On to the next chapter

end of the year neccesaties

This is my school bag.

Contents:

magazines, notebook, calendar, bills, resume, applications, prayer journal, Nicholas Sparks book

It's that time of the school year where I pretty much have to scrounge around for things to do. You see, it's the end of the school year and my RTI sessions have pretty much ended and I have to brig things to do. I hate NOT being busy. This is exactly why I need a full time teaching job. I am so ready to prove myself. I want to have my own classroom and begin to make a serious difference in the lives of young children. I feel like God has been priming me, humbling me, preparing me and expecting me to have complete faith and trust in his will. It's been hard, it's been tough, it's been painful at times but I know I am ready to shine. After all, this life is meant to shine...that's why I named my blog of the same likeness.

There are eight days of school left and I know summer is going to fly by. It always does. The first couple of weeks is going to be really busy. But that's okay too. I like being busy. I have a lot of to do's and I want to make Grant a real priority. I want to make great memories for him. I want to feel relaxed and productive. I'm ready but I'm not. 

Teacher Appreciation Gift

I know ti's is a late post for Teacher Appreciation but this past week at my own school was hectic and I didn't get to finish Grant's teacher's gift until Friday morning! I love his 2nd grade teacher. She and I are a lot alike as far as our teaching beliefs and styles. She is an awesome teacher! I made this cute little mini scrapbook made from unused library cards and pockets.

I actually cut out the apples from the die cut machine at school and they worked perfectly!

I found a stack of the "old" library book check out cards in a file cabinet at work.

I asked the librarian for some pockets to put the cards in.

I snuck an opportunity to take pictures of each student and then had them write their name under the "AUTHOR" and a note of thanks to Mrs. Jones for different things. Grant thanked her for letting the class go outside at the end of the day before dismissal.

He's normally a very photogenic guy but for some reason he has a bizarre expression on his face.

Silly Kid!

I punched holes and put book rings on it and a smidgen of ribbon for cuteness!

She loved it!

I Love You Crraft for MOM!

I wanted to share with you a few pictures of my Wolf Cub Scout boys working on a gift for their moms. All of "my" boys have moms except one who lives with his Nana so I told him to make it for her and write "Happy Nana's Day" on the back! This boys are fun to be with most of the time and other times, they can just wear me out! The bff pinned this project on Pinterest so I made the Scouts my Test Group. They seemed to really have like it and it took the whole hour of our meeting.

I love how hard they working. I was a little nervous about letting them hammer their own nails.

They have a knack for using things appropriately.

That's a 2nd grader for you!

Grant had a hard time hitting the nails hard enough to stay but luckily I had a very helpful scout who was finished first and went around to help the other boys. Isn't that what Boy scouts is all about!?

Some put their " I Love You" at the top or bottom of the wood and either way,it's really sweet!

Happy Mother's Day, Friends

~weekend getaway~

It's pretty sad when life gets so busy and finances get so strained that going out of town for a weekend seems like impossible. I had to think about the last time Bill & I went away by ourselves.....it was 2007 when we went to Seattle for a wedding....Grant was 3!  He's going on 8!
Because our marriage has so many complexities and issues, we knew it would be necessary to get away from all our stresses and just chill out together. So we finagled a plan to go away to Gatlinburg...a quaint but busy tourist town nestled amongst the Great Smoky Mountains. I felt a teeny weensy bit guilty for leaving Grant behind but I've always been a firm believer that you have to take time to nurture the marriage. Before there was a G, there was A&B.
Here's a few pics....

The view from the hotel balcony...

Rocky Waters

I can't even remember the last time we ate at Pancake Pantry

It's so yummy....expensive....but yummy!

the pancakes are "to die" for!

Look at all that butter!

I always like going into Aunt Mahalia's Candy store

they make really tasty taffy!

Ok...hot and fresh caramel corn is a weakness of mine!

so much so, I bought a  whole bucket

I brought some home to share though

see, I'm not greedy!

I have a fascination with tall people...I mean I know I'm tall, my brother is pretty tall but when I see someone taller than me, it just fascinates me. Here is a life size replica of Robert Wadlow at the Ripley's Believe it or Not! museum. He actually stands up and sits down. It's just really cool to think that God can create someone like that!

We went to Pigeon Forge later on in the day on Saturday. I didn't take my camera b/c it's too heavy to tote around. I went to the scrapboking store and picked up some sweet scrappy goodies!

We ate dinner and came back to the hotel. Bill and I went to sit by the pool becaus not a soul was there! I read a lottle bit and browsed Pinterest on my iPad while Bill watched a movie on his Kindle Fire. It started to get buggy so we went back to the room. We woke up Sunday and headed out of town but first we stopped at two gigantic flea markets. I bought a couple of rings made from silverware! and finally scored two otr of three old pie pans for a project I want to do and a milk glass goblet. It was a nice relaxing weekend, one that I needed desperately.

I felt like I had actually gotten some rest and felt rejuvenated.

Now, I wait for summer....

18 days of school left...but who's countin?