Life Lately

Oh my gosh guys! It’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve been able to sit down and write. It’s coming down to the end of the school year and in my mind that means things should be winding down…not up! But the end of any school year always brings about a flurry of things to finish…recitals, concerts, dances, etc. For us, throw in a birthday party and a couple of college tours and you’ll have our last couple of weeks! Read on for a look at our life lately…My soon to be 17 year old has started looking at colleges. She narrowed the initial list down to five school, two of which we have been able to take a closer look at…

First up was Regent University in Virginia Beach, VA. A beautiful campus in central Virginia Beach. A smaller campus, just 70 acres, known for their Christian roots (Pat Roberts founded the university and lives on the campus), and has a definite “southern” feel…evidenced in their love of chandeliers and sweeping stair cases. 😉 The highlight of this campus was most certainly the dorms! Oh my gosh! They aren’t even really dorms but apartments that sleep three students. They have good sized living spaces and FULL kitchens…do you know hat this means??…NO mandatory meal plans! That leads to huge annual savings. Down side on this school is that, even on a decent traffic day, it’s still a 4 1/2 hour drive. Sarah also felt it might be TOO “church-y”.

 

Next up was Mount Saint Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, MD. Just 1 1/2 hours away, it was an easy drive. Emmitsburg is pretty much in the middle of nowhere. 😉 Atleast it felt that way! But honestly it sits roughly 15-20 minutes south of Gettysburg, PA and about 25-30 minutes north of Frederick…so not TOO far out in the boonies! LOL! This campus was larger than Regent and WAY older! Founded in 1808 (as opposed to Regent which came to life in the 70’s…the 1970’s! haha!). The Mount (as it’s referred to by the staff and students), has an old world feel that I found charming and more “college like” if that makes any sense. Highlight here is the fact that MSMU’s criminal justice program is 2nd in the state of MD…which makes in a top pick for Sarah. Dorms can’t compare to Regents…but lets face it, most dorms won’t be able to live up that apartment style living! I couldn’t help but notice, and be impressed with the people on campus. EVERY SINGLE PERSON we passed by greeted us with friendly smiles and hellos. I also thought the dining hall was impressive with a wide array of choices. Way above and beyond burgers and pizza. Beautiful campus, friendly people. top notch programs…sign me up! Uh…I mean sign Sarah up! LOL!

Beyond campus visits (of which we still have several to do) here are a few other things we’ve been up to lately….

PROM

BAND AND CHORUS CONCERT

Just a girl and her bass drum! 🙂

MOTHER’S DAY!

Another mother’s day in the books! My day started out with flowers and chocolate covered strawberries from my lovely family. Joshua gave me small book all about me that he made at school. Sarah gave me a beautiful bracelet she found on etsy made by impoverished women in Nepal. Here’s a similar one. The proceeds of which help the women create small businesses and become self sufficient. Along with that was the most delicate pop-up card I’ve ever seen.  Meghan saw my mothers’ day blog post and purchased the pink pop socket for my phone. Now that I have one, I don’t know how I’ve survived without one! Towards the end of the day, I picked up my mom and we headed to historic Ellicott City for a little shopping (I picked this up…hope it works!), and then fancy tea and tasties at Tea on the Tiber. Spending time with my mom is always fun and wonderful.

POOL OPENING!

TAIL TROUBLES

What do you get when you take one long tail and a patio door and put them together? You get this cutie stuck in a “cone of shame”! My little Harriet got her tail closed in the door leading out to our “catio”…like closed in…like had to actually open the door to get it unstuck! Poor thing 🙁 After a quick to the vet, we determined that there were no broken bones, but a small piece of the bone and tendon was exposed. She came home on kitty morphine, antibiotics and a lovely collar to keep her from licking the wound. Thankfully she is healing up nicely. Her tail may look funky for a while (or forever!) but she will be okay.

 

TENNIS TEAM

This guy had taken tennis lessons for a long time…but grew tired of just developing skill but never getting to put those skills into play. Well, finally, I found a tennis team for him to play on! Annapolis Area Christian School offers several youth sports teams, tennis being one of them. It has been fun to see him on the court. He’s loving it. 🙂

This is what he looks like during tennis….

and this is what I look like during tennis….

(gotta keep that sun off my face! LOL!)

 

Whew! We’ve been busy! And we aren’t done yet! We still have more tennis, our neighborhood summer party, a dance recital, a graduation to attend and another prom. Hopefully all of that will be interspersed with lots of ice cream and pool time! Thanks for checking out our life lately. 🙂