It's been a while...

It has been a VERY long time since I checked in here...typical...but I got caught up in Hurricane Wedding. Let me tell you, it certainly was a storm! But I am happy to tell you...we got hitched!

As soon as I have better pictures, I'll be sure to share! This week we celebrated one month of marriage and could not be happier. I can't wait to tell you all about the wedding on our blog, Naturally in Love!

Now that I have a little bit of free time back in my life, I have been itching to get back to blogging and creating more TPT resources! I'm super pumped to get back in the swing of things and start sharing things going on in my classroom!

I started with this blog with my fab teaching partner, Benita...but as you can see she didn't get into the whole blogging business...so you'll probably just hear from me...which means...I'm looking for a new blog name! Stay posted...until then...

First Five for Friday in a long while...

...life has gotten CRAZY (or "cray-cray" as one of my students insists on saying all day long) but after a VERY LONG teacher appreciation week, it's only fit that I write a few things down about my week as well as catch you all (haha, I only have 6 followers!) up on what is going on in my life!

So here it goes...a very quick..

1. It was teacher appreciation week! I hope all the teachers felt as loved and spoiled as I felt this week. We were BEYOND spoiled - we received a t-shirt and breakfast on Monday, a lunch on Tuesday, a goodie bag on Wednesday, were taken out to lunch on Thursday (yes, two hours away from school eating a meal with table clothes and chairs that weren't connected to the table!) and received chair massages today. My favorite is definitely the last one...how can I fit it in my budget to get a massage every week?

2. Save the date! I have been away from my blogs for a while now because all things wedding have BLOWN up! We had engagement pictures, my mom flew down and I went dress shopping (and yes...I said yes to the dress!) and I most recently designed our save the dates. This week they finally came! I will blog more about that over on my personal blog - but let me tell you, I love them! They came yesterday and I whipped out 60...today I did 17 more...and there is only 23 to go...WOOOO ME!

3. There are only nineteen days left of school...including a half day...fun day...and two EOG days...is anyone else thinking less "WOO HOOO" and more "Holy crap!?"

4. Last weekend was my love's birthday and I spoiled him rotten! I surprised him (blindfold and all) and took him zip lining! It was so much fun - we both can't wait to go back!

5. In college I mentored in a program called DREAM - it's pretty amazing. Today I wore my DREAM shirt in support of the program and told my students about it - it was an interesting conversation telling them about what DREAM is, especially when so many of them could benefit from DREAM - made me miss my college years!

Alright, we have friends visiting tomorrow and I need to pick up a bit! Hopefully my jam packed May won't keep me away the way April managed to!

A Very Belated Five for Friday

I have very much fallen off the face of the Earth the past week or so and missed the past two Five for Friday's with Doodle Bugs! So even though I am late...I'm going to post anyway :) I hope you'll forgive me!

1. This week was spring break and I was VERY busy! I started my spring break going to Asheville for four days with my love. Friends of ours from New York flew in to vacation with us. We had an amazing time! We rented a cabin in a small town called Marshall where we were introduced to the mayor our first night there! We shopped, ate, drank wine and local beer, ate some more, hiked on the Appalachian Trail, and laughed...laughed a lot! It was a great time! And as always, Hari and I left wondering..."why do we not live here?!" Someday...

2. The night we returned home from Asheville, I had to unpack and repack for a flight the next morning! My dad recently bought a home outside of Tampa and has been dying for me to visit. I flew down and my sister met me there. We were VERY busy and had so much fun. We even went to Busch Gardens!

3. With tomorrow being Easter, today we took care of all of our errands. We went on a MAJOR shopping spree! We checked out the Habitat ReStore (got GREAT DEALS! - look out for some of my finds on my personal blog!) We also went grocery shopping and to Lowes to pick up gardening supplies - spring has sprung in North Carolina and I cannot wait to get our garden started!

4. I can't send my students home for a break without a reading challenge of some sort. For spring break I made a fun and easy coloring reading challenge - I cannot believe that over 500 people have downloaded it! That is definitely a record for me thus far in my TpT endeavor  If you haven't begun your spring break yet - check it out!

5. As much as I did not have exactly a restful break with all my jet-setting and I really want just a few more things to get done around the house....I am excited to get back to work on Monday and see my kiddos (and Ms. Taylor, too!)

There it is! Time to enjoy the last bits of my spring break!

P.S. Monday is April 1st! Do you have your April Calendar Pieces yet? If not check out these fun patterned April themed pieces!

Five for Friday (and a secret!)

It's Five for Friday time with Doodle Bugs Teaching! Last week I linked up for the first time ever on my personal blog and then linked up for the first time ever on my teaching blog! I loved it so much, I'm here for a second helping.

1. It's almost St. Patrick's Day!!! I absolutely adore St. Patrick's Day. It's a fun holiday all around...I'm excited to meet up with friends from home who moved down here shortly after Hari and I and to have my very first southern St. Paddy's day! I also love St. Patrick's day because it is the anniversary of the day I met an ADORABLE "PUPPY" 3 years ago (spoiler alert, I adopted her!) If you want to read more about Kiley and how she came to live with us click her picture :)

Love at First Sight! [Gulfport, Mississippi, March 17, 2010]

2. This week flew! It was so nice to be back to normal after two weeks of play practice - one of which was three intense, all day practices. My students were so excited on Monday to be back to our normal routines. During our last practice day they said things like "I can't wait to have morning meeting!" "Do we get to do readers workshop next week?" "Are we going to do math centers?!" It was so cute how excited they were to get back to class! (And they loved their new St. Patrick's Day Math Centers!)

