Blogiversary Giveaway and Sale!!!!!

Do you know what today is? Its my anniversary blogiversary!  All I can hear when I think about those lyrics is the song by Tony Toni Tone.  It was very popular in 6th grade at  the skating rink haha!  Well my little blog is finally one.  When I began this blog as part of requirement as a technology leader in my district, I never expected it to take off the way it did!  I have met the most talented teachers through my blog and my teaching has improved by my new blog connections.

In honor of making 1 year I am having a giveaway!  Some of my awesome bloggy friends have agreed to give items from their store.  You DO NOT want to miss this one!

One lucky winner will get:

 From Elizabeth   

Common Core Vocabulary Cards for your grade level

From Amber

Any Item of your choice 

from Tonya

$10 from either my TpT or TN

I am using Rafflecopter for this giveaway because it is so easy and makes choosing the winner simple with NO counting for me!!!!  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

In addition to this awesome giveaway everything at my TpT will be 20% off (the most they allow) through Friday and my TN is 40% off!  They will be on sale at TN through Sunday.   

I love my bloggy friends and am glad I made it 1 year!  

My Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day!!!

My name may as well be Alexander today!  We have all read the book and I definitely identified with the main character today!

This week I have been presenting at my districts Common Core summer institute and this morning when I woke up I knew it was going to be a rough one.  I went in to get the girls up and they had both wet their beds.  UGH! I had to get their beds changed (in addition to the normal tasks in the same amount of time!) and I thought to myself, this is going to be a bad day.

As I got on the interstate traffic was flowing good and I was feeling better about the day.  Move ahead 10 min and the interstate turned into a parking lot!  I was sitting there watching the clock tick by and knew I was going to be late.  I decided to get off the interstate at the next exit.  I got over in the far right lane and looked to see if the exit lane was clear and it looked clear to me, but 2.3 seconds after I started over into the lane, WHAM! I tapped the car that apparently was in the lane.  Double UGH!!!!

So about an hour later I made it to my training and the day was a day.  Glad its over and glad I am in the profession that pays me so well that I can afford my little accident today ok.

Shout out to my hubs who came right away and kept me calm and then made me a delicious dinner of chicken fried steak with sawmill gravy, garlic red skinned mashed potatoes, and fried okra.  I love my southern food!

Can anyone else relate???  Share your bad day with the blog world :)

The Hills Are Alive With The Hunger Games

So I finally was able to go on my long overdue vacation!  Me and the hubs took the girls and headed up to Brevard, NC with the rest of my family.  This is better known as the land of waterfalls.  It is home to over 200 waterfalls!  We stayed at at awesome mountain rental house my mom found.  

It was perfect!

We spent time hiking in DuPont State Forest which is where scenes for the Hunger Games were filmed!!!!!  I imagined I was Katniss running through the arena and could imagine she and Rue moving about the forest.  I even saw a meadow where I could imagine her laying Rue when she decorated her with flowers.  

Triple Falls was one of the waterfalls seen during the scene when Katniss almost steps on Peeta when he is disguised.  

Bridal Veil is where Katniss found relief from her burns right before the Careers found her.  I love the hunger games and can't get over the fact that it was filmed right here in my home state! 

The Whole Fam at High Falls

Check out that Power!

While up in Brevard, we also visited Pisgah National.  I LOVE history and any time I can visit historic sites, I'm there!  We visited The Cradle of Forestry which is where George Vanderbilt (Biltmore House guy) started the first forestry school.  They had several historic buildings including a commissary, lodge house, school house, and a logging train!  They even had the original railroad which was built in the early 1900's. 

Raegan was ready to go logging!

Kenley in her logging gear

Me and the hubs on the logging train

Original Railroad Bridge

Driving the equipment

The Hubs

We also visited a picnic area that was right by the river where the girls could enjoy some creek stomping.  They loved getting their toes wet, but the water was FREEZING!  I did not get it!  

I was very sad to come back to reality and to top it all, I have to present all week at our districts Common Core Trainings....UGH!  I love presenting and helping in my district, but I do not like getting up way early especially when I cant fall asleep before 12!  

What vacations have you guys been on so far????

I'm Flashing!

So after much patient waiting, I finally got the call I have been waiting all summer to hear...I have a space at my new school!  And to make it even more worth the wait, its not a closet (like I feared!) its an actual classroom.  I will post pics later today.

In honor of my happy/sad day of moving my stuff to my new home, I am having a flash sale!  Everything at both my stores is on sale until tomorrow at midnight.

