Christmas presents - Pinterest style!

For Christmas this year Brandon, Natalie and I made presents for the grandmas and great grandmas!  We made reindeer, Christmas trees, and Mistletoes!

I love Pinterest for these ideas and can't wait to see what next year's presents will look like!  Next year I will make more Mistletoes though, as that one was my favorite and the one that will be hanging in our house next year!

A blank slate

It tickled a little!  :)

Family of four . . . 18 weeks!

Sorry for being so far behind!!!  :(

New things about Natalie:  Natalie has decided that since we are back to work now, she wants to get up any where from 2 - 3 times a night.  She also enjoys waking up at 5 am, and being up for the day.  This past week she even did two 3:30 am I'm up for the day mornings.  Luckily for Tyler, he got up with her Saturday morning when she did this, so at least he had a relaxing day after.  Not so lucky for me, I got up with her when she did this on Thursday morning.  It made for a long morning.  Natalie has finally decided that she likes a pacifier sometimes now too.  She has been rolling like crazy, and is constantly rolling from her back to her tummy.  She can't figure out how to get back over though, so after a few minutes, she is crying, and asking for help to get back onto her back.  She is still sleeping swaddled (shhh, don't tell our doctor, Nicole don't let Jon read that!!)  It's the only way she'll sleep.  Right now, I have put a blanket over her swaddle.  I don't know if she has been too cold, and that is why she was waking up more, but since I started adding the extra blanket we have been back to waking up between 2 and 3 again, instead of this 11:30 non sense.  She is eating any where from 3 - 6 ounces at a time now too!!  I can't wait to see how big she is when we go to the doctor tomorrow!!

In our PJs to celebrate Aunt Chelsea (they have a dragon on them!!)

New things about Brandon:  I can't believe that my little boy is 2!!  Where has the time gone!?!  Brandon has started school in the last few weeks.  He has now had school for four days!!  The first day was a blast.  My dad was able to come pick me up from work, so that way we could drop Brandon off together for his first day of school.  Brandon went right into his room, sat down and started playing.  He did cry when my dad picked him up, but just because he was so confused, and didn't know what was going on.  

Brandon's first day of preschool, August 15

The second day I dropped him off wasn't too bad.

Even got to see daddy in the morning!

Last Thursday now, that was awful!!  :(  When Brandon got up in the morning he wouldn't even go to Wanda when she came over.  He didn't want anything to do with her.  He just wanted mommy to hold him.  Now keep in mind I was also trying to pack his lunch, make his breakfast, and get all of our things together, to try to be out the door by 6:45!!  My poor guy started crying the minute I walked out the door!  It was sooo HARD!!  Luckily one of the teachers in after care is a friend of mine, and she sent me pictures all day that day reassuring me what a great day he was having!!  

So thankful to Mandy that she sent me this picture, that I edited in Instagram on my birthday!

This morning when I went in to drop Brandon off, he didn't want anything to do with it as soon as we got close to the door of the school.  I was able to get him in the room, told him to go play with his dinosaurs, and then he started crying again.  :(  Luckily the same teacher was there, and sent me pictures again today!!  I seriously don't know what I would do without her!  She is amazing!!  Brandon is loving school though, and you can tell that he is learning a lot!!  Almost every day he has come home with a new word, which is amazing!  When we went in for his two year appointment Brandon's doctor told us that we should put him in speech.  I am hoping that he will quickly start to pick it up the more that he is around kids who are talking.  

Anyone see the trend in the pictures yet?!

New things about Tyler:  Tyler started school the same day as Brandon!!  Tyler is very thankful to have another teaching partner this year, but isn't so happy that he is student teaching finally.  This just means extra work for him this fall. Hopefully by Christmas though he will be all done with everything.  That will mean next year he'll have his credential, he'll be a called worker, and he'll get a raise!!  AMEN!!!

