Fall Decor Tips

I can't wait to start decorating for fall this weekend. I'm inspired by one of our favorite blogs, Our Best Bites, and their recent post on Tips for Spooktacular Fall Decor.

I'm excited to pull out the "Fall Decor" bin that I have, but I'm also eager to switch things up a bit this year. Our Best Bites offered some great tips:

Use What You Have: You have a lot around your house already that can be transformed and with a few fun additions, you can make them fit for a season. 

Find Your Style, and then Find it Somewhere Else: Try going through catalogs and getting ideas, and then finding similar styles at places like Target, Home Goods, etc. 

Bunch o’ Pumpkins:It’s so easy to make any space a fall space when you just fill up a vase, or sprinkle them on your shelves or table top.

A Big Fail in the Kitchen

I really enjoy baking oatmeal cookies during the fall season. My mom bakes the best oatmeal cookies and I normally nail the recipe, but I quickly realized the other night that I didn't have all of the ingredients that I needed, so I improvised. Of course, it was an epic fail.

I decided to follow this Betty Crocker recipe to help improvise. I thought it would be good, but something was missing. Do you have a favorite oatmeal cookie recipe?

1 1/2

cups packed brown sugar

1

cup butter or margarine, softened

1

teaspoon vanilla

1

egg

2

cups quick-cooking oats

1 1/2

cups Gold Medal™ all-purpose or unbleached flour

1

teaspoon baking soda

1/4

teaspoon salt

1

cup semisweet chocolate chips (6 oz)

1

cup chopped nuts, if desired

Pregnancy Apps

My sister recommended a few apps to me when she learned that I was pregnant. She even recommended that my husband have them on his phone, too... and so we both clicked away! These two apps are lifesavers. I love the weekly updates and quick information at your fingertips! If you're pregnant, or know someone that's pregnant, be sure to download these apps!

App #1: What to Expect

App #2: Baby Bump

Be Sure to Taste Your Words

Words of Wisdom for my students! Words are powerful! 

The best feeling in the world.

The best feeling in the world is feeling your baby move inside of you!

 Prior to this week, I felt only flutters of movement and now I'm starting to feel like this baby is practicing martial arts inside my belly. The initial fluttering movements that I felt a few weeks ago have definitely turned into full-fledged kicks and nudges. Movement picked up as each day carried on this week and every night I'd call for my husband to run into our bedroom... "Hurry, put your hand here. Do you feel it?" and the baby would stop moving. It was really frustrating! 

We played the "hurry, come in here" game a few times yesterday afternoon and finally my husband felt the baby moving and kicking! It was the absolute best experience in the whole entire world. I will never, ever, ever forget that moment for as long as I live. Grow, baby, grow so that we can meet you soon!

Pure Joy.

I saw my niece on Friday afternoon, yesterday morning, and again today.  Since she was staying at my parent's house this weekend, I took full advantage of having Sarah and Auntie time every single day.  My sister, her husband and daughter live in Boston, which is a three hour car ride away.  We don't usually see one another very often, so when we do, we like to spend as much time together as possible before it's time to say goodbye.  

Sarah's growing rapidly.  It seems like even as just a few weeks go by, she's saying more than she did the last time.  It is pure joy to watch a 20 month old explore the world.  Every encounter with everything and anyone is new and exciting.  She never gets tired of asking, "why?" or "what's that?"  or today's famous, "where did it go?"  

It was a ball watching her with my parents as they chased one another around the front yard yelling and screaming and laughing.  She'd fall down and lay in the grass, and a few times, my mom joined her.  Her laughs are contagious and it is impossible not to laugh with her.  

Here are my top favorite things about Sarah this weekend:

1. We used sidewalk chalk to draw on the driveway.  She had an amazing way of unloading the entire carton of chalk, asking you to draw more with more colors.  

2. Pizza makes everything better.  

3. Standing on line for coffee at the Bear Mountain Inn.  I couldn't believe how patient she was!

4.  Walking through the zoo making animal noises.  The kid can say coyote.  I was impressed. ;) 

5. When my parents pulled into the driveway after a day at the zoo, she exclaims, "We're home!"

6. She has the sweetest way of saying "no" all day long.  Yes...it's that phase! haha

7. She had to count every single one of the lights in front of my parents house.  About 10 times a day. 

8. She loves dressing up and wore a tutu over her clothes all weekend.

9.  If you ask her for hugs and kisses, she'll give you one.

10.  Hearing her little voice say, "I love you" will make you melt.  After she says that, you'll basically do anything she wants. 

It was a good weekend. :)

Happy Birthday to my Sister!

