Saturday Snapshots 7/5 & Summer Stock Up Sale

Happy Saturday to all of my friends! 
I am excited about linking up again with Run! Miss Nelson's Got the Camera! for Saturday Snapshots. The time off and this linky party has really helped me stop, look, and click to collect some great images of my summer. 
Each week, I captured an image that I fell in love with and see a little bit more of the love I am surrounded by. 
As always, I am going to feature some shots of my boys, but I also tried to capture some of the natural beauty in my world. 

For the 4th, we spent the day swimming with a friend and their boys. We spent 7 hours at their pool, I was amazed my kids were still awake because I was exhausted. I captured some of the fun they had flipping, diving, and being their silly selves! 

I still love yelling, Cannonball! It was funny because I heard other adults saying it too. Ah , the memories of belly flops and cannonballs as a kid!

I love the facial expressions I captured in my oldest's face! My heart flipped watching his do his stunts, luckily no one suffered any injuries on the diving board.

The dudes were flying through the air all day long!
They also spent many minutes on the water slide. When I set up this shot, I was not expecting this view, it made me chuckle, and I loved seeing his smile after he emerged from the water. 

Here is the view, I really love!

 Do you think he was having fun?

Here are some pictures of a crow that kept visiting our area and the trees surrounding us. You cannot see it, but there is a lake on the other side, absolutely gorgeous! 

My middle son's nickname is "Little Professor" because he loves learning and teaching about animals and anything science related. In the following pictures he is in his element with one of his favorite critters, frogs!

He rescued this {huge} frog who was trapped in one of the skating pools at the local park.

I am telling you the frog was HUGE! 

My son feels such a strong connection to animals. Each night he goes out to find the frog who has adopted him. He is convinced it is the same frog, that he likes him and comes to visit every night. You can see the love in Ry's eyes. 

One of his favorite things to do at his grandparents is to find frogs and lizards. Every time we go he catches at least a few and spends some time visiting and observing them. During the visit last Sunday he found 2 frogs, and a Hercule beetle. 

Ry's brothers love to see what he finds and he always shares his love of the critters and his knowledge. 

In this picture you can almost hear Ry telling Col all about the frogs. 

I planned to capture my oldest on his scooter, but the weather had other plans for us. Instead you get the picture of the tree with the dark clouds that opened up minutes after I clicked this shot. 

I have certainly captured the small moments and the fun moments of our week! 

Thank you for indulging me and letting me share some of my loves with you! 

Life moves too quickly, I am enjoying preserving those memories and looking back for those little things I might have missed while I was in the moment. 

Since it is Saturday, it is also time for the 3 items available for $1 as part of my weekly Summer Stock Up Sale.   

Multiplication Fluency Matching cards with arrays

Synonym Antonym match up cards

Multiplying & Dividing Fractions 

I hope you have a wonderful weekend! May it be full of memorable moments! 

Five for Friday on the 4th

Happy 4th of July to you! 
I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday!

I am currently listening to the live results of the annual Peachtree Road Race. I top my hat off to all of those men and women who hit the pavement daily, and run annually in the intense road race on the 4th. I am in awe of their skills, I am not a runner (shin splints), so I know that their accomplishments requires tons of training. 

Another fun week with the boys. Monday I had a great day shopping and relaxing with my oldest while his brothers spent the day at their grandparents house. It is always nice to have one on one time with each of my kids. 

Enjoying drinks at Starbucks since our park plans were rained out. 

Sorry for the blur, it is hard to get a clear picture with my phone - he is a flipping machine!

I wonder how much the bungy jumpers cost, I could use one in our backyard!

We enjoyed our local park a lot this week. 

So excited that my middle is gaining confidence on his bike. 

"Mom, I accomplished one of my goals!"

It is official, I am a terrible tooth fairy! I cannot stay awake long enough to make sure my kids have fallen asleep to sneak in and leave money under their pillows. 

My middle lost another tooth, this time without drama, and we did not have to crawl around looking for it. This time, I messed up, I forgot to leave him some money. I fell asleep waiting for him to be in deep enough sleep to swap money for the teeth.
When he discovered the teeth*, he was in tears! (*I guess I forgot to take the last tooth out of the tooth fairy holder, so he had 2, more proof I stink at this job!)
I snuck in and left his some money, but he still felt like he was forgotten. Man, I felt horrible!
Luckily he has quite a few more teeth to go, let's hope I don't keep goofing up! Parenting is tough!

I have an awesome niece who is a cadet at West Point. It was the goal she set for herself in 5th grade. 
This week she is leading the incoming cadets through their "beast" training. I loved seeing this picture of her walking them in on R-Day to take their oath. 

She is proof that talking to kids about their future, when they are young, is very important. The more they know about future careers, the pre-requisites, the more likely they are to be focused and reach a goal. 

We are heading to a friend's for a 4th of July celebration. Hope you have fun on this wonderful day! 
Cheers-

Two for Tuesday & Currently July

Time is flying, July is already here! As I walked around some stores with my oldest yesterday I could tell that they are gearing up for Back to School, I am not ready! I am still not keen on returning to school in July, but since the big bosses never asked, I will have to accept reality. Time to make the most of my July days!

It is time for Currently with Farley at Oh Boy 4th Grade!

I like waking up early for one reason, it is the only time of the day that everyone is sleeping and the house is silent. That silence does not last long, but those moments help me start off on the right foot. 
This summer, I have made a point of enjoying the little moments and brushing off the not so great ones. I appreciate that I have a job that let's me stay home with my growing kids for the summers. They keep saying how lucky they are that their mom is home, I think I am the lucky (although tired) one!
I have had some WEIRD, call the dream analyzer, dreams this summer. Why do school dreams have to infiltrate my REM? Ugh!
I am currently reading a book which includes alchemy, and one of the characters knows how to freeze time. If anyone knows the chemistry behind bringing a book character to life, let me know, I want him to slow the summer down!
I really wanted to work out every day this summer, and I do get up and out more than during the year, but I am not succeeding on my workouts. I do a great job on the workout, then my legs hurt so much I can barely walk for a day or two. That is not fun! I suppose I could try an easier workout, but that seems top defeat the purpose. 
What are your plans for the 4th? 
I am also linking up today for another installment of Two for Tuesday! Thank you to The Teaching Tribune for this great linky party. Check out the two-fer deals below and on their blog. 
Place Value Practice Tasks Cards using Whole Numbers. There are 7 sets of cards focusing on the 12 skills under Numbers and Operations in Base Ten. They are a bargain for $1.50 today.

How about a banner to help break the ice and decorate at the beginning of the year? 

My students loved making these at the beginning of the year, and reflected on what they wrote when I returned them at the end of the year. This banner was great for open house with parents, and made a colorful personalized display piece. 

Happy Tuesday to you! Enjoy all of your summer moments!