Pick up things for the new school year at my TpT or my TN store.  

Hope everyone is having a great hump day!  I'm heading out to vacation (finally!) tomorrow and can't wait to be in the mountains of NC spending time with my family.  I will leave you with a picture of what the twins have been up to this morning.

Coloring pictures of Thomas!

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

How many of you are now singing that 60's song in your head???  While I might not be breaking up with my boyfriend, I am still experiencing the pains of leaving the place that has been my home for the past 7 years.  If you've been reading my blog long you will know that I accepted a job as an Instructional Facilitator at a primary school in my district.  This is a great thing, but man is it difficult to leave what you know!  I knew I would be sad to leave, but I never thought it would be this hard.

I have blogged many times about my awesome principal, Rebecca.  She has only been my principal this past year, but it feels as though she's been leading me the whole time.  I have had 5 principals in my 8 year career (a lot, right!) and none are like her.  She has high expectations, but gets in the tough places and works with you.  This is hard to find.  She always compliments the staff, which makes working more pleasurable.  All these things are great, but what I will miss most is the friendship we have built through the daily chats we have.

And the twins love playing in her office!

As if leaving the school wasn't hard enough, my best friend and teaching partner, Erica, is moving back to Michigan.  I am stoked that she is moving back with her family, but I am selfishly sad that we won't be here.  I know that it is really going to hit me when it comes to planning things and she isn't here to run it by.

In my sadness of moving on, Rebecca suggested I get the Daily Five and read it so we can discuss it!  So many of you have been posting about it and I have been stalking blog hopping on the different book studies going on, so on our after lunch visit to the teacher store, I found 1 copy!

Guess you know what I'm going to be doing the rest of the day!  Getting my read on :D

Its HAWT and Currently

That's right you didn't read it wrong, its HAWT (hot for those of you not suffering in the heat)  These triple digit heat days are doing me and the twins in!  We got a break today, only 98, gee thanks!  I know I shouldn't be complaining because there are worse things happening around the world, but I feel like I am going to melt into a giant puddle and I can't help but think about the movie, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood.

Any of you remember this????  Please know that me and the twins are all keeping our clothes on, just staying in the house!

Anywho, I LOVE Farley's Currently and her new rule of 3 is a keeper!  I love the idea of showing the love to other bloggers and meeting new bloggy friends to stalk follow!

So I am pumped for my new role as an Instructional Facilitator, but dang its now JULY I have got to get my learn on!!!  (insert anxious face here!)

My go to read aloud every year is Stone Fox.  It is an amazing story of Little Willie who lives with his grandfather and his dog Searchlight.  Grandfather hasn't paid his taxes and Willie enters a dogsled race to try and win $500 to save the farm.  It is a short read, it should be on your list :D

My professional book that I re-read EVERY summer is Guiding Readers and Writers by Fountas and Pinnell.  When I first decided to move into the Reading Workshop framework over 5 years ago, I found this laying around my school and took it home over the summer.  It changed my whole reading program in my classroom.  I find that with each new summer I find something else I can change or tweak.  

I'm off to complete the rule of 3!  Hope everyone is staying cool :)

Monday Made It....Finally!!!

Yay!  I may be late to the party, but I FINALLY have things to share on Monday Made It!  This is an awesome linky and am happy to link up with Tara

I have been so busy this weekend with all my DIY and Craftiness (is that a word????)  First up is an awesome toy box that my uncle built for the girls.  The hubs painted it to match their color scheme that has yet to be painted on the wall  that will be painted soon.  It is HUGE! The girls could get in it AND close the lid!  It is amazing to have so much storage.  

The next DIY came from something I saw on Pinterest (big shock right!?!?!)  I came across several pins of this bench made out of old milk crates.  Well I took that to the next level and the hubs and I spray painted the black crates white and zip tied them together. 

 Viola!  Awesome storage that it took the twins, 2.5 seconds to destroy!!!!

So both of those pieces were for my home, the next two are for my classroom.  I tried to resist, but jumped on the teacher toolbox bandwagon!  My bloggy friend Elizabeth, over at Fun in Room 4B made it so easy with her awesome template.  Keeping with my polka dot theme, I added polka dot and chevron backgrounds to her template.  It was easy, peasy!  

As if all that crafting wasn't enough, today while the twins were napping, I made this awesome Pinspired ribbon wreath!  It was super easy.

I can't wait to see the awesome crafts everyone else has been up too!!!!