Off to camp tomorrow.... will be back on Saturday....

I'm finally in my classroom!!! I am so excited! I've worked for a couple of days, but today they are cleaning my carpet, so there is no reason to go. I will go tomorrow and take 'muscle' to move furniture. I'm pretty giddy about getting it all together!

VBS week and church too this week... I'm already tired! I am running the 'concession stand' so it isn't as stressful on me as it has been in the past (being VBS director). Tonight, we are having meat nachoes and popcorn, plus the usual cookies and kool-aid. Our theme this year is 'Game Day Central' so the concession stand fits in quite well. We are in a poor neighborhood and since we have a lot of kids that aren't really fed regularly at home, it is important to me that they go home with a full tummy... so everyone eats as much as they want! "Yes, there's more!"

Well... I found out about the out of state orders for the pampered chef. It's not free shipping, I misunderstood about that. What it does is figure the taxes for where you live... and you don't pay my taxes. I'm sorry...

    Here's my hubby...

     Here's the kids...

      Rachel and Billy

We had such a nice day yesterday. It was probably the best 4th of July I've had in a very long time! First we loaded up in two cars. Since we invited Rachel's boyfriend to go with us, she had to take her car. Since we traded in the van on my jeep, we max out at 5. So... she got to drive all of the way to my parent's house in Oklahoma (behind us). It is an hour and a half drive. That's a nice little road trip for a first time outting on the highway.

We enjoyed a nice visit with my folks. Dad made hamburgers on the grill and mom made everything else. Everything was so good and we got to eat on the picnic table outside. I haven't eaten outside in a very long time! It was so nice. It rained a little after we ate, so we just sat on the porch and watched it rain.

After a little while the kids got restless so we drove to our old town, and then to the state park there. We just drove through the park, but we ended up at the caves. I LOVE Robber's Cave. It has a rich history and wonderful hiking trails. We climbed the rock formations allowing the kids to laugh at me... because all the way I kept saying, "Now guys, we can't go too far because I'm in flip flops." Well.... we went to the top! We all had a great time! It was the best bonding time with the family that we've had in a long time... even with the boyfriend there! :)

We got to the top of the mountian and decided that we were starving to death! So... we climbed down (read: slid down) and finally reached the bottom. Now... remember I wore flip flops and it had recently rained. Let's just say that I am sore this morning!

The original plan was to stay at the park and watch the fireworks there... but we were hungry needed to eat. We decided that we had enough time to eat and make it back to Fort Smith for our fireworks show. So, we ate at out old local Pizza Hut (always a treat). We got to see a couple of old friends, which is always nice. Then we drove back home. It would have been way too late getting home if we would had stayed at the park for the fireworks there... but it sure would had been nice to see more old friends.

After making it to the Fort Smith fireworks late and running into good friends there, we ended the night at Braums *sigh of satisfaction*. I'll post pics later on... the camera is in the jeep.

I hope that you had a great 4th of July too!

Tomorrow is the last day of the academy... I am exhausted!

Here's a pic of me and my compadres...