Wow. At first, I thought that I lost some posts. Then I realized that nope, I just haven’t posted in over a month. Whoops! So…here goes the longest catch-up post, ever. We’ve got all the September birthdays, a trip to Six Flags, and more.
We love our back yard toads! This one apparently really wanted inside the house.I took this picture to document that she actually was, in fact, tired. This was about five minutes after she was trying to tell me that she wasn’t sleepy enough to go to bed.Celebrating my birthday. Dinner out and a chocolate cake. 🙂Celebrating Joseph’s birthday. Dinner out and…chocolate cake. If it ain’t broke…but we did also take him and a friend to Six Flags a few days after his birthday.The new clock for my classroom. I had an analog clock by my desk, but wanted one out where the kids could see it. I love the steampunk vibe of this one The gear in the middle rotates with the seconds.It wouldn’t be a trip to Six Flags without a picture here.We were surprised to see Six Flags already decorated for Halloween (and in this case, Dia de los Muertos). I was loving it, though. It’s my favorite holiday!I love all the vibrant colors!Abigail is also a huge fan of Dia de los Muertos. She kept saying everything looked like the movie Coco.There was also some other Halloween stuff. I liked the steampunk aspect even though it was really creepy.Abigail on the Green Lantern ride.The characters were dressed up for Halloween. These happen to be two of her favorite Looney Tunes characters, she she was excited that she could take her picture with them.This was a cool arch to walk through with all of the jack-o’-lanterns.Leaving the park. This is the only picture I have of Joseph from that day because he and his friend went off on their own and would check in with us every couple of hours.Joseph’s friend gave him a used VR set (one that he had before his family upgraded) and I had to document the seemingly mindless wandering. 🙂I love how cozy the house looks when we put the Halloween lights out. Paul also got some solar torches to add to the effect. I think we might need to get some regular ones when we need to take these Halloween/ flickering flame ones down. I really like the effect.She was pretending to be the WWI Flying Ace and Paul was her “engine”.This is a picture of Abigail that my brother shared with me. I think it’s when she had just turned two and we were all at my mom’s house over the holidays.Did you know that preying mantises can fly? I thought they might be able to (and my students definitely DIDN’T know), but right after I snapped this picture, this one spread its wings and took off…which made all the kiddos who were crowded around it shriek. It was pretty funny.Paul’s birthday cheesecake. We had this with friends the weekend before his birthday. When it was his actual birthday, we ate out…and had chocolate cake. 🙂I got a new rolling cart for my room. I was going to take a picture of it to show my friend, but Abigail wanted to be in the picture. 🙂 It was a dress-up day (camouflage day), which is why she’s got Paul’s old desert camo hat on.Paul and I went to see the new Beetlejuice movie. I thought this was a cool picture backdrop; especially since I have a purse that’s inspired by the original movie.It’s hard getting up in the mornings, but at least the sunrises are pretty.I was going to take a picture of my outfit, but Abigail wanted to be a part of it.Another pretty sunrise.I went to wake her up Friday morning and couldn’t help but snap a picture of her. It’s times like these that I can see snippets of the babies they once were.Saturday means teen hang outs……imagination overloads……and dress up fun, of course.This morning, I knew I wanted a dessert for tonight, but also knew that we had some bananas that needed…consumption. So I made brownies and banana bread. 😀
Yes, I’m alive. The first week of school always kicks my hiney. We made it, though! Truth be told, all of these pictures (except the last few) are from before school started…and the last few are from the first day. I haven’t had much time to pull out my phone (or I decide that it’s best to live in the moment instead of try to record it…I’ve been getting more and more like that). We’re getting into our routine and I think this year is going to be great! So here’s a snapshot into the last couple of weeks:
