This Week's Favorites

What a busy week!
Here are some things I'm loving.......

Photo by She Read Truth

I received my new study from She Reads Truth in the mail this week and I am

so excited to start it soon! I've been following along with She Reads Truth for over

a year now, but just recently started purchasing their journals that accompany each

of their free online studies. I love that the Lent study has the scripture included in the journal

as well as so many beautiful prints of the Word. What I love most is my girlfriends are

doing the study, too!

On Tuesday, my friend Allison hosted an essential oils class and we made chapstick, bath salts, and body butter! It was such a fun night to get to see my girlfriends and talk about essential oils.

I've been using them for a while now, but many people at the party were there to see

what all the hype is about. Let me be honest, I was skeptical to try them at first, but I'm

SO glad I did. Do you keep hearing people say that? I'm planning on sharing more about how

I use essential oils and my daily routine. You can read my Back to School with essential oils

posts here. So back to my friend Allison. She requested I make an essential oils notebook and so

I've been working on it for the past few weeks. It will include a cute cover page you could slide

into the front of a binder, weekly planning page/to do list, notes pages, contact lists, and recipe pages (for things like chapstick, bath salts, etc...) Look for these (I also made a color version) in my etsy shop soon!

I made the our Valentine's this year and I loved how they turned out. Lainey and I gave out

Valentine pencils with ours and Brynn gave her friends some crackers. Her teachers got packs of pink bubble gum! :)

I adore these bags by The Teacher Wife. I have my students make them every year and when I learned that even my 11 month old needed some sort of Valentine box/bag, I used the extras

left over from my class to make hers. I love it when things are easy.

I'm just thrilled with Miss DeCarbo's monthly fluency packs. My kiddos love to sing

in the classroom, as do I, so we love the monthly poems/songs. Of course we had to bust out our heart pointers this week. :)

{p.s.  If you haven't read Miss DeCarbo's blog, you must. And plan to busy reading it for few hours.}

And finally, I can't wait to finish updating this product. I'm giving it a facelift, adding a half-sheet option for the student response sheets to save paper, and adding printable pieces to make your own interactive anchor charts {where students can place their stickies...also to save paper}. I'll be sure to fill you in when it's all updated!

Have a fabulous week friends! :)

Floral Valentine Cards {free printable}

 Are you ready for Valentine's Day? We keep it pretty simple in our house. The hubs is surrounded by

girls so he treats us well, but we also don't spend a lot of money. Just sweet, simple gifts.

One of my favorite traditions is that he'll bring home a mylar balloon for our oldest. She has always been OBSESSED with balloons so she can hardly contain her excitement when she sees it. Each year

they seem to get a little bigger. :)

I made these printable Valentine's because I fell in love with these watercolor flowers. Gorg. I pretty much drool over anything watercolor these days. And with four different styles, you can use these for just about anybody. Click HERE to download. Just print on card stock and cut. I like rounded corners so I used a corner punch like this one.

If you are looking for a small gift for your mom, girlfriend, daughter, etc..

You can get this print in my Etsy shop here. It is one of my favorite verses and such

a good reminder {John 16:33}. It's up in my house with my Valentine's Day decor, but I love

that it would be appropriate for anytime!

lately

The last few months have flown by. Like most of you,

we've been pretty busy with the holidays, work, and keeping up

with our kiddos. These pictures remind me just how blessed we

are and even though it can be stressful at times, it sure is fun.

I don't ever wish my kids to be sick, but extra days at home with them are something I cherish.

One of her favorite things to do each Christmas.

Before heading to grandma's, she had to sprinkle the reindeer food she made at school. :)

Sisters.

This little pink car has been the best money we've ever spent on a toy. Ever.

This one is now mobile. She started crawling, cruising, and walking with her toy stroller all in the same month.

Sometimes you just need to allow yourself to be creative and Lainey is the perfect sidekick for that.

Wearing my old paint shirt made for me by my mom.

That one day it was 70 degrees in January. So we had to break out the neon leggings.

An old lunch spot my grandparents used to take me to.

.....................................................

I had a strong desire to give this blog a fresh look. I'm excited for the direction

of this blog and the possibilities that may hold. This blog started out solely as a place

to share my teaching ideas but over time has grown to include snippets

of my family life and other creative endeavors. I don't plan on changing

the content but just adding to it!