Today is a very special, important day...it's my sister, Allyson's birthday!  If you don't know her, she's a beautiful woman, both inside and out.  She's got a heart of gold that she wears on her sleeve.  She's insanely independent, and will always put others before herself.  She was that sister who would be hard on me because she always wanted the best for me, but would stand up for me if I needed some back up.  She was the one who gave me endless amounts of advice on school, life, love and everything else.  She was the one who told me everything would be okay when I thought my world was going to end.  She's a hero in my eyes.

I couldn't be more thankful for her and the gift of her daughter that she has shared with my entire family.  She's raising Sarah to be a sweet, gentle, loving and happy baby.  I'm not sure that I could say that she could do anymore, because her daughter is just that happy.  

We may have our differences, but there's more about us that is the same than different.  She gets me better than anyone else, and I can't imagine my life without her.  The 3 hour traveling distance between us makes it difficult for us to see one another all the time, but when we do get back together it's like we never missed a beat.  

So today, especially, and every day, Ally, know that I love you for the woman you are.  You are the best sister anyone could have ever had, and I am so lucky to call you my best friend, too.  I hope you had an amazing weekend in the city, and I can't wait to celebrate with you, soon!  

On a cleaning warpath.

I woke up this morning with the urge to decorate our apartment for fall. I jumped up out of bed, excited to break out decorations that I haven't seen since over a year ago, but then I quickly realized that I really needed to clean first. Ugh. Cleaning.

My husband and I keep our place pretty clean. We can almost be labeled as neat freaks. We're the type of people who like to clean up after we make a mess. It's the dust that gets the best of our place--I like to blame it on the central air units and the ceiling fans. But seriously, where does all the dust come from?!

So, as soon as I got out of bed, I was on a cleaning warpath. I cleaned every room and scrubbed our bathroom down - yuck, worst part. My husband is working today, but I'm sure if he caught me in the middle of my cleaning warpath, he would've thought something was seriously wrong with me. I was on a mission...I even managed to do a few loads of laundry. I have no idea where the energy came from.

I'm now too exhausted to decorate for fall. But, there's always tomorrow, right?

High Five for Friday: Enjoying the Small Things, Always.

I'm so excited that the weekend is here! A few reflections on my week:

1. Walking outside. I was determined to be outside after school as much as possible this week. The weather has been absolutely beautiful and I want to enjoy what's left of it before the leaves start falling to signal that winter is on it's way. After a long day of work, I dream of coming home and putting on comfy clothes. However, there's really no better feeling than to be soaking up the fresh air outside. 

2. Surviving back to school night. It's one of those nights that teacher's anticipate and wait for. We also put a lot of planning into it - not only do we want the night to go seamlessly, but we want parents to understand and experience what we do with their children each day. It was a success and I'm glad it's behind us! :-)

3. Love Notes in my lunch bag. My husband tucked a little love note inside my lunch bag the other day. I noticed it when I was packing the rest of my lunch in the morning and it simply made my day. Enjoying the small things, always. 

4. Photo Gallery Wall Makeover. The monster project. With my burst of energy last weekend, I plucked over twenty frames off of the wall, tearing my gallery wall apart. I love the "fresh canvas" that I've created. Now I'm waiting for my husband's help to implement my new vision... 

5. Receiving books in the mail. I received a huge box of books in the mail this week - all for my classroom. I started reading the first chapter of each one and I'm hooked... I'm having trouble choosing one to stick with though. I'm eager to read them and then get them into the hands of my students. 

We're linking up with Lauren Elizabeth this week. Click on over for more awesome stuff!

High Five for Friday!

We are really getting back into the swing of things at school!  Routines are being nailed down, and the kids and I are learning so much about one another!  Here's how my week went:

1. Highlight of my Week:  Packing my stuff up at 3pm today and heading over to my parents to see my niece.  Sarah is spending the weekend with my parents while my sister and brother in law have a weekend away in New York City.  Seeing her sweet little face after a long week of work made everything so much better!

2. Date Night Fridays: Marc and I are starting to make Friday night a date night.  We take a couple hours to go to dinner and chat about what is going on and how our weeks went.  Even though we live together, we're both REALLY wrapped up in school, so the catch up time is necessary.  Marc informed me that he's halfway through the soccer coaching season, which means his schedule will slow down a little. :)

3. I'm starting to plan my best friend, Allyson's visit from Florida this upcoming weekend.  We're going dress shopping for her wedding!  It's going to be so much fun!

4. Planning on beginning a running regimen on Monday.  My friend Dana and I are planning on exercising again after school this year.  I am definitely craving some me-time!

