Spring Break!

It is officially the first day of spring break. Wait, I take that back! Friday was.

Anywho, I should be excited about this, right? Well, this is what I have seen all day...

That is rain standing in my front yard and some robin's thoroughly enjoying it.

It has been raining since Tobie and I woke up around 9 which just put me in a funk. I am glad we are getting a little bit of rain but we, Tobie and I, would have liked to spend some time outside too. So to this rainy day all I have to say is, "Rain, rain, go away. Come again another day."

On a positive note, the Math Mania! project that I posted to Donors Choose has been funded is waiting to be delivered! I also posted another project that is close to being funded as well. The Friends and Family campaign made both of those possible by providing matching funds! My kids are lucky to have great donors that want to help our classroom. 

Can you believe....

...it's 6 years since I married my high school sweetheart?!

How could I not fall for this hunk?!?!

Even though the first time we met was the summer before 7th grade, sparks didn't fly until 3 years later. We met up again at church camp and then started high school (which was the first time we actually went to school together).

Our first official, big time date was to the Winter Formal.

Years later, we made it through high school and we still liked each other!

Senior Prom 2001

Graduation

  There were ups and down all throughout college but what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. 

We went back in time for an 80's prom

Several years worth of Quovadis

Many long nights with half of us passed out, sometimes in public...
I'll let you take your guess on who. 

Throw in a mud party or two

Then wrap us up for another graduation together

On March 18, 2006, I was lucky enough to marry my best friend.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words and I think this one shows each of our emotions. I was excited for this day I had dreamed about my whole life and he was scared to death. :)

Nothing was going to rain on my parade that day... except the rain.

Our little family of three

My boyfriend for life

Preston,
You make my every day. You take better care of me than I deserve. It has been the best six years of marriage that I could ask for. In this time, we have seen the world.. for real. Texas, Ohio, Arizona, Alabama, Florida, Mexico, Jamaica and Australia {just to name a few}. I know the little places we traveled to don't seem like such a big deal but I wouldn't have wanted to go to any of them with anyone but you. 


Thank you for loving me how you do. I can't wait for the next chapter of love to begin! Sweet little Snowflake is going to have a hard time finding a guy in her life that treats her as well as you will. All I have to say is she better take after her Mom and find him young! ;) 


I love you to the moon and back!

I even dressed our entry way owls for the occasion. :)

More Christmas Break...

So it is 3 months later but I just stumbled onto these pictures from Christmas Break.

One of the exciting things Tobie and I did was venture out to Hubby's new work place. He started it from the ground up and after several months we were finally granted access to see the place.

It was a lovely December day to dangle out the window on our car ride

Hubby checking on the guy in the whole trying to fix the natural gas line. Earlier in the day, there was a small fire at this spot.

Tobie checking it out with her Dad

Tobie and I running the equipment... well, not really but we look cute pretending!

Tobie testing out Hubby's office in the horse room

"Dad? You left us in the car?"

"Is he coming back yet?"

"Man, I'm getting hot waiting on him!"

There really wasn't a whole lot going on there so that is all the fun we had.

22 weeks

On Tuesday, March 13, Snowflake turned 22 weeks. According to babycenter.com:

At 11 inches (the length of a spaghetti squash) and almost 1 pound, Snowflake is starting to look like a miniature newborn. Her lips, eyelids, and eyebrows are becoming more distinct, and she's even developing tiny tooth buds beneath her gums. Her eyes have formed, but the irises (the colored part of the eye) still lack pigment.

If you could see inside your womb, you'd be able to spot the fine hair (lanugo) that covers her body and the deep wrinkles on her skin, which she'll sport until she adds a padding of fat to fill them in. Inside her belly, her pancreas — essential for the production of some important hormones — is developing steadily.

As for new news, I don't know that there really is any. Funny story? Yes!

I had to be gone on Monday, 3/12, to align our curriculum to new Common Core Standards that are slowly working their way into public education {meaning they won't fully take effect until like 2014}. When I returned, I was told that my kids thought I was gone because I was having the baby! Today, no one mentioned her but one girl did ask, "When is your baby coming?" When I told her she wouldn't be here until July and counted out 4 months with her, she said, "That's like really soon!" Apparently, we need to work on time some more in class.

I have been battling a case of allergies, which is no fun because I can't take any of the good drugs to help with everything that is in bloom. We go back for our monthly appointment on Friday so if this is still an issue, maybe he can give me some suggestions.

Snowflake has still been a little mover. I must say, it is such a strange feeling to know that someone is kicking me from the inside. And, it is always at such random times. There is no schedule to her yet, meaning nothing in particular sets her off. I think she just does it to let me know she's there and to frustrate her Dad. He will wait for a kick but I can definitely tell when he is getting impatient so I start poking where I last felt it. Well that makes HIM mad. "Don't poke her!"

Donors Choose

Today, I had a new project posted to Donors Choose! And for the next week there is a matching opportunity going on!

• You can find my project by clicking here.
• Set your donation amount and press give.
• With every donation, a portion of it is given to Donors Choose but if you want all of your donation to go to the project, choose edit. There you can change the percentage.
• Then choose check out.
• At the check out process enter this code BLOOM  for your donation to be matched!

I can say that my kids truly love all of the materials that have been provided through Donors Choose. Those materials would not be in my classroom without this great opportunity! Earlier in the school year, I had a project funded that provided new items for our dramatic play center. The kids absolutely love that stuff and have used it to play restaurant, doctor, vet and more!

Even if you can't donate right now, please share this with your friends and family. 

Job Well Done

On Thursday (3/8), my kids received their prize for filling the class marble jar.... Tobie went to school! I'm not sure who enjoyed it more, me or the kids. :) They were all so surprised when I told the she was with me. Tobie was definitely glad when the bell rang to go home (even though that meant she had to have a bath at home). With little kids hands all over her all day long, I figured it would be best for a bath after visiting school. Now she is my little Fluff-apotamus.

To be honest, they probably should have filled the jar a long time ago but after the novelty of getting marbles wears off, I forget to reward them. They earned marbles with class compliments. Every compliment was worth 10 marbles and sometimes depending on the compliment they would get bonus marbles.

That Thursday was also the last day for one of my kids. I am now down to 18 students! It seems like such a small class since I started out with 24! Our school has such a revolving door that I could probably work my way back up by the end of the year.

On thatFriday, I passed a kid in the hall that is in the 2nd grade class next door. She commented to me, "Man, it's not fair that you guys had a dog in class yesterday!" I quickly put her in the right place, saying, "My kids worked hard to be able to have a dog come to school for the day. They made the right choices, treated each other nicely and didn't have people in trouble every day at recess like your class. Maybe you and your friends should try making better choices."

Spring Break start on Friday, March 16th! Then there are only 7 weeks of school left!!! Time sure is flying!! Before long, Little Miss Snowflake will be making her appearance. Ahhh!

Sh!t I Hear in the Teacher's Lounge

It's long overdue but time for another installment...

Many, many, many a days, the discussion is based around healthy eating. This may consist of what was eaten last night, what is going to be eaten, what should have been eaten, etc. In trying to help some friends out, a co-worker has provided little notebooks to serve as food journals. Goals are supposed to be set and food is supposed to be tracked to help see what is being consumed. 

When discussing goals, one struggled with giving up tasty little snacks the kids have. For example, the kids would eat cookies for snack so the grown-up would eat some with them. Another co-worker suggested taking an apple (or any other healthy snack) to have to eat when the kids had snack. The response to that idea is what made this post!

"Giving me an apple instead of chocolate is like telling a heroin addict, 'here's a Tylenol.'"

And there you have it folks.