Nieces and Nephews....

Here are some sweet shots of my nieces and nephews this summer. Starting from the top is little Elaina a sleep at the Arts Festival and below is big brother Mitchell looking especially tough ! Below him is Celsie intently watching her daddy put on a roof at Grandma's house and last are Sophie and Marissa after their dance recital. Wow... summer is going by so fast!

check out these great pictures!

This just popped up outside of Mount Vernon last week.

I found these great monkeys in Rockford IL, home of the Rockport Socks which sock monkeys are made from!

my new classroom

I am getting excited and nervous about starting my new position at UNI.  I went to visit last week and I ordered my text books for my fall classes. I took a few photos of the art building my art education classroom. There are two studio rooms as well, but this is the room I will use the most.  I started writing out my first syllabus yesterday and it was challenging but exciting to make.  There is so much I want to pack into a semester!  

Stranded in Mount Vernon!

Jeremy and I are so lucky we have not had any real flooding- just more water in our basement!  We were stuck in Mount Vernon all weekend though because all the major roads were closed around us.  Highway 1 that takes you from Mount Vernon to Iowa City literally broke this week.  We finally ventured out on Sunday night to see the damage and maybe catch a movie!

Since Cedar Rapids is on a water shortage- there were some surprises when we went to the movies!

I have been volunteering at the shelter in Cedar Rapids and it tears you up to see so many people even with out a tooth brush or a pair of shoes.  It was really great though to see all the people helping and donating supplies.  There were equal amounts of flood victims at the supply center as there were volunteers! Target brought 3 semi loads of supplies there. It was really

 overwhelming to see the community pull together.

In all this mess, we helped some people move out of their houses and ended up with YES another CAT!  We are just taking care of her while my professor's house is flooded.

Meet Pork Chop....

You may be thinking now... how many animals is that?  The answer is 5!  Everyone seems to be tolerating each other fine. Roosevelt and Pork Chop do the majority of growling and Dottie and Mabel do the jumping and playful teasing.  Violet just watches everyone and sniffs at whoever new walks by.  

School's Out for Summer!!!

School is over and the end of the year was great! We had a talent show that ended with my 5th graders doing a McDonalds rap they found on YouTube. It was hilarious!

We played our annual kick ball against the 5th graders as a farewell to them as they enter middle school next year. It was a tough game, I was just happy I scored!

We tied the game- but probably should have lost!

Here my 4th grade kids are singing me a goodbye song/poem they wrote!

Goodbye to School .... Hello to Summer!