Five For Friday {Christmas Break...Woot}

Chiming in here for the Five for Friday post...  just chillin' on my couch!  That's right... I'm on Christmas break, y'all!  If you're reading this... chances are... you are also on your couch...  enjoying the first few hours of Christmas break!!!  Yesterday was day 90 for us... that's 1/2 way done!!!  It's all downhill from here...

This week was a crazy week.  This is my 12th year but every year it takes me by surprise.  I was driving to work earlier this week and I looked up at the moon and actually thought, "Man... that's a beautiful moon!  OHHHHH NOOOOO... that's a full moon."  .... and the kids didn't disappoint.  Game on little humans...  they have kept me on my toes all week.

 Yesterday was a hard day.  It marked the one year anniversary of the day I found out that Frances didn't have a heartbeat.  I didn't tell anyone that it was the anniversary until later in the day... just needed to get through work.  A co-worker brought this down to me this morning.  Said she had ordered it a long time ago, but for a myriad of reasons... didn't get around to giving it to me until yesterday.  Y'all... that was a God thing!  No other possible theory fits!

My M1 and M2 at karate.  They really love it.  The hubs signed them up and he loves to go watch them practice.  I love having a few quiet minutes after school.  Then I run home, straighten the house, and try to make a plan for dinner....  ahem, a loose plan for dinner!  Let's keep it real...  y'all want Little Caesars for dinner?  Why don't we go get chips and salsa wasted?  Kids... y'all just want a bagel?  

I'm stalking my summer vacation at the beach.  Straight up STALKING!  Love a good countdown app!  We may have booked our 2014 week back in August.  We are READY!  

 Remember above... when I mentioned loose plans for dinner?  Yeah... I actually love reading cookbooks.  Ironic... since I don't actually cook often... {or even that well}.  This lovely book was a gift from our school nurse who also love the Pioneer Woman cookbooks.  Made my week!!!  <3 her!!!

A sweet co-worker came down this week after school.  I had brewed coffee {if you brew it... they WILL come}.  While she was visiting... she asked if I had any thoughts on homemade ornaments.  I asked her if she had ever made the borax ornaments (for lack of a better name).  I quickly described it... told her it definitely works & gave it my seal of approval.  Side note: I used to make these every year when I taught 4th graders.  She took some pictures of her 2nd graders in action & sent them to me. {she's sweet like that}.. 

 So you need some Mason jars... or she used glass beakers.  You also need some pencils, fishing line, pipe cleaners, Borax, and access to boiling water {she used my coffee pot to do this}.

 The best part... you can totally do this one day... let them form overnight... and VOILA!  Great for people on a time crunch!  I've never made these with my personal little humans... but thinking we might give this a go over Christmas break.  I think they would LOVE it!

 Here's an image of one with fully formed crystals.  So pretty... and really fascinating I think.  The recipe and instructions can be found HERE... but there are several others... mostly all saying the same thing though!

I hope that you are reading this... relaxing at home... enjoying the first few hours of your break.  Hoping to blog more this week since I can actually have a few coherent thoughts!  Talk to y'all soon!  

Five For Friday {Ahem, Sunday}

My intentions were good.  Five for Friday post... check.  Ummmm, uncheck!  Sooooo, I'm doing the Sunday version.  Better late than never, right?  I hope that your week was super awesome.  I am so very happy to be on Thanksgiving break.  We get the whole week off and I am beside myself with joy!  The best part... we go back next Monday and only have 15 days until Christmas break.  Oh HOLY NIGHT!
I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs for her Five for Friday linky party for what might be the first time since school started on August 1st (wowza!).  Without further ado...

My week last week was a day shorter because I took Thursday off for some allergy testing.  This is not my first rodeo and I knew that my back was gong to look awesome.  It didn't disappoint.  The doctor and the nurse kept saying, "Wow!"...  So... pretty much everything responded except a few weird things like cow hair.  Guess I could get a class cow for a pet since the guinea pig thing didn't work out {achoo!}.  So... looks like I"m headed for allergy shots again.  He is hoping to keep it to 5 shots a week.  I am now armed with epi-pens again... and I have to go back in a few weeks for more fun and food testing!

