WELCOME visitors!

Jed's parents live in northern Wisconsin, about 8 hours from Des Moines, so family time with them is not easy to come by. However, now that Jed's sister and brother-in-law have a REALLY cute baby, Ma and Pa Johnson seem to come visit more often! :) Today, Jed's parents, sister and our niece came to visit us and we got to spend the afternoon mostly oooo-ing and ahhh-ing over baby Jaylen. She is pretty cute, but I might be a bit biased since she's our niece! Jed and his Dad temporarily fixed our leaking chimney in the attic. (It's always something!) We enjoyed dinner together and I got A LOT of good baby snuggling time in!
Here are some pictures from our fun afternoon...

She definitely is deprived of attention and care.
Uncle Jed and Aunt Sarah saying "Come visit us again soon!"

It never ends...

Last weekend we FINALLY got the spare room (aka catch-all room) cleaned out and organized, we swapped mattresses and set up the other bed frame and started turning it into a REAL guest bedroom! These pillows were in sale at Target (only 6 bucks!) and started the inspiration in my mind for the room!
Now we just need some guests! :)

We also salvaged this book shelf from the basement. For some reason, the previous owners left a entertainment center/buffet style piece of furniture in the basement and this book shelf was a part of it. I think we'd like to maybe try and hang it on the wall, but I wanted to see how it looked in the living room and get a feel for it first. I think it's kind of cool!

An (Unwelcome) Visitor

This afternoon, we spotted this visitor in our yard... in the middle of the afternoon. I am NOT a fan of this critter.

Friday Night Lights

Our Bible study made big plans on Friday night to head to Carlisle to catch the Wildcats take on the Saydel Eagles on the football field. Everyone was pumped. I was especially excited - I just really enjoy high school football games and it's always fun to see current and former students too! Even though it rained on us several times, great fun was had by all. Here are a few photos from the night!

We ended up leaving during the 3rd quarter. Carlisle was winning at that point with a score of 61-0. The final score ended up being 68-0. WOWOWOW WILDCATS!!!

Finished product!

Jill was kind enough to pick up our finished pottery yesterday and hand delivered it to me at church last night. Jill, you'll have to post a picture of yours - I want to see how it turned out! The firing and schlacking really made the colors darker but I think it turned out great!

Painting Pottery with my Pal Jill

[Lack of posts is a sure sign that school has started and I have much less free time...] :)

For Jill's birthday back in May, I got her a gift certificate good for 2 things: Glazed Expressions and quality time together! :) We redeemed BOTH last Saturday with an afternoon painting some pottery. After carefully choosing our pieces and wandering around the store for ideas, we found a table and prepared to PAINT!
I wish I would have gotten a shot of the plate that we were using as a guide. But our idea was.... dots. Lots of dots.
Almost more than the actual process of painting, we truly enjoyed whatever satellite radio station was playing at Glazed Expressions. A true variety of musical treats.
Here is Jill's and my almost final product. We did this last weekend and Jill picked up our goodies today after they were schlacked and fired in the kiln. I can't wait to see them!

Let's play a game...

School starts tomorrow! EEEEEK!! It's so bittersweet. I love summer and I love the freedom that my job gives but I also really love my job - I can't imagine doing anything else. I love "back to school" season. I think it should be the 5th season. I love school supplies and the excitement of it all! I think my very corny enthusiasm is a good thing and will hopefully rub off on my 25 (yes, 25) little cherubs tomorrow.
I had to do a few last minute things today at Hartford and I got Jed to tag along. He's a great helper! We have awesome technology this year at Hartford! Last year with the remodel we got projectors in our ceilings that connect to our computer. Goodbye overheads! This year, we were fortunate enough to get document cameras and Mimio interactive white boards! YIPEEEE! I've had so much fun playing with it all and thinking about ways to use it with my kiddos.
I made a power point presentation that outlines our classroom expectations and then at the end, includes a game I like to call "Good choice/Bad choice." I got Jed to pose for a series of pictures and the students will share whether the very tall and elderly 5th grader on the screen is making a good choice or a bad choice and why. I think the kids will really like it. Here are a few of the photos. This may or may not surprise you, but many of the poses were Jed's idea. I think I'm destined to have some naughty children some day if they're anything like their father.