Hello again!

Well, school has been kicking my butt. I have 8 more kids than last year which means 8 more of everything. And while most of my kids are super sweet, they tend to be lacking in the ability to keep their mouths closed. Which leads to long, headache inducing days. They are getting better, but slowly.

So, what has been going on lately?

Hurrican Isaac came and went. We got 4 days of school for it, and combined with Monday off for Labor Day, we had a surprise 7 day weekend! You would think I would use this time for great things, but I got nothing major accomplished. I marathoned the entirety of The Pacific (watch it, its good) and made 3 new Flat Stanleys for my class (school uniform, classic,and LSU fan). I was lucky enough to have power the entire time, so it was an easy storm for me.

Here are some of the highlights from the past month or so...

LSU Stanley and "Hurricane" Isaac

Hurricane holiday Stanley crafting

my neighbor is King Kong...yes, that is a hanging bushel of bananas

attended the LSU season opener against Washington...bought tickets for $12 each about 5 minutes after the game started...cant beat that!

Learned a new way to curl my hair...will be sharing more about this later in the week

found a delicious new gelato flavor at Whole Foods...banana chocolate swirl. If you like banana flavored things, try it!

Our class got a pet gerbil, Nilla (because she is the color of a nilla wafer)

got free samples of Mario Badescu skin care products. I had already bough a few at Ulta, but am excited to try these new ones. If you fill out their skin survey, they will send you the recommended samples for free!

I promise to make a better effort!

Until later this week :)

-whit

Just waiting for Isaac...

Well, school is cancelled for two days. We've got a hurricane headed our way. While I have been through all the major storms in recent history (Katrina, Rita, Gustav, etc.) this is my first storm living alone and with Daniel out of the country. Makes me a little uneasy to be alone, but I have lots of people who have volunteered to host me if need be! Love yall.

I went back to my parents house this weekend. (Too bad school wasn't cancelled today as well. Then I could have had a long visit at home!)

My mom has been busy (with my older sister's help) redecorating and tweaking almost every room in our house.

When I moved into my own apartment back in 2006, I took my dresser and most of the items in my bedroom. My mom redecorated and then the room sat. Last time I was home, I noticed there is nothing on the walls, except one mirror (it's been this way for about 6 years. Not sure what took me so long). There was also a big open space where the dresser used to go.

Enter this piece:

This dresser used to be a light aqua green color. I remember it as part of us girls' nursery/ baby furniture.When my little sister was in high school, she began repainting it with zebra stripes. When she moved out, my mom began sanding it down to repaint but never finished. Well, she finally found a use for it! She left the drawers and top in their unfinished state, and covered the sides and trim with white paint.

I love it! It reminds me of something you might see at anthropologie. 

In other news...

I ordered my first top from Conversation Pieces after seeing it on J's Everyday Fashion (I can't find the original post, but you can see how she styled it here.) It came in the mail yesterday and I am so excited!

Love the fun packaging! I can't wait till the weather cools off a little so I can wear this shirt!

Well, summer is officially over

We just finished the first full week of school. Somehow over the summer, I forgot how tiring it is!
Goodbye summer, sleep and lazy days. I'll sure miss you!

Flaming Lips show (world record for most shows in most cities in 24 hours)

converted Granna's guest towel holder into a jewelry stand

Jessie (my long-time bff) is having her third boy! So glad I was there to share in the news :)

snowballs...nothing more summertime then that 

:)

Shipley's donuts. Delicious. 

4th of July mani's with my mom and sister

Love how they turned out!

I'll try to keep up here, but it might take me a bit to get back into the swing of school. Plus, we are starting an hour later, which means I now get to leave an hour later, aka smack in the middle of rush hour. My drive home is now averaging 90 minutes. (versus 30-40 last year) 

Fingers crossed things get less hectic soon!

25 days...

...until football season!

I absolutely cannot wait. Coaches' Poll has already ranked us #1 :)

I finished painting my shoes and am SO excited to wear them on game days.

Geaux Tigers!

I couldn't resist playing around with Pic Monkey :)
rar!

Obsessed

I got the new anthropologie catalog in the mail last week. As usual, I went through it, dog-earring all the pages that had something I like (it would actually be easier to dog ear the pages that have things I DON'T like :) ). One of my favorite things was the moccasin high-tops.

A few days later, while browsing on Pinterest, I saw this adorable outfit. Fun print skirt, scarf (have I mentioned that I love scarves? Ask anyone) and moccasin boots! Love.

image via Trendy Taste

At nearly $300, I cant really justify buying them myself. Santa maybe? I'll be very good! Now I just have to decide...which color? The brown would be more wearable, but the teal is so fun! Thoughts?

image via Anthropologie

image via Anthropologie

Last week of summer aka fit in as many crafts as possible!

Teachers go back to school on Wednesday. I can't believe the summer went by so quickly! Instead of laying around and relaxing these last few days, I have been busy squeezing in as many crafts and school projects as I can. Here's a preview of some of the things I have been working on.

LSU Toms...

I absolutely cannot wait until football season! Only 27 days!

I already made the decision. I'll do a reveal soon!

Classroom door decoration

I found this cute chevron magnetic board at Hobby Lobby yesterday. 50% off! I couldn't pass it up.

I painted and added the W to personalize it. I am so excited to hang this on my door.

Clock labels

I had a clock last year that never worked. Even when it had new batteries, it would only keep time for about an hour. I got a new clock and printed out the numbers for the minutes made by the amazingly talented Amy Lemons. I made the word labels myself.

