Finally settling into my summer routine

One of the things that I love best about summer is that I don't have a rigid schedule like I do during the school year. I do thrive on structure, though, and feel better when I have some things scheduled. If I have too much free time, I spend most of it trying to get myself motivated to do something, anything!! This summer is a bit different in that there are not many summer evaluations to be done at work. In the past years, I have done 20-23 per summer, which is roughly equivalent to 20-23 days of work. This summer I was scheduled for less than 10 and most are at the end of July. I did three already. I am also doing some private speech therapy. I get the clients through word of mouth and some SLPs that I have known through the years who know that I like summer work. I am lucky that I am in a profession that allows me so many choices and that I enjoy so much.
Here are some of the happenings so far this summer:
*We somehow skipped Father's Day this year. Jack was in Minnesota for work, Wayne in Rhode Island for a wedding, Sally and Matt were in Memphis visiting friends and I was at home working on reports for the above mentioned evals. Obviously we did not make it to Downtown Sue's to celebrate the dads. It would have been different anyway, of course, without Mike. I am sure it was not an easy day for Lauren and Brendan, their first Father's Day without Mike. We need to make it up to Bill aka Bucky and Jack and get together as a family one of these days soon.
* I hosted Bunko at my house last Wednesday. Each member takes a turn once every 18 months to host. We have been playing for over 15 years now, third Wednesday of the month (except for July and December). It is not a very big time commitment and if I didn't play, I would not see some of these women ever. We had a fun time. Here are a couple of pictures from the night.

rolling

Christy, Elodie, Lynn, Jack and Tamara

Another "See ya later"

Our friends, Lynn and Richard, are moving back to NYC. They were here (having moved here from Lake Tahoe) from about 1998 to 2004, then moved to NYC, then moved back here in 2006ish. Richard works for Hyatt and so they have made many moves in their lives and do it well. They make it look so easy! Lynn told me about the impending move on one of our morning walks in early May and next thing you know, their house is sold! Richard will be in Chicago a bit longer and their daughters, Rachael and Cara (and her husband, John) are living here still. In the meantime, Lynn and Cara are on their way to the East Coast, driving their dog Indy, to their summer home in Rhode Island. Richard and Lynn will move into NYC in the fall. Yesterday Jean and I stopped by to say "see ya later" since Lynn never says good bye. End of an era, but the start of another exciting experience for Lynn and Richard.

I love our neighbors

We have lived in our home for 25 years and for many of those years we have had a funky little street. When we moved in, we were the youngsters on this block of less than ten homes, along with one other young family. There have been many crazy neighbors over the years, some literally! In the last ten years or so, the tear down trend finally hit our street. There are several new homes and several darling young families moved in We are especially fond of Joe and Michelle and their four kids. Today is the first birthday of their daughter, Victoria. Jack and I remember well the night Victoria was born. We waved at Michelle as Joe helped her into the car as they left for the hospital. It was so exciting! We stopped by their house this afternoon to help celebrate Victoria's big day. Wasn't it just yesterday that we were celebrating Sally's first birthday????

Transitioning to My Summer Schedule

Let's just say it takes me a while to adjust to the different pace of summer. Even though I have tons to get done, I find myself napping and relaxing more often than not these first four days of summer break. Luckily, I have some summer work happening tomorrow and hopefully that'll be the jump start I need to get my mojo working.
In the meantime, here is a picture of me and my honey enjoying some relaxation.

School's Out!

That song just keeps running through my head. Love this first evening of summer vacay. Nothing beats it. We grilled some marinated chicken breasts and had a glass of wine on the patio. I have already finished my thank you notes for the end of the year gifts and am just starting to relax. Tomorrow I will start scheduling my summer therapy kids, but for now..."school's out for summer"

The Second Birthday Club Mother-Daughter Bridal Shower

Kathy, Mary B, the bride!, MOB, Teri, Carol and MOG

We had our second bridal shower for a Birthday Club daughter. Jackie, daughter of Mary K,  is getting married to Mark on June 30th and we celebrated that this past Sunday, June 3 (yes, that is Sally's birthday, but she was all about sharing her day with lots of fun women). Teri, Carol, Kathy, and Mary B were the hostesses and it was a beautiful event. We did a group gift again and got Jackie and Mark their gas grill. All they had to do was get it home and put together... :)
Jean, the groom's mother, came to the shower and commented on how nice it was to be with a group of mothers and daughters that have such great relationships with each other. Couldn't agree more!

Jackie and Sally

Bride and Mother of the Bride

Happy birthday, Sally!

I can't believe my baby girl is 24 years old. It was such a marvelous day when Sally came into this world. She was born on a Friday at 12:36 pm, a planned c-section. She was the first granddaughter on my side of the family, after four boys, and folks were happy to be buying some pink stuff for a change! The whole birth experience was so positive. It was the first nice weekend of the year and everyone was in a good mood. Just very positive thoughts and feelings surround that whole time of my life. And it has only gotten better. Sally is such a blessing to our family. Love her to pieces and am so thrilled that God has brought into her life a wonderful man like Matt.

June 3, 1988

June 3, 2012