Thou Canst Not Stir a Flower Without Troubling a Star

#15 Tuesday 

After a crazy first day of VBS, the second day went rather smooth! I was really excited about the curriculum this year. The first day talked about Jesus and His ultimate sacrifice for us. The rest of the week's bible stories focused on the book of Daniel, but it all related back to Jesus. I think the kids really responded to it!

#16 Wednesday

Here is a recipe for peanut butter cookies that just takes four ingredients. I used three because I lacked chocolate chips. Peanut butter cookies are a great comfort food for my dad so I try to bake them for him when I am home. I am sure he wouldn't mind testing these out for me.

#17 Thursday 

Traditionally, on Thursdays after morning rally, we talk to the third through sixth grade students about becoming a Christian. Aaron got the privilege of doing that and he did an awesome job. He did a great job of presenting the facts clearly and personally without trying to convince the kids. I am quite smitten with that man. :)

We also have parent night on Thursdays. Each group performs a song they learned during VBS and then we provide a dinner afterward. We added an "open house" element so parents could look around the church and see the different activities the kids were involved in. I think the response was great! I loved seeing the community at our church! 

#18 Friday 

Can I just say VBS is a very exhausting week? I am still recovering. I absolutely love this posed picture of everyone "sleeping!" I am sure a lot of them went home and did just that!

#19 Saturday

After clean-up on Friday, Aaron and I did nothing but relax. On Saturday, we went to Lubbock. I got my pedicure, Aaron got his haircut. We went shopping and saw "Jurassic World" in IMAX.

#20 Sunday

I think crock pot meals are a good metaphor for how Sunday afternoons should go: slow and fulfilling. 

#21 Monday

I love when I find a book I can't put down, which is pretty much any Madeline L'Engle book. I love the worlds she creates and I want to be friends/part of the family of the main characters. Her books are intelligent, yet easily accessible. Today, I got to spend my first day of vacation going on a trip to Antarctica. 

Is It Summer, Yet?

Vacation bible school is so exhausting! WHY DID I GIVE UP CAFFEINE?

Day#8 Tuesday

We had our second day of decorating for VBS and it all came together! (whew)  Everyone say a quick prayer for our tree houses to not fall down. However cool they turned out, they are not the most steady of structures.

Day #9 Wednesday

I apologize for my lack of effort in taking decent photos this week...
My assistant director for VBS did a great session of how to lead children to Christ.

Day #10 Thursday

Aaron and I took a quick trip to Lubbock and I obviously had to get giant inflatable boxing gloves!

Day #11 Friday

For the last day of summer school, we played some fun review games. We played a modified version of "Jackpot" with the beach ball. I would call out a vocabulary word and a number of points and if the student caught it and could accurately describe the vocabulary word, they would get those points. I then printed out short comprehension passages and split the class into four groups. The group that showed testing strategies/ the right answers got to have five tries to hit the ball into one of the goals with a putter (I learned what a putter was the night before)

Day #12 Saturday

We had our pool party for VBS registration at the pool and it was a big hit! The party started when the pool closed for the day, so some kids saw what we were doing and decided to stay.

Day #13 Sunday

Crockpot meals are made for Sunday. I threw some ribs in the crock pot Saturday night. When we got home from church, Aaron grilled corn and I cut up some watermelon. After we had a last minute get-together with my in-laws, we grilled steaks and had some of their home-grown green beans.

So, you know, I ate light today.

Day #14 Monday

Being the first VBS I ever lead, I just knew everything was going to run smoothly. I mean, I put enough prep work in, right? Well, after twenty minutes of everything go wrong*, it did run smoothly. So, there.

 *everyone just ignore those twenty minutes

Bed, Breakfast, Bison

We are out of debt! The government no longer owns us! WE ARE OUT OF DEBT! WE ARE OUT OF...

oh wait... we still have a car payment....

We are in less debt! We have officially paid off our student loans. Now we can stop living like poor college students. Except, I am not sure I can ever get used to that. Oh well, I guess my husband can't complain about having a frugal (cheap) wife.

Day #2
Tuesday

Our air conditioner froze over so Aaron and I had to camp out in the living room, as it was far cooler than our room. My dog kept up the tradition of taking over my spot once I got ready in the morning. Gotta keep up the traditions. 

Day #3 

Wednesday

I went to my last workshop that wasn't online. They gave us a list of technology being presented and we got to go choose where we wanted to go. It was so much fun! Teachers, if you are interested, here is a link to all of the technology that was presented.  

Instructional Technology Tools for Teachers

Day #4

Thursday

With summer school, workshops, and VBS, I probably won't get a real summer break until July. This whole week I have been doing summer school. It is only a couple of hours a day but when I come home I work on online workshops. I signed up for three. Don't ever sign up for an online workshop. They are incredibly time-consuming. I finished my last one today and there was much rejoicing. 

