Thank You

I wanted to take a moment and say thank you for all of the prayers that you have given to my boyfriend and I. We went to the hospital this morning right after waking up. Although we knew the situation, we didn't know what to really expect when we got there. He looked peaceful, just like he was sleeping. He looked healthy, despite the fact that he was battling cancer and this heart attack. But he was still unresponsive. He was hooked up to so many machines and bags of medicine. The doctors did several tests and declared him brain dead around 2 o'clock. At this point the only decision to be made was how long we wanted to keep him on life support. Thankfully, for mind of peace, everyone already knew what he wanted as far as being kept alive or not. Around 5:30 this afternoon, the plug was pulled. He was able to live for just 15 minutes without any of the machines.

The boyfriend was able to pull through, but my heart broke because I knew what he was going through. I know death is never "fair." And as my principal would say "Fair is cotton candy and roller coasters." But I simply hate that the boyfriend never got to re-build his relationship with his dad, as his dad had finally become the "best version" of himself.

His work is done. May he now go rest high on that mountain.

So again, I say thank you for the support, prayers and  warm wishes that you have sent us. You have no idea how truly important you are to me. 

Prayers welcomed.

Hey everyone. Okay... so I don't know how to really even put this. I have typed 3 ways to get started... and it all sounds silly. So I will just put it out there. If you are a praying person, we need your prayers.

The boyfriends dad has been battling colon cancer for some time now. Right now he is going through chemo. I am assuming that he was actually on his way home from chemo yesterday when he ran out of gas. While trying to push his car some police officers stopped and helped him. They were pushing his car, he was steering. In the middle of steering, he suffered what we now know was a massive heart attack. The police stopped what they were doing and called the ambulance. In the ambulance, he went unresponsive two times and they had to use the paddles to bring him back. He has been in a medically induced coma since yesterday afternoon. Tonight they brought him out of the coma but he is still unresponsive. The boyfriend just got a phone call from his uncle saying that we need to be at the hospital at 9 in the morning to make a decision on rather or not to essentially "pull the plug" or not.

I can't imagine making this decision. I don't know what I would do. I know before my own father passed away this past September and I found out that he was "do not resuscitate" I was angry and sad at this decision... even though I knew that is what my father wanted.  So please just pray for guidance and reassurance. Please pray that whatever he chooses will not haunt him.

The list continues to grow!

Okay... so here is the deal! After realizing that I wasn't going to be getting a job here in Rutherford or Wilson Co... and deciding to return to Montgomery Co. I have been SUPER DUPER busy. Now that I know for sure that I will be teaching Kindergarten again this year I have been crazy busy making lots of things that I should-a...would-a spent the entire summer making. Here is the list that I have been working on.... as it continues to grow!

1. Alphabet Cards
2. Number Cards
3. Behavior Chart
4. Rules
5. Door Decoration -- just gotta print, laminate and cut!
6. Buntings
7. Birthday Chart
8. Center Rotation Chart
9. Crate Seats
10. Table management boards
11.  Teacher Toolbox -- bought the toolbox today.
12. Teacher Planner-- ALMOST! just gotta bind!
13. Paint my student mailboxes.
14. Back to school student presents.- Already bought... just gotta put together!
15. Table Numbers
16. Pencil Holders/cans
17. 1st Day of school "Kindergarten frame"

I'm sure there are other things that I'm missing. So here is my plan:
Tomorrow: glue down my birthday chart and center chart and find somewhere in town to laminate it (while I am there I might as well get my teacher planner bound.); go get laminate and print and laminate door decoration; spray paint teacher toolbox.
Saturday: create my crate seats; paint and cutesify my student mailboxes.
Sunday: take seats out of the van and head to the storage unit to pack my van full of my teacher stuff.
Monday: head to Montgomery Co. to begin working in classroom. This will give me 5 days... well 4 because you can't count Staff Development day. Lets just say I am totally not looking forward to spending $150 in gas next week. Oh yea! In addition to setting up my classroom next week... The boyfriend and I will be looking for an apartment to live in so that we can move to Clarksville QUICKLY!

There is just so much to do! But I really think I can get it done! As long as I stick to my plan (or stay a little ahead of it).

So as school approaches I am left with a few jitterbugs! I thought I'd share them with you as part of Fierce in Fourth very first blog hop!

