Friday Five

1.  I can't believe we have a 2 year old!!!

2.  My aunt is in town for the next week to help us celebrate Brandon's birthday!  My grandma also comes into town today to help us celebrate for the weekend!

3.  Today was my last day getting ready for my new class on Monday!!  I can't believe I will have a class of 26 students starting Monday.  Where did the summer go!?

4.  I started a new book, Gone Girl, since we are going to be doing it for our Messy House Book Club.  I haven't really gotten into it yet, I have been on a dry spell since I finished all of those Karen Kingsbury novels.  I heard it was great though, so I really need to find time to read.

5.  I am super excited for Brandon's party tomorrow!  Stay tuned for pictures!!

Friday Five

1.  Natalie rolled over today!!  Of course she waited to do it until I had gone into work, but she rolled over!  We were able to see her do it tonight over at the Krieger's house too.  My baby girl is growing up way too fast!

2.  Today was my last day of summer, "officially."  My mom stayed with us last night so I could go into work today for a few hours though.  I was able to get up all of my bulletin boards, but my room is no where near ready for parents to walk into next Thursday.  I think I may have to go in this weekend, or just live there Monday - Wednesday.

3.  I am so thankful that my bible study has picked up again!  We are reading the Cup of Life.  I can't wait to start reading it, and to meet with my lovely ladies again!!

4.  We have Natalie's baptism date set!!  I can't wait to see Jon and Nicole, and meet little Kinley Sue!!

5.  I can't believe that when I do my Friday Five next week my baby boy will be 2!!!  Where has the time gone!?!

Friday Five

1.  We are so excited Susan is here visiting us!! It's been about a year and a half since the last time she was here!

2. I can't believe next week is already the last week of summer, and my last week home with the kids!! I am going to miss being home with them.

3. My niece is the cutest!

4. I am so excited for my new adventure with my teacher blog!! I hope to start a regular posting schedule over there!

5. Brandon will be two in just a few weeks. People always tell you that high school flies by, and at times it felt like it did, but I can't believe how quickly time flies when you have kids!! It feels like just yesterday we found out we were pregnant with Brandon, and now Natalie is already three months old!!

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!!

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!

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!

Friday Five

1. I am so thankful for friends!! We have some amazing friends who not only love and support us, but they love our kids too. I don't know what I would do without them.

2. I started my last book in the Baxter series today! I don't know what I am going to do when I finish it. I really may be a a loss!!

3. I'm looking forward to celebrating our anniversary in Sedona this week!! It will be our first weekend away from Natalie though.

4. Now that July is almost here I feel like I need to start thinking about school stuff. I did a pretty good job of avoiding it all of June.

5.  I still have not ordered baby announcements because I cannot get over how expensive they are. I know I need to, so if you haven't received one yet, it's not because I forgot about you, it's because I'm cheap and haven't ordered them yet.

Friday Five

1.  We are so thankful for our two week vacation, and being able to spend so much time with family and friends. We are so excited that we are headed home today though!! Excited we get to sleep in our own beds, and more important the kids can sleep in their own beds!!

2. I read Message in a Bottle by Nicholas Sparks over the past two days because my mom just read it. I'm excited to go up to their house next weekend so we can watch the movie together. We love Nicholas Sparks books and movies!!

3. We are not going to take another road trip like this for at least a year!! Next year we'll get to go to beautiful Lake Tahoe!! Hopefully we'll get to stop in Orange County and Nor Cal along the way to visit family we don't get to see nearly enough!! (Yes Nicole; you, Jon and baby girl are our family too!!)

4. I am almost done with the Baxter family series by Karen Kingsbury. When I finish I really think I'm going to be at a loss. I love this family and reading about what happens to all of them. Makes me wish we lived closer to our families.

5.  There are some events in the upcoming week I'm really not looking forward to. I'm hoping the good times go slowly, and the painful ones go quickly. I know it will go the other way, but we're going to cherish every moment with our friends who are moving this next week!

Friday Five

1.  Indiana was a blast! We were able to spend lots of time with Tyler's family. The kids were able to meet their great grandma, and only great grandfather! It was awesome to see so much family gathered around too. Tyler wishes we could visit more often, and I wish we could get together with all of my family more often.

