Skippy the Squirrel

Guess who came to our room today? One of our sweet grandmas brought her rescued squirrel in for a fall visit! 

Skippy was rescued after falling out of his nest as a tiny baby squirrel with no hair and eyes still closed. This is the 6th squirrel they have rescued, and they are becoming quite knowledgeable in the ins and outs of it all! Skippy has made a TON of progress and is growing like a weed. He drinks milk from a dropper, takes naps in his blanket, and gets some exercise in the house.

Once spring arrives, he will be prepped and released back into the wild. They have had lots of success releasing their little patients back into the wild, including having them visit every so often just to check in! How sweet!

This was such a great lesson in caring for nature and bringing the outdoors inside...up close and personal!

Get your GO NOODLE on!

Singing is fun, playing is nice, but GO NOODLING takes it to a WHOLE other level!

I might even venture to say that it has made the SINGLE biggest difference in our classroom management success this year!

That's a pretty bold statement, huh!  That's how much we LOVE and believe in GO NOODLE!!!

You have probably heard of it, but if not...then this is the perfect place for you to positively change the way you manage your classroom!

GO NOODLE is a FREE (one of the sweetest words to a teacher's ear) website that offers a TON of brain break videos.  

And I don't just mean hop around and act like a hopped up ninja brain breaks! Although that may just be my classes FAVORITE one...among other cranked up breaks that may just involve some "Shakin' of the BOOTY!"

It also offers yoga brain breaks. Mind you...a purple monkey leads the poses and our kiddos are big fans of that COOL "Pete the Cat"ish kinda monkey!

There are Calming brain breaks (breath in, breathe out...watch the bouncing star...UMMM!  Maybe these particular brain breaks are more for the teachers!  Hee Hee!

And Olympian-Led Sports brain breaks are on the list too!  I'm pretty sure I am getting r-e-e-a-a-a-a-a-l  close to making the Olympic team with all this training I'm doing!

Basically...there is something here for EVERY kind of kiddo you teach.  The brain breaks are divided by categories...Energizing, Calming, or Time (1-5 minutes) so you can pick just the right one for your kiddos.  Or better yet, let them make the call and tell YOU what they need!

There are a couple of ways you can incorporate these AWESOME brain breaks into your day that will make your life 100 times happier!  TRULY!

Kiddos are HYPER and BOUNCING off the walls!
Time for a brain break!  You may think, "WHAT??? They are already on the bus to crazy town, why would I possibly want to buy them a ticker???"  But alas, they NEED to spend some of that energy any way, so why not give them a POSITIVE way to do it?  They get to kick, dance, shake it, yell like a ninja, and it's ALL APPROPRIATE!!!!  Can I get an AMEN???

Or maybe you choose the "Let's breathe and watch the star go uuuuup and down, uuuup and down" to get them to settle down without you having to stomp your feet, beg, plead, and curl up in a corner in defeat! ;)

Kiddos are FADING on you fast and may actually be slowly drifting off to sleepy town!
Now!  Now is the time to have another brain break.  Get them up and moving.  Get those juices flowing.  Get those kiddos back in the game!  We've got work to do people, and we want our kiddos to be ACTIVE and WILLING...even HAPPY and ready to tackle whatever we throw at them!

Kiddos are ROCKING it OUT and working SOOOOO hard!
Yep...it's still time for a brain break!  You gotta keep this momentum going.  You want to reward them for their brains working so hard.  You want to keep them in the game!  Go get your GO NOODLE on!

True story... our kiddos are TOTALLY in love with GO NOODLE.  They ask us for them when they know a difficult task is coming. Like say we are about to work on building our stamina for read to self and we are getting close to 13 minutes.  Well...they know that's a LONG time to be quiet and stay focused.  So they ask to get some wiggles out!  How awesome is that!!!

Sometimes we make them EARN a brain break and sometimes we REWARD them with a brain break and sometimes we GIVE them a brain break because we see that we they just plain need it!

