Gotta go back, back, back so school again....

"woah, woah.. I gotta go.. back to school."

Anyone Grease 2 fan? Not as good as the first one but I still have it memorized. =) And so does Greg (brother). Don't let him tell you he doesn't.

Anywho... I don't think I have mentioned lately how much I have loved Darin Jay being a teacher. Guidingand teaching kids in his Emotional Handicap room... being at school which has totally aided in his coaching.. and um, have I mentioned having June, July and August at home? We loved it. He goes back to school on Monday and I just wanted to do a re-cap of everything we did this summer.
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Me taking a 7 week maternity leave at my old job. Even though I loved going back to see everyone (and loved the extra cash) it made me so appreciative to be a stay at home mom when my work time was up. Darin did an AMAZING job at being a stay at home daddy and he got to bond with Adie Grace so, so much. He got an A in both his classes too.. completely aced his final paper in the one class. Man I hope Adie gets her daddy's brains!

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Our Adie became a toddler. Turned one in May and has been active, active ever since. She loves mommy's jewelry cabinet with grandma Linda's "pretty's".

(Scrap tip... this is how I make my mini-photos for my scrap pages. I go into my photo editing software and do a collage on a 4x6 photo. I print a 4x6 of them at Snapfish and wala.. 4 pictures for 9 cents.)
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I got a new camera and my photography business has boomed. We are so, so blessed to have the extra income and I love, love, love everything about taking pictures. I even got an inquiry for a wedding but I polietly declined.. I just don't feel ready. I hope to be ready some day, but have a lot to learn before taking pictures of the most important day of someone's life! I update my portfolio almost weekly so please go to my DH photography slideshow to see some of the pictures I've taken. And a thanks to all the readers and friends that have booked with me. I know I am still learning but I feel so privledged that you liked my work enough too want me to do your kids and family pictures. Thanks!

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We got a new addition to the family. Now we don't just have to watch where we are walking in the back yard (to either avoid stepping on him or stepping in his tootsie roll poo) but we have a new furry friend to love. He's learning where to go potty and where not to go potty pretty quickly. But yeah, we love the Wrigles.

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With a teaching schedule Darin was able to speak at 3 camps this summer. We traveled to Iowa in July where Darin was the week's bible teacher and the other two camps he did a break out session and again was the bible teacher here in Indiana. God is just so amazing on how teaching totally allowed Darin to speak durning summer break.. teaching kids about Jesus and aiding them to make personal relationships with Him. Awesome.

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We built Adie a play house and swing set this summer. For almost none of our own $. The metal swing set with the slide and swings was cheap.. it was sitting outside a home with a big ol' FREE sign on it. Pretty cheap. And the house was built with Adie birthday money and leftover siding from our house. We have spent endless hours out there already and I can't even imagine how many more hours we'll be out there.

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We've done a crap-load of landscaping with the help of Adie Grace...
lots of home-improvement and started the bedroom addition this summer. Here's what we have thus far...

Our drinking beer and smoking on the site jerked over amish footer dude hasn't been back in a week. BUT they start framing it next week so I guess he'll have to be here before then! The part that is closest to the deck will be our master bedroom, bath and a walk in closet. The room at the top of the picture will be Darin's woodworking shop. So exciting and I'm picking out new colors for the room.. whatcha think...

All I know is that I'm not doing red walls again. In this house I did 5 coats and I think I cried through the last 2 coats all while cursing myself on my color selection. So yeah, thinking of the above colors for the new space.

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And this picture really has nothing to do with the summer other than miss Adie turned 15 months on Monday and this is one of her many 15 month pictures.
I know Darin is going to miss her so much with school starting and football in full swing. We got to spend so much time together as a family and I'll miss that with Darin back in school. But I am SO THANKFUL that this is our path now... teaching, impacting kids' lives and being able to coach. Ah. It's a good life. And summer break isn't so bad either. =)