2013 in Review

I guess it's about time to say goodbye to 2013, and get geared up for 2014! I haven't really planned a post, but am just browsing through my phone's camera roll and past blog posts to gather some of the highlights of the past year!

January. I started the year off on a fitness high. My line sister, Melanie, and did our first Big D Climb...that's 52 flights of stairs people. We had a great time and were grateful for the elevator ride back down to the first floor.

February. My birthday month brought one of the coolest gifts ever. Hubby and I had recently watched the movie Step Up Revolution and were on this dancing kick. The movie was filled with flash mobs. From the date we watched that movie, I had been telling hubby how I wanted to be in a flash mob. Well, I didn't participate in one, but I did get flash mobbed by my friends for my 31st birthday!
March. I found my favorite recipe of the year... Deep Dish Taco Pie.

April. I decided that I would probably be going back to the classroom as a teacher as opposed to the leadership position that I held last school year. This got my wheels turning and thinking about lots of new things to try with students.

May. I enjoyed going home and celebrating one of my favorite girls, Ashley! So excited for her marriage and the impact she and her husband will have on those around them!

June. Our home got a little makeover with new floors...and we treated ourselves to a vacation in Jamaica. We worked hard over the previous year and paid for both in cash. Felt good to treat ourselves!

July. As the school year ended, I got to have one last hoorah with my former co-workers as we ventured to CAMT 2013. Mikayla, Elaine, Samantha, and I had a blast in San Antonio. It was fun to learn together and play together!

In addition, I got to meet one of my math teacher crush, Dan Meyer.

(Side Note: In last year's review, I mentioned how I had not pictures of me and Trista together. This year, as I looked through my phone, I found three! Woot! Woot! ^That's her in the green!^)

I also got to spend time with friends for our annual couples retreat while in San Antonio! Our stop at Big Lou's Pizza was definitely one of the highlights of the trip!

And, I got to see the one and only, Beyonce in concert!

July was a busy month!

August. I had a blast decorating my new classroom and had a great first day of school.

September. At girls night, The Cups Song, made an appearance!

And I found out that I was preggo!

October. I got my first view of the little one and was given an expected due date of June 8, 2014.

November. We celebrated my father-in-laws retirement and my little brother's 30th birthday!

December. We celebrated hubby's 30th birthday with a fun night of karaoke! I survived the first trimester of pregnancy and started showing this week. I started a great devotional that really has me feeling more connected to my God and my little one.

Deuces, 2013! I am truly waiting in wonder of what God has in store for 2014!

Sayonara, First Trimester! {14 Week Bumpdate}

Today, I'm officially 14 weeks and in my second trimester of pregnancy. I feel like it's been the longest three months ever. Part of that though has to be the fact that we were holding on the this big secret that we so desperately wanted to share. It was so fun to finally announce our pregnancy last week. You can read about that here. It's hard to believe that three months (13 weeks)...33% of my pregnancy is behind me. (The way they count pregnancy is so weird.)

Morning Sickness: I scored big in this area. I thought I'd totally escaped it, but not quite. I had my first bout with it this last week of the first trimester. Gingerale and Saltines got me through those few days. I am thankful that most of my first trimester, I only experienced fatigue.

Food Cravings/Aversions: I can't say that I crave anything in particular or have any food aversions. But, when I say I need to eat, I need to eat...like right then. So, I've been keeping plenty of snacks on hand.

Weight Gain: At this point, I've gained 0.4 pounds from the day I found out I was pregnant at 4 weeks. Woot! Woot! During the first trimester, I lost weight up until about week 8, then the numbers on the scale started going back up. You'd think with my husband being a photographer that I'd have a picture each week to see my progression, but nope. It's crazy how difficult it is to get him to snap a picture of me. And then there's me who wants to put on make-up and do my hair if we're taking a picture and that doesn't happen often. So between our schedules and the prep, it hasn't happened. I haven't even been taking selfies so that I can at least have some type of record on my phone.

Clothes: As of right now, I'm still wearing my clothes. Nothing maternity has made it onto my body. There are a few pairs of jeans that are tight, but they were already tight before. I'm looking forward to purchasing a belly belt (that my girl, Angela, told me about) so that I can stretch the life of my pants. I also purchased two of these belly bands to hide the open zippers when it comes time.

