Indiana Again?!?

Yes it is true! I came back to LV for a week because I had some required teacher work days when I had to obviously, be at work! The first day was really stressful because we had to meet at the bowling alley, bowl two rounds, go to a two hour lunch, come back and bowl two more games, then the day was over! It was kind of a "get to know the staff day" and somehow they related teaching to bowling. . . .it was a stretch. . . but it worked! Throughout the rest of the week I got settled into my new classroom and believe me. . . it now looks awesome!
This year our school has swapped over to a year round schedule. If one doesnt know how that works . .. we basically go to a 60 (school) days on... 15 (school) days off schedule, for the whole entire year. Our school is split into a five track system and we stagger start the year. So the following Monday after our work week, was the first day of school. But Track 1 was the first track that is "off" track and thus started their 15 days off! On September 14, track one comes back, and track 2 now has the break. When they come back, track 3 now has the break. And it just keeps repeating! Get it?? Well. .. if you havent figured it out yet. . . I am teaching on track 1 meaning that I don't start school for another 3 weeks!

So I got home on Friday night of that week and was wondering, "what in the world am I gonna do for the next three weeks?" Don't get me wrong, I enjoy having time off . .. but its hard to really have much fun when everyone else is working by day. So I came to the perfect conclusion. .. I would fly out to Indy.. and visit with my sister! I can just go to work with her by day, and we can hang out at nights because Bryan is rarely home weekdays anyway. That way we can both spend our alone time together! So that is exactly what I did!!

We went to work by day... so here are some pictures of the cute little boys I got to hang with all week!

Playing in the sprinklers


Walking our carrots out to feed the neighbor horse


Feeding the horses!


Can you tell this child was not exactly fond of the horse??


The negative part of the work week? Back to the 6 am alarm clock! On Friday morning however, Molly came into my room to tell me the power had gone out . I was impressed when she left me with my very own flashlight. . wow way to be prepared for an emergency! Unfortunately, we discovered that they are not completely prepared for an emergency. My flashlight kept going out and they had no spare batteries. The emergency lamp they own has not been charged so that was a failure as well, and they have no candles! I give this drill a D plus! Not saying I would do much better at my own home. . . I don't think I even have a sporadic working flashlight! Something we best all work on I guess!
Anywho. . . the cars were parked in the garage so Molly and Bryan had to go discover how to open it manually-- success!


That day Bryan was home so he came to work with us. Three adults, plus three little boys, made for a perfect day to attempt the zoo!!





Obviously we didn't get a ton of pictures with the actual animals. When we were parked by the animals all the pictures end up being of the back of heads because these little boys have yet to be trained that kodak moments are more important than the actual trip! Besides, Molly and I have the same fondness of the zoo as each other, which is basically zero fondness! I believe Molly even grumbled something about "this is why I HATE the zoo!" prob no more than five minutes into the day!

This picture is proof that we did actually take the boys out on occasion to see the animals. But when you are one on one with the little monkeys its hard to get a good picture when they aren't strapped in somewhere!

Overall it was a fabulous visit. We didn't do anything spectacular, but it was a nice way to spend a week just hanging out with my sis. We did squeeze some shopping in (see a few posts back), hit the movies (Post Grad-- soo funny!), ate a lot, tried to run that off, and had a week long running game of Skip Bo (which I remain the master of)!
And last but not least, I have become an official snob and refuse to ride in anything but first class these days. It's AWESOME!! Thanks Bryan! And thanks Molly for my great visit!

I went fishing for the first time......

..... sadly I didn't catch a thing!! :(

A groady looking catfish did however try to bite our toes! Eeek. . . scary!

Randi Visits!

My best pal Randi came to visit LV a few weeks ago! Unfortunately for me, both Randi's brother and now her sister live here in LV too so because we had to share her, I only got her for one day! And frankly the only reason I think they were willing to give her up that day is because they both had to work. Yup- it's harsh I know! Anyway. . .we made the best of the one day we had. I went to get her from her sister's house in the morning and then do you know what SHE wanted to do for the day??? She wanted to help me set up my new classroom because she misses coming and helping me! It was the best thing EVER! We got so much accomplished that would have taken me like three times as long if I was by myself.
Part way through the day we met with her sister for lunch and then did a little shopping that DID take three times as long because oddly enough we both had left our map reading skills somewhere else and got ourselves lost and turned around all over the place in good ole Henderson. It was a fun adventure though and in the midst of it all we stopped for a little treaty. Randi is an ice cream girl and I am most definitely a french fry girl so McDonalds worked out perfectly!

Then at the end of the day we met her brother and sister for dinner. So technically I still shared my day with both the brother and sister. . . but that's just the nice girl I am! They better watch out though. . . cuz I am definitely gonna find a way to sneak her down one weekend without them even knowing! Bwah ha ha. . wish me luck!

I LOVE Penny Days!

