Friday Favorites

Trying to get myself back in the habit of regular blogging.  :)

Figured I would try to round up 5 things each week that I'm loving.  Baby stuff, mom stuff, teacher stuff, just girl stuff - whatever I'm feeling at the moment. 

The flip side?  If I'm missing some awesome stuff - let me know!  Always in the market for new must-have items! 

Anyway, here we go.  :)

I've really been making an effort to do more reading.  Not fifth-grade reading for my students...but reading for my own enjoyment.  It's an expectation that my 5th graders read for 150 minutes/week; which is approximately 30 minutes/day, so I've been trying to follow the same expectation.  To be honest, most days - I'm horrible at it.  But on the weekends, I try to make up for it!  I've read lots of really great books in the past couple months since taking on this personal challenge.  I plan on doing a book review soon, but wanted to share my recent favorite.

Amazon

I love everything Emily Giffin writes.  Seriously.  I just loved this book.  An easy, quick read.

I watch alot of reality TV - in fact, it's most of what I watch.  Last year, I was introduced to the Real Houswives and I'm thankful that Beverly Hills and Orange County are on opposite seasons because it just keeps me going...just a never ending dose of shenanigans.  The reunions are always ridiculous.  But this season?  Oh.my.crazy.  And these two?

Just wow.  They need to just pump the brakes on the crazy.  It's alot.

My child will usually eat most anything we put in front of her.  These things though...

Like crack in a can.  She would eat this entire container in one sitting if I would let her.  Girlfriend loves her baby Cheetos.

My morning routine has changed significantly since my husband switched from being on the air in the afternoons to being on the air in the mornings.  Before, I could take my sweet time getting reading without a little someone fussing, into everything she shouldn't be, or climbing up my leg.  Now, time is critical.  Anything I can do to cut down time is my friend.  My hair is thick, naturally wavy, and sometimes hard to manage.  I've spent many years straightening and fighting with it to be something it's not - so recently, I've just been embracing it for what it is.  With the help of this miracle potion:

Amazon

Smells delicious.  Keeps the frizz under control.  Doesn't leave my hair sticky or stiff.  Sold.

Lately my 5th graders have really been impressing me with their technology abilities - they are SO brilliant at ways to use technology to make their lives easier.  For instance, the other day, we weren't done taking notes on a poem but our time was up - so I was quickly jotting things down in my plan book so we could pick up where we left off the next day - meanwhile, my kids?  Well, they were using their devices to just simply snap a picture.  **insert teacher feeling SO dumb**  Anyway, I've been trying to find ways to use tech to my advantage in my classroom and have been playing around with Google Classroom

It's a great way for my kids to make, receive, and submit materials to me...but more importantly, it's a nice platform for them to be able to collaborate with each other outside of the classroom, school, or normal hours.  We are loving it so far. 

Alright, there's my 5 for today.  I could probably rattle off 5 more right now - but I'll stop.  Have a great weekend, friends!

xoxo -

Finally Friday

I feel like I've once again fallen off the blog bandwagon.  I'm pretty proud of myself that I haven't missed or been late for a BUMPdate in 33 weeks.  That's good stuff.

Know what else is good stuff?  That is finally Friday.  And that next Friday I'll officially be on Spring Break.  Hallelujah!  Spring Break is a huge benchmark every year - kind of the signal that the end of the year is coming...but especially this year.  I have 4 (FOUR?!) Monday's left to work this school year.  That is completely insane to me.  Also, once Spring Break comes, that signals the end of the L-O-N-G nine weeks since I've seen Julie and Kamdyn.  It was possibly the most difficult part of February for me.  I got spoiled in January when I spent a whole weekend with her, being able to see her face-to-face, feel her belly, chat with her whenever I wanted, hear her awesome honking laugh, snuggle her kiddos, get bear hugs from Dan - just be close to her.  On the day they left, I lost my mind.  I was sobbing in their hotel room.  I couldn't even talk to her belly because I couldn't get myself together.  It was awful.  But with each passing day, I realized that this is going to be the last long period of time I will have to be away from Kamdyn for a very long time - hopefully until she's an adult.  That thought made things a little more bearable.  The last weekend of Spring Break I will get to see Julie & crew and every weekend after that until delivery too.  Three more weeks.  I can do this.