3. I'm not always the best secret keeper...it's not so much that I tell secrets, but as Benita tells me...I just get so excited and things fly out of my mouth...so...this is one of these times...

It's not too late to celebrate St. Patrick's Day! Ms. Taylor and I are celebrating decked out in green on Monday in our classes. We will be graphing the rainbow with Lucky Charms, Searching for Gold and having St. Paddy's reading centers! All of these can be found in my Luck of the Irish Math and Literacy Pack! And of course...we'll be playing St. Patrick's Day Bingo!

4. I have been so jealous reading in the blog-o-sphere about all of your spring breaks! We begin spring break this Friday! I am so excited to relax! One of my very best friends (and one of my bridesmaids!) is coming to North Carolina for four days and then I am jet setting to the beach to visit my dad! It will be busy (and the report cards that are due Tuesday after spring break will probably barely be touched) but I am super excited!

5. My 31 Day Organization Challenge is slow moving...but I am taking it one step at a time...this week I focused on getting my cleaning routines organized (coming soon!) as well as catching up with my mountains of laundry...which you can [unfortunately] see in my before pictures.

Well it's time to go drink wine and eat good food with the man of my dreams! Happy Friday and Happy Happy Happy St. Patrick's Day, y'all!

Luck of the Irish! It's a Sale!

In honor of St. Patrick's Day this upcoming weekend, I'm having a sale at my Teachers Pay Teachers Store! All St. Patrick's Day products are on sale! Be sure to check out my Luck of the Irish Math Centers and Luck of the Irish Literacy Centers - save money by buying them together! I also have St. Patrick's Day Bingo and March Calendar Pieces on sale!

Hurry on over, sale ends on Wednesday!

My Very First...Five for Friday! [with a freebie, too!]

So I have been blog stalking for years now...it is only this year that I started my own personal blog and this blog with my near and dear, Ms. Taylor. I have been seeing "Linky Parties" and "Link Ups" on blogs for a while now...and never really understood them until recently...now today...I am linking up not only on this blog but my personal blog (coincidentally, honest!) for the first time!

I have seen Five for Friday on a few blogs I follow...but haven't even taken the time to read them (I know, I know that sounds terrible!) Today I realized it was a linky party with Doodle Bugs - a blog I do not follow but I do see a lot about on Teachers Pay Teachers!  While reading a teacher blog I do follow (Step in to Second Grade) I saw that she was "Linking Up" and I made the connection! I just did my first linky on my personal blog today! Why not do my first on here, too?!

So here goes nothing, my first...

1. This was a LONG week for me and for my students. I mean LONG! I work in a performing arts school, with that comes lots of...well, arts! At our school we have lots of performances. K-3 students have a big musical each spring. This was my very first one (and Ms. Taylor's, too!) Through all the chaos and long practices (and I mean looooong - last week we practiced every day from 8-10 and this week we practiced Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 8:30-2:30) my rising stars thrived. They went on stage, they sang their little hearts out, danced their little bottoms off, and didn't forget to smile...although they did forget to exit and bow and exit again...but that's okay. They worked hard and were cutie patooties doing it! So proud of my little Oompa Loompas!

2. In January I began selling my lessons on Teachers Pay Teachers. I love sharing and I am excited to think that other teachers are using my resources - very cool! This week I posted, in my opinion, a GREAT freebie! 

3. Today we had a work day - what a beautiful gift after our performance last night! I was able to get a lot done in my classroom and prepared to finally get back to normal next week. I also was able to print and cut my new Luck of the Irish Math and Literacy Centers which we will use starting next week. 

4. Like I said already, I participated in my first link up today on my personal blog. I aired my dirty laundry and I will be participating in the 31 Day Organizational Challenge with Laura the Organizing Junkie. Read about my journey to organization over there! 

5. Starting your first teaching job can be scary. Throw in a move across country and changing not only your life, but your sweet and supportive fiancé's life too... it's downright terrifying. But somehow I landed in the right place. I not only have great co-workers, but people who support me. After a long, stressful and emotional week, I am glad I am not drowning. Shout out to my fellow teachers, you're all awesome!

I loved having this opportunity to reflect on my week. I think I will definitely be participating in Five for Friday's in the future! :)

March Calendar Pieces!

When I started teaching this year I borrowed calendar pieces from one of my wonderful coworkers. This worked in the fall when most of the calendar pieces she had worked for any month - school buses worked for August or September so she used one one month, then we traded, leaves and pumpkins worked for October and November, I used her January snowflakes in December - but once we got to January and February...she only had one set that worked for said months...so it has been school buses in January and February in my classroom...not so festive.

I finally decided to make some of my own calendar pieces. My first set is ready! March calendar pieces are posted in my store. There are 6 different sets to choose from all St. Patrick's day and Easter related.  Each set has a different pattern - great for pre-school and kindergarten who focus on patterns, or for me who just loves jazzing things up! Patterns included: No pattern, AB, ABC, ABCD, AAB, AABCCDEEFGGH/AAB (depending on which pattern you choose :)) Click on the picture below to purchase my calendar pieces from my store!

Excited for March to use my new calendar pieces! Now the hard part...which to choose...