And...

for those of you keeping track, today being finished makes 9...

10

10 days left...

More Photos...

Here are some more photos from our weekend at the beach. I just finished making a little scrapbook from our adventures - I'll try to take pictures of it soon to share. I'm happy with how it turned out.

Nana & Nellie

 

Tim, Mom, & the girls playing on the beach

 

My Dad

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My Sis & Mom

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Memorial Day Weekend...

This weekend I was here...

 

playing with this girl...

 

staying in this house...

 

with all of these people...

 

it was a BLAST!! On Friday my parents & Nana flew in for the long weekend. They met me at our house after I got done with school & we left for a family weekend at Depot Bay. Oh my goodness was it fun. Too much to tell about here tonight as I'm still recovering/getting ready for the week...but it was great. We plan to make this a more regular occurrence. Last time we did this was almost 10 years ago. The coast was beautiful, everyone got along very well, & we had some much needed R&R with family. Thank you Mom, Dad, & Nana again for such a wonderful weekend. And thank you Laura & girls for all of the laughs & fun. I'll be back with more on our adventures later this week...

My Weekend

This past weekend Amanda invited me to come with her & her husband up to Powell Butte. Tim was out of town for the weekend so it was perfect timing. We drove up Friday night and stayed through Sunday afternoon. It was a fabulous time of hanging out with Amanda - talking about important things & not so important things...painting fingers & toes, using the new Alba salt scrub, reading magazines (hey My Andrea, I have 2 more for you), scrapping, & just relaxing. It was perfect. And SOO nice to get away for a little bit. The area was beautiful & the weather was nice so we took a fabulous walk on Sunday. Saturday evening we went into Bend & Redmond to play. It was such a wonderful weekend, thank you again Ben & Amanda for having me along!!

Me & Amanda-Pants

 

Mirror Pond, Bend, OR

 

Ben & Amanda

 

Sunset from the deck

 

You Know You're a Music Teacher When...

...you have these in your dishwasher & drying on your counter top. 40 recorders to be exact (go ahead count them...there's 40). I am SO happy to report that we are officially finished with our recorder unit for the year & have moved on to keyboards...that have headphones...hallelujah!

 

30...

Here are some LO's I did a few weeks ago of everyone's 30th birthday this past year. Someone's 31st birthday is coming up soon.... :)

 

 

 

Eli & Silas

Here are my nephews. The picture is not very good - but the LO did turn out well - I love it. Especially the photo in the middle where Eli is kissing Silas on the head - so sweet. So sorry Kim - I thought I'd already posted this...here are your precious boys!!

 

For the Mom's...

...and anyone who's had a mom...

Happy Mother's Day!!

Dear Mom & Faith,

Happy Mother's Day!! We love you both so very much. Thank you for the godly examples you are in our lives & for all of your love & support through the years.

Faith, I am so thankful for the way you raised Tim. You raised him to love God, love his family (including his wife) selflessly, to honor both you & Richard, & to work hard. I am so very blessed by Tim & your family. I love you very much - happy Mother's Day.

Mom, where do I begin? Thank you for always being there to listen to me, to give me thoughtful advice, & help along the way. This past year especially I have greatly appreciated your care & concern as we both face similar battles. I think you should know that as I think back to my childhood - almost all of my memories involve you. I have nothing but happy thoughts about growing up & I'm so blessed to be able to call you 'my mom'. You are a beautiful, loving, & talented lady. I love you very much - happy Mother's Day.

And for all other mom's out there - a very special Mother's Day wish to you too! Happy Mother's Day!

Honesty...

...it gets ya everytime. Today I received a card with an envelope that said this:

'Best Music Teacher EVER!!!' And the fine print says...

'and the only one I've ever had'. :) Isn't that hilarious? I'm laughing just typing this out. It's true...& I love it.

Wedding Album

Here is a collage of my circle journal. I've just included the pages I finished this weekend (& the new cover that Erin did for me). It's ALL done - I'm so excited for this...it's only been 4 years. :)

Teacher Appreciation Week...

This week is teacher appreciation week. At our school we've been receiving lots of love each day from students & parents. Yesterday our parent club paid for a chair massage for each of us - for 10 minutes. It was 10 minutes of bliss - fabulous.

Today I was greeted by students with flowers, cards, & this: a puppet - that when you open her mouth, she has music notes that come out - how cute is that!? From a 1st grader. On the back it says 'I love music'.

This note made me tear up - it's from a 3rd grader. I received several other sweet cards & notes from students - what a wonderful week it has been.

More?!?

Yes, I'm just getting warmed up...

Here is my card from last week's prompt - Reality Check:

Front:

Back:

A LO I did from Erin's wedding several weeks ago - but haven't shared yet...

Another LO I did several weeks ago - but haven't shared...

National Scrapbook Day...

After returning from the slumber party Saturday morning - I headed out to celebrate 'National Scrapbook Day' with a friend of mine from church. It was a creative memories party - which I realized is not my style - but they were very nice & I ended up winning this album! It's super nice & I'm very excited about it. I also finished several LO's while I was there & even begin my part of the circle journal (I needed to finish it once it was returned to me).

New album:

Nellie's b-day LO:

The Meridian Water tower - I love it...I know, silly...but I do...

Do you recognize this girl!?

Trash To Treasure...

On Friday night I went to Nicole's house (aka - my biggest blog stalker) for Trash to Treasure. She made us a delish taco salad - then off to trash it was. :) We each (Nicole, Beth, me) brought things with us that we didn't want/use anymore. We all walked away with new treasures & a pile of items to be donated. It was great fun!! After our treasure hunting...we sat around & chatted. Then we painted nails & ate freshly baked cookies. Then we chatted some more. It was a perfect slumber party - thank you Nicole for hosting us!!

Nicole & Beth - can you hear me now?!

Trash/treasures...

Beth & some of her new-found treasures...

More Scrapping...

Here are 2 more LO's I did last Friday. On Saturday I'm going to celebrate national scrapbook day in style - with a friend from church. We are going to be scrapping most of the day...I can't wait. I just need to print out some pictures as I've used all of mine up with LO's like...

Erin's wedding day photo - this is one of my favorite photos from her wedding...

Anonymous & me. :) - At the Chamber Choir reunion this past September...

I know these photos aren't the best - I was too lazy to take them out of their sleeves for the photo - sad, I know. I'll do better next time...