Five for Friday and WINNERS!

Oh-em-GEE what a week! I have been in full swing, non-stop classroom mode, so I apologize that I never got the chance to post our birthday giveaway winners! I'm pretty sure all of you have been contacted, but just in case you missed the email, you can see the winners here, and let us know if we missed you!

So I'm pretty excited to be linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for my first Five for Friday !

So here is some of the randomness that is my life:

1. As I said, I have been in FULL BLOWN classroom makeover mode. I mean, I should have just bought a sleeping bag and moved in! I don't know what I have been thinking all summer, but for some reason I decided {at the last minute might I add} to completely re-do EVERYTHING in my classroom! For the past three years I have griped about the furniture in my classroom, the layout of my classroom, the lack of variety of ways I could set up my classroom, pretty much everything involving my classroom! So, seeing all these blog posts, pins, instagram pics, etc... has inspired me to completely re-vamp my style! So step # 1.....

I decided to paint my shelves! Yes, we start school in less than 2 weeks, NBD. :) 

Let's just say I have the best husband EVER.

Don't worry I did help, I just had to snap a picture...or 2...or 5! ;)

Please ignore anything you see in the background, as I said...TOTAL makeover! 

There will be more pictures to come, even though it's crunch time, I am DETERMINED to make this classroom look the way I want it to! 

2. I started teaching Turbo Kick! at the gym and I LOVE it!! I have just been subbing for people on vacation this summer, but am hoping to have my own class this fall! It's such a great workout and since I am a dancer I love that it has great music and some dancey moves to it! It's also a great stress relief! I mean, what can relieve your frustrations better than punching and kicking the air?? Might as well burn some calories while you do it! :) You should definitely check it out if you get the chance! 

And this is what I feel like afterward...but it's worth it! :)

3. I made my own puff poms!! I am so excited! I have always wanted to use them in my room, but they are kinda pricey at the store, so I've usually refrained. Then I saw Jessica's tutorial from The Second Grade Nest and decided to make my own! It worked out great! They're not as puffy as hers because I was running low on tissue paper, but they are perfect to label my tables with!! :)

Can't wait to hang these little guys up! 

4. I am totally OBSESSED with this chevron scrapbook paper I got from Hobby Lobby! Oh the possibilities!!

5. I finally figured out my back to school presents for my kiddos! Every year I procrastinate this little detail, and end up having to come up with something at the last minute...not this year! I saw these little pencil boxes at Wal-Mart for 97 cents each, and decided to swipe them up and give them a little pizazz! I also bought 2 pencils for each child at the Target dollar spot to put inside with a little cute note! This way, they will have something to keep their pencils and other supplies in all year long, and it will be perfect for when we have to switch classes with the other first grade class! (I teach both Religions, my partner teaches both Sciences)

So, there ya have it! I am sorry these were basically ALL teacher related, but like I said...school has pretty much been my life this week, so not much else to report! I am hoping to wrap it up this week so I can have some end-of-summer-break-fun things to share with you! :) Happy Weekend, friends! I hope you have a great one!

Kentucky Blogger Meet Up!!

Happy Friday Friends! I cannot believe how quickly the summer is flying by! It seems like just yesterday I was packing up my room for the summer, and now it's time to start living there 24/7 just to get everything ready by open house!! However, I will say, even though the summer has gone by ridiculously fast I am almost ready to start getting back into a routine...*ALMOST*

This week I got the opportunity to help host the Kentucky Bloggers Meet Up in Louisville with Jessica from The Second Grade Nest , and first of all let me just tell you, I LOVE this girl! We had so much fun planning and organizing everything together! She is so sweet and super easy to get along with! Second, I got to meet some of the sweetest, funniest, most talented people and I am so thankful that blogging has allowed me to meet so many awesome new friends! It was also so fun to finally get to put faces with names and blogs that I have stalked followed for so long, and also to see some new faces and learn about new blogs I had not yet gotten the pleasure of stalking following! We started downtown on Tuesday evening, met at Hardrock Wednesday at Noon, and moseyed on over to Doc Crow's for dinner/late lunch at 3:30....Would you believe we stayed until 7:30???? I really enjoyed getting to know each and every one of these fabulous people. It was so cool to get to hear about and see so many different ideas, styles, and personalities. I will tell you one thing they each had in common though...TALENT! Each and every single one of them is extremely talented and their blogs/stores definitely show that!! Here is a list of the fabulous faces I got to meet so that you can go check them out too!! I am sure you will recognize quite a few of them!

