A New Job!

This morning I accepted a new job as the Program Administrator for the Clean Air Partnerships of Williamson County and Middle Tennessee. Yes, technically I'll be working for two different agencies with the same mission. I'm starting on October 20th. Although I'll be traveling around the area meeting with people, I'll be working out of an office in downtown Franklin (actually almost right behind the church we got married in!).

While this is very exciting, its also very scary to start a new job after almost nine years here at the community center. So keep the prayers coming! I'm not going to tell any of my students until we get much closer to my last day... little kids don't have much of a concept of time and it would just confuse them. I officially turned in my notice here last night and everyone has been a little shocked, but very supportive. So I have three weeks to get nine years of work out of my head and onto a piece of paper for the next person! Good thing I've already started! And please join me in prayer for them as they search for my replacement!

Mystery Solved!

So I did accidently plant the butternut squash instead of the yellow squash, but it seems to be doing well despite the heat! In my defense, the seed packet had no picture and the word SQUASH really big at the top... "butternut" was typed quite small below it in the middle of the variety name!


So does anyone have any good recipes that include butternut squash? I have a good casserole one, but that's it! And we have three on the vine already! This one is about ready to be picked!

The Garden Is In...

Shortly after we got our fence, we began putting in our vegetable garden! We lost count (after about 50) of how many bags of top soil we went through to fill it, but we've got enough to finish out the summer and maybe even the fall. Right now its about 25 feet long, but Jeff's hoping to take it all the way across the back and down the left side!

Here's the view from a distance. Notice how lovely our grass is (or lack there of!). We'll be working on that in the fall!!!

This is what it looked like when we first got it planted. The rounded part in the corner is the herb garden. The herbs aren't really doing that great, but we're holding out hope!

This is what the plants look like today. We started them in cups in the house and they have REALLY taken off since we put them in the ground to stretch out! We've got (from left to right), tomatoes, cucumbers, squash (maybe yellow, but I think I accidently planted butternut), and watermelon!

Right now we have broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, and butternut squash (again?) started in our kitchen for the fall garden. We'll also plant snap peas, spinach, lettuce, and carrots depending on how much room we have!

Yum, yum.

A New Fence!

Two posts in one week!! Can you believe it???

After a year (plus!) of talking about getting a fence put in, we finally saved enough and did it! Okay we didn't do it, but we hired someone to!!

The new fence! Now our neighbors won't have to look at our dead grass!... at least not in the back yard. We'll spend some time this weekend getting our garden built along the back (at least part of it). Our vegetables are growing in cups and would like to stretch out a bit!

The geniuses who built our fence dragged our hose into the backyard to mix concrete and then built the fence on top of it! We have some digging to do to get it out!

Girls Weekend!

Becky B, Missy, Elizabeth and I headed to Blue Ridge, Georgia this weekend for our annual girls weekend. We had a tagalong... Caroline... Elizabeth couldn't help but bring her along! =) Next time she'll get to experience it outside the womb!

Friday we did some shopping in downtown Blue Ridge and then headed to the pool with the lunches we had packed. This is what happened next...

Saturday we took a train ride to McCaysville, GA/Cooperhill, TN... the state line ran right through the middle of downtown!

We also just chilled out at the cabin, ate some good local food, and of course... played cards!!

For all of our pictures, you can see Becky's Blog. She posted a slideshow on hers! The link is on the left hand side of the page.

Josh & Jenn's Wedding!

We were in Jacksonville, FL this weekend for my cousin Josh's wedding! Here are some pictures!

Josh & Jenn at rehearsal with Uncle Chuck officiating.

The happy couple at the rehearsal dinner!

We spent a lot of time hanging out at the pool at Grandmom & Granddad's house!

Jeff and I at the reception. We were asked to read scripture at the ceremony and managed not to butcher it too much!

And finally we ended the weekend with a Cacace family wedding tradition. Beginning in 2001 after my cousin Phil's wedding to Brooke, Uncle Rusty (shown above) made each of us write out the order in which the remaining 11 grandchildren would get married. At each wedding we pull out the cards and score them. When scoring is done, they are sealed in an envelope, signed by someone on the seal and returned to Uncle Rusty's safe deposit box until the next wedding! We aren't competitive or anything! So far Kelly is winning. Laurie is in second and Grandmom is a close third... although we think she listed someone twice! =) Apparently, all of the uncles are going in on a gift for the winner at the end of all of this... although we are only on wedding 5 of 12 so it will be a while!

Graduation Day!

Today I had the honor of attending the graduation of one of my students, Ilham! Ilham has been in my program since the 5th grade! She is a genius and has the most intelligent sense of humor. She was the salutatorian and will be attending Belmont in the fall... and got enough grants and scholarships to go for free! No loans! We are all so proud of her!! She gave one of the speeches and blew the valedictorian speeches (there were two) out of the water. I'm hoping that the video turned out well enough to put it on the learning center's blog next week. I realized I can't hold my arms up with a tiny camera for three minutes without shaking... okay... even one minute! =(