Seriously??  How did we get to this already??

It's hard to believe that the summer is over already, the campus is full of undergrads again, and the calendar is already packed...  

It's a little overwhelming sometimes to think about this as being my ninth year at RPI, but it's also kind of rewarding to look back at all of the experiences and everything i've done!  

And the major upside?  THIS IS THE LAST YEAR!

Probably.... Hopefully?

Ok, well... the PLAN is for it to be the last year!  And I'm going to do whatever possible to stick to it!  As wonderful as it has all been, I'm definitely ready for the next chapter and the next round of adventures...

So the game plan from here?  Work like CRAZY (while still maintaining dance and horseback riding to prevent burn-out).

And then I will still be TA-ing again (Strength of Materials, of course!  Fifth semester in a row, woot!) so I'm sure that will keep me pretty busy, too. 

Although, with the first day of classes under our belt, I'm already dreading this scene:

And I still can't believe my summer is over already!!!! I wasn't done with it yet!  

I actually do have a few posts I need to get up though... A few craft projects that need to be documented and a few stories that could probably use telling.  But I must confess - I spent 5 days in Cape Cod (WOOO!!!) and ended up not taking a single photo (ugh.....)  Please don't hate me?  I'm kicking myself enough already!  
Ok, back to work.  More to come soon!  (As soon as possible, anyway!)  

I can hardly believe my little Rozalyn is three already!! She's getting to be such a big girl... :)

Her birthday gifts have turned into one of my favorite annual crafting adventures, for sure.  This year?  I think I might have just outdone myself.   (A.k.a.?  What the HECK am I going to do next year????)

With a little inspiration from my own childhood, I decided what this girl needed most was a good fort!  Something that will last her for years and can supplement hours and hours of make-believe.  

I knew I wanted it to be sturdy and easy to take down and set up again - that way it could be used outside, inside, brought to Mimi's (Grandma's), etc.  I settled on PVC and canvas and after a little Google search, I came up with this for inspiration!  (In general, I used her instructions really more as just guidelines and kind of made it all up as I went along... perhaps I will have to come up with my own tutorial at some point...)

Ryan was in town the weekend I was set to make it so the two of us made a trip to Lowe's and then set into putting the pieces together!  

Long story short?  The final product:

Yeahhhhhh.... I'm pretty much in love with it... :) 

JP, Luc, Ryan, and I also tested it out briefly.  (For those who were wondering - four adults can comfortably watch TV from it.)  I wanted to cover the entire thing in polka-dots but the boys convinced me that she would have fun making "cave paintings" on the walls so I settled for leaving them blank - who doesn't love a little fingerpaint??

And, as you can see, it breaks down to be a nice little bundle!

Rozalyn's teepee was a HUGE hit with everyone at the party, too!  I managed to get a few pictures of her and I playing in it.  :)  (Someone gave her a doctor's kit so she was very excited to give me a check-up in her new "office".)

P.S. Rozalyn also had a clown at her birthday party.  Daisy had some interesting new "magic words" for us - including, "hocus pocus, chicken bones choke us" - ummmm... boy, have things changed since I was a kid!