summertime plans...

Today began the first day of my favorite time of year...summer! The kids finished school on Friday and I had two teacher workdays on Monday and Tuesday. I drove out of the parking lot simply amazed that a whole year had gone by. This time last year, we were in the midst of packing to move cross-country, I had just finished my classes at Cal State, I was trying to find a job here in Charlotte, we were saying goodbyes to friends in LA, and we were putting the finishing touches on the closing for our house.

So, now what do I do with my free time? Summer school, you may ask? Heck no! It's not that I'm lazy and don't want to work over the summer. I usually reply to friends when they ask this question by saying, "I don't think I can handle teaching special education students during the summer who failed my special education classes during the school year. There is an end to my love and grace!" So, my plan is to do some tutoring. I have one gig lined up and I just got a call about another today. I should also be able to line up a few photography gigs before the summer is over as well.

I plan to use my time to build my photography website back up and get some advertising out there in places other than Craigslist. I also plan to build a few things in the garage. I went to Lowe's today and picked up some wood with Kyla to build a bed to hold her full-size mattress we bought two months ago that has been sitting on the floor in her room since then. My dad is also coming down to hopefully help me put some crown molding up and I'm also hoping to use the leftover ceramic tile from the kitchen to put down in the bathroom. I've also created a little reading list for myself, and Sarah and I hope to take full advantage of our Netflix account! I probably will have to spend a little time this summer preparing for the fall as well since I recently found out I'm teaching all math next year!! If you know me well, you were surprised to hear I was teaching reading. If you know me in the slightest, you're shocked to hear I'm teaching all math! It should be a fun challenge though and I've got some good ideas on how to make it fun.

But mainly, I'm really looking forward to my time with my 3 girls. Sarah and I have devised a pretty good plan for the days that includes some family prayer/Bible time in the morning followed by school time for Kyla. She's already sounding out words and writing letters and she loves working in her reading book! The other day she started adding numbers too! She figured out how to use her fingers to add numbers less than 5 together! Avery is also a little sponge and will probably learn to read by watching us teach Kyla! We plan to hit the pool, the library, and the park on a regular basis as the weather permits.

At the end of the month we're headed to my cousin's wedding where Kyla will score a hat trick for flower-girling in a wedding. Then we'll head to VA for a week. We're in the process of booking plane tickets for Sarah to spend 2 weeks in the Philippines volunteering at the maternity clinic where she hopes to study in the near future. That will be quite an adventure for us all...Sarah overseas for 2 weeks and the girls and me at home by ourselves for 2 weeks! Overall, it's shaping up to be a nice summer. Two summers ago, my mom passed away and Avery was born 2 weeks later. Last summer, we moved cross-country, bought a house, and I got a new job. So I figure we can rationalize a little R&R this summer. Being strapped for cash is a pretty big bummer at times, but sitting here on the first day of summer vacation thinking that I don't have to work tomorrow makes teaching the best job in the world!!!