Summer Bucket List 2015

Anyone who's read this blog any amount of time knows I love a good bucket list.  Now that our summer break has officially started, I figured it was time to crank out a bucket list for our little family for the summer.  It's so fun to see how our lists change as the boys get older.  A lot of these items are staples every summer, but some of them I would've never attempted a year or two ago.  I'm sure I'll have updates throughout our summer to keep up with what we've done.

• Go to an outdoor movie
• Go to a water park
• Family vacation
• Watch fireworks
• Have a picnic 
• Make a summer hand print craft with the boys
• Play putt-putt
• Catch lightning bugs
• Take family beach pictures
• Ride bikes
• Family hike
• Build a sandcastle 
• Star gaze
• Go to the local farmer's market
• Outdoor date with Andy
• Find seashells
• Ride a boat
• Be a tourist in our own city
• Go to a "new to us" park
• Try a new restaurant in Chattanooga 
• Go to a concert
• Take the boys to the movie theater
• Buy ice cream 
• Buy food from a food truck
• Visit Andy at work

Friday Update - Summer Break Edition

Happy Friday of summer break, friends!  I'm so happy to be out of school!  I cherish the time I get off in the summer with the boys, so in my opinion, this is one of the best perks of being a teacher.  Besides vacation, and hopefully a trip to Hilton Head at the end of the summer, we don't have much planned.  I like it that way... I don't feel like my summer is already halfway over if I have a blank slate in front of us.  This is Cooper's last summer before he starts school (pre-k in the fall), so that makes me really sad.  I'm going to try and not dwell on that during the summer because I know it'll depress me.  Anyways, here's a look back at our week.  I've got a lot of rambling to do, so sorry if this is lengthy!