5. Dawn's shower gift arrived in the mail this week and I'm getting super excited to celebrate the anticipation of the arrival of her baby!  I'll keep you updated on her gift...after the shower! ;)

Derek Jeter Commercials

I'm from New York, and was born a Yankee Fan.  I'm not the girl who watches every chance I get, but I will tell you that if you ask me which team is my favorite, my loyalty is with the Yankees.  My boyfriend is a Red Sox fan, and regardless of how much I love him, I'll never stop rooting for the pinstripes!

Derek Jeter is preparing to play his last games of the season, and the few commercials that commemorate his retirement are ones that will give you goosebumps!  Enjoy!

Thanks for the memories, Captain!

Photo Gallery FAIL

I love photo galleries... but I couldn't stand mine anymore! This is not mine...

A few months ago, I blogged about my photo gallery wall. I was really, really, really excited about it and I drove my husband absolutely insane throughout the process. And it was a process! Picking out the photos was fun, finding the right frames was even better, but trying to find the right arrangement on the wall was the worst part. No, leveling and making holes in the wall was the worst part!

After it was all complete, I loved it and I was in heaven! Having this display in the entryway was fabulous because I'd eye the photos whenever I came and left the house. It was perfection until the worst thing happened... I got tired of the display. {Insert sad, miserable face.}

I didn't get tired of the photos, I loved staring at them. But, I was just tired of the wall looking so cramped and full. I wanted a fresh, clean feel. Maybe it's a weird pregnancy symptom, but I just couldn't stand it anymore! I casually mentioned it to my husband one night as we were leaving for dinner. "Really? I like it," he said. My heart sank. I was hoping he'd at least somewhat agree with me. But regardless of what he said, the damn display was eating me alive.

So, the most awful thing happened... I took the whole display apart. I plucked each frame off the wall and my living room was covered in frames... everywhere! The wall was covered in little black holes from the nails and there were scratches underneath the frames from getting them to hang just right. Have no fear! I quickly filled the holes with Spackle, touched up the wall with paint, and voila... clean, fresh, spacious!

My husband walked in from work as I had just finished filling the holes with Spackle. "Oh, God. What are you doing?" he mumbled softly. "Don't worry, it's going to look great when it's all done!" I said. Poor guy. Go ahead and feel bad for him.

Photo gallery fail. Onto the next project. Gallery frames are still sitting in the living room and new frames are waiting to be hung... this weekend. Thank god tomorrow is Friday!

Favorite Recipe of the Week: Chicken Enchiladas

I made these Enchiladas on Monday night...and they are to die for.  Even better, they are SKINNY Chicken Enchiladas!  You can find the recipe here: Skinnytaste Chicken Enchiladas.  Thank you, to Skinnytaste for constantly bringing us awesome recipes!

Surviving Back to School Night

I loved Amanda's post about Anticipating Back to School Night. We both participated in Back to School Night on Wednesday night and I completely agree with her... even after living through seven of these nights, my nerves still get the best of me. 

I truly look forward to meeting the parents of each and every one of my students. The meet and greet is my favorite part. I love noticing the same "isms" that that both parent and child share... shrugging of the shoulders, the excitement in their voice, the way they talk or laugh...these are just a few things that I notice right away. The warm smiles and handshakes go a long way and create the, "we're in this together" vibe.

The "we made it- I survived" feeling is the best feeling to have as we leave the building at night. The hardest part is coming home at 9pm, getting rid of the adrenaline rush, and feeling tired enough to go to bed. 

Anticipating Back to School Night

Ask any teacher, and the second most anticipated night after the first day of school, is the night you meet the parents!  It's only one hour in my school, and I've experienced 7 Back to School nights in my career, but tomorrow night is my 8th, and I still get a little nervous!

It's a lot of fun trying to guess which set of parents belong to which students.  I have had a chance to get to know the kids for a few weeks now.  We've learned a lot about one another.  Each class is so different year to year.  Each has strengths and weaknesses that make each class kind of like having children: you love each class for different reasons!  There aren't any classes who take the cake for being my favorite (well...besides my first class ever, but they were my favorite before I even knew them!). 

I always have high expectations of myself and my students.  I hope that the parents will support me as I educate their children.  It's the only way this year will be successful!  

Tears

A Small Moment in the Classroom

We had just sent our students off to work in small groups when one student approached me with red, glassy eyes, that were beginning to tear up. He started speaking, his voice shaky, and managed to get out that he need to "speak to {deep breath} both of his teachers about {deep breath} staying organized."

Sensing that the floodgates would open at any second, I whisked him outside and asked him what was wrong. As soon as I opened my classroom door, a rush of tears came streaming down his face. His nose was also running and he was trying to keep it together but couldn't. He stared at me with his big blue eyes and my heart. just. sank...  I wanted to cry with him. I hate seeing my students upset. I'm so sensitive that I feel like crying right alongside them.

