Bleach Pen Shirt

My friends and I went to the premiere of Twilight: Breaking Dawn part 2! We couldn't simply show up and watch at 10:00 on a school night. We had to make shirts! We tried a Pinterest craft that I have seen around for awhile. This shirt is a dollar general $4 shirt. We used shelf paper to make a stencil and stuck it directly on the shirt. We then used a Tide Bleach Pen to fill in the space. We ended up letting it set for about 2 hours. We then washed them and they were ready to wear. I think they turned out super cute for first time bleachers. I just made a new bleach shirt tonight. I will blog about it soon!

The Magic of Christmas started today!! Thank you 95.5 for the soundtrack of the holidays. I completely immerse myself in the holidays for a little over one month each year: music, clothes, coffee, food, desserts, crafts, decorations, etc.

Camping

Trevor and I LOVE camping! Because of the weather in Texas, we don't get to go often! The summer months (April-October haha) are too hot and the other months are busy because of our school schedules. This was actually our first time to go with our new baby Violet. She turns out to be a crazy camping dog! We stayed at a new park called Jim Hogg. It was pretty nice for a campground. Of course, no campgrounds live up to the golden paved paths in Colorado. For Texas, it was fine. I hope we camp a bunch this year!!

Bows

We had neon day at school and I love to go all out. I was neon from head to toe. I decided that I also wanted to make a bow. I loved making bows and I decided to start making them for my dog. I got this precious owl print ribbon to practice with. I ended up making a few different styles for Violet and a matching "mommy" bow for me! Oh please don't let me have a daughter some day or we will all be in trouble!

Pumpkins

My sister came in town from Arizona just before Halloween. One of her favorite things to do is carving pumpkins! She carved an owl pumpkin, I carved a spider pumpkin, and my mom carved a good old fashioned Jack-o-lantern.

Well...everyone who knows me knows that my birthday lasts exactly one month and is planned at least 6 months prior to the actual date! I love this saying, it's even better than 7 months of celebrating :)

Pet Fair

Now that I have Violet, a dog who is not a cat, I feel like I have to take part in dog activities. I have started her in doggie kindergarten with McKinnley and Denali. She is a very intelligent and sweet girl but has some focusing issues. She is very impulsive and has some attachment tendencies... That teacher can't fool me. She is feeding me my own parent conference lines! Anyway, besides school, I have become an active member of the Plum Creek Dog Park. We had our Annual Pet Fair last weekend and my assignment was doggie muffins. I waited until the night before, of course. I was sitting in the Target parking lot with no recipe and no idea. I found a few ideas on my phone and decided to mix them all together to make the ultimate muffin. I bought all the ingredients plus a new collar, leash, dog PJs, and candy corn. When I got home I began cooking. I made 4 batches (over 50 muffins.) The smell was intoxicating. A little banana, honey, oats, peanut butter, and a dash of beef and gravy baby food. The dogs were drooling. I boxed them up and delivered them bright and early to the Pet Fair Muffin Eating booth. I think my favorite touch was the dog food as sprinkles. I didn't have very big shoes to fill. Last year, the muffins were so gross that most dogs would not eat them. This year, the competition was steep. Most dogs inhaled the muffins in a few gobbles. Stanley swallowed his in 6.5 seconds! The winner was a big dog who scarfed his down in 4.1 seconds! Violet daintily chewed and swallowed hers in 45 seconds, but she enjoyed every bite!
Dog-O-Meter: Scent-sational and dog-gone good!

Besides the muffins, we took part in most of the festivities. Violet lost the small dog costume contest to a bunch of weiners- literally... She lost the big dog costume contest to 2 goofy Australians. She lost the pup trot to a homely piece of shit-zu. But she did get lots of free treats, toys, vet visits, flea meds, and a microchip!

Pj Dog #2

Thank you Angel Millini for whispering an important message in Violet's ear. She just knows how important Pjs are to me and she wore her first Pjs with ease and a smile on her face. She even did the Moto growl as I tried to take them off of her.

It's Fall Y'all

My favorite food season is upon us! Bring on the pumpkin spice, salted caramel, and apple crisp.

ACL

This weekend is ACL fest. I am sad to be missing it. Some year soon I will ACL again!! Until next time.