New things about Cassandra:  I too have started school, and I have never felt so behind!!  I don't know where the time goes every day.  I am being way too adventurous this year, and I am tackling all new ways to teach almost everything.  I have realized that the only three subjects I am teaching the same as I have in the past are religion, science and social studies.  Even though I say I am teaching science and social studies the same, I still am changing things, as I always go in a different order, and try to find new ideas on Pinterest or TPT to help update what I do! I have a great class though, 26 kids, and I have two awesome aides who are with me every morning.  I have been able to recruit them to do a lot of things that I have always wanted to do, but have never had enough time to do!  I am very blessed to have them, and can't wait to see what my classroom looks like by the end of the year.  Looking at next year's class, hopefully they'll get a few more and we can split the class, or I'll have an aide again next year, which isn't always a bad thing.

My amazing birthday presents!

I have fallen off the bandwagon of working out though.  As soon as school started it got harder to work out in the morning, and be ready to leave by 6.  I have to be ready to leave by 6, because as soon as Tyler leaves, I have to be ready in case one of the kids get up.  If I get the kids up before I am ready to leave, then I know I will never make it in time.  Most days I don't leave for work until 6:50ish, thanks to my awesome ride Ellen, but it makes it harder to justify getting up earlier than 5, when I know I won't be leaving until around 7.  If only I could go to work smelly, then I would totally have enough time in the morning.  Hopefully as it starts to get nicer I'll be able to work out in the afternoons, and then I'll just push Brandon in his stroller, or Natalie.  I know that this is just an excuse for now, but it is one that I have to live with for now.  I did hold on strong, and I made it to the 15th, I just haven't done so well since then.  I haven't been back on the scale since I lost 3 pounds in the firs week either.  I don't want to know how much I've put back on already.  I have stayed away from the soda, but I have had the coffee, and smoothies to make up for it.  I have had a lot of carbs this past week too.  :(

I found this on Pinterest or Instagram, I don't remember which one right now

September will bring new changes again, and I look forward to eating healthy, and staying fit!!  I am going to try and find a system to make sure that I am updating the blog frequently too!  I may not get all four posts in every week, so I will try and come up with new catchy names so you know when I'm going to post!!

Family of four . . . 14 weeks

New things about Brandon:  Brandon was able to go play at the splash pad again this week with our buddy Hans!  It is such a blast.  This week was much warmer than last week though, so we were only able to stay for a week.  Brandon learned a new animal sound this week thanks to our friend Susan too!  Now he can "baaa" like a sheep!  We have started to get things ready for Brandon's first day of school too.  We already received our first emails from his teacher, and we can't wait to meet her next week!

Drinking from the cup like a big boy at Matt's Big Breakfast

New things about Natalie:  Natalie is growing my leaps and bounds.  She is now consistently eating between 3 - 5 ounces at a time!  Where has my little girl gone!?!  She is starting to sit in the bumbo too!  At first she didn't really like it, but yesterday Brandon was running in circles with Derrik and Natalie was just smiling and watching them.  She also fell asleep on her play mat yesterday while Tyler, Brandon and I were having a dance party!  That is the first time she has fallen asleep on her back, without being swaddled!  We were pretty impressed!

Hanging out in the bumbo

New things about Tyler:  Yesterday was officially Tyler's last day of summer.  He reports back to work this morning, and now it is time for him to start getting into the groove of his school year.  He is excited about the upcoming year, and has a new teaching partner that he gets to start working with.

Dance party

New things about Cassandra:  I am excited to not officially start back to work until Monday.  I am headed into work today and tomorrow to get going though, as my room needs to be totally ready to go by next Thursday!  I have also launched a new teacher blog, which I am super excited about!  I disconnected it from my personal blog, in case it does take off, I don't want them linked.  That way this blog stays more personal, and I know only a few of you read it.  :)

mrs3rdgrade07.blogspot.com

I know I have kept saying I was going to work out, I was going to work out.  Well, today begins that journey.  I am ready to go!  I did my first workout this morning.  Natalie decided that 4:15 would be a great time to get up this morning, even though Tyler's alarm wasn't going off until 4:45.  So I finished feeding her, and then decided I had to get up and go out, or I would keep putting it off!  So I did!!

Current weight:  141 pounds

My workouts courtesy of Pinterest

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!

