Summer Reading - Kids Edition

I've talked and shared several times about my love of kids books and encouraging reading at home during the school year and especially during the summer.  We have several new hits on our hands and I thought I'd share. 

I grabbed  The Super Life of Ben Braver for Luke and the only problem with it was that he finished it in one night (by flashlight) :)   He LOVED it and we're crossing our fingers that there will be more in this series.

Summer decor

Nothing says summer to me like red, white and blue.  I want to wear it, I want my kids to wear it and I want it all over my house.  I LOVE me some red, white and blue!  This is kind of a shocking statement because on any other day I don't love red or blue.  But in the summer I'm all about it.

I was cleaning on Saturday and the mood struck just right and I decided to go ahead and summer-ize the house.  It's perfect for Memorial Day and will last us all the way through Fourth of July and COULD even go through Labor Day if I wasn't crazy and didn't put up Back-To-School decorations :)

Scenes from the weekend

We are in FULL-ON-SUMMER-MODE around here and not a single person is complaining.  I've slept in past 8 every day (PRAISE!) and we've spent as much time as possible doing as little as possible.

Friday I had one last event at school so I dropped these cuties off for some playtime and lunch at the country club...

Happy Memorial Day

"Memorial Day has become many things. It’s a holiday weekend to be shared with loved ones. It’s the start of summer. And it is an opportunity for businesses to drive attraction and sales.

It’s also a day to remember, even if just for a moment, the sacrifices made by the men and women who have come before us and those being made today, whether in uniform or in other battles, whether for the United States or wherever you call home, home.

Let’s remember that their sacrifice was for something better."

Friday Favorites

Today is the HAPPIEST Friday of all the Fridays because it's the first Friday of SUMMER!!!  I have a staff luncheon today and then I'm D.O.N.E.  I even took a nap yesterday afternoon to celebrate :) 

I'm excited to share some of my FAVORITES from the week and if you have FAVORITES to share you should join me, Erika and Narci by grabbing our graphic and linking up with us below.

Griffin Graduates

I can't even believe I'm writing this post but I am and I'm determined to be nothing but happy and excited about our girl graduating Pre-K and heading to Kinder... okay and maybe just a little nostalgic, too :)

Visual Processing - 3 month update

Back in February I shared about Mason's visual processing disorder diagnosis - what led us to testing,  what that testing looked like and laid out a bit of the plan that he would be embarking on.  

Simple Service Idea

Happy Tuesday, friends! 

I'm always on the lookout for easy but impactful service projects/ideas to do with my kids.  I've blogged MANY times about Cards for Hospitalized Kids because it's simple, time-effective, great for all ages and has led to several great perspective-changing conversations regarding empathy.  

We've also made a point to save and take our coloring pages and other craft projects from school to a local assisted living center - just because it doesn't make my "keep" pile doesn't mean that someone else can't find joy in receiving it.

This past weekend we were knee deep in leftover cake pops (boxes that weren't even touched!) and so the kids whipped up a few cards and we delivered them to a couple of our local fire stations.  We've talked with our kids before about how there are people in our city who have dangerous jobs to keep people safe and help people when they're hurt or in danger and they were excited to get to say thank you. 

We delivered the treats and cards and each time the firemen couldn't have been kinder.  They were so gracious and eager to show the kids around the fire station and answer all of their questions - it was a wonderful way to spend some time together.  The kids are already talking about doing this again and my goal is to do this once a week in the summer for the fire and police stations.  I'd love to hear any other simple service ideas you might have - feel free to leave them in the comments!

I snapped a few pics/videos while we were out and made a quick video :)  Happy Tuesday!!!

Weekend Recap

Happy Monday, friends!!!  This weekend was a great one - I checked A LOT of events off of my to-do-list and made some good headway toward THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!

