Quick and Random

So there isn't a whole lot of excitement going on at school and I have been really lazy on blogging. But there is some excitement on the home front!

A week from tomorrow, I will be picking up the cutest niece at the airport!!! The original plans were for a girls trip to St. Louis. Brother decided he really should bring the cutie to see the rest of the family and making both trips wasn't really in the budget. I agree that it is important for her to see everyone and am excited either way!!! There is always another time for the girls to meet in the middle and explore St. Louis.

My travel partner has posted about Australia again. You can read it here. I love how detailed she is but am too lazy to do it myself. On this post, she failed to mention the seasick travel partner. Lucky thing it only lasted for about 5 hours. I was able to sleep it off when we got on our overnight boat. :)

Conferences start tomorrow. Oh joy! We have them until 7 on Thursday and Tuesday night. Next Wednesday is a professional development day and then Fall Break starts! I do not care how late I have to stay on Wednesday night but I am going to have everything ready for the next week so I can play with Claire and not worry about school.

7 years old? When did that happen?!

On October 3rd, my baby girl, my little love muffin, my grrrrfreeen, my #1 snuggle partner, my Sunday afternoon school partner, my dog- turns 7. I am amazed at where the seven years has gone.

Even though I wrote about you on your 6th birthday, I just can't help but do it again for your 7th. I get giddy thinking about snuggling you and seeing your cute face greet me with one of your babies in tow when I come home. I mean really, who can resist this?

You are the first granddog in the family, so by default... you are the favorite. When you go to school with me, people always comment how well behaved you are. I also happen to think you listen better than my students- but I am biased.

Anyways, BRACE YOURSELF FOR CUTENESS! And remember, I could have gone on and on with cute pictures.....

This is when Tobie melted her Grandpa Snow's "I can't believe you are getting her a girlie dog" heart (before I had ever met her)



All 2.5 pounds of her knew I was her Mommy at first sight!



She also promptly stole her Daddy's heart

One of her first babies that she loved

Tobie is carrying on a tradition by taking a picture next to the car on the first day of school. Tobie was off to Puppy Kindergarten this day!

Look at the happiness in both of their expressions!
Tobie and Dad= Friends for Life

Nice and fluffy after a bath

BFF!!!

This snowman baby was Tobie's first snowman love! It was a sad day when it got eaten/destroyed by a bigger dog.
It was also when we went on a hunt to find a snowman replacement!

"Dad left me out when he went to bed. I kissed a Smurf and I liked it."

My little girl loves her some dirt!

Our first official family photo
{do you see Hubby holding her paw? Isn't that precious?!?}

Waiting to surprise Dad at the wedding

Our latest Christmas photo

I seriously could go on and on with pictures of little best friend. She brings so much joy to our lives! Mom and Dad love you little girl!

The book fair activities are over. I guess that means I have to wear normal clothes again next week. :( The overall theme was “Book Fair and Beyond!” Tuesday was pajama day for “The Book Fair of our Dreams.” I really wanted to take my whole bed with me but I settled for jammies.

Wednesday, the book fair was “Out of This World!” What does that mean? Aliens, astronauts, Star Wars characters, Buzz Lightyear and even other Toy Story characters.

Look at these little cuties!

It's a homemade alien shirt!

 Thursday, we dressed to “Run to the Book Fair!” Basically, for teachers that means team gear or sweats. The kids wore their team uniforms. Our principal even showed up in football gear! That evening we had a Back to School Picnic. It was such a good turnout! We had hotdogs, chips, drinks and cookies. Everyone seemed to have a great time.

Friday was our normal spirit wear day to support our school. Most people wore their new school t-shirts.

 

 What is a girl to do on a Friday night when the Hubby is out of town? And why does she need all this?!?!

Crafting!

I finally made one of my crate chair cushions. I would have made two tonight but I need to get some more foam. It takes 1.5 foam pieces to make a cushion.

My bestie Westie modeling the crate chair

I also received a package in the mail on Thursday. It was from this cute kid I know.

My friend and Australian travel partner has blogged again about our trip. You can read it here. Again, she is so much more detailed. I love reading! It's like I went on the trip! ;)

I suppose I should go clean up my mess. Tobie and I only have one more sleep until Hubby comes home!

It's a Baby!

For a long time now, I have wanted a babydoll in my classroom dramatic play area. I had looked but never found just the right one. Either their head was too squished, they were too small or just plain ugly. Until yesterday!

While in Enid, I couldn't resist going to Ross. I know, there is one 15 minutes from my house but they none of them always have the same goods to offer. So in I went, looking at clothes. It just so happens that the toys are right by the dressing room. I had already decided on 3 pieces of clothing and seen some other puzzles for my classroom when I saw it!

THE BABY GRAND! It includes a little bed, carrier, diaper bag, 2 bottles, 'baby wipes', and a little teddy bear PLUS the babydoll!

I didn't want Hubby to think I was going wild spending "his" money while he was out of the country. After all he had only made it to Chicago! So, I bought the Baby Grand!

Today at school, we talked about the baby and how we treat babies. We don't throw the baby. We don't hit the baby. We don't fight over the baby. We don't write on the baby because you will have to call and explain to your parents why you need a job to replace our classroom baby since you decided to write on it.

