Thoughtfulness…

One of my students came in this morning with a gift bag… for mwah (if that how you even spell it?  I’ve spent way too much time thinking about it!)

I opened it up and what did I see?

A cowboy boot stocking!!!

The note said that they say this at the store and thought that I just had to have it for my classroom this Christmas season.  (Check out my post on my classroom theme for it to  make more sense)

It’s the little surprises in life that make me happy. :)

Back to school I go to listen to some awesome 4th graders sing their hearts out!

There is no one like our God…

Wednesday Morning Music Devotions are a highlight in my classroom.  I just find a youtube video that someone else has nicely put together and play it for my kids.  They can write, draw, listen or pray during the song.  I love looking at what they draw and write.  Their faith is deep, trusting and pure.

This was last week’s song.  I love it.  What  a great reminder of what God is doing in our world and what he still plans on doing.

There is NO ONE like our God.

He is the God of our school.

He is the God of our homes.

He is the God of our city.

He is our God.

Greater things are yet to be done.

 

God of Our City- Chris Tomlin

Daily Deals

I’ve been looking for a piece of furniture for our sunroom, but just looking around- no special trips to look or anything.  So, today when I was out browsing stores, I found this beauty outside waiting for someone to buy it.  I loved it at first glance, but expected, like most times, the price to be too high for it to move off of my wish list.  However, when I looked at the tag, it was on special for today for…take a guess… 50 dollars!  One of the doors needs a new stop, but other than it is in perfect condition.  I think I may get some baskets to go underneath and maybe, maybe paint it black.

The other deal of day was not quite as good as it sounded.  Our mall periodically sends out e-mails that if you take the e-mail to the customer service desk, they will give you a gift certificate.  I’ve done these before and they really are awesome.  I mean free money- who can beat that!  Well, I don’t know if it is because of the holidays coming up or just more people are on the e-mail list, but whoa!  there was a crazy line to get the gift card.  But, an hour later, I walked away with a $10 gift card in my hand. :)  I guess it’s not bad for an hours “work”.

Shutterfly

Oh, Shutterfly how I love thee…

I have used Shutterfly for pictures before, but they really have a lot of other things to offer…

First of all, I use their website hosting for my classroom website and it is fabulous!  Easy to use, password protected, parents can download pictures right from the website- it really has been an awesome tool for my classroom.

Anyways, this year I am planning to their holiday photo cards to send holiday cheer to all. :)

I think that it is always so fun to receive Christmas cards from friends especially when they have a cute picture on them.

Here are a few of my favorites from Shutterfly:

1) I think this card is an awesome idea for combining the card and the yearly Christmas letter.  We don’t really have much news to write about this year, but if you had kids I think it would be great.

2) I LOVE this card.  I thinks it’s adorable.  Some of you might even see it in your mailboxes…

3) I love that this card as a photo strip like style to it.  Plus it’s only 55 cents a card…what a steal!

4) Also, I think I might pick up some of these labels.  After writing my address over and over again last year, I definitely think that it would worth it…and my envelopes will look cute too!

5)  Their photo books make awesome gifts for Christmas.  I have made a few before for my parents and my sisters.  They are fun to make and are so fun to look at a few years later!

Plus, as a bonus, Shutterfly is offering bloggers 50 free holiday cards- awesome!  Click here for more info!

There are so many options to choose from.  I’m sure that it will take me at least another week to decide!  Hopefully I’ll have them out sooner this year than last as I didn’t start them last year until I was on Christmas vacation!  I’ve told you before- I tend to procrastinate. :)

Enjoy looking at all of the Christmas card options that they have!

Tennis & Showers

The last few weekends have been filled.  Teacher conventions, report cards, showers, tennis, Halloween…finally here is an update on some of the weekend happenings.

My sister had 2 wedding showers- both were delightful!  It made me get excited for her upcoming wedding!

One was at ladies shower and last night it was a couples shower.  It’s always fun to go to a couples shower since the guys have usually never been to a shower. 

I have not played tennis in a looong time.  However, when I received an e-mail asking for players to play in an alumni match, I happily signed up.  I sort of forgot the fact that I would have to play and more focused on the fact that it would be fun to see everyone… oh well…

We had fun reminiscing about our days playing on the team, looked at old team photos and cheered each other on. 

Tennis was one of my favorite things about college and I have continued to be blessed by the girls that I played with.  I hope the current team has just as much fun!

Allyson was the alumni team’s coach since she is preggers and not able to play.  This weekend she had a party to find out if they are having a boy or a girl.  Check out her blog to see the fun way they found out.  (She actually hasn’t posted it yet, but I’m sure that she will soon…it’s worth the wait!)

Procrastination

 

Are you one of those people that has everything done early?  Or are you like me who at 12:16 AM the night- well, I guess morning- her report cards are due, just finished them?  Nothing like procrastination. 

Really, I like to think that I do my best work under pressure.  My best college papers were written at 2 AM.  And getting my house cleaned- always best done when people are coming over in an hour.

I really had the best intentions of getting my report cards done earlier this week.  I knew that I had a busy Wednesday and Thursday night, so my plan was to get them done by Tuesday.  That would have been a record for me and in the back of my head I knew that it would never happen. 

I have a policy that I never ask anyone else how their report cards are coming along.  Because I know that there are actually people who finish theirs on Monday and Tuesday the week they are due.  And that just makes me jealous.  So I never ask.

To bed I go… lots of last minute, important stuffing to do in the morning.  I do my best stuffing under pressure too.