Sweet 1st Graders

I love my new class. They are such a sweet, bright group of first graders and they really do make my job rewarding and fun. However, I could not be happier to have a break these next 2 weeks. Yay for Winter break!

We had a little holiday party in our class to celebrate the last day of school before break. It was crazy and fun. The kids decorated cookies, had cocoa and stories, and made some crafts that they could give to their families. The best part is that the parents helped me plan the whole party and provided everything for it. I am so lucky!

Here I am with my sweet students. Can you see the effects of all the sugar? They were also very excited to give me my presents.

To brighten your day

I have always loved this song and this is such a fun version of it! Please notice the guy in the back playing a tree.

A note about this song - when I was little, I thought the lyrics were:

"making lunch in the afternoon with Cecilia, up in my bedroom."

Only now do I realize that those aren't the words.

Enjoy!

New Bathroom!

Our new bathroom is finally done! We love it and are so happy with the way it turned out. I never thought I would be so excited about a bathroom, but it really is nice and I love getting ready in our new bathroom every morning. I guess it's the little things in life...

I'm reposting some of the old bathroom photos for a good side-by-side comparison. It is so fun and rewarding to see the before and after!

Here is the old vanity:

New Vanity:

Old shower:

New shower:

Old toilet:

New toilet:

Matt "testing" toilets at the hardware store (wait, what?)

Most of the work in the bathroom was done by these two, amazing men:

Overall, we were able to stick to our budget pretty well. When it came to the finishing details, we got lucky with our cabinet and mirror. We found the cabinet on sale at the cabinetry warehouse where we ordered our vanity. Matt painted it to match and we added matching knobs to go with the vanity.

Lucky find!

All fixed up:

A few weeks ago when our friends John and Jessie were in town, we mentioned that we were looking for a bathroom mirror. It turns out Jessie's brother has some mirrors that came from the waterfront Mariott when it was remodeled. He got a good deal on them, but told us that we could have this one for free. Can you believe it? We are so lucky! I ended up painting the gold trim black to match our countertops and I love the result. That was my biggest contribution to the bathroom!

Mirror before:

Mirror after:

We love our new bathroom and are so happy to have it finished!

Camp

I just got back from Young Life camp at Breakaway Lodge on the Oregon Coast. Like all weeks spent at Young Life camp, it was amazing, rewarding, and tiring. I took a group of 6th grade girls and we had an awesome week. It brings me back to when I was in middle school going to camp. Those are some of the best memories I have from growing up. I love the excitement of leaving on the bus with all your friends, the late nights and early mornings (getting woken up by the camp horn!) This year I had some great cabin times with my girls talking about life and God while eating candy in our little room in the lodge. Can I just say that 6th grade girls are a crazy bunch? I don't know how they have so much energy! I hope they will always remember their week at camp like I remember it from when I was their age. Here are some photos of my girls. Oh 6th grade... such an awkward time. I think they are adorable, though!

3 Years

Today is our anniversary! I can't believe it has already been three years since we got married. It really was the happiest day of my life. I had fun going through some of our pictures today and remembering that amazing day.

It has been a great three years, Matt! I love our life together. And I'm glad that we are only at the beginning and have so much more ahead of us.

Sweet Dog

Just have to share some pictures of the cutest dog in the world...

I probably should just change the name of our blog to "Zeke News" because he seems to be the main subject. I just can't help it. We love him so much! I never thought I would love a dog as much as I love Zeke. He is such a great dog and he makes us so happy. How could you not love this face?

Mr. Fixer-Upper

I just have to say that I am so proud of this man. He has done such a great job working on our bathroom these last couple weeks. Seriously. Every minute of free time, he has been in that little bathroom - sanding, painting, putting in the floor... Thank you, Matt. I love you!

Bye-bye old bathroom

Things have been busy in the home renovation department lately. We have demolished our old bathroom and are starting in with the remodel. Matt worked hard to tear out our old tub/shower, the old toilet (that never flushed on the first try), and our lovely old vanity with the peach sparkles. It was a messy process that included discovering 4 different layers of linoleum, pulling out countless nails from the floor, and a trip to the dump. I think Matt may have enjoyed it a little bit. There is something so "manly" about tearing down and destroying things. I admit that I didn't really help much with this part... I was a little scared.

old vanity (it was kind of cute in its own way, but we are ready for a change)

yucky shower and tub

here it is all torn apart!

you can see a few of the different linoleum choices from over the years and also some of the colors the bathroom used to be.

Here is our tile guy, hard at work.

new tub, new tile!

fresh, clean, new shower... I'm so happy!

Next up: installing the shower fixtures, the new flooring, toilet, vanity, beadboard, paint... Ok, we still have lots to do! It is exciting to see it all start to come together, though.

Also, thank you to our parents for letting us use your showers. We appreciate it!

Swimming Lessons

I apologize for neglecting our poor blog for so long. I have been terrible about keeping it up. Now that it's summer, hopefully I'll have a little more time to post something now and then.

Zeke and I had a fun day at the lake with his cousin Abby and my mom and Aunt Susan. Even though he loves the water, he is still afraid to actually swim. As soon as he gets to a spot where his feet don't touch, he backs up onto the shore. I can't believe I have a lab who is afraid to swim. Aren't labs bred to be swimmers? We tried to help him yesterday by giving him a little push... I mean, "encouragement." He did manage to get himself onto a stump where he got stuck and didn't want to make the jump off. My poor baby dog. Someday he will get the hang of it. At least we all had a fun day and he got a little more swimming experience. We went to Rattlesnake Lake in North Bend and it was absolutely beautiful. A perfect day to be in the water, even for those of us that would rather stay close to shore!

Pampered Puppy

Anyone who knows me knows that I love to bake. This last week I made a cake for Matt's birthday (which was very fun, by the way - happy birthday, Matt!) I also made his favorite sour cream cookies. Yum! Well, today I officially crossed over from dog lover to crazy dog lady, because I baked dog biscuits for Zeke. What a spoiled dog! Judging from his reaction they are pretty good but I will definitely not be taste testing these cookies.

Welcome 2011

2010 was a great year for us. We spent time with friends, worked on our house, and made some great memories. It's nice to have the feeling of a fresh start for 2011 - I'm looking forward to what the new year will bring. Happy New Year!