It's that time again. Although our county and the surrounding ones started school the past two weeks, preschool had a few extra to enjoy the summer. Monday it's back to the grind stone. We start pre-planning on Monday, parent orientation is Thursday night and Friday morning is open house and I get to meet the kiddos officially.

I have had my class lists for a few weeks now and already can remember all 12 names. I am very excited and start wondering what they're like and what the year holds for us! God sent each of these little 12 people to me for a reason and I can't wait to get started.

With all that being said though, there also comes the end of summer. I LOVE summer. I love to be lazy and sleep late, I love reading oodles of books, I love the lake and camping, I love the beach and vacations, I love swimming pools and getting a tan, I love cooking out and getting together with friends and I generally love being home!!

This summer has been a little strange for me. With Mom & her foot surgery we didn't spend time at the lake like we usually do, I only went twice with Dad and that has to be a record of the least amount of times ever. Mom & I didn't get to do our annual girls beach trip and that makes me sad. We only got to go camping one time, Andy couldn't get away anymore. We went to St. Thomas which was fantastic, though Andy did work for most of the trip. It just didn't feel like our typical summer.

I've done some awesome visiting these last two weeks though. I finally got on the ball and made plans with friends and had a great two weeks. I was able to see an awesome friend and her two girlies last week. (that would be you Amy) I visited a college friend that I hadn't seen about 10 years, had a blast catching up and remembering old times and met her cutie pa tootie 3 girls. (that would be you Krisite) I had dinner with a great friend where we talked for hours. (Tanya that would be you) Then I was able to have a girls night last night and it was a darn hoot! (That would be Tanya, Misty & Tracey) I vow as usual to make time for the important & fun things in life. As much as I love sitting with my nose stuck in a book, times spent with all these girlies has been the best!

That brings me to fall. Man, I do have to say that I am ready to put these weeks of 3 digit temps in the past!! Fall is BY FAR my time of the year. I live for September & October. I love the beginning of school, brisk mornings and cool evenings, time to put on a sweatshirt in the evening with your shorts, the fair (I can't help it!), arts & craft shows, going to the mountains, yards filled with hay, scarecrows & pumpkins, pumpkin patch visits, apple festivals, pumpkin pie, college football, colorful leaves (Andy will kill me for saying anything about loving leaves in the fall since he's the one raking & picking them up), driving with windows down and the radio up, cinammon & pumpkin scented candles burning, antique stores with their fall displays, man... fall.... bring it on!!!!

Yeah, our great niece is about the cutest thing ever! We know~



Cookout and swimming a few weeks ago at Andy's brother's house. Good times of summer! Who needs a pool or toys when you have a bucket & rocks?

Ants: Hate 'em!

It's been the summer of ants for the Tanners! The summer started with a drought and everyone around here swears they come inside looking for water. In June they were in the kitchen around the back door & windows, after Gizmo's dog food and under the sink counter. I killed, sprayed, cleaned, killed, sprayed, cleaned, for days on end in the same places. They were in the basement by the back door, getting in "the girls" food inside & out and in the basement.


July rolls in and they are in the bathrooms! They're in the sink, on the mirror, the walls, the shower, around the closet, everywhere. It's usually a few here and there in the bathrooms though, not in little marching lines like before.


We go camping and they are everywhere in the camper! They were NOT there before we left when we did a BIG cleaning, but by the time we arrive at the campground ... sure enough there they are! Already in full swing inside, so odd!! They show up randomly on the floor, wall, etc... We had to go buy more ant spray and clean, clean, clean!!


We return home to the rain of summer. For the rest of July it rains, rains, rains! Guess what? No ants!! Praise the Lord!!


Then August comes bounding in without a drop of rain and temperatures in the 100's!! You better believe it, the ants are back! They're in the laundry room downstairs, in the kitchen in the cabinet over the stove and one day in the dishwasher! They're back randomly in the bathrooms.


Today, I find TONS of them already dead around the kitchen windows and floor. I am sure Andy has sprayed them in the morning, but no. Turns out they must have come in and found residue from previous sprayings and it killed them on the spot. Then I found a few in the microwave, are you kidding me???? (and no, it was clean, not a crumb was in there) They were also in my potholder drawer today, ugh!!!


At least I have the cleanest kitchen & bathrooms in town from the constant cleaning! I will, for the first time ever, welcome cooler weather and the end of ant season!

Ok, you have been waiting anxiously for long enough- LOL~ Or you didn't read my previous top 5 favorite books of July blog and are wondering what the heck I am talking about. I left you wondering what my #1 pick was, remember?

Last summer, I found Mary Kay Andrews and had a new favorite author! I read my favorite "Hissy Fit" three times! She only has a handful of books and they are HILARIOUS. She also has a line of mysteries, by another name. She's a "southern humor" author and I couldn't love her anymore. Her new blog "The Kudzu Telegraph" makes me laugh out loud!

So this summer, I found Denise Hildreth and "Savannah"!! I was wondering around the Christian section of Barnes & Noble and a book titled "Savannah by the Sea" got my attention. I took a chance although it was #3 in a series.I bought it and let it sit for a few weeks. When we headed to St. Thomas I decided it was the perfect time to read a book about a family going to the beach, plus it was paperback and you can't imagine the damage I do to books while at the pool & beach-

The books is dad gum hilarious!!! I laughed out loud more times than I have reading a book in a L O N G time!!!!! (and I laugh alot) It couldn't be any more "southern" either. It's about a 24 year old girl/lady named, of course, Savannah. She is headed on a beach trip with her parents, brother, her Mom's new fried and her own best friend. The family pets Duke & Magnolia are along for the ride as well. The craziness that happens in their adventure is awesome, the characters you fall in love with from the first chapter!

P. 47 "she doesn't just believe in corporal punishment, amber. She believes spanking should be administered with a fly swatter" (Oh my gosh, did she come to my house? My Mom use to do this!!!!!)

P. 69 "when dinner arrived, I placed the first bite of grits in my mouth. 'Hallelujah' I shouted, a little louder than I had intended."

P. 88 "It was Sunday, It was the South. And I was Jake's child therefore, I went to church."

P.99 " 'I heard she writes books about crazy people from the south' Paige threw the towel over her head, her voice muffled through the cotton. 'Well don't let her see us. She'd have enough stories to tell for years.'"

P.103 "I was ready to swim. However, the gnawing fear that I would drown if I didn't wait 30 minutes after eating had remained with me these 24 years."

P. 221 "If I didn't fear my mother building an alter there in the middle of the restaurant and anointing me with olive oil, I'd have downed a bottle of wine all by myself. It was lost on her that Catholics, Presbyterians and who knows maybe even Methodists actually had wine for communion. She thinks Jesus turned water into Welches."

P.239 "Mother's hand flew up to her face. 'Oh my Lord, have mercy, my daughter is a hoochie mamma."

P. 295 " 'Adventure I can handle, but this is certifiable.' 'I tried to tell you - I come from crazy people' "