Side note:  do you have to carry an epi-pen?  I went to get the Rx filled and it was going to be $80 after insurance.  Ummmm, Christmas is coming, y'all... and I wasn't quite prepared to take out a loan for medicine.  One of the friendly CVS girls recommended going to the epi-pen website to see if I could find some type of discount.  I went and found a way to bring my cost to $0.  That's right... $0.  Santa I was very happy to print that out!

The local pottery place in my town was having a contest recently where the winning classroom would win a pottery/ornament painting party.  I won (thank you to all who helped vote!!!)  We decided to go ahead and do the party this past Friday so that the ornaments could be fired in the kiln over Thanksgiving break.  Then I can pick them up and get them wrapped pretty and ready to go home to the parental units! :)   The kids had a blast painting their trees... they minded their manners {I may have scared them into being the best behaved children EVER}... and I can't wait to see their faces when their ornaments are done and ready!

Hunger Games anyone?  I went and bought tickets on Thursday afternoon and it's a good thing because Friday night's 815 showing was sold out and jam packed!  I read all 3 books in 3 days awhile back... loved the first movie and this one was even better!  Nothing screams girl date like sushi and a Hunger Games movie!

I did manage to finish some TpT projects this week.  I uploaded a freebie for you and also my Polar Express book companion.  I have so many things that I want to accomplish this week, but I think I am going to close down my laptop and enjoy my kidlets!  If you want to check out either... just click the pictures below!  There are more freebies to come and I don't always get to come post on my blog... so be sure to follow my TpT store and my FB blog page HERE!  

The snowman craft is a simple print and create craft where the kiddos make a snowman using shapes.  It looks really cute glued down onto scrapbook paper and hung in the hallway.  You could pair it with student work or holiday writing!  

The Polar Express unit is finished!  Be sure to click the link and check out the preview.  

Inside there is... 

1) story map

2) graphic organizer
3) point of view creative writing opportunity
4) craft... make the Polar Express using shapes
5) graphing activity 
7) Venn diagram to compare and contrast the book to the movie
8) bulletin board letters spelling out "The Polar Express" to use with displaying student work.
9) Polar Express tickets with a list of suggested uses 

Lastly...  I want to say thank you to my readers and followers!  The last year of my life has been very difficult and having this blog as an outlet...and TpT as a diversion have been so helpful.  I am grateful for the encouragement I have received from so many of you.  I hope that when you read my blog... you come away feeling as though it is real and authentic.  I try to mix the good and the bad.  I want you to see the messy classroom pictures and hear about the lessons that failed.  I want to share my grief in losing a baby and my joy when life is amazing.  Life is messy... and I want my blog to reflect that.  Thanks again for going on this ride with me.  Hold on tight... we've only just begun!  Happy Thanksgiving to all my teacher peeps!  Talk to y'all soon!  

Five For Friday {What Day Is It Anyways?}

I love summer...  I didn't even realize today was Friday until I saw another person's Five For Friday post!  Is it Friday?  What the heck is today's date?  I dunno...  who cares... IT'S SUMMER!  Ok... let me reel that back in... check the iPhone... yep... totally Friday (the 21st for anyone needing to know!)... and I'm linking up with Doodlebugs! 

1)  Last weekend we had a spontaneous family trip for Father's Day...  packed up the kidlets and headed towards Atlanta.  We had no plans other than seeing Superman @ IMAX.  Although I secretly started planning a hotel stay near IKEA {let's keep that between us}.  We hit up Target, IKEA, went to see Superman, went swimming at the hotel... and the boys were DYING to order room service...  We let them jump on the beds... they were in little human HEAVEN! 

view from our balcony... the boys were awestruck!

Lunch @ an awesome pizza joint... brick oven anyone? 

That's right... this easel came home... along with many other classroom purchases! 

2)  I got a box from Books a Million this week... man, I love getting packages.  I have been wanting to read Teach Like a Pirate by Dave Burgess since I heard other bloggy friends saying what a great book it was.  I have started it and am really liking it so far... stay tuned for more reflection later (TBA..hehe)

3)  I went on a spontaneous ride along yesterday with a co-worker to drop one of her kidlets off at camp.  We left for Asheville, NC (about 5.5 hours from here) yesterday around 7am.  We shopped, had a yummy lunch at Farm Burger (highly recommend), got pedicures... stopped at the farmers market... then crazily decided to go ahead and drive on back home last night around 930pm.  I climbed into bed at 315am this morning.  I am draggin' people...  BUT... I did buy a new pair of Chacos on the journey... and that makes my heart sing! 

