Eight Months! (a little behind!)

Well I am clearly behind on this post!  School has started, and I'm feeling the effects of it big time!

Here's what's going on in Lilly's world these days:

•After going to the doctor today to discover Lilly has double ear infections...AGAIN, we found out she weighs 18 lbs. 11oz.  Still Not quite sure how tall she is these days.

•Lilly continues to babble all the time.  She's constantly saying mamamamama, dadadadada, and other sounds.  She is also very much into letting us know when she is not happy.  She lets out the funniest little grunt, ha!

•Lilly sleeps well most nights except for when she has ear infections.  Those obviously make her like a newborn again and make mommy and daddy even more tired!

•Lilly continues to eat jar food, but we have also been giving her Cheerios, Puffs, and frozen mixed veggies.  She seems to like real food, and I think we will be well on our way to eating more this month.

•In the past few weeks she has conquered stairs.  She has no problem climbing right up them, but we are terrified of the fall down!  We let her climb up, but stay right behind her just in case. :) 

•Lilly is wearing size 6-12 month clothes, 9 month clothes, and some 12 month clothes. Like all things, it depends on the brand and the actual clothing. She is still wearing a size 3 diaper.

• Lilly has also had to have breathing treatments every day for at least two times a day.  She HATES them, and it is not my most favorite time of the day either.  Luckily, she does them at school too so we don't always have to enjoy the "pleasure" of giving them. 

This girl is an absolute joy!  She is still the sweetest little thing, and I'm desperately needing the clock to slow down!!

Fair Time

We've started a new tradition since living up North.  We head to my parents every year for the Knox County Fair.  It's a good time, and it gives Nana a chance to show off her girls to all of her friends. :) 

I had never been to a county fair before my parents moved here, so it's been quite the experience.  There are your typical carnival rides, 4-H presentations of animals, and three nights of concerts.  We happened to get a cooler weekend which made it much nicer.  I am definitely looking forward to the coming years with this tradition. 

Lainey rode a horse for the first time.  We pulled into the parking lot, and this man was riding his horse around directing traffic.  Lainey walked up to him and asked if she could pet the horse, and he got right down and asked her if she wanted to ride it.  She jumped at the chance and was loving life!  She later asked Nana to get her one. :)

Lainey and I got wristbands so we could ride all the rides we wanted.  We learned that lesson the hard way last year, so we're now prepared for wristbands every year!  Lainey loved all the kid rides, and we attempted some big kid ones as well.

This is one of those "big kid" rides we attempted.  I am a thrill seeker for sure, but I've always been leery of rides that travel around and are thrown up and down every few nights.  I decided to get over my fear for the sake of my thrill seeking child and ride some of the "big kid" rides with her.  Big mistake!  The thing about all of these rides is that they look a lot more mild from the ground than in reality.  We decided to go on the Octopus, a ride that is named because it looks like an octopus with legs out that go up and down and round and round.  Fun, right?!? 

Well after being (very loosely) strapped into our car, the ride got started.  We quickly learned that this was not going to be fun for either one of us.  I was literally hanging onto my daughter for her dear life.  My dad finally had to ask the ride guy if he would stop it because we were all getting a little nervous.  He graciously did, and Lainey and I got off the ride swearing to never do that again!  It would have been fun riding with another adult, but I learned my lesson about riding with my four year old.  We decided we would stick to the ones that spin round and round in one place, not round and round while moving up and down in the air!



Here's my sweet girls before the Hairball concert.  Hairball is a local 70s and 80s cover band that is AMAZING!  They really do put on a fantastic show, and have now become a permanent part in the fair lineup.

When we weren't at the fairgrounds, we were hanging out on the farm. 

Lainey with the beans she had planted earlier this year.

Picking and shucking corn for the first time

  This may be one of my favorite pictures of all time because you can just see how much these two love each other!  I am a Daddy's Girl for sure, but Lainey is certainly giving me a run for my money on who is Papa's favorite, ha!

Enjoying the fruits of her labor. 

Sweet sisters hanging out on the farm, and by hanging out I mean taking a million pictures for their crazy momma!  

And finally ending the weekend at Nana & Papa's church.  Crunkle didn't plan on matching the girls, but we figured it was picture worthy.

I can't express how wonderful it is to live this close to my family.  Can't imagine ever being as far apart as we were ever again!

Back At It...

**LOTS OF PICTURES!!**

Well, it's that time of year again.  Time to get back in the swing of things and start another school year.  I've been going up to school a couple times a week the past two weeks to try to ease myself back into things.  In May I most definitely threw everything I could into a cabinet or a drawer and decided I would deal with it later.  Biggest. Mistake. Ever.  I have spent a lot of unneccessary time trying to find things and reorganize things.  I will try to remember this in May when all I will want to do is just shove things somewhere out of pure excitement to be done! :)  Anyways...

Decorating my classroom is probably one of my most favorite parts of teaching.  I've always taught upper elementary, and my classroom has always been "lower elementary decorated."  I'm a sucker for all things cute and firmly believe that if I'm not happy in my classroom, then my kids won't be either.  Seeing as the majority of my time is spent in my classroom from August-May, I like to make it my happy place. :)

My classroom hasn't changed too much over the last eight years.  I tend to lean towards something with the color red no matter what other things I add to it.  This year is no different.  I took my red and aqua and just added a few new colors, as well as some lovely Pinterest inspired items!

Here's the tour...

This is my front door where my students "check in" every morning.  The lone desk sitting there is my "Think Time" desk.  Students are sent here (usually from other classes) to sit and think about their inappropriate actions and what they will do to fix it.  I honestly use this tactic for Time Out at my house, but boy does it get annoying in the classroom setting when my room seems to be the one that kids get sent to all the time!

Close up of the check in area.  You can somewhat see my Pinterest inspired "Restroom Pass" hand sanitizer bottles.

Our school rules: Be Safe.  Be Respectful.  Be Responsible.

Classroom library organized for the minute.  That will quickly change in two weeks! :) 

My wall of math.  We are required to use all the components of our Calendar Math curriculum.  There are an average of about 7 components per month, so obviously that takes some space!  There is a big empty space there that will soon be filled with my Math Workshop schedule board.  The small orange poster on the right is now covered with the goals for the first unit as well.  Another Pinterest find on the left.  I use sticky note exit tickets on a daily basis.  Why did I never think to make a poster like this with their numbers so they can put them on their and I can easily see who hasn't turned one in?!?!  SO simple, yet once again Pinterest had to point out the obvious!

This is the front of my room where all the action takes place.  I am a big fan of my whiteboard, and I fill this thing up daily!

Daily Objectives board and a little Social Studies area.  I decided to get rid of my big teacher desk this year to have more space, so this table is hiding supplies.

My small group instruction area.  I couldn't find curtains I liked, so I went with poms instead.  I kinda love it!  I also love my little assistant who has been helping me get things ready!

Language Arts area

More Language Arts area



I've still got some things to do like set up a desk for my student teacher, arrange desks, and make a cute wreath for my front door.  And now that my class is basically set up, it's time to turn my attention towards curriculum...wish me luck!!