Our not-so wooded lot

It apparently stomed last night. I wouldn't know it if it weren't for all of the uprooted trees because I slept right through the whole thing (I apologize to all of you insomniacs out there that are cussing me right now). We have 5 trees down, or at least on their way. The tree that the treehouse was attached to is down, but somehow the treehouse is still standing (great craftsmanship, Scott & Randall!!). Now we have to figure out what to do with all of this mess. If you need firewood, bring your chainsaw over and have at it!

The best of friends

The best week ever!

As you all know, I was a little (extremely) anxious about missing the second week of nursing school to go on a cruise. After spending a whole lot of time weighing the pros and cons, I decided to go and.... Boy, am I glad I did!! It was the most fun I've ever had on vacation! The weather was picture-perfect (never a drop of rain), the ship was fabulous, the food was delicious, the islands were beautiful, and the new friends we made were more fun than a barrel o' monkeys! I didn't want to come back home, but all good things must come to an end. Oh well...now we have some great memories!!

Many of you sweet, concerned people have asked how school was for me this week. I can tell you in one word - CHAOS! You know how I said that I was going to enjoy the week and not think about school and then have a nervous breakdown on the way home?? Yeah, that's pretty much how it went. I had really good intentions. I took my papers to study and read with me to the pool, to the beach, to the dining room.... but they never quite found their way out of the bag. So... on the 5 hour flight from San Juan to Dallas, I learned how to do dosage calculations! I am proud to say that I only missed 3 on the quiz, and they were all because I put mg instead of mL. Stupid mistakes. I passed both validations on Tuesday & Wednesday, and made a 90% on my first major exam. I spent every spare minute this week cramming for the next day's challenge, so I am spent. I've never been more happy to see a weekend than I was this afternoon.

I'll NEVER plan a vacation while school's in session again, but.....in the end, it was all worth it!

Something old, something new....

Actually, I guess I should say someone old and someone new (I'll take the "old" part, Shannon). Shannon came up this past weekend so we could celebrate our birthday on Saturday together. What a great day it was!! We did a little shopping, went out to lunch, layed out by the pool, and hung out with family. I don't like getting older, but any reason to get together with family is alright by me!
And this little guy is our someone new. Sullivan Cole is the newest member of the Primm family. He is Seth and Joy's sweet baby and was born on the 11th. How adorable is that face??!!

Note: I'm going to save all you blog readers some time over the next few days and let you know that there will not be any new posts from me for a while. I can sense your disappointment, but life these days is CRAZY!! We're leaving Saturday night for a cruise to the Virgin Islands (if they're still there and if we can fly safely through a hurricane...) and will be gone for 8 days. Yes, I'll have beautiful pictures and amazing stories to tell of our adventures when we return, but I just started nursing school. Let me try and convey the level of stress this has caused: It's one of the hardest and most time-consuming things I've ever done in my life, I'm missing one whole day of vital signs and another entire day of dosage calculations while we're gone, I have to test on said skills the Tuesday and Wednesday after we return, and I have a major test that Thursday over everything taught the first 3 weeks of school. I know I've added to the stress by taking a vacation in the middle of all of this, but it was booked in January and vacation insurance doesn't cover stupidity. So..... I'm going to stay up all night, sleep in late, lay on the beach, eat 7 meals a day and not think about school for a whole week. And then totally flip out on the plane ride home!! Anyway, I'll be MIA for a while. But, don't worry - I'll be back.....someday.

First day of school

First of all..... how beautiful are these girls?? I may be a little biased since I'm their mom and all, but seriously, they are just lovely.

And so, here we are once again with the first day of school. I've been blogging for a whole year now and doing a lot better job of keeping up with it than I ever thought I would! Do you recall the pictures from the first day of school last year?? Some smiles, some tears. Well, this year it was all happy (or for the most part, anyway.....)! Holland was too nervous to eat breakfast and spent a good bit of time in the bathroom this morning, but was a real trooper about starting the 4th grade. She got just a little misty at the last moment when I had to say goodbye and leave, but I can't blame her a bit. She gets every bit of her anxiety about new situations from me. I may even cry when I have start school next Monday - who knows?! Payton ate her mini muffins and then said several times that her tummy hurt because she was so full (also a case of the butterflies, I'm sure). Somehow 14 kids from her 2nd grade class ended up in her 3rd grade class, which is a pretty sweet deal. Even I knew every one of the kids at her table! She won't have any problems adjusting.

And so, they continue to grow up way too fast, and there's nothing I can do to stop it. I just have to enjoy this ride right along with them and remember to make the most of every day and enjoy this precious time...... Does anyone have a kleenex???

Crazy cat lady

Do you know what you do when your kids are gone? You take pictures of your cats. The one on the left has never been the sharpest knife in the drawer anyway, but for some reason she thinks that cats are supposed to lay on their backs. Poor girl. She's never going to amount to much....

One last hoorah

Well, it's hard to believe, but summer vacation is officially winding down. The girls still have one more week before they go back to school, but they're spending it in Branson with their grandparents. Since we won't be seeing them for a while, we decided to have a family night last night and spend some quality time together. We had supper at Red Robin, then went and played putt-putt. It was a gorgeous evening, (thanks to the rain this week that made for cooler temperatures) and we all had so much fun. 2 of us (not naming names) made a hole-in-one on the 18th, so we walked away with 2 free passes. Oh, and Scott won in case you were wondering. No surprise there. Fun times!


But, now the girls are gone and I'm wondering what the heck I'm gonna do all week by myself. I'm sure I'll think of something :)