Life is better with neon pink shoes. The picture makes them look more bubblegum-esque, but in natural light…let’s just say I get a lot of comments. It’s mostly “I love your shoes!” but I did get one from the head custodian that made me laugh: “I saw you coming from 100 yards away.” 😀New year means new haircut!A coworker/friend of mine and I were talking about how I like to put positive signs in my classroom. She mentioned that she had one that she had been holding onto for years but never found the right place for it, so she offered it to me. It fits into my decor perfectly and I love the sentiment.Here’s your daily dose of awesome. Paul managed to get this shot of a dragonfly that was just chillin’ in our garden. I wish I could make heart eyes right now. Dragonflies are my favorite insect.I was trying out the 0.5 setting on my phone because someone mentioned that they used it to take “selfies” with their entire class. I wanted to see how much of the background would be visible. I’m impressed!Paul was able to get a picture of Abigail at the Meet the Teacher night that we had before school started. I’m so grateful he’s able to be present when I can’t (I was in my classroom greeting my students).New year and some fun new earrings. This is a small business I stumbled across while browsing Amazon and I thought the earrings were so cute! I loved that she offered a personalized option. So this is a shameless plug to go visit her site. 😉I was able to squeeze in a quick visit with this lady…this is Kari (Cole) Starzyk and we’ve known each other for as long as I can remember. She moved away right before sixth grade and we’ve spent more time apart than together. She was on the east coast for a long time but moved to North Texas a couple years after we moved to San Antonio. The distance between is still awfully far, though, so when she mentioned she was going to be in town for the weekend, I cleared my schedule and met up with her for breakfast. It was such a great experience!First day of school! I only have a picture of Abigail because she and I had to be out of the house before Joseph was even awake. ‘Tis the stage of life we’re in, I suppose.Google photos did this cool background for the picture I took and Abigail said I had to add it to the blog, too.Abigail and I got to school when it was still a little dark, but the moon was so big and bright! It’s times like these that I wish I had a real camera (and knew how to use it). My cell phone doesn’t do it justice.
This past week was a busy one! Paul had to attend an LP meeting up in Tyler, which is sort of close to Dallas. He got a lot of two-lane country road driving in. I decided that it would be a good idea to go in and set up my classroom. We aren’t back on contracted time for prep week until next week, but I knew that we wouldn’t have much set-up time next week, so I decided to knock it out this week. Abigail finished up her round of antibiotics and earned her polar bear. She was super excited. Joseph has been practicing riding his bike farther distances so that he can build up his stamina. He hopes to be able to ride to and from school this year. It’s only about a mile, which on a bike is not that bad. He says it will be way better than walking.
This little guy (or gal, I suppose) was chillin’ on the hose as I went to unwind it in order to water. I much prefer a lizard to a snake, spider, or scorpion!He was very comfortable and let me zoom in real close.We made a deal that if she finished her round of antibiotics without fussin’ at me, she could earn a stuffie.Google Photos made this awesome version of the picture. I had to save it.Introducing her stuffie polar bear to her other IKEA stuffies.Paul had a lot of driving on roads like this to and from Tyler.This was the only load of classroom stuff I needed to move from our house to my classroom!This is what I started with on Monday. Luckily, since I was not moving rooms, the custodians said I could leave a lot of my stuff out and on the walls. That saved so much time.Student cubbies: I’m going to need all 24 this year.Some positive affirmation posters as well as my amazing classroom sign that was made by a dear friend.This is where I put up my new posters.My new and improved calm corner.The board that I use to display student work as well as the calendar and sticker store.My class library area. I decided this was a good area to put the “Cool kids read books” poster.This is the chair that I sit in when I have my entire class on the carpet. You can also see my supply unit that also houses the area where students turn in work and where I store the class games.My desk set up. I love having both a desk and a computer table. It makes it so I have so much more room for all my things!The *almost* finished room. I ended up moving a few things around and adding a couple more lamps in different places, but it isn’t much different.I really pushed myself on Monday. Six hours of set-up and over 12,000 steps!!!I found a unicorn version of Monopoly Jr. and Abigail had a blast playing it. She also wiped the floor with me. One perk of being on summer vacation is that I actually had time to make rolls. The house smelled divine. Thanks for teaching me to make bread, Momma!!