• I took the boys to work with me a couple of days this week since we had inservice.  Cooper has turned into my shy guy, so he didn't say too much to my coworkers, but Clark was a major hit with them.  I don't know what's gotten into him the last couple of months, but that baby NEVER shuts up.  Honestly, it gets a bit exhausting as the day rolls on.  He had the same set of questions for everyone that walked up to him; "What's your name?  Where's your dad?  And, do you have a tractor?"  It was hilarious!  They were exceptionally good considering there wasn't anything for them to do at school.
• Both of the boys got summertime haircuts this week.  I buzzed Cooper's on Wednesday, and took Clark to get his cut yesterday.  Cooper has Andy's hair to a T.  It's thick, course, and has more cowlicks than spots that lay down.  I love Cooper's hair long, but as soon as he gets out of the tub and it dries, the cowlicks go crazy... it has no chance once he's laid down on it.  I don't know how to tame them, so I usually keep his short in the summer.  Clark's hair is fine and easy to tame, so I try to keep his longer, but not too long, during the summer.  I don't have the heart to give that baby a buzz cut, even though Andy says he needs one.  He got a little hipster cut yesterday, and it's super cute.  Both of their hair, especially Clark's, turns white in the summer, so I make sure I slather their heads and scalps in sunscreen anytime we're outside.
• I spent my first full day of summer break yesterday going to appointments and catching up on the massive pile of laundry that had built up.  It seems like half of our summer is made up of doctor appointments I can't get to during the school year.  I guess that's just part of being an adult and mom though, so I'm thankful we have some down time to get them all in.  It's really important to me that I'm the one who takes the boys to their various doctors appointments (even though Andy or my mom are 110% competent and able to take them without me), so I know exactly what the doctor says and what's going on.
• I'm happy to report that I'm feeling SO much better than I was last week in regards to my ear.  It stayed miserable over the weekend and into the beginning of this week.  It was slightly better, meaning the ringing sound wasn't as loud in volume as it had been, but it was definitely still there.  I called my doctor back and went back in Tuesday afternoon.  As soon as she came in, I started crying because I felt like I was losing my mind with the noise.  She's been my primary care doctor (well, technically she's a physician's assistant) since I had Cooper, so I didn't feel ridiculous crying in front of her.  Anyways, she checked my ears again and said both eardrums were huge and bulging from all the fluid behind them, so I definitely wasn't losing my mind from the sound... there was definitely a reason for it, and she felt confident it would go away when the fluid drained.  I was terrified there would be nothing more we could do for them, but she gave me a huge shot of steroids and prescribed me more oral steroids for the next week, and they've helped tremendously!  The steroids are making me feel slightly crazy, but she warned me of that.  My ear still isn't back to 100%... I'm still having some low ringing sounds, some popping, and echoing noises, but I'm able to function now.  Last week, as ridiculous as it sounds, it was absolutely debilitating.  If we don't get it back to 100% soon she's referring me to an ENT, but I'm praying the rest of the steroids will completely knock it out.  I can honestly say that inner ear issues is one of the most MISERABLE things I've ever gone through.  Thanks for all the prayers!
• Some of the things I'm most looking forward to during summer vacation:  Spending every day with the boys, vacation, swimming, going to the Y a lot more, doing more things outside, later bedtimes and wake times, and just having the freedom to do what we want, when we want.  I haven't swam at the Y the last several weeks due to all this mess with my ear, and I definitely don't plan on starting back anytime soon.  We swim a ton in the summer (outside), so I am looking forward to that.  I've already bought some earplugs, but I don't foresee myself going under and swimming like I had been this winter.  I know the fluid behind my eardrums didn't come from swimming, but I don't want to do anything that can mess my ears up again.
• I bought some of the cutest jewelry at Walmart this week.  It's all costume jewelry, which I don't buy a lot of because the boys usually can't keep their hands off of it, but it was super cheap.  My jewelry collection is stocked for the summer.  Now I'm on the hunt for a cute kimono.  I'm already planning my outfit for the next NeedtoBreathe concert, and I think a kimono will be involved.  
• We're up to four eggs in our fern on the front porch.  One day over the weekend I forgot to hang the fern back up after I watered it, and I saw a broken egg on the porch were the mom couldn't find the nest.  I felt so bad!  Anyways, we've been checking on them, but that momma bird stays in the fern until I absolutely run her out.  I'm sure they're getting close to hatching, so I'm trying to keep the boys away from it as much as possible.  I'm not a fan of birds, so I don't want any run-ins with a mad momma.
• In August, when we return to school, I'll be teaching 6th grade science!  I'm so excited!  I went to college to teach science, and it's what I taught last year, so I'm happy to be returning to my roots.  I enjoyed language arts, but I never felt really comfortable and confident while teaching it.  So, I will have to look over some school stuff over the summer so I'm not just clueless when I return, but the other 6th grade science teachers are some of my closest friends at school, so I'm really looking forward to planning and working with them!

Alright, I've rambled long enough!  I hope everyone has a great Memorial Day weekend!  We're spending ours with family, so I'm sure it'll be loud and crazy!

Andy's Surprise 30th Birthday Party

On Monday Andy turned 30, so I threw him a surprise birthday party on Sunday.  Several months ago he had told me he didn't want to do anything for his 30th, especially a surprise party, but I knew better.  I started planning it about two months before his birthday, and it took all I had to keep the secret from him.  The week leading up to his birthday, he started saying he couldn't believe I wasn't having a surprise party for him, or that I hadn't planned anything in general, and was acting rather depressed about it all.  He was saying this to all of our friends and family, all of them knowing about the surprise party, so we had to work really hard to keep a straight face as he would say all of this stuff.  I kept telling him that we were going to a concert and that I'd let him pick out where we went to eat all weekend, and that I'd make him a cake, but that didn't seem to make him feel any better.

Sunday rolled around and we didn't have the boys with us because they had stayed with Andy's parents for the NeedtoBreathe concert.  Our "plan" was to meet them to get the boys and eat, but Andy tried his best to throw a wrench in every plan we made.  He didn't want to eat at Rib and Loin, he didn't want to wait until 6:00 to get them, and so on.  It about killed me getting him to just do what we said, but it was worth it in the end!  He swears he had no idea about the party until we pulled into the parking lot and saw everyone's vehicles, but I'm glad I kept him surprised until then.  We had the party at Rib and Loin in Hixson, there were 35 of us, and it was a great spot to have it.  They got the food out to us quickly, plus there was plenty of room for all of the kids to run around and play. 

