Weekend at Auntie's!

I'm linking up with Kelly for Show us your Life ~ Nieces and Nephews! My absolute favorite thing in the world is that I get to be Auntie Sarah. My sweet niece Elizabeth stole my heart almost four years ago and I fall more in love with her all the time. I'm also really lucky that I have so many close friends that let me be Auntie to their sweet babies ~ I absolutely adore Devin, Gemma, Mason & Tessa.

Last weekend, we got to spend the whole weekend with my sweet Elizabeth since my sister is away for a new job training (SO excited for her!). Elizabeth is smart, funny, and just the sweetest thing. She loves her Uncle Jeff and cousins Rocky & Princess. In fact, every time my cat Princess came downstairs Elizabeth would stop what she was doing and say, "There's my favorite girl!" She's such a love and she had us laughing all weekend. I can't believe this little sweetie is going to be 4 this month!

She loved cheering on Uncle Jeff & Rocky while they were on their morning run.

Rocky loved staying close by to wait for a surprise treat.

Puppy kisses!

She's finally more comfortable with Rocky and clearly he's pretty comfortable, too.

Rocky enjoyed Elizabeth's stay because she always left snacks behind on her seat!

Peeking out from backstage!

Loving the big kid slide!

Performing a puppet show!

Loving the bounce house!

After a long day, winding down with Uncle Jeff. Too tired to take her heels off.

My loves.

We had so much fun and I wouldn't mind having her stay every weekend!

Oh, so random.

We have been busy around here! I thought that by not working in July, I would be able to enjoy August with no stress and no checklist. Nope! Luckily though, when I'm not at appointments, exercising (because I've seriously done a lot of that this summer), or running errands, I've been hanging with this crazy little girl

and snuggling with my sweet kitty

Last week, my sweet baby Princess, went in for surgery to have a mammary tumor removed and get some teeth pulled. To say that I was a nervous wreck, is an understatement. She is recovering well and although she is usually a big snuggler, she has been looking for lots of extra loving, and I am eating it right up!

I was able to knock a couple of big items off of my wedding to-do list, which is a HUGE relief! A couple of more things to do before I head back to school and we are right on track! 8 months! :)

Speaking of school... we start up in three weeks and as usual, I have mixed emotions. I love the beginning of the school year, the new kids, the new supplies, oh, how I love the supplies! I also love the fall. If the Fall in New England was a drug, I would not be able to get enough. It is almost embarassing how many fall scented Yankee Candles I am about ready to bust out of the cabinet. At this point, I'm just about ready to kiss summer goodbye. As much as I really needed this time away from working with kids, the free time can be a killer. What is there to do when everybody else is working? Endless errands, cleaning, and eating, that's what. This is the first summer that I didn't work, so it is going to be difficult to get used to waking up at the crack of dawn again, grading and planning in my free time, and only having a couple of hours to get anything done.

I already knew that I was being a terrible blogger due to my lack of entries, but I was also informed of it this weekend. (I'm looking at you, Donna :) My biggest fan!) It's just so hard sometimes! I am currently addicted to teaching blogs and have been spending more time reading than writing. I am so busy that I have two episodes of Teen Mom AND two episodes of New Jersey Housewives on the DVR to catch up on. It's that serious.

You know what else is serious? The Hunger Games. Um, it's out of control. Usually the blood and violence is too much for me, but I can't get enough of Katniss and her badass self. If you haven't read it, I would go pick it up. Right now. Also on my "to read" list that I never really got to this summer.. The Help, The Kite Runner, Water for Elephants, and Jodi's new one.. Sing you Home. Love me some Jodi Picoult.

I'll tell you one thing that wasn't on my summer reading list that was just put there. Making Content Comprehensible for English Language Learners. I'm off to read Chapters 5 & 6 for class tomorrow. I may even do some highlighting and mark up the text and such. What a rockstar.

Slumber party!

This weekend we had a sleepover with our sweet niece, Elizabeth.

First, we hit up the beach at my parent's house.

We dug holes and jumped in them.

We made seaweed hair and mustaches.

We caught some rays and watched the surfers.

And we spent a lot of time jumping over the waves.

Then, we headed back home to play. These two are a riot together.
It's easy to forget who's two!

She is a great helper in the kitchen.

Even if she eats the ingredients right off of the pizza, with no hands.

And she LOVES to be outside.

Poor girl wore herself out! I wasn't far behind!

It is non-stop fun when she comes over and I would have her sleep over every night. Actually, when I asked if she would live with me, she said yeah, sure. Then when I asked her when she wanted to move in, she told me Saturday. Love that girl!

How I spent my first week of summer vacation, from boat to throat.

Grab yourself a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, if it's after noon. This is going to be long.

My summer vacation only started a week ago because I was really stupid smart to volunteer to spend the first week of vacation taking a math class for grad credits. While I am grateful that I can say I officially started my master's, five 8 hour days of math was brutal. Too bad I didn't read this first.

One of my kiddo's got this book from his dad. Hysterical.

The 4th of July was spent soaking up the sun on Lake Winnisquam with family. Lots of fun was had on the boat, at the sandbar, playing on the jetski, and sitting fireside. I have no pictures to show from this lovely trip until Jeff's mom comes home from vacation and can email a few. My camera is also sucking big time and I no longer carry it everywhere with me. Sadness.

