Who's Number #1?

 CHIEFS are #1!

ready or not...

Today is May 27th. Oh wait, it's not? But today was a school day, and we haven't had summer vacation... What? We did? Oh, I vaguely remember something that resembled summer, but it was awfully short. Hmm.

Today was the first day of school and it was great. All was quiet in my neck of the woods (the office) and Claire & Nolan had a great day. Truly, it's like we never left! I was a little edgy this morning, preparing for the stress of the day, but it was easy peasy rice and cheesy. Just like I like it.

Does anybody know the two big kids pictured below. I think they're in 3rd and 5th grade...

Where has the time gone?

Last Splash!

Yesterday, we hosted 25 upcoming 3rd and 5th graders for our 2nd Annual LAST SPLASH pool party. We swam, jumped (on the trampoline, and on each other, I'm certain), and snacked to our hearts content. Us moms sat in the shade and tried, unsuccessfully, to stay cool. I was so busy sweating, that I totally forgot to take pictures. Just imagine the scene below, filled with kids, laughter and good times!

Isn't our backyard looking good? We do love it, if we do say so ourselves!

camp!

Last weekend, Claire and I ventured south for Girl Scout Camp. It was summer camp at it's finest: we slept in screened cabins with a ceiling fan but no other electricity, we trekked through the mud to our bathrooms, we made traditional Girl Scout crafts like rain sticks and sit-upons, canoed, swam, learned archery, performed in a skit, made up cabin songs and had a great time. It rained during much of our time there, which kept the temperatures down but also kept us wet & covered in mud for most of our stay. Four days was just long enough ("I could not have stayed for a week!" - says Claire) to make new friends and enjoy our camp experience.

 The Cajun Monkeys (their self-coined cabin name)

 Girl Scout Flag Ceremony

 Canoeing with a Daisy (younger girl)

 Mom & Daughter (she still likes having me around!)

 Archery ("I want a bow and arrow for Christmas!")

 Nice Shot!

 Sweet friends, being girls

Until next year!

tool time!

It's project time at the Spanns! Earlier this summer, we received a beautiful gift...

A 7-foot privacy fence!

The house next door was purchased by the hospital, which is one block behind our house. The building behind the house (you can see it juuuuuust peeking over the fence) is an empty doctor's office. As far as we know, the hospital plans to use the house as housing  - it's currently empty - but may turn it into a billing or admin office eventually. Kelly, being the resourceful gent that he is, called the zoning board to see if the hospital would be responsible for installing a privacy fence, since the property was no longer owned privately.

Turns out, they were already on it! A local construction company installed the fence in a week's time and used the very best materials They even pulled up the old chain-link. The fence runs the length of our property up to the side of our house. The one thing they didn't do however, was gate it off. That is our job.

Kelly purchased the supplies (not quite the top-of-the-line fencing that they had installed, but hey, we're cheap frugal!). They are currently sitting in the backyard, waiting to go up. A table and part of the old chain link fence are keeping Daisy in the backyard. We're nothing if not classy!

We also treated ourselves to a new bed. King size, baby! Memory Foam! Ooooooh yeah...

We made a linen-covered, upholstered headboard, and I am so pleased with the outcome. I scored the linen at 40% off at Jo-Ann's with a coupon and used our noggins and decided on a foam mattress pad and batting for the upholstery.

I am proud of us - especially since we did run into a few minor snags. Just the fact that we didn't threaten to harm each other, well that's success right there! 

I have a few more projects up my sleeve and some other finished ones to share... but I'll save those goodies for another time. After all, I want you to come back! :)

Getaway

This year, our summer has been spent at home {with the exception of baseball & softball all-star tourneys to thrilling locations like Alexandria and Florien} up until last week. We were able to escape the hustle & bustle (ha!) of Natchitoches and made our way west to League City, Texas. What's in League City you ask? Friends, that's who!

The Spanns invaded upon Holly & Dan's quiet abode where we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. No schedule, beautiful weather, beach day, great restaurants, shopping, swimming, sand volleyball and even a work out or two. 

I didn't take tons of photos... too busy being lazy. But we truly enjoyed ourselves and can't wait to go back! Thanks friends, it was a great summer getaway!

round 2

We recently finished up Claire's All-Star Tournament... it was the tourney that would never end. It was a looooong series, but the girls played outstanding and clinched 3rd place. They also won the sportsmanship award, for the 3rd year in a row. What good girls we have. Now for the gratuitous action shots:

 {okay, so this isn't really an "action" shot, but it totally cracks me up!}

Proud of this girl... now this week is soccer camp. Whew!