This weekend is going to be a great chance for me to get caught up and do some much needed relaxing.  I'm pretty excited for that.  :)

I hope you have a wonderful weekend, friends!

#K-Everyday - Week 1

Hello regular blogging.  Long time, no see.  Glad to be back.  :)

This week has been really short because we had two snow days, so although this week just began, it's finally Friday.  I kind of forgot how much energy it takes to teach for a full day.  Wow, I've been tired this week.

Those of you following me on Instagram know that I've decided that I want to document 2014 with one picture per day.  It's no secret that 2014 is going to be a huge year for our family and I want to remember all the small days as well as the really big days.  I'm planning to re-cap the previous week with a little picture update once per week, so here we go.

Day 1:

Maicey and I snuggling on New Year's Day watching our Hawkeyes.  It was a really unfortunate set of circumstances for my Hawks with possibly the worst officiating I've ever seen - but I'm over it.  On to next year.

Day 2:

Christmas decorations coming down are not nearly as fun as Christmas decorations going up.  That's all I have to say about that.

Day 3:

Baby shopping with my best friend who is due with her baby girl a few weeks before Kamdyn is due.

Day 4:

I was getting ready to go back to work - but joke was on me…another snow day.  :)

Day 5:

I made twice-baked cheddar and ham potatoes - we have a resolution in our house to cook more and eat out less.  So far, so good.  :)

Day 6:

This is the coldest day I can remember, it was -35 degrees outside with the windchill.  Ridiculous.

Day 7:

My favorite blanket and the Biggest Loser.  What an awesome way to spend a bitterly cold night on the eve of my return to work.  :)

Day 8:

Back to work.  It was so good to see my kiddos and my sweet student teacher made these adorable goodie bags for everyone.  It was a great day.  :)

Day 9:

I am so excited to see this lady tomorrow!!  :)

That's it for the first week of K-everyday 2014.  :)

Enjoy your Friday -

Finally Friday

Can you hear the angels singing?!  It's Friday, It's Friday, IT'S FINALLY FRIDAY!

I'm stuck in a little bit of a bad cycle.  I want to stay in my warm bed, so I hit snooze, then I have to hurry and get ready for work, then I run around all day feeling behind at work, then I'm exhausted at night and just want to sit and do nothing {even though I have about 30,000 things to do} and then I stay up late…then it starts all over again.  Not good.

One more week until Christmas Break, which quite honestly feels like a bit of a "reset" button during the school year.  I always feel so refreshed when I get back from break in January - so I'm excited about that.

This weekend we are planning to stay home and tie up lose ends.  Wrap presents, finish addressing Christmas cards, write thank you notes from my shower, clean, do laundry, maybe bake some goodies, sleep.  Just catch up.  Then next week I can feel like I can enjoy my last week at school before my student teacher comes in January.  Basically next week is my last week with my fifthsters alone for the school year because Hannah will come in January and be there until I leave for the year when Kamdyn is born in April.  It's SO crazy to think about.

Speaking of Kamdyn, here is the video I was talking about yesterday…

That baby just loves her darn thumb.  I'm undecided on what to quite do about that…either let her self-sooth or put mittens on her and shove a binky in her mouth - I'm leaning toward the first one.  If she can self-sooth, I feel like I should just let her and then deal with it later.  I guess we will see.

Anyway, I think that's all for today -

Enjoy your Friday, friends

Finally {Black} Friday

This week has been SO awesome, because it went by so quickly.  In fact, if this weekend could slow down just a little, that'd be awesome!  :)

Our Thanksgiving was very low key - actually, we didn't even eat turkey.  Nobody in my family really loves turkey, so we decided to have an Italian Thanksgiving.

To be quite honest, I could eat hot dogs on Thanksgiving as long as I am spending it with the people I love.

We are headed to spend time with Kevin's family today - can't wait to see them all.

I will leave you with some pictures from our day yesterday.

Shopping the ads before lunch.

This girl cracks me up.  I'm so thankful for her.

