I'm Proud of Us ~ Team Timmons

I'm a pretty modest, unassuming guy. Except when it comes to things like this. Or this. Rarely do I toot my own horn, and I'm not really doing that here as much as I'm tooting "our" collective horn. But if you follow this blog, you know that the last couple years have been busy for Team Timmons.

Full time jobs (2) + full load of grad school (1) + 10 month old small human being baby person (1) = Overly full familial plate. We're lucky enough to factor in loving, supporting parents (4) that are local (x1000), which has made this muddled equation solvable.

Now that Ruth Ann is 100% done with her Master's in reading education from App State, I can look back on things, reflect, and pat the ol' back. I have no delusions of grandeur here. Ruth Ann did far and away the lion's share of this work, and as I've said before, I just ran support. She was working, taking a full course load, and being a great new mom. She was up late writing paper after paper, prepping for this presentation or that one, all the while striving for the high level of quality she requires (she DID nab a 4.0 in grad school, after all). Me? I was making a valiant attempt to keep things on the rails around the house - hanging out with Avett, trying to keep some food in the fridge and something on the table somewhere around dinner time, and keep the laundry piles & dust bunnies from staging a coup to overthrow us.

It wasn't always easy, and there were certainly times where it seemed like we'd bitten off more than we could chew. Here's where that whole "proud of us" thing comes into play. We pulled together and did what needed to be done. Plenty of stress, yes, but no questions asked and only a few complaints when it came to pulling together and hunkering down to get across the finish line. I'm hugely proud of Ruth Ann, but I'm also proud of our family and what we were able to accomplish as a unit.

To celebrate this huge milestone/accomplishment/block of reclaimed free time, we did what any normal red-blooded American family would do. We overpacked our car and headed to the beach for Avett's first big road trip. Like most everything else, he traveled like a champ and had a blast. Here are some pics to catch you up on our summer, and those of you that are Facebook friends can see the full spread here. Enjoy!

First time at the pool