Summer, I can almost taste you. And you taste like vodka-lemonades, no!?!

It just occurred to me that I haven't written a blog in a very long time.  We've been quite busy.  It seems as though we've been trying to do everything we missed out on during basketball and tutoring the past few weeks.  We squeezed in some doctor's appointments, trips to the salvation army to donate clothes, books, etc., got Roxy out for some walks, and I've been trying to get back into running.  (Emphasis on the 'trying' part).

11 JT
Most exciting are some recent renovations to our house :)  John made a beautiful rock garden in the front where the nasty old shrubs used to be.  We also took off the shutters.  I really love our red door but it clashed a little with the shutters.  So instead of trying to re-paint it to exactly match, we just took the shutters off all together.  I really like the look of the front of our house now:

We also finally carpeted the upstairs- the steps, hallway, and into the three closets.  It is SO nice to have that done and I hope it will help to sell our house.

We dropped our price to $139,000 and are hoping to get some more showings this summer.  We shall see.  In the mean time, we've been enjoying the warm weather and have already done some stooping.  I love to read out there after school and it's also a good place to have drinks & listen to a little music.

Running?  What's that again?
When I was in college and grad school, running was something I loved to do.  Whether it was through the streets of Elmira, on the treadmill, or around Jamaica Pond, I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I was never a fast runner or one who ran miles and miles on end.  But I ran 3 to 4 a day when I was in good shape and it felt good for my body and my mind.  I realized one day while working out that I haven't really "loved" any other kind of exercise I've done since then and maybe I should try to run again.  Well, wow, am I out of running shape.  I am barely huffing and puffing out two miles out a time at an abysmal pace!!  I am going to try to stick with it though.  My first week I ran (and combo walked too) 12 miles and this week I only got 7 in.  But I'm determined to get back to running feeling good so I'm not giving up.  It might take several weeks before I don't feel like I might pass out, but it will be worth it.  My friend Dana walks with me once a week, and she has us signed up for a 5K in Rock Hill in two weeks.  I'm hoping she'll let us run some of it; but we'll see.

End of Year Madness
We are four weeks away from school ending!!  I have put in for some summer hours at Liberty to inventory speech-language assessments and create a template for eval's.  If I get those hours approved, I think I'm going to ditch the idea of doing EI during the summer.  I'd rather go in to school & work for a week straight than work a couple hours a week, all summer.  The kids are going to be nuts the next few weeks but it'll be over before we know it.  We've already snuck in some summer-like BBQ's and shorts and flip flops.  I can't wait for it to get here.  It's almost time to switch from blue moon & wine, to the more appropriate summer ale and vodka-lemonades :)  Summer is kicking off with a very busy July 4th weekend- Patrice's wedding, Amanda's shower, & TJ's Graduation party all slated for that Fri-Sat-Sun.  Only 5 weeks away :)  This summer Riley will turn 6 and Roxy will be 4- where does the time go??



Memorial Day Dedication
This post is in loving memory of all our fallen heroes.  Thank you for your service and sacrifice.  We appreciate you every day.
~*~All gave some, some gave all~*~