Cutie pie

I love being this little boy’s Granna. Isn’t he the cutest ever? I definitely enjoy every moment I get in person, through FaceTime, or pictures and videos sent by his mama or daddy. Love this boy! (And his dog brother)

 

Catching up

 End of Summer…School…Grandbaby Ani …Life

Isn’t Ani just the cutest thing! His mama and daddy are too! Chris and I visited last weekend and wow how he has grown. He is making all kinds of noises and coos. He can hold his head up and he loves standing with weight on his feet.He loves tummy time , nap time, and listening to his mama hum or sing especially Moon River. Definitely in love with this cutie! 

School has started! This year I’m teaching third grade.  We are departmentalized yet again. I’m teaching the ELA portion of the day with Mrs. Henning. She was my student teacher last fall and was hired in November so she and I have not only taught together on the same grade level team but we have similar teaching styles and classroom procedures, expectations, and hopes and dreams. She is teaching Math, Science, and Social Studies. One class is GT and the other is a mix of high performers yet gen ed and resource students. We are learning and growing everyday!

I haven’t even taken a picture of Austin since he started his junior year. He is taking a rigorous schedule but I am proud of him. He has been studying and looking over his content each day. 

Dylan has graduated. He is hoping to begin some training with a local vocational center. Today he had his annual cardiologist appointment. This was the first appointment as an adult cardio patient. His echo was great and his heart sounded good! The doctor wanted him to exercise or walk eat day, but he doesn’t have to go back for check up  for 2 years. 

Chris and I celebrated our 31st wedding anniversary. We had a day in Mount Pleasant with lunch and shopping and followed with downtown with walking, talking, snacking, and dinner. 

To end our summer, we took a second cruise. This time Helen and Jim were able to join us.We went to Daytona Beach  before the cruise and had fun at the beach ! We  visited the Bahamas and a new private destination Celebration Key. We had a lot of  fun enjoying the food, family, sun, and water. Austin was also able to enjoy the water slides. We could see our feet in the water. (Thankful for water shoes). We also saw a big manta ray and a lot of coral. We saw the building of a new dock too. 

Sour dough

I decided to jump on the sour dough bandwagon a while ago, but I had some trouble with the loaf actually making! I made two attempts prior to my first success so I guess the phrase Third time is the charm is true. 

Here’s the journey:

In December, Ashleigh had given me some of her starter. Thankfully! Anyway I decided to put to use in January when it was very cold and even snowy. Well after several hours of trying to get the starter and  ferments warm enough, I did cook the bread. It actually didn’t turn out bad looking, but it was too gummy to eat. 

Several months later… It is  summer and my starter has been in the refrigerator for quite some time. I had to do some taking off the hard crust. So I do all the things to make a bread and I am noticing that it isn’t rising, it isn’t elastic,, but I continue. The bread bakes and this is what comes of it 

After this, I did some research and after talking to Ashleigh and my good friend, Misty. So I fed my sour dough several times before making a new loaf. I forgot to score the sour dough loaf but it was made into an edible round loaf  

  

I even used discard to make blueberry muffins.

BTW I named my starter Alfred Jr

Days with The Coles

 I was able to visit Ashleigh, Sam, Glorf, and the newest addition-my first grandbaby-Anselm (Ani). We had lots of snuggles and walking and talking. I got to get a peek at some smiles and had a mishap when putting on his diaper. Anselm went to church for the very first time. Mommy and daddy got to walk Glorf and hopefully spend some time together while Anselm and I walked and talked and sang and listened to music. So grateful to help Ashleigh and Sam - I also enjoyed making ribs and vendors but also Sam’s smoothies and a dish of orzo Ashlogh made as a postpartum meal.