Sam & Uncle Kevin were enjoying football.  Uncle Kevin wasn't so much enjoying football because his darn Packers couldn't get themselves together.

Maicey was hot - she didn't have any shorts at Oma & Opa's house, so Rob problem solved and made shorts out of Sam's old pants.  With the leftover fabric, he made them both hats.  Very handy.  :)

Gosh, I love them.  :)

We were the first group of people to get into Toys R Us last night.  I got a great deal on my nephew Aiden's Christmas gift.  And had fun with my family!

This man was such a trooper.  We are in line at Kohl's in this picture and he had a huge arm load of stuff  because we determined that a cart would only inhibit our ability to move through the store.  :)  It was wonderful quality time together.

Enjoy your weekend, Friends!

Finally Friday

It's FINALLY Friday and only 2 more school days stand between me and Thanksgiving break!  :)  I really do love my fifth-sters, but we are all so ready for a break.

I had car duty before and after school at work this week.  Typically, I dislike this duty greatly…however this week proved to be an interesting twist.  My duty partner (Erik) and I decided on Monday that we had had enough of the 30 minutes of pandemonium that was going on trying to get hundreds of kids loaded into cars and out of the parking lot.  We decided we were going to lay down the law this week and just see what happened.  I'm talking full on air traffic control, y'all - arms waving, whistles, shouting - it was good stuff.  However, many sweet parents gave thumbs up, rolled down their windows to say 'thank you', and even called the office to say how much they appreciated the new traffic flow.  Who knew parking lot duty could be such a powerful way to change people's day?!  Cracks me up.

So excited to go to Festival of Trees this weekend to get my holiday season officially kicked off.  Festival of Trees is an annual event in our area where there are lots and lots of beautiful Christmas trees decorated with different themes in a huge room.  It's so much fun!  Each year, after Festival of Trees, we always come home and put up our own tree - it's the perfect kick off to the beautiful season.  After our tree is up, I can officially begin wrapping gifts - which I LOVE to do!

I spoke earlier this week of my love for Matthew Schuler.  I mean, seriously, you all - he is amazing.

It brings tears to my eyes every time I watch it {which may or may not be every day}.  I already love that song - and this version is my new favorite.  IN.LOVE.

Speaking of my loves on The Voice.  Uhhhhmmmm, hello gorgeous

Couldn't agree more.  Wow, he's nice to look at.  However, I am going to put in a small disclaimer - his clean shaven look with gelled hair?  That's a little Pee Wee Herman-ish, if you want my opinion {which you all do, because this is my blog :)}  If Kevin is reading this post, he is absolutely shaking his head and rolling his eyes at me.  He border-line won't watch The Voice with me anymore because he's so tired of hearing about my crush on Adam.  It's a problem.

Wow, that was a very random Finally Friday!  Sorry about that!  :)

Happy Weekend, Friends -

Finally Friday: Halloween Style

Welp, regular blogging these days has consisted of my Thursday morning BUMPdates - and while I am proud of myself for at least being on time with those, I am missing blogging about my regular life - so here we go.

I sat on my couch last night in a quiet house because Kevin is still in the hospital.  He had quite a bit of his colon resected on Monday morning to *hopefully* take care of his diverticulitis, which has been flaring up numerous times this year.  He has been in a great deal of pain, but we just keep praying that each day gets easier and he will be back to normal in no time.

I am beyond exhausted today because Halloween in an elementary school will do a real number on the adults in said school.  My sweet fifth-sters were more than a little "off" yesterday and while that makes me exhausted, I try really hard to remember what it's like to be 10...so I try to be patient.  As exhausting as yesterday was, the sad reality is that today is going to be worse.  I will work hard to enjoy my Friday with them.  :)

After work yesterday, I stopped at my sister and brother-in-law's to see these two pumpkins:

It was a cold and dreary day, but that didn't stop these trick-or-treaters.  They came back with a bag of candy and big smiles!  :)  I was just glad that I got a chance to see them - I never get tired of it.  Ever.

