Tasty Tuesday {SUPERbowl Snacks}

Superbowl weekend ALWAYS falls on my hubby's birthday weekend, so we don't usually have Superbowl parties, but this year, I want to make some tasty treats to enjoy while I watch the commercials game!  I found some awesome ideas on Pinterest.  Check them out.

Pizza Rolls from The Girl Who Ate Everything

Paula Deen's Corn Fritters

Buffalo Chicken Cupcakes from Cupcake Project

Ultimate Super Bowl Dip from Better Recipes

Betty Crocker's Football Brownies

Happy baking and happy game-watching!!! 

If you're having a super bowl party, keep an eye out for some free party printables coming SOON! :)

I'm It!!

I'm It! Thank you Sandra from over at Sweet Times in First for tagging us in this fun tell all! : )

12 fun facts about me-

1. I met a wonderful man online during my AOL days and we dated for 4.5 years.
2.  I married that wonderful man on 7*7*7
3. I met my best friend while I was student teaching in her classroom in Jan of 2007.
4. That teacher that I became such great friends with coordinated my wedding with only a months notice. 
5. My 1st year teaching I taught PreK and LOVED it. I then took over Daphne's position while she was out on maternity leave. 
6. I ran my first 5k in July 2011 and am now training for the next in May and a 10k this summer. 
7. My favorite movies of all time: Pretty Woman
8. I would love to meet Julia Roberts one day.
9. I went inside the Twin Towers in New York City the spring before 911. I would like to visit Ground Zero.
10. I researched for a month to find a photographer. I emailed several and found many on facebook that I wanted to use. I was looking for someone who did it on the side and would be reasonable price wise. The first girl who contacted me back I went with. When I got there something told me to give her name to my brother and ask her if she was single. I could just feel God pushing me to introduce them and now they have been married for a year! Truly love my sister-in-law!! 
11. My husband and I took the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace course at our church 3 years ago and it was released SO MUCH financial stress between us both. Our marriage has become stronger and we communicate so much better about our finances AND we've lived off credit cards for 2 years and we haven't looked back. 
12. In June of 2011 I opened my own little invitation/announcement shop and I've really enjoyed it. Stop by and see me-- Savvy Chic Designs 

Here's my questions from Sandra-

1. What is your favorite fruit? My favorite fruit is strawberries and pineapples. 
2. Do you prefer eating out or cooking? Hum...let me think- someone cooking for me and serving it to me nice and  hot without having to lift a finger or slaving away in the kitchen after standing on my feet for a full 7 hours? Hum---I think EATING OUT! 
3. Do you have an iPhone? No- now if I could afford to buy one I would probably have one. It's on one of my wish lists. 
4. What kind of car do you drive? Acura MdX
5. What are your school hours?  8:00- 3:00 teachers have to be there at 7:45-3:15 Do you have duty? We have 20 days of bus duty meaning we have to get at school at 7am and we have to stay until 3:30 or until all children are accounted for.  Do you have a prep? Not sure if this is like a planning time- but I get 30 minutes of planning everyday in Kindergarten---in 1st grade I got 30 minutes every day and 1 hour every week. I miss those extra 30 minutes. 
6. Do you have a Vera Bradley bag or what kind of bag do you use for your school things? I use the 31 Organizing Tote to  carry my things everyday. 
7. Do you prefer chocolate candy or sour candy? CHOCOLATE.
8. How do you organize class jobs? I have them posted on a bulletin board with small tin buckets I purchased at Target dollar zone- I put theirs names inside the buckets each morning and read them their jobs. 
9. How long do your kiddos get to eat lunch? After they get through the line and sit down, and the lunch attendant always gets them up early-- so it's around 20 minutes. 
10. What are the demographics of your school? We have 671 students in our school- 6 American Indian, 23- Asian, 109 Hispanics, 13- black,  520- White 
11. What are you wearing right now? Sweatpants, t-shirt, and slippers. Charming right?
12. What is your hair routine? Blow dry, straighten, curl??? Blow dry with big round brush & then straighten. 

TAG!

Sorry I only chose 6-- but  that doesn't mean I couldn't find 12 good---it's just hard to find 12 that haven't already participated. 

My Questions-

1. Do you buy lunch or take your lunch to school?

2. What are your favorite shoes to wear to work?

3. How many kids do you have in your room?

4. What's your favorite place to shop?

5. Biggest board you have on pinterest?

6. What were your wedding colors? What will your wedding colors be?

7. Favorite TV show?

8. What is your escape?

9. Do you always want to teach or do you have other ideas in mind?

10. Where did you go to college?

11. Do you have a class pet?

12. Do you find raising your own children and teaching at the same time difficult? 

Customized Teacher Valentines

Hi Friends!  Just stopping by really quick to let you know that I just added something fun to my etsy shop.  They are customized teacher valentines.  They are chic and pink with a gray and white chevron pattern.  I wanted to make a cute valentine with my hand-drawn vintage teacher clipart.  The clipart was originally drawn for a customer who wanted a vintage teacher-themed birthday party!  I knew that lovely lady would be popping up again sometime!  :)


Anyway, you can customize EVERYTHING...hair color, skin color, eye color, & hair length!  Your kiddos would be over the moon to get a valentine from you that LOOKS like you.......so cool!  

