My Classroom 2011-2012

Hi! How are yall.. I know I haven't been keeping up.. I am just swamped with school, helping Nate with his side business, trying to keep up on my studies for my masters all while teaching and running a household.Geez! Nate started school too and tennis season is in full swing which means it is hectic. I have been meaning to update on here but haven't had a chance..sorry.


Last year I went all out with the Hawaiian Theme..it was only approriate since we just got married in Hawaii and no one was doing it! But this year,  with money a little tight due to the hospital bills and other large expenses I didn't want to have to go out and buy all new classroom items. So this year I went with a Beach/Nautical  Theme.. but think not just hawaii.. any beach any where!!! I worked two weeks 12+ hour days to get ready for school. It is so tiring at the start of the year. But teaching is what I love to do..

Three weeks later here is my classroom!!! Big Reveal ;)









Here is our class libary. I put book covers in the net! One side says dive into a good book and the other side says get hooked on a good book! Totally cute with the fishing net!

Below: This wall has a large bulletin board which I change out the work of the students all thru the year. It says "Sea Us Make Waves".. it is about to be full of work About "What America Means To ME". Next to that is my writing palm tress. One has the cocunuts with the writing process- Think, Write, Revise, Proofread, & Publish. The other has parts of a story- character, setting, plot writen on bananas. On the table is the trays for turning work by subject matter and their homework folders. This has helped tremendously with staying organized.

This is looking towards the front with our reading chairs/couch and palms. I have a tiki lamp behind the couch. On the couch are ikea throw pilloes with a shark and gorilla. The kids love the couch and I wish I had it last year.

Below is the front of the classroom. Which has our Helper board. Class Rules/Homework & Schedule on the other side. Above the board is Hello in different languages.

 Here is the rules "Learn the Rules or Walk the Plank" with their homework below. The Homework poster is laminated so I can wipe and write everyday their homework. I also have a class website so the students/parents can check. I wrote HW on the white board last year but it became a hassle with taking up most of the left corner for HW. I wanted more room to write.  Beside that is our daily schedule.

Close up of our Embley Helper's Sheet. I have Exploerer of the week, administrative assistant, safety commissioners, library liaison, textbook brigrade. Each week these change!
Below is our behavior chart clip system. As well as a pic of the back of the classroom. The other side by the entrance is our news/calendar station.

Here is our WOW Words Wall. It says get hooked on Wow Words. The fish are laminated so that we can wipe and write on them all year long. If the students find an awesome word they can add it to the WOW Wall.

At first I wasn't going to put all the junk on the walls this year.. but I had some of my previous kids come and say they preferred the walls to have things on them.

Hope you enjoyed the tour. Click HERE to go see my classes website. Tomorrow I will show you my mentoring teachers classroom. I helped decorate hers also.. she was mass organizing till the last minute.

School's in Session!

School has started which means that I am working 12 plus hours with maybe a 30 minute break worked in there. I love my job and I wouldn't change my career for anything.. but I am tired.. Which means I my first job is teaching, second blogger/decorator.. so sorry you'll have to take a back seat for awhile!

Life hands you lemons.. and what do you do with them??

So this summer we have had our fair shares of downs! It all started great with our 1st summer off  togeather since I was in college and we found out we were preggo! But than plummeted when we lost the baby.. shortly after that we enjoyed our 1st anniversary married (7 years going strong!).  Once we returned I even had an interesting opportunity come up- I got super excited because basically it was my dream teaching job! But it all feel apart when I didn't get it.. because basically they had to hire within their district.. I was upset.
DON'T get me wrong, I love teaching where I am.. but my employer has  no health insurance (so I am on Nate's- which is a huge expense), I have no retirement, no sick days, no summer pay, and pay is not comparable to public school. We had planned that I would get into public school this year but with all the cuts in the state we thought maybe not and though ok we'll make it work.. until this opportunity came along and we counted our chickens before it hatched!

So basically- I thought this great opportunity came along and didn't pan out.. than we got hit with huge medical expenses from my lovely visit to the hospital..when I say HUGE- think thousands. We are still debating with the insurance company.

Well it gets better (sarcasm)- yesterday we went to the grocery store to get food for lunches since we both go back to work. We spend a ton of $$ on groceries and come home to find out my tire is flat on the Toyota!! It is a blessing it didn't happen at work, on the first day of school or while I was driving..  We knew the tires were gonna go soon- we had even talked about it. But we were crossing our fingers it would wait till school started back again- insert Tricia has a steady pay check again!

My lovely hubby put the spare on last night because there has been heat advisory here and so hot.. so he put it on and we drove it straight to Discount Tire ( I had a spare go flat one time driving to the tire store- so we wanted to avoid that). We placed the keys in the overnight box and went home. This morning they said that due to a new law each sets of 2 tires have to match within I think he said 2 cm.. so basically because one was new I needed a second. Which the flat was on the back and I really needed new front tires- needless to say it turned into 4 new tires! Surprise!I guess I will be riding in new tire style to school at least..lol.

