Check out this awesome give away

In doing some back to school research, I've found a TON of teaching blogs.  LOVE this one.  Check out her giveaway!



http://ohboy3rdgrade.blogspot.com/2011/07/huge-scraptacular-give-away-huge.html

More about our life later :)

Atlanta Zoo

We have visited the Atlanta Zoo 3 times this summer.  NC seems to love looking at the animals and constantly asks "Whas that?" She really likes the flamingos and the pandas.  I'd say that they seem to be her favorites :)  Our first trip was with my friend Amy and her kids, Emma and Logan.  We went the week after school was out and had a good time.  Then last week, we went twice... once with the Rose girls (my friend Ashli, and her girls Lilli and Brooklyn) and then with my "evil step sister" Jennifer, Jared and Ellis.  Ellis is 10 weeks younger than NC.  We hadn't seen each other since her birthday in March, so it was a lot of fun to see the girls interact (somewhat) with each other.  Here are a few highlights from our zoo trips!

BEACH

So I'm only a LITTLE behind on posting.  :)

A few weeks ago, we were able to spend a few days in Destin, FL.  We HAD.A.BLAST!  NC LOVED the ocean and the waves.  She wasn't quite sure about the sand.  Though the last day we showed her how to play in the wet sand where the tide is coming in and she seemed to enjoy that better than the dry sand.  Silly girl!  We didn't do much, just enjoyed the beach and the pool and being lazy with each other.  Here are a few of my favorite pictures from our trip...

Naptime

I have been planning and hoping to become a better blogger this summer but I haven't.  I've been struggling with time management.  NC is down to one nap (pretty much).  She is also SO very busy and into (and onto) everything that naptime is the only downtime that I have.... During naptime I feel like there is so much I want to do or that I need to do (including blogging) that I just end up not doing anything.    I am hoping to come up with some sort of plan to allow me to be lazy and enjoy me time, as well as do things like blog...clean...get ready for school...and organize my 31 business. 

So here it is... I'm blogging right now to tell you that there is more to come.  We went to the beach for a few days last week that I want to post about.  Not to mention, swim lessons, zoo trips and how busy NC has become.  Keep an eye out.  :)  

Summer is here!

So school has been out for about a week and we are settling into summer life.  And I must admit, I LOVE it!  I've been getting up before NC and going for a run/walk early in the morning before it gets hot.  LOVE running without the stroller, but it's also wonderful just getting back into a running habit. 

We've done a few things this summer, including a trip to the zoo with the Wagner family and a trip to Imagine It! with the Wright family.  (well, mommies and kids)  Most afternoons (after nap) are spent in our little pool in the yard.  NC LOVES the water and LOVES to be outside.  I could totally do this ALL.THE.TIME!  :) 

Thirty One is going well, too.  :)  I'm going to our National Conference next month.  I'm excited about it and nervous at the same time.  It will be the first time to actually GO AWAY and leave NC for a few days.  BUT I'm excited about going and learning how to improve my business... did I mention that my old friend Jessica will be there??? SO EXCITED!


Today I am also excited to be starting to really watch what I eat and make healthier choices.  I'll keep you posted on how it's going... :)

New Deck!

Old Deck

 New Deck

Chris and his dad tore down our little old deck and rebuilt a new bigger deck.  Isn't it fantastic???  The old deck was basically a square with a long flight of steps to the left of the door and the grill.  New one is HUGE, has a few steps down to the grilling deck (I got Chris a new charcoal grill for his birthday which is why there is a grill on the big deck too). 

Memorial Day fun!

Memorial Day Weekend was a tease of what summer was going to be like.  No real plans, just lots of fun in the sun.  It was also Chris's birthday on Saturday :)  We started the weekend at Zach and Lindsay's new house.  They had a "Before" cookout.  They wanted to show everyone the house before any work was done to it.  They've since taken off the week to work on it.  We went there today to check out the progress... looking good. :)  Saturday after dinner we went to Big Lots in search of a pool.  We came home with two.  One is more of a playmat and the other is big enough for adults too.  We haven't broken it out yet, but I'm thinking this weekend it might come out of the box.  Sunday we got the play mat up and "runnin." NC just squealed and giggled and loved splashing around in it.  We also got in it on Monday too.  Lots of fun :)