We get the kiddos to find a spot in the room where they can spin their arms and NOT touch anyone else.  They have to stay in that spot for the brain breaks.  You move all over the room...you sit down.  It doesn't take long for them to learn to STAY in their SPOT!

We probably do 3-4 breaks a day for a TOTAL of 10 minutes!

Some teachers are afraid they will be WASTING 10 minutes of instructional time, but we say you'll be GETTING BACK 5 HOURS of POSITIVE INSTRUCTIONAL TIME!

Some teachers say "I don't have time to GO NOODLE."  We say "You don't have time to NOT GO NOODLE!

That's it!  HAPPY TIMES can be yours again!  So...Go Get Your GO NOODLE on!!!

And also hop over to GO NOODLE'S blog for a linky about how other teachers are SUCCESSFULLY incorporating it into their own classrooms!   It works!

Meet the Teacher Team Linky

C: Hi everyone!  We are joining up with our friends over at Created for Learning for another FUN linky! Created for Learning is a hubby and wife duo working together in life AND in their TpT store.  Page met them face to face at the TpT conference and fell in love right away.  They were both so helpful and shared TONS of great tips about making top notch products among other things.

P: It was pure luck that I met Lisa and Jonathan. Lisa immediately recognized that I was alone and sad to be alone! She extended an invitation to hang with them and it was instant FRIENDSHIP!! We had an amazing time and after I left, I felt like we had been friends forever!! Amazing couple with cutie pie kiddos!!

So we were both really excited when they emailed us about a linky they were planning.  The ENTIRE linky will revolve around getting to know some of the TEAMS out there!

So...here are our interview questions.  Hope you enjoy!

Where did you meet?

C: SHORT VERSION:  Page was hired on at the school I was currently working in.  Funny story...I actually was part of the interview team and I LOVED her right away, but she maybe said "kicks butt" and "suck at delegating" during the interview!  Holy smokes!  We had to BEG our principal to hire her and trust us!  She did and we were all VERY grateful...because Page rocked!

 LONG VERSION:  To the tune of The Brady Bunch :)

Here's the story of a lovely teacher,

Who was teaching lots of boys and girls.

All of them were cute and bright,

Like their teacher--

The youngest one was 4.

Here's the story of another teacher,

Who was teaching very far away.

Then she moved to Newnan, Georgia

To continue teaching.

Yet she was all alone.

Till the one day when Page met Cristy,

And they knew that they were perfectly paired,

That these two might somehow form a friendship!!

That's the way that we became... Kindergarten Squared!!

Kindergarten Squared... dah, dun, dah, dun

Kindergarten Squared...dah, dun, dah, dun

That's the way we became... Kindergarten Squared!!

P: Ahhh I love our Brady Bunch song! Cristy nailed it on our first meet up!! It was an awesome interview! What I remember most was really wanting to work with her and the the other k girls!! I was ready to grow professionally and knew that Cristy was who I wanted to learn from!!

Who does what?

C:  I would say that we both do a little bit of everything.  We brainstorm a lot to get ideas for new products.  We both create products and edit for each other. (I maybe have to edit Page a bit more...you'll see why in the "do you have nicknames section")  I do all the Pinterest who-ha!  We both Instagram, but I am probably more the IG crack head!  Page is kicking around the idea of starting a Facebook page.  We both blog (OK...so we maybe both stink at that...I swear between the TWO of us, we still somehow manage to only blog every 3 days or so!)  So I think all in all, we are a pretty good duo mix!

P: I agree with Cristy except she does waaaayyyy more!! I like to chug along at our products that are predictable and add to our bundles! Cristy is the dynamic partner that creates products that have sales that sky rocket!! She really should fire me!! I do appreciate that every time I bring up her amazing products that sell like HOT CAKES that she reminds me that I created the tpt account for us to get started. Not really sure how long that will carry me with her amazing talent!!

What do enjoy most about 

your partnership?

