Labor Day Weekend

Oh, how I needed this weekend! It was so nice to have an extra day off for Labor Day. Plus we had a professional development day at school on Friday, so kids had the day off and we got to catch up on some things at work. That morning our leaders for the day gave us an extra recess...imagine how much fun teachers can have when given these choices: kickball, 4 square, or playing on the playground. We had so much fun! And I think everyone needed time to play and hang out before getting to work...it was a great idea. The only problem was that the darn sun kept getting in my eyes and making me drop the ball when I was playing first base and I had to promise, promise, promise that I would practice so I can be on the Henry kickball team for the Parkway tournament coming up. I'm hoping everyone forgets about my errors cause I think I might be pretty good if the sun's not out. :-)

Friday night I went to book club at Sarah's house. If you're like my husband, you're probably thinking I'm a big dork. And that's okay with me. I've come to terms with my dorkiness and try to embrace it to the fullest. Actually, book club is really a chance to get together with girls, drink some wine, and chat. What more could a girl want?!? We decide to read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. I picked it up on Saturday on our way to Alexander's birthday and finished it last night. (And no, I don't normally finish that quickly. I'm usually a big procrastinator when it comes to book club and don't even finish the book before our meeting, but this one was different.) It was a great, easy read. If you're looking for something fun to read I highly recommend it! We also read A Spot of Bother by the same author in our last book club, and I really liked that one, too. The story lines are kind of crazy, but they draw you in and it's really hard to put them down.

On Saturday afternoon we went to Tim and Jen's for Alexander's 1st Birthday party. I can't believe he's already 1! It seems like yesterday when they brought him to our house (all of 6 days old) to watch college football. We had fun seeing Alexander open his gifts, but I will admit that Jonathan and I were a little overwhelmed with all the kids running around. I guess you get used to that when you have your own. Here's a little look back at the cute guy:

This is Alexander last Labor Day Weekend. He was 6 days old, and his parents brought him to his first barbecue at our house. I can't believe how much he's changed in a year!

This is the one-year-old...eating at Brian and Mallory's barbecue last weekend. What a cutie pie!

Yesterday we went on a float trip with Brian, Mallory, Mallory's sister, and her boyfriend. We floated the Meramec River, which was about an hour away from St. Louis. It only took us about 4 hours to float 4 miles, even with stopping to eat our sandwiches half way. It was really fun and relaxing, despite the frigid temperature of the water. At one point near the beginning I thought my buns were numb, but then it got pretty hot outside and I didn't notice anymore. The only trouble I got into was when I got stuck in a mini whirlpool between two trees along the bank. It was really nice when the people in a raft floated on by saying, "Oh, honey. We're not laughing at you..." Yeah, right! I'm just glad I managed to remember some things I learned watching "Man vs. Wild" and got myself untangeled since my whole party floated on without me.

Today I decided it was time to replace the plants I lost this summer. I think the combination of animals attacking them and too many weekends with no water did them in. I feel bad about the whole situation. It's not like I purposefully killed my plants. I really tried to save them. I even spent $30 on a bottle of "Critter Ridder" that promised to keep small animals away from my plants for at least a month. Talk about false advertising! That stuff only worked for about 2.5 days, if you ask me. Anyway, I did some damage at Lowe's today and came home with crimson and gold mums for my front porch. We LOVE college football at the Teal household, so the crimson is for OU and the gold for TU. I also got a steal of a deal on some hanging gerber daises. The guy sold them to me for $4 each, which is much better than the $10.97 they were originally marked. I think maybe he could tell I don't have much luck with plants and felt sorry for me. Either way I am glad to have some pretty plants to look at again, and I'm hoping that whatever animals ate my other plants don't like the taste of mums. We shall see...

Hope everyone had a fun and relaxing Labor Day!