Fill in the blank Friday...

Something new today! It's Fill in the Blank Friday at The Little Things We Do and I'm linking up!!
1. My favorite color is pink, but I also love orange. Well, I love all colors too:)
2. My travel destination of choice is probably the beach. I love to sink my toes in the sand with a good book and spend time with my family.
3. My favorite food is hard to narrow down since I love good food. Some of my favorites are my daddy's shrimp and grits, good ol' tomato sandwiches, sushi (the cooked stuff), steak, and Raisinettes.
4. My happy place is on my parents' front porch swing.
5. My favorite saying is "bless her/him".
6. My dirty little secret is that I vaccum the house at least once a day.
7. Something friends might say about me is that I have a slight obsession with accessories:) What can I say...this girl loves earrings, rings, shoes, and more!

Best parenting advice...

Here's another Show Us Your Life topic from Kelly's Korner...best parenting advice!

I can't really give much advice on this because I am not a mommy yet, but I do spend most of my days with sweet little ones throughout the year. The best advice that I can give parents as a teacher is to READ, READ, READ to your child and with them!!! I love this video. A school took a very popular Black Eyed Peas song and changed they lyrics to encourage young people to enjoy reading. I want each and every one of my students to leave my classroom LOVING to read. That is my goal each year and I work very hard to make reading fun so that the love can be found.

There are so many statistics out there regarding children and reading. I found this awesome brochure with a top 10 facts every parent should know about reading. I love #9 on this top #10 list...

9. THE most economical device to teach reading is already in your home. Finland’s children have the highest reading scores in the world and they use this device more than any other country—and it’s free! It’s closed-captioning on the TV. Turn it on by using the “menu” button on the remote to reach the “cc” area. Children unconsciously absorb the sight of the words and their sounds, making connections to how print is used. It’s like having a free magazine sub- scription in the home. All print counts. What about recorded books—do they count? Read on.

So here is a top ten list of my personal favorite children's books...

1. Saturdays and Teacakes by Lester Laminack

2. Stephanie's Ponytail by Robert Munsch

3. The Doll People, The Meanest Doll in the World, and The Runaway Dolls by Ann Martin

4. The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton

5. Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White

6. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

7. I've Been Burping in the Classroom and other Silly Sing-Along Songs by Bruce Lansky

8. Corduroy by Don Freeman

9. Just Go to Bed By Mercer Mayer

10. Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss

Coming along...

Every morning I say to myself, "I'm not going to school today"... and then guess what? I go! AH!!! I promise that I will not step foot in that building one more time until maybe next week...ha! I went Monday and got TONS done and then my mom and I went back today. What would I do without her? She scrubbed all of my tables until her fingers were numb and wrinkled. Bless her! I do love that woman. Things are finally starting to look finished and ready for those little darlings. It makes it a lot easier when someone goes with me or if my friends are working in their rooms too. Here is what room 202 is beginning to look like...

Welcome to our classroom...(recognize the wreath??)

Genre log and

AR goals

Our share chair

A precious sign that says "Caution...Little Buckaroos at play"

A parent gave me this for an end of the year gift. So fun!

I could not get this picture to delete...uGH! I do love my easy no sew bandana curtains though.

The makings of a writing center! I decided to not have a "writing" table for them this year. Most of the time when we write around the room, they choose to go somewhere with a pillow and not to that table so we'll see how it goes this year.

The first bulletin board of the year...stays up through September and goes along with our "Me bag" activity where the kiddos create a bag to share with the class with pictures and items all about them.

Too awesome for a TUESDAY...

So today has been a super day! Who would've thought an ordinary HOT Tuesday would've turned out so great? So the first thing that makes today fun is my new pair of boots that finally came. Yes, I know that they are a little wild but I LOVE THEM!!!

I think I will wear them a lot!

I have had my eye on them for a year, so I just bit the bullet and can't wait to wear them:) The bottom of the boots are just as pretty as the boots themselves. And check out that box!

The next thing that makes today a great day is this cute bandana rag wreath that I made for my classroom door. How can it not make you smile? I love all of the fun colors.

The best part about this wreath is that it cost less than $10 to make. I used a cross-stitching hoop that was $1.59 at Hobby Lobby and 8 different colored bandanas, which were 99 cents a piece.

To start, I cut the whole bandana in half, and then cut that half into long, thin strips. I then cut those strips in half again, to make shorter pieces. I started tying the strips around the hoop until it was completely covered. No glue or sewing was involved, which made it even better. SUPER EASY!

Both of these have made an ordinary Tuesday, just too awesome:)

Can't believe I'm saying this, but...

I'm getting somewhat excited about school starting:) Every year around this time, I start looking forward to decorating my classroom. There is nothing better than everything being clean, organized, and ready for a classroom of sweet kiddos. Last week, my mom and niece went and helped me in my classroom. We spent 3 hours at the school and now everything is back in its place. I couldn't have done it without them. How cute is she? She loved playing school in Auntie's classroom.

I also love buying school supplies, especially when I find a good deal. Staples always amazes me with their penny deals and I love to stroll through Target's school supply section. This year will be an interesting year, but I am looking forward to working with many new staff members on our grade level.

