First post revisited

Just over a year ago I started this blog. As I was sitting on the sunporch today I was looking out at the flower that started it all. In this post, I remember that I was excited to see 1 flower. It has grown SO much in just a year that I have had to move things out of that flower bed to give this Japanese anemone some room! I will spare you from ALL of the reflections on how much I have grown as a blogger. But there are few that I am going to mention.

I now am the author of 3 blogs total. I have this nice, fun personal blog. I have a blog for my students and their parents Mrs. Faas' First Grade (original title, I know) and I just started my new blog to share the things that I do as a teacher with other teachers (Bee the Change).

Thanks to all of you that follow me and comment on my posts!

Here is the anemone today.

HUGE! (and beautiful)

Couldn't resist posting some other late-summer bloomers from the garden!

black-eyed susans

Russian sage

This delphinium is a spring bloomer but it re-seeded and re-bloomed. A nice surprise!

Busy bee.....

Nate

12 years ago today was a miraculous day. Nate came into the world......6 weeks early. He was only 5 pounds and had a great deal of medical problems. It was a joyous and very stressful time.
The doctors kept telling me throughout the pregnancy that he was going to be a "big baby". He probably would have been if he had gone to term. I had only been buying 0-3 month clothes and was not prepared for a preemie. Thank goodness for Mom who went out to buy some clothes that would fit him. Preemie clothes were actually too big. This is the outfit he wore home from the hospital.
sniff....sniff......
His foot and my foot......going to start saving money for shoes......love you little boy!

Lucky Me!

Here are some pictures of my NEW coffee table that my Dad made for me. I LOVE it! He is so talented.

Last fall he sent out a "request for projects" email to the family to see if there was anything we might like to have. This was my pick. I need to make/buy some coasters for use on it and have threatened the children within an inch of their lives that if they EVER set anything wet on it......

Dad just sent out the "request for projects" email again........so.........

Maybe an end table to match?

These are my new Tupperware bowls. I am in love with them. I have left them stacked like this for quite a while just so I can look at them. They stack so nicely and they are such pretty colors. Maybe someday I will actually put something in them. :)

Volleyball

My heart is a little broken.

I have always tried to encourage my kids to work hard and do their best. I have always hoped that they would be able to do whatever they set their minds to do. That being said, Nathan (going into 7th grade this fall) wanted to try out for modified soccer. He has been playing house league soccer since he was 5 and while the scouts from the MLS have not been knocking down our door, he has had fun.

Due to budget cuts, our district has eliminated freshman soccer and now only has 1, instead of two, modified teams. This has greatly increased the number of boys that are going to try out for one team. Many of the boys that are going to try out have played travel league soccer for many years. Despite having all these facts gently and repeatedly explained to him, he was still determined to try out.

I had to let him, right?

I was all set to let him try out when at the last soccer game of the summer league season, I was talking to some other Moms who mentioned modified volleyball. At their urging, I convinced Nate to go to a week-long volleyball camp a couple of weeks ago. He had fun and even made Dave go out and get him some knee pads (very official). His next dilemma was which sport to try out for (tryouts at the same time, of course). I though that volleyball was toast.

Today he told me that he wanted to try out for volleyball instead. I am happy that he came to that decision and has a good chance of making the team but I am a little sad for him.

Does he feel like he is settling?

Cross your fingers that he makes the team. I told him that he will be really popular with the girls when he goes to the beach and can kick butt in beach volleyball.

He rolled his eyes and gagged.

A new potential addiction

I got my first pedicure this week. Yes. My first. I have never had one before for many reasons but that is behind me for now! This was great. A couple of friends and ice cream sundaes afterward was the perfect afternoon.

My week in Cell Phone Pictures

OK...I am a little delayed in my use of technology. I do not have a data plan for my phone......I know......the injustice of it all! While talking to my buddy Heather, she was telling me that I could upload my photos to my Verizon account and deal with them from there. I actually can do that now! I am cool. Thanks Heather. You are cool too.

Anyway....enough bragging. I decided to make this post using my newly-found tech skills and show you what I was choosing to take cell phone pics of. (Mom.....read this! You could get a phone that could do this for you too! I am SURE that the tech-guru that lives in your house would get you one!)

So here is my week in cell phone pics.

Headed up to school to collect a few things so that I could start **thinking** about the 21 little ones that will be joining my life soon and we stopped in to see how summer reading/writing club was going. They hatched chicks this year and Natalie got to hold one. This little chick (the feathered one) even fell asleep while Natalie was stroking his feathers. Too cute.

I was lucky enough to get to celebrate another birthday this week. One of my friends brought me this beautiful bouquet of sunflowers and lovely things from her garden. So pretty...wish that they would live forever!

I was at school to set up for the next 2 weeks of summer school that I will be teaching and wandered into my new classroom. The classroom was previously occupied by one of the double O girls so it has great karma. Hanging on the window shade is her shade pull (pictured below). I love it but I am sure that she will be around to collect it in the next month or so. Maybe now that she is a Tupperware consultant.......she could find another one.....maybe.

Speaking of double O girls, the other one had wrist surgery this week. Yuk. The thing is......her hair still looks great event hough she is one-handed. She and I spent some time on her deck watching kids swim and cruising through my new cricut cartridge book. I think that if I was there without kids, we could have sat on that deck and chatted for a few more hours.

POLKA DOT DUCK (duct?) TAPE! ...........enough said.............

August

Well...I have done a pretty good job this summer of enjoying myself and not doing TOO much work in the month of July. I did not realize how easy that would be. LOL! But now that July is over and August is here, I have to start thinking about school. I decided that the only real work that I could handle today was to get the covers of my binders done. They are done. If only that was the hard part!

Guess I ought to go and figure out what I am going to put in them!