C: Working and planning with someone I truly respect.  I think we both expect much from ourselves and we like that we push each other to do more, be better, and NEVER quit learning and changing how we teach! Also...we both like a nice pedi here and there! ;)

P: DITTO!! Cristy is awesome! Professional, knowledgeable and agrees with me on everything curricular!! Love it! Sometimes it's hard to convince people that you are always right, but with Cristy, we are always right together (or at least we think we are). Pedi's are awesome especially when we can go together!!!

Do you have nicknames for each other?

C: Why do I have to edit a little more???...well...that's because "Quick Click Page" types faster than the roadrunner runs!  (Think "Meep!  Meep!" and Wile E Coyote!)  That woman's fingers have flames shooting out from them as she pings here and there on her keyboard!  That woman is WILD I tell you!!!  I'm not sure what nicknames Page has for me...at least she doesn't tell them to my face...but maybe "Anal Annie" would be a good one.  I OBSESS over statistics, products, and little details! I'm pretty sure that maybe drives her crazy!

P: Yeah yeah I am quick clicker, but Cristy is the comma, grammer an spacing police! She really can tell if I put an extra space, used a crazy comma, or misspelled a ton of words. Ok, that's a good thing!! Thank goodness for Cristy's editing skills! Without her editing, we would have some ticked off customers!!

What is your teaching theme song? (Either what song inspires your teaching or, totally pretend, what song would play when you're introduced, like at a sporting event?)

C: Here Comes the BOOM! OK...so Page may not agree with this one!  Maybe it's my LOVE of college football that made this come to mind (GO DAWGS!!!...even though the defense did NOT show up against South Carolina and that stinkin' Steve Spurrier beat us again...not that I'm bitter...but I am...RANT over!)  This also comes to mind because Page and I are both SUPER competitive...both IN the classroom...and ON the field!  We like to WIN!  So..."BOOM!  Here Comes the BOOM!   Ready or Not, Here Comes the GIRLS from the South!...BOOM!

P: Ok I am not a big music connoisseur, but if I had to choose it would be the Lego Movie theme song

Everything is awesome!! Everything is cool when you're part of a team! 

OR

I love, love the song by Bruno Mars, You Can Count on ME

You can count on me like 1, 2, 3

 I'll be there

And I know I can count on you like 4, 3, 2 

You'll be there!!

Yep!! That's Kindergarten Squared!! Awesome team who will always be there for each other!!

If you could dress-up to go somewhere, what would you wear and where would you go?

C: I'm thinking if Page and I were BOTH going somewhere together...especially if the hubs' were coming...it would be to a music event...like Jimmy Buffet or something like that!  We've been there and done that and had a WHOLE lot of fun...so we would probably wear something snazzy and comfy all rolled into one!

P: Woohoo I do love some Buffet!! I like to go anywhere! Comfy jeans are always a must but who doesn't love to add a tiara to the outfit!! Ok, Cristy doesn't really do tiaras, but I always love a tiara!!

Which do you prefer, cookies, brownies, or neither?

C:Yes, please!  (Oh...wait!  Were we only supposed to pick ONE????)

P: You know I can pick one!! It is cookies definitely, but not just any cookies!! I prefer the sweet, yummy beautiful cookies that my friend Cristy used to make, but now neglects me by not baking those sweet, gorgeous treats! Seriously!! Hands down, the best cookies every! One time I found one hidden away that was only half eat about a month after she gave them to me! It was like I won the lottery!! It tasked like heaven!!

Name something you've created that you love using in your classroom?

C: We use ALL of our own Common Core Math Units!  The county and state frameworks have some good games and lesson ideas, but they LOOK SO BORING!  I'm not quite sure how they are supposed to grab and hold the attention of our 5 year olds!  So we use the HECK out of the games, lessons, and printables that we created!

P:  We also use every week our Alphabet Word Work packs!! We really love using these as part of Daily 5!They may seem challenging, but we feel they are easy to differentiate and help increase the rigor in our rooms!