4)  I am trying to get organized..... with my electronic files.  The files are winning.  I am transferring all my "stuff" to an external hard drive... and I have decided I am a PDF hoarder {hangs head in shame}.  I also met with my team this week to chat about this school year... there's nothing quite like putting pen(cil) to paper and making a good ol' fashioned list! 

5)  I also ordered a Silhouette Portrait and it was delivered today.  It is still in the box... we are just staring at each other!  ... and I may have forgotten to order the vinyl..... 

I hope y'all have had a great week... and that your weekend will be amazing!  Remember that if you use Google Reader to catch up on all your bloggy favorites... it is going away.  You can keep up with me by checking out the Blog Lovin' link on my sidebar! 

Five for Friday {Not. Going. To. Make. It}

It's Friday.... Thank God it's Friday.  Linking up with Doodle Bugs for some Five For Friday fun!

1)  My week was only 4 days.  This felt like a darn long week!  My body tried to die from allergies {OK, maybe that's being a bit dramatic} on Wednesday and I had to go home early.   I went home and entered a Benadryl coma.  Didn't.  move.  for.  3 hours!  ACHOO!  I then rallied {yay} and picked up my kidlets from school... and we headed to Columbia, SC.  We went to eat at Rush's... which was one of my favorite places to eat when I was in college.  We did a quick run into Wal-Mart to grab swim trunks because someone {cough, ME} forgot the kidlets' swim trunks @ home.  I then watched them do all kinds of boy awesomeness in the Hampton Inn's indoor pool for a few hours....  so thankful for an indoor pool.  They bathed... we hit up the vending machines... then they vegged out in the bed.  Don't they look comfy?  My kids LOVE staying @ hotels! 

2)  Thursday morning my younger brother graduated from basic training @ Ft. Jackson.  Such a proud moment for our family....  I am bursting with happiness I tell ya!  I only have one sibling... and to watch him be successful makes my heart so full!  I have watched him struggle along the way... and have stood back so that he could struggle just enough to become motivated on his own.  That is such a hard thing to do.  He is much more like my son in that way.  Our family dynamics are a little skewed as many of you know... and my brother lived with me for many years when we were younger.  He checked into his new base today in Virginia... and sounds so happy to have a little more freedom... and a new sense of purpose! 

3)  The school nurse talked me into registering for the Color Run this fall in Atlanta!  I.  don't.  run.  In fact... if you see me running... you should also start to run.  I will be walking the Color Run.  I promise to walk quick.  I hope the weather is awesome in September... just sayin'.  There are 6 of us from the school walking... our group's name is Six In the City {bwahaha}  Have you ever done a Color Run before?  Even though I say she talked me into it... I am secretly excited!  Girls weekend... yes, please! 

4)  There are only 5 more days of school.  That's 40 hours for those that are counting with me.  I am so very excited.  I am leaving for the beach next Saturday for a week.  Ready for some golf cart time, getting up early to see the sea turtle eggs, feed the deer, get sunburned, and eat myself stupid on rice krispy treats!  I'm going with my friend Tara {have you ever read her blog, ...and they all fall down?}, my other friend Heather, all of our kidlets, and a babysitter!  That means... I only have one more Sunday...  one more case of Sunday night blues! 

 

5)  Finished one project this week.  I use numbered cards in my class to do random grouping.  You know... because when you let them pick the groups.... ummmm, it doesn't always end like you had hoped.  I have cards for groups of 2, groups of 3, and groups of 4.  This just makes it fun... and the kids like finding their group members.  Think this would help in your classroom, too?  You can check them out HERE 

 

I hope that you guys will all have a great weekend... and that it will go by slowly!  One last thing... have you seen the video with the gas station couple singing?  It is hilarious... and I am loving it... if you haven't seen it... Check it out HERE!  Talk to y'all soon!