I love, love the extra time I was able to spend with my adorable niece and my sweet cat. Both girls live with my parents and the first thing I do when I get there is round them up for hugs and kisses. I have the most adorable picture of Elizabeth sitting in the window sill next to Princess, but of course, it's on my sister's camera.

I had lots of fun roadtripping to UMass Amherst to pick my brother up from his freshman orientation, even though we didn't stop at Antonio's for pizza. I am envious of his upcoming college days after hearing all of the fun things happening on the campus. I just love spending time with my baby brother! On another note, the western part of the state is beautiful but a bit strange in parts. I tried to take a picture (but I was driving and it wasn't happening) of a truck that I saw that I can only assume caught fish and delivered it. The slogan on the back said, "from boat to throat". Um, gross. Even more gross, there were boxes full of produce, and I assume seafood, in the bed of the open pickup truck. I don't know about anyone else, but somewhere in between boat and throat, I usually refridgerate my seafood.

I started walking the lake, Lake Quannapowitt in Wakefield, three times a week with my lovely friend, Leslie Ann. We were pretty hard-core on our first walk in the rain! I'm very much looking forward to catching up with LA, seeing her cutie-pie baby boy on the reg, and burning a few cals.

I also started Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred because I'm a big fan of a workout that only lasts 20 minutes. The verdict: 20 minutes is a long, LONG, time and Jillian Michaels is the devil. I'm pretty sure that she is trying to kill me. After 5 minutes, I am sweating like a hog, after 10 minutes, praising God that I am halfway through, and after 15 minutes, begging the clock to move faster. It isn't even a super hard workout but it is NON-STOP. Today is Day 5 of the workout and once I can motivate myself to hit play, I will be halfway through Level 1. 25 days to go. Pray for me.

{source}

My sweet friend, Hayley, just welcomed her new baby boy into the world! Asher Daniel was born on July 6, and I cannot wait to take a trip to Maine to meet him!

My cousin, Jillian, and I went to Hampton Beach yesterday (more on the trip later) and we spotted the most adorable leopard print beach cooler. The girl it belonged to said she got it at Marshall's for $20 and so when we left the beach, we stopped there to pick it up but didn't find any with that pattern. We were a bit sad but the trip wasn't a total failure because I found cushions for my patio set, 50% cheaper and 100% cuter than what I've been finding in other stores. Jillian stopped at three more stores on her way home and couldn't find it. Then, today I stopped at Homegoods, TJ's, and Marshall's and had no luck, either. When I tried to google it to see where it could be located, this picture came up..

{source}

I assure you this was not the cooler we were looking for.


I started reading The Hunger Games Trilogy and I'm kind of addicted. This series was pretty popular with my advanced readers so I used my Scholastic points to order it. The Hunger Games is about a game in which 24 tributes, teens between 12 and 17, are put in an arena to fight to the death; the last one alive, wins. I wasn't really expecting so much blood and violence, but I'm into it. I'm not sure how I feel about my students reading it, though. This may be another permission slip book, along with The Twilight series.

{source}

I've been pen-pal'ing late night with this girl and cracking up. It reminds me of the time I signed up for a pen pal in Tiger Beat magazine. I was "matched" with a girl named Kendra, who I think was from New Jersey. I don't think I was any older than sixth grade, at least I hope I wasn't, because our letters were signed with things like W.B.S., B.F.F., and I {heart} J.T.T. I also sent a letter to J.T.T. and he wrote back on a post card. True story.

{source}

I should be embarassed by this, but I'm not... My first whole day off with nothing planned, I watched a 12 hour marathon of Teen Mom. This is not a joke, but it should be. I even caught Jeff poking his head through the window between the living room and kitchen to catch a glimpse of Amber beating up Gary. Too bad someone didn't beat up Amber. LOVE that it's almost Tuesday again!

I'm also kind of addicted to browsing the web for wedding ideas, reading blogs, my Nook (Barnes & Noble e-reader), the sun, and diet coke. Maybe it's the free time, maybe it's the technology addiction that Jeff says I have. I don't know.

Speaking of technology, I have become obsessed with the MacBook and iPhone. I know I am late to the party, but I want one of each, pronto.

My thighs are burning from this damn computer, so I'm off to let the devil-lady shred me. Then I'll really be complaining about burning thighs. Wah!

All's well that ends well.

I never really got that saying but I feel that the title is appropriate. This has been a LONG week. It started with this:

and ended with this:

That kind of long. I have been ready for Friday since Monday. We have been up to our eyeballs in state testing and the teachers kids are so D-O-N-E. They worked super hard but were impossible when they finished. I can't say that I blame them but we aren't done with the test and still have 6 more weeks of school. I should have had a bigger margarita.

Overall though, my week was pretty lovely. I was able to go to my best friend's final dress fitting and she was stunning! I really cannot wait for her wedding in two weeks & know I will be a mess! The woman who did the alterations was very serious about showing me how to do the bustle. There were a couple of us there and she pointed at me and said, "You! Watch carefully." It actually made me a bit nervous. She was also very serious about how many cups went into the dress and was making jokes about how it wouldn't be good for a boob to fall out in the church. She had a broken italian accent though & we didn't really get what she was saying until we left. Here's hoping that everyone's boobs stay put.

I was also able to spend some time playing with my sweet niece, who has a bigger and bigger vocabulary every time I see her. She is also obsessed with having "pretty toes". I painted her toes once when she slept over and created a monster! She has since had everyone paint her toes, including my father.

How sweet are those chubby little feet??


Happy weekend!