Sunshine and Summertime…

It is summer vacation and I am in love with it!  So much time and so little to do.  I am looking forward to a little R & R.  I can honestly say that I have gotten 10 plus hours of sleep each night since Friday.  Glorious...

The school year ended rather positively.  I am so proud of all my kiddos as they move on to second grade, but I will miss them dearly.  This group of kids really taught me a lot this year.  It is an amazing feeling to know, if just for a moment in time, they think that I am the best teacher in the world.  Melts my heart again and again. 

We spent most of the day at Mahoney State Park playing and picnicking in the balmy upper 80 degree weather.  I also got some really sweet notes and gifts.  Totally unnecessary, but very thoughtful!

 

Thursday morning brought  a little bit of bad news, but all ended well.  Kirsten got into a little accident.  Amazingly she was able to walk away relatively unharmed.  It could have been worse.  Much worse.  Praising the Lord that she is okay!

I found out from a picture text.  No words.  Just this picture...

Now that summer vacation is officially here, I have a few things that went to the back burner during April and May.  Now they really need to be done.  Finish the Hunger Games series.  Clean and dejunk.  Laundry.  Grocery shopping.  Let the fun begin!

One final picture.  It is amazing that what takes months to turn into a classroom can be torn down in only a matter of hours.

Don’t cry because it’s over.  Smile because it happened.

...Dr. Seuss...

{The Launes}

Friends…

I have the best friends...hands down.  I am so grateful that I have them in my life, even if I don’t see them as often as I would like.

Sara, lives in Hawaii so I get to see her a couple of times a year.  She was back last week so I capitalized on one of my remaining personal days and met up with her for breakfast at Panera  Bread.  We stayed so long that we nearly had to eat lunch!   She is amazing at keeping up on things and I am terrible.  She is leaving Hawaii in a couple of months and moving to Alaska.  Total opposite, but she couldn’t be more excited.  My goal: to actually visit her in Alaska.  Never made it to Hawaii...

Last night I also got together with some of my high school friends.  So far we’ve all stayed in the area, but now Amy and her hubby are moving to Wichita.  I am happy for them, but also sad to see them go.  I do, however, see a road trip in our near future.

We met out at Mahoney and enjoyed a delicious dinner and good company.  However, the best part of the night came after dinner.  Amy and I had Amanda meet us at SAC Museum because Amanda didn’t have a park pass.  Great idea, right?  It all seemed perfect until we went back to drop Amanda off at her car and boom.  The gate was locked!  Amy’s instant advice was, “We’ll just have to curb it!”  Much better than my idea of how we were going to have to explain to museum officials that we had visited the museum and decided to get dinner only to come back and find the gate locked.  Amanda successfully “curbed it”, Amy got pictures and I laughed until I cried.  All in all, a great night!

Now, tomorrow is the last day of school.  It has been a whirlwind of a week as I have been busily preparing and finishing up all the last minute details that the final days of school entail.  Tomorrow we go on our class picnic.  It seems like just yesterday I was blogging about going back to work.  Now I am anxiously awaiting all that summer will hold...vacation, swimming, reading and more to be determined. 

Crossing my fingers for a smooth last day of school... 

{The Launes}

Ready to Run…

Last Sunday my alarm went off at 4:45 a.m.  As it went off, I could hear heavy wind, hard rain and loud thunder and lightning outside my bedroom window.  It was a flashback to 2007, the first time I ran the Lincoln Half Marathon.  In 2007 I was crossing my fingers and hoping they would cancel the whole thing.  I had hardly trained and had no idea what to expect.  However, this time I was extremely disappointed and hoping that it would stop.  I wanted to run.  I trained, I had updated my Marathon Mania playlist on my i-pod,  I had a goal in mind and I wasn’t going to stop until I reached that goal.

The weather cleared and it actually turned out to be a gorgeous day!  A little humid, but otherwise I couldn’t complain.  And so we ran.  We ran for 13.1 miles. 

Trent came down to Lincoln to see the race.  He is 1 for 3 on actually getting to see me run.  Better luck next year, TL.  But I was just very excited to have him there!

So thankful I have Jamie to run with.  On Saturday mornings and race day.  I couldn’t do it without her!

This half brought several firsts...

First time finishing in under 2 hours...1:58.17

My first time on the news...

I tried to put the video in...no such luck.  We were at 30 seconds in the 31 second video.  Be thankful I spared you the other 29 seconds!  I would have never known, but the amazing Pat Yardley caught it with her eye on the news and told me about it.

And, my first trip to the emergency room... 

I got so sick after the race. I usually get a little sick, but this time it was awful...I will spare the details. After about 4 hours of being so sick I knew I was dehydrated so we headed to urgent care.  The diagnosis – dehydration.  An IV would take care of it, but they didn’t have them there so I would have to head over to Lakeside for that.  After about 2 hours of being poked and prodded I felt like a new woman.  Praise.The.Lord.

Now, I haven’t ran in a week.  Need to.  Want to.  But no time.  However, in 4 days I should have nothing but time!  4 more days of school my friends.  But who’s counting?  Until then...

{The Launes}

The First of May…

The first of May always brings a celebration in our family.  Not only is it May Day, but also my mom’s birthday.  It tends to be a busy time of year, but there is always time to celebrate!  This year we headed into Omaha for a birthday dinner at Johnny’s Italian Steakhouse.  And as our waitress would say, it was phenomenal! 

Then is was back to Jamie’s for presents and cupcakes!

Chuck laid it all out there for the birthday celebration.  I think in his mind he is thinking “cake, please.”

While it is quite belated, I’d like to make it blog official...Happy Birthday Mom!

{The Launes}

Good Luck…

Where in the world did April go?  It seems like I barely blinked and suddenly it was May 5th.  I kept wanting to sit down and blog, but with everything going on, I have literal has like 2 seconds of spare time!

April in pictures...

a new{ish} couch

Women’s Night...

Ashley’s Baby Shower...

This week was an unbelievably busy week.  2 track meets, mom’s birthday, track and field day and a field trip to the zoo.  More about that crazy week later!

Now, tonight, I am working on updating my iPod, because tomorrow is the big day.  I am however missing game night right now.  Discipline my friends, discipline...

One of my sweet students delivered this sign and a flower to the apartment today.  Made.My.Day!

Now, I’m off to continue hydrating, finish up some laundry and hit the sack!

{The Launes}