What's Up Wednesday

Happy Wednesday, friends!  Today I'm linking up with Shay, Sheaffer and Mel for What's Up Wednesday...

Weekend Recap

Friday morning was a work day for teachers and so my crew and I headed up to school in the rain to put in a few solid hours of work...

He is faithful

This year has been uncharted territory for me - losing Manda has both shaken me to my core and solidified my faith.  I've found myself absolutely WRECKED one day when a certain song comes on the radio and with my hands up in praise the next time I hear it.

It's been bumpy and teary and that's okay because something that I've learned through this experience is that emotions are often muddled.  Deep deep sadness is right there alongside an indescribable peace.  Gut-wrenching grief with laughter and fond memories.  

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday, friends!!!  This week has been another busy one with lots of FAVORITES like this shirt that pretty much summed up my week :)

Lake Day

On Sunday we had a totally clear calendar (when does that ever happen?!?!?!) and so we chanced it on the weather and headed up to the lake to meet my dad who had been there working on some things.  We hadn't been there even 5 minutes and Luke already had his tackle box out to show all of us :)  The last time he was at the lake it was just him and my parents and so we hadn't seen all of his treasures yet and he was SO excited to share.

SEVEN QUESTIONS

I receive a LOT of questions and today I thought I'd answer seven that I've received recently (and often) and then I'll pick another seven to answer in another post on a later date (and so on and and so on) ;)

Saturday in the Life

Happy Tuesday, friends!  We had an awesome President's Day - Dave was off and I feel like I finally had a chance to get my entire house put together and cleaned at the SAME TIME!!!  It was a President's Day MIRACLE! :)  

Last week I had the idea to share a "weekend in our life" since I've done day in the life posts several times BUT after putting together just Friday/Saturday I realized that it would be WAY too much to also include Sunday - so I'll save that for another day (plus... this Sunday we escaped to the lake!).

I'm still on the low end of the video editing learning curve so PRETTY PLEASE show me some grace and YES I know I'm a hot mess in 95% of the video... but that's me on the weekends.  End rant. :)  Also, I started my video on Friday because that's when I consider the start of the weekend.  

I can't wait to hear what y'all think and if you like the "vlog" (that word is so weird, right???) format. 

Thanks so much for reading and watching and following along!

Valentine's Day 2018

Valentine's Day is always one of my favorite days of the year because it's a day to be intentional about showing and telling each other how much we love each other and I'm thinking we might have to implement a quarterly (or even monthly!) love day in our house :)

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday, friends  This week has been a full one and we are all wiped out and ready for the weekend.  At the top of my FAVORITES list this week is this picture that I snapped of my boys last weekend that I forgot to share ;)

Birthday Memories

I have so many really fond birthday memories over the years - sleepovers playing dream phone and calling song requests in to the radio station, heating the hot tub up and hanging out until the wee hours of the morning, fantastic surprise parties full of friends, homemade cards and breakfasts in beds.

Happy Love Day

 Happy Valentine's Day!!!  I had planned on sharing some festive decor and/or a fun "love list" but to be totally honest - this week is PACKED and I just didn't get my act together enough for either of those things.  Instead I find myself grading quizzes, helping assemble class valentines and trying to get our schedules halfway organized.

Last night I had the absolute pleasure of hosting Girl's night and thought I'd share a few quick simple things I did in case you were looking for some easy inspiration for celebrating today.

Valentine's Candle Jar

Tomorrow is the big day - card exchanges, candy, class parties, etc. and I'm in charge of the craft for Luke's class party.  It's not often that a school party works with my teaching schedule, but Luke's is in the late afternoon this year and so I got to sign up to help.  I'm doing the craft and had to make my example last night so I thought I'd share what we'll be making in case you're in need of a last minute art project this week!

