Happy 3 years Neil!

Neil and I had our 3 year anniversary today. We got to celebrate after work with dinner at Chianti. I have been craving some Italian food and it was really good, but the company was better. We just ate and laughed the whole time. It seems weird that we have only been married for 3 years because we have been together for 7. Happy 3 year anniversary to my wonderful husband!

Lake Weekend

We had the best time at Black River Lake with the Buteaus and Smiths this weekend. The Buteaus have access to all these great vacation locations...it is so nice to be invited. Thanks Buteaus! We were in charge of breakfast and dessert. I bought a cake because we all have something to celebrate this weekend. The Montgomerys were supposed to come, but ended up having too much time away from home so they needed to stay home. We missed them! We had 2 anniversaries and 1 birthday to celebrate. I had the cake say "Happy Birthday Casey, Happy Anniversary Erinn & Trey and Lindsey & Neil." Bennett pulled it off the counter and it was destroyed. I was screaming "no no no no no!" He felt so bad he started crying. Poor baby.

Neil and Trey went down to do some work early Friday morning. I took off on Friday so we could get down there at a decent time. Erinn drove me, Bennett, Georgia, and her sister, Mary Catherine. Poor Mary Catherine was in the back with both babies in car seats. She deserves an award for that. I will have to say that I have had better car trips. Bennett would touch Georgia and she would get mad; she would touch him and he would get mad and so on. They watched about 6 different movies and ate anything and everything we could pass back to them. They were just ready to get out of the car seats. We left right during nap time in hopes that they might sleep the whole way. We got on the road at noon and they didn't fall asleep until 2:30. We had about 45 minutes of silence.

We arrived and got everything unloaded. We went for a boat ride and then went to dinner in Jonesville. We had a nice dinner at El Nopal.

The camp was so nice. They even brought the blow-up jumpy for the kids.

I used my new camera for these next few photos. A lot of the pictures look like I was trying to use the "use of thirds" photography technique. I'm not...Bennett just moves a lot!

I decided to do a little photo shoot. He wasn't into it.

It was a reversible outfit. I switched it mid-shoot. I just love how clear these pictures are!

Here are Shep, Bennett, and Georgia. They were watching Kung Fu Panda after dinner.

We were so excited to meet Mary Catherine's boyfriend, Austin. He was so nice and great with kids. He and Bennett played catch and swam together.

Shep was such a brave swimmer. He is only 3 and could jump in the water and swim around. It will be nice when Bennett can do these things. I just love an action shot.

I love this one!

He learned how to say boat this weekend. He would point to a passing boat and wave. He would say "Booooow."

We took the boat out for a spin this morning so the kids could tube. Cole was going with Shep this morning, but the boat ran out of gas. The boys had to swim the boat in to the dock.

The kids were in to EVERYTHING!

Bennett has no shame at all.

Erinn brought this pool for them. Mary Catherine was so much fun and was so sweet to play with the kiddos. She is a really good aunt.

I am so glad we were able to get a family photo.

My boating boys.

Oh and this was pretty much how Bennett acted on this trip. He hated this life jacket. On one of the boat rides he cried the ENTIRE 30 minutes. I think maybe he didn't like that he couldn't do everything the big kids could do. Who knows.

Bennett really loved playing with the noodles. I really loved this outfit that I bought last year on sale for $13.

After Bennett destroyed the original cake, I headed out to get new one. Happy Birthday Casey! (This was supposed to be a surprise for you!)

Overall it was a totally fabulous time. I did get fried on Saturday so I could not get any sun today. I don't know how it happened because I was wearing SPF 100!

White Room Challenge Results

To say that I am so proud of my students would have to be an understatement. BUT I am so proud of them!!! They really did a great job with the White Room Challenge project. I think I should submit these to HGTV. My students had requirements for their specific projects. They had to use all of the design elements and principles we learned in class. They had to have at least 2 windows and seating for 8. They basically had to make something great from nothing. We didn't have a lot of money to buy supplies so furniture is made from paper-clips and matte board. As I have mentioned before, Leslie and Somdal donated tons of fabric, flooring, and paint samples to the class. They came up with creative ways to re-purpose items. I am so proud of the creativity they used!

Remember the blank slate they had to work with?

This is the "Gator Theatre." They did a great job. They have a projector hanging down from the ceiling and even made a sectional couch! Those are bean bag chairs on either side of the couch.

Here is the "Gator Girls Lounge." They have 2 flat screen tvs in the corners and pendant lighting. The stools in front of the bar are made from matte board and popsicle sticks.

Here is "Captain Ice Cream." They named it that because our school is Captain Shreve and they wanted it to all tie in together. They even made fake ice cream out of play dough. They took the initiative and did a lot of their project at home. I was so excited when they brought it back with all of this fancy stuff.

