Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Beginnings of Summer 2016

We've got a good deal of fun planned for this summer for our little family - pool time, playing with the puppies, eating popsicles, catching lightening bugs, a trip to the beach, watching our garden grow, napping, a trip into the city to see a things (the Fernbank, the Zoo, the Children's Museum, etc.) and enjoying time together. We've celebrated Memorial Day with family in town and my 31st birthday. Perfect - just perfect.

Robert Alan is on vacation this week so we are enjoying a nice stay-cation here in the beautiful and quaint Covington, GA. With Father's Day this weekend, RA's birthday and our 9-year anniversary next week, we're taking advantage of our low-key, home-body personalities and hanging out with our kids and dogs.

While summer is typically a less busy time for teachers, this summer is pretty packed with travel for me as the state of Alabama development team I have been working with for the past year begins their first year of implementation with A+ College Ready Program Schools. A few members of the team and I ran a training at Enterprise High School last week, we will be in Prattville, AL next week, Robertsdale, AL the last week of June and then Thompson High School and Albertville High School later in July. It's incredibly rewarding to see a year's worth of work come to fruition and to see teachers excited about what we are presenting to them. AND it's so exciting for social studies teachers to finally have a seat at the professional development table as our own distinct content area --- can I get an AMEN from my fellow social studies teachers?

After the training in Robertsdale, AL, the boys and I are hanging at the beach for the 4th of July before coming back to GA for our last few weeks of summer vacation. I have a conference in Athens, GA mid-July for a few days, we will celebrate Mr. Ellis's SECOND birthday, and then it is back to work JULY 22 for me and back to school AUGUST 1 for the boys.

Time flies when you're having fun. Time certainly does fly.

Life lately in photos...

My boys in the backyard...

Give the kid a shovel, a dump truck, and a pile of dirt and he is good to go...

Give this kid a bowl of strawberries and he is good to go...

Chatting with his puppies...

Stealing the puppy bed for himself... 

Happy Memorial Day!

My mom, grandmother, and sister came in town for Memorial Day weekend. Mr. Ellis loved hanging with Mamaw...

And Meme and Aunt Hartley...

Just hanging out together...

Hamburgers and hot dogs for a backyard cook out...

A trip to the Square wouldn't be complete without a stop at Scoops...

Ice cream for everyone!
 
Another happy place...at the park on the 'swirly-wirly slide' as his brother calls it... 

Can you spot the kid?

Last day of the school year - cinnamon roll happy face...

Last minute, last day of school photo...

We had a drainage issue to deal with while we were in the process of closing on the house (which we did last month - FINALLY!), so once the drainage issue was dealt with, we started sodding the side yard. Between the dogs and the kids, we needed grass. 

The pool makes them happy...

Really, really happy...

Really, really, really happy...

Hard to believe this little man is approaching TWO...

Muddy days call for boots on everyone - mama, RF, and Ellis...

Brothers hanging together...

All three of the dogs were on the couch and RF said he needed to get up there too and pretend that he was asleep with his puppies so that I could take a 'really cute picture, mama.'

Art time...Ellis got mad that I was painting RF's foot for a project, so he decided to paint his own foot...and the rest of his body...

RF is slightly obsessed with The Little Engine That Could right now, so this was our artwork one day...nothing fancy, but he loves it. 

Summer mantle with summer artwork...

The rest of the summer mantle with more hand-print artwork...

Big boy loves trains...his little brother likes to destroy the train tracks that he builds...we're working on conflict resolution skills quite a bit in the Hawk house...

He decided to 'build a real train' one day...Ellis was just along for the ride...

Play-doh makes a sweltering June day more fun...

I knew there was a reason I hadn't gotten rid of all of the boxes as we unpacked...on a rainy, summer day it's fort-building, scrap-yard pretending, tunnel creating fun for two little boys...

I peaked in and they were having a conversation in the box, but turned around when they heard me. Such sweet brothers...most of the time...

Kitchen cabinet project. I couldn't bring myself to get rid of them (it's an old historic house with lots of character), so we decided to sand them, repaint them, and change out the hardware. It's a slow process, but we'll post finished photos when the project is complete --- hopefully before summer is over. 

Just sitting in the dirt minding his own business...

With a smile that lights up my heart...

Another round of sunflowers are blooming in the backyard...HAPPY SUMMER!