Purchases: I couldn't let Black Friday/Cyber Monday go by without making some purchases...online, of course. I bought maternity clothes from Old Navy, Target, Asos, and H&M. I figured there was no better day to take advantage and buy things I knew I'd eventually need. All of the items I bought were at least 40% off...some more! My favorite pieces that I bought are this Liz Lange denim top from Target and a great lace top from H&M. I wanted to buy baby gear, but I have no idea what I want yet. I also splurged and bought this Skip Hop diaper bag at 40% off through Amazon.

Baby Prep: The biggest thing we've done to prepare for baby is pray and pinch pennies. While I thought we'd have all this savings for buying baby stuff, turns out most of it will be going towards bills to actually have the baby. I learned that at my most recent OB appointment when I was given an estimate of my financial responsibility.

In addition, we've set up tours at two of the three hospitals where we can deliver and we've started contacting day care centers.

Researching: I spent most of my Thanksgiving break researching cloth diapering. When I tell people this, most responses are shock and awe. I haven't made a decision yet, but I am seriously considering it because of how much money it can save us. I'm looking forward to going to a cloth diapering class at The Nappy Shoppe in a couple of weeks. It's a local store that has many of the popular choices in store for you to see and touch. Luckily, I also have a few friends who are CDing their children and they have been a huge help as I navigate through making my decision.

Best Moment: At my 10-week appointment, we got to hear baby's heartbeat. It was exciting and the confirmation I needed at that moment. I'd been a little worried, because I wasn't experiencing most of the symptoms of pregnancy that I'd heard from others. It was nice to know that our little one is doing well.

    Baby Howard's Heartbeat by kdhoward
Looking Forward to: I can't wait for my 19-week appointment in January. I've had one sonogram so far and that was at my very first appointment (6 weeks). While it was neat, it didn't look much like a baby.

I'm looking forward to getting a new picture that looks a bit more human. This is also the appointment where we find out the gender. I'm not sure yet if we're going to find out. Willie still wants to know, and I'd be okay not knowing. I'm starting to consider his feelings and may give in (but don't tell him that)!

Foldable Fun + Goodbye Student Teacher

I am a huge fan of foldables in my math classroom.I think they make note-taking so much more interesting. My first year of teaching, I remember going to a Dinah Zike's workshop and falling in love. My students had foldables galore that they put in a sheet protector in their binders. When I asked students to pull out their notes though, very few still had them.

Then, interactive notebooking inters my life. My students now use spiral or composition notebooks, have a table of contents, and their foldables are glued in on a specific page they can find. Now,more students have their notes and can locate them at a later date to study if needed.

Then, I attend CAMT 2013 in San Antonio, and not only does Jennifer of 4mulaFun do interactive notebooks, but her foldables (flippables as she calls them) are interactive too! I was coming up on the topic of converting rational numbers in my 6th grade math classroom. Taking notes for converting between fractions, decimals, and percents can be a long process and very cumbersome...but not with this product I bought from Jennifer.

So, instead of me going through notes, students started with a foldable that only had the outside labels. They cut out all the pieces that would fill the inside of the foldable with an example and written directions for each process. Students then did a matching activity where they used their prior knowledge to complete the foldable with all directions and examples in the correct places.

I checked off each groups' placements before allowing them to glue them in. Within 10 minutes, all students had completed notes that were not dictated by me.

And we were able to move on to using the notes to get the practice needed to apply the information.

I loved it and the kids did a great job! I will definitely be looking to make my note-taking more interactive in the future. Thanks so much to Jennifer for being willing to share a great product. If you're not familiar with her, you should definitely check out her blog and TeachersPayTeachers store.

In addition to a great day of math class, it was also my student teacher's last day, which made it bitter sweet. I had the kids write a note to her using templates I found here. Students chose to either write about something they remember her teaching, five reasons she'll be a great teacher, advice for teaching, or why they loved having her as a student teacher. I then took all of their notes and made a keepsake book with pictures of the kids, all their notes, and a few notes from me along with a gift card to a local teacher supply store to get her started on her way.

Unfortunately, because of the crazy Texas weather, my student teacher didn't get to walk the stage, but she's a graduate nonetheless. I hope she had a great experience in our classroom and I wish her all the best!