Ashley from The School Supply Addict
Jamie from 2nd Grade Stuff
Brianna from The Price of Teaching (Some of you may know her as "The Lock Smock Girl" :))
Nicole from Teaching With Blonde Ambition
Christi from Ms. Fultz's Corner
Jessica from The Second Grade Nest
Chelsea from Flip Floppin' Through Third Grade
Lauren from One Bright Classroom
Greg from Kindergarten Smorgasbord
Jodi from Fun in First
Lisa from Fourth and Ten
Christina from Sugar and Spice

Our whole group...do you recognize anyone?? :)

And of course, here is my sweet co-host, without whom none of this would have been possible!! :)

I will include more on our little "goodies" you saw on the tables on Monday...I'm saving those for my "Monday Made It" Project! :) So stay tuned!! 

Well, that about does it for tonight. I just wanted to pop in real quick to highlight these fabulous new friends I have made! 

Also, thanks for all who have entered our Birthday Giveaway! I have to say we got way more entries than I ever imagined! Don't forget to check back tomorrow for the announcement of our winner! :)

Have a great Friday!

Birthday Blessings and GIVEAWAY!

Hello friends! Ok, so sorry I am just now getting around to this I have been busy being *spoiled rotten* for my birthday! :) Now, I am probably one of the least braggy people in the world (unless I'm kidding or being sarcastic...which is often) But let me just take a second to say how TRULY blessed I am to have such amazing family and friends in my life!

First of all, my husband came home from work first thing this morning with these in his hand!! :) (minus the lucky bamboo... End of the year present from a student that I just didn't have the heart to leave at school all summer and let die!)

Then, as if that weren't sweet enough, he whips this bad boy out in the cutest little bag with the sweetest card!

Let me just say I am OBSESSED! I have been playing with it on and off ALL day, and just got home about 20 minutes ago, and haven't put it down!!

He thinks he's so funny with his titles on his cards... Now that we are getting older he loves to rub in the fact that he is 5 months younger than I am!! ;)

After he went to bed (he works 7pm-7am), my mom calls me and tells me to get ready because she's taking me to Louisville to go shopping for the day! We found some incredible deals and my sweet mama bought me so many cute outfits! I won't bore you with a picture of each one, but here's a sneak peek:

As if that weren't enough pampering, when we got home my husband took me to my in-laws' where my mother-in-law gave me her present!

*IN.LOVE*

All of this fabulousness was followed by a DE-LI-CIOUS dinner at our local Sushi restaurant (YUM!) with the hubs, a beautiful walk by the river, and of course, a strawberry sundae from DQ! (So bummed they don't have the S'mores blizzards anymore!!) And of course, I received tons of sweet texts, FB posts, phone calls, and photo collages from the best friends anyone could ever ask for! 

I was seriously SHOCKED!! I never in a million years expected to get so spoiled today! (Not that I didn't think I would get nice presents, my family is incredible and knew they would do something, but never in a million YEARS would I have imagined all of this!!) I feel like I should be on an episode of "My Super Sweet 16" or something!! Ok, maybe I'm going overboard a *little* bit, and I promise I am in no way trying to brag, but seriously, I feel so lucky to have such amazing people in my life and I feel like I can't thank God enough for all of his blessings he has given me!


Okay, now on to the real reason for this post!! The Birthday Giveaway!!

This is our first giveaway and both of our stores are still up and coming, but I do hope you will enter for a chance to win one product from each of our stores! 

To enter you must follow mine and Stephanie's TpT stores and blogs, and can earn extra entries below! Winners will be posted on Stephanie's birthday, July 27th! Good luck! :)

Today is also Jessica's birthday from The Second Grade Nest ! So go over and give her some birthday love, and visit her TpT Store, she's having a 10% off birthday sale! You still have a couple more hours!! :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Flip Flop Product Swap Linky!

Hey friends! Posting two days in a row...whaaatt??? Crazy!! Today I am linking up with Teresa from Confessions of a Teaching Junkie for her Flip Flop Product Swap linky party! I just LOVED this idea and have loved seeing all the different awesome products people have been swapping, so I am so excited to have gotten the chance to do it myself!

I got the pleasure of swapping with Miss Christina from Sugar and Spice!

Let me tell you, this girl is a DOLL! I have absolutely loved working with her through this process and she has been super sweet! Her blog is so awesome with so many FAB ideas! And did I mention she has the CUTEST little blog design and name! Just look at that ah-DORable button!! I am actually going to get to meet her IRL next week at our Kentucky Blogger meet up and I am so excited! :) 

The product she so generously swapped with me was her Sight Word Fluency Pack # 1 Fry Words 1-100 

I am so excited to use this pack in my classroom next year! What a great/fun way to teach and assess sight words to my kiddos! It has everything you need to not only help your sweeties learn their sight words via flashcards and fun handouts, but also all the resources to assess and record their data! What a great way to stay organized! I have already gotten to use a little bit of it this summer with my sweeties I've been tutoring! They LOVE the highlighting pages! You can snag your copy of this FABULOUS unit by clicking the picture above, or visiting Christina's TpT Store! 

