Survey Says...

I was tagged so now I must fill out this lovely survey. Megan over at Meg & Tom Plus Brayden is an east coast friend of mine. I know Megan from playing field hockey and lacrosse with her in high school and Greg graduated with her. Now we are bloggy and facebook friends and we love sharing crafts and talking about our adorable little boys. Well here you go Megan... this one's for you!!!

1. If you could be friends with any fictional character who would you choose and why?

~Hmmmmmm I would say Carrie Bradshaw and Charlotte York from Sex and the City. LOVE all the fashion and getting to live in the city

2. What is the best date you've ever had? (It could be with the person you are with now or someone from the past)

~It's hard to think of the best date... it's been so long since I have been on one. I would have to say our 1 year wedding anniversary. We stayed the weekend at an amazing hotel and ate some of the best food ever that weekend.

3. What was the last good book that you read?

~This is not something you usually hear from a teacher, but I dont really like to read... I do enjoy children's books though

4. Someone gives you a hundred dollars and tells you that you have to spend it today - on yourself. What would you buy?

~WoW $100 on me?!?! I am going to have to take Megan's answer and say a manicure, pedicure and massage (if there is money left after the mani/pedi)

5. If you could travel anywhere in the world what would your top 5 places be?

~Italy
~France
~Greece
~Australia
~London

6. What are 2 or 3 items on your "bucket list"?

~Thats a tough one... I guess I would say travel. I would love to make it to any of the places on the list above.

7. If you could live the life of one TV character who would it be, what show are they from, and why?

~Charlotte York from Sex and the City. Amazing clothes, great job (in the gallery), finds her true love and has a beautiful family.

8. When you sit down for Thanksgiving dinner in a few weeks what will you say that you are most grateful for this year?

~I am thankful for my very supportive family and friends. I am also very thankful for my husband, son and my bun in the oven :) I don't know what I would do without my husband and my days are so much brighter when I hear my son laugh and giggle.

Now I need to tag a few people to complete this survey. Since my blog is not so popular I only have a few followers. I will tag Kara @ Mine for the Making and hopefully she will fill out the survey and tag a few of her followers :)

Here are your questions:

1. If you could be friends with any fictional character who would you choose and why?


2. What is the best date you've ever had? (It could be with the person you are with now or someone from the past)

3. What was the last good book that you read?

4. Someone gives you a hundred dollars and tells you that you have to spend it today - on yourself. What would you buy?

5. If you could travel anywhere in the world what would your top 5 places be?

6. What are 2 or 3 items on your "bucket list"?

7. If you could live the life of one TV character who would it be, what show are they from, and why?

8. When you sit down for Thanksgiving dinner in a few weeks what will you say that you are most grateful for this year?

YAY I WON!!!!!

Kara, a teacher and mommy friend of mine, is super crafty and has an amazing blog over at Mine for the Making . Kara has offered a few giveaways over the last few months and of course I have entered all of them. Last week, Kara had a 200 Reader Giveaway and she was giving away some super cute Fall Blocks. Well guess who the winner was?!?!?!?

ME!!!! I am so happy to win (I never win anything) and I can't wait to put those super cute fall blocks with all of my scarecrows and leaves that I already have out.

Thank you Kara!!! You have totally made my day :)

