The First Day of School

I am so blessed to have landed my dream job as a half day kindergarten teacher! Last spring I was hired at Hoover Elementary as a permanent employee, which was great because I had all summer to plan for my perfect classroom. I have put in so many hours preparing for students to come and to make sure that they have an inspiring environment to work in where they will learn everything that they need to in order to be successful. Since we have a Soft Start for kindergarten I was able to meet each family individually on the first week of school. This was great because I felt like I already knew so much about my students on their first day. I have a great class of five year olds who are so excited to learn. I started out with 26 students in my class and there were even more in the other two classes so we hired another afternoon teacher. I was so thankful that the principal took my suggestion and hired a great friend of mine that I went to school with. I share my room with her and we have had a blast experiencing our first year of teaching together. Planning is so much more fun this way and we are able to break up the work load a bit! I will post pics of my room at some point. Here I am all ready to go on my first day of kindergarten!

Emergency Surgery=No Fun

The day after Breckin started walking I ended up being rushed in for emergency surgery, blah! I had been experiencing some abdominal pain and so my doctor ordered an ultrasound to check it out. Turns out that I had a ruptured ectopic pregnancy and that I was bleeding internally. My doctor bumped me ahead of all of the other surgeries for the day and operated on me. She was able to save my tube and removed a blood clot about the size of a dinner plate, she took pictures that are great conversation starters! Since I had been internally bleeding she had to make a pretty large incision rather than doing the surgery laproscopically (sp?) and the recovery time was pretty brutal. I couldn't lift anything or move very well for a couple weeks. Unfortunately the Monday after this happened I was supposed to start work. I was able to start and just take it easy but there was so much that I needed to do that this was hard. I have now healed up nicely and don't wish to go through something like that again, although I have a 30% chance of it happening again, so it is a little unnerving!

And He's Off!

Breckin had been on the verge of walking for over a month but you could tell that he wanted to be really steady before he really took off. On August 24th we were at the water park in Jacksonville when he decided he was ready to walk on his own. Rob had been holding his hand, walking through the water when Breckin decided he wanted to go a different direction so he let go of Rob's hand and has never looked back! It was such great timing, as we actually had the video camera with us and got some great footage. Here are the only good snapshots I got.

Our First Egg!

Our chickens have finally started laying eggs, well two of them are! We were so excited to find an egg had been laid but a little less excited that it had been laid in a bush in our yard. Since we didn't want to have an Easter egg hunt everyday we left the chickens in their chicken run for a few days to encourage them to begin laying in their nesting boxes, thankfully it worked. Both black chickens are laying now and we hope that the others will start soon too since we are only getting just enough for scrambled eggs every other morning!

Last Trip of the Summer

With Rob not working we decided to take advantage of one of our last chances to make it to the coast before I start work, so we took off mid week and spent some much needed relaxing days at the beach house! This trip to the beach was especially fun because it is the first time Breckin has really seemed to realize what a great place it is. He had a blast running up and down the stairs at the house, frolicking in the sand, dipping his toes in the frigid water (and he would have gone all the way in if we had let him), eating sticks, rocks and sand and getting to spend quality time with both Mommy and Daddy!



You would never know this dog was hit by a car the week before, I think she is happy to be alive!

A trip to Lake Shasta

Rob ended up working down in Marysville for three weeks in July and while we missed him it turned out to be a blessing because he hasn't been working since then, things are just slow right now with the economy the way it is. We had a trip planned to go to Lake Shasta with Rob's dad for a while and so it worked out perfect that we were able to meet up with him on his way back up from Marysville. Rob's family was camping but we decided that it would be easier with Breckin to stay in a hotel since it is so hot down there. I am so thankful we did because the little bit of time we spent in the camp site with Breckin scooting in the dirt was enough for me! In between naps we spent most of our time out on the lake which was so relaxing and fun. Breckin loved every part of it except for having to wear a life jacket, I don't know why they can't make them a little more flexible for little guys!

Uncle Jordan Home for a Visit

Jordan was able to come home for a few weeks from the Air Force Academy and we had a lot of fun while he was here. The last time Jordan was home Breckin took a while to warm up to him, this time even though it had been six months since he last saw him, he was instantly his best friend. Breckin and Uncle Jordan were inseparable the whole time he was here.





Jordan had a long list of foods that he missed while away so we ate a lot of good food while he was here! Here we are at Porter's, yum!




We made a trip up to my Dad's for the weekend. Breckin loved swimming in the pond, eating fresh picked berries and watching the turkeys, he wasn't so sure about riding on the quad.










Jordan is back to the grind stone, starting his second year at the Academy, can't wait to see him again at Thanksgiving!

Children's Festival

Growing up the Children's Festival was a huge part of our summer. I was so excited to be able to take Breckin this year! While he wasn't into making any of the many crafts he still had a ton of fun, there really is something for every age. We went to two sessions, one time with our friend Jasiah and another with Tyler. Each time Breckin panned for gold, I think it was his favorite activity. Other favorites were watching the performances on the stage, one of which was Andrea doing gymnastics, playing in the sand, bubble fun and mural painting (maybe a better name would be Breckin painting). I can't wait until next year when he can do even more!