1) Will I REALLY get everything I need to finish, finished? And even if I do, will my team and my classroom parents and my new students like it? Will it all turn out looking cute? Or will it look bad? I really liked my ladybug theme last year... but I got tired of all the RED and BLACK! So I decided to spruce it up and make it BRIGHTER!
2) Will the first day be a success? Will I get everything I need done? OR will I run out of time? We are going to only 1 week of testing this year instead of 2 weeks... therefore, I have LESS time to get all of the testing done!
3)Will I remember what to do? When we are doing the first day orientation, will I stumble through my words? Or will I remember what to say? (Going back to the Tell Me More, Tell Me More linky-- when I'm nervous, I stutter.) Will the parents look at me and think that because I am so young, that I have no clue what I am doing??

So what are your jitters? What are you nervous about?

Tell Me More, Tell Me More!

I hope everyone is having a fabulous Sunday afternoon! I'm enjoying lounging around the house. Last night the boyfriend and I went out on a full-fledged date (by this I mean we actually went to dinner and a movie)! We have not done this in quite a while because of money but we decided to treat ourselves!

We went to Uncle Buds Catfish House for dinner because the boyfriend has been wanting catfish for some time now. This is a resturaunt I grew up loving to eat at! I loved the decor of the place and the food... but last night told me that either 1) I've changed my taste in fine dining or 2) the food was never that good to begin with. I'm gonna go with #1... now granted this is not the same Uncle Buds that I grew up going to... so maybe this one is ran differently... who knows?!

Afterwards we went and saw The Dark Night! What a great movie!! The movie "started" at 10:15 and we didn't get out of the theater until 1:15. It was a great movie! I definitely recommend going to see it!

Okay now for the linky! This one is from one of my favorite 2nd grade bloggers, Amy Lemons from Step into 2nd Grade with Mrs. Lemons.



Tell Me More, Tell Me More! Thank you Mrs. Lemons for inviting us to share a few random things about me! The boyfriend will tell you that I am very personable.... with anyone!


1) I had to join this linky because it reminded me of one of my favorite movies!

 2) My favorite color has always been blue. But when I was younger I associated blue with "boys" and thought that I should have a "girl favorite color" so I told everyone it was pink. Now, I do love pink, but my favorite color has and always will be blue.

3) I love me some scarves!!! Everytime I go to any store that has scarves I end up spending several minutes looking at them before telling myself that I don't really need to spend money on them! One day though, when I can financially can afford it, I will have a closet full of scarves!

4) I started my college career as a theater major. I was going to be a drama teacher! While I was out shopping one day I found the manuscript and soundtrack to the movie Grease. It was going to be the very first theater production that my class did! I was certain of it! A semester into college though, I realized that I loved working with younger kids and decided to pursue a bachelors in K-6 education instead.

5) I went to college at Austin Peay State University!

6) While in college I made one of the best decisions I have ever made and joined the best sorority in the word! Alpha Sigma Alpha! Although I am not a very active alum, it created an experience in college that I never will forget!

 Oh and did I mention that I was a Pike (Pi Kappa Alpha) Girl?! I loved the Pikes just as much as I loved my sisters!

7) T G I was a Pike Girl! Because otherwise I would have never met the boyfriend. No, he wasn't a Pike. But his cousins were! So had I not been a Pike Girl I would have never been on the porch that October morning to RE-MEET him! What do I mean RE-MEET? Well 5 years before when I was a freshman in HIGH SCHOOL he was the quiet, mysterious boy behind me in Spanish class... that one day vanished moved away without even saying "goodbye".

8) The boyfriend and I have been dating for 4 years on September 17th! I'm expecting to hoping I see some bling in the near future (there has been lots of talk of this)! We (and I do mean WE) have settled and started gathering ideas for a fall wedding. But there has to be an engagement before we will actually start putting money into the wedding.

9) My FAVORITE place to shop for clothes is Ross and Kohls! I love their clothes! While I'm at Kohls, however, I ALWAYS end up buying at least one of the Kohls Cares for Kids books that they have! Its too good of a deal to forgo!

and to make it an even ten....

10) (Jennifer this one should make you and your momma happy!) I will be moving back to Clarksville and teaching a 3rd year at my current school! I'm excited about this... but not looking forward to driving 3 hours a day for the first month of teaching! I'm gonna be EXHAUSTED and broke!

Well there you have it! 10 Random Facts about me! I hope you enjoyed getting to know me a little bit better! I will be back tomorrow with some school stuff! I promise!

Now go on over and link up so that I can find out some interesting facts about you!

Blog Hopping

Okay.... technically a "newbie" is someone who has just started tinkering or working in a type of technology. Since I started back in Feb (although my blog says September... I consider Feb to be when I really got into blogging!) I guess technically I am not a newbie.

But I saw a great linky and I really wanted to join! So... I did. I hope that's okay?!

