School stuff

I have my classroom all set up for the new school year! I am really excited and nervous about going back to first grade! They are such babies :) Especially leaving kids that are going on to 3rd grade. I am excited though! I have lots of new things in my room and new plans I have been looking through on the internet that I am excited to implement.







My garden from last year was pretty good minus the TONS of weeds that grew. We had 2 full bags of lettuce. Owen ate most of it but Clint had a salad...even with a fresh grown radish! We had two large green bean plants that I just pulled Wednesday. I have no idea what they are supposed to look like but we'll see what they taste like! Our pumpkins are ginormous! They overtook the whole garden once school let out. The weeds also did too! I pulled a large trashbag full of weeds over 2 days this week and put the fence back up to contain the vines. The good news from it all: 5 pumpkins are growing! I'm not talking small either! I was really hoping for 6, so each class could have one this fall, but we'll deal with!

Zoe's new friend

While we stayed in OBX, my friend Emily was SOOOOOO kind to watch our monster dog Zoe. Emily and John came over to our house a couple months ago for dinner and they brought their cutie pie bulldog, Violet, over. Zoe wanted to play with her so bad, but Violet seemed very uninterested.

Well, when it came time for vacation we had nowhere to leave Zoe other than Camp Bow Wow. She has stayed there a couple times but only for 3 days....that place isn't too cheap. So after trying everyone we knew, I decided to ask Emily, hoping that Violet would like Zoe better since she was coming to her house.

After Zoe ate a bar of soap the day before we left, we took her to Emily with a warning. Not too long after dropping her off, the soap came out. Then came out some more. and then some more. Then all over Violet's back! Yikes!


Emily sent several cute pictures that I'll share here:










Overall, Emily said they were crazy but pretty good. I am sure it was definitely way more crazy than good but Emily is too nice to say that our dog is WACKO! :)

Thanks Emily!!!

OBX Vacation

Dad decided a few months ago that we were all going to go on a Family Vacation. He just loves having his daughters around him :) He booked a house on the beach in Nags, NC which is located on the Outer Banks. The weather was great and the water was warm!!


The waves were great for body boarding...especially the last two days!


Unfortunately there was nothing exciting on the beach. The pier was for fishing and you even had to pay just to 'sight see'. Clint did get free hot dogs here though!


We went on a dolphin boat tour one evening. We saw a lot of dolphins! Most of the time they were mating. Don't believe me? Watch my stepmom's video!


Very nice beach. Not crowded, which was nice and it was clean and flat. Two good points in my book.


Clint passed out, which he did for over half the trip. He sleeps all the time!


Dad checking out the dolphins.


Cool sand creation. These people have a cool job.


Clint and I being awesome.


At the sand dunes.


See! I told you sleeps all the time!

Catch up!

You would think that with the whole summer off, blogging would be easy to do! However, I have had college classes that take up a lot of time and a vacation to the Outer Banks in NC (in addition to all the goofing off I normally do that takes up a lot of time!). So I will try to write several posts that will publish over the next few days. Gotta keep you in suspense!

While we were in OBX, Lindsay's roommate watched Owen. He's not real hard to take care of...just refill his water and give him a handful of lettuce! Here he is at Lindsay's. Notice the snug fit inside his log:

When I first got Owen, he was about 6 inches long and weighed 1 pound. Now he is about 7 inches long and maybe a little over a pound and a half. That may not seem like much, but if you have seen him recently, you would know that he is almost too big for his log. Since I bought the KL log, I can't get a bigger one. So, being the genius that I am, I decided to add stilts to his log! He now has a whole inch added to his hideout!


Works perfect! Now he isn't squished or carrying his log on his back! I can't wait for the 1st graders to meet him! They'll be so excited! I also think he prefers all the noise and attention; he roams around his cage more. Only 1 more month left!

Geocaching!

My (nerdy) family has recently become obsessed with a new hobby called geocaching. You can go here to check it out and read all about it but I'll give a brief overview real quick. Basically you get yourself a handheld gps.

I have a Magellan eXplorist GC.