C: So there you have it...now head over to Created for Learning to meet Lisa and Jonathan and some other great teams!  Have fun!

It's Currently Time!

I just LOVE Farley's Currentlys each month!  I have to say we have been MIA the last few months, because, well, people..."We always seem to be SO LATE to the party that we figure nothing's left but the solo cups on the floor and tattered party streamers!  There is no FASHIONABLY LATE with Farley.   Honestly, I am pretty darn certain there may be a race to see who can be the first to link up...and sadly to say---we are clearly NEVER EVER gonna win!  :)

But this month...we are actually linking up on the FIRST day of the month and since Farley's linky is just not popular at all (yeah, right! ;)  I think we may be link number 200 already!  Way to be early stinkin' late again to the party!  But dang it...we are comin' anyway!!!

So...without any more crazy rambling...here it is!

Not sure what time zone you are in, but let's just say my husband is maybe more like cooking BRUNCH, or really---if we call it what it is---LUNCH--- in this time zone!  We went out of town for the weekend, stayed up too late every night, ran all day, and we got in last night at 2:00.  We sacked out and maybe didn't get up until after 11:00!  I LOVE THAT!!!!!!  So brunch, lunch, call it what you want...it's homemade sausage gravy and biscuits and that's good ANY time of day!

We finally reconnected with our SC friends and hung out a WHOLE 2 days!  We have missed them so much...especially the kiddos!  It was great to just hang out by the pool, mill about downtown Greenville, hit up some restaurants, and maybe end the night with some Marble Slab Creamery ice cream!

Today...it's do nothing day!  And we are EXCITED to finally get one!!!  The end!

It's been FAR too long since we had one...and I don't like it one bit people!!!!  Gotta fix that...and PRONTO!

Uggh!  Bills!  They get in the way of everything FUN!  We have been working to pay them off for a couple of years!  We are Dave Ramsay flunkies, but I promise we are finally getting REAL close...even if we were on the Dave Ramsay...5 year plan!!!

Travel...we love it!  It's been too long!  Ready to head out and do some exploring.  Looks like Costa Rica might be up first!

So...what are YOU up too?

Link up with Farley over at Oh Boy! Fourth Grade and let us know!

100th Day Photo Booth...Waaay Fun!

So---stinkin'---AH-DOH-RAH-BLE! Our kiddos were just CRAZY cute. We asked our families to send their cuties to school dressed like they were 100 years old.  Many of them did, but we did have a few 5 and 6 year olds show up! We didn't want them to be left out!  So here's how we ran our PHOTO BOOTH for optimum success!

Option 1:  If your kiddos DO NOT dress up, we had a whole table full of Photo Booth props that we created, printed, and hot glued to sticks.  We spread these out on a table and they could choose what they wanted.

You can snag these super cute props in our 100th Day Pack!

Option 2:  Page's awesome assistant, Natalie, is like a walking vintage store owner.  That woman has EVERYthing you can imagine stored in her attic, cabinets, under the beds...you name it.  She never turns down an awesome yard sale or thrift store find.  I am telling you...she's a walking treasure chest.  She had tons of vintage hats, ties, aprons, necklaces, and more.  We put ALL of that on another table and let the kiddos go wild.  This is so much fun...IF you have access to all these goodies!

Option 3:  But let's be honest, most of us don't have a "Natalie" around (at least I didn't before I met her!) so we don't have all those goodies just lying around.  If you have a hat here, maybe a necklace or 2 that your grandma will loan you there, and a couple of other snazzy pieces in your drawers, you can MIX Option 1 and Option 2!

One final note on the set-up!  We have a spare room at school so this was our base camp!  We had 3 tables...1 for paper photo booth props, 1 for "menswear", and the last one for "women's wear".  We had an awesome piece of glittery silver lamé (flashback to my high school prom dress from the late 80's...gold lamé, baby!) fabric that we hung from the wall.  We wrote "It's Time To Party!" and "I Am a 100 Day Smarty!" on black paper and hung it on the fabric.  (We snagged this SUPER idea from First Grade Frenzy!)