Snake on a Porch

We went to the dog park this week like usual. Upon our return, we had a great surprise on our doorstep. We have hear many many stories of rattlers in our neighborhood. We were happy to see that this was a harmless rat snake. I wanted to kill it and Trevor wanted to spare its life. Trevor won. I just hope that we don't come home to baby snakes anytime soon.

Headband Curls

Pinterest Project: IT WORKS!

I put a loose rubber headband around my forehead and then wrapped my hair around it over night. It was very comfortable to sleep in! I pulled the headband off and ran a brush through the curls once. The curls were nice loose curls. They didn't last near as long as flat iron curls, but they took a total of 2 minutes in the morning! I give them a B-.

Funfetti Blondies

Dish: Funfetti Blondies
Pajamas: Polar bear shorts and pink top
Recipe: Sis and Pinterest

I have seen all types of yummy blondies on Pinterest. Sis made some a few weekends ago and told me that I would love them. I looked in my pantry and I just happened to have all of the ingredients. I used a Funfette cake mix, one egg, 1/2 c white chocolate chips, 1/2c milk and 1/4 c oil. I mixed it all up and let it bake on 350* for about 20 minutes. When they came out of the oven, they were super gooey so I let them sit for about 10 minutes. Once they were a bit easier to pick up, I devoured mine :) I am not a huge chocolate fan, so this to me was like gold. It is the consistency of a brownie without the chocolate! I will definitely make these again. Thanks for the recommendation Sis!
Trev-o-meter: Not available due to the sweetness of the recipe :)

My sweet freckle face Violet

Best Friends

My 2 loves

Here's my #, so call me maybe

I'm not a huge fan of this song, but I love the Disney pics :) 

As I begin my 30 day Yoga Challenge. I will leave you with this...

I have been reading about the new fad- 30 day challenges. It is simple enough. Pick something that is good for you and do it everyday for 30 days. This will make it a priority in your life and by the end of the 30 days, it will be a habit! I chose yoga :) This summer, I am sad to say, I slacked a lot in my yoga practice. Today was day 2 and boy I have lost it! I sure hope that in 28 more days, I will be back to where I ended in May. Here's to my new favorite word: hope :)

Turquoise Projects

I bought some really ugly letters from Hobby Lobby. They were brushed gold UGH! They were also on sale (50% off!) The only reason I bought them was because I loved the and sign. I took them home and looked at them for about 30 minutes waiting for inspiration :) Finally I decided to use some of the wall paint sample that I got the weekend before. I knew that I wouldn't need the sample of the color that I decided against. I painted the letters and let them dry. I then decided that they would be a sweet addition to our bedroom. As I began to hang them, I realized that they each had 2 holes on the back. Hmmm I went to Trevor's office and said I needed screws or nails, a laser straight thingy, a cross screw driver, a hammer, a pencil, and a "zzzzz" thing. He went out in the garage and filled my order perfectly.   I then did a great rigging job and actually hung them. I stepped back to admire my work and noticed that they were completely crooked!! I then looked at the holes and realized that the holes were crooked on each letter! I know why they were 50% off! I fixed the crookedness and wahlah! Beauty :)

While at Hobby Lobby, I saw this frame! It was 80% off! I couldn't pass it up. I also painted it with my sample paint. I decided that the pattern would look better antiqued. I dry brushed the thing and I am very happy with how it turned out. I haven't quite decided what I am going to use it for, but I promise that I will post a picture of the finished product.

No words

I went to Torchy's while out on a shopping trip. If the delish mamish tacos weren't enough, I decided to order dessert. They had a specialty dessert called the Snookie. I said, "why not?" The man brought out this hot bowl filled with gooey goodness. They are a mushy cookie on the inside and a chewy corn flake breading on the outside. I can throw down dessert with the best of them and I could only eat 2!

My Vera Bradley Planner

If you know me, you know my planner. My mom bought me this Amazing Vera Bradley planner. I am in love. This will be my beautiful sidekick until December 2013!

