The Happenings...

Not as in the new scary movie that looks just as dumb as every other horror movie, but more like the "what's up" at the Clanton home.

First and foremost, WE HAVE AIR!! After enduring record-breaking temperatures with only a window a/c unit, the air people finally came out this past Friday. (Only 3 days after they promised.) Things were starting to get a little heated in our house, and I don't just mean the air temperature. Being in a hot house is miserable and makes for very cranky moms, dads and kiddos. Kudos to all of those people (like my mom and Aaron) who didn't grow up in air-conditioned comfort like I did. Call me what you want, but I was a brat without air.

Second, summer school is over. I actually enjoyed teaching it. Not just because it meant I was in a nice air-conditioned school building while my poor family was suffering in the heat of our house, but because summer school wasn't about grades or paperwork or behavior observations or modificiations or interventions or collecting money or parent conferences. It was about TEACHING. Novel concept--I know. I taught 5 boys for 3 hours a day. These 5 kids failed the reading portion of the CRCT (our state's criterion-referenced test that every kid has to take every year.) These boys SHOULD NOT have failed the test because all five were plenty smart enough to score well, but when you finish a test that has 7 one-page essays/poems/passages and 35 questions in 10 minutes, you're probably not going to pass with flying colors. So, these 5 lucky lads got to spend their first two weeks of summer in school. It was definitely a humbling experience for all of them. If only teaching was like this all the time--I definitely wouln't be "retiring."

Third, we joined the YMCA--again. I HATE going to the Y. Actually I enjoy working out (when I can get motivated enough to go), but the Athens YMCA is old, dirty and smelly. Seriously, the building is over 100 years old and it smells as such. (Especially the youth locker room. OMGosh!!! It's vomit-inducing.) But, the Y has several pools, it's close to our house and it doesn't require us to put a second mortgage on our house like most gyms around here do. So, we plug our noses and go 4-5 times a week. Aaron and the kids mostly swim and I do the elliptycal machine. I'll look like that trainer Jillian from "The Biggest Loser" in no time. HAHAHAHA!

Fourth, Maddie is going to "Camp Nonna" this Thursday. (Let me just say that Maddie and Wesley have awesome gradnparents! We don't see Aaron's mom and dad very often but when we do, they shower our kids with love and affection. And my mom and dad come to Athens/Atlanta all the time, so they're always around. Mom has all of her grandkids so spoiled--the kids look for little presents as soon as Nonna & Poppa walk in the door.) Several years ago, my mom started having the grandkids come spend a week at her house in the summer. They call it "Camp Nonna" and they LOVE LOVE LOVE it. Last year was Hawaiian-themed. I'm not sure what this year will be. Maddie has said, "I'll miss you when I'm gone, but I'll be having so much fun I won't be sad." :)

So those are the big goings-on in our house. Nothing big about it, but we love summer--everything is SO much slower and less-stressful. :)