Long weekend in Maryland

Carson and I flew to Maryland Wednesday night ans stayed until Monday morning. We had a great time visiting family and friends.
Wednesday night, Carson was great on the airplane. He was such a big boy and sat in his seat the entire time. We played games, read books, colored, ate snacks and watched movies. Carson was so excited to go to Mimi and Pop's house. As the plane was flying into Baltimore Carson was looking out the window saying "there's Mimi's house" at any and all the little lights he saw. When we landed it was midnight so we couldnt wait to get back to my parents house so we could go to bed. Carson slept in until 11:30 Maryland time so we got a late start on the day. Our only plans for Thursday was to go to the pumpkin patch so we ate breakfast/lunch and got ready to go. I really wanted to take Carson to Butler's Orchard for all of the fun stuff they do, but since it was during the week, none of the fun activities were going on. We decided to go to a different farm where we could also pick apples and they had animals for us to see. Carson really enjoyed all of the pumpkins and couldn't decide which one he wanted. He tried to pick up several that were way too big for him. When we finally found one small enough for him, he carried it and "threw" it in the wheel barrel. Then we were off to the orchard to pick some apples. Carson had so much fun finding the good apples and picking them. As he picked them he said "turn, turn turn" and he would turn them until they came off of the tree. It was so cute. Too bad for me, my camera died shortly after we started :(
We ended up picking enough apples to make an apple pie and even had a few extras to snack on.
Thursday night Carson and I went over to my best friend, Kara's house to see her and those 2 little cuties, Evan and Landon. They were not feel well, but that didnt stop me from cuddling on them and Carson had fun playing with their toys and he even helped me feed Landon.
Friday was not a very exciting day, we just went shopping. Friday night, my other bestie Cari, dragged me to the high school football game. Some her her co-workers were going to be there so she told them she would go. Cari teaches middle school Spanish so she saw several old students who were now in high school. Let's just say I was ready to leave after 5 minutes. Games are not them same 10 years later.
Saturday was another lazy day. I did some more shopping with my mom and got to eat some Rita's Italian Ice :) Then it was time to start getting ready for my 10 year high school reunion.
The reunion was nice, but definitely not was I was picturing. I know the planners did their best with what they had to work with, but it was a little dull. Oh well, at least I can say I went.
Sunday was a long day... we decided to drive to Salisbury to visit my sister. It was probably not the best idea to be driving in the car all day the last day in town, but oh well, it was nice to see my sister and her boyfriend. For those of you who know what Salisbury is like, you know that there is NOTHING to do there. We went out to lunch and then took Carson to the zoo and park. The Salisbury Zoo is not like any zoo you have ever been too. This zoo has about 5 animals and and lots of trees. Carson did have fun hanging out with Tyler and wanted Tyler to carry him around. There is a very nice park at the end of the zoo and Carson had a lot of fun playing. By this time Carson was tired and ready for a nap so we headed back to Samantha's apartment to drop her and Tyler off and then head back home. Carson fell asleep after a few minutes and slept about 2 hours. Once we got back to my parents house I had a long night of laundry and packing. I needed to make sure everything was done before I went to bed because our flight was at 7am and we needed to leave by 4:30am.
The next morning, we woke up at 4am and headed to the airport. Carson started out in a great mood. It wasnt until about hour 2 of the 5 hour flight he started flipping out. He no longer wanted to sit in his carseat. It probably wouldnt have been too bad if it hadnt been a full flight. Carson had to sit on my lap since he wouldnt sit in his seat and that got old quick. I finally got him back in his seat for the last hour and we watched movies and ate some cookies. When we landed, Greg was waiting for us at the gate. I was so happy to see him. I was exhausted. We got our bag and headed home. Carson and I both fell asleep in the car. Carson slept for 2 hours once we got home and I slept for about an hour. Bed time came early that night and Carson was in bed at 7 and I was in bed at 7:30. I slept for almost 10 hours and boy did I feel good this morning. I did have to go back to work today though. It was a long day and I am glad it's over. It will be another early night tonight.

I will leave you with some pictures of our trip:

Fun on the airplane :)




Pumpkin Patch






Uncle "Deedle" (Daniel) helped Carson get an apple that was high in the tree


Picking apples with Mimi


Salisbury Zoo
Carson and his buddy Tyler





"Flying" with Aunt "Mantha" (Samantha)

It's October!

Wow, I cant believe it is October already. Before you know it, it will be Christmas! The weather here in Arizona is still hot... high 90s :( I really can not wait for the fall weather to finally get here. Until then, I am enjoying my pumpkin spice candles.
Not much new going on here. Carson and I will be headed to Maryland on Wednesday night and we will be there until Monday morning. I am looking forward to some relaxing time with family and friends. This vacation is coming at the perfect time. I need a break from stress and reality for a while. I will be sure to update when we return. Of course I am sure I will need a vacation to recover from my vacation.