In addition to all that has already panned out this summer we had some big choices to make about life.. stuff that isn't little.  We both also go back to school which means Nate is starting Tennis and will be gone all the time and I will be stressed and spending my life at school. We both love our jobs but when you have been off for 2 months going back is a huge anxiety on top of everything else that is happening. Yesterday I actually had an anxiety attack about it all- $$, school starting, everything I needed to do at home and school, my master's program and my alternative certification program.. It is just alot.

Than today my boss and a coworker called me. I found out enrollment at school is down and that a couple teachers will not be coming back because they don't have a job for them.  It all put it in perspective to me.. We may be dealing with alot.. but I have a job to go back to.. and that's life..

Life hands you lots of lemons.. and we have to make lemonade..I think I am starting to be a pro at this lemonade business.

Sick..yuck..

I'm sick in this awful heat!! It is over 100 degrees here and I have a sinus infection and fever blister. Yes a fever blister and if you don't get them than you probably have no sympathy for the pain my face is experiencing.. burning, swelling and hurting!! Grr.. I am sure it is because I am stressing about school starting which is happening on Tues. the 9th I go back for teacher's work days..yikes!



Anyways, while I am sick I have sat and caught up on my homework and searched blog land.. have you been over to The Modern Cottage yet? I love Allison's house.. it is absolutely cozy, stylish with a causal flair and totally kid friendly.. I adore it.. check out her house here..

I have officially 4 more days to summer.. it's so sad to see it end. But with the way this summer has gone I am ready to get back in the swing of things. Hope yall have a great rest of the week and stay cool.

Waiting Game

Have you ever had to wait for something.. something you wanted so bad and you had no control over the destiny of the outcome? The waiting game sucks.. it definitely sucks when you are a person such as myself that is so emotional invested.. but what can you do other than wait and wait and wait.

Time will tell... wish me luck!

Time..

I remember as a child when my grandpa died.. it was the first death I could comprehend and it crushed me. I cried and I wasn't sure what to do with my emotions. My mom comforted me and she said the words her mother told her "With Time This Too Shall Pass", basically she was stating that this hurt will pass and you will be ok. I remember my first love and breaking up- thought the world was going to end.. the words were spoke again. I hated those words..
But I am learning what those words mean as an adult.. with time everything passes. One year ago today I was celebrating in Katy our At Home Reception with our families and friends..seems like an eternity ago. 

Our wedding and reception were a blimp on the radar in the scheme of life..We didn't even know what the next year held for us.. the ups and downs of life.
On month ago at this very time I was sitting in an emergency room hearing from a Doctor that I was never pregnant and that all the pregnancy tests were false negatives. I was hurting physically and mentally..a pain one can't comprehend unless they have been there. One month ago my OB confirmed I had lost our second child to an early miscarriage.
Now Today I sit here and it feels like the memories of the ER are so far away.. not a blimp yet but distant.. yet the loss is still there. It will always be on our hearts. Whether you have a child living or not once you are pregnant you instantly become a mother and attached to that child.

Today I sit here knowing that my body is healing.. preparing for it's future journey- whether that be a child or not and I am hopeful. Hopeful much like I was on my wedding night on our journey of life together. Hopeful that the future holds beautiful things for us. Hopeful that Gods plan is one that we can endure.. because losing one pregnancy is hard, but losing two is damn right scary! Nate and I are both unsure if we can go thru another miscarriage (the emotional side is just so disheartening).. but we are hopeful.

Hopeful is the word .. hopeful our journey will be beautiful.. even if it means we have to endure the chaos to get to the sunshine...

So pray.. pray our journey ends in sunshine and beautiful things.. whether that be that we bear children or not.. I know God's plan is our plan..

It's amazing what a little time will do isn't it? This too shall pass.. in time..

Until than I'll be waiting..

Our House when we bought it & Now..

We bought our house in 2008, it was a foreclosure and needed a ton of work.. I am not sure I have ever shown the before pictures so I thought I would share.. I would love to post a page with before and after pics..wish I had taken more before pics now.. darn it..
Master Bedroom- Had carpet and wall paper on bottom. I took the wall paper down and primed here.. Nate and I layed the floors ourselves thru the house.

 Nate wearing my sunglasses as protective wear..

 Master Bath.. horrible shape
Pool getting emptied and look no landscaping at all. The pool was covered with those timbers and plastic yet still full.. it was a black lagoon and we didn't even know how deep it was till they emptied it and did the plaster and pool equipment!

 No paint in stairs and no hand rail..

Oh and love the yellow paint in the living area along with the UT orange wall paper in the rest of house and lack of all lighting ..don't forget the verticals which we lived with till last year!

Both guest rooms were that country yellow but I only have a pic of guest room #2

We bought the house and still had a lease so we took a month to stay in our lease and get this place in liveable mood..which meant to paint, lay flooring, add lighting, add back appliances, doors, toilets, handrailing..etc. We have come a long way! I can't believe all that we have been thru in our marriage but all that this house has been thru!!

Here is the house NOW

Entry way into formal living room, den and dining room..nates office is thru french doors.

Formal living room with pool table..

Guest Room #1

 

Guest Room #2

 

Dining Room

Guest Bath

Master Bath & Master Bedroom

Kitchen Eat In Area..

I have more pics to  add but I think that is enough for now.. if I could only figure out how to add a tab at the top to add a before or after..