It's That Time of Year...

It's that time of the year again!  I can't believe how unbelievably fast the summer flew by.  In a short 11 days I will be headed back to work.  Today was my first day working in my classroom.  Okay..well not technically as I did go in and paint over the summer.  I feel like I am starting at square one this year since I moved classrooms.  Today's agenda was simply trying to unpack all of my "treasures" that I stored away for the summer.  I mainly tackled my desks today.  The students desks were thoroughly cleaned, as was my desk.   I took everything out of every drawer, as I tend to start stashing stuff in them at the end of the year...simply to get it off my desk and out of my sight.  It makes for the illusion of a clean/neat classroom.  Every year I start the year off saying this year will be different.  I WILL become organized.  Hopefully with my larger classroom, deep closets, and built in shelves, this will become a reality this year.  I have no pictures tonight.  I was simply too busy tackling the massive amounts of "stuff" in my classroom.  Once I can get all my boxes unpacked...I'll be feeling a lot better.  But until then, I have a lot of work to do.  :)

Summer Lovin'

I hope you are enjoying your summer as much as my girls and I are.  Our days are spent lounging, watching movies, playing outside, playing at the park, library storytime on Wednesdays, and TONS of swimming.  Tonight marked a first for my oldest as she started her first night of tumbling.  She was so cute.  She had so much fun!  We can't wait til next week.  I just had to post this cute little video.  This was towards the end of the class.  I hope I get more next week and that I am sitting in a better place to capture these moments.  But for now....ENJOY! (P.S. Lily's the little one in pink.)

Blog Makeover

Once again I opted for a new blog layout.  Previously I was using free blogger layouts and banners from The Cutest Blog on the Block.  This is a great place to go if your looking for a cute blog layout that looks professional but is FREE.  I have enjoyed using them and their tutorials are always fabulous.  Through them I was able to create a signature line, change my title, date, and side bar fonts and color, and was able to have a professional banner and background.  More recently, I had been looking for ways to update my blog with style.  Although I loved the look I received from The Cutest Blog on the Block I was looking for something different.  This past year I was talking with Lori from Lori's Latest Links at an SDE conference.  I had signed up for one of her fabulous sessions and we discussed blog designs.  Her blog recently went under construction and is now designed by the ever fabulous Dreamlike Magic.  I loved her new look so I checked them out.  They have some great clip art sets, digital paperbacks, web designs, and much more.  Therefore, I looked into getting something new from them.  I still wasn't willing to pay a ton of money for my blog design.  I wanted something simple, but professional.  Something that I could keep no matter what theme I had in my class or the season.  They offer pre-made designs, as do most blog designers.  I opted for a pre-made design, but I feel like it just perfect for what I was looking for.  I am very pleased with my design.  And who knows...maybe one day I'll be willing to pay more for an individual blog design that no one else can get...but for now this is absolutely perfect.  If your looking for a change, you may want to check them out too.