PLUS by me joining up maybe some of the real "newbies" out there will see this AWESOME linky party and will join up to spread the news about your blog!

But first! In order to join you have to answer a few questions about yourself.

1.)  What state are you in?
Tennessee

2.)  What is your current teaching position?
I have been teaching kindergarten for the past 2 years.

3.)  What is your teaching experience??
I have taught kindergarten for 2 years, I student taught in kindergarten and 4th grade, in college I did a year of pre-school teaching, and in high school I worked with small groups in 3rd grade.

4.)  When did you start blogging?
I "officially" started blogging in Feb of 2012. (so maybe since I have only been blogging 5 months, I am actually a "newbie.")

5.)  Share some blogging tips or a resource.
Interact with other bloggers! Leave comments. Get involved in the blogging community! You can build so many amazing relationships through blogging!

Off to hop and through and meet some new bloggy friends!

My new classroom decor and a FREEBIE!

I am so excited! I finally got my BRIGHTS Classroom Decor Packet done! It technically has been done but I hadn't been able to turn it into a PDF correctly! So last night around midnight when I finally got it fixed I couldn't have been happier!

It is 116 pages of classroom decor! I love it and can't wait to print it all off and put it into my classroom! I'm headed to Wal-Mart right now to get some card stock and laminate!

 The packet is a zip which includes 2 seperate documents. In the Alphabet and Numbers documents you will find full size alphabet cards that feature the uppercase and lowercase letter as well as a picture (ie. Aa=apple). You will also get full size number cards (0-20) that have the numeral, number word, and matching ten frame!

 You will get matching nametags in all 4 colors! Each name tag features the alphabet, number 0-20, and shapes (diamond, rectangle, circle, square, triangle, hexagon, trapezoid, and star)! You will also get 3 different types of lables, square and rectangle, and then the fun star ones!

 You will get a set of calendar cards, these also come with "No School Today," "Half Day," "Test Today," and 2 "Happy Birthday" cards. You also get a set of days of the week cards and Yesterday was, Today is, and Tomorrow will be posters!

 You will get Star Student poster with a place for the students picture (wallet size) and pre-made star labels and blank star labels. You get 4 hall passes: nurse, hall, and a girl/boy bathroom pass!

 Lastly you will get a Word Wall banner and word wall label cards!

You can get all of this for just $8.00! Oh, and if you check out the preview you will get your FREE matching Center Signs! Click here to head on over to my TPT page and pick up your very own copy!

Oh... and P.S. Kinder Alphabet is having a Back to School giveaway! Click here to go check it out! The Resource(ful) Room is also having a HUGE giveaway! Check it out here! Falling Into First is having a 300 and Thirty-One Giveaway! Check it out here!

What I'm Pinning Wednesday

Wow-ee! Today I did something that I have been wanting to do for AGES! I went to the gym and worked out for over an hour! I know that for most of you this is no biggie, but I haven't gone to the gym in forever... and by forever, I literally mean forever! I had a personal trainer give me a workout routine and show me the ropes, then I got on and did 45 minutes of cardio and 5 of the weight machines! I loved every bit of it! But now, I am hurting! I am going to ignore the pain the most I can, because my goal is that I will lose 75 lbs by this time next summer, although several people have told me that I should be able to lose that 75 lbs before Christmas. :) That would be exciting!

Then today I got home and got on facebook and found out we (Mid-TN bloggers) are having a short-notice get together tomorrow in Nashville because Mrs. Erin Eberhart is coming into town! There will be some faces there that I have already met (Laura Starnes, Kinder Kraziness) and some there that I have never met before! I'm super excited about meeting new people and seeing old faces! I will have to post some pictures or something afterwards!

I also went to Hobby Lobby today, I've been wanting to go there for about a week now, and I finally found the ribbon that I have been looking for!

It is plain, but I think it will be perfect for the project that I'm using it for! I will be sure to share some pictures of that sometime soon! I still have several projects that I am working on for school! I can not believe that I only have 2 weeks of summer left. Is it just me, or does it feel like summer has FLOWN by?!

And now for the namesake of this post, What I'm Pinning Wednesday!

This FREE activity from Kindergarten Smiles is a great beginning of the year (B.O.Y.) resource!

One of my favorite bloggers, Abby, has some great poetry journal ideas! You can check them out here!

This is a great "All About Me" activity from First Grader...at Last! Super cute!!

This last one isn't really an activity for the kids, but a tool they could use to rate their work! I love it and need to make me one! (Sorry I could not find the original posting for this one!! If you know who posted this originally, please let me know and I will give credit where credit is due!)