Here is the "Gator Cafe." They really did a nice job keeping everything neat and clean. They even made miniature books and centerpieces for their tables.

Here is the "Seniors Only Lounge." Yes, that is a big flat screen TV on the back wall. They were not able to get a lot of details in their room. They had about 1 1/2 weeks less than the other groups. They did a great job on their furniture!

We were so fortunate to have our "Big Reveal" today. We had 3 judges (Leslie, Ms. Elrod, and Mrs. Underhill). We even had a little cake and lemonade. I was able to invite the teachers that have 6th hour planning and Mrs. White's class to come and view the designs. A couple of my students even invited their family members to come! I am so thankful to have my mom and friends come out and support me, too.

I had all of the desks in groups with black table cloths on them. One of my students walked in and said "You really have it set up like an art gallery in here Mrs. Lewis!"
Here's the cake.

So...who do you think won the grand prize? Cane's was so nice to donate 10 free "Box Combo" coupons to the winners. What a great incentive! Here is the winner as chosen by our 3 esteemed judges.

Captain Ice Cream

Didn't they do a great job? I thought they were amazing!

Anniversary Gift

Neil and I will have our 3 year anniversary on Monday. We decided to get this camera for our anniversary gift. It was really a nice surprise for me. We have been talking about it for a while and then Neil said "let's go look at them at Best Buy." I was so excited!

He said that I use my point and shoot camera so much that he wanted me to have a nice camera. Everyone we have talked to about these fancy cameras says that they are worth every penny. I plan to take a little class this Summer to learn how to use it.

Happy 3rd Anniversary Neil!!

Awesome Sunday

My sweet husband has really been dying for me to go out to this new deer lease land. We decided to go today after church. We put Bennett down for a nap and my mom came over to sit with him. I have to be honest that I am a baby when it comes to the wilderness. I just don't like bugs and being sweaty and dirty. Sounds in the woods scare me and I am terrified of snakes. I mean terrified. We pulled up to the property in Doyline and what do you think the first thing Neil says? "Look at the HUGE snake, that thing is huge!" Ugh. I didn't even look. I waited in the truck until he got the 4-wheeler out. We went for a ride and it was really nice. Neil wanted to put up his deer camera and it needed to be done ASAP. I kept saying that the land reminded me of Camp Wabanzee (sp?). It is a girl scout camp in town. I guess that was my main experience with the wilderness. We rode around and looked at trees where the deer rubbed them. We even got to ride to where we had a view of Lake Bistenau. It is going to be a nice place once they get in there with a dozer. Neil is so excited about having a place so close to hunt. I know Bennett will love getting to go out there with his Dad. I hope they put some sort of air-conditioned camp house out there soon so the girls feel welcome!

When we were walking around I heard a noise and I jumped right on Neil's back. I was so scared. It turned out to be a bird. Neil thought I was crazy.

Here is Neil installing the game camera. We walked by it and smiled to make sure it was working.

The lake is beyond those trees. I thought they should put the camp in this open area, but Neil said that it would flood. The grass is actually supposed to be covered in water when the lake is up.

We got home and had just enough time to bathe and get dressed for our Sunday School party. This was such a fun party! The Buteaus hosted a fish fry at their house. We had a huge turn-out and perfect weather. We were getting a little worried because it was supposed to be rainy. We are thankful that the rain stayed away. They had 2 pools, a bouncy house, and a slip and slide for the kids. It was like an amusement park for kids. We had a wonderful time. Thanks Buteaus!

Here is my sweet playing in the bounce house.

Here are Caroline, Bennett, and Georgia. The girls looked adorable in their bikinis.

Bennett loved the slip and slide. I think this might have to be our next purchase. Thanks Pops for that new bathing suit.

Erinn sent me this amazing picture. What a happy boy!

Here are Drew and Leigh Raines. They are so sweet.

Here are the chefs. Neil, Trey, and Beau made some great fish, fries, and hushpuppies.

Here are Elizabeth, Caroline, Miller, Georgia, and Bennett eating dinner.

Lance pushed all the kids down the slip and slide. Poor guy got roped in to a tough job! Bennett loved it. I love this action shot.

We had tons of left-overs so we called the fire department up the street to see if they would like it. They were so sweet to bring the fire truck over to pick up the fish. They were so appreciative and so were we! The kids loved getting to climb in the fire truck.

Here's Shep wearing the fire man helmet.

This was the Captain. He was so sweet to B. Bennett went right to him!

We had a great Sunday. We are just getting geared up for only 9 more days of school! Wooohooo! I am so ready for Summer.