2nd day of school

Well today is the 2nd day of school for me and my girls.  So far my girls are thrilled!  Allie is in First Grade and has Mrs. Ogle who just happens to be Tay's first grade teacher.  Tay is in the Fourth grade.  This is the last year she will be at Bluebonnet with me.  :-(  She has Mrs. Vick, who happens to have been her one and only soccer coach at the age of 4.  Currently Mrs. Vick is out on maternity leave, so she has Miss Montague who was her long term sub in Third grade. 

Day 2 and we already have homework.  Taylor has her WOW words test on Friday.  She has to be able to match up a word and it's definition.  As for Allie, she has to find words.  I am learning that not only will she do the assigned work, but she will add to her homework.  She is killing me.  Tonight, she cut her words, pictures and then wrote sentences to go with her pictures.  I should be proud that she is going above and beyond the assignment, but after teaching First graders all day, I am worn out. 

My class of 18 are so cute!  I have 9 boys and 8 girls, a well balanced class!  I look forward to learning about each and everyone of them and watching them grow and learn. 

Well, I know this is short, but I needed to catch everyone up on how life has been. 

Summer is half way over

I can't believe my summer is half way over....

Just yesterday we were getting out of school, and in a few weeks we will be starting all over again.  I always have mixed emotions about this time of the year.  I love being home, sleeping in, staying in my jammies until about 30 minutes before Chad gets home from work, and vegging out on tv and and facebook.  I dislike listening to my girls fight over silly little things, no adult interaction until evening and the hot, summer heat.  So, all of this has me thinking of new ideas in teaching, and how am I going to start my classroom designed and organized. 

I have started my shopping already with a new collapsible basket from Home Depot, though I don't know what I am going to use it for.  I am using an awesome organization idea shared by Brooke Woods.  I loved the shelves she found with the cute fabric bins.  I have the shelves, just need to purchase the bins.  Home Depot has some by Martha Stewart.  I will be purchasing those in a couple of days. 

I am trying to decide how my classroom is going be organized, for classroom discussions, desk work and stations.  I want my classroom to be tidy with good flow, but also be inviting and fun to be in.  Sometimes 4 walls can be so limiting.  With that in mind, I am going to have to start weeding stuff out that I don't or haven't used in a year.  I may need to hire Brooke to help me toss those items.  She is not the hoarder that I have become.  LOL!  :-)

So as I fall asleep at night, my mind soars with thoughts.  I suppose to get things done on time, without having to rush, I am going to start going to school once or twice a week starting next week.  I don't want to, but I need too.  I want to be ready for my 20+ first graders that I will have next year. 

Summer Vacation

July 3rd and 4th:  Happy Independence Day America!!
It's been a while since I posted last, but Chad had last week off, so we took some trips around the area.  His vacation week started with the Fourth of July Weekend.  Sunday, July 3rd was spent with Granny Fern, Tommy, Cheryl, Brad, and Lee Long at the Roanoke, Texas firework display.  The show was soooo much longer than I ever thought it would be.  We ate snow cones while we watched the beautiful, but loud fireworks. 

Then, Monday we went to my mom and dad's house to celebrate the 4th and my niece, Brylee's 3rd birthday.  We had a great dinner and popped fireworks with the girls.  They love being able to light them (with supervision of their daddy, uncle Heath, or granddad of course).

Tuesday, July 5th brought us laundry, house cleaning, bill paying and some relaxation!  :-)

July 6th:  Fossil Rim Wildlife Center in Glen Rose, Texas

http://www.fossilrim.org/

We started on the road, made it past downtown, when the "Are we there yet?" started from both of my girls.  The girls argued over who got to choose the movie.  They FINALLY agreed on Madagascar after minutes of arguments.  We got there in about an hour and a half.  The flier says it is a 9 mile trek, that takes 3-4 hours, with an outlook point at the top or midway through.  I thought they we insane.  There was no way that 9 miles would take 3 to 4 hours.  Boy was I wrong.  We got there at 12 and left at 4:45.  We took longer than the average!  The girls had a blast!  We bought 2 bags of food to feed the animals along the way.  We saw many animals along the way!  Here are just a few of the ones we saw:

Taylor is as tall as a Zebra.

Allie is somewhere between Cheetah and Zebra.

Chad brushing the goats

Taylor squealing as she attempts to feed the deer

Cheetah hiding and hissing at us

FINALLY, the Rhinos.  That's all Allie wanted to see!

                                   



On the way home from our long trip, we attempted to get lost on the way to Blum, Texas.  Blum is where I got my first teaching job.  Blum was an hour away distance from my house in Stephenville.  After 11 years, not much has changed in Blum ISD.  Well, I take that back, they added a small building that will house 6 classrooms.  My girls found it interesting that Pre-K through 12th grade was housed in a total of 3 small buildings.  They wanted to go inside, but the building was closed.  Blum still only has a gas station, not even a Dairy Queen due to no city water or sewer.  While there I realized that my first class ever taught will be Juniors in High School next year, that makes me feel so old!! 

Thursday, July 7th:  Cars 2 in 3D and dinner at El Fenix

My girls really enjoyed the movie.  We were prepared for the shooting and blowing up of things.   We really liked the Toy Story 3 short before the cars movie.  My favorite part was the kitty litter minus the poop for the sandy beach.  LOL!!  El Fenix was ok, the quality and service has gone down a lot!  That will probably be the last time we visit the restaurant.  Oh well, there are a million more Mexican food restaurants in the area!

Friday, July 8th:  Legoland Discovery Center and Hawaiian Falls

My girls both LOVE legos!  So we decided to take them to Legoland.  I have to say if you are going to take your kiddos, go to the Grapevine Visitors Info center on Main st. at the same place you buy train tickets.  We saved $15 dollars over the price at Legoland.  Such a great savings!  Not only that, the line is much shorter!!!  The girls had a great time!  There were:  rides, 4D movies(air, snow, and rain fall on you), and a ton of legos to play with!  Not only were there legos to play with, but there was legos built into amazing local attractions like:  Fort Worth Stockyards, AA center, Cowboys Stadium, Great Wolf Lodge, Gaylord Texan, DFW airport, downtown Dallas, and so much more!!  Here are just a few of my pictures:

We finished the day swimming the Hearne's at Hawaiian Falls in Roanoke, Texas. 

Our vacation week was AMAZING!  We had such a great time with the girls, doing things we had never done before.  We will be taking the girls back to Fossil Rim and Legoland.