The rest of my pins this week have been clothing, Fall/Halloween decorations and Christmas decorations! I know... summer is not even over yet and, just like Hobby Lobby, I'm ready for Christmas! (I've even been singing some Christmas tunes! eh!)

On the road to a pot of Gold (freebies!)

Hey!!! I'm still feeling the puppy love! I think I might have a problem! I already have two dogs, Ms. Molly and Mr. Bagel. (As you can see Ms. Molly loves to sleep on the couch beside me... and Bagel loves to have his belly rubbed!)

                                 (Ms. Molly sleeping)                                          (Mr. Bagel getting a belly rub)

What is the problem, you ask? I want one of the puppies. I'm a sucker for cute things. A puppy is a "cute thing." And then there is the thing that 2 of the puppies look exactly like Mr. Bagel (their daddy). How adorable would it be to have a father/son combo.... not that either would know thats what they were to each other... or care. BUT I WOULD KNOW!!!  Eh.... my family tells me I'm crazy... and.... it is probably true.

So... moving on --->

Since I still have puppies on the mind and I came across a great linky party today TBA is celebrating/just celebrated "International Blog Hopping Day" and Kreative in Kinder is hosting

 so I created a new freebie just for you! Yea that's right! Just for you! Because I like you THAT much! :) Or because I was bored.... or maybe because I wanted to be creative. But yea... mostly because I like you AND appreciate all that you do and all of your support THAT much!

(If you enjoy this activity, I'd love it if you checked out my "Dog House Literacy Packet"!)

Head on over to Kreative In Kinder's website to check out more wonderful freebies!

Fish, Puppies, and a FLASH Sale

Wow! What a crazy couple of past days! Monday I woke up to my boyfriend telling me that we were going to head to the lake and go fishing. Although I was not quite ready to wake up yet, I was super excited about the fishing!

  

It was a gorgeous (although my phone picture above does not do justice!)  overcast day. Although we didn't catch any fish I really enjoyed the day at the lake. 

Tuesday was a great day as well. I spent most of the morning just chilling and then I got myself pampered. It was a well-needed pampering session. Then I had a great night out with some friends. Went to a free concert and then we headed downtown Nashville.

Yesterday I spent the day shopping with the boyfriend. Headed to Murfreesboro, then to Smyrna, then to Nashville, then to Oregon... oh wait! Thats right! We didn't want to drive 1 day & 16 hours to Hillsboro Oregon (we were supposed to be going to Hillsboro, Nahsville when the boyfriend typed in the address to the GPS and didn't realize it was taking us to Oregon!) So we ended up in Mt. Juliet. But we did get in a little bit of shopping and home decor browsing done. We found lots of cool items that we'd love to have for our house, when we get it. But while at Haverties we found a little treasure that only cost $6 instead of the original $25! What a deal!  Oh! And it will go great with our beach themed bathroom when we get into that new home! Isn't it gorgeous?






And Finally for the crazy, beautiful, sometimes awful-ly great week.... Ms. Bella (my sister's dog) has given birth to 10 puppies this morning. I've been up since 6:30 this morning watching and assisting in her labor process. Sadly two of the pups have not survived. 1 was still born and one didn't make it out of the sac in time. (I hadn't gotten in the room yet.) We all feel so guilty about this one. Because we could have made a difference. But the other 8 - 6 boys and 2 girls- puppies are doing great. Ms. Bella is EXHAUSTED of course! But who wouldn't be after having 10 babies? In case you are wandering, the puppies are 1/2 beagle, 1/4 bassett, and 1/4 terrier. Most are white with brown spots, there are 2 that are completely brown just like my Mr. Bagel (my dog). Sadly the two that passed looked just like their daddy as well.

In honor of these pups, I have created my "Dog House Literacy Packet" and posted it for sale in my TPT site. It will be selling for $6.00... BUT it is on sale for 3.50 for the next... well, until I take it off sale tomorrow sometime. It is 39 pages, aligned to CCSS, and has several Literacy Activities, including: CVC word building, Scrambled Sentences, and Rhyming Word Pairs (plus other great activities)!! Plus... because I'm feeling nice the first 2 people who leave me a comment will get this as a freebie!

Adventures and Awards

I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th on Wednesday. We didn't do much to celebrate. The boyfriend and I stayed around the house and just hung out with one another. Due to the excessive heat here in TN (temps have been 100+ for the past week), and the fact that our bedroom is currently housed in my mom's garage with no insulation, we finally broke down and went to Lowes and got a window AC. Although we still haven't installed it. *insert sad face* While I was there I looked at the the "teacher toolboxes." I have to admit that they are MUCH smaller than I expected.... but I still can't wait to get mine! We did go to Dollar General and I found a bunch of awesome stuff that I can't wait to use! It all matches my new theme so well! (I'll be back tomorrow with pictures of my purchases!)