Anyways, we had a great turn out and Andy was really surprised.  The party seemed to pull him out of his 30th birthday depression, so all the hard work was well worth it in the end!

NeedtoBreathe Concert #4 // Alpharetta // {Tour de Compadres Leg 1}

This past weekend we went to our 4th NeedtoBreathe concert this year.  Our first one was May 31st, 2014, then we went to one in September, then another in March.  I know most people don't care to hear about the concerts over and over, but I'm writing about it anyways.  Andy, my best friend Kaitlin, and I went.  We left Saturday afternoon and headed down to Atlanta.  The concert was in Alpharetta, so it didn't take us long to get there.  We ate some dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings, then headed to the venue.  It was at the Verizon Amphitheater at Encore Park, and it was a great spot.  We got there when the gates opened and found our seats.  This was the first show (besides the one at the Ryman) we'd been to that wasn't general admission, so it was nice to not have to worry about getting in line early.

When I bought our tickets, I didn't get the most expensive ones, so I wasn't expecting them to be that close or anything.  Well, once we got there, we were only about 40 feet away from the stage.  I was shocked at how close we were!  We were right in front of a HUGE stack of speakers, so that scared me to death with my ear issues I've been having.  The first band, Colony House, came on right at 7pm.  As soon as they started playing I was almost in tears because it was SO loud and killed my ear, so I ran to a security guard and asked if they sold ear plugs, and thankfully, he gave me a new pair he had in his pocket.  I wore one in my left ear, and that helped immensely.  The other bands that opened for them were Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors, and Ben Rector.  I didn't really know any of their songs, besides one of Colony Houses', but I enjoyed them all.  Finally, at 9:30, NeedtoBreathe came out.  I was just as excited when they came out as I was the first time, if not more.  These were definitely the best seats we've ever had, so it was really neat seeing them so close.  As always, they put on a  fantastic show, full of energy!  And let me tell ya, my man (the lead singer), was looking his  best.  Poor Andy is so understanding about my school girl crush over him that it's not even funny.  At one point, he was walking through the crowd during a song (right past our row), so I stood up on my chair to see him better.  At that point, Andy shoved me as hard as he could to try and get me closer to him so I could touch him, but all I ended up doing was about breaking my neck from his loving shove.  Anyways, that infatuation hasn't faded in the least.

They ended up playing one of my absolute favorite songs of theirs that I never thought would make it into a concert, so needless to say, I was beyond thrilled when it started up.  Anyways, they put on an awesome show as always.  As embarrassed as I am to say it, we've already got tickets for a show in Nashville in August.  Andy acts like I'm ridiculous for going to so many shows, but you'll notice who never stops me from buying the tickets, and who is always right by my side through the whole show.  : )

Here are some pictures from the show - they make us look farther away from the stage than we really are.  The first picture is of one of my students and me.  I knew she was coming, so we met up.  She was so sweet and excited about the show.  She was actually one of my favorite students I had this year, even thought I'm not supposed to have favorites!  I've got some videos at the bottom, but for some reason they usually never work.  Anyways, maybe this will be last of what you hear about NeedtoBreathe for awhile... at least until August!

Friday Update

Happy Friday!  Today is the last day of school with students!  Woohoo!  I can't wait for a summer full of Cooper and Clark time!  Now, I will say that this week has been a rough one for me.  Last week, around Wednesday, my left ear started ringing (a roaring sound actually), and it hasn't stopped one time since then.  I went to the doctor and have fluid in both ears, but a lot more in my left.  I wasn't surprised by that, but I have been surprised that it doesn't seem to be getting any better.  The sound is maddening, and I've been an emotional wreck all week trying to cope with it.  I've done everything the doctor told me to do, and it's still not getting any better.  I tend to panic and read way too much stuff on the internet, so now I'm terrified that it won't go away.  I know the doctors will help and that hopefully it'll subside on it's own VERY soon, but please keep me in your prayers.  I'm really miserable from this constant noise I'm hearing in my left ear.  It's really affecting my hearing too, so I'm struggling BIG time!  Anyways, here's a look back at our week.