Name that Tune!

I know it's been a minute...well, more like a few months. Aside from the stress of being back in the classroom, I have another good reason...

Did you get it? I was surprised at how many people didn't get it even with the help we provided on our facebook cover photo!

Well, the news is that we're expecting! Get it...Ice Ice Baby! Yay! It has been so difficult to keep the news to ourselves...and honestly, we haven't done that good of a job. Anyway, we couldn't keep it to ourselves any longer. So here are the answers to a few of the questions I've been asked frequently when sharing our amazing news!

When are you due?
Based on the measurements at our first sonogram, we're due June 8, 2014. This was a bit different from what we had calculated on our own, but I'll trust the doctors over the Internet on this one.

I'm bad at math, how far along does that make you?
This Sunday, I'll be 13 weeks.

Did you plan it? Were you trying?
Yes and Yes! We have been trying since the end of April. The planner in me wanted to be due around April or May so that I could take off the last six weeks of the school year and have the entire summer with our little bundle. My timing didn't work exactly, but God's timing is always perfect. I'm due the Sunday after school gets out. If all goes well, that means I don't have to use any vacation/sick days...and I think I can take the first six weeks off of next school year if I choose. As of right now, I don't plan on it.

How are you feeling?
Surprisingly, I'm feeling pretty good. I haven't experienced morning sickness at this point (knock on wood). I have gotten motion sickness on long drives that seems so much more intense than the car sickness I've experienced when not pregnant. 

I've been incredibly tired and getting the best sleep of my life. My husband is surprised at how much I sleep lately, considering that normally, I'm always moving and on the go.

Are you going to find out if you're having a boy or a girl?
That's currently up for debate. I am the one who wants to wait, but Willie wants to find out. I figure it will be the best surprise of our lives since neither of us is wishing for one gender over the other. My deciding factors for whether we'll find out are:

• Can I decorate a gender neutral nursery?
• Can we agree on a name for both genders?
• Can we find gender neutral items for baby?

And I'm feeling like the answer to all of these questions is YES! I guess the other factor is if I can get my husband to agree...we shall see!

Have any other questions?
Feel free to ask! I'm looking forward to sharing our experiences with you!

Five for Friday! {Aug 30}

I made it through the first week of school and I am so excited about having a long weekend! Friday couldn't come soon enough!

1> I decided to get adventurous and try a new hair color. Turns out that it wasn't near as light as I was expecting, but I like it. Glad my hair isn't two completely different colors anymore.

2>> The hubby and I have had a hard couple of weeks, but we're coming out of the valley. We've had a really good week. For those of you married folks, I'm sure you can identify with not just loving your spouse, but actually liking them. We like each other right now and are enjoying marriage!

3>>> As we were searching for a game for students to practice double-digit multiplication, Trista and I ran across Sugar, Sugar! The game is simple, you have to get the sugar that comes out of the comma in "Sugar, Sugar" into the coffee mugs. Trista even found that there's an app. This game was just what we needed to avoid working on Thursday afternoon.
You know you want to play...stop resisting and click the link!

4>>>>  I posted on my classroom website's blog every day this week! I am so excited that I have taken at least one picture of my classroom everyday this week. I have a really great group of kiddos and am looking forward to an excellent school year!

5>>>>> I bought five pairs of flats from Old Navy and they are super comfy. They were on sale this past weekend for $10 each and I had a coupon for $15 off a $50 purchase. The math teacher in me got super excited to get five pairs of shoes for 35 bucks!

What were the highlights of your week?! Go exercise your brain and play some Sugar, Sugar!!!

Linking up with:

Lauren Elizabeth

Doodle Bugs Teaching

The Good Life

Teacher Week '13: Classroom Tour

I'm super excited about my classroom this year! My classroom decor was inspired by a room done by Melanie @ Inspired in Style using the Dots on Black Collection from Creative Teaching Press. Here's a quick look around the room.

I think my favorite part of the room are the positive affirmations that line the ceiling. I debated over buying them, but I'm so glad I did. They're made by a company named Foster Mind, LLC, but I bought them for less here.

I'm really excited about the fact that I ditched the student desks and swapped them out for tables. I love that there's less furniture and I think the arrangement will make collaboration in the classroom much easier.

