Back to School Linky Party

This linky party really caught my eye. I LOVE Lego guys! I get those little mystery packs and get them when ever I see them on sale. I have a nice little collection and use them for different things during the year. You'll have to wait and see.  You can come back every day until I finally post some of my Lego guy activities!

Do you have any back to school jitters? I know that once the calendar said August, time started flying. I have just gotten used to getting up a couple of hours before my kids, having a cup of coffee, surfing through blogs and now vacation is basically over. I do have the jitters. I always do. What if I forget how to teach? What if I can't find my way to school? What if I can't remember what the first day of school is? YIKES!!

What I need is a party. I'm going to the party Ms. Jessica is hosting. She has really good snacks and rules. Hop on over and check out this party. It's a BYOB! Grab your beverage and link up!

One more day to enter my give away! Few have entered many will win!!

Monday Made-It!

Today was the first day I got into my classroom and started putting things in order. I'm going from desks to tables this year and rearranging where everything, but my desk is because my desk is too heavy for me to move!

I know it looks like a horrid mess, but this represents love to me! I've been trying to create the worlds largest tape ball. Each day students from the school bring me tape that has been removed from various projects around the school to add to my collection. They marvel at the size the ball has grown to and are excited to think about how big it will get! I can't wait to see last years owlets bringing me their little offerings of love to add to the collection. I'll be binding this mass up with some tape to keep it all together before school begins in two weeks. Don't worry this isn't what I made for today's Made It!

Here is the first thing I made! It's amazing I got much done at school because one of the people I like talking to most in the whole wide world was there. The kindergarten teacher and I worked hard to keep our own space, but we both wandered in and out of each other's rooms  for "Brain Breaks"!
Then I saw this on facebook and I had to make a cupcake coffee run! The Shot-in-the-Dark with rich chocolate cupcake filled and topped with Vanilla Buttercream, and dipped in a Chocolate Ganache made
a very satisfying lunch!

Wipe away the drool...This was my
cupcake! I drank the coffee for you, Tara!

Back to what I made after having that shot of caffeine! I finished the schedule I have posted in my room. I made the owl clocks with my Cricut and added a clock face to their fronts. I can easily change the times and activities according to the day. I had this extra pocket chart tucked away in a closet and decided I either needed to use it or give it away. I'm so glad I found a use for it!

The animals for each letter of the alphabet is my pride and joy. I love paper. I love it's color and texture. I love putting different patterns and colors together to create homemade items. With each animal that I made, I was sure that it was my favorite. I'm giving a set away and keeping a set for myself. 

This is all 26!

Here is a little test for you! Can you guess which animals these are?

I start with the letter U!

I start with the letter X!

Leave a comment below telling me what you think is the name of those two animals. One lucky comment will be chosen to win a 10 inch paper owl! Be sure to comment before next Monday! I'll send it out next Monday!!

Only a couple days are left in my giveaway! You could win the complete set of animals A-Z!

Coming soon to a winner near you!

My Memories and Some GiveAways!

My brakes are ready
to go again!

I love this guy! There isn't much
he can't fix. I'm so blessed!

Good morning, afternoon or evening, friends! It is the beginning of a new week full of possibilities, activities and I hope joy! I don't know about you, but I love getting back into a routine and somewhat predictable schedule! I'm ready to move on to a new week. I hope this one is without necessary car repairs or sad news. I still have two weeks before I'll see my students in their places with bright shiny faces!

Have you heard of MyMemories? It is a great way to save and share your memories. The possibilities are endless for what you can make and share. I have been using MyMemories to make the pictures on my blog and facebook page pop. If you like what you see you will want to enter my giveaway going on  right now. You might win the software for yourself!

This is a series of pictures I've made and posted on facebook. They highlight the animals I'm making for each letter of the alphabet. One of the animals will go on my word wall and one might be mailed to YOU!

My number one goal in blogging is to connect with people and share ideas. My number one reason for "Speed Scrapping" on Sunday nights is to connect with people and share ideas! I would love to "Speed Scrap" with you, too! This is the page I did last night. 

What are you waiting for? Come on over and enter the giveaway...I'd love to help you share YOUR memories!

click the link above if you would like to enter another awesome giveaway! I would choose a paisley owl theme! ;) What theme would you choose? I love reading Heidi's blog. You will, too! Go check her out!



Have you entered this Back to School Giveaway?

Good-Bye Summer 2012 Linking Party

There is a change in the air...Can you feel it? It's getting darker earlier and the calendar says that fall is just around the corner! I'm thinking about all the things I wanted to do, but didn't. It always comes down to this, the last two weeks of summer will be my most fun and most productive! To help me say goodbye to summer, I'm linking up with Peterson's Pad.

The rules are simple:

1. a place you visited

2. a book you read (for fun or for school)

3. something you did or made for your classroom

4. a fun thing that you did

This is the most fun part. Sheree would like you to comment on two linkers before and one after you. I LOVE COMMENTS and leaving them, so I like this idea!!

Ready...Set...Go!

1. A place I visited...

This has been a bit of a boring summer in the visiting department. It's the first summer we didn't go to some National Park. My family loves to travel together and we decided to save up and go to London next summer. My oldest daughter will graduate from college. My son will graduate from high school, and my youngest daughter will graduate from her pre/el/middle school where she has been attending since the age of three! We thought it would probably be the last family vacation we'd be able to take before the kids are scattered around the globe! Not to worry. We live by some pretty awesome parks and we do a bit of hiking when ever we get the chance.