Thoughtful Tuesday

Is a teachers job really ever done? I know I joke around about loving teacher for breaks and summers, but I really do love my kids and teaching! If I didn't why would I spend all summer pinning away on Pinterest, hitting up back to school sales the day they start, looking at curriculum and playing with my Cricut to design awesome stuff for class?!

Friday Five

1. This week has been so much cooler!! We are loving our time up at my parent's house!! Loving that it's 20 degrees cooler up here!!

2. I finished the last book in the Baxter series by Karen Kingsbury. I'm so sad I finished them. Now time to move on to another author. I'm open to suggestions, as I've almost finished all the Nicholas Sparks and Jodi Picoult novels as well.

3. We have been doing a lot of adult beverages this week! Thanks to Pinterest and friends we have tried quite a few new drinks!

4. I forgot how much we love playing the Wii. We have been playing golf, bowling and baseball. We love it!!

5. We are so thankful for Skype! It gives us the chance to talk with family who love far away, and for the kids to see their great grandparents! If you want to Skype with us, or iChat, just let me know!

Pinterest - Muffins

Brandon and I decided to make Tyler some muffins this morning from a recipe I found on Pinterest. I can't link to the recipe though because it says the link is not real.

So . . . Here is the recipe I followed. If someone knows where it came from, feel free to let me know!!

These muffins are supposed to taste like the Costco muffins.

1 box cake mix (chocolate)

2 tbsp flour

3 eggs

2/3 cup milk

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 tspn baking powder

1 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Mix everything together.

Bake 20 minutes at 375

Tyler loved them!! Next time we are going to try a lemon poppy seed kind!!

Friday Five

1.  Our new pinterest recipe this week I made for my bible study group Monday night, and we all loved it!!

Delicious recipe and photo credit

2.  I love, love, LOVE our maternity photos!!  Big shout out to Georgia, who is amazing!!  She is still in high school and this is her work!  I can't wait to see what she does as she continues to grow!

Inspiration found on Pinterest

3.  I have had an off week, and have been feeling crummy since Wednesday.  Went to a doctor today, and found out I have an outer ear infection, IN BOTH EARS!!  At least I got some antibiotics to help take care of it.

4.  Our hospital bag is packed, and we are ready for this bundle of joy to come home and stay!!  Mommy is getting tired of her being inside.  Really, just tired of not feeling well, and ready to meet my Natalie Grace!!

5.  We went to the pizza farm on a field trip yesterday, and the kids had a blast!!  Everyone should check it out in the fall, when they are open to the public for pumpkins and such!!

Check this place out!!

Friday Five

1.  We had our art fair at school, and it is always amazing to see the great work that is done by our fantastic art teacher!  Plus I took B with me, so the girls had fun checking him out!

B wasn't so sure about Alice

2.  I had a great time at the Creative Mathematics conference today!  I love learning new ideas, and am excited to see how these new things are going to work in my room!

My favorite buy from the conference.  Can't wait to use these with the kids!

3.  Made another interesting dinner from pinterest, a crockpot chicken dinner.

Source and recipe

4.  B and I helped pull some weeds in the backyard!  It is amazing how quickly our yard turns green!

5.  Loving On Every Side by Karen Kingsbury.  If you have not read any of her novels yet, I would check them out!!

Friday Five

1. I love Spring Break!! Spent the week cleaning house and with my son!!

He enjoyed playing more at Grandma's house!

2. Made Natalie baby blankets thanks to Pinterest!!

3. Found out really good friends will be finishing the next four years of med school stuff at UCI!!

4. Started working on a hanging for Natalie's room, thanks to inspiration from Pinterest!

5. Made a candy bouquet for Tyler for Easter. Can't wait to see what he thinks about it!

Easter Bouquet

For Easter Tyler told me he wanted to do baskets again, but that he wanted a candy bouquet for his. I thought I would go ahead and give it a try. So I gathered up my candy coupons, hit up Walmart and CVS for deals going on this week, and bought my supplies.

It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be to put it together. We found a 100 pack of skewers at Walmart, so now I have plenty for the next bouquet he wants me to make. Thinking of making him one for his birthday with drinks?

Finished product, ready to to go for Easter for the hubby