Friday FAVORITES

Y'all.  TODAY IS MY LAST FRIDAY OF SCHOOL!!!! I just need to make it through a field trip, middle school dance, two birthday parties, dance recital, water day, field day, pre-k graduation, elementary academic awards, giving and grading 5 exams, middle school academic and leadership awards, 4 baseball games, an end of the year party AND all the things I have to do in my classroom before officially signing off for summer.  #sendcaffeine 

Obviously my first FAVORITES this week are hot tea, diet coke and the million scraps of paper I have notes written to myself on.  ;)  If you have FAVORITES to share you should join me, Erika and Narci by grabbing our graphic and linking up with us below.

Throwback Thursday - Summer Reading

I'm going go be super honest - life is HECTIC right now.  We're in the final countdown to summer and between end-of-the-year activities for all three kids and all the obligations that I have as a teacher at the end of the year time is at a premium right now :)  All that to say today I'm doing a "Throwback Thursday" post and sharing what I read last summer and asking for your book recommendations as I get ready to have time to ACTUALLY read again!  

I set a goal of reading every day this summer and while there were days where I didn't manage to pick up a book I still made it through several from my stack and thought I'd share my thoughts today in case you're in the market for a good read.

Twice Baked Potatoes

Twice Baked potatoes are something my mom made often growing up and they're one of my favorite sides to make because they're SIMPLE, delicious and can be prepped ahead of time. 

Amazon Lately

I'm rounding up my recent Amazon purchases again and I'm not sure my list has ever been quite this random :)  

First up is  this 100-ft retractable hose.  Our hose out back split and when I was looking for a new one this one caught my eye because it was under $40 (who knew hoses were so expensive!), lightweight and supposedly would "retract" and be super easy to put away. 

Weekend Recap

Happy Monday, friends!  I'm going into this last full week of school with my tank FULL from a great weekend with my crew.  

Friday night we celebrated the end of the week with pizza and swimming.  And some of us partied so hard they fell asleep outside :) 

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday, friends!!!  Today I'm sharing my random mix of FAVORITES and if you have FAVORITES to share you should join me, Erika and Narci by grabbing our graphic and linking up with us below.

THREE THINGS

Happy Thursday, friends! Today I'm sharing three things about each of my three favorite people :)

- SPEECH UPDATE -

Luke has been in speech therapy for two years and has worked daily on a whole host of articulation issues.  We are so happy to report that he was just reevaluated and he has mastered all his sounds at the word level and now he's just working on being consistent in conversation.  WOO HOO!!!

- BOXCAR CHILDREN - 

A few weeks ago my mom took the boys to Half Price Books and Luke came home with a TON of Boxcar Children books.  He has been burning through them and I love that he loves something that I read as a kid!

- TREEHOUSE PLANNING -

Luke and a couple of friends from school have been working on planning an "ultimate treehouse" for over a month now.  They have plans to sell all their Pokemon cards, get thousands of dollars (ha!) and pour it all into a treehouse with a drawbridge, nerf gun artillery room and fireman pole :)  They have detailed plans, a supply list and a timeline all set up.  CUTEST EVER!

- FOOTBALL SEASON -

Mason finished his Spring football season last weekend and there were lots of tears... not because they lost (which they did), but because football was over and he'd "just had so much fun!".  I mean... you can't really ask for anything more than that, right???

- ROOMMATES -

Mason always has a LOT to say when I tuck him in at night and last week the conversation turned to being "growed up", what he wanted to be, where he wanted to live, etc.  I asked him if he was going to get married and he goes, "Yes.  And then Jack (his best friend) and I are going to get houses and live next door to each other.  And the girls can live in one and the boys can live in the other."  It was ALMOST as cute as the time he made me promise that even when he was big and married I'd still come tuck him in and rub his back at night :)

- DOG MAN -

Mason's reading has taken off over the last month or so and he's reading EVERYTHING!  It's been so fun to see his little world open up as he reads signs, labels, etc.  He's never been a kid who wants to read after I tuck him in but now he's staying up after we tuck him in and reading!  His current favorite is Dog Man and he'll read and read and then sneak downstairs to tell us how many pages he's read or that he finished ANOTHER one.  I. LOVE. IT.  I see lots of trips to the library in our future this summer!