We bought a cheap picture from Goodwill and I popped out the glass and print.  Then we let the kiddos hold the gold frame to pose.  Waaaay cute!  We also took 3-4 kiddos down at a time to have some Photo Booth FUN!  I think it made it more special giving them lots of choices and time to have FUN and try different things out.

Whatever the resources you have, we think this was a REALLY FUN way to celebrate such a HUGE milestone for our K kiddos....and we think yours will LOVE it too!  Happy 100th Day!

Happy New Year!

After our 2 "cold" days off, we FINALLY headed back to school.  THANK GOODNESS!  I love a break and all, but I was slap going crazy!  You can only be cooped up in a house for so long before you LOSE it!  Plus, I am pretty sure my "uniform" needed a break!  My poor jammies are just about threadbare from my 2 week stint! ;)

So to kick off the new year, I needed a new craft or writing goodie to get me motivated.  We found the BEST writing paper from Lori over at Teaching with Love!  It divided up goals into home, school, and community.  This helped the kiddos think about how they can improve their lives in 3 important places.  I love how thoughtful it made them.    Check out these adorable pieces!

Translation:  "Clean up in my home." - "I will try to keep stuff organized."  (Has then kiddo been spying on me!!!  It's like she's reading my mind!) - and finally "Sell stuff in my neighborhood!"

Translation:  "I want to try to be good." - "I want to try to get all greens."  (that's Class Dojo points she's talking about) - and "I want to try to not argue with friends."

Then our kiddos made some super cute SELFIES to hang with their writing in the hall.  We like to "let them loose" and see what they come up with.  The cutie on the left used markers and cut paper.  The cutie on the right used our "bingo dabbers" and made flowers on her hat and a "necklace" of sorts.  She even added her own party horn!  

The hall display turned out really cute, but I totally forgot to take a picture of it!  I'll try and remember Monday and add it on here!  UPDATE:  Here it is in all it's glory!  (PS - My I-Phone 3 stinks!  I SO NEED to upgrade so I can take better pics. on the fly!)

So if you still want to set some goals with your kiddos, check out Lori's FREE New Year's Writing!

Happy New Year!!!

100th Day Galore: Photo Booth, Games, and More! 50% off TODAY only!

Where the heck did the time go?  I promise we meant to blog over our break...but dang it...I blame it on my jammies!  It's been so nice to step away for a bit, snuggle with my peeps, spend time with family and friends, and just soak in the amazing gift of Christ's birth.

But...back we are...finally!

We have been working on our latest pack to help celebrate the 100th Day in a FUN yet meaningful way! With so many standards to teach---there really is no time for FUN without purpose!!!

So...we created a 100th Day pack filled with FUN photo booth props, tons of games, writing activities, and more that are ALL standards based!  No wasted time here, but still a very GOOD time to be had by all!

It's 50% off for TODAY only and you can snag it for just $2.50!  Now---that's a steal!

Click on any image to head to our TPT store!

We promise to get back on the BLOGGIN' bandwagon and check in more often.

We hope you each had a very blessed Christmas, and we wish many good things for you in 2014!

Happy New Year!

Dunkin' Donuts BABY!!!

So this Halloween we  needed to come up with something that would knock the socks off of our families! Every year at our Family Fun Night event, the teachers go ALL OUT to impress.  We are so dang "INTO" it that it's not even funny.  I don't know who has more fun...the kiddos, the parents or all us teachers!

This year our K team decided to be "DUNKIN' Donuts"---and I don't mean just some plain old donuts...I really mean DUNKIN' donuts!  We borrowed some jerseys from Page's hubs who hooked us up!  We found some matching shorts (in my case, I somehow squeezed ALL of this into my almost 10 year old's shorts...let's just say I am thankful the jerseys were LONG to cover all my parts!)  Then we added pink headbands, wrist bands, and knee socks for the TOTAL package!

