6.26.2012

Friends, Family, & Sunshine

This weekend was one for the books! I've come to realize that when you get both family and friends packed into one weekend and top it off with 80 degree days and sunshine you have a recipe for one heck of a weekend! 

Saturday morning was one of my best friend's personal shower. It was a tea party theme and quite possibly one of the cutest things I've ever seen! 


Countdown is on, less than a month until the big day! 

I had to rush home from there to head to Parkersburg, WV for a surprise 25th anniversary party for my uncle and aunt. I was so impressed to see most of my family there! My dad has 9 brothers and sisters, so there are several siblings and several cousins, which makes it difficult to get everyone together. We had a blast just catching up on everyone's lives. 


7 out of 9 isn't bad! 


All the cousins that came out! 


My handsome man came along too! 


Sunday I went to my boyfriend's church. Anytime he and I can be in church together is a blessing in itself. The pastor's sermon was on "Fake Friends". He described these friends as those friends who always side with you when you're going against God's will. It really struck a chord with me because I realized that I can be a "fake friend" at times by egging on a negative situation or telling people "oh it's okay" when I should be witnessing to them instead. Great food for thought! 


And although Monday is not technically the weekend anymore, yesterday my boyfriend and I found out that his brother and sister-in-law are having a baby BOY! I cannot wait to spoil sweet Mr. William Brandt. Let the shopping commence! 

That's a round up of my fabulous weekend hope y'alls was just as great! 

6.22.2012

High Five for Friday!

It's been a great week so I'm linking up with Lauren for High Five for Friday! 

Here's a quick over view of my favorite things that's happened this week! 

1. Best Friends and Pool Parties
This is an old picture, but Morgan and her Momma came over Wednesday and we had a big pool day complete with healthy snacks (blog coming soon with those recipes!).

2. Muddy Softball Games
Yesterday evening a summer storm came right before our softball game so our field was DISGUSTING. Carli (above) started off the game by sliding in to second which had a five foot mud puddle in front of it. It was a blast!  

3. Wedding Showers
One of my best friend's wedding shower was last Saturday and tomorrow is another one! I'm loving this wedding season! 


4. Water Balloon Fights! 
On my way to babysit the other morning I was thinking about fun ideas to get the boys outside and water balloons popped in to my mind! We had an awesome water balloon day! 



5. Kelly Ripa & Pinterest
Today has been the first time in FOREVER that I've been able to do two of my favorite things... watch Live with Kelly and get on Pinterest! I feel like my life is so lame since this is the perk of my week, but this combo really is one of my favorite things to do! 


6.18.2012

It's been far too long...

I feel like I have been cheating on my blog with babysitting, house sitting, school (yes I'm still taking classes), and tutoring. 

I started thinking about the new experiences I've been having through my one-on-one interaction with all my kiddos (and dog kiddos) I've been with the past couple weeks and thought I'd share.

1. If you have a baby and look half way decent when you go out in public... I salute you. I had the priveledge of watching a sweet baby girl and her brothers for a day and let me tell you something, by the time I got everything together and in the car I was sweating and a hot mess. So you go Mommas! 

2. Don't just WATCH kids when you babysit them, hangout and play with them. I couldn't believe when I heard one of the kids I babysat tell his mom NONE of their previous babysitters had ever played with them before. How sad! Needless to say it made me thankful that I had got up and played basketball, croquet, and baseball with the boys that day, but more importantly it reminded me to never just sit around no matter how tired I am because kids remember when you make that effort! 

3. College students -- don't get a full time job if you don't have to! I told myself that this summer I would take a break from my super fun, but super exhausting full time job at the daycare and just babysit and tutor for money. BEST DECISION I COULD HAVE MADE! I make more money this way than I ever did working full time and I'm only working half the hours (if that). I wish I would have done this right out of high school.

Those are just a few things I've learned the past few weeks and I'm sure there will be plenty more life lessons to come! 


6.04.2012

Catch up!

Hi everyone! I've been a slacker here lately with my blog, but there has been a lot going on so I'm just going to quickly mention everything, or try to at least. Ya'll know how I love a hodge podge post! 

Last Tuesday my beautiful "little sister" graduated from high school. I'm so incredibly proud of her! 


That same week I also finished my first set of summer classes and we had some of my family down for memorial weekend! We soaked up every bit of sun we could! I also got to see a wonderful friend get married!

 

This past week Morgan and I attended a FOSS training for teachers which was really cool. For those of my teacher friends who aren't familiar with FOSS, get familiar! It is an amazing kit based science unit that literally has everything you need for an entire unit in one kit. It also has a manual that steps you through experiments and the best way to extend student learning. It is fabulous! 

This weekend was a blast as well! We traveled to Spencer, WV to my grandparents' farm to celebrate my little cousin's graduation! It was the first time since I was in the first grade that we had all the grandchildren together! What a blessing.

The graduate on my left and my cousin's wife on the left. :)

My boy. (Shorts at Gabriel Brothers! 6.99 woo hoo)

 Brother and Boyfriend. 

 All ten of the grandchildren!

All of us with Grandma and Grandpa!

Needless to say it's been a great couple of weeks. I start my second session of summer classes today and I'm hoping it will fly by! 

I'm also starting to tutor a sweet little (BIG) soon to be second grader. We are going to be doing a lot of reading, so if any of my teacher friends have some fun reading practices please let me know! 

Have a fabulous week and I'll try to blog more this week!