At the beginning of each school year, each teacher gets a little budget they get to work with to buy stuff for the classroom. The school gives us a fatty order form of all the stuff you can buy with your money such as pencils, crayons, folders, glue sticks, etc, thrgough them. Though that might be the easy way to spend the money, and get all your supplies, it is definitely not the wise way to spend because of all the AWESOME back to school deals you can find at several stores throughout the summer. You might have to go to a store several times (limits on what you can buy of course), you might have to take friends (so they can get the limit as well), and you may have to fill out rebates to get some of your money back, but in the end it is all worth it!

Here is an example of part of my week's shopping events thanks to both Staples and Office Depot's amazing Penny Days!

108 two pocket folders
42 pairs of scissors
90 pencils
2 calculators
15 pencil sharpeners
18 sharpie markers

Total? $20.11

River Trip!

The kellys do an annual (with sporadic misses here and there) trip to Laughlin, Nevada for some fun in the sun every year!

The adventure up!


Mom and dad got to drive the five hours or so up with the two little boys in the back, Scott and Rachel went with the rest of their clan in his truck, and that left the other five of us in the last car. I think it was a pretty squishy ride for us all, but we made do!
Instead of going right to our hotel like we normally do, we decided that we made it up early enough to get a few hours in at the river right away! Besides, it was REAL hot! So we got about a day and a half in at the water instead of just the usual one day. It was a great idea! So first thing we do is put the boats in!

Bryan and Scott putting the boats in the water.

Then we set up camp! On the second day as us "kids" were setting camp down below, mom and dad were up a little ways blowing up the tubies to float in. It was pretty windy down below and we came to the decision that we wouldn't set up the big shade cover because it just wasn't working out with all the wind. Dad of course comes down right as the wind dies down and mocks us kids a bit for not wanting to set up the shade. He made some remarks about how the tent was made to withstand a few "mild" gusts of wind and so our decision was over ruled and the shade went up. This is our camp shortly after that however and we thereafter were probably referred to as the "white trash family" for the rest of the day. Just goes to show, dads always know best!! Ha ha

Everyone knows that old white is my favorite of all our little boats. She may not be as speedy as new blue (they are all referred to by colors of course) but she is definitely quicker than both the reds! Anywho . . dad announced that he was selling old whitey! Just because she is the oldest does not make her the worst in my opinion so dad told me that I could HAVE old whitey! Of course there are several reasons this scenario would not work out, one being my car is a wee bit too small to be carrying something practically it's own weight! Dad said I just needed to find a boyfriend with a truck who could pull her for me. . . Im working on it pops!
And here are just a few more sporadic pictures of the Kellys on the water!








The whole trip was great! We swam, we boated, we ate (buffet 3 times in two days-agh!), and we had fun with the whole family! And of course, what's a trip to Nevada without the hope for some luck??

Our adventures did not end there however! This is the second year (not in a row thankfully) that one of the trailers have gotten a flat on the drive home! After the first experience, we learned the value of having a spare with us.

Here's what went on with everyone during our small road block!

Ma and Pa changed the tire!

Skyler took pictures (me too!)

The boys tried throwing rocks at cars (luckily they were too far away!)

And let's not forget Scott!!
Yup! After a few days in the sun. . . we were exhausted!

Always a time to Celebrate!

One day I got a call from Bonnie while she was at work telling me that she had just heard on the radio that it was officially National Lasagna Day. What else do you do on National Lasagna Day then eat lasagna? So that is what we did! We whipped up a lasagna and had it for dinner, so obviously we snapped a photo of our meal, afterall, no "real" holiday is ever celebrated without a few kodak moments right?

*July 29-- National Lasagna Day*


So the next day, I get yet another phone call. National Cheese Cake day Shawna! So... you probably guessed it...

*July 30- National Cheesecake Day*

Of course after that we were all gung ho about this whole weird holiday celebration thing so we decided to google a "silly holiday calendar." Sure enough, there is a random holiday for probably every day of the year!! Who comes up with these kind of things? You got me! And what makes them really "official?" Nobody probably knows! Though we were pretty bummed to have missed out on "Walk your Houseplants Day" just weeks earlier, we still decided to attempt to celebrate a silly holiday EVERYDAY! I mean, how can life not be great when you get to celebrate something everyday?!?

Unfortunately, I guess our excitement was blown on lasagna and cheesecake, because the next day we let it slide, and then, we never picked the tradition back up! The only other holiday I remember seeing as I eyed the August calendar was National Twin Day and I was super excited because it fell on a day that me and Molly were gonna be in town together. So that day-- I remembered-- and we got a picture (We weren't really sure what else you actually DO on Twin Day).

*National Twin Day-- August 7*

After writing this blog I was reinspired to look at the silly celebration calendar-- August 8th. . . Sneak some zucchini onto your neighbor's porch night. . . . Not much time. . . I'd better run!!!