Two more days of freedom!

Larry Bird's babies

You may remember that I have a bird's nest on my patio. I checked the nest when I got home from California on Tuesday and didn't see any babies (squabs to be exact). But when I looked today, one of the eggs has hatched! So sweet :) Hopefully the other one is ok and will hatch as well. I read online that they are laid about 48 hours apart, so maybe they hatch at slightly different times? Fingers crossed!

Larry, guarding his baby

baby bird!

so sweet and small. it's hard to not touch it. (I read online that mourning doves are known to carry lice and mites and that they can easily be transferred to humans. ick.)

family photo :)

Larry, his lady (trading places) and the kids

Summer is ending...

I have been SO busy this summer. I thought it would drag on, especially with Daniel gone, but it has gone by really fast. I've been visiting people all summer long...I've spent a lot of time in Houston, went to Dallas to see my oldest friend and her new baby bump, and most recently (yesterday) got back from a trip to California to see my little sister. (More on that when she sends me pictures)

School starts in one week for teachers. The kiddos come back next Friday. Yikes! We had orientation at school tonight. So far, it seems like I am going to have a great group of parents and kids!

Because of my trip last week to see Lindsey and all the time I have spent at my parents, I have not had much time to work in my classroom. It's starting to come together though, so I figured I would share some pictures of what I have done.

My classroom last year had a cowboy theme. I thought about doing the same thing this year, but I got tired of staring at bandanna print everything. So this year it's just bright colors.

Since I just started blogging, I never posted about my classroom last year. Here it is in all it's cowboy glory!

LAST YEAR...

 My room last year

that's a wagon reading center on the far right

work display area

 calendar

 reading center with homemade wagon and fence

once I added the horse shower curtain as a background

 attendance area

bulletin board outside my room

closet doors...behavior and helpers

above my door...this is the only thing that I kept up for the new year

THIS YEAR...(so far)

 this is where we will post pictures of Stanley's adventures

(the map is my parents...its actual a decal for our camper that never got used)

 look who's popping!

I want to emphasize writing more this year. I figure this should help us out!

(I got this from First Grade Fresh who got the idea from Mrs. Phippen...LOVE!)

to go with the board outside my door

"Thank you for popping in!" orientation treat :)

(from Fun in First)

I'll make sure to share the rest of my room when I get it finished!

Flat Stanley and Larry

I have decided to use Flat Stanley in my classroom this year. Stanley is a boy who gets flattened when a bulletin board falls on him and then gets sent on adventures through the mail.

my Flat Stanley

You can find his books here and learn more about the Flat Stanley project here.

I am going to California to visit my sister before school starts and decided to make a Stanley to bring with me. I am excited to share this with my kiddos and think it will be a great way to get them excited about geography and writing and learning about new places.

That's right, that is Stanley with a bird's nest! 

Backstory:
I have a few different plants that grow on my balcony. I normally move them inside if I am going to be gone for an extended amount of time to try to keep them from drying out. I was at my parents' house for about a week and a half and left the plants out on my patio. When I came back, I went outside to water them, and discovered a bird had decided my dying mint would be the perfect place to make a nest!

It's hard to see, but there is a bird in there! (Click to make it bigger)

(Further backstory: I am scared of birds. I have this fear that they will attack me and get tangled in my hair and peck and scratch my face. I know its dumb, but oh well.)


I immediately freaked out and ran back inside. Over the past couple of days, I have gotten (slightly) more comfortable with the bird. I no longer have to wear a sweatshirt with the hood drawn around my face to water my plants. Progress!


I was trying to figure out what kind of bird it is and came across a guy online who said he could identify nests and eggs. I emailed him with some info and included a couple of pictures. Turns out my bird is a morning dove, and the eggs should hatch sometime in the next week. The babies should stay in the nest for about two weeks before they leave. 

The eggs :)

I am calling the bird Larry after the bird man who identified him. (The bird I have seen is a male...apparently the male sits on the nest during the day, and the female at night.)


I am hoping to get some good pictures of the babies when they hatch! I'll be sure to share them if I do :)

Stanley and Larry

I would try to get him closer if I wasn't terrified that Larry will attack me. That's not even me holding Stanley...it's my brave friend Rita :)  

(We ran screaming inside moments after this picture was taken and Larry got scared and flew away which in turn scared us!)

P.S.: If anyone wants to help with the Flat Stanley project, let me know! If you have an iPhone, you can download a free Flat Stanley app that superimposes him on pictures. I can also send you a Stanley to take pictures of. Thanks!!

The Book Thief

One of the benefits of teaching is having the summer off. As great as that is, it can start to get monotonous, so this summer I have made sure to stay busy. One great way to amuse myself is visiting book stores. I can spend hours looking at titles, cover designs, etc. I went to a great used bookstore in New Orleans and came home with a stack of books that I have been working my way through. Which brings us to The Book Thief.
"It's just a small story really, about among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery..."
-Barnes and Noble description

I really enjoyed this book. It's told from Death's point of view and follows the life of a young foster girl. Her foster father teaches her to read and quickly becomes the most important figure in her life, aside from her stollen books. Her family hides a Jew in their basement, which changes Liesel (the main girl) and the rest of her life.
This is a really enjoyable read, even though nothing is sugar coated and war and death feature prominently. It's an easy read, targeted towards teens, and I would definitely recommend it!
I am excited to check some more books off my summer reading list next :)