- KINDER READY -

Griffin is all set to start Kindergarten but she just realized last week that that means she won't be with her beloved Pre-K teachers anymore and the mixed emotions have set in.  I feel ya, baby girl! I feel ya!

- MERMAID LIFE -

The kids got in the pool for the first time this week and I'm happy to report that Griffin is ready to live that mermaid life again this summer :)  She picked up right where she left off last summer and asks to swim every morning when she wakes up, every day as soon as I pick her up from school and every night when we put her to bed she asks if she can swim tomorrow.  She's the first one in and the last one out of the water and even with her teeth chattering we have to pull her out of the water when it's time for bed.

- BARBIE GIRL -

Griffin got her first ever Barbies for her birthday last month and she plays with them CONSTANTLY.  I looooooved my Barbies growing up and love walking upstairs and peeking in her room and seeing her imagination at work.  Her Gram and Papa Mac gave her a Barbie house and I'm not sure she's ever been happier!

- SO READY -

The end of the year is QUICKLY approaching and as I'm going through some of my materials from the end of last year and reflecting on my last few weeks of the 2017 school year I am SOOOOOOOOOO grateful that I don't have to pack anything this year!  Last year was SUCH a beat down having th pack, clean, etc. as we prepared to move classrooms and then moving into new rooms days before school started and I am GIDDY that this year I'll wipe down my desks, lock my door and walk out in May knowing that I'm ready to start back in August.  

- ORGANIZING ALL THE THINGS -

When I get my most stressed I tend to start organization projects that I don't REALLY have time for.  I think that internally I feel like if I get our entire house in order that somehow everything else will magically just fall into place.  :)  WELL... our entire house is torn up from top to bottom because my organization projects are all about 1/3 of the way done and everything is everywhere.  It's going to be MAGIC when it's done - but for now it's chaos.

- MUSIC LESSONS -

Dave and I were both in band from middle school through college and while I loved it and love listening to music I'd definitely say that Dave is the more musical of the two of us.  He's been bringing out his drum pad at night and giving the kids little drum lessons and this past week they got down his guitar and he's been showing them how to hold it, what the parts do, etc.  I'm pretty sure he wants all three of our kids to play percussion and truthfully, I'd be okay with that!

Mexican Rice Casserole

A couple of weeks ago Narci hosted a baby shower for Meagan and Violet and we partied hard with baby clothes, cupcakes and MEXICAN FOOD!  I hadn't even left yet before I was begging her for the recipes and she told me she "loosely followed"  Pioneer Woman's Mexican Rice Casserole recipe.  I tried my hand at it this week and it's a new staple in our house so today I thought I'd share!

Teacher Tuesday - FAQ edition

Today I'm answering some of my most frequently asked "teacher questions"...

Weekend Recap - Top 10

I feel like I have a hard time paring down pictures sometimes... especially on a weekend... so today I'm going to share my "Weekend Top 10" in an attempt to edit a bit :) 

1) Friday night Jelly Bean was taking a nap in Jack Bauer's crate when he wanted to get in.  She refused to budge so he kind of tip toed around her and then laid down but he refused to even look at her.  She then promptly turned around and laid a single paw on his paw while he growled... still refusing to make eye contact.  We all laughed SO HARD!

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday, friends!!!  I'm sharing my Friday Favorites today and if you have FAVORITES to share you should join me, Erika and Narci by grabbing our graphic and linking up with us below.

7 Questions Part Two

Back in February I answered seven random questions from readers and today I'm going to answer seven more!

No Boil Manicotti

Manicotti is Luke's FAVORITE meal.  FAVORITE.  I have a go-to recipe that everyone in my house loves so I thought I'd share! 

Teacher Gift Ideas

Happy Tuesday, everyone!  Last week on Instagram I asked for graduation and teacher gift ideas and so many great ones came in that I decided to split them into two different posts!  Some of the ideas below are my tried and true favorites and others were reader suggestions.  

PLEASE KNOW that the best gift you can give a teacher is a thank you note... even an email!  Something that we can file away and pull out on the REALLY hard days.  I have thank you notes from 13 years ago that I still appreciate.  Don't underestimate the power of a thank you!