Summer is almost over :(

While I am thrilled to have come to the end of a very stressful summer semester, I am sad to realize that I only have one full week left of summer vacation :( 

A new favorite movie is "The Mousesavers" also known as "The Rescuers Down Under"

My silly boy loves hats!

I spent most of the summer at ODU taking three courses. Being a full-time on-campus student is required for two semester of my Ph.D. program. Since most people in the program are working adults or distance students, they do a summer residency program to help us meet this requirement. Three courses was challenging on it's own, but the three that I took were very difficult. I had to write a whole curriculum for a course, write a research article (30+ pages with about 100 references) and make a presentation, and I had to write chapter 1 of my dissertation. Needless to say...I was very stressed!

Crazy girl loves her accessories

To be honest, this whole program stresses me out. I have anxiety over the fact that I still have four chapters to write, I have to ask people to serve on my committee, I have to get permission to do the research and actually do it and then analyze it. I wonder all the time why I am putting myself through this. On top of that, I was just accepted to the Ed.S. program at ODU which I will complete along with my Ph.D. This will give me a license in administration just in case I decide to stick with K-12 instead of moving up to college level teaching. It's all planned out for me to graduate in December of 2014 and having a plan helps with the anxiety, but it is still stressful. I just keep telling myself that it'll be worth it in the end when I have reached my academic goals for myself, set a good example about education for my children, and am able to provide a better life for all four of us!

They are so much alike

This last week was the first week I was truly off. I did go into work Monday to get some things done that I had put off all summer, but I have been trying to soak up the last bit of this "vacation" and enjoy time with the kids. We have been swimming and playing and reading and watching movies. I have gotten into a good routine at home and it has been nice. The kids are taking swim lessons and they are doing so great. Izabel can swim all the way across the pool without her vest now and Tanner is pretty close. 

Chilling by the pool

Thursday we went to Ocean Breeze Water Park when Noah got off work. We went there a lot the past two summers. The kids used to be afraid to get water in their faces or go down the slides by themselves, but this time was a whole different story. They couldn't get enough and they had so much fun! I've been really making an effort to be outside and be more active so yesterday we spent a lot of time riding bikes. It was quite the workout for a while because I had to actually move the pedals for Tanner, but he finally caught on and we had a great time. We'll continue to enjoy the beach and hopefully make a couple more trips to Busch Gardens before school officially starts! Feel free to come visit or plan a play date with us :) We miss all of our friends!!!

We finally got it down

Cooling off after a long ride