August 2017

This kid. This grin.

Sunshine. Water. Summer. The best.

After a really busy start to the summer, it was nice to have a bit more downtime this month. I got to spend more time with friends, finish teaching my summer Ceramics class, renew my driver's license, and even get a massage. I heard that Clearly Canadian was on the market again and had to try all the flavors. This was my favorite drink when I was a kid, it felt so fancy! 

Not pictured, my fave, Country Raspberry.

I was so proud of the work my students made in the few weeks we had in class together. On the last day, we had a final critique in our art gallery. Students showcased all their pieces and gave each other feedback. This was my first time teaching in this format (4 hours a day for 20 class periods) and although it wasn't easy to give up a chunk of my summer, it was a good experience and they made some really awesome work!

The walk-around critique

This student's work was exceptional!

One of my kiddos brought me flowers. <3

We're lucky we have a nice park just across the street from our house so we've spent quite a lot of time there this summer. Early in August, there was a neighborhood picnic for everyone in the area. We went right when it started and got to enjoy the bouncy slide. I was so surprised and proud of Noah when he went down it by himself- multiple times! He's typically a little unsure about climbing and bouncing so we were happy he was so confident with this. 

Steps up to the park

Let's check out this bouncy slide!

Family picnic!

Noah's first balloon animal experience

It's a purple octopus on a stick!

We're lucky we have such a lovely neighborhood

At Target: Everyone loves Art class!

Noah loves his "bouncy bee" from Aunt Karen!

Fun with friends at the park!

If you missed my last post, Jordan and I took a trip to Door County in the middle of the month. It was a great, relaxing trip. And we took plenty of attractive photos like these while we were there. Check out my previous post if you want to hear more about it.

Creeps.

Looking good, Parkers.

Other highlights of this month include going to couple more conferences for school, focusing on improving our diet, going on a playdate with Noah's BF, checking out the eclipse, attending a birthday party for Noah's classmate, and other random fun that makes life awesome right now. Yesterday was the first day of school with freshmen, and everyone will be there this Tuesday. And so begins my tenth year of teaching!

Here's a photo dump...

Check out that cart! Where's the Doritos?

Fun with our friend Jacob!

Watching these two little guys play just melts my heart.

Of course we have days like this too...

This eclipse is serious business.

Meg is still tubby and useless.

Umbrella pic 2017: Take 1

Take 2

Take 3. The best you get with a 2 year old.

Inside the Capitol, marveling at the dome.

Birthday party fun!

He loved that party hat

Best part of the party: CAKE!

Let's dig in!

After fueling up with sugar, time to run back to the playground!

Noah has started to love building forts, or least he likes being buried under a giant pile of pillow and blankets. Of course, then he has to bury me and Jordan as well. It's only fair. 

More cake at the picnic with our older daycare friends sending them off to kindergarten! I'm sure that day will be here for us before we know it. Despite the grumpy mug, Noah loved this fun event!

And just like that, summer is over and we're back to school. I'm ready!