Sunshine and Summertime

We survived!  I survived my third semester in the nursing program!  I learned a ton and grew a lot, but I sure am excited for next semester: pediatrics and labor & delivory!  I must say that it feels a little strange not to have homework to be stressed about... not that I mind... 4 homework/paper-free months!  I can't say the same for Craig though, since he changed his major, he's having to go to school full time during the summers in order to graduate a semester after I do.  He's finally taking classes that pertain to his new major though, and he absolutely loves it!  He's taking a Science of Hearing class that is super accelerated in order to be finished by the end of May.  It's stressful for him to have an exam every week, but he loves what he's learning, so I think the stress of it all is worth it.

Thus far this summer has been rather eventful.  I got to play "mommy" for a week for 4 kids while my cousin and his wife were in Hawaii.... I think that is just about the best birth control there is.  Haha!  Don't get me wrong, I had a lot of fun! They're really great kids and we had a blast, but taking on 4 all at once all by myself for 7 days was rather stressful. I keep telling myself that when I have my own, they'll only come one (maybe two) at a time.  Craig came on the weekends, but that left me to be in charge of school days and homework. While the girls were at school, I got to have some fun play time with Matthew at the park...rough duty, huh? :)  By the end of the week I was an expert at interpreting Matthew-ish and we were buddies.  He'd come in and snuggle me in the middle of the night most nights... heaven!  My absolute favorite part was watching him pray.  So innocent and so adorable!

During a visit to my parents house, we discovered some brand new, eyes still closed, baby raccoons in the chimney!  The boys had a lot of fun doin-their-thing trying to figure out how to get the babies out.  They created the "Critter-Gitter 2000".... aka cool contraption thingy to pull baby raccoons out of Mom and Dad's chimney.  Noah and Grandma supervised from the ground.  I eventually got brave enough to climb up there and see things for myself.  There were 3 babies that we managed to retrieve, the other one rolled out of view of the flashlight and couldn't be caught.  After calling all over creation to figure out what to do with them, we finally got a hold of animal control, so they picked up the three that we managed to catch.  My parents haven't smelled anything in there though, so we think the mother probably came and got ithe last one... hopefully.

We've added a few more living things to our home this summer.  I was given some daisy seeds in one of my nursing classes that I planted, Craig planted a mix of cosmos (a daisy/sunflower looking flower) and coleus (cool greenery of different colors).  We've got little sprouts in our pots and it's fun to count how many new ones we get each day.  We've also planted a "elephant ear mammoth" bulb (a tropical type plant with REALLY big leaves) that Craig has named "Kreacher."  Kreacher has yet to make an appearance in his pot...We've also got a rubber tree plant named Kermit and a cryptanthes bush thingy named Zoe.  Yay!

Well, That's about all I have to update on.  I'm just waiting for the results of my CNA licensing exam so I can start working.  In the mean time, I'm becoming the hired help for my parents so that I don't bore myself to death for a week.  We'll update later!