• Our 6 year anniversary:  Saturday we celebrated our 6 year wedding anniversary!  Andy had to work, but when he got off we went to eat at Cheddar's (one of our favorite places), did a little shopping, and then I drug him to see Insurgent with me.  He had watched Divergent with me earlier in the week, so he wasn't just clueless as to what was happening.  Those definitely aren't his type of movie, so he was a great sport watching both of them.  Anyways, I couldn't imagine spending my life with someone else.  We've been through a lot in 6 years, and there's nobody else I'd rather grow old with.  
  
• Mother's Day:  Sunday was Mother's Day and my boys made it so special!  They wrote me the sweetest poem (with Daddy's help), made me breakfast, made me lots of stuff at church, took me out to eat, and Andy is going to make me a mudroom/entryway similar to the one below in our kitchen.  I also got to watch Criminal Minds and edit pictures in peace and quiet while Andy took the boys fishing, so it was a great day!  Our kitchen is massive (which is odd for the houses in our neighborhood), so we definitely have the room for it. I'm really excited about it!  Andy's very handy, so I know it'll look great!
  
  
  
  

• The Divergent Series:  I finished the Divergent series on Monday.  I had been warned that the ending was less that stellar, and man, was that an understatement.  I loved the books, but the ending was terrible.  If you're thinking about reading them, don't let that stop you, but just be prepared.  I've heard that some people really like the ending, but I was NOT one of them!  I won't say anymore because I'll end up ruining it for someone, but let's just say I was very unhappy when I shut Allegiant.
• Cooper:  Cooper finished up soccer last week!  We had a round robin tournament, and it was hot, so he was thrilled when we left Saturday and I told him he was done for good.  He told us he wants to play again sometime, but we'll see if he really means that.  We finally got his medicine for his wart and started it last night.  He hates medicine, but Andy took care of it, and Coop stayed rather calm.  We have to put medical tape on it every night, and he thinks that's cool.  Coop's also started drawing and coloring a lot more, and he's really getting a lot better at it.  Just a month or so ago it was like he had no concept of drawing or writing, but now I can really tell what he's drawn!  He's also working on writing his name on his won, and he does really well until he gets to the "e r" at the end.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Clark:  This sweet boy has had a rough week in terms of injuries.  He's fallen off several things (he's a major climber) the last few days, and he's even got a black eye right now.  This morning he woke up telling me his face hurt, so I feel bad for that sweet baby.  We're also trying to get him interested in using the potty, but he always tells us, "I'll do it later."  I'm even bribing him with candy, and that's working.  Cooper was the same way, he didn't have any interest until he decided he wanted to do it on his own, so I guess Clark will be the same way.  Clark's been giving us kisses since we was a baby, but he's finally getting really good at them.  He usually holds his mouth open, licks us, or something like that, but he's finally puckering up now and really kissing us!  It's so sweet!  He's usually pretty stingy with kisses, but he's been giving them voluntarily this week.  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Life in General:  We found a couple of bird eggs in my fern on our front porch this week.  It's really grown the last week or so, so I pulled it down to water it, and there was a nest in there with one egg Wednesday.  The boys flipped out!  I pulled it down last night to water it again and to let them check on the egg, and this time there were two eggs!  I thought Cooper was going to have a stroke he was so excited.  We hadn't seen any evidence of a momma bird, but I walked out of the garage last night and saw one take off out of the fern when it heard me.  It's killing the boys to not touch the nest, but they are loving checking on the eggs every day.  The picture below is from when we first discovered the nest, so it only has one egg in there.