Take a look HERE & until Feb. 10th, you can get this for 15% off for using the coupon code LOVE15.  

What I'm Teaching ~ Penguins

I just LOVE penguins!  I don't know what it is that makes me love them ~ they way they waddle, their cute little black and white bodies, or just that they make me think about Happy Feet and all the fun music!


Anyway, Noah and I have been having some penguin fun this week!  Even though we still have much more to do, I thought I would show you some pics so far.  

He loved the Sliding Sounds activity from my Penguin Unit

I'm proud to say he is SO CLOSE to being able to sound out words on his own!  A little bit more practice and he'll be reading before I know it (and he's not even 4 yet) ~ woo-hoo!  :)

His new favorite thing to do is play all sorts of games, so we turned the upper/lower case letter match pages into a game of "Go Fish" and he had so much fun that he asked to play it twice in one day!

Noah's Penguin Lunch (goldfish crackers for feet and nose and cranberries for eyes)

a penguin finger puppet dressed up his juice

Here's some fun penguin ideas for you (mostly found on Pinterest).

A milk jug igloo would make a super COOL reading center! (image from flickr, but I couldn't find the source)

iceberg play activity from My Montessori Journey

How to Draw a Penguin book also from My Montessori Journey

penguin muffin tin meal from Eclectic Musings

penguin chili from Little Mummies

And, just for fun.....a penguin manicure from we heart it 

Remember, my Slippery Sale for my Penguin Unit ends on Friday!  :)

I was going to wait and give ya'll this freebie on Friday, but I thought you may need it before then, so here you go.......the brand new February classroom calendar!  

February Calendar

and, the February To-Do List

Feb to Do List

Tasty Tuesday...on Wednesday OOPS.

Here is a recipe that I absolutely LOVE and I'm so thankful for Cara for sharing it over at Pearls, Handcuffs and Happy Hour (I cyber stalk this blog for yummy recipes!) 

Rita's Cheesy Mashed Potatoes

SO good y'all! Seriously, even though it's 9:05 PM I would honestly whip me up some if I had some potatoes and cream cheese in my house. MOUTH WATERING, lick the mixer good!

I also fix this one a lot and it's one of our favorites (I actually fixed it last night)

Taco Pie

DIETER'S BEWARE

UPSIDE DOWN CINNAMON APPLE COFFEE CAKE

I love taking this dish to our Sunday School for breakfast because it's so quick and it's easy to eat...not to mention easy to fix!

So---if y'all haven't visited Cara over at Pearls, Handcuffs and Happy Hour---head on over and start planning your meals NOW! 

Enjoy your hump day!

Happy Monday, friends!  My mood color today is WHITE!  Hmmm, why...........you ask?  Well, ever since the beginning of the year, I have had a strong desire to get my life organized and mainly CLUTTER FREE! My "word of the year" is CALM and I want to stay stress-free (ok, maybe just stress less)!  So, what color makes me feel calm?..............white!!!  

 Last week, I accomplished one (of many) projects on my to-do list...I reorganized my entire kitchen, office, and craft room!  It was a HUGE endeavor, but I love it so much!  I'll share pics soon!

Here's some white inspiration!

white dresser redo from burlap + blue

accessorizing a white blouse or dress from Chicago Fashion & Beauty Junkie 

my inspiration kitchen from A Thoughtful Place

Also, I finished my new unit about my favorite little WHITE and black fellows...PENGUINS!  I know some of you have already studied penguins, but I think it's an awesome theme for February as well.  My little one and I will be having some penguin fun this week (pics to come soon)!  :)

It's 39 pages and includes activities to reinforce the following skills...

MATH

*simple addition

*number recognition

*greater than / less than games "War" game

* "Go Fish" game

*measurement

*patterns

*counting

*one-to-one correspondence

READING

*blending sounds

*letter tracing & writing

*pre-writing

*beginning sounds

*letter sorting

*upper/lower case letter match

Take advantage of our Slippery Sale and get it for 15% off for 5 days only (until Friday, Jan. 27)!  

Click the penguin to view!

Here's wishing everyone a calm Monday!  ;)

What I'm teaching Wednesday {100th Day}

So I'm not sure about you but since we haven't gotten the all the snow that we are used to we're getting really close to 100th day. WHERE oh WHERE is all the snow?? Wishing I was living in Seattle right now. Anyway- here's some ideas I got from pinterest on 100th day. Enjoy!

Here's a little freebie for you! My 100th day note that I created to send home--feel free to download and send it home! Have fun!