Just a few days ago we headed to our state park and took a hike with the goal of seeing owls. We didn't see any owls but we did see...

2. A book I read...

I've read quite a few but two that really touched me were...

Loved this book study! I got
so many valuable ideas from this
book! Well written and adaptable for
any classroom!

A sweet love story told by
the son of the Clyde!

3.Something I did or made for my classroom: 

I'm working on animals right now to go with my word wall. I'm making two sets. I'll keep one set and give the other away! I'm hosting a giveaway right now. If you'd like a set, you can enter my giveaway!

I'm up to the letter K! I'm going to work on this project as soon as I post...

 

I also finished up some old business.  Any student who earns 100 points in Accelerated Reader gets to pick a friend and come to my house for lunch. I don't push Accelerated Reader, but some of my students LOVE it! One made it to 150, so I finally had her over for lunch last week...

We played games, ate lunch and laughed! I made them each a magnet

to remember the day by. 

4. A fun thing I did...

Helping out at my churches Vacation Bible School was a blast. Seeing students old and new was so much fun. One future student couldn't leave with out coming and talking to me at the end of the evening. I wish I had a picture of him to share or a video of him saying each night, "I hope you have a really great night!" It was precious! I ran the sound and video presentation from the balcony. Working with one of my favorite people in the world leading the kids in the front, I enjoyed every 

minute of our music time.

My view from the balcony

I still have two more weeks to get out there and do something fun! First it's time for one more cup of coffee, one more load of laundry and one more chapter to read in my book...hmmm...That sounds like fun!

Thanks for the Linky, Peterson's Pad!

Back to sChOOL Giveaway!

I am super excited about my new scrapbooking software. I love scrapbooking, but once school starts I rarely have time for it. Because our move sucked all the fun out of summer kind of stretched out over the whole summer, I never got out any of my toys. That's okay...I found a new toy and it's self-cleaning! No scraps, no paper schnitzels, NO MESSES! I don't have to print out my photos even, but I can!

I want you to know that this review is my own. No one told me what to say or not to say. I'm not being paid to review this product. Even though the words may sound professional they are my very own words...I love MyMemories!

I won the MyMemories suite package from a giveaway at Snickety Things. I didn't know how much  I would use it, but I use it a lot. I use it to show off my work and to create different projects as well as to scrapbook! You can export projects as PDFs, jpegs, and PNG files. I have printed 8 by 10s of my projects and created books and shared them electronically. One of my favorite things to do is speed scrap on Sunday nights  from 8:00 until 9:00! Other MyMemories scrappers join together on Facebook to participate and share!


I'm going to show off a couple of things I've done and then give you a chance to win your own MyMemories Suite. You can use all of the digital art you already have from names like Digital Bakeshop, JazzyPatterns, KPMDoodles, MelonHeadz or your own favorite! You can make each project as simple or as complicated as you would like!

You may not want to wait for my giveaway to get you own. That's okay, too! You can use my code to get a discount and help me send two children to college next fall!

Use this code:    STMMMS20473 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Make a Difference...Care!

Do you ever sit down to blog hop and start writing a post because you feel so compelled? It is happening to me right now! I want to thank everyone who has said a prayer or left a word of encouragement during these sad days. You have shown me that you care.

You have shown me care as a noun, verb and its synonyms! Thank you. 













For that care I am eternally grateful!

My family and I love this book
This book makes us laugh because the cover looks like my husband at times! He quite often stands this way, but not USUALLY with that look on his face. I call him my Cranky Bear! In this book a sweet little sheep shows care to a bear and it makes all the difference in the world.

Every day we wake up and show care to those around us we are making the world a better place. Sometimes a smile is the care a child needs. Sometimes a hug. Sometimes a word well spoken.  When we show care as a verb and as a noun we make a child's world better and they learn what caring is, too. We all know that experience is the best teacher.

I'm linking up with

 

Thank you again for your kind words, prayers, thoughts! It shows you care!

.

Monday Made it...Owls Of Course! Freebie!

I have been wanting to join
Monday made it for the last ten weeks! FINALLY I am linking up with two things that I have made.  First up is another two of my owls. I just love these little owls and my Cricut cutting mat has a permanent outline of this owl engraved into it! One of these guys is flying to Florida and the other is going to hang outside my classroom door. I'm going back to Joann's to get more of the handwriting scrapbook paper, so I can make more of these owls. 

I blogged about these a few posts back and was happy to send one to my new friend Lauren. She should get it in the mail any day now! I'm using these clocks in my daily schedule display. I can't wait  to take them to school and get them settled in this afternoon.

I teach with an incredible group of teachers. Yesterday at church I was blessed to be able to gather with them and cry, laugh and pray about our student who was tragically taken from us last Thursday. We are praying now for a little girl in serious condition who has received a new heart because of this tragic event. We also pray for the children that will receive new chances to live because of her kidneys pancreas and liver. Life will continue because of her gift. 

I want to do something for my teacher friends to let them know how much I love and appreciate them in my life. Thanks to my favorite Chickadee, I was inspired to create these with my MyMemories software. I wish I could share both of the pages I designed, but I must follow copyright laws! Thank you Laurie for your inspiration. I can't wait to share these at our first meeting. I plan on putting them in  frames. 

The top picture was designed using Christine Smith's design pack called Whooo Loves You available through MyMemories. Click on the bottom picture if you'd like to go to the link. JazzyPatterns is the designer of the clipart. JazzyPatterns has a store on Etsy that I love.

Thanks for hosting 4th Grade Frolics. I needed some prompting today!