Cobbler in a Jar

Dish: Cobbler in a jar

Recipe: Pinterest (blueberry oatmeal cobbler)
Pajamas: turquoise, very soft nighty :)
Eaters: Me, Trevor, Mom

I spend so much time on Pinterest and it seems that the huge fad right now is the use of Mason Jars. I have seen cupcakes, cookies, casseroles, candles, soap, soup, bath salts (the bath kind!), modge podge, etc etc etc in a jar. I wanted to do something in a jar, but I didn't know what. I decided to make one of my favorite desserts in a jar so that I could eat the single servings each night when I de-stressed from the first week back at school. I chose an oatmeal crumb recipe so that when I froze the jars, it wouldn't get soggy. The recipe was super easy! I ended up using half frozen and half fresh fruit because that is what was in the fridge and it tasted great. In the picture, you can see that I left plenty of room at the top for ice cream. Each night I took one jar out, heated it and covered it with fat free/sugar free ice cream and wahlah! Dessert! I really liked the fact that it kept me from dishing out huge helpings, it's a healthy version of cobbler and I get a fruit serving in at the end of the day :)

Trev-o-meter: "I don't like cobbler."
Mom-o-meter: "Oh I love it, it's so cute, what a neat idea! Let's tell Mam :)"

Violet

Introducing my new baby! She is 6 months old. She's an English Cocker Spaniel. She's perfect!

I found her on Craigslist! So far, she is perfectly house trained. She is so sweet, super playful, and she just loves Stanley. 

My Classroom Garden 2012-2013

This is my door. My classroom theme is a garden. 

Right outside my door is my "all about me" bulletin board. I have pictures that I hope help students and parents know me a little bit better. 

This is my class bulletin board. During the year, it will be absolutely packed with my kids' work. I have clothes pins attached to the fabric so that I can easily change out their work. 

Under the window, I have 2 bookshelves. This is the fiction section of the room. Next to the window is my math wall. The only thing on the wall at this point is the hundreds chart. Later in the year, it will be the place for math vocabulary, anchor charts, and student work. 

This is 1/2 of my front white board. You can see my behavior chart. The kid's will move their clip throughout the day depending on their behavior. They start on green and can move up for good behavior or down for bad choices. My Noise-o-meter is also on the board. It lets the kids know the appropriate noise level for the room at any given time. Under the white board is my Daily 3 board. It has the 3 daily reading station choices, reading groups and important reading info. I use brownie points for compliments and a scoreboard for my Whole Brain Teaching rules. 

Here are my 2 non fiction book shelves. I also have my Calendar time area. We start each day with songs, chants, dances, and group activities. Our day always starts on a positive and happy note. 

This is where I sit for all of my mini lessons. The cage is for our class tortoise, Louis. The black frames are for my daily classroom objectives. The wood book shelf is my leveled book area. I use these books with my reading groups. The black book shelf, facing the chair, is for math tubs and word work tubs. The bulletin board behind the rocking chair is for Ron Clark Rules. We use them to make sure that we are always polite and kind. To the left of the chair, is my student computer and document camera. Behind them, is my Cafe board. We keep all of our reading strategies there. 

This is a view of my classroom from the door. I have all different seating options for my kids. They can choose whichever suites their needs the best. Some sit on the floor, some on high stools, others on balance disks and a few in normal seats. All of my chairs have felt legs so that there is less noise and the floors stay nice and shiny. 

Here are the kids' backpack cubbies. The small bulletin board is for the class jobs. The small rolling shelf holds our daily 5 math games. The large bulletin board is for writing and Whole Brain Teaching techniques and cues. Steve, the class gorilla, is an awesome reading buddy. Above him are my name helpers. They are magnets of all of my students' names. 

This is my teacher computer. I have all of my copies filed for the week. I have all of my past class pictures to remind me of my "old" babies. My favorite teacher saying is "Pardon our mess, we are making memories." 

This is our class puppet theater. We mainly use it as a reading nook. My shared bathroom is to the right. Our class community supplies and water fountain are to the left. 

These are the work cubbies. We keep our books, folders, and spirals here. The wall to the right is for science and social studies anchor charts.

This is my floor table. The kids would do anything to sit here. 

This is my tall stool table. It is raised to the highest level. This is new to my room this year. I'm guessing it will be a favorite. 

This is the back corner of my classroom. My word wall is on the back cabinet. The black bookshelf is for chapter books, writing stations, and fun and games.