{Monday Made It} Birthday Treats

As a part of my efforts to build community in my classroom, I thought that birthdays provide an excellent opportunity to celebrate my kiddos. Our students always let us know when it's their birthday. My normal response is "Well, Happy Birthday!" and I keep on rolling with math. Why not have a little acknowledgement, a little celebration, or a little token to let them know I care. Of course, I'm not trying to go broke, but a 50 pack of giant pixie sticks from Sam's Club got me more interested in this pin, so I went for it!

I bought giant pixie sticks, balloon cut-outs, birthday stickers, and a galvanized tin to hold it all together. Now, when a student tells me it's their birthday, I'll have a sweet treat to offer!

A few other pins I have on my to-do list are below:

What Pinterest projects do you have your eyes on?

It's a Birthday Flash Mob!!!

My day started with work...I know you're thinking, "Did they know it was your birthday?" Ha! I'm the one who scheduled the Saturday School. Now you're like "What were you thinking?" Long story...but, my time at work was good. We had 149 middle schoolers show up for math (and pizza) on a Saturday! My morning was made better when I got an awesome facebook birthday shout out from my line sister, Frashia! She gets an award for the best facebook birthday shout out EVER!!! Those of you who know what all this means will definitely agree!

After work, my birthday really began! My hubby really outdid himself! We started with a very educational wine tasting at the Wine Cellar at Starwood!

Although I don't know much about wine, I really want to. I want to be a wine drinker. (That sounds kind of silly!) Anyway, we tasted an amazing Italian Moscato D'Asti, which I had to snag a bottle. It is definitely better than any Moscato I've ever bought. We tried various red wines, from a Pinot Noir to a Merlot to Red Blend and a Cabernet. I can't say I was wild about any of them, but I am more open to trying more red wines since I now know a little more about what may appeal to my palette.

We then hopped into the car and headed to our next undisclosed location, Watters Creek. There's lots of places to shop and eat there, so I figured we were going to do one of those two activites...until I started spotting various friends and family from my church. Then, the music started blaring, and I whipped out my phone to record...

Please excuse all my giggling, but I was so tickled that all these friends had gotten together over the past few weeks to practice and learn this dance. I was tickled by some of the amazing dance moves put together by AshLeigh, some of the friends who I never would have pictured dancing like Angie & Donna, and the intensity and focus of some of the dancers like my hubby, Tony, and David! It was amazing seeing people come out of the apartments and watch from their balconies and coming out of the stores and restaurants. I even saw one of my students from last year who had to come and say something after he witnessed the flash mob! I guess my hubby took notes from my previous blog post about me wanting to be in a flash mob...which I still want! Who's ready for the next one so I can actually be in it?!

We finished up with dinner at Kelly's at the Village. Many of us weren't happy with our food, but we had great fellowship and that's really what matters. What really floored me here was that I had some of my closest friends there, but also almost had my entire life group represented! Love that I have a life group that decided to make my birthday our social as opposed to me missing life group for my birthday! You guys are awesome! I forgot to snap pictures, but I did get one shot of the awesome cake. 

Those big 'ole candles reminded me that I'm no longer JUST 30, but IN my 30s....and I'm okay with that!Thanks so much to my hubby for an awesome birthday experience and to all the friends who took the time to make it unforgettable! My life is so rich because of the amazing people in my life. I am truly thankful to call you my friends!Linking up:

What a Weekend?!

My weekend began with work....yuck! But, it actually wasn't that bad. We had Saturday School, which is completely voluntary. Students can get some proactive tutoring lessons to prepare for their semester exams. We had 156 students turn out! That's about 1/4 of our school. I was so encouraged by their willingness to come to school when it wasn't mandatory.

I spent the afternoon shopping for baby shower gifts and Christmas gifts for my team of teachers at work!

The result was a cart filled with all of this...

Read more about the Christmas gifts I made here. I am very happy with the end result!

I then proceeded to my friend Jill's baby shower! Jill and I taught together and have continued to keep in touch, even though I've moved on to a different school.

Our whole gang was there! Even, our girl Shayna, who recently moved back home to Lubbock to be with family!

We call our little book club "50 Shades of Cray!" We didn't read the book you're thinking of together...you'd have to ask Thanh for a story behind the name. Anyway, it was so cool celebrating the parents-to-be and to get our whole gang together!

Sunday started out with a great church service, followed by celebrating my hubby's birthday! He was totally caught off guard when I told him his ride had arrived...when he looked out side, he was greeted by a limo! And, when the door was opened for him, some of his closest friends were already inside!

Read more about his birthday experience here.

With all the men out spending time together, I got so spend some much-needed time with my dear friend, Angela! We didn't take any pictures, but we did do a little shopping! Can't wait to share some of the steals I found...including a skirt from the LOFT on final sale for $4.88! Woot! Woot! Or in Angela's words, POW!

And to top it all off...I won my fantasy football game this week! I'll be playing in the championship game next week! Woot! Woot! That means I'm guaranteed to end the season at least in second place! I'm super excited!

Hope you guys had a great weekend! I'm so excited that there's only one more week before winter break! So excited to visit my family soon!

Linking up:

     

Happy Birthday, Hubby!

My heart is so excited right now with my husband's reaction to what I planned for his birthday! He's been talking about having some time to spend with the guys, and so that's what I did...planned a birthday for him to hang with the guys!

I don't think he had a clue, because this is his face when he saw the limo waiting outside for him!

The limo driver opened the door to let him in, and his friends inside yelled 'surprise!' They all jumped out the limo to wish Willie a happy birthday!

I had to snap a picture inside the limo! I think he's still in disbelief!

Hope they have a great time!

I am truly thankful for my husband! We've had some difficult times in our little less than three years of marriage, but I wouldn't have it any differently. I have truly experienced what it feels like to be loved like Christ loves the church. He continues to show love to me even when I am at my worst.

Happy Birthday, Willie!