People...we are NOT actual basketball players, we only play ones on TV Family Fun Night!  No basketballs were hurt or mistreated in this event.  OK---I lie!  We did TEAR UP the court, better known as the little atrium were we were set up.  And you should have SEEN our MAD dunkin' skills!  Dribble, dribble, dribble, SLAM DUNK baby...right into the Little Tykes basketball goal.  We were VICIOUS!!!!  

Anyway, we got A LOT of laughs from our kiddos and families...especially the DADS who totally "GOT IT"!    Be sure and take a look at our past stints as Fruit of the Loom Guys, Minions, Humpty Dumpty and the Horsemen...here at this post!

Now...hopefully the moment you have been anxiously awaiting...

TEAM DUNKIN' DONUTS!!!!

We had lots of people tell us..."That is SO clever!"  And darn it, we told the truth and said, "NO!  That's so Pinterest!"  Here's the original pin that caught our attention!

Anywho, we hope you ALL have a SAFE and Happy Halloween!  And if you still need a costume idea...this post might just come in handy!!

Learning Celebrations- they make a difference!!!

Hi Friends! When I first moved back to Newnan 6 years ago and started teaching at Arbor Springs, Cristy taught me about the most awesome culminating activity for a unit of study. It is called the Learning Celebration! Thank you so much Cristy for teaching me how to get parents and kids more invested in our classroom and even more excited about learning!

Probably everyone already knows about a Learning Celebration, but in case you don't I'll explain :). Seriously how could I go 12 years, think I was a pretty good teacher and not know about a Learning Celebration??????

Well just in case you find yourself in the boat I was in several years ago and have not ever had  a Celebration, this is a MUST DO activity!  All you do is spend several weeks on a topic/unit like Living/Non-Living things, Author Study, Friendship, Community, Reading/ Writing Strategies, etc... Really it could be about anything.

Then you have your kiddos complete an activity like writing about the topic and then illustrating, creating a PowerPoint, using craft materials to make something and then write about it, etc.... This also can be anything.

So our first Learning Celebration was a huge success!! We spent the first several weeks learning that good readers can read books 3 ways; read the words, read the pictures and retell. We have also been learning that good writers' borrow ideas from books and that good citizens need rules to keep everyone safe and learning.

So, using the book No, David! by David Shannon, our kiddos had to brainstorm and discuss with a friend all the things they might do at their house to make their grown-ups yell, NO!  You should have heard some of these friends!! They are hilarious!! Check what some of our friends had to say!!

Well, for the celebration, all you have to do is announce the Learning Celebration in your newsletter or make a cute invitation inviting parents into your classroom. Don't forget to invite your administration! The parents love to see the support and the admin loves this type of parent involvement.

Cristy and I schedule our Learning Celebration at the beginning of the day so parents can just maybe go in a little for late to work.  The turn out for both of our classes was AWESOME!! Only 4 or  5 families from each class were missing.

So after you invite the parents, either take digital pictures of your kiddos work or scan their work, then put their pictures into a PowerPoint. If you don't have a projector and activeboard, then the kiddos could just make their pictures on large construction paper to hang or on chart paper.

When the grown-ups come in, we give a brief welcome and intro explaining what was taught and the project,  the kids share their work, then we can discuss any important things that we want parents to know   (like the new report card or incremental grading).

 Anyway after discussing our important info, we share a quick slide show with music of pictures we have been taking since school started! Everyone loves a Learning Celebration!!

Try one!! You'll love it!!
If you have had an awesome Learning Celebration tell us about it!!
If you have not had one, We challenge you to have your first!!! We have several a year, but start with one and you will be hooked! What topic will your first Learning Celebration cover???

Have  a great week!!

Open House: What to Do?

So, what do you do at your Open House that is only 2 weeks after meet the teacher day???

Well friends why not have some parent / teacher conferences ?  Well, that might be a little difficult since we are just now finished administering our SLO assessment/ GKIDS Baseline.

