I'm alive!

Okay, y'all, this is basically just a super fast blow in to let you know that I'm alive and I'm not quitting. 

December was OUT. OF. CONTROL. I was having some morale issues and just overall was having sort of a funky attitude about teaching. That happens to everyone, right??  

And since we don't go home for Thanksgiving we always see both our families at Christmas time so we've been criss-crossing the Midwest since Christmas Eve. It's tiring, but it's also really fun. Especially since both of our siblings still have kids young enough to believe in Santa. Two of the sweetest little loves.  We'll be back in the heart of it all until Sunday. I'm excited to see friends, family, and go to a wedding--all before Sunday! And somewhere in there I'm going to have to actually plan the lessons that I'm going to teach next week. 

I promise I'll be back again in the next few days to share some back to school, post winter break ideas. I hope y'all had a great Christmas and that you have a safe and happy new year.

Xoxo

Christmas Par-tay!

Hi, friends!

Y'all, the first blogger I EVER followed ever is having a super cute Christmas party and I'm super excited to join up.
                             

Hot chocolate or egg nog?
I'm with Michelle on this one--definitely hot chocolate!  I especially love to make it with milk, and put marshmallows and whipped cream on top.  LOTS of whipped cream!  Yummm! (And if we're being totally honest, sometimes I tip a little Bailey's into the hot chocolate.  Double yum!)

Does Santa wrap presents or just set them under the tree?
I have to be totally honest with y'all here--I actually had NO idea that sometimes Santa didn't wrap presents until THIS YEAR when people were talking about it in their blogs.  Santa always wrapped our presents growing up, and we always wrap our presents now.  Although, to be fair, the only kids I'm giving presents to are nieces and nephews so that's not necessarily a "Santa" present.  

Colored lights or white?
Honestly, I have really mixed feels about this one.  Growing up, we always had colored lights, and my dad always scoffed at white lights.  When I first graduated from college, my roomie and I always decorated with white lights (much to my dad's dismay).  Now, the hubs and I decorate with colored lights at home, and I take the clear lights to school with me.

When do you decorate?
Growing up, we always decorated early mid-December...probably about 2 weeks before Christmas, and would leave our tree up until New Years.  Now that I live out of town and travel home for the holidays, the hubs and I always get our tree the day after Thanksgiving and decorate it right away so that it's worthwhile, since we have to undecorate before we head home.

Real or fake tree?
REAL.  100% real, baby!  When we were kids, we used to go out to a Christmas tree farm and it was a day long production.  We went with several family friends and would spend a few hours looking for our tree, chopping it down, and tying it to the car.  We would pay touch football, and then head back home and stop at my grandma's house for chili on the way home.  Growing up there was only one year that we didn't cut down our own tree:  it was the year I had chicken pox.  Now, the hubs and I buy a tree from a local gardening store, but if we had a more appropriate vehicle for tree chopping I would totally head to West VA or Maryland to chop a tree every year.  It makes the house...well, apartment, really...smell so delicious!  =)

What tops your tree?
Honestly, nothing this year.  :(  We don't have a tree topper, yet.

Favorite Christmas memories or traditions?
When I was young, my dad used to take me to see The Nutcracker every year.  We used to do a lot of holiday things as a family; I mean, we still do.  But hands down that was always my favorite.  I loved being able to dress up and go out just me and my dad to see the ballet.  Two years ago, when we were engaged, the hubs took me to see The Nutcracker at Christmastime.  *Swoon* That is a man after my heart.

Do you remember your favorite gift as a child?
I really don't.  I remember when I got a fishing pole and taking it outside right that night in the freezing cold to practice casting, but I wouldn't necessarily name that as my favorite childhood gift.

Do you prefer giving or receiving?
I love the hunt of the perfect Christmas gift for everyone on the list, and I love wrapping it up for them, and then seeing how excited (hopefully!) they are when they get it, and I like to RACK.

What's your favorite Christmas song?
This is a tricky one for me; there really are so many Christmas songs that I just love, love, love!  Which is why I also love to listen to Christmas music from Thanksgiving until a day or 2 after Christmas.  I think if I had to pick it would be a dead heat between God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen and O Come, O Come Emmanuel.  But I also really love What Child is This?  And O, Holy Night.  Ugh.  See the problem here?!

Candy canes--yuck or yum?
Big time YUM-O!  However, I'm a candy cane traditionalist and I only like the peppermint ones.

Favorite Christmas movie?
I think a Charlie Brown Christmas.  Although more recently, I do love both Elf and Love Actually.  And in the interest I've never seen all of It's a Wonderful Life.

Do you shop online or at stores?
I used to exclusively shop in stores for Christmas gifts.  (See previously mentioned thrill of the hunt.)  However, now that I live in DC and there's not really an actual mall in the District I do much more shopping online.  It does make my life so much easier.

Photo cards, letter, or store bought cards?
I generally send a combination of store bought cards with a personal note on the inside.  Personally, I feel like photo cards aren't acceptable until you have children.

Thanks for sticking with me for so long!  You can party down, too by clicking here.
xo

I'm nothing, if not a woman of my word.

Even though the Cyber Monday sale was literally a week ago, I just now finished my unit 3 word work activities.  As promised, they are 20% off in my TpT store today and tomorrow.  You can grab them by clicking right here!  I'll also give it away to the first 2 people to leave a comment with their email address.

Happy (faux) snow day!
xo

My Truth Monday

Okay, y'all.  Today I'm doing some weeknight blogging to link up with Denise at Sunny Days for a HILARIOUS party.


The topic for My Truth Monday this week?  Lyrics that you thought you knew, but you didn't!

