Western Theme Classroom Decor Packs!!

I LOVE my Western Theme Classroom! Take a TOUR HERE!

I am always adding to the decor.

I recently just created 2 HUGE WESTERN THEME DECOR PACKS: PART 1 and PART 2.

I wanted to put them all together but the file was too large.

Check out my ROOTIN TOOTIN PACKS!!

Get it Below on TPT!

WESTERN THEME DECOR PART 1

and

WESTERN THEME DECOR PART 2

LIEBSTER AWARD--Love it!

LIEBSTER AWARD!!!! 
How COOL!!!

I was so excited and honored when I was nominated for the LIEBSTER AWARD from Jill at ABC's And Polka Dots.

After reading more about this award, I learned The LIEBSTER award is presented to 
newish bloggers, like myself.

“Liebster” means favorite, beloved, cute, lovely, dearest and welcome in German, and this award helps to draw attention to blogs that aren’t too well known.

I think most importantly, it's a great way to connect and 
make new blogging friends!

AND I am very excited to do just that!

THANK YOU JILL!!! VERY SWEET and YOU MADE MY DAY!!

Here are the "rules" for this award:

1. Link back to the blog that nominated me

2. Nominate 5-11 blogs with fewer than 200 readers

3. Answer the questions posted for me by my nominator

4. Share 11 random facts about myself

5. Create 11 questions for my nominees

6. Contact my nominees and let them know I've nominated them

Now I just need to search for my nominees!
This will be my goal in the next week!

JILL'S QUESTIONS FOR ME:

1. What is your favorite ice cream flavor?

I love strawberry cheesecake ice cream! Especially from Cold Stones!

2. What is your favorite type of music to listen to?

I love all types of music so this is hard to answer. Funny, but I actually love "techy dance" music, especially when I am by myself in my car.

My husband laughs because every time he gets in the car after me, the stereo is up so loud!

3. What is your favorite subject to teach?

I like teaching writing to my kiddos. It's hard for them but I love putting on calm music and watching them write in their little "offices".

4. Where did you go to college?

I got my bachelor's degree and master's degree from National University. I will probably be paying off my school loans forever now haha!

5. Do you prefer sweet or salty?

SWEET!!!!! Sweets (chocolates) are my weakness! I ABSOLUTELY LOVE chocolate chip Pazookies from BJ's restaurant! My favorite candy is Reeces Pieces.

6. Name 5 things that are currently in your purse.

1. Tic Tacs (I drink so much coffee I feel like I always have coffee breath)

2. Two Starbucks gift cards (my favorite place!)

3. My cute cheetah wallet (full of receipts and needed to be cleaned out)

4. My new I-phone!!!! 

5. A to-do list of things to get at Target (my favorite store)

7. Where is your favorite vacation destination?

Anywhere tropical!! I have been to Cabo and Cancun twice and I have loved every minute of those vacations! The water is so clear and it's a perfect getaway!

8. How long have you been teaching?

I taught preschool for 5 years while going through college

and this next year will be my 10th year teaching in public schools.

So all together, 15 years!

9. What is your favorite children's book?

My all time favorite children's book is The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. It's so sweet and tender and teaches so much about unconditional love. This last year though, I was obsessed with Pete the Cat!!!

10. Do you prefer the mountains or the beach?

BEACH! BEACH! BEACH! NO question! I live in San Diego and my favorite thing to do is to get a cup of coffee and go to the beach! I love the sand, water and beautiful sunsets. Nothing makes me feel closer to God than being at the beach! 

11. Name one special thing about the town you live in.

One special thing about the city I live in is the weather! There is no where else in America (in my opinion) where the weather is more perfect! San Diego weather is always great!

11 RANDOM FACTS ABOUT ME!

1. I am a fraternal twin and I am married to an identical twin!

2. I am currently pregnant with TRIPLETS!!!!! Yes! It's true!

 (2 identicals and one fraternal)

3. My favorite stores are Target and Victoria's Secret!

4. I am a reality TV junky! 

5. I love sushi, diet coke and coffee!

6. I am very sensitive (which is my strength and my weakness)

7. I love throwing parties and having people at my house. 

8. I've always wanted to open up a bed and breakfast on the beach!

9. I can stand on my head forever! Honestly, if all the blood didn't drain to my head, I could stay on my head for hours.