My sister texted me today to give me a little sneak peak of what arrived at her door yesterday:

Yippee for baby bedding!  Any of my readers who know me in real life will be SO proud of me.  This bedding is based on the alphabet and has an elephant on it - I swore I would never do this, but I just am in love with this adorable bedding, so with a little coaxing from my mother, sister, best friend Jamie and my 5 year-old niece calmly explaining to me that I could just cover up the elephant if I was scared...I've decided I can move past this minor detail and move forward with this bedding set.

Evidently God is playing tricks with me because the next day I was going through the little welcome bag from my Target baby registry and look at the little toy included

Yep, real funny.  I get it, I'm going to try to move past my phobia - but let's not push our limits, shall we?

And lastly, I got this last night

{melt.my.heart}

So, HAPPY HALLOWEEN {a day late}

from our BOO to YOU.

Have an awesome weekend, Friends -

F.I.N.A.L.L.Y. Friday

It's our first full week of school, and I'm telling you - Friday seemed to be a long ways away.  Teachers, can I get an AMEN?

I feel like we're finally getting into the routine of things in our room and getting some things done.  Some.  Not a lot, but some.  I have a really sweet group of kids this year - so I'm really excited.

This weekend my aunt & uncle are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary.  50 years.  That is insane to me.  In a world today when it's far more common (and a lot easier) to just quit, I love encountering couples who have successfully done this marriage thing.

In addition to the anniversary being celebrated, I'm excited to spend time with extended family that I don't get to see very often.  My dad's family is very close - but the extended part of that family lives all over the United States.  There aren't many events that bring them all back together anymore now that weddings are over and funerals have stopped for awhile (Thank God) - so when we get to celebrate happy events all together, I really look forward to that.

Hopefully I'll check in Monday with some pictures from our time this weekend.

Enjoy your weekend!

Summer Weather is Here and My Classroom is in Progress

It has been ridiculously hot this week here in Iowa.  I know, I know...I complained about the weather a few short weeks ago because I wanted summer, but is there no in between from cloudy and cold to sunny and unbearable?!  Evidently not.

This week has gone by really quickly - between having my sweet nephew and niece here for a few days, getting our dance team ready for camp next week, and beginning work in my classroom - I can't believe it's already Friday!  

I had a little reality check earlier this week when I looked at my calendar closely.  Students will be in my classroom in less than 4 weeks.  {Lets take a moment to take a deep breath and let that set in...}  I will be gone most of next week and the week before school starts we have teacher meetings - which leaves me essentially a week and a half.  WHAT?!  Sooooo...I spent about 8 solid hours in my room on Wednesday.  I even enlisted the help of my 12-year-old step daughter Kaitlyn.  When I left that night, I at least felt like I could reasonably be prepared for school to start...that makes me a lot relieved.

Behold the progress that was made:

This is how the room started.  View from my desk.  Note the computers all bagged up, the desks in disarray, above my cabinet full of who knows what.   

View from the back of my room.  It doesn't look bad in this picture, but it was not good. 

This is what the desks looked like.  Construction dust was EVERYWHERE.  All of them had to be re-cleaned.  Not a huge deal...but certainly time consuming. 

A bit of progress.  Desks re-arranged.  Small group table in a more appropriate spot than smack dab in the middle of the front of my room.

More progress.  Computers un-bagged and plugged in {Thank you, Kaitlyn!}, top of cabinets making progress, desks in final arrangement.  Looking more like a classroom.    :)

My not-so-little helper.  She was SO much help yesterday.  Crawling on the floor, vacuuming, hanging letters on my wall, moving furniture.  I could've never gotten as much done without her.

This is how I organize my bulletin board letters.  In a recipe box with alphabetic dividers.  The hot mess you see sprawled on the desk would be the miscellaneous characters - numbers, punctuation, etc.  That mess is now located in a large ziplock baggie.  That's going to need a little attention at some point.  I dislike having to search for things...it makes my OCD brain uncomfortable.  :)

The finished product of the word wall.  This wall gets filled with reading strategy anchor charts throughout the year.  And who doesn't love Dr. Seuss?  

 Anyway, that's all for today.  I'll show more classroom pictures once it's all done.

Have a wonderful weekend, Friends -