 

Day #5

Friday

 Get ready for a lot of pictures for this one...

Aaron's and my anniversary is on the 16th. What I didn't know when I was planning my wedding was that June is an incredibly inconvenient time for a teacher to try to throw an anniversary celebration in there, despite it being summer. Aaron still found a time for us to have a special get-away and the best part of it is.. I didn't have to help plan! (Very convenient words for a teacher). 

 

 

When Aaron got off work at noon, we headed out towards the Panhandle. Our first romantic spot was at a Barbeque joint in a convenient store. Now this may not sound romantic, but I love hidden treasures. This restaurant is located in Dickens, Tx and was featured in Texas Monthly as the best barbeque around this area. Texas Monthly. We got there a couple hours after lunch, so we missed the ribs, but what we did have was really good. 

 

Our next stop was in Matador, Tx at a quaint bed and breakfast called the Hotel Matador. 

Ignore the dirty window of our car...

 We stayed in their nicest room, which was once an icecream palor and barber shop (not at the same time.)  "Sweet hair, man." I apologize for that fail of a pun but it took me forever to come up with that. 

The shower had four heads! I felt like I was in a car wash. It was awesome! 

Isn't the bathroom gorgeous? The jacuzzi bath would be worth the trip alone. 

 

Day #5

Saturday

 

It wouldn't be a bed and breakfast without the breakfast, and it delivered! The table setting was so special. It reminded me of when my parents made me go to a "princess camp." I went kicking and screaming but ended up loving it. They taught us the basics: manners, setting a table, decorating a cake. We modeled clothes at Kholes and went to a restaurant to have high tea. I was glad I finally got to use these but I didn't feel too glamorous as I was dressed to go hiking. Oh well, girls need to know how to put on mascara as well as roll around in the mud. 

We were afraid rain was going to foil our plans to go to Caprock Canyon. We went to Turkey, Tx to wait it out. It was listed on Buzzfeed's "14 Tiny Texas Towns That are Totally Worth The Trip" We went to look at the Bob Will's museum. It was closed, but we found another local museum. The people working it were a cute elderly couple. The town is quaint and we are definitely coming back for one of their festivals. 

We went ahead to the canyon and I am so glad we did. It was absolutely beautiful! "Hay sierras debajo de los llanos" (there are mountains below the plains) was a common phrase used by early Mexican travelers who crossed the area. What a great way to describe it. It was incredible to be driving where you saw nothing but flat land and all of a sudden there would be a change in scenery. 

The canyon is also home to the Texas State Bison Herd, which were brought back from near extinction. They roam wild so we didn't get to see them, but maybe next time.

Day #6
Sunday

We definitely took advantage of today being the day of rest.

Day #7

Monday 

Besides paying off our student loans and teaching summer school in the morning, today was a day dedicated to decorating for VBS. I was so grateful for the people who came out to help. I didn't give them much instruction : "here is some paper and some cloth... make a waterfall." "here is some paper and leaves... make a vine." They far exceeded anything I could have ever come up with! Delegating is awesome! 

3 Months of Summer

I had a hard time sending my latest batch of kiddos out the door. They were such a fun group! We all had a weeping session while doing our last high fives/ hugs as they left for the summer. That being said, I decided to honor this summer by doing a daily picture blog. I will most likely post the pictures once a week. Let's kick it off with today's festivities!

Day # 1

Workshop # 1

Aaron and I drove to Lubbock today, as he had a hospital visit and I had my first workshop. Although there is still a debate whether we need three or four workshops this summer, I signed up for six because I am an over-achiever. Just kidding. I have to renew my certification in three years and would like to get my required professional development hours done. I don't think that is the actual name. Totally rocking this teaching thing...

My first workshop was held in Barnes and Nobles. I imagined it was one of those vacations where you have to patiently sit through a four hour sales pitch before going scuba diving. Something I could handle. Because both Aaron and I come from families who are perpetually late, we get everywhere thirty minutes early, today being no exception. I have discovered that I am absolutely in love with the people who go walking around the mall before it opens. I fantisize about hanging out with them and discussing things such as "the good ol' days," and how my generation has too many holes in their jeans and is lazy. You know, the same things all retirement-aged people have been discussing since the beginning of time.

9:00am finally came and I arrived in the upstairs room of Barnes and Nobles, where all the chairs were taken and I had to sit on the floor with all the other late-comers. Except I wasn't late. I just happened to come too early. Somehow, these people came at just the right time for the doors to be unlocked. All these people are part of a secret society where they know just the right time to show up to stuff. Very dull society, but at least they can sit down in chairs...


The workshop included a Barnes and Nobles rep having to scramble to get books because she mixed up workshops and thought we were teachers from the lower elementary, and someone from the service center giving us lesson ideas. I really enjoyed the workshop. I could honestly sit down and discuss books and lesson plans while drinking coffee all day.

