Retreat Photo Shoot

We had our church retreat at Camp Doniphan this weekend. We were able to sneak away for a few minutes into the woods to take some pictures! I was hoping to get some of Ryan for more "official" 6 month pictures of Ryan. He can't really sit up that great yet, so getting some good poses was tricky. He did great in our family shots though! Enjoy!

Bench picture

I have four nieces and nephews. They used to always take cousin pictures when they were at my mom's house on a bench outside. When Courtney was born I was excited to get her in a shot. The older ones don't love it anymore so this is fff (forced family fun). But yay for Ryan's first bench picture!

First Day of Preschool!

Courtney started preschool last week! We are very thankful she is able to go. It has been quite a fiasco since Dan and I both work and don't have grandparents that can pick her up from the babysitter and take her. An opening came up at Blue Springs High School preschool program (where meemaw Jody works) and she really helped us work out transportation and getting in! Thanks Jody! Courtney goes on Monday, Tuesday and Thursdays from 9:00 - 1:15. She has 4 different buddies (high school kids) who come in to work with her. She gets plenty of playtime with the other kids though. She has come home with some creative projects and some curriucular activities, too! 

Here are all the obligatory first day of school pictures!

Walking into school like a big girl!

Meeting a new friend. 

Two of the projects that came home on the first day. The Kissing Hand - she traced her hand, cut out a heart and drew a picture of her and Ryan. The other is a painting.

When we pulled up to the school and I turned off the car, she said, "Okay mom, I'll have a good day".  That almost made me tear up that my little girl is big enough to just head on it to a new school, no big deal! I 

Six Months Old

Ryan was six months old on September 14.  Ryan has grown so much this month! The most fun thing was that he started to roll all over the place! He is under the couch, almost to the hall and able to get wherever he wants! He has been pushing way up off of his chest and we've even found him in full push up position a few times! He will get up on his knees and rock like he wants to start crawling. It won't be long!

He started going to Tina's full time and loves his time there. I am sure all the little girls keep his attention. He sleeps better and takes better naps there than he does at home! Another great thing that we've noticed is that Ryan no longer hates the carseat. We took a trip to Overland Park a few weeks ago and he was awake, happy and looking around the whole way! It was a miracle.

Ryan got his first illness a few weeks ago. He was diagnosed with croupe and an ear infection. He hated taking his medicine (duh). Whoever gives infant babies medicine flavored like bubble gum is an idiot. How about we make that medicine tasteless, hmmmm? They have tasted breastmilk (or formula) and that's it. Anyway...I had that argument about everyday with Dan as we tried to make him swallow his medicine.

A non kids post - my classroom!

Pinterest is a teacher's best friend. Pinterest + 5 months of maternity leave = one cute classroom! I found a teacher blog that sold decor. One of the "sets" had this color scheme and I went with it! I didn't buy the set because half the fun is in the making!

The class rules sign is from a blog that was a free printable. I painted a cheap frame I had at home. I love those tiny little blue frames (that I painted). They are from Michael's dollar bins and I got them on clearance! I googled "Dr. Seuss quote images" and found these cute quotes and just put them in a word document to size them. 

Another printable...I loved these because they were in my color palette!

A close up of the fancy frames. 

This idea was stolen from my friend Julie. I plan to have the kids write tweets once a week (or more often) about something they enjoyed from the week. If they write about math, I will come up with cute different hashtags for each week (#ilovenumbers or #icandolongdivision)

These curtains were bought for $2 at a garage sale this summer and I added some rick rack. They cover up the mess that is 25 backpacks. The copy boxes on top hold copies for each subject. 

My reading corner. The kids love the crates with cushions!  The green and yellow calendar math components totally bum me out...

This was the first thing I made for my classroom! I started this color scheme by going and buying a ton of coordinating scrap paper. Love these letters. 

More Seuss. 

This looks a little messy, but anyway...book bins with labels. 

I got this idea from a professional development book I read this summer. I pick a new book each week to read. It's then "blessed" and sure to be picked up and read by many a kid. 

Homemade name tags and table numbers. My cricut earned a gold star for working so hard this summer! 

Cans with scrapbook paper for pencils, erasers, pencil shavings, etc. 

My desk

This letter border is actually scrapbook paper. I used 3 inch strips, so each piece could be cut in 4 pieces,  so it made 4 feet of border!

Another cute printable in my colors! Yay!

Birthday pencils. 

Cute letter labels for my books. Thanks cricut. 

For meet the teacher night. 

And last but not least: the hall bulletin board. This was my idea. I didn't see it on pinterest or anything! I made a little template in Word with a blank profile picture face and added the students names. On the second day of school I had them write in a status update about what they are excited about for 5th grade.