Here are a few of the details.

I like to think of this area as the command center. This table is just to the right of the door as students walk into the classroom. The bulletin board has a calendar, classroom officers, tutoring schedule, reminders, QR code for class website, and hall passes. I love the hall passes! You can find them over at The Brown-Bag Teacher, where Catherine shares her rationale for making these awesome hall passes. Just under the bulletin board is where I have chosen to put supplies for student use, a file box for absent work and for turning in work. Love how the shoe organizer gave me room to add more to the table and still have room to put handouts for the day at the front of the table.

Just to the right of the command center are my students' time cards. This will be my first time doing a classroom economy. I got the idea from a session by Dia Collins at CAMT this summer. Hopefully, I'll post more about this as I get the system all figured out. Each student has a time card, where they will keep a record of their class attendance and I will make notes about participation and behavior. Students will get paid for their work in class and be able to spend their money of various classroom supplies and privileges.

Meet Abima, our UglyDoll/class mascot! I never would have looked twice at Abima if I hadn't seen a pin that led me to Jennifer @ Teaching with a Smile and he was on sale, 50% off, at my local teacher store. Abima is hanging out at the top right hand corner of my word wall and will make announcements for the class as well as recognize student birthdays! Isn't he a cutie?!

Alright, last detail is over my desk. We were ready to give these frames away after we put some new things up in our guest room. They were sitting on the floor and I decided to take them to school with me and I'm so glad I did.

Of my six years of teaching, I think this classroom is my favorite! I hope my 6th graders love it as much as I do!

Okay, I'm a day late for the link up, but I had to put the finishing touches on before doing the blog post. Better late than never! Head over to Blog Hoppin' if you'd like to tour some more classrooms!

Also linking up with:

Flying High in First Grade

Surfin' Through Second

The Applicious Teacher

Teacher Week '13: Let's Talk About Me Monday

I can't believe that summer is over and it's time to go back to school this week. I had a meeting at 8am...eek! Since I was already up, I spent the rest of the day in my classroom, trying to get ready for the school year and tomorrow's Blog Hoppin' topic. Today, I'm linking up with Blog Hoppin' for Teacher Week '13: Let's Talk About Me Monday!

>1< I love teaching! So much that I left a leadership position to go back to the classroom this year. I am looking forward to meeting my 6th graders!

>2< I was in the Army for six years. I went to the Army after college when I couldn't find a job in accounting. I had a great experience in the Army and got to do things I never would have done, had I not been in the Army! When I post Army pictures, I usually use the clean, patriotic ones...figured I'd give you a picture that actually looked like I did something this time.

>3< My face often speaks before words ever leave my mouth. If looks could kill, there would be some dead bodies on account of my facial expressions. I'm working on that!

>4< I have a phobia of balloons. Well, phobia may be a bit extreme, but I seriously dislike balloons. Blame it on a childhood experience at field day. I hated running to the chair and sitting on that darn balloon.

>5< My husband and I had a small wedding of only 24 guests. We were married on the same day we started dating a year prior...hope that makes sense...we started dating 2/12/09 and married on 2/12/10. I thought it was such a novel idea. If I had to do it again, I probably wouldn't have chosen a date so close to Valentine's Day.

>6< My favorite candy is Reese's Peanut Butter Cups! I even took a picture with him/her/it when I visited the Hershey store in Chicago!

>7< My favorite number is 21, my line number when I pledged Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Oo-oop!!! I love my line sisters! We always have a great time when we get together!

>8< I usually get car sick when I ride in the back seat of a large vehicle...and lately, when I ride in the passenger seat too, so I prefer to drive rather than ride!

>9< I absolutely loved high school (and college). I personally think my graduating class had the best 10-year class reunion ever. Granted, I've never been to another class reunion, but I know ours was a blast! My hubby always talks about it and how I'm a different person when some No Limit, Cash Money, or LL Cool J comes on.

>10< I have the best friends! They went skydiving with me for my 30th birthday and flash-mobbed me for my 31st birthday! Don't mind me and my laughing all through the video...I was so tickled!

Alright, there's my 10 fun facts! Hope I make it back tomorrow with a classroom tour!

And don't forget that you've only got one day left to enter the Erin Condren Giveaway!