Back to School

Monday was Eli's first day back at school!

My family always took pictures on the front porch on the first day of school.  This year was a little different than last year's back to school picture.

Eli was excited to see his friends again!

"Ok, Mommy...."

We both did great that day.  Eli's teachers and daycare directors were so excited to see him.  He only cried just a bit when we left.  He stopped before I even made it down the hall, and I didn't cry at all!  : )

Little man picked right back up where he left off though.  I called at lunch to check on him and he was hanging out in the office being the teachers pet, catching up with everyone who missed him during the summer!

He's such a big boy-he eats lunch at school now!  On his first day he had a ham and cheese sandwich and tore it up (so they said)!  It's so nice not to have to pack bottles to send to school.  It certainly makes our morning routine that much quicker!

Some Linky Love

Sometimes I read blog posts by other people who just post random links to articles they've read and enjoyed (or not enjoyed), and I thought I'd do that today.  So, in no particular order, here are some good articles I've recently read:

Casey and Caylee Anthony - This was SUCH a good, well thought out take on the whole thing!


War Eagle! - Football season is coming folks!

War Eagle one more time!  - hilarious version of a sting operation!


PSA - Go here and watch this video.  The last little bit they give important info on changes to your settings for iPhones.  It's a little scary how easily so much information can be gained about your family.


That's all I've got for now friends, sorry, I don't have THAT much time to go read too many random articles.  Happy reading and happy weekend!

My FIFTH Classroom

Welcome to my FIFTH classroom!  I can't believe I'm starting my fifth year of teaching.  I have taught third grade all five years and couldn't imagine myself in any other grade.

Here's the view when you walk in the door.  Yes, those are lanterns hanging down.  I bought them at Hobby Lobby and my husband hung them.  I have eight in all, and yes they work!  : )  The kids love it when I turn the lights off and we just 'work by lantern-light'!

I have 4 groups and 18 desks.  I currently have 15 students on my roll.  As you see I have a Smart Board and couldn't teach without it (well, wouldn't want to anyway).  The word wall is to the left of the window and the reading center is to the right - it forms an L shape with my desk.  What you can't see in this picture are the camping chairs around the reading center.

Cubbies, job board, and trays to turn in work!

(I love my owls!  After they apply for and are assigned jobs, their picture goes beside the appropriate owl!)

Here's my desk.  Nothing too special.  Several pictures of my husband, son, and niece!  : )

Also, you can see my vase I made, via Pinterest!

The view from the back wall.  Excuse the boxes at my kidney table.  I teach Saxon Math and alllll that stuff just came in today, needless to say it hasn't been put away yet.

If you're keeping count that's 6 computers in my room.  I also have 3 laptops, and 2 iPads.  Our school is very technologically blessed!

Part of my math wall.  The 'hands' around the clock are new this year.  I love them; they're probably one of my favorite things on my wall.

Calendar-same one I've had for five years, but I finally changed the border out this year.  I really like the thick purple!

You can see I still have a few minor things left to do:  like take my new pencil sharpener out of the box!

Names on the door - ROBOTS!  This is also what I'm using to mark off AR goals.

Well, that's the gist of it.  As you can see, I have no theme...just colorful.  I'm looking forward to a great year!

13 on Thursday

Here's another random 13 on Thursday...Back to School Edition:

1.  I officially worked for the first time in 10 weeks today.  That's right .... teachers went back to work today.

2.  We also had Open House tonight.  I met 9/14 sweet babies for next year.  I'm really looking forward to this school year.  You don't know how much I look forward to NOT locking myself in my classroom and eating with one hand because I'm trying to eat and pump at the same time...usually in the dark, because my lights are on a timer and if you don't move they go off, and well, if you're pumping you're pretty much stationary for a good 15-20 minutes.  Seriously, I can't wait to eat in the lunchroom.  (Ever heard that before?)  (Run on sentence anyone?)

3.  I got to see a lot of my kiddos from last year tonight.  I have really missed them.  I always am amazed at how much kids grow over the summer!

4.  I love the start of a school year.  New school supplies and back to school shopping make me giddy.

5.  Eli doesn't actually start daycare until Monday.  We had a babysitter this morning, and then my brother kept him in the afternoon and will again tomorrow.

6.  I love having my brother here.  We talked a lot tonight....good times.  (Hi Zach!)

7.  I have found so many good classroom things and ideas on Pinterest.  That website rocks.  I say it every other post I feel like, but seriously, I get ideas for everything from there!

8.  Back to school means football season is coming!  30 days!  WAR EAGLE!!

9.  Back to school means Eli's birthday too...3 weeks from today my baby will be 1 year old!!

10.  I need some capri pants to wear back to work.  Bad.  Thanks to my filing cabinet, I ripped a whole in my khaki capris setting up my classroom.  Ugh.  I go to buy more and all the stores are set up for fall.  No one has capris anymore.  Frustrating!

11.  All of the skills at the beginning of the year are my favorite ones to teach in third grade.

12.  Third grade is all I know.  I interned in third grade and am now beginning my FIFTH year of teaching third grade!  That seems so wild.  Sidenote, but my MIL also teaches third grade!

13.  I will be doing a post showing off pictures of my classroom tomorrow; stay tuned!

The Most Dreaded of Days

As my husband says, yesterday was the worst day of the year:  the last day of summer.

We celebrated with a trip to Auburn where we all got a few back to school clothes and picked up little man's birthday present!

On our way back home we stopped by Gigi's Cupcakes.  mmmmm

That's blueberry on the left, wedding cake on the back right, and birthday cake front right.

Wesley is all about Eli's smash cake not being a flop.  So, he wanted to do a practice round.  So we let the birthday boy to be squish a cupcake around.  He had fun.

Then we practiced standing up!  Eli will stand for up to ten seconds at a time, and has taken ONE step by himself, but he's a chicken and usually squats back down and reverts to crawling!

Wesley and I go back to work on Thursday, and the little man starts school on Monday.  Goodbye, Summer.  We enjoyed you and the time and memories you gave our family!

Wordless Wednesday

Trip to Birmingham

The Taffs made one last little trip over the weekend.  We went to see our wonderful friends (who we don't see near enough) in Birmingham.

Brian, Ashley, Wesley, and I have all been friends since college.  We were all in the AUMB together (Brian and Wesley both played horn, Ashley and I were both on the flag line).  The Johnsons were also in our wedding; they're special to us.

It was great to just spend some time together and hang out.  Ashley and I did some shopping, and I got to see sweet Emily's nursery.  Ashley did such a good job...all you blog lurkers will have to wait on the big blog reveal!  : )

Ashley, Emily Ann, Rebecca, and Eli

So, I've seen half of my Cohort C buddies (Cohort C was our awesome elementary ed group at Auburn) in the past week, but am missing the other two!