So there ya have it! You can see which product I swapped with Christina by paying her blog a visit! I am so glad I got to be a part of this linky! :)

Well that about does it for today my friends! Don't forget to stay tuned tomorrow for a chance to win the Birthday Giveaway! :)

Much love,

BFF Birthday Giveaway!

Hey guys! I am going to keep this post short and sweet but I just wanted to announce that my BFF and I are throwing a small giveaway for our Birthdays! Some of you may know her...It's Stephanie from Simply Schoolteacher!

Stephanie and I met our Freshman year of college, and little did we know at the time our birthdays are (almost) exactly a week apart! Since both of our stores are still getting started, we decided to 

team up to do a small winner's choice giveaway! 

We will run the giveaway throughout the week (and a day) between our birthdays! It will start on Friday, the 19th (mine), and end on Saturday, the 27th (hers). More details and the Rafflecopter will be posted Friday, so stay tuned! :)

Have a fabulous Thursday friends! 

Much love,

Say WHAAAT??

Wow! Where is the summer going? Can you believe it's already JULY!?! I feel like we just got out of school last week! I feel like all I've done is run run run, but I also feel like I haven't done anything...how does that make sense?? Anyway, here are a few random things to catch you up on the crazy:

I swear all of the groomsmen that were in my wedding must have made a pact because they have ALL decided to get married this summer! Ok, not all of them, but 3! Right in a row! And of course my husband is in all 3 of them! Not to mention the 2 other friend weddings we are attending this summer/fall, and my BFFs wedding that I am in in December! I can't complain though, I have had so much fun going to all of their showers and events, and of course, there is the fact that I LOVE weddings! Everything from the dresses and decorations, right down to the ridiculous line dances! My husband and I were some of the first of our friends to get married, so we have a long road of weddings ahead of us and I gotta say, I don't hate it!

Wedding #1 with the groom; My husband's lifelong best friend we have both known since kindergarten!

My favorite groomsman...Who I have also known since kindergarten :)

We took my sweet baby nephew (who is starting to look more like a real boy than a baby now :( *sad*) to his first parade on Friday! In my hometown, there is a big boat race Fourth of July weekend and all kinds of other activities that go along with it. This year the races were cancelled because of the weather, but we still had the parade! My nephew LOVED it. He was so focused the whole time, just taking it all in!

I just love that sweet little face and the sound of "Aunt Shoo-shee" that usually accompanies it! :)

After using the same "Back to School Postcards" I bought on a teacher site two years in a row, I decided to switch it up a bit and make my own! We have our class lists and send our letters out next week! I'm so excited! 

Last week I got the chance to be a part of Ashley from The School Supply Addict's big 4,000 follower giveaway and BOY do I owe her big time! I went from 75 to 172 followers on my blog and from 9 to 131 TpT followers in ONE DAY! I can't even tell you how excited I am! It was such an awesome giveaway, congratulations to all who won! Another BIG thank you to Ashley for letting me be a part of it! 

Last, but certainly not least...I have FINALLY uploaded my Author Study unit! This is something I have been doing in my classroom ever since my first year 3 years ago, but I am just now getting it ready to post! I am a big slacker! But it's finally up and I am so excited about it! I am so pumped that if you leave me a comment I will give a copy away FOR FREE to the comment that happens to land on my lucky number! :) So leave me some love for a chance to win a copy, or snag it up here! 

That about does it for tonight! I have to get up bright and early to tutor the kiddos tomorrow! Now that my life has paused very briefly settled down for a few days while, I am really going to try to get back into the swing of things! Sweet dreams lovebugs!

Much Love,

Introducing: Mealtime Mondays!

Hey Guys! Ok, in spirit of getting back into

blogging, and a way to keep myself from getting out of control with loading you up on all my new products, I decided to start a new weekly linky! I introduce to you:

Mealtime Monday! 

This linky is designed to share fun and easy recipes of your favorite meals. I know I often find myself in a rut, cooking the same things week after week, so I thought it would be cool to see what other people are cooking and share some recipes of my own! It can be a recipe you found on pinterest, out of a cookbook, or a recipe shoved way at the bottom of your recipe box from your great grandma! :) Here's how you play: 1. Think of {or find} a fabulous easy meal you like to cook, or one you would like to try. 2. Post the recipe {and pictures if possible} of one {or all} of the courses of this meal, with step by step directions. You do not have to post every recipe of every course, you can just add the entree if you'd like, but at least tell us what you paired your entree with! :) You also do not have to make yours as elaborate as I did, I just thought it looked fun this way! :) I will keep the link open until Saturday since this is the first one, and I will try to remember to put the link back up every Monday! Here's my recipe for the week:

There you have it! So find your favorite recipe, and link up! :)

I hope you will join me at least a few times!