We talked about naming the baby. I took suggestions. Princess, Maggie, Rose, Lexie, Snow White, Baby, Cutie, Elizabeth, Jacob, Payton, Rapunzel, Roxie and Unicorn. {YES, I said Unicorn.} Our baby will be named Rose Elizabeth. I decided that she needed a middle name since I expect my kindergartners to know their own middle name.

Then we took turns holding Baby Rose. The kids were so sweet with her and so quiet waiting their turn to hold the baby. Some would even give her a little rocking.

Look at that little guy giving her a soft touch!

A careful exchange for Baby Rose

After school, I got out the new dishes I received with my latest Donors Choose grant. I have learned that if I want things put away correctly, I need to leave a picture behind of what it should resemble. Hopefully, they will pay attention when I tell them about more new stuff for them to use.

At home, I had another fun Skype. This time it was with my Hubby.



 A little family time via Skype

When discussing the baby, we realized our little baby did not have a blanket. Sooo, I got out my handy sewing machine and remedied that problem.

Here is the finished product!



Random Wrap Up

CONTINUE AT YOUR OWN RISK! THIS POST IS RANDOM AND TOTALLY OUT OF ORDER!

So… I am really far behind. Well, at least I feel really far behind when it is actually only a week behind. I suppose the good thing is that I don’t have a lot to report on. That is good, boring but good.

Birthday blessings just keep happening! Last weekend, the in-laws came to visit for the day. While out shopping, I got this snazzy new watch. It’s a slap bracelet but a watch!

I went to Enid today for a quick visit and got these cuties from my cute grandparents!

What a cute home it has in the flowerbed!

And a little sweetie brought this to me at school!

Another little friend was real excited about it and helped present it when I saw them. At the end of the day, he made sure that I liked the gift. I told him I loved it and it was real sweet of him. He was so funny. You would have thought he made the snowman himself when he brought it to me with the little girl. The little girl just let him help and act like it was all his present. Very sweet!

 

In getting ready for our book fair, we made a door decoration. The theme is to the book fair and beyond! Our outer space like theme was Star Wars.

Thanks to my PE teacher friend, I have an awesome little saying on it!

 

On Friday, we said goodbye to a member of the family, Peg. You know, cause he has only one Peg leg.

Peg came to our family in March of 2005. Unfortunately, for Peg, it was rough entry to our family. Deceit and lies happened for Peg to enter our family. BUT, he taught Hubby a very valuable lesson: Always run big purchases by the wife. I wasn't the wife at the time, but I was anticipating a sparkler on my finger when I found out a motorcycle was purchased instead. I am sure you can imagine how that went over. FIL also learned a lesson, (though he didn't take it to heart as much as Hubby did), Don't piss off the future daughter-in-law. Because believe me, I am not telling your wife you helped your son by this. Good luck to YOU when YOU tell her.

Regardless, I wasn't {totally} mad that a motorcycle was bought, it was just that I wasn't trusted enough to be informed on the matter until after it was done and little lies were told along the way.

We never actually rode this way (only posed) but wouldn't it have been cute?!

Hubby and Spencer, Hub's 'little brother', doing stunts on Peg

Now sits an empty spot in the garage where Peg once parked. Fancy was a little sad to see one of her roommates go but then again, she has more room to stretch out.

Peg, I hope that Dio treats you nicely. I will always look for you on the road. :)

On Saturday, during our football game against Texas A&M, I worked on a little craft project. I saw this idea, take a guess....... YEP, on a teacher blog! I have several sets of alphabet stamps that give me a headache when my kids use them. "I can't find R. Where's F? There's no J!" WHATEVER. Gone are those days with this fancy idea!

I bought my supplies at Hobby Lobby. They were all on sale! I think this project only cost $8.



Supplies needed: the brown drawers are a make your own advent calendar, alphabet stickers, 2 pieces of scrapbook paper and Mod Podge (which I already had courtesy of my sorority days)


The absolutely, adorable, could have given me a heart attack because it is so cute and useful finished product:

EEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! Isn't it just fun?!?

Here is a cute picture of my pup. We took this to send

 to Hubby while we were in Enid. She is so cute, I could just eat her!

Game Time!

Mike Gundy and the Oklahoma State Cowboys have started the season! Our (I say that like I am on the team...) first game was on Saturday, September 3. Lucky for me it had a 6 p.m. kick-off, which meant we didn't have to get up at the complete crack of dawn to get there.

We arrived in Stillwater around noon and tailgated for the afternoon. The Parker's even graced us with their presence for the afternoon!

Is she not the cutest little Cowgirl?!?

What a worn out little Cowgirl!

We left Stillwater with a W for the evening.

The next game was on a Thursday night, which I already blogged about here. 

Our third game was on the road. This on the road game was actually closer to us than the home games. We played the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes in Tulsa. Since college football is all about making money, they kick-off was scheduled for 9 p.m. so it would be televised and not have the 'big' game at 7 to compete with. As we were preparing for the game, we heard the TV announcers say both teams were asked to stay in the locker rooms and fans were asked to go to the concourse of the stadium before a storm hit.

Tobie says, "Rain, rain, go away! My Cowboys want to come out and play!"



"I'll just rest my eyes before the game starts."



Resting up before the game

There sure was a storm! Lots of lightning, thunder and rain. 3 hours later, the Cowboys had kick-off. If you did your math correctly, you know that was a 12:15 kick-off!

This is how they were sleeping together when I woke them up for the kickoff

Our house only made it to halftime. I hear the game ended with a Cowboy victory around 3:30 a.m.