"I'm having a problem staying organized. I keep forgetting my homework folder and my supplies. I'm at my mom's house a few nights and then I'm at my dad's house. I just don't know what to do and I need help. It's really hard." Poor W managed to get all of that out in bits and pieces as he fought back tears, wiped his nose with the back of his hand, and took a few deep breaths.

And now tears were really welling up in my eyes.

I wanted to hug him and tell him that "everything would be ok." I remember seeing his dad's "student information" sheet. Dad explained his recent divorce over the summer and how W was having a hard time with the transition.

We calmed W down right away and this is where we threw on the many hats that teachers wear. In that instant, we became moms, guidance counselors, friends, coaches, and shoulders to cry on.

I experience these breakdowns more than a few times a year with my students. For some reason, parents seem to get divorced as soon as their kid turns ten. Maybe they think their kids are old enough to handle it? Who knows. But it's heartbreaking and kids are far from being able to handle it... if anything, middle school makes the situation that. much. worse.

I don't consider days like this one bad, hard, or tough... they're absolutely heart wrenching. It's all I can think about for the rest of the day, on my drive home from work, cooking dinner, preparing for tomorrow, and the list goes on. It was the first thing I told my husband tonight.

Growing up is hard. Being a student is hard. Having a stable family means everything. I'm reminded of it every day. Every day for the past eight years, since having my own classroom, I've realized how LUCKY I am to have such amazing parents. They provided such a loving, caring, warm, stable home life for me and I only wish that all of my students could have the same thing.

Today was a heart wrenching day, but I can't wait to get back into the classroom tomorrow to help my students feel safe, loved, and cared for in our stable classroom environment.

Finding time for myself

I have been feeling the back to school blues over the past few weeks.  It has nothing to do with my students, or even my school.  It's trying to find the balance between work and home life.  The weekends fly by, and before I know it, it's back to the work week.  When school begins, I throw myself into my job, pulling 10 hour days, and bringing more work home.  I try to get to know who my students are and what their strengths and weaknesses are, and do my best to begin to provide the best instruction possible, as soon as possible.   Sometimes, this comes at a cost.  

Marc and I have been discussing this topic a lot this week at the dinner table.  The conversation usually goes something like this:

Me: I'm overwhelmed.

Marc: Why?

Me: Because I have a. b. c. d. etc.... to do and not enough time to do it.

Usually the etc... includes things I need to do for myself to keep up my own sanity.  This includes exercise.  If you have been reading my blog posts over the past year, you'll know I like to eat healthy and know how important it is to be healthy.  

I'm really going to work over the next few weeks to try to put myself first and to find some "Me Time" so I keep myself sane and happy.  I know I'll be better for it.  Do you have trouble finding time for yourself, too?  How to do you make sure you fit it all in?

Craving Outside Time

Getting back into the school routine has been great, but I crave being outside when I'm in school all day...especially on the beautiful days that we've been having. On my drive home from work today, I couldn't wait to change into workout clothes and get outside. The weather was absolutely gorgeous; just about seventy degrees. I've been "enjoying the small things" outside and soaking up what's left of summer... the green trees, leaves, and grass... the bright blue sky and gentle breeze. 

With our forecast being absolutely gorgeous all week, I'm determined to be outside every day after school. I hope you decide to do the same!

Holding a Newborn Today!

Today I was finally able to visit my best friend, Frances, to welcome her new bundle of joy into the world... Baby Chase! Baby Chase arrived almost a month early and is a healthy, happy, beautiful little boy. Frances' due date was planned for tomorrow, September 15th, and as I held him in my arms, I couldn't imagine that little boy being in her belly for that long. He is SO precious and especially hard to put down. I just wanted to keep holding him, all while staring at his perfect little features. Obviously, this visit made me eager to meet my sister's baby in November, and of course, very eager to meet our little one in January. Time is flying and I know it will be here in no time. I just can't wait!!!

Books about Baby!

I crawled into bed last night and started reading a young adult book from my classroom, Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie. I've had this book in my classroom library for quite a while, but have never read it. This past week, after scouring many teacher blogs, I heard amazing things about it and decided that it needed to be read this weekend.

I mention this because most of my reading has been about pregnancy and babies! This is what the pile on my desk looks like:

I've read parts of each book, but haven't read one from cover-to-cover yet. I like to keep up with information about where I am in my current week of pregnancy and then I read a little bit ahead. My favorite "book" so far has been a magazine that I received from Destination Maternity.  It's titled "Baby Basics, Infants Didn't Come with Instructions Until Now" - from the editors of Parents & American Baby. I love the quick and basic information that will guide us through the sleepless, joyful, and crazy early months of parenthood. My husband loved this one, too! :-)