Summer Wrap-up 2012

Here I am, the last Saturday of my summer vacation. It seems that once school starts, life moves 100 miles an hour. I have been back at work for a week, in meetings, working on our rooms, lesson plans..etc. But to me, it's when we have our have the kiddos in the classroom that I truly feel that summer is truly over!! I love my job, but I love summer...
This Summer was AWESOME... here's a wrap-up of Summer 2012.

June

Our niece graduated from High School- so proud of her!!

My Aunt Oralia retired after 35 years as an educator. We celebrated with a Hawaiian luau. I was fun!!

Also these cute boys got to meet...Awwww!! Love this pic!! It looks like Xavier is introducing himself to Joey.  Gotta post the other pics- So Cute!!

Did I mention we had THREE parties on the weekend of my aunts retirement party!!

My sweet momma's birthday and we also celebrated my little cousin Tino's 5th birthday a bit early. So sweet to have my grandma's three great-grandsons together!!

Our trip to the Bahamas!!!!

The annual trip to County Line BBQ for our great friend Adrian's birthday!

July

My nephew's 15th birthday!!!

Celebrated the 4TH with a BBQ with family!!

Participated in my first PINTEREST challenge

SNEAK PEAK!!! Finally built our shed barn!! More info on that later!!

Our trip to Austin/ New Braunfels to visit family & where I found lots of great finds at the thrift stores.

August

Ate lots of new, healthier recipes, saving those for a rainy day :)

Also tried some yummy drinks!! Also saving for a rainy day.

And... we celebrated Xavier's 1st birthday! And I created my first birthday hat- LOVE the way it turned out..

As far as my Summer to do list, here's how I did

House Stuff

Put up blinds & curtain rod in the kitchen

Make no-sew curtain for kitchen window
Clean and organize under kitchen sink  Still need to get some organizational stuff to finish it up!
Clean and organize kitchen drawers
Clean and organize upper kitchen cabinets

Clean and organize pantry

Clean and organize lower kitchen cabinets

Clean and organize laundry area-  Still need to get some baskets, and other things to finish this space. 

Clean and organize bookcase in office

Organize and rearrange office furniture

Clean and organize Marc's desk

Clean and organize master closet

Organize under sink in guest bath

Paint guest bath & redecorate

Remove carpet and paint master bath ( yes, we have carpet in the guest bath, not by choice, YUCK!)

Empty guestroom and put stuff in barn- I still working on this, slowly taking stuff to the barn and slowly reclaiming our home!

Put up the light fixtures we bought in the office, hall, and laundry room

Repave front walkway

Organize craft closet

Craft Stuff

Finish my niece's senior album- A monster of a project I was not able to.....but I'm so close to finishing!!

Get caught up with PROJECT LIFE

Make a treasure box for school

Get caught up with regular scrapbooking!

Spray paint some stuff for kitchen!!Still need to paint a few more things, but got the stuff I had wanted to do   

Paint & line drawers of old desk, also new knobs!!

Make labels for album spines

Decorate clothespins and make art for laundry room

Make wreath for classroom- Just bought the stuff to make wreath- will show SOON!!

Make a Christmas Planner - I've created the pages for my planner, just need to tweak and print!

I'm pretty happy with the progress on my list. Now that school is starting, I know I will post a lot less.I'm still putting the finishing touches on some summer projects, that I can't wait to show you. Also some pics of my classroom and other school projects. For all the teachers have a great year and God bless!!

Michelle

Weekend Fun and Shopping Finds!!

This weekend we were in the Austin/ New Braunfels area, I love it there! If I ever moved it would be to New Braunfels- my sis and her family live there and so do my very best friends, Adrian and Erika and their baby girl, Liana. I also love Austin, when I was younger I wanted to move there, but of course that was not to be.. God knows why things don't pan out sometimes. We had a great time visiting family and doing a little shopping. Most importantly I got to see my little man.. my sweet,  adorable nephew!!! LOVE HIM!

While my hubby visited with his brother, I headed out with mom and aunts to the thrift stores like Goodwill, Salvation Army, and Saver's. One thing I learned from my aunts is to take my time and look at things. They always come back with the most fabulous stuff! I found the boy and girl rabbits at each end at Goodwill for .59 each. The three in the middle were bought as a bundle for .99. I have some plans for these come Easter time! Stay tuned... 

I found the frame for 3.99 at Goodwill. I'm planning on using the frame for a project here in the office. I also found a big pack of 12 x12 red cardstock for 1.99 at Saver's. Also at Saver's I found my biggest find of the day, The Singer Sew Quick Handheld sewing machine, the exact one I almost bought at Amazon for 13.99, for only 7.99.  :)

We also took a trip to Ikea. I have three Expedits shelves and an old desk, that I love. But I needed a desk, to take all my stuff I was working on, off the dining room table!! So I got this: AND I LOVE IT!! Plenty of work space!!

Ikea.com

I also got a JULES chair, four large KASSETT boxes, and a rug for my classroom. Thinking about using it in my Library center.

Ikea.com

I have been doing a lot of organizing and cleaning around the house and there are so many projects I want to finish before school starts- with very little time!! EEEK.. wish me luck!!

Michelle

Back to REALITY.........

Hello, again ! My sweetie and I just came back from a 3-day cruise to the BAHAMAS!!! For the last 4 days and 3 nights this was our home away from home: The Norwegian Sky!!

I had never been on a cruise, so I was a bit nervous...well alot nervous. But everything went well and we loved it and hope to do it again someday. But I'm glad to be back- there's really no place like home, even if it involves cleaning and laundry. What's really making me super happy is all the memorabilia we got for our Project Life album. From the airplane flight, our overnight stay in Miami, the cruise itself, and the airplane flight back, I have ticket stubs, maps, itineraries, etc..  I loved that the crew took pictures of the passengers as they boarded  the ship, and throughout the cruise and were available for purchase. We have great souvenir pictures of us boarding the ship, arriving at the Great Stirrup Cay, and all dressed up at dinner. I love that I have them, all the memorabilia, and all the other pictures we took with our camera, my iPhone, and the hubby's cell phone. I'm hoping to put them together within the next few days of so... I'll let you know how that goes. I also want to go over my Project Life process. It's a little weird, but it's worked for me. It's especially for those who are on a budget and are buying things little by little.

It was truly a memorable and well deserved vacation. But now we are back to our regular schedules- or trying to at least! Lots of laundry to do, to-do lists to make, and restock our house with food and necessities. I miss you Bahamas... hope to see you again one day....

Michelle