Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

What a great day! We went to see the sixth installment of the Harry Potter movies. We've been anticipating it for weeks. We watched each of the previous five movies, one each day for the last 5 days. The Half-Blood Prince was worth the wait. It was excellent. Lots of humor, to counter the drama and scary parts. Of course, for anyone who has read the book, there will be no real surprises. Big shocks for those who haven't read the book. Ron and Hermoine's interaction is wonderfully acted, and Ginny's character really shines in this movie. Draco is wonderfully evil, yet your heart feels for him and his situation. The special effects are 'brilliant.' Especially the opening sequences almost made me queasy. Every one of the 155 minutes of this film is worth sitting in the theater. Sit back and enjoy!

Where has Summer Gone?

It is already the middle of July, and it seems school was out just days ago. We've been running all summer, it seems. I thought I'd give an update on Summer so far.

We started the month of June with Jacob's last week of high school. He graduated 6th in his class in what was a fairly nice ceremony. Except for being packed into a very overheated facility! We had a nice day, and enjoyed Sarah and her family sharing it with us.













The next week was our church's annual Vacation Bible School. As always this was a total blast! I was in charge of Rocky's PreSchool Clubhouse, and had 9 wonderful 4 year olds. What fun:)

Following this, we traveled to College Station for Jacob's New Student Orientation. This was two extremely well organized days of very informative stuff! Not a moment of our time was wasted. We came home with Jacob's schedule done, ID card in hand, sports pass ready to roll, meal plan picked, PO Box done, and books ordered. Time well spent.













Jessa's birthday comes next. We had a great day with Sarah and Jessa. We got her a bubble blowing lawn mower which she loved. She had a funfetti cake with pink icing. It was great seeing them again so soon.













We traveled to Dallas after this for our Texas District LCMS convention. That was smooth sailing, and the bonus was we got to get together with my mom and Allan's family for dinner. It is always so great to get to see the family.

Then last week, Allan and I got to babysit for Jessa for the day while Sarah and Joey spent a day together just the two of them. I know I'm the Grandma, but she is the most wonderful little girl. She has got loads and LOADS of personality, and is SO SMART. We had the best time ever.

I've been busily working on an A&M quilt for Jacob to use in the dorm. Hopefully it will be complete by weeks end. That's what I'm shooting for anyway. I'll post a picture once it's done.

Lice

Yes, you read it right -- lice...they can really louse up a week. lol. But really, what a week. My entire class has been infested with the awful critters. I have sent kids home day after day after day. It's really hard to get a lot accomplished with only 2 or 3 kids in attendance. Now I'm praying that after an all clear Friday... on Monday everyone is still OK. Thank goodness my head isn't itching! Cute aren't they??

Back to School

Yes, today was my first day back...sigh... But seriously, I have the greatest job ever. As far as teaching jobs go, this is top notch. None of the nonsense that goes with public school, and all the perks of small classes, involved parents, and great co-workers.

Here's my list from last week:

1. Take all recycling to the recycling center. DONE ON TUESDAY
2. Clean our office from top to bottom (hopefully throwing away mountains of stuff!) SORT OF DONE - ONE BAG OF TRASH, AND MAJOR DUSTING.
3. Sort through my cloths and take bags to Goodwill. ONE BAG AND 2 MATTRESSES (thanks for the help Jacob!)
4. Tan (If we get some sunny weather after last weeks cold and drizzle.) THREE DAYS - MINOR TAN LINES.
5. Read the new Vince Flynn book. (Preferable while accomplishing #4) EXCELLENT, AS THEY ALWAYS ARE.
6. Take a mid-day bike ride each day. 3 DAYS (INCLUDING RETURNING #5)
7. Repair the sofa ruffle. (Darn those cats:) DONE
8. Update the web pages I'm responsible for. DONE
9. Clean house. (Although last on the list, this will be top priority - my beloved does this each week so I don't have to so I'm going to beat him to it this week.) 90% COMPLETE

Also did 3 scrapbook pages from 2006 and filed several packages of photos into albums.

Two exciting things today...another case of head lice...ick...and Dancing w/the Stars. Loved it. How cute is Ty. Wonder who will go home tomorrow???

My Return to Blogging

Today is the first day of Spring Break. I started this blog almost exactly two years ago, and am shocked that I haven't posted since August. Life is just so busy it seems. But I have in fact continued to eavesdrop on all my cyber buddies all this time, and hope to begin commenting again. Things are busy at our house. In a mere 3 months my youngest child will be graduating from high school. Then in a few months he'll be off to Aggieland. We've been busy with scholarship applications (his favorite thing to do! - NOT) David moved back home at Thanksgiving, and is moving back with us next week while his mother undergoes radiation. So, in the spirit of being organized and making a list, here is a list of things I'd like to accomplish during my week of vacation:

1. Take all recycling to the recycling center.
2. Clean our office from top to bottom (hopefully throwing away mountains of stuff!)
3. Sort through my cloths and take bags to Goodwill.
4. Tan (If we get some sunny weather after last weeks cold and drizzle.)
5. Read the new Vince Flynn book. (Preferable while accomplishing #4)
6. Take a mid-day bike ride each day.
7. Repair the sofa ruffle. (Darn those cats:)
8. Update the web pages I'm responsible for.
9. Clean house. (Although last on the list, this will be top priority - my beloved does this each week so I don't have to so I'm going to beat him to it this week.)

So that's it. I'll let you know this weekend how I did.