2. I finished a series by Karen Kingsbury this week. I was able to finish the Firstborn Series thanks to all of the driving we did this week. If you are looking for a series I would recommend starting the Baxter series.

3. We have agreed that as much as we enjoy road trips we think we will enjoy them more when the kids are older.

4. I am tired of fast food. Driving on the road we haven't had very many other options. I can't wait until we get home and we go on a diet, stop eating fast food, drinking soda and can have fruits and veggies again!

5. In Indiana we were able to meet up with our friend Christie who used to live in Phoenix. It was so nice to be able to spend time with her and catch up. We miss her!! 

Friday Five

1. We woke up this morning in beautiful Colorado. Makes me miss the green ofCalifornia  and annual summer trips to Lake Tahoe.

2.  This past week Safeway had Smirnoff on sale for $6.75 a bottle. I also had two coupons for $4 off when you buy 2 bottles. We bought six bottles, and I can't wait until we get home to try some new Pinterest recipes!

3.  We are so excited to be headed toNebraska  today to meet our niece Lucy!

4.  Last night was Brandon's first night in a traditional hotel room. Luckily we weren't there for even 12 hours. He didn't do too bad, but his favorite thing to do was pick up the phone and pretend to talk.

5.  I'm excited that after our drive yesterday we are going to take three days to drive home instead of just two. Six hours in the backseat with two kids is long enough. Glad we only have two more 12 hour days!

Friday Five

1. I love my new application that Tyler bought me last week!  Thank you Christ staff and families for all of the Script money, so we were able to buy iTunes gift cards.  I bought Pixelmator, and have been playing around with it.  Check out this awesome picture of Natalie!

2.  I had a great week at work, but it was hard saying goodbye to people.  Luckily I have put off saying goodbye to everyone until later this next month.  I am not looking forward to saying goodbye to any of them!

3.  I love my bible study friends!  We have a blast, and I am looking forward to celebrating tonight for Kristi's bachelorette party!!

4.  I found out that my insurance is going to give me back the money that we had to pay for Natalie!!  I am so thankful.  I have a really high deductible ($3,000) and we just found out that we also have GAP insurance, which will pay me back for my time in the hospital!  I wish we would have known about this with Brandon too!!

5.  I am so thankful for my loving husband, who is going to have both kids tonight so that way I can go out with the girls!!  It is going to be a blast!!

Friday Five

1. So thankful we got to go out for a walk this week. We were able to walk a little over six miles this week! It was good to be able to start exercising!

2. I have been working on my teacher binder for next year, and have my monthly planning calendars done! I love them and can't wait to use them.

3. Fast and Furious Six came out today!! Can't wait to go see it with Tyler. Hopefully we're going on Monday!!

4.  Swings. I hope Natalie learns to like hers soon. We're going to have some long days if she can only hang out on my chest.

5.  I finished the first part of the Baxter series by Karen Kingsbury.  I can't wait to read the next five books on the series!

Daily Five

1.  We have termites . . . again!!  YUCK!!  This is the third time that the have appeared in our bedroom wall, so instead of calling our same warranty company I decided to finally go with Terminix.  I was so happy with their service, and how prompt they were.  Now granted it is going to cost me a lot more than the warranty I was paying for before, at least I know that they will repair something if there is more damage!!  When I told them what our other company did they couldn't believe we waited so long.  If only I knew more about what people should do to treat termites!

2.  Our athletic banquet was last night.  It was fun to go and see everyone, and even more fun that a couple of us went out for a drink afterwards.  I forget by not going to work how much I miss my friends at work.  I love staying home with my kids, and if I could I know that I would stay home in a heartbeat, but I do miss them!

3.  I reread Lord of the Flies this past week.  I read the book while I was in high school, but as part of our bucket list this year we are reading 24 books.  I have almost reached our goal, but part of it was that we had to read some classics.  We agreed that a classic was anything that an English teacher might make you read.  I forgot how disturbing Lord of the Flies is.  It's crazy what would happen to a group of kids if you left them alone without adults, and what they could do.  I would recommend it, it is a great book.

buy here on Amazon

4.  I have started planning for next year!  I know it seems crazy, but we will be gone for a big chunk of June, and I have a lot to look into for next year.  Plus I will have 26 kids, so I am trying to figure out how I can best accommodate all of them, and still teach everything.  I have started working on my teacher planner first, and have found some that I really like on TPT.  I am too cheap though, and don't want to pay $8 for a document that I'm going to have to edit any ways, so I'm working on creating my own!  Who knows, maybe I'll even set up a TPT store this year!

