School's Out!

Howdy Readers!  School is officially over for me today as I start my first day of vacation. I am very happy to be out! I am excited for what next school year will offer for me, I will be teaching FACS  at  Prairie Hills Middle School. Yeah me!  This past year in Second Grade has certainly had its ups and downs and I have learned a lot. The plan had been for me to loop with them to third grade and while I wasn't opposed to teaching third grade,  I really did not want to do it with the same group of kids...they were really a tough group of kids.

I have already met some of my future students, will hang out in the class next week and work with the high school teachers on rewriting the curriculum --which I enjoy doing.  I will be getting a MacBook, so that will take some getting used to and am already committed to a workshop to learn more.   I will probably use my dear friend Kaitlen for some assistance on that venture! 

I continue to be involved in other activities, I think I was busier as a part time employee than when I worked full time!  Dan and I will serve with the church as a deacon and a Congregational secretary until the end of this month, then onto other positions in leadership. We are going thru many changes at church which is very exciting and it is great to be involved in these changes. Soon we will begin the process of looking for a new pastor.

We both are still involved with Circles of Hope,http://www.peaceconnections.org/Circles-of-Hope.html Dan as a co-chair of a Resource team and I on the Economic and Stability team--not as a co-chair officially.  I am co-chairing our church conference's women's retreat committee and look forward to that responsibility being passed on in September!  I recently became our church's representative for Et Cetera Shop board and I really enjoy it!  I will be volunteering at the shop some more this summer.

We are excited to be going to Pennsylvania for my brother Daryl's wedding in June. Deborah is a great addition to our family and I get another sister! :) We will probably go camping sometime this summer, not sure if we will take Gilly, seems to be easier to just leave her at the Vet--will be more of a vacation without the hassles of the dog. We are always looking for dog sitters...if you are interested..... :)

I have a mental list of projects this summer, I figure if I don't write them down and they don't get done than I don't have constant reminders of what I didn't do! We do plan to paint the house before it gets too hot, which is something that we have been putting off for awhile.  Dan has been very successful at selling things on Craigslist and now we are going thru the house for stuff to sell at a yard sale or on Craigslist.  We continue to love going to yard sales and love good buys.  I have been on a crafts kick as of late, recently made a purse out of 3 place mats, making scarves out of old T-shirts and who knows what I will make this week. Have spend numerous hours on Pinterest getting ideas.  

Dan and I have been on the losing weight program this spring. We both have lost over 10 lbs and the key is to keep exercising! I have been doing Zumba at home (that way no one can laugh at me) and we recently purchased a great used bike for me and we ride bike almost every evening. Love it! Sometimes we take Gilly.  We both rode in the Cookie Wiebe Memorial bike ride for Circles of Hope, this was the first "official"  bike ride for me. I rode 10 miles and Dan -30, then the next day we rode 9 miles.  I hope to join Dan on the MCC Flatlander bike ride in September, I need to keep training to ride 30 miles.  We want to go to Topeka one weekend and ride some of the trails there with my cousin, Guy. 

This year we decided to not plant a big garden, instead planted a container garden which sits on our deck. Dan discovered that our bad luck in growing produce was not our lack of a green thumb, but our 3 black walnut trees that surrounded the garden on 3 sides.  Evidently, their leaves are too acidic for growing things.. go figure!  So next year,  we will relocate the garden to another area with better success. I bought 7 tomato plants at the MCC relief sale and already have 3 blooms, yeah! It is great to just open up the door and there are growing things and I don't even have to wear shoes!--the best part of summer!

Later, Lynda