I am so happy with the new look and highly recommend using Bella Lulu Ink. I love

her designs and the customer service is top notch! Check out the website here.

2015 Calendars

 I can't BELIEVE another year has gone by. Truly.
And when I think back to all that has happened this past year,
my family and I are truly blessed.
Even through difficult times, there's always a reason to sing
and worship the Lord.

Today I wanted to tell you that my new 2015 calendars are available
in my Etsy shop. I updated the colorful one from last year and also
made a black and white one this year, too.
Get them HERE.

I've got several other printables available in my Etsy shop
that you could add to one of the calendars to get organized
this year!

 HAPPY NEW YEAR!

........................................................................

The winner from my last post who wins a free copy of my teacher planner

is Lori Raines!
Look in your email Lori for your new planner!

New Year, New Plan!

I'm a color snob and I'm not ashamed to admit it.

Sure it costs more, but I love drooling over colorful calendars, planners, stationary,

and pretty much any sort of paper product. ;)

So, obviously I get super excited to print out all new 

calendars, planners, and such when the new year rolls around. Hashtag nerd.

If you get excited for starting fresh with a new calendar or planner, I get you!

I'm almost updating my 12 Month Calendar and it will be available in my

etsy shop in the next few days. I'm also working on a cute black and

white version in case you do want to save on color ink.

If you are a teacher or homeschooler and are wanting a 

fresh new look when you're writing lesson plans,

{using a stylish planner really does make it more fun!}

you can get my teacher planner for 50% off now through the rest of this school year!

Only $5.00 to give your plans an updated and fresh look....that's a steal in my opinion.

The planner includes a PDF file with all the dates prefilled in the weekly planning pages

and the monthly calendars. You also get a PowerPoint file that has a template of most

of the pages that you can add text boxes and fill subject headings or type in your plans. The graphics

you see on all of the pages are NOT editable or movable. In the past, I've used the blank weekly

planning page in the PowerPoint file to create visual plans for Deedee's visual plans link up, so

you could do that too.

You can purchase the planner here.

Leave a comment if you'd like to win a copy of the teacher planner. I'll pick a winner

randomly tomorrow night. :)
-----GIVEAWAY CLOSED-----

Free Posters and What I Bought

We studied the five senses a few months ago and I made these posters to use during our unit.

 You can grab them for free in my TpT shop here. :)

Go here to see a FREE five senses activity with popcorn.

 

 

 ................................................................................

 

 

So, did you go Cyber Monday shopping!?!

I'm on a total budget this month with Christmas coming and all, but I did pick

up a few monthly staples that I use in my classroom that I just love. 

 

 

 

Reagan's Math Journals have been a great addition to my math workshop

time this year. Even though we are being hounded about how many

copies we make, hashtag paper police, I've prioritized so we can do 2-3

of these per week. I love that in her December set, which I bought during the

cyber sale, many of the activities are half sheets....saving more paper!

 

The other thing I bought was Christina's December Just Print Fluency Pack.

I mostly use these with my below level small groups, but even

those high achievers like a little nonsense word practice every now and

then. The short partner plays are perfect for my groups, too!

See? I said I was on a budget. I really had to use the reins this time, but

I love looking through Blog Hoppin's linky where bloggers share what

products they bought. I love discovering new stuff and loading up 

my wishlist for the next sale. ;) You can check out the linky here.

Calling all TpT Shopaholics! {CYBER MONDAY SALE}

 

 

If you're an educator {public, private, or home}

then TpT has probably been a game changer.

It has for me anyway. Not just because I'm a TpT seller but

because I can find quality resources that are meaningful

and engaging and that don't break my wallet.

And I can find them, purchase, and print quickly.

{and I would call myself a TpT shopaholic, ha!}

I am going to go finalize my wishlist today so I am ready

tomorrow morning when I wake up to buy because

there are some products I know I am going to use right away Monday at school!

I'm also super excited to use my holiday unit, A Sticky Note Holiday!

I made this last year and it was the perfect way to practice our reading

strategies while reading our favorite holiday books.

 

 

 

You can check out the rest of my products by clicking on the pic below. Happy shopping!