You first have to create an account on the website and then you can hook up you GPS and download locations. At these locations, there are hidden caches or containers. In the cache is a log that you write your name and date on. Sometimes there are prizes or geo "tokens". You then log that you found the cache on your account and your number of finds increases. You are basically looking for a small container in a small area that your gps lead you to. Some are really easy to find while others are really hard. Sometimes you can't even find them the first try.

It's a global scavenger hunt!

So far I have 14 caches, Ange has 19, Lindsay has 50, and Dale has 117. Mom isn't registered but she pretty much spots all of them before all of us and ruins it! Hilary hasn't registered yet but she has the same as me (if she registers them!).

Yesterday I downloaded about 20 new locations into my gps that I hope to find soon! The goal: "cache" up to Dale!

Jack

My little buddy, Jack, was my first own pet. We got him from the vet that Hilary worked at. Someone dropped him off and left him. Dr. Geckler tried to give him away to two other people before I took him home. Those people brought him back and said that wasn't very nice and didn't like men. Well I brought him home one day and surprised Clint. I had asked Clint about getting him and he kind of said yes but I don't think he thought I would go get him. He came home and saw the cat toys and then Jack. He was a little surprised :)


Jack was really silly...he liked to race around the house and up and down the stairs, chasing his toy mice. He loved to sit on a chair whenever Clint and I had breakfast or dinner. He loved to sit on the top of the couch and look out the windows. He did not like to go outside though.


Right after we got Jack, he disappeared. I was freaking out thinking that he got out the door and had run away. We looked around the neighborhood forever. The next morning I went out looking again and Clint called me to saw he found him. He had gotten into the bottom dresser and couldn't get out so he started meowing. He had been in our room all night!


Yesterday he started crying so I went to see what was wrong. He was acting very strange and cried when I picked him up. He kept getting his paws wet and getting in his litter box. He tried going to the bathroom like 2 times but never did. I left for a little while and Lindsay and Ange said he probably had a urinary tract infection. So I went right home and took him to Banfield at Petsmart. They said he did have a UTI and he was severly blocked. They emptied his bladder but wasn't doing well. He was going to have to be rushed to the Airport Emergency Vet but it didn't look good. So, Clint and I decided that we would put our Little Boy to sleep. Now he is sleeping, playing with Zeus!

Reality Check

I posted before about my little obsessions...and reality tv has kind of found it's way into my tv obsession. Enjoy my analyzation:

American Idol
Simon Cowell said this season was the girls' season. However, the first 3 eliminated were girls! HA! My top 3 (in no order, because I can't decide):

Casey James...he is a really good guitar player and has a cool voice.

Lee DeWyze...another guitar rocker with a cool voice. Cute too!

Crystal Bowersox...guitar playing. BUT a GIRL!

Survivor
I have never watched Survivor and was never really interested...but the commercials this year kind of enticed me to watch...and I love it! However, Russell and Coach were pretty much the only 2 I knew, from commercials, and I can't stand them so I naturally decided to vote for the Heros. They have disappointed :( But I think the ones voted off weren't that great except for James, but he was hurt. I really hope Russell gets voted off this week. Of all the villians I actually like Jerry and Boston Rob (a little). I really hope Colby stays!!


Amazing Race
This is a reality show that I have watched for three seasons now. The first season I watched was awesome. Last season's, not so much. This year is better but still not quite as good. Here are the teams I am gunning for:


Father and Daughter, Steve and Allie

They haven't really done anything spectacular but I like them.


Brothers, Dan and Jordan aka "Bro"

After last seasons ridiculous brother team, I was really hesitant to cheer for them. However, they work as a team and are funny, which Sam and Dan did not do. I was actually cheering for the Big Brother team, but they already lost :(

DWTS
I watched the 2nd season but haven't seen any since then. There are a lot of really famous people this year instead of just 3, so I decided to tune in. Here are my top 3:

Chad Ochocinco...Cheryl is my fave pro dancer!

Evan Lysacek

Erin Andrews...oops. That's just Maks...why I am voting for Erin! But also because she is a sportscaster on ESPN...what I wanted to do in Jr. High. So here she is:

Any personal thoughts??? :)