Peek-A-Boo Curly Sue!

This past Sunday after church, Ray and I traveled East to visit our Gathings friends for a fun afternoon lunch date. We enjoyed great fun, great food, and great friendship. I love this little family of three. Sally and I are previous co-workers, and this sweet little girl is Miss Harley Raider. 

I  love her beautiful auburn curls. While the men talked sports, the three of us ladies had a little dress up session, played with some toys, and caught up on our summer activities. It was definitely a fun afternoon of peek-a-boo with our little curly sue!

Back in Session!

The past few weeks have been a bit of a blur. From trainings, convocation, room assignments, student numbers... things have been a bit crazy to say the least. Many of you have been wondering if I have a room assignment this year, and sadly things are a bit up in the air about my class. I first want to say that everyone has been absolutely amazing! I feel so supported and encouraged, but sadly our kinder numbers are just not there yet. So by next week (if not a few days later) I should know if I will be staying or finding a new home school. I am so thankful for the opportunity I was given last year and know that God truly has something perfect in mind for me. It will be so hard to leave my kinder kiddos from last year. Now of course they are big first graders and I just love those sweet kids. When I walk down the hall and see their sweet faces... I simply want to scoop them up and give them hugs. It will be hard to leave the staff and my kids, but again I am just ready and anxious.

For now I have had the opportunity to continue my work with the kinder kiddos. They are so cute and LITTLE. I forget how little they are. It makes me think of little miss Olivia and her first few days of school. I absolutely love what I do and I couldn't imagine anything else. And while I might not have my own classroom, I have loved helping in every way I possibly can.

BYOM Bible Study Cookout

Each Wednesday, the husband and I meet up with sweet friends from our ABF to hold a bible study, a time that we can meet together to share in God's word. This summer we have also had an opportunity to share in fun activities including making homemade ice cream, progressive dessert dates, game nights, movies, and more. This past Wednesday we met up with the Hanks and Goodings and enjoyed our first BYOM Cookout.

BYOM you may ask. It stands for bring your own meat. From steaks, chicken kabobs, bacon wrapped jalepeno poppers, corn and bean salsa salad, buttered corn on the cob, and sweet strawberries.... all I have to say is YUM! We have some really amazing chefs in this group.

I have loved getting to spend time with this group. I am definitely looking forward to our next Wednesday bible study.

Back to School Twenty Twelve

It's about that time.... Back to School days are officially here.

Today is our final day of summer before we bid it farewell until next year. This summer has been packed with lots of to dos as well as provided days of laziness. Here is a list of a few of our summer activities.

.......  taught Kindergarten Summer School
..... both families visited our home in McKinney
...... house decor shopping
........ celebrated outings with friends including birthdays, house warmings, wine &; cheese, lunch and dinner dates
....... visited our Alabama Zellner family to celebrate our niece's 5th birthday
..... traveled through 7 states including Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tenessee, and Arkansas
.... enjoyed lots of family time, walks, picnics, dollar movies, and date nights
.......... visited our ABF bible study group on Wednesday evenings
...... showered expecting ABF mamas with love
...... sampled snow cones from a pirate ship
................ enjoyed seasons of Friday Night Lights and Dawson's Creek... really way too much television
......... lots of cleaning, dusting, house work
....... unpacked... at least attempted to unpack (very little:)
.... and of course RELAXED!

I wish all the teachers a wonderful last day of summer and a great school year ahead:)

Mike's House Warming/ Wine & Cheese Partay

This Saturday we joined our friends at the Wiley Manor to celebrate Mike's house warming with a little Wine & Cheese Partay. He had a fabulous assortment of eats... but I think these pictures pretty much say it best.

 
His house was gorgeous and pretty much gave me lots of good ideas for our own house "wish list." Plus you never know what you'll find...

...or what crazy pictures will be taken. 

It's hammer time with Ray and Mike!

From a house tour, wine and cheese sampling, photo opts, and playing with these two little friends, it was definitely another great opportunity to celebrate with friends! I am so thankful for this group. We've shared an amazing past, and will continue to embrace a really exciting future. Enjoy photos of the house warming wine & cheese partay!

The ladies with their two sweet little men.

The gents

Duckee loving on the boys:)

Sampling the eats

Two of my favorite ladies

Jacob look'n like daddy. I love this sweet smile!

Happy House Warming and celebrations with friends!

Family Style Eats at the Zellner Cafe

This afternoon, we invited our college crew over to enjoy a breakfast brunch at what has now been termed as the Zellner Cafe, our first of many monthly get togethers. While not all of our group was able to attend, we are surely thankful for these amazing friends that we call family. 

 The mamas and their boys!

Mike, Ray, Adam, Michael, and Bryson

 Our Fant Friends

Duckee, Alicia, and Kristin

Le Menu

For brunch, we had an assortment of drink options including orange juice, mimosas, apple juice, coffee, and water. Food options included waffles, eggs, bacon, croissants, and assorted fruit.

Sadly, I didn't take any pictures of the final product. But my favorite part of the day was surely enjoying all of these fabulous people around a table, saying grace, and serving everything up family style.

Zellner "Picture Mail" Link Up

Our Zellner picture mail link up has been one of my favorite ways to keep up with our Zellner family. One day before meeting up with some ladies from work, I decided to send a mass text. On it, it simply said, "Ok family, here's a fun idea. Take a picture of where you are and what you are doing." It has lead to some pretty great conversations, laughs, and interesting photos. It has been a way to communicate and make the miles between us not seem so far. So while these do not have an exact order, enjoy some great pictures, great conversations, and just good 'ole family fun picture mail.

Becky and her man Todd celebrating 5 years

Owen: Couch position. Olmpics are on!

Pancho the pup unable to make it upstairs

to go to bed due to Callie the watchcat. Ha

Owen- bath time for Pancho

Sister-in-law, Rachel at Cheesecake Factory
She earned Team Leader of the Month. CONGRATS!

Ray: My frisbee team lost so I am home watching the Olympics.

Oh well. Could be worse!!

 Sweet Olivia

Our nephew Jacob at football practice in the hot hot sun!

The Alabama Zellners enjoy a Braves Game in the ATL

 The Zellners enjoying a game night at Dave & Busters

Ray is a 3 X winner of Spin&Win

which landed us 1500 tickets at D&B

  Our trip to IKEA and some yummy eats 

Saturday Brunch with the College Crew

...

Here's to many more picture mail picture posts to come. Next to our Skype and FaceTime Dates, this has become a fun way to keep in touch with our family!

Dave & Busters: Where an Adult can be a Kid

Friday night, Ray and I joined our friends for a game night at Dave & Busters. From dinner, drinks, and fun games, Dave & Busters is a great place where an adult can be a kid.

Thank you Steph and Adam for setting up this fun night with friends at D&B!

Rosas Lunch Date!

Tuesday afternoon, I met up with two of my favorite Fant friends at Rosas for a lunch date. After many days of busy schedules, we were able to get together and catch up on all of our fun Summer activities. I absolutely love spending time with Kristin and Bryson. I can't believe how big this little man is getting. I love his energy and all of his cute Bryson-isms. This Summer has been a great time to catch up on many of our little to dos, relax, as well as enjoy fun lunch date with friends!