Wordless Wednesday

Thoughtful Tuesday

My bible study girls have become some of my closest friends in the past year. I don't know what I would do without these special ladies in my life. It makes having my BFFs living far away so much easier. There are many days I wish we were still in Orange County to be close to Jon, Nicole and now baby Kinley. There are also many days I wish we were back in Nor Cal to be close to most of my family, and Bree an Kevin. Now that Chelsea and Allison have left too, I am going to miss them tons too!! I'm so thankful to have so many special ladies in my life though!! I love that I don't have to clean my house before any of them come over, it doesn't matter how long it's been since we talked, and I can wear my hair in a messy bun, sweats and a t shirt and they will still love me. I pray Natalie grows up to have some amazing friends in her life too!!

Friday Five

1. My niece was born this morning!! I'm so excited for Jon and Nicole, and I can't wait to go visit and meet her. I pray that our girls grow up to love each other, and count on each other as much as I love and count on Nicole!!

2.  My precious baby girl is getting so big and independent!! We are on our third night of sleeping through the night!! Last night was 7:30 - 6:00!! I love all of her expressions now too!!

3. We love summer!! Brandon loves swimming, and even though we didn't want one when we were looking for a house we are so blessed to have a pool in our backyard!

4.  We spent a little time at IKEA yesterday! We found a new entertainment center, and we love it!! The only downside so far is that now the TV is closer so B can touch it.

5. I love catching up with friends. I was able to finally talk with Bree today for like an hour!! I miss her and can't wait until we see each other again! One year ago we were in Hawaii!! This is the longest we've ever gone without seeing each other, so it means the next time will be extra special!!

Family of four . . . 12 weeks

New things about Brandon: the new word that he picked up in the last two days is "dude." Tyler was saying it in the car, and then all of a sudden so was Brandon. Still working in thank you and please too. While we were up in Prescott we went to church. Brandon was able to go play in their nursery again. Three weeks in a row. I know it was only an hour or so, but it's totally getting him ready for preschool!! Yesterday Brandon was able to go play at grandma and grandpa's timeshare with our friend Hans. The boys had a lot of fun playing in the splash pad, and pool their size. Then they went over and played a little in the big pool too. Earlier in the week Brandon and daddy were able to go swimming over at grandma and grandpa's house to go swimming in the big pool too! Brandon just loves swimming!!

New things about Natalie: she has "slept through the night" for the past two days!! The first time she slept from 8-6, and last night was 8-5. If we can keep her on this kind of schedule it will be great!! She has found her hands, and now is playing with them more. She is content for longer periods of time to be left alone layingon the   floor as well. She still isn't crazy about tummy time, but we are getting there.

New things about Tyler: Tyler has been working in his classroom a little bit this week, so he has been able to start setting up. He is looking forward to getting back into the classroom. He has also spent time reading, and playing games with me! We have a fierce game of Mario Party going on currently. We are also on the hunt for new school supplies. I think only teachers get excited about these things.

New things about Cassandra: I am enjoying my last few weeks at home with my babies. I can't believe how quickly it has gone!! I went into work a few times this week, but wasn't able to do anything in my classroom. We are getting time in the hallway, and they aren't cleaning our carpet until after that, so right now everything is just piled every where in my room. I am looking forward to diving in next week. I am looking to start a teaching blog as well, since I get so many ideas via blogs and Pinterest.

Wordless Wednesday

Thoughtful Tuesday

I have loved being off since the end of April, and I am not looking forward to going back to work and leaving my kiddos for ten hour days again. At the same time I am really looking forward to the routine that being in school brings. Hopefully we will be able to get Natalie into a pretty good routine so I'll be able to work out before work, or after bed time. I'm also going to work really hard to make sure that when I get home, until bed time it is all about my kids. I know these years are going to go by quickly, and then they won't want to hang out with me.

Friday Five

Today's Friday Five is all Pinterest inspired.  Thank you summer, and thank you Pinterest!

1.  I loved this idea that I found on Pinterest from Kathleen's blog.  I found fonts I liked, and typed it up and printed it on colored paper that will match the rest of my room!

2.  I have been looking for new ways to organize my classroom this year, as I will have 26 students!  The most that I have ever had, and more than I have had in many years.  Last year I had 19 when all students were in class, but most days I only had 18.  I was looking for different ideas, and found some really cool toolbox ideas.  I couldn't find a toolbox that was going to fit what I wanted, so instead I bought these drawer organizers at Walmart (it was cheaper than Target), and can't wait to put the colored pencils in here.  I hope this will help keep our community supplies a little more organized.  I am going to do the same thing with crayons. 

3.  We have been eating a lot of Pinterest inspired meals while we have been up at m parent's house.  The picture below, even though it doesn't look very good is a delicious chicken dish!  We loved it, and will be trying it again.  Below the chicken is a picture of the biscuits I made to go with it.  I followed the directions in the recipe, but next time I will not cook it nearly as long.  The biscuits were hard when we went to eat them.  I cooked them way too long.

                                      

4.  We also tried some other Pinterest recipes, but I forgot to take pictures of them.  One of our favorites is for a buffalo chicken, that we then turn into sliders.  I made this multiple times for Chelsea, and my mom requested it too!  With the leftovers we made a buffalo chicken mac and cheese, which was also delicious!  We only put blue cheese on half of it though, as Tyler doesn't enjoy blue cheese.  It made up A TON so we have been eating it all week for left overs too.  With a leftover chicken breast from the chicken dish pictured above we made a chicken salad dish.  I wasn't as impressed with this one, so I don't know if we'll make it again.  My piece of advice for that one is to make sure you are going to eat it all in one sitting.  We had saved some to eat later, and by the next day it had turned since it is made up primarily of avocado.

5.  The last thing we found on Pinterest that we experimented with while my family was in town were some drinks.  There were some delicious ones that we will have again, and some that are for sure never going to be poured in our house again.  My favorite was A Summers Dream, and even though the picture didn't look like this it was YUMMY!!  We tried another drink, called Sex in the Driveway, and it was GROSS!!  I even added orange juice to try and make it taste better, and it just wasn't happening.  I almost don't even want to give you the link, because it really wasn't good.  If you are going to make it, you are taking your own risk.  I am advising you to have a summers dream, not sex in the driveway!