5 Years From Now....

Today I'm linking up with Becky from From Mrs. To Mama for her Blogging with a Purpose.  This week she is wants everyone to write about where they see themselves in 5 years. That's fun and scary!

In 5 years Nick and I will be 36 years old! Oh my word. Officially closer to 40 than 30! 

In 5 years Reagan will 9 years old! A 3rd grader- aww! Tear.

In 5 years the twins will be 5 years old - kindergartners! Even more tears!

I know I shouldn't feel sad about this- but I don't think I like the thought of my babies growing up! :(

In 5 years I hope to be teacher or a reading specialist. Definitely something still working with kids in education. I hope Nick is successful and happy in his career and feels validated by what he does.

In 5 years I hope to be a better wife.  I know my life seems to be completely about my kids right now.  I know that I need to find a better balance and give our marriage the time and effort it deserves.  I hope that we continue to fall more in love each year.

In 5 years I hope to have family vacations.  I hope we have the money and patience to take the kids to great destinations and experiences new things.

In 5 years I hope to have all of our debt paid off and have more money in savings.

In 5 years I still see ourselves living in the same city, close to our family. I don't like moving, so I hope that we don't outgrow our house.  We bought this house figuring we'd have 2 kids, not 3!

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Don't forget to vote for me today over at Circle of Moms! Thanks!

Throw Back Thursday

Today I am linking up with one of my favorite bloggers Cara over at The First Grade Parade.

She has started a fun link up on Thursdays to throw back your blog to an old blog post that you'd like others to revisit again.  

I thought I throw-back to my 2011-2012 classroom post.  

This post continues to be one of my most popular posts each week (even though it is a few years old!) I think Pinterest must be sending people over to it!? 

I know my mind has been going crazy thinking about all things "back to school" and thought maybe yours was as well.  Here is how I set up my last classroom.  In my new school I will have desks instead of tables and different furniture. So I am anxious to get in there and start playing with everything. I plan on keeping the same apple theme, but I want to update things as well. I love setting up for back to school.

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I've loved looking at all of your beautiful and creative rooms these last few weeks! After working like an animal in my classroom this past week (in between all of those meetings/trainings of course) my room is complete. I've carried over the apple theme that I started last year. That made things a lot easier- although it didn't stop me from buying an insane amount of new things! Here are the pictures I took today at school. Enjoy!

Room at a glance


Grammar Wall (I am an ELD teacher so I have to have this instead of a word wall.)

Front door, Class Jobs, Star of the Week



Name Station (From Deanna Jump's Unit)

Word Family Station

ABC Order Station, Word Work Station, Rhyming Station

Calendar Math Notebooks (So excited to try this!)

Calendar Math Wall
Calendar Math Wall

Calendar Math Wall

Math Stations

Got these above great ideas from fellow bloggers! Thank you!

Writing Wall

(We are starting Thinking Maps, thus the new posters.)

Carpet Area

(Love the vowel glues from Teacher Wife! Thank you!)

Reading Focus Wall

Small Group Area

Reading Group Tubs

Student Work Display (27 kids so far! Wow!)

Student Book Boxes

They are organized by Table Numbers and I am going to take their pictures and post on the boxes for easy id.

Looking into the hallway

Reading Tree

The kids apple/names will move up or down depending on their ORF scores each week.

Organization (writing journals, wake-up journals, etc)

My Teacher Area



Library Station, Cubbies, Computers




An Example of a Table

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So there you have it!
I can't wait for everyone to start posting pictures of their rooms again.
I get such wonderful ideas from you all as well!

Are you having a "theme" for your room? If so, what is it?
Is there any "must haves" that you have in your room that I need to add next year?

Also, if you don't mind.... I'd really appreciate you voting for me over at Circle of Moms!
Thanks in advance!
Vote Here

Reagan's First Circus

This past Friday I surprised Reagan and took him to his first-ever circus.

My Mothers of Multiples group had a special group discount, so I bought our tickets through them. It was fun to be able to sit with familiar faces as well!

Overall we had a good time. But dang. It was looonnngg! He got antsy lots of time throughout it but really enjoyed the animals and the clowns the best. He was having a pretty naughty day and was testing me beyond measure.  I tried my best not to lose it and enjoy the show. Oh the life of a Mama. It's not all roses and rainbows, is it? 

 Posing by the truck out front.

 Reading his program.

Watching his favorite person - the Ring Master. Obsessed!

 Enjoying some cotton candy.

 The tigers were awesome!

A future clown?!

 Aww Dumbo!

So stinking cute!

We had a good time, but I don't think it's something we will do every year.

I think it's a little over the heads of little kids. Or at least mine! He didn't understand just how amazing some of these performers were. He just wanted animals and clowns to fall down. Ha !

Have you taken your kids to the circus? What did they think?

Monday Made It and Classroom Before Pics

Hi friends!

I am linking up for the first time for Monday Made It with 4th Grade Frolics.

I decided to finally re-do the stool in my classroom.

I originally painted it blue and white back in the day when my classroom theme was blue/white gingham / garden.  And even though the last couple of years I had been teaching with an apple theme, the 'ol stool stayed the same.  But this summer it got a face lift.

Here is the before:

And here is the after:

Just painted over it with regular paint from Michael's. 

Then covered it with a coat of Mod Podge. 

Ta Da!

I have tons of to-dos for my classroom, so I know I will be back linking up again for more of these link-ups!

I thought you might like to see some before pictures of my new classroom.

I took these in May when I visited the school and met my new class.

(All of the stuff you see is from the teacher who currently teaches in the room. She probably thought I was nuts taking pictures, but I wanted to go home and "plan"!)

Do you have any ideas or advice for my new space?