It's been just over a month since I blogged on the last day of school.

I had big summer plans for the blog.

I would share the continuation of our decluttering journey.

I would post about our garden.

I would showcase our farmhouse projects with everyone, as we finally marked some of the items off the list that we've been putting off all school year.

I would finally get those items finished that we had been procrastinating on.

​And I will say...we have made progress.

I am so excited and looking forward to my new position for the 2018-2019 school year.

I have thoughts and dreams and a vision for what the Special Education department will look like in the future.

However, there are still some responsibilities lingering from last school year and I would like to take care of these things before going back to school in August.

This is a time of transition and I need to be proactive in my planning and preparing. 

I need to be intentional in my learning and my personal summer professional development.

I need to be "vision-minded" as I close out last school year and look forward to next year.

I want to be able to start fresh in August and to offer a fresh start for my staff members and students.

And to do that...the groundwork must be laid now.  This summer.

This last Friday was my predecessor's final day. 

He's now retired and already enjoying life in Galveston, Texas.  (Congratulations, Fred!)

We took him out to eat on Friday and then I went back to school and starting moving my personal belongings down to my new office.

When I walked out of the building that day, I vowed to not come back until July 9th...taking this week to relax and enjoy my family.

Taking this week to watch our town's annual 4th of July parade, to shoot off fireworks, to get some projects completed around the house, to go to the lake, and to just spend time with Mr. Farmhouse and the girls.

There is still much to be done...on the farmhouse and in my new office, but those things can wait.

Happy "Stop Week" from the Farmhouse, friends.

❤️🏡❤️

Something has happened to me since I delivered our third daughter three years ago.

I get a bit emotional.

I cry when I'm happy...
When I'm sad...
When I'm angry...
When I don't sleep enough...
When I sleep too much...
When I see an old man in overalls.

I cry when one of my daughters says something sweet to her sister...

When a student masters a concept he or she has been struggling with...

When a first-year player on one of the girls' sports teams makes a basket in a basketball game or gets the ball over the net in volleyball...

When one of the girls shows understanding of the blessing that their great-grandparents are...

I cry.

Usually, this consists of a lump in my throat and my eyes filled with tears with just a few escaping down my cheek.

But not always.

Sometimes, my little "choked-up, tear-running-down-my-face" crying turns into a big ol' ugly-cry.

Anyone else?

I can specifically remember a day when our second daughter was just under a year old.

She hadn't been sleeping well and I was having "one of those days".

You know what I'm talking about...right, moms?

One of those days where I was barely holding it together through the school day. 

I hadn't slept a full night in several weeks, my students were enjoying the last week before spring break as if it were already spring break, and I felt like I was living in a fog with a toddler and an infant.

My teaching partner casually made a comment in the teacher's lounge full of our colleagues giving me a hard time about the fact that I had mentioned taking a nap before I went home after school.

He meant NOTHING by his comment.

On a normal day, I would have just laughed.

But bless his poor heart...this wasn't a normal day...

I laughed at first and said, "I know..." and then the tears started coming, "...isn't it ridiculous?"

All the other women in the room immediately started trying to make me feel better and my poor teaching partner apologized.

But it wasn't his comment at all.  He felt bad that he was the one that tipped the emotions from laughter to tears.  But at some point or another, we've all been there.

I think sometimes you just need a good cry.

There is something about it that's cleansing to the soul and spirit.

In fact, that afternoon, after my ugly-cry, I was already laughing about the whole situation.

One morning, shortly after my grandpa had passed away, I walked into Casey's to find all of his coffee-drinking buddies there.  

I said my "hellos" and went about my business. 

As I walked out the door, an older man I didn't know met me there...in his Key overalls...just like Grandpa's.

And as I walked to my car (and all the way to work), I ugly-cried.

Sometimes, it's just necessary.

So this is your permission.

If you need to ugly-cry...just let it out.

Whether it's because of grief,
stress,
excitement,
anger,
or pure joy.

Just let it out.

An ugly-cry every once in a while can be a beautiful thing.

And if you're still a bit unsure of letting the waterworks loose, I'm not just an ugly-crier...I'm a contagious-crier, too.

So if you need an ugly-cry partner...I'm your girl.

❤️🏡❤️

Labor Day Weekend marks the unofficial beginning of my very favorite season.

For the last few years, it has become a tradition to put out all my fall decorations on Labor Day.

This year was no different.

Wait, yes it was.  

This year was very different.

This year, I spent Labor Day getting the last of the "back to school madness" organized and ready for the bulk of the school year that is upon us.