During our lunch-break, I listened to an interview at Chic-fil-a. I could predict every question that was going to be asked, thanks to all my work experience in high school and college. Most questions usually consist of some kind of variation of these:

Have you ever worked with someone you didn't get along with? How did you handle that situtation?
What do you pay attention to when you get dressed? 
What do you do for fun? 
Are you someone who likes to do the same things everyday or do you like something with changes and new experiences? 

Besides learning that our Barnes and Nobles rep has never read Harry Potter, I had a great first day of summer. I ended up buying three books and have already finished one today. During the school year, all my money goes to teacherspayteachers.com and during the summer, all my money goes toward personal books.

Spending All Day Coloring

http://pinterest.com/pin/200691727120969632/

This pin took a lot of time, colors, and space in my kitchen.

Our school had a snow day, so we spent the morning playing in the snow and watching movies. In the afternoon, I did this. Seriously, unless you have a lot of spare time, just order this on Etsy.

I also used a technique meant to be a craft for a small child, so I knew it was a possibility this could be done by me, one who has terrible luck with all things that involve fine motor skills.

First step, use tape to carefully block off the parts that you do not want to be covered in crayon. My method of being careful is not with measuring tape, but with a crudely cut piece of cardboard. By the way, do you say "cray-on" or "crown?" I say it the correct way.

When you buy a box that has a lot of crayons, you are rewarded with a sharpener. It would be faster with a cheese grater, but after two and a half years of marriage, we have yet to get around to buying one of those. This part takes forever.

Once you get the desired number (and color) of crayon shavings, put wax paper over it and iron. I had to push the crayon pieces around to make sure all of it was covered. Also, I could not find a definite answer for what temperature the iron should be. I went with the second lowest setting.

The darker blues are in the corners and the shavings yet to be ironed are right next to them. I added some white to make sure there was a solid contrast.

Here is the after.

I figured my green would take up the most space, so I made sure to do a lot of shavings. I ended up using a potato pealer. Much faster. 

Not looking foward to cleaning this up.

This looks promising. I was really worried about pulling off the tape. I couldn't see a lot of it, so I had to just peel what I could see and...

This is the result! I think I actually like this better than the one sold on Etsy. I love the texture and it has more imperfections, but I think that's what makes it interesting. The husband really likes it, so I'd call it a success.

...and here is what I get to clean up. 

Look at me, being able to do a craft meant  for a child. I feel like my blogs are a disappointment unless I fail at an embarassingly high level. Oh well, I bought a three pack at Walmart so I have one more chance to not disappoint.

I Blow Bubbles When You Are Not Here

Before we begin, here is a little background knowledge for my title: 

There was a popular song a while back by Macy Gray called "I try." I felt left out because every person and their dog absolutely loved that song and I hated it. Why? Well in the chorus, she sings 

I try to walk away and I stumble

Though I try to hide it, it's clear

My world crumbles when you are not near

Well, I always heard "I blow bubbles when you are not here." It would bring me to an embarrassing level of anger because it never made sense.

Kisstheguy is a website dedicated to misheard lyrics. It is hilarious!

My niece is turning eight Monday. I believe that makes her a "tween," at least according to American Girl, and they have never steered me wrong in the past. I subscribed her to their magazine. I loved that magazine when I was her age and well, what are children for but to relive our fond memories? Along with that theme, my first try with "melted crayon art" will be for her. 

Isn't his just precious? Also, looks as difficult as melted crayon art could be. Apparently my philosophy in life is to just jump in the deep end and hope I survive.

I duct-taped some crayons onto part of a shoebox. I went with the colors in the pink family.

This wouldn't be my blog without something not working. (Hello, triple negative). I took a video of me melting the crayons but I can only post pictures, so here are some things I learned.

1. It doesn't matter what direction the crayons are pointed, they will melt in the direction of gravity.

2. Clumps can form but it is easy to fix it with a blow dryer.

3. Duct-tape won't hold the crayons forever but it will get the job done. 

4. Husbands get annoyed when you ask them to take pictures all the time, and then ask them to edit the blog afterward (hi, hunny!)

The painting/coloring I am imitating had a lot of spots to look like bubbles. One way to do that is with a hot glue gun. I discovered you can also do it with a single crayon and a blow-drier- I really liked that effect. 

And once that is nice and melted, you can smash it into the canvas for larger spots.

Here is the coloring so far. I am pretty proud of how it turned out! To add to it,

I tried doing a rough sketch to see how big I needed to draw.

And sketched it on card stock. It turned out too small.

I tried a new silhouette entirely. I liked the way it turned out better. Decided it was too small.

Drew it bigger.

Decided I like it smaller.

This turned out really cool! I'm hoping my niece will like it. I might add more bubbles and mod-podgy over the girl. Thoughts? Also, how am I going to ship this?