October

It has been a while since I have posted because life has been very busy.
My back went out earlier this month and slowed some things down for me. I'm glad I went through that because I needed to see how much I was over working myself and how much Nick needed me. I was spending a lot of time in the classroom and doing way too much. Now that I have stepped back I feel better and I still get things done, but now I share my "To-Do-List" with my assistant. She has been a blessing and we are trying to work together to make things happen.

Nick is focused on school and trying to get into grad school. This will be a new chapter in our life and I am excited for whatever our future holds. Nick decided this week that his focus is going to be Neurological Psychology. We have been looking at a few different colleges and are in the process of applying to them. We are shooting for the stars and if we fall short, well, then at least we tried.

I have been addicted to Pinterest lately and if you don't know what that is or want an invite just email me!

We are shifting wards the first weekend in November and I have already been asked to give a talk (ON MY BIRTHDAY!)

I went to the Optometrist today and I will have glasses in two weeks. I broke my old pair about 5 years ago and never went to get them replaced. I noticed lately that my eyes have been giving me a hard time and I finally broke down and had them checked. This will be my Birthday Gift to myself.

Random picture of a moth.

 The fuzzy moth we found in the parent pick up line.. he had a fuzzy tail! so cute!

I am starting some new centers Monday and I am very excited. I had a parent come and volunteer, she asked what she could do and I had her to organize the loft. It is my play kitchen area and the kids love playing up there, but it needed to be organized. SHE DID A GREAT JOB! I took pictures and posted them so the kids would know how to put things back. I also added a food wall, kinda like a word wall but it is pictures of labeled food. I am so excited to add more labeled food as time goes by. Here are some pictures of the organized loft.

We had our first field trip this past Monday and I wish I could post pictures but most of them have my kids in them. We went to the farm stead and we were able to see pigs and some other fun things. Here are the pictures that didn't have any children in them.

Well this is all for now, but I will try harder to be better about posting.

Love you all

Lauren and Nick

Camping

We went camping with Brom, Sherry, Jacob, and Aaron the first weekend of October. It happened to be a very cold weekend, but an awesome experience. We had so much fun packing for the trip. This is the wood I bought in Bryson City.

 Our car full with all of our camping things.

 Sherry was trying to help Brom set up their 6 man tent.

 Jacob and Aaron helping us with our 4 man tent.

 After we got the tents up we unpacked the cars.

 We bought matching sleeping bags for the trip.

Nick is adding the extra pole so we can put on our cover.

 Found this little guy while we were on a walk to check out the restrooms.

 Brom and Nick started our dinner fire as Aaron watched. (Pyro in training)

 Our fire pit.

 The men are cooking our hot dogs

 Aaron eating his hot dog.

 After dinner we had SMORES with the HUGE marshmallows. We all made a big mess.

 Bed time for the boys but they kept peeking out of their tent.

Saturday morning we got up and Brom fixed us pancakes and bacon. We then headed out to Helen, Georgia to walk around the town. When we first got there it wasn't busy at all, but as we parked we all noticed more and more cars coming in to park and pretty soon the WHOLE place was packed with people.

 Did I mention that it was COLD? This is us standing in front of a beautiful water fountain.

 The town was ment to look like a German town.

 Waiting on the boys.

 Jacob wanted to play next to the water.

 Crossing the river.

 We ate lunch at this place! The guy was very entertaining and the food was over priced but good.

 We needed to get some groceries for our foil dinners and this was across the street from the store.

 They had these at the cash registered. They have different flavors and yes people eat them.YUCK!!

 Back to camp to get the fire going for dinner.

 The dinners turned out really well.

 Digging in!

 Putting the fire out.

 A pretty little stream very close to where we camped. 

 Jacob wanted to walk on the log.

 Sunday morning we are getting ready to leave. The men are shaking out a tarp.

 We went to Anna Ruby Falls. This is a picture of Brom and Nick playing Poo sticks. For those of you who aren't familiar with the game, the game is named after Winnie the Poo.  To play take sticks and throw them in the water at a bridge and whoever's stick makes it under the bridge to the other side first is the winner. Their sticks kept getting stuck so they had to get some more.

 This is where they kept getting stuck at.

 I thought this sign was very interesting.

 Nick enjoying the sights.

We had sooooo much fun there, I would love to go back and see what else they have around. After the falls we found a picnic area and made some hot dogs. Then we drove the beautiful back roads home.