10. My favorite color is pink!

11. I still sleep with my blanky from when I was a child. Silly, I know.

QUESTIONS FOR MY NOMINEES:

1. What is your favorite thing to do?

2. What are your 2 favorite stores?

3. What two words would best describe you?

4. What is something new you want to learn?

5. If you weren't a teacher, what else would you do?

6. Who is in your family?

7. What is the hardest part about blogging for you?

8. What do you do to relax?

9. What is the last movie you saw?

10. Would you rather have an appetizer or dessert?

11. How long have you been teaching? What grades?

Teacher of the Year Award!

WOW!!! I work at the most amazing school, 

with the most WONDERFUL, HARD working staff! 

Honestly, EVERY teacher at our school is fantastic.

So obviously, I was extremely honored to receive 

TEACHER OF THE YEAR!!

This was our district award's ceremony. They honored each teacher who won.

From left to right: Stephanie Southcott (my principal), DiAnn Albert (my vice principal), Katy Hammack (teacher), ME!! (I have the teal blazer on), and my three kinder buddies, Shawna, Megan and Dennae!!!!!!!

This is my family! I LOVE them sooooo much!

They all came to my award's ceremony!

From left to right: My younger brother Jared, My older brother Jeremy, My sister in law Rachael, my twin sister Jennifer, my husband Eric, ME, my mom, my dad

Bottom Row: my niece Kirra, my nephew Kaiden and my daughter Makena

Thank you PRIDE Academy for this honor!!!

Mother's Day Tea!

PHEW! We made it through our Mother's Day Tea today!
It was so much fun!!!!

You can purchase a lot of the little "goodies"
in my BEARY SPECIAL MOTHER'S DAY TEA UNIT HERE.

Here are some pictures of our day:

This was our main food table.

We had muffins (donated by Mimi's Cafe),

croissants, grapes and water (donated by Costco),

scones (our amazing Vice Principal made them for us, along with her homemade butter!!!!),

hot tea (donated by Starbucks)

and cold tea (which I got at the Dollar Store).

I brought in a lot of my own platters and pitchers.

I put doilies under everything to give it a real tea feel.

I made the little bear signs (which are all in my Mother's Day Tea TPT Unit).

I used white linens for the tables

 (you can use regular plastic table clothes as well, I just have a lot of my own).

Since our theme was TEDDY BEARS and TEAPOTS, I had each of the kids bring in a teddy bear from home. This was an easy and CHEAP way to decorate the tables.

I used recycled jam jars for the centerpieces and put PICKED BOCA-VILLA flowers inside them (again easy and no cost at all)!

I put doilies under the jars.

This is the BEARY SPECIAL BOOKLET each of the little love muffins made for their  mommies, grandmas and aunties. It is full of cute gifts. Again, it is all in my TPT unit.

The boys wore homemade ties and the girls wore bonnets. 

The bonnets were made from paper plates and bowls.

I cut a large circle in the center of the plate and stapled a bowl to it. 

I hole punched to holes on the sides and added yarn.

The kiddos decorated them with ribbon, flowers and stickers.

I set up 2 photo areas.

My daughter has all this tea stuff in her room so I just grabbed it. 

Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful, hard-working mommies!

Mother's Day Tea! Teddy Bears and Teapots

We will be having a BEARY special and 

TEA-RRIFIC Mother's Day Tea!

Click here to get my 

TEDDY BEARS and TEAPOTS PACK on TPT!

 Here is a sneak peak of what is in this pack. I will be posting more pictures of our actual tea party later.

 

Dear Blog Diary: Entry 1 "infertility"

Dear Blog Diary,

It's been a long time since I blogged! Almost 3 weeks! So much has been going on in my itty bitty world. I'm not just a kindergarten teacher in Kinderworld, but I'm also a wife and mommy.
I think it's so important to let other working moms, teachers and stay home mommies understand what goes on outside the teaching world in our own personal lives.
I love sharing my own ideas and inspirations as a teacher, but I really feel lead to share about what God is doing in my personal life as well.
I was very hesitant about sharing things "outside of the teaching world" on a teaching blog, but I have been so inspired and encouraged by other bloggers opening up and sharing about their lives, that I have decided to as well. I hope as I begin sharing, at least one person will be encouraged.