We are still compiling data and assessing students who entered our class late or who have already been absent because of rampant germs in our rooms (despite Natalie and Cristy's cleaning efforts)!!

So DRUM ROLL...........  The perfect answer is a Scavenger Hunt!!!
When your sweet little babies enter your room with their parents, just greet them and hand them a Scavenger Hunt paper. Then they get busy completing all the tasks. Everyone is happy, happy, happy!! (Gotta love some Duck Dynasty!!)

Check out one version of our Scavenger Hunts! Sorry this version is unable to be edited, but if you leave a comment with your email address, I will send the publisher version for you to change. Just remember, if you don't have the same fonts, when you open the document, it may look a little crazy!!

On a side note!! We are working on building stamina in kindergarten for everything!! Stamina for Read to Self, Word Work, Working on Writing, Calendar, Number Talks, etc...
But while trying to build stamina, we have had to have some ways to get those wiggles out!! Here are a few of our favorite new songs/dance links to get your KINDERS Moving!!

Have Fun Teaching’s
Hopping Skipping Song

Have Fun Teaching’s
Walking Song

Have Fun Teaching’s
Stretching Song

HarryKindergarten
If You’re A Kid

From BLAH to FABULOUS in 1 hour!

Who knew I could get a little crafty? Who knew?

You know we have talked about the crazy creative Natalie over in Page's room.  That woman is like the MacGyver of the crafting world!  (If you don't know who MacGyver is..then that makes me feel old!  Here's what Wikipedia says about him...Resourceful and possessed of an encyclopedic knowledge of the physical sciences, he solves complex problems with everyday materials he finds at hand, along with his ever-present duct tape and Swiss Army knife!)  I'm telling you...give that woman a craft stick, scissors, bubblegum, and some yarn---and she'll give you a prom dress!

So anyway, she decides to give Page an end of the year surprise gift---she recovered her plain old "roll-y chair".  Yes, the technical name would be "Rolling Desk Task Chair", but "roll-y chair" works just fine for us!

  She gave that baby a TOTAL makeover!  Shined it up, added some snazzy new trendy fabric, and VOILA---Page is rolling in style!

So I decide--- I can do that too, right!  So I of course call 911 immediately..better known as Natalie's cell! She gives me all the necessary tools I'll need...bubblegum, a craft stick, scissors and yarn.  JK---but I KNOOOOOW she COULD recover a chair using those...you know...MacGyver and all!

I AM NOT KNOWN for my CRAFTING ABILITIES---so this was foreign territory for me.  But I have been having a bit of a PINTEREST addiction this summer and I was all in to redecorating my entire room (post coming soon, I promise!)---when alas...I looked over at my wonderful BFF's work desk table, and well---it just looked sad.  It needed a MAKEOVER!

So off I go to Hobby Lobby for all of the goodies I would need.  Surprisingly I did not have said bubblegum, yarn, craft stick...on hand!

You will need:

*roll-y chair

*tools to disassemble the chair (all we needed was an Allen wrench)

*scissors

*fabric of your choosing

*hot glue gun

*spray adhesive

*chopstick (or other "pokey" device!)

These basic steps should take you NO MORE than 1 hour!

1.  Gather supplies and disassemble the chair.

2.  Lay your fabric over each cushion and cut it in a square/rectangular shape with several inches hanging over the sides. (This will be what you tuck/glue.)

3.  Spray the adhesive and lay your fabric over it.  Smooth it out with your hands and give it a few minutes to set before you keep working.

4.  On the chair back, the plastic backing was actually impossible to remove so after spraying the adhesive, I simply used my trusty chopstick to shove the fabric between the cushion and the plastic. Worked like a charm!

