Wow, it's been a month! May is such a whirlwind for me, I rarely have time to breathe. We finished out another school year. That was my 5
th in this business teaching science and it was a great one! But I am so relieved that it is summer. I just get so behind during the school year and things pile up. So what have I done since we got out of school?
1- I now have 2 kids in the local junior college, so the first thing we did was spend several days working our way through the red tape of applying, testing, advising, and now registering. They will be taking one course each for summer school and two classes each in the fall. Spanish, writing, math, and creative writing. I'll leave it to those who know them to figure out who is taking which classes :)
2-I also took on a part time temporary job delivering
flyers for a local paint company. For about two weeks, the younger kids and I walked thousands of steps, many including hills and stairs, putting them on doors. Still trying to decide it it was worth the pennies per
flyer?
3- A while back we had a toilet overflow upstairs. In the cleanup process, we discovered that the floor upstairs was rotten from years of toilet problems. Eddie had to rebuild the whole area, and I got new flooring just last week. We had Lowe's install new vinyl, and since there was a minimum installation fee for that tiny bathroom, I went ahead and got new flooring for the boys' bathroom too. Both were in pretty bad shape after 14 yrs of this family! Still need to caulk and paint the woodwork. I also have to strip the nasty old wallpaper and paint both bathrooms. this will a be a project for July. June is full already!
4- Bethany and I helped Eddie cater a wedding reception for 100 on Memorial Day weekend. That is always a full week of shopping, prepping, cooking, and then a marathon day for the event but I think it went very well and all the food was enjoyed.
5- The next day, we had a goodbye breakfast at Denny's with Eddie and then I went to my sister's over in Southeast
Tx. I took Bethany to stay for a while and she is still there! But I'm getting her back on Friday. I miss my girl. We enjoyed playing with Emmalyn who is about 2 and a half now. And I got lots of holding time with Jude, my brand new nephew. He was about 6 weeks when I was there, and just adorable. We played at the Bouncy place, went to a MOPS meeting, went to church, and went shopping. Hard to do much with 2 tiny ones in tow but we had a great time. That Emmalyn LOVES to "go see friends". Cute :)
6- This past week I was home and tried to get some things accomplished. I did get much of my room
decluttered from end of the school year clutter. I took the kids to some museums on the University of Texas campus all day on Thursday. I went to school there, so I love to visit now and then, and there are some real treasures there.

7- Over the weekend, I helped Eddie cook and deliver briskets. When he cooks, it is a 2 day process, including 16-18 straight hours with meat on the pit,
which has to be checked every 40 minutes. So I often just go hang out with him. We watch lots of Food Network, take mini naps.
When that was finally done on Saturday, we delivered some meat and then went to dinner. The UT baseball game was on and we wanted to find a place to see it since it was on a
weird channel neither of us got. We discovered a very nice restaurant, sports bar that is owned by the
son of a friend. So that was a lovely evening.
8- Sunday morning church... Bill was leaving for a mission trip all this week, and the others were with their father at the
Kerrville Folk Festival. Eddie and I had eaten so much Saturday night, we just had a small lunch at Sonic. Then a nap... always a Sunday nap if I can sneak it in.

9- One of the things I had really been wanting to do was power wash my entry way and sidewalk. It was just so very dirty! Eddie did most of the hard, messy work, but I finished out the sidewalk and even Wesley took a chance. He had a "blast"!
10- All along the way, we've been doing the normal grocery shopping, haircuts, library visits, etc. And I feel like I am constantly driving kids one place or another. This morning, Wesley and I went to the store and saved a BUNDLE. I love using the Grocery Game and the kids like to help me, choosing some of the fun things on the list.
11- Then we came home and the 4 of us (Bethany and Bill are gone all week) cleaned up the playroom and vacuumed it. It gets a mess and I rarely get that far in my cleaning. So that felt good. Now, I am taking a break while I watch Clean Sweep on TLC. It motivates me to toss, declutter, and organize.
This afternoon I need to finish up grades and get them out. We may go to the pool. I promised Wesley a trip to Target. And tonight he starts baseball through the Y. We are trying a summer session since he may not love it and it is a small commitment. I'll keep you posted, with pictures, I'm sure...
Happy Summer!