The time is flying by - I woke up this morning and realized my first week of summer break is over and I didn't get a whole lot done...However, I think I made the very best use of my time - spending time with my husband (who is home, and should be for a while). We made plans to finish projects, we started talking about our first anniversary and whether a celebratory trip is in order, we checked out my new classroom, we did some browsing at Lowe's and COSTCO, and we grilled. Lots of grilling. Sometimes I think we could be just about the best show ever on Food Network, but who needs the stress of being a star, right? Let's just say if Bobby Flay wants to throw down with my husband, he'd better come prepared. I mean, we'll give him a beer, we'll have some nice conversation, but he'll lose...oh, he'll lose.

We've also had some time to just play with the dogs and try to get Dixie to quit digging up our sod. She's so smart and has quit biting, she's getting much better at potty training, and she is learning commands...She's getting pretty big (15 lbs. at her last vet appointment, which was over a week ago) and she's growing into her big ears. She's brought us a lot of entertainment and just a little bit of stress. (Is that the right order? Maybe it was a lot of stress, a little entertainment...I can't remember right now because she's just so sweet relaxing on the floor and chewing on a bone in a way that makes it look like a cigar. Precious.)

We've been having quite a bit of rain, but that's no sot unusual for us - unlike for you Texas/Oklahoma folk we keep hearing from. I hope you can keep the cool weather but dry out a bit so that we quit hearing tragic stories on the news from your part of the world. When the weather clears up here we want to take a day trip to the shore, finally...it's been in the works for a while and might just happen this weekend/next week. So far we don't have plans for the 4th, but I'm sure something will come up!

Here are some pictures of my family...