I will leave you with a few newer pictures of Carson :)








Dont you just love Carson's shirt ;)
(this was a sneak peak for those who actually pay attention to my blog)

Chef Carson

This morning I thought I would make pancakes for breakfast. Carson immediately started helping. He wanted to get everything out of the pantry and cabinets. I told him to go get his stool so he could help mommy. He was so excited. We started by measuring and pouring the mix then added the milk, eggs and oil. Then Carson began stirring. He was saying "stir, stir stir" the entire time. It was the cutest thing ever. He even got mad when I took it from him so I could get the lumps out and start pouring the batter into the pan.
Here are a few pictures from our fun morning.






My mom used to make Mickey Mouse pancakes for us when we were little so this was my attempt at a Mickey Mouse pancake for Carson.


Carson enjoying his pancakes :)

New Name, New Design, New Grade!

I decided I wanted to give my blog a face-lift and with that came a new name. I think it fits me much better :)
Well, a lot has been going on over the last few weeks. I went back to work on August 3rd and boy has it been hard getting back into a routine. I am lucky that Greg gets Carson up and ready in the mornings. It would just be too hard for me to get both of us up, ready and out the door by 6:45. I love that I can get to school around 7am and get things done. It makes leaving after school so much easier.
Now I really just need to get something off my chest....

I LOVE 3rd GRADE!!!!
I can not begin to tell you how much I am loving 3rd grade. I have a fantastic class and great parents. I am having so much fun learning the curriculum and the kids actually like it when I have my Kindergarten Moments. I just tell them "This is my first year in 3rd grade too. We will learn together" and actually a few of them have gone home and told their parents that. So cute!

I am still trying to get my room completely organized so that there is enough space for everything so hopefully I will get that finished over the next few weeks. I am in the process of changing bulletin boards around (long story short- principal as decided no fabric this year) and I am excited for my "Everyday Goal" board :) Hopefully I will get some pictures up here soon.

Well, Mommy duty is calling. Hope you enjoy the new layout and new name. Tomorrow is Hump Day!!!

Back to School Crafts

So about a week or so ago I got the idea to make gifts for my new team members at school. I have been wanting to Mod Podge clipboards since I received one as a gift in February from a student. I already had most of the materials, but I did need some more ribbon and 2 more clipboards so off to Walmart I went at 10:30 at night. While I was there I saw super cute wooden letters and thought I could Mod Podge those as well, bu this time I would make them for my old teammates in kindergarten. Walmart is my new favorite place to go to for craft supplies. Although their selection is limited, they do have great prices on what they do have.
Anyways, back to the crafts. I started crafting as soon as I got home and I was up until 2am. I decided to start with the letters so I picked out some scrapbook paper from my stash. I traced the letter on the paper. Be sure to trace on the back of the paper AND you must turn the letter so that the front of the letter is down on the paper or else it wont match up. Then I painted the sides of the letter with a coordinating color to the paper used. Once the paint was dry I "painted" a light layer of Mod Podge on the top of the letter and carefully placed the paper on the letter. I then "painted" an even layer of Mod Podge over the paper and the sides of the letter. I had to do about 2 coats to make it even. Be aware that you may get a few ripples in the paper when putting the top layer of Mod Podge on the paper. I freaked out and tried very hard to smooth it out, but once it dried the ripples were gone.
When everything was dry, I used ribbon and some bling to embellish it a little.

*Here's a tip: after reading the internet and watching a few you tube videos I found out that it is best to let the paper and first layer of Mod Podge (under the paper) dry over night before putting the top layer of Mod Podge on top of the paper.

Here is a picture of a few letters I made for some great friends and fellow teachers: (I dont know why it is sideways, it is not saved that way on my computer)






Now on to the clipboards!
I pretty much did the same steps for the clipboards as I did for the letters. I forgot to take pictures of the final products, but I am in the process of making another one and I will be sure to take pictures and post them.