5.  Finished seat back!  Presh!

6.  For the seat bottom, follow the same step using the adhesive, then use a hot glue gun to glue down the excess fabric.  I didn't remove the old gray stuff---just glued right over it.  Be careful that you tuck the fabric and glue it about every couple of inches so you don't have tons of fabric all left over in one section...that causes lots of wrinkles at the corners.  Mine was not perfect, but little tucks here and there looked just fine to me!  (PS-Be sure you don't glue the fabric down over the screw holes...that would just be crazy, right!---You'd think, anyway!!...cause that's EXACTLY what I did!  Don't tell MacGyver Natalie!)

7.  Finished glued chair bottom!

8.  Completed seat back and seat bottom!

9.  Find a cute kid (in this case, my handy 9 year old!) to reassemble the chair!

10.  And VOILA!!!  You have a trendy, stylish, new "roll-y chair"!

And of course I had to add some super cute desk accessories to finish out the look!  Here's to the MOST AWESOME teaching partner ever!!!

We hope your year is off to a crafty start too!

Happy 4th of July!

Thank you so much to all of our brave service men and women both near and far!  We are blessed to live in this glorious country!  Although it's not perfect, there is no other place we would rather be!

Thanks to "A Little Crafting" for the great pic!

We hope you all have a wonderful 4th of July! 

Celebrate with friends and family, rest and relax, and enjoy the day!

For all of our non-American friends...we hope you enjoy your day too! :)

Be sure and hop over to Primary Inspirations: Monday Morning Inspiration if you are needing some new math goodies for back to school...task cards, freebies, ideas, and more.  (If you're like me, it's raining here and I'm cruising some blogs!)

Happy Day!

Surfs UP and Surprise 40th!

Happy Summer Friends (or Happy Summer Soon)! Hope you guys have been CHILLAXING! Wow the summer is just breezing past too fast! I told Cristy I was going to blog about rhyming transitions  since I have been off the grid and been a slack partner!! I bet she wishes she had a more active summer partner who was a good worker :). However, maybe I will blog about that next time, because right now I am in summer mode and just want to share about life :).

So Daytona was awesome! Very relaxing! Check out Jake! He and my nephew Hunter took surf lessons at Pure Life Surf Camp!!!! One time my sister in law and I even took a lesson from one of their Professional Surfer Instructors!! It was super hard, but we did get up surfing a time or two.
But bad news, no picture evidence!!

Let me tell you those DUDES and DUDETTES at Pure Life have supervision going on!!! I was super impressed and being a teacher, it is super hard to impress me when it comes to supervision!!

Anyway listen what happened. Jake and Hunter only did 1/2 day surf camp because they get so tired! One afternoon they still had on their camp shirt (all campers are required to wear) and they were surfing in front of our condo which is about 1/4 of mile from where campers surf. All of the sudden I see a surf instructor running down the beach toward us. I went up to him and asked him what was wrong because he looked frantic!! He said that one of the lifeguards down the beach saw some kids way far away from camp with shirts on and he thought maybe they drifted.  He said I knew your guys were half day campers but wanted to make sure they were not other campers and/or that they were safe! IMPRESSIVE!! Thanks PURE LIFE for keeping our kiddos safe while they have a blast!!

We came home from one beach trip and GUESS WHAT??

Those crazy birthday fairies (Mom, Grandmother, Aunts, Cousin, and Sis in Law) who have been sending 40th birthday cards all year from around the world surprised me with a surprise birthday party!!! My  super Mom did a fabulous job organizing everything and everyone and the other super fabulous birthday fairies did an amazing job helping Mom!!   It was super fun!!

That's me with my Bubbie (grandmother) , Mom, and Brooks

!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let us know what you have been doing lately!! If you are going to Daytona and want info about Pure Life Surf School/Camp message us!!

We hope you enjoy some fun times with your family and friends!! Get rejuvenated for another awesome year to come with your future cool kiddos!!

What NOT to do in a job interview!

Hope you guys are all having a great summer so far!

These kiddos crack me up!  My favorite "Kid Snippet" is still MATH CLASS by far!  But this one is pretty darn funny!  We hope none of you are having to interview for jobs right now, but if so...please don't snag ANY interview tips here! ;)

Enjoy the funny!