Birthdays

My niece is 4!

The party was princess theme :)

Notice one of my most daring cake creations to the left...Meredith was the cake director and I was the cake decorator :) We made a great team.

:)

We also celebrated Mere's birthday! She is getting up there! I love rubbing it in...that's my job ;)

this gift was a big hit

soooo cute

Nat and her favorite uncle!

I just finished my first week of school. I am happy to announce that I am not afraid of any of my students this year! haha And, I am taller than the majority of my students--wohoo! They are pretty cute kids. It already feels SO much less stressful than last year, but it will be challenging now that they added another class to my schedule. I have a lot of kids to keep track of (about 150). It's nuts! Let's just say that the other night I easily went to be at 8:58 pm. Feels good to be putting in a hard day's work again....even if it makes me feel totally exhausted :)

Summer Vaca 2011

As our last "horah" of the summer, we spent a week at a family camp with the "Shanks" (aka-the McCauley family + a few other families that always go together...don't ask where the "Shanks" came from..long story) I was particularly excited to go on this trip because it was my first time and I had heard a lot about this special place. A bonus to the trip was that some of our friends from college were part of the Shanks crew.

Another reason I was looking forward to this trip. I had been wondering all summer, what exactly is a "tentel"? Well, here it is folks.

Thanks for the flowers, Polly. It really added the special "pop" that our tentel needed. It was a little buggy, but overall it was cute in its own campy way. Plus, we had a bathroom and Brendan & Ellen as our neighbors...not bad.

the beach

craft shop on a rainy day with the chicas

the boys

competitive beach volleyball

babysitting Laney :)

bbq

playing "Celebrity"

the TeePee for ice cream

One of the multiple nights that we played an intense game of "Mafia." Take note--this was taken at about 1:00 a.m...I know, a shocker for me to be up this late...

the Mafia...well played, you two!

love her!

Matt and his Dad :)

We had a great week acting like we were 15 again! Lots of laughs, ice cream, late nights, and fun games :) Now, its time to get ready for school. Bittersweet. Ready to get back into the routine but also dreading the transition.