• The NeedtoBreathe Concert:  And last, but definitely not least, the NeedtoBreathe concert is tomorrow!  To be honest, I've been so miserable and depressed this week about my ear that I haven't been as excited as I normally am about the concert, but I'm getting there!  At least the extremely loud noise will mask the other noise in my ear!  It's outside in Atlanta, and I'm slightly worried about the weather/rain, but it rained on us last year when we went and we still had a blast, so I'm sure it'll be fine.  I'm one of these CRAZY fans who checks the setlists from previous shows and all the Instagram videos people posts, and they've been playing one of my absolute favorite songs that I didn't think would ever make into a show, so I'm super excited/hopeful that they'll play it tomorrow!  Andy's birthday is Monday, and he's requested that we eat at Pappadeaux's in Atlanta before the show.  It's a seafood/Cajun place, so I'm not really sure what I'll eat, but I'll make a sacrifice for my soon to be 30 year old husband! 

Alright, I hope everyone has a great weekend!  Once again, please keep me in your prayers for my ear - I'm desperately praying for healing, and I'd really appreciate anyone else who would like to pray for that too!

Friday Update

Happy Friday, friends!  Our weeks just keep getting busier as the month of May rolls on.  Tomorrow Cooper has a soccer tournament, and it's our 6 year wedding anniversary.  Sunday is Mother's Day, plus I'm shooting some engagement pictures that afternoon.  Next weekend is so busy that it makes my head spin, so I'm just trying to take it one day at a time.  Anyways, here's a look back at our week!

• Cooper has had a rather large wart on his finger for about a year or so now.  We've been to the pediatrician and had it treated, we've treated it ourselves with over the counter stuff, and nothing works.  If it goes away, it just comes back bigger.  I took him to the dermatologist on Wednesday, waited for an hour and a half to been seen (with the boys going CRAZY), only for the doctor to look at his finger for about 10 seconds and write us another prescription that I'm sure won't help.  I was so mad I couldn't see straight when I left.  We're supposed to go back in 6 weeks, but I don't know if I want to go through that again.
• Clark has been getting up extremely early this week.  Both of the boys have always been early risers, but he's been pushing 6:15 some this week.  Thankfully, he still takes naps, but he's just so fussy when he's tired.  We've also started trying to wean him off his pacifier this week, only giving it to him at nap and bedtime, so he's been livid about that as well.  
• This is our last week of soccer, and I can't say I'm really sad about it.  It hasn't been too involved or anything, but Cooper hasn't really cared for it.  He doesn't dislike it, but when we go to practice or a game, he's just as happy to stand on the sidelines as he is to play.  Now, he keeps telling me he likes swimming so much more than soccer (since he did the little swim camp last week), but I highly doubt I'll find any swim team that will allow him to swim with floaties on.  
• I've been on a reading binge since Monday, reading the Divergent series.  Last night I was reading on the couch and I noticed how badly I was squinting.  Andy noticed it too.  My eyes were burning and he asked me if I had been wearing my glasses any since I had had these books plastered to my face.  Well, I haven't been, so now I'll be dorking it out until I finish the series.  I finished the second one today, and I've heard such mixed reviews about the third one that I'm almost scared to start it, but I'm going to dive in tonight... I can't hold off that long.  I'm hoping it'll end how I want it to, but I'm preparing myself for the worst.
• The TV series, Secrets and Lies, had it's season finale this past week.  I loved that show, but I disliked the way it ended.  I was so depressed!  I don't know if it's coming back for a second season or not, but there are things I want resolved!
• I had my hair colored and trimmed last week (quite a bit), and then I had it colored again this week.  As my hairstylist says, I've got some stout gray hair, so the blonde we put on last week didn't quite cover it.  We went a little darker this week with some highlights, and I love it.  I'm finally starting to feel normal with my short hair.

I'm about to head to my spin class at the Y, so I hope everyone has a great weekend of celebrating the special women in your lives!

Recent Reads

I absolutely love reading books, so I thought I'd do a little review of the last few I've read.  I truly love getting lost in the world and imagination a book can bring.  Now, I'll be honest and say that I rarely find a book that I just hate because I know what genre I like and I rarely deviate from it, so my reviews may not mean that much to an outsider.  All four of these books are radically different from each other though, besides the fact that they are fiction, so maybe that will count for something.   I have summer break right around the corner, and I do a lot of reading during the summer, so please share any book suggestions you have!

