Toes in the sand

Every month I tell myself that I am going to sit down and catch up on my blog. Here I am, over 4 months since my last post...oops! Life has been crazy, I'll blame it on that.
 This past summer has been a whirlwind of excitement, fun, and above all else, school. During spring semester I met with our program adviser, and she excitedly told me how relaxed and laid back summer semester would be. We would be in for the long-haul, but we would have some weeks where we went to class, and some weeks where class would be online. In her words, "You can sit on the beach with your toes in the sand, laptop and a WiFi connection...it's going to be a great semester!" My initial thought was, who has the money to go somewhere with a beach?
 Well, here we are 4 days from the end of the semester. We have had weeks in class, and weeks of online lectures, but I'm not sure when we were supposed to have time for the beach. We have had assignments due every week (assignmentS, as in plural) that have required double-digit hours to complete. The best part, we're somehow supposed to be able to fit these weeks worth of double-digit-hour assignments into planning for 1 day, after we've been teaching and working all day...right. I'm feeling pretty burned out with school, but that's how it is at the end of every semester. I feel grateful for how my life has been this semester-my classmate has had one family crisis, emergency, or big deal of some sort going on since midterms spring semester. Her life has been crazy, and she's had to throw school on top of it. I have been blessed and fortunate to not have any family craziness, and for that I am grateful.
 On a much brighter note, I've been able to have something to look forward to Tuesday-Saturday every week:I've been able to spend that time with my adorable nephews! I love those two kiddos so much! Every morning Sam comes down to my room, swings the door open wide, and says, "I wake you up!" He then climbs into my bed and asks for my iphone. He plays games, watches his TV shows, or plays music while I get a couple extra minutes of sleep. Shortly after we go upstairs to find Mark and eat breakfast. We get to spend the day playing, having fun, and doing whatever we want. I have really enjoyed the time with Sam, Mark, and my sister and her husband. It's not a bad way to spend summer vacation!
One more thought-I am two semesters away from graduating! It's so close, and so exciting! Hooray!