Our school will be celebrating its 10th year so our school-wide theme is "A Decade of Excellence". Each hallway is taking a different school theme used over the past ten years. Our hallway was given "It's a Wonderful World!" I'm not too excited about that theme, so I am going to stick with my cowboy/western theme with a touch of birthday celebration flair. Today I started working on a banner that says "Saddle Up and Celebrate" for my hallway.

I found some cute cowboy birthday clipart with bandana balloons, and the cutest birthday cowboys. I'll post more pics when the wall display is complete.

I can't wait to go to school again to start decorating even more since EVERYTHING had to come down so that the walls could be painted.

Show Us Your Life Friday...marriage advice

This is my first "Show Us Your Life" post from Kelly's Korner so here it goes...this week is to give marriage advice.

Six years ago J and I were married in a small little country church in Simpsonville. We dated for 10 years before we tied the knot so we knew each other VERY well. I will always remember the verse that our preacher said during our ceremony. "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

My mom also shared with us during our first year of marriage something that she heard from a friend who had been married for MANY years. The story consisted of one word...OVERLOOK! This is something we have to do each and everyday. Sometimes it is so hard but in the end, it's not always worth nagging, fussing, and fighting over the little things that might bother you.

Laughter is another thing that must be a part of your marriage...there is not a day that goes by that J doesn't make me laugh from my belly! I love him for that and for so many other reasons. Can't wait to spend the rest of my lifetime with him!

More Shoe-La-La FUN!

Here are a few more pictures from the party...

The girls making their cute stationery to take home with online clipart purchased from a great site. Each girl had 6 notecards and a page of cute graphics to create their notecards. After they were finished, each girl was given a bag that included matching envelopes. I did several samples for them to see how to make an assortment of cards.
The final products...how cute are their flip flops?
Story time with our sweet story, Shoe-La-La!

Shoe-La-La BIRTHDAY party

We had a blast celebrating a sweet girl's birthday! My sister worked for months collecting items to make this party super fun. A lot of work from everyone, including my parents, went into making this party perfect. It was worth it when 8 little girlies left with a big smile on their face and some precious flip-flops, notecards, and other goodies.

The flip flop table with rhinestones and flowers for each girl to use to decorate their shoes. The party girl waiting for her guests!

Tissue paper balls were super easy to make!

Delicious cupcakes topped with zebra marshmallows!

The book that sparked the idea for the Shoe-la-la party!

More pics to come...

Cleaning frenzy

I love to clean and I am obsessed with trying lots of different cleaning products. I also love to vaccum my floors and I like for everything to be in its place. But...my little "craft room"upstairs gets forgotten sometimes so I decided to make use of my day and straighten it up. When we first moved into this house the upstairs was not finished at all. One half was attic space and the other half was a room that was somewhat finished with sheet rock and tape. A couple of years ago I decided to make it a room for me to scrapbook, sew, wrap presents, store odds/ends and sometimes read.

Here are some pictures of the little room when we moved in...

This picture was during the "fix-up" stage...

And here are some recent pics. I love this little room.

An old headboard made a great bookshelf/picture board

Wrapping station

Ribbon, ribbon, and more ribbon

So sweet S turned 6 and we are going to Florida for her birthday party this weekend. I LOVE to have a party so I have been helping my sister get everything ready, of course over the phone. The theme is going to be Shoe LaLa/Diva, based on this precious children's book that I found called Shoe La La. It is about this group of little girls who LOVE shoes and all things girlie. The invitation that I made had pocketbooks, shoes, etc. on it so we decided to go with black/hot pink/zebra accents. After looking at tons of party idea websites, I found this beautiful wreath that I just knew had to greet the guests for her awesome birthday party.

The ribbon all cut into 4 inch pieces

I used a hay wreath and wrapped it with ribbon

I then hot glued each piece of ribbon closed. One tutorial online suggested sewing them closed.

I threw all of the ribbon in a huge bowl so that I could mix them up easily.

The final product! YAY!! Hope a sweet girl likes it:)

I'm addicted to blogs...

Bless your heart...we say that a lot in the south and I know that I say it at least 10 times a day, so I thought it would be fitting for the title of my new blog. If you know me well, you will know that I love my simple little life in South Carolina. I also love Jesus, my husband and family, clothes, decorating, reading, jewelry, tomatoes, Clemson Tigers, Diet Dr. Pepper, shoes, Raisinettes, sunflowers, homemade icecream, the beach, country music, teaching, and that I am in love with reading blogs. I began a Google Reader account and am addicted to reading fun blogs by many across our country. Each morning I begin each morning by quickly catching up on Facebook and reading a couple of blogs as I have my cup of coffee. Since this has been my first summer of pure relaxation, no teacher classes/very little tutoring, I have more time on my hands for things such as these. I enjoy reading blogs so much that I have recently set up a Google Reader account for my mom and one of my best friends so that they can read them and fall in love too. A few of my favorites are: Kelly's Korner, Junk Gypsies, Better After, and Funky, Vintage, Lovely, and All Things Farmer. I read many more, but these are just a few of my personal favs.

So here goes my own...I decided to take the plunge and create my own personal blog to share easy recipes, crafty projects, and other fun things that happen on our little circle of life. I do have a school blog for parents to see what their children are doing in room 202. Check it out here!

Here we go...Thanks for reading!