The Girl on the Train - I had seen this book popping up on Instagram and other places on the internet, and when I looked it up on Amazon, it was at the top of the bestsellers list.  It was new enough that I couldn't get it at the library, so I downloaded it to my iPad from my Kindle app.  Let me tell ya, this book was intense!  I loved it.  I think I finished it in under 24 hours, and it wasn't a short book.  I honestly couldn't put it down.  It's a thriller that had me guessing/clueless right up until the end.  It was just suspenseful enough to make me paranoid walking through the hallway at night.  The language gets a bit rough at times, but I'd suggest it to anyone wanting an "edge of your seat" read.

The Longest Ride - I'm a hopeless Nicholas Sparks fan, and will be until the day I die... despite the fact that his marriage fell apart in real life.  I've read every single one of his books, and can't wait for another one to come out.  Some of his books had me crying so hard I really thought I'd vomit, but thankfully, this one wasn't one of those!  It's incredibly sweet, and it has a very good ending.  I saw the movie when it came out, and I loved it, but I felt it deviated A LOT from the book. I'm one of these girls that likes a movie to follow a book to the T, and this one didn't.  Don't get me wrong, both were great stories, just completely different.  This would be a great vacation book!

Ten Days in Paradise - When I stumbled upon this book I had literally typed "beach reads" into Amazon and found it.  This is the kind of book I like to call a "mindless read" in that I flew through it and didn't have to think hard at all to keep up with it (unlike the top book and bottom book on this list).  Every now and then I love reading the cheesy free books Kindle offered, and this compares very closely to one of those.  It's a love story with deceit and betrayal, and all works out well in the end.  It was a bit on the corny side, but it kept me entertained while I was on the elliptical at the Y.  This would be another good beach/vacation read.

Divergent - I had avoided jumping on this bandwagon as long as I possibly could, but when I saw one of my students reading it at the school book fair the other day I broke down and bought it too.  I usually like adolescent literature (my favorite class in college), and this book was no exception.  I don't know what that says about me, maybe I'm an immature reader or something, but I couldn't put this book down.  I was afraid it would be too much like The Hunger Games for me to enjoy it (even though I loved that series... I just didn't want a copy cat).  It is similar to Hunger Games in that it's a dystopian society, there are different people groups, and there's a revolution, but other than those things, it's completely different.  At first I got slightly frustrated because there were so many made up/science fiction type things that I thought to myself, "I'm never going to keep all this stuff straight!" but it got much easier as I got into the book.  This is the first book of three in the series, and even though I've heard mixed reviews about the rest, I'm sure I'll power through- especially with summer break quickly approaching.  I'm a typical teenage girl in a 28 year old's body in the fact that the author has already got me hook, line, and sinker with the main male character.  I'm in love with Four!  So, even if the rest of books aren't that great, I'll read just to see what happens to him and Tris in the end.  I had seen him in the movie previews and in and episode of Downton Abbey, so I knew that if I ended up hating the book at least I'd have him to look at when I watched the movie.  It has much more of a love story than The Hunger Games did, so I loved that aspect of it.  Trust me, I haven't ruined anything by mentioning the love story - you could watch the movie trailer and figure that out (just like Andy did).  Anyways, even if you think you wouldn't be into science fiction/futuristic type books, I'd still suggest reading this.  I'm usually not either, but I really loved this book.  I already started Insurgent today, so I'll let you know how I like it once I'm finished.

*Andy and I watched the movie last night.  He hadn't read the book, but I think he liked it... I can't ever tell with him.  He kept up with it fine, and even figured stuff out ahead of time.  Anyways, I really liked the movie.  I was pretty close to the book, so that made me happy.  I always like books more than movies though because movies just can't capture all the special moments of 450 pages into 2 hours.  Four was absolutely beautiful too, so that made up for any difference from the book!

These Guys

Even though it hasn't been all that long since I took pictures of the boys, I decided we needed some updated ones the other day.  I knew I was taking some pictures of my friend's daughters, so I put the boys in decent clothes and dragged them along for the photo shoot.  I really love how these pictures turned out- their personalities shine through them.  Enjoy!