Tell Me More, Tell Me More!

I am SUPER late to the party but I want to be in on the fun. Amy Lemons over at Step Into 2nd Grade is having a linky party where you can share facts about yourself that your followers may not know about you.

1. I have been married for 7 wonderful years to my husband, Mike.

2. We have 2 boys that are 5 and 3. My oldest will be going to kindergarten this year. I am so nervous for him. I am taking him with me to my school so that I can hand pick his teachers and be all up in his business! My friend, who in fact will be his teacher this year, has told me that she is going to have a special wall built that blocks me and only me from her classroom. I promised to not be a helicopter parent..... every day.

3. I am an internet stalker. It is a problem. I should go to meetings.

4. I was on the drill team in high school and grew up taking ballet lessons. I secretly love getting on stage and showing my old skill talents. My parents paid a lot of money for those lessons... I might as well use them once year at our school talent show. This is  in my Party Rock costume ready to show my moves with my teammates at the annual talent show.

5. I am a major book worm. I just finished Emily Giffin's Where We Belong that I picked up on the release date last Tuesday. Go read it. NOW! Why are you still here? I told you to go read it. Click the pic to buy it on Amazon.

6. For those of you still with me... my husband and I decided to watch True Blood on HBOGo from the beginning a few weeks ago... and we have stayed up til 2 or 3 in the morning every night watching each episode. Now that I am all caught up I don't know what to do with myself. Maybe I will actually start working on school projects that I have put off for two glorious months.

7. We have 2 dogs, a cat and a very ugly fish. My dogs are both mutts and we rescued our precious Bailey from HBARC. Poor thing was covered in fleas and sick, sick, sick when we got her. My husband adopted her for me in hopes to put off baby fever but it didn't work. 9 months later we had a puppy AND a baby.

8. My first son was thought to be a girl. We were told at our 20 weeks ultrasound that we had a Kiersten on the way. I was extremely excited. There may or may not have been SEVERAL purchases of pink ballet shoes in a variety of sizes. I had a purple nursery with a pretty pink fan to top it all off.... and then baby day came and there was not a Kiersten. That is my son though... always pulling off tricks. For the entire day all I could say was, "I have a BOY." Best surprise of my life! (Yes, he slept in the purple nursery for the first year of his life. He has no memory of this so he is not scarred. My husband might be though.)

9. I live a mile from my mom. Separation anxiety? YUP. When picking out our house I had 2 questions... How close is my mom and can I have a whirlpool bathtub?

10. I love DONORSCHOOSE! I have had 5 projects funded in the last 2 years for materials for my classroom. I have recieved a class set of science goggles, complete set of science and math centers, listening center station with ear phones, recess equipment and a set of Tag readers and books. I am now asking for books to go with my listening center. If you would feel so inclined to donate to my project my students would be estatic and what a way that would start off the school year. Go write a project for your classroom! I would love to help if you have any questions!

Newbie Blog Hop (Linky Party)

Hello!! Hope everyone had a great weekend! I spent the weekend in Galveston at a friend's beach house. It was a little piece of paradise! I am so relaxed..... and  A LOT sunburnt! 

Today I am going to link up with Grade Three is the Place for Me! to tell you a few things about myself! Here is what you need tell us when you link up also!

1.  what state you are in

    2.  your current teaching position

    3.  your teaching experience

    4.  when you started blogging

    5.  share a blogging tip / blogging resource

 

So here is a little bit about me!

 

1. Texas

2. First grade (which is my fav!)

3. I have been teaching for 8 years at the same school. I looped up one year to second grade but quickly asked to be moved back to first where my heart was and where I was much happier.

4. I started blogging early this year but haven't been able to do as much as I wanted.

5. The biggest blogging tip I can give you is to ask questions and Google if you don't know how to do something. I have Googled everything under the sun. I also check blogs pretty much every day. I am afraid I will miss something! 

 

SO there is a little bit about me! Link up with us and have a great week! 

Back to School Shopping Begins! (With a little giveaway news)

Wal-Mart has glue sticks for 10 CENTS a piece! So I packed up my boys and we went shopping. While we were there I decided that we would start putting a dent in my son's school supply list. He will be going to Kinder this year and I am a little excited. I am excited that he will be going with me and that all the fun things we do at school, he will finally be apart of! We picked out a new backpack that included a lunchbox all for $12.99!

Then we turned the corner and found the teacher area with all kinds of goodies! I had to literally stop myself from overloading my cart with all the fun stuff. I found awards, birthday stickers and cards,stamp pads, sharpies, expos,  index card holders and of course I bought 35 glue sticks!

My teammate went last week to Wal-Mart and found the cutest Cat in the Hat shirt for our annual Dr. Seuss week so I of course had to check it out! I found this gem in the pajamas section and had to stop myself from buying every single one! They had One Fish Two Fish, Cat in the Hat, Yertle the Turtle, and Green Eggs and Ham. I had to buy Horton because I just love Horton!

*On a special note, I am so excited to have doubled my followers from the Picture Book Linky party!  I have been slowly getting my feet wet in bloggy-land and I found Ms. Fultz's Corner where she is having a give-away for a new blog design. (Which I would LOVE to have! This blog is a hot mess but I am still trying to figure it all out...quite frankly html code stumps me.) If I had my wish of my ultimate dream makeover... I would love to have some blue and green chevron stripes with a frog or two thrown in. (Yes, I have a frog problem.) I would love to have this makeover because quite frankly this one is not representing me and my message very well. I just need help! Go check out Ms. Fultz's Corner to see her beautiful designs and her brilliant ideas!!

Must Have Picture Books (Linky)

Happy Summer to you all! Lindsey over at The Teacher Wife is having a linky party about 5 favorite read aloud picture books for the classroom. Oh there are so many choices! I am having trouble narrowing them down!

Here are five of my favorite read alouds for my classroom....(Click on the pictures to purchase these books from Amazon!)

1. Splat the Cat by: Rob Scotton. My students and my own children love Splat the Cat. He gets into a lot of trouble and worries about a lot, but everything always works out for him in the end!

 

2. Louanne Pig in The Mysterious Valentine by: Nancy Carlson. Louanne recieves a valentine and she isn't sure who it is from. My students love predicting and making inferences as we follow Louanne on her quest to find her secret admirer. Seriously! Pick this book up!

 

3.  Jingle Bells, Homework Smells by: Diane DeGroat. My students enjoy the character Gilbert and all of his stories. This one happens to be my ultimate favorite because it teaches students the all important lesson of getting your work done before you play!

4. Aliens Love Underpants by: Claire Freedman. I just love this book! It is fun! It is bright! It is silly! Who doesn't love a fun, bright, silly book???

5. I'm Still Here in the Bathtub by: Alan Katz. This book is a fun way to end your day. We sit back and sing the songs to familiar tunes and generally just have a great time. I picked this book up my first year of teaching 8 years ago and still have my first group of kids come back and ask about this book.

Hope you enjoyed my list! I can't wait to see what you pick! Remember to link back up with The Teacher Wife!