Then we went on a "date" and saw Ted. Hilariously-awesome movie!! My advice, if you have kids DO NOT take them to see this movie! It is not kid-appropriate in my opinion. Let's just say Ted is not a teddy bear you would want your kids to have.

*********************************************************************************
I have to say a big THANK YOU! to a few bloggers for awarding me with The "One Lovely Blog" award and the "Versatile Award"

Thanks Ladies!

So since I am a "go with the flow" type of girl... I am going to be following the rules.
Here are the rules for this award are: 
1. Thank the blogger who nominated you. (check!)
2. Include a link to their site. (check! -click their buttons!)
3. Include the award image in your post. (check!)
4. Give 7 random facts about yourself.  (Keep on reading!)
5. Nominate 15 other bloggers for the award. (Down below!)
6. When nominating, include a link to their site. (check!)
7. Let other bloggers know they’ve been nominated.(check!)

Seven Random Facts:
1) Usher reminds me of my youth. (One of my favorite songs from when I was like 13 just played on this movie I'm watching.)
2) I have two dogs that I call my children. Molly-girl; German Shepard/Lab and Bagel-boy; Beagle/Terrier  
3) The boyfriend and I have been dating 4 years this September 17th. (I'm expecting a ring soon!)
4) My favorite candy bar is a kitkat (this is newly discovered!)
5) I am ADDICTED to sweet tea!!
6) I want to be a published author "when I grow up." 
7) My favorite movies of all time is Grease and Pretty Woman

Okay and now 15 other WONDERFUL bloggers that deserve this award!

Kindertrips

Going Nutty

Kinder Kraziness

Eberhart's Explorers

Under the Alphabet Tree

*Bunting, Books, and Bainbridge*

Apples and ABC's: Adventures in Kindergarten 

Heather's Heart

Kindergarten Lifestyle

Sharing Kindergarten

Hello Mrs. Sykes - Resources for Teachers

Peace, Love and Learning

Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits

Wolfelicious 

A Differentiated Kindergarten 

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On a side note, Erin over at Eberhart's Explorers is having a giveaway worth $500! Go check it out! 

 

July Currently and Randomness

I feel like such a slacker. As Staci (Going Nutty) would say, I think I have PTT. But I feel so guilt about it. Like to the point that I woke up last night in a sweat after dreaming that someone told me that my blog had disappointed them because basically I haven't posted anything lately with real teachery substance. Now I know that this was just a dream, but if you do feel like this I am sorry. I have the Diving Into Common Core series planned, I just haven't done anything with it...

My personal life has just been so crazy this summer.... like you honestly wouldn't believe. I'm just praying that everything comes together and that things continue to stay calm for a while.

I do have a packet that I have been working on, but I can't get it to save in a PDF document correctly... which stinks! Because it is by far my best packet yet! I did get it saved in a locked word document, so no changes can be made besides from me. Do you think I would be safe to publish it in the locked word document? What do you think I should do!? It's over 150 pages. However, I could easily keep going and make it much larger? What do you think is TOO big?

I'll leave you tonight with my favorite thing from the beginning of the month.... Farley's Currently!

The fan is blowing and for the first time in what feels like forever, I am cold! I love it! It has been terribly hot this past week! In fact there was one day last week that the only place hotter than where I live was in the middle of the desert... and that was only by like 1degree! Lets just say 113degrees is H.O.T. HOT!

Loving... I am absolutely loving that I am about to go to bed. I have been watching my sister's son for the past couple of weeks... while her and her husband work... lets just say he is a handful. I want children, I really really do... but he is making me rethink that option. It has been said several times that he is "hitting his 'Terrible Two's' super early!" But he's a cutie... and when he smiles or lays his head on my chest, it makes it all worth it.

Okay... so one of the books that I was introduced to in college was Beautiful Blackbird by Ashley Bryan. I love this book! It is a great book to use when teaching adjectives... or teaching about how we are all equal no matter what we look like... or even for talking about illustrations (and then having students make their very own pictures using just construction paper)! I love it and I definitely recommend it as a read-a-loud for your classroom!

Okay ladies... and gent... that is all I have for you tonight! To all of my new followers, welcome! I can't believe that I am almost at 200 followers!

Remember... if you don't mind... let me know what you think/would do about my Alphabet Packet problem! I would be ever so greatful!