Weekend Recap

Happy Monday!  This weekend was pretty darn perfect and while I still haven't finished painting our bedroom (I know, I know) I was able to go to bed early, wake up late and spentLOTS of time on the couch with my favorite people so I'm counting that as productive (enough) :) 

Friday night we hunkered down for pizza and the opening ceremonies and had SO much fun watching.  I thought that the whole thing was pretty awesome from start to finish and I think that the biggest fan in our house was Mason.

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday, friends!  This post is going to be short and sweet because this week has been LOOOOOOOONG and mama wants to look like this STAT! :)

Mason - Visual Processing Update

*** DISCLAIMER ***

I have been back and forth about how much of Mason's vision issues to share here on my blog and after a lot of thought and prayer I've decided to share his/our experience in the hope that it provides information and/or encouragement for parents and kids who may be experiencing similar symptoms/indicators as Mason.  This post is going to be SUPER detailed because I feel like it's important for y'all to know what led us to having him evaluated.  THERE IS NO SHAME in seeking assistance and professional opinions when you feel like something may be going on with your child and NO SHAME involved in receiving therapy or treatment.  When Luke started speech we made a point to never have a negative connotation when talking about it to him or with others and we're doing the same thing with Mason.  His friends and classmates know that he'll be receiving vision therapy and he's nothing but excited to improve his reading fluency (mainly because he can't wait to get his hands on his brother's Captain Underpants books).

I am in NO WAY an authority of any kind on visual processing and while I am more than happy to answer any of your questions to the best of my ability, if you have questions about your child's vision my suggestion would be to reach out to a developmental optometrist in your area.

Valentines - A few more :)

So after MUCH discussion at our house my kids finally settled on their class valentines and today I thought I'd share what we came up with.  

All of these printables (as well as the ones I shared in January) are ready to be right-clicked and saved to your desktop and then uploaded to a photo printing place (like Sams Club, Target, Walgreens) and have printed as a 4x6 photo.  Once you have the print, fold it in half and staple it at the top of a party favor bag filled with whatever goodies you choose :)

At first Griffin wanted all things unicorn and rainbow and glitter - we had to rein her ideas in a bit (we weren't sure the boys would be super pumped about a glitter unicorn necklace and they ask that all the valentines in PreK are the same) so we decided to put 10 or so GIANT water beads in the little bags and attach them to this...

Teacher Tuesday - Ice Breakers

Back in 2014 (which seems like forever ago!) I shared a little bit about my "road" to becoming a teacher (spoiler alert - it wasn't a career path I set out on but I'm so glad I'm here!) as well as my philosophy on education.  You can read that post  HERE.

Part of that post detailed why I feel so strongly about building relationships with my students...

I love getting to know my students – I like to ask them what they did on the weekend, find out what their most embarrassing moment was and what they like to do off campus.  I share funny pictures and stories, we laugh at the occasional Tim Hawkins video and I engage in their community.  What I've learned is that by giving my students an opportunity to know me and by showing interest in their lives in and outside of school, they work harder for me and feel more invested in performing well in my class.  When I started teaching nine years ago, the Headmaster used to talk often about “the informal curriculum” being the moments that aren't in our lesson plans that impact students the most and how something we say or do outside of a lesson might be the most impactful thing a student takes away from our class in the entire year.  I hope that through their experiences in my classroom, students will grow academically, personally, socially and spiritually.

Weekend Recap

I mentioned on Friday that this weekend was my "get my crud together weekend" and y'all - I got it done.  I am caught up on laundry, used my ACTUAL vacuum instead of just the Roomba and had a hefty dose of relaxation time as well.  #allthepraisehands

By 9:00 pm I CRASHED and if you were looking for me I was here ;) ...

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday, friends!  Erika,  Narci and I are all sharing our FAVORITES from the week and we'd love for you to join us!  Grab our graphic, write a post about your favorites and link up with us below.

7-Up Biscuits

I can't believe that I haven't shared this recipe before!  I've made these for YEARS and they are so easy and delicious and when I made them Tuesday night I snapped a few pictures along the way to share.