This looks like a great planner, and where I got a lot of my ideas!

5.  Looking into next year, I have also checked out our new science standards for the state.  They are very different then the ones that we've had for the past five years I've been teaching, so it's time to look for all new material for science too!  It should be a fun year!

Friday Five

1.  My precious baby girl always wants to be held. I love this, but it makes for getting things done quite hard. Brandon was okay sitting in the swing, laying on the boppy, or on the floor. Mrs. Natalie loves laying on mommy. I'm going to have to try and figure out this baby wearing thing.

2.  I finally managed to get my wedding rings back on today!! They aren't as lose as they once were, but they're on!!

3.  My mind has been tossing and turning with ideas for school. I know I missed the TPT sale earlier this week, but I'm going to look through tons this next month, and hopefully they'll run a big summer or back to school sale.

4.  We tried two new Pinterest recipes this week. Both were shrimp recipes, and we probably won't try either one again. The scampi just didn't turn out good enough for how long it took, and the other shrimp was okay.  (I'll look up recipes when I am on the computer and not on my phone.)

5.  I'm excited for my dad to come visit this weekend and for him to be able to spend more time with the kids. Brandon loves his grandpa!!

Friday Five

What a week it has been!

1.  We are so excited to be home, and that we were all able to spend the week together as a family!

Brandon loves checking on his sissy!

2.  I have been a reading machine!  It is so nice having the Overdrive Ap on my iPhone, and it makes night time reading so easy when I am feeding Princess!  This week I have been reading Insurgent, which is the sequel to Divergent.  If you like dystopias, and young adult fiction, you should check it out!

3.  We are so excited for our newborn photo shoot with Patchwork Photography tomorrow!!

4.  We picked up a set of mini DVD players for the car at Target today!  They were on sale at Target for half the price as what they were at Best Buy.  Excited to be able to use these this summer for our crazy road trip to Nebraska and Indiana!

5.  Best Buy has their $5 coupon deal right now.  So, you take in any DVD you have, and they give you a coupon for $5 towards a Blu-Ray that costs $9.99 or more.  We have now traded in 15 DVDs, and were able to upgrade them to Blu-Ray.  The only down part is that you can only do 5 DVDs a day.  Our collection continues to grow!

Friday Five

1. Natalie Grace decided to join our family a few days early, and came yesterday!!

2. My class had a baby shower for me on Wednesday, and they made cute cards for me!

3. Tyler and I were able to enjoy a final meal out together Wednesday night!

4. Natalie's first visitor was her big brother!!

5. Aunt Chelsea, Aunt Allison and Uncle Ben also came to see Natalie hours after she was born.

Friday Five

1. I love my school and the people I work with! They make going to work every day fun!

Our night at the auction!

2. I love that some of my students like to come back and visit me!!

Our last day all together!

3. I love that parents at my school are so supportive, and appreciate the time and effort I put in.

4. I'm really going to miss certain people when they leave me next year, but I know God has much bigger plans for them.

5. I can't wait to use our auction prizes!!

Fabulous auction prizes!  Thank you Eileen and Kathy for an awesome night!!

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. Excited for a quiet Friday night home. Just finished watching part of The Fox and the Hound with my cuddle bug!!

2. Feeling lots of movement from miss Natalie this week. Glad she's doing well, but hoping for some progress next week!!

3. I love the public library!! Great books for school, and awesome books to borrow for my phone too! Keeps me busy while I'm being monitored.

4. My kids at school keep me entertained with their questions about Natalie. This week they asked if she was a bouncy ball or a watermelon.

5. I love my friends!! Even though we don't all live close together, and soon more are moving away, they are amazing and I don't know what I would do without them!!

Chelsea and I, Teacher's Conference in Vegas! November 2012

Nicole and I, both preggo!  December 2012 

Bree and I, enjoying our Hawaii vacation!  July 2012

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!!