This year, I was planning to have time to search the garage to find the fall decorations.

And I didn't have time.

So when I went to Dollar General to grab a foil pan for Matthew to put the brisket in that he was making for supper tonight, I spent $10 and bought a few fall items.

I spent yesterday afternoon cleaning house to prepare for the decorating process, but didn't get finished.

Sunday evening, I changed all the Scentsy in my house to fall scents and this morning, I lit my fall candles.  

I drank my coffee in the quiet this morning and prepared for a long day of transforming the farmhouse to a peaceful fall sanctuary.

Mr. Farmhouse was off work too, so he started smoking a brisket early this morning and he and my brother got to work bringing some more of our outside belongings from the old house.

​By 11:30, I realized that all of the fall decorations might not be coming out today.

I had made a huge dent in the laundry, finished up the dishes, and done a quick run-through of the rest of the downstairs.  

I hung some pictures in our bedroom and in the living room that I had been putting off and made some notes about the week coming up.

Today, I was supposed to be posting first day of school pictures from the farmhouse.

The girls were supposed to get up and take pictures on the front porch and have a wonderful first day while I rounded out Day #5 in my own classroom.

And then.  The rain came.

On July 27th, both our little town and the town where I teach received a record amount of rain and there was lots of flooding.

People's basements were flooded, there were water rescues happening all over the place.

It was an absolute mess.

Our friend Sharon posted this picture on Facebook that day.  She said it was the highest she had seen this water since they moved into this house over 20 years ago.

And so... 

We are using our first "snow day" of the school year in the district where I teach, as well as my kids' district here in Adrian.

On August 22nd.

The first "first day of school snow day" in Adrian's history.

And I am thankful.

The last week has been a whirlwind of activity.

Late nights and early mornings.
Deadlines and assessments.
Dropping the kids off at various locations for daycare every morning before I go to school.
The Solar Eclipse.

Going back to a five-day work week after eight weeks off of school.

The first four days of school have been amazing.
And a little bit exhausting.

So today, the girls and I are soaking up every last minute of summer.

So far, we've had blueberry muffins made by Claire (aren't they cute?), an "Inside Out" movie-viewing party, beaded keychains, a doll slumber party, laundry, and yes...some school work and photography editing.

An unexpected "snow day" at just the right time. 

​See you tomorrow, third graders. ❤️🏡❤️

Well, here we are.

I have been in school for 3 days now and the girls start this Tuesday.

Things are about to get crazy.

The last few years, we have figured out that it works really well for the girls to have a morning, afternoon, and bedtime routine.

They don't always stick to the evening routines, 100%, depending on what activities we have going on after school...practices, piano lessons, games.

However, the morning routine has really become a natural way of life during the school year for us.

And as long as the girls get out of bed when they're asked to (that's a whole other situation), it really helps our mornings to run smoothly.

The two older girls switch back and forth between putting clean dishes away each morning and sweeping the kitchen & dining room (a new chore with all hardwood floors in the farmhouse!).

I've laminated these lists and the girls use a dry-erase marker to mark them every morning.  They like the satisfaction of checking off items in a list, just like their mama.  

​We have done a list like this for every day of the week, including Saturdays.  Saturdays also includes what we call a "quick clean" list that we all work on together for an hour or so to get the house spiffied up for a new week.

Sunday has become our "stop day" here at the farmhouse.  

I am trying really hard to just have our family enjoy each other through the whole day and just take an hour or so in the evenings to prepare for the next week.

In our world of busy, busy, busy...it's nice to just breathe, breathe, breathe every once in a while.

Just a few years ago, I was trying to squeeze in photography sessions every extra minute I had (including Sunday afternoons) to help pay off debt and to make sure I wasn't disappointing people.  

I've learned that no matter how many sessions I squeeze into whatever extra time I have left, people will still be disappointed when I run out of sessions.  

And they will still love me.  

So it's really okay!

When I finished this (completely simple and totally amateur) project, I decided to try something a little more complicated.

I found a purple cup in the cabinet that I've been wanting to buy some sort of vinyl decal for and I decided to try it myself to start.  

​I decided I could always peel it off if it didn't work out.

That way, we'll be free to enjoy each other in the evenings and on the weekends...crafting, and playing outside, and making slime.

Just kidding.  
We tried that once.  
I am not the "slime-making" kind of mom.

I've realized that I spent too many years in the old house trying to manage the home, keep up with my small business, and being a teacher...without spending enough of my time and energy making memories with my babies.

It's time.  

Happy Weekend, friends!  Make it a good one!  ❤️?❤️