All in A Day's Work

I love this time of year when the Clemson students come back and school begins! Dan is looking forward to starting classes and being able to get into a routine.

I started teaching piano lessons again this week. I have 30 students this year! I teach on Mon.-Thurs. from 2:00-6:00 p.m., so my days will be pretty full between work (8:30 a.m.-1:45 p.m. or so) and teaching. Thankfully, I have a wonderful husband who is very patient and very helpful, and I don't teach on Friday afternoons. That leaves a day for going to ball games, hanging out with our teens or "couple" friends, shopping, and doing whatever else might need to be done.

The last few evenings we have been able to just be home! It has been so nice to do projects around the house, laundry, read, etc. We will need to protect some evenings this semester to keep things in the right priority! Speaking of priorities...time to head toward bed. Mom and I are walking at 6:30 tomorrow morning. Gotta stay in shape!

Saturday at HOME

Today was my first Saturday at home in several weeks. We were with the teens for 2 weeks, and then last weekend we were in Richmond for a wedding. Needless to say, it was so nice to have a day at home. I was able to finish organizing all of my piano music. A full file cabinet's worth! I love piano music and have collected quite a bit over the years, and I am still collecting it :).

I also finalized my fall schedule for teaching - 30 students! Mon.-Thurs. 2:00-6:00 p.m. you will find me at the piano. I am very excited about starting a new semester. I just need to finish up the assignment notebooks and I am ready to go.

Finally, I made oatmeal/coconut macaroons; shortbread bars; peanut butter cookies; and Rach made a pan of brownies. We are having a choir meeting tomorrow, and Dan said there would be food, hence the baking.

It has been a full day, but I have accomplished my goals, and I think I will sleep very well tonight!

Oh....one quick little story....Dan brought a donut home from Dunkin Donuts this morning...he said the baby called and asked for it. This baby is wanting all kinds of things...in moderation, of course. The baby likes going on morning walks, too!

Bed and Breakfast

Rach and Matt are staying with us for a couple weeks before they go back to BJ. We are having a great time. It is fun to have Rach (Matt's great to have around too) so close by. I am enjoying every minute! Next week we are going with Mom, Dad, Alli and Sarah, Matt and Rach to Gatlinburg. It should be a very fun, relaxing trip!!!

Okra and Tomatoes

One of my favorite ways to eat okra is with tomatoes....stewed okra and tomatoes. Yum. Fresh from the garden you just can't beat it. We have plenty of tomatoes growing at our house. The corn was fabulous! I have really enjoyed our garden, and thanks to mom we will be able to enjoy some of the fruits of the garden during the winter! She froze corn, beans and tomatoes for us while we were out of town!

The News Is Out

We are expecting Baby Smetana around February 10th! It has been a fun secret to keep, but we were able to tell the Grandmas this past Thursday, so the news is out. It spread like wildfire at church yesterday! The second part of this exciting news is that Rachael is expecting too around the same time. The question most often asked is "did you plan this?"....well, nope we didn't. Not at all. This is something only God could do! We are having a lot of fun. Will keep you posted along the way!

in Richmond

We drove up yesterday for the wedding of a friend of mine, Ashley Pritchard. We traveled on ministry team together in 2004...seems like forever ago. I remember the conversations we would have at night about our "men." We had a great time! Lots of fun things are happening. Will write more soon, hopefully! Aug. 11-14 we are taking a family vacation to Gatlinburg!!! Woo-hoo!!!