So here goes...
PART 1 (a vert short and condensed version): My husband and I just celebrated our 10 year anniversary last July. YEA! He is an amazing man and I feel so blessed God brought him into my life. We both came from big families, so naturally, we wanted to have a big family as well. Ten years ago, we thought by this time in our lives, we would have 3-4 kids. EASY PEEZY RIGHT! Wrong!!!!! After we were married for 2 years, we started trying for our first child. 4 YEARS LATER, we realized we definitely struggled with infertility.  This was vey devastating news at the time! Especially since I love children so much! I found out I had PCOS (cysts on my ovaries, which creates infertility problems for many women). The fertility specialist said we had less than 4% chance of getting pregnant on our own and also with specific infertility treatments. This was a very emotional time. I felt angry and sad and that it was just plain unfair! I remember crying on my bed and my dad came over to my house. I'll never forget what he said, "Be patient. God has lots of little Eric and Jaimie's in store for you." This was so simple but it did bring me comfort and hope.  Sooooo (good news), as we began moving forward with this process and getting all the medications and details, I found out on my 29th birthday I was pregnant with my first child!!!! Makena Kaelyn was born on November 14th, 2007 and her name means "Gift from God" and that's exactly what she was!!!!!! She is beautiful and sweet and truly a gift.  So what did I learn... Although life can be unfair and messy and emotional, I wouldn't change a thing! Makena came at the perfect time and I learned so much about myself and truly what it means to be patient and faithful.
(Note: this really is just the short version....there are so many other details, but since this is my first blog diary entry about this, I'm still a little scared about sharing).

PART 2: Makena has been such a blessing and I love being a mommy. I'm like any normal mommy though and life can still feel overwhelming and busy and crazy at times (Especially when you're a kindergarten teacher too!!!! HaHa).
So, part 2 of my blog diary is really where I want to begin sharing my journey with you, especially in the next couple months.
Two years after Makena was born, my husband and I decided to start trying again for baby #2. For some silly reason, I thought it was gonna be so easy this time. I already had a baby, my body knew what to do, it was gonna just happen! Wrong again! Three years of trying later, NO BABY! I kept telling myself, this is it. I'm not gonna have any more kids. We can't afford fertility treatments. It must just not be meant to be. I'm gonna just give up. So why didn't we give up?????? Well, for the last two years, Makena has been praying for a baby sister and brother....TWINS to be exact. For her 4th birthday, she wished for this AND ALSO for her 5th birthday!!!! Really! And every night (literally), she prays for twins. She has taught me what child-like faith really looks like. There are no impossibilities with children. No what ifs. She just believes and hopes and keeps praying.  The other night, she even said, "God, I have been praying for a long time for my brother and sister. I hope they come soon." It melted my heart and I knew I didn't want to give up yet.
So two months ago, my husband and I started seeing an amazing fertility specialist again. I am now 35 years old and in the new category for moms having kids "higher risk".  After a lot of thought, we decided we are going to definitely move forward and begin fertility treatment next month. We decided to do invitro-infertilization, which is very EXCITING but also very expensive (especially on a teacher and police officer salary). This is really another reason I wanted to blog about this. I have started meeting so many other women struggling with the same issues. What should we do? Can we afford this? For us, this is really what it came down too. When we are 60 years old, will we regret trying or not trying? Easy answer. We will never regret trying. It might be harder, more emotional, and more expensive but it will be so worth it!!!!!
So the journey begins!
I am a kindergarten teacher but I am also a mommy. In the next couple months, I will keep posting classroom ideas and inspirations, but I will also be blogging about the itty bitty part of me. Life outside of the classroom.  I hope you will be a part of this journey with me!!!!

Spring Break

Today is officially the start of my Spring Break!!!!

What am I going to do for 2 whole weeks! HHHMMMMM!

Sleep in, drink coffee, read in the sun, walk at the beach, sleep in!

I am so excited to spend time with my honey and daughter Makena!!!

I hope you all have a wonderful break as well. WE NEED IT!