husband can always find me in front of this machine writing another assignment. This is my new hang-out!!! Today I have heard: "You're doing another paper?", "Are we going to eat tonight?", "When are you going to help me with Science?", "Mom, I need to use the computer for my homework too!", "We need to leave right now for my soccer game, get off the computer."

Well, my paper is still not completed! But just to let you know, I made the soccer game, dinner was great, the kitchen is partially cleaned, I did share the computer and helped with spelling words and science worksheets. So back to the books!

By the way...I need a thesis idea, and could you please send it to me by Thursday??????

My Magical Place

24 Little bodies enter room 209 each and every morning to spend the day with me. We have shed many tears in this room, we have laughed, danced, done yoga, the Cha-Cha-Side, geometry, prefixes, genre, spelling bees, science experiments, stories, poetry, and that is just in the first month! Magic really does happen in this room. Today we explored the process of photosynthesis with real leaves and microscopes. We found spiders, little worms, and a number of other critters on our leaves, and if anyone had come in room 209 today, it would have looked like utter chaos. Out of that chaos, came exploration. I LOVE teaching!!!! Even when the days are rough, and I feel like I just can't hear my name called one more time, it just takes that little ray of magic, when the light clicks on and I hear "I get it!" or "that was amazing!" to make all the exhaustion melt away. I truly am living my dream!

The 2nd Generation

...bring it on!!! Her coach just loves to watch me squim everytime he puts her in as the goalie for their team that wears pink jerseys, but are known as the "Emeralds". She does a fabulous job.

The Many of "Firsts"

Taylor's first day in the 8th grade at Champion Middle School.



Dallin's first day in the 5th grade, and his first day ever at Champion Middle School. As you can imagine, there was much anticipation going on in this little brain.



Carley's first day of 3rd grade. She is the only one left with me at the elementary school. Mrs. Slater will capture her devotion in the weeks to come!

9 Already?

I truly can't believe that my baby is 9 years old!!! We moved on her birthday, and what a trooper she was throughout the move. But she made us promise that if she had to work so hard on her birthday, we would throw her an "American Girl" birthday party with lots of friends. So...we did!



What a face, Carley Lynn! And Dallin was pretty proud of his hot dog!



We had a balloon launch before it got dark.



They looked so pretty gliding through the evening sky!



Halle just lives 2 houses over from ours. So I imagine these 2 are going to be spending lots of time together as the years go by.

The Big Day Finally Arrived!

Of course it was a rainy August 8th, but our ward surprised us with so much help that it was quick and painless!



Our new family member welcomed us with his excited shivers. We acquired a Yellow Lab, Kodi. He came with the house, and what a bonus deal for us! He is such a great dog, and we didn't have to do any of the puppy training!



Now the fun begins. I really wish I could tell you that this garage is completely empty and our cars fit in here, but I can't!!!!! It is going ever-so-slowly. It seems like I get an hour here and an hour there to work on our new home. Running kids to various activities and getting my classroom up and ready to run next week has just sucked all my time. It will get done!!!!



Taylor took this amazing picture in our backyard!



Out with the old, in with the new! Now, if our new furniture would just arrive, this family room would be the gathering place of the house! But with nowhere to sit, everyone finds other places to lounge.

Girls Camp Was AWESOME!!!!!!

Watching Taylor go off this high dive reminded me of my childhood days at the swimming pools on the Army bases where we lived. Each pool seemed to have this same diving board, so many steps up, and that first time off was so scary, but then after that, you couldn't stop yourself from trying it again and again.



All decked-out in her paint balling gear! This activity was a real hit!



Taylor hiding behind the barriers during her first paint ball game.



Pretty darn good for a rookie! She learned how to shoot a .22! All in all, it was an amazing week!