I was born in the 80s, and grew up in the 90s, but the first songs I knew were the classic rock that my parents always listened to...Moody Blues, Led Zeppelin.  You get the idea.  The Steve Miller Band has a song called "Big Old Jet Airliner".

I mean, really, I can't even explain that.  Big Old Chad a light on?!  What does that even mean?!  I challenge you to listen to that song though and NOT hear Big Old Chad had a light on.  Even now, I can still hear it.  

And, of course, this Jimmy Buffet classic.  

I mean, really, I knew the song was called Fins.  I don't know why I thought they said Dance to the left, Dance to the right.  BUT if we're being 100% honest I actually didn't even realize the true lyrics until about 2 years ago.  It was the year my husband and I were engaged and we were driving home for Christmas, listening to Jimmy Buffet's greatest hits and Fins came on and I was singing and dancing (as I usually do) to that song and as soon as I wailed "you gotta dance to the left, dance to the right" the hubs was like "uh, say what?!  It's FINS to the left, FINS to the right".  That's a real thing that happened in my life.  (Awkward face)

Alright, y'all.  I hope my idiocy has lightened your Monday a bit.  Have a great week!

xoxo

I have the best intentions.

Happy Sunday, friends!

Really, I have great plans every week to NOT just blog on Sunday nights, but then it seems that things constantly pop up during the week and then suddenly it's Sunday night again and I haven't blogged since the last Sunday.  :(  Whomp, whomp, whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

Did you get lots of great stuff during the Cyber Monday sale last week?  I cleaned out my wishlist (mostly) and then made 1 impulse purchase.  (Darn you, Cara Carroll and your cute fonts!)  I'm really jazzed to start using this next week with my little nuggets who are struggling with their number sense.  This packet is chock full of superb activities designed to help littles identify number words, numbers, and the quantity that corresponds to a number.

I actually think that this RTI pack will tie in really nicely with this assessment that I created last week.  

I know that my assessment goes to 30, but as it's a baseline assessment (and I actually teach first, not kinder) I think that it will still match up and give you an accurate idea of what your firsties need to focus on.  Or, if you teach K you can just stop your assessments at 20, instead of going all the way to 30.  In fact, since it's the holidays and I've never given anything away before ever I'll give away this assessment to the first 4 people to comment on this post.  That's the way this works, right??  =)  Just comment and leave your email address and I'll send the assessment your way.   

I'm off to lay in bed and watch football.  I somehow pulled a muscle in my back.  Which is ironic since I haven't been to the gym or gone running in over a week.  Have a great start to your week, everyone!  (And if you're on the East Coast stay warm and safe!)

xoxo

Sweet Mother of Pearl!

Friends--IT IS TIME FOR THE DECEMBER CURRENTLY.  How is that even possible?!  Can there really be only 25 days until Christmas?!  YIKES!

Well, since I love a good party, and have ridiculous FOMO I'm here to share my December Currently.

I think that generally everything on my Currently this month is pretty self-explanatory, but it was hard for me to pick my favorite tradition.  I really love the way that we celebrate Christmas with our family in the day time, and then all of our family friends or friends who don't necessarily have family in the area come over in the evening.  We usually end up with close to 30 people at my parents' house on Christmas day.  It's so fun.  But really, I think that my favorite tradition is the wreath laying at Arlington National Cemetery.  The hubs and I have been doing it every year, since we started dating, so I think that I probably also like it for that reason.  It's one of the first Saturdays in December and tons of volunteers come out to Arlington and lay a wreath on every single grave at Arlington.  People travel huge distances for the event; there are active military members, foreign military members, veterans, ROTC, motorcycle groups, regular civilian schmoes, like me and Mr. Spouse...it's so inspiring to see so many people bundle up to honor our veterans who gave their lives for this country.  I'm so excited to read other people's favorite holiday traditions!  I'm such a nerd. 

Happy holidays, sweet friends!

xoxo

Cyber Monday is TOMORROW!

Hello, friends!

I hope that everyone had a safe, delicious, and relaxing Thanksgiving.  I know that I definitely did.

Here in DC, we only get Thursday and Friday off for Thanksgiving, so the hubs and I stay out here for Thanksgiving and celebrate with other orphans.  But this year, we celebrated Thanksgiving with my aunt, uncle, cousin, her husband, their adorable twinnies, and a friend.  It was a great time, and I always think it's nice to build new traditions.  Not to get too sappy, but holidays are a time to spend with your family--actual, or adopted.

Every year, the day after Thanksgiving the hubs and I go out to get our Christmas tree, since we have to take it down before we travel home for Christmas.  We go to this gardening center that's in our neighborhood-ish and found a great tree.  We got a Fir tree this year; I've never had one before, but I really like it so far.  We finally finished decorating the tree yesterday, so now I just have to start finding time to write Christmas cards.  With all that extra free time I have, right?  Ha.  I do really enjoy holiday cards, though.  Sending and receiving.

The main purpose of my post today, friends, is to tell you that tomorrow is Cyber Monday!  TpT is throwing a huge site-wide sale and tons of sellers are participating!  I definitely am, and it's likely that many of your other favorite sellers are, too.  I'm putting my entire store 20% off and if you use the code CYBER at checkout TpT will give you an additional 8% off.  I'm hoping to have my Fundations unit 3 activities up by the time I go to bed tonight, but I'm also trying to work in some more family time so we'll see what wins (it might be family time).  The Cyber Monday sale is a great time to clear out your wishlist!  I know that I'm planning several purchases.  =)

Enjoy your Sunday, sweet friends!
xoxo