Saturday Snapshots and My Lucky Day

Hello my sweet friends...

I woke up this morning to the sounds of such a peaceful rain, and it was all I could do to pull myself out of bed. Perfect weather for comfy beds and great books! Right now I am reading World War Z by Max Brooks and One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia. Such different books, LOL....but both soooo good!

Any~who... I digress as usual.

This afternoon I am joining Miss Nelson from Run! Miss Nelson's Got the Camera for her Saturday Snapshots! This is one of my favorite linky parties!

I am one proud momma...my oldest is halfway to his BSE! Derrick graduated with his Associates way back in May, but he chose not to walk, instead waiting to walk for his Bachelors. We just got this in the mail...lots of hard work for him (and a few editing sessions for me ;)....so proud of him!

Winner, winner, chicken dinner!...whoo hoo...Mrs. Tina Dunn has won something. LOL...put that on your calendars because it is a first! I was so stoked to wake up Friday morning to an email from Bethany at Hunter's Tales from Teaching! Look at all of the goodies I won for entering her 400 500 followers giveaway! Be sure hop on over and check out her fourth grade blog. She has tons of great stuff in her TpT store...so glad I found her site! ~ My lucky day!

Joshua and I tried to catch up on yard work...before the neighborhood revolts! This beautiful and scary creature had to be relocated as we cut back the bush that made its home.

As much as I cannot stand creepy crawlies, these usually don't bother me too much. It was the huge black widow on the mailbox that totally freaked me out. I tried to get a pic of it, but it scuttled away before I could snap a pic... or smack it dead! So now I am just a little beyond freaked out!

I have a true love-hate relationship with the monstrously aggressive vines that I convinced myself were an amazing idea to plant all around our gardens. These vines are so beautiful when they bloom ~ hence my love for them. Any other time, well I am fighting to hold them back before they consume us all ~ there in lies all the hate, haha. I have almost lost sight of my bridge beneath all that green. 

 

Look at the gorgeous hibiscus. Sometimes it amazes me how huge these blooms get.

This is on the table next to me...so addictive! Peanuts and candy corn..yumm!

Joshua's sweet baby girl has stolen all of our hearts! She is growing like a weed, and so far, no more pennies have been consumed. Wish us luck with that one because everything goes straight in her little mouth.

These two precious girls helped me in the classroom this week! I have had a number of kiddos stop by here and there throughout the summer to help me label books with new basket numbers. With almost 10,000 books in one room, there is no way I could have done it all myself. I am so grateful to all of the sweet kiddos and their parents that allowed them to spend some of their summer time helping me!

 

Whoo hoo...LAST Book!
We did a little happy dance when we finished!

...and this sweet girl helped me at just about everyone of our Summer Reading Hot Spots this summer! My little reading star! Love all of these girls...just don't know what I am going to do without them!

One last thing for you...

The sweet ladies at A Class*y Collaboration have started a "Class*y Cruise!" If you want to see cool classrooms...be sure to stop by and check out all the fun links in this Cruise around the Classroom!

I don't know about you, but I LOVE looking at other classroom pics....goodness that sounded soooo nerdy...but oh well...it is what it is, and I love looking at everyone else's great ideas! So I linked up my last post, my classroom reveal; you can check it out here. 

Be sure to stop by  Miss Nelson's Got the Camera and A Class*y Collaboration!

Happy Reading, friends!

Saturday Snapshots

Happy Saturday friends...

My day started off very lazy as Mr. Dunn and I tried to catch up on some pretty serious zzzzz's we've been missing out on.

But all good things must come to an end, and we had to get up and get moving...too many things to do!! I managed to pull myself out of my comfy bed to run errands and do a bit of work in the classroom.

Tonight I am joining Miss Nelson for her Saturday Snapshots while I've got a bit of Saturday left. :)

Earlier this week, I was going through some old papers and found this note from Katie Byrd...I had to text it to her just to remind her, haha....You can't see it, but in the corner she had written "you're my idol"....ahhh...the good old days!

This week has been full of pet drama and so much worry...(hence the lack of sleep.) Joshua thought his new baby girl swallowed a penny which can be very dangerous for a little one because of zinc poisoning. We had a few worried days waiting for the penny to make its appearance, and when it didn't, we had to get X-rays....here he is waiting for the news...all turned out well.

Our next pet worry was the worst ever...our sweet boy Clancy was in an accident and as a result he had to lose one of his eyes. It was very traumatic for all involved (again, much lack of sleep)...but when we went to pick up our sweet little pirate, as we are calling him now, he wagged his tail as if nothing ever happened. The vet said I was probably more traumatized than he will be. I sure love this sweet boy and am so relieved to have him home on the mend!

I swear he looks happy regardless...little angel!

When I stopped by my classroom today, I found a note on my desk from my crazy flamingo friend Vicki ...she had borrowed my room to do some tutoring while her neck of the woods was being waxed. After working for a bit, I started noticing Post It notes like this all around the room. Sure made me smile after such a stressful week - I just love my flamingo friends!

She  is ready for some beach time! Me, too!!!!

No particular reason for adding this one other than I think it is pretty :)

Flamingos and Butterflies

Joshua and I made it out for a very southern (aka amazingly fattening and yummy) breakfast. 

Found another pic of one of my murals...really makes me want to find the time to paint again! 

This was our local news...can you believe?!...poisonous MEETballs? REALLY?! LOL...can't wait to share this one with my new kiddos when we hit this set of homophones....

That's it for me! Be sure to stop by Miss Nelsons and check out all the other Saturday Snapshots!

Happy Reading, friends!

Saturday Snapshots, Blogiversary and Liebster!

Wow...I cannot believe that I have officially been blogging for a year now! I am so glad that I took the leap and joined the blogging world!  :)

I have met so many wonderful teachers, and the bonding experience I have had with students, parents, and even teachers in my building has been priceless! Thanks for reading along with me, friends!!

Today is my first time to link up with Miss Nelson at Run! Miss Nelson's Got the Camera for Saturday Snapshots.

Here are a few random snapshots for you...

Joshua and I made it to our favorite restaurant, Kan Pai, for some yummy sushi! Loved it!

Joshua and I also made a lunch date with Josh between dental appointments. Josh works so much that getting to meet him for lunch is such a treat!

Joshua and his new baby girl! He sure loves this little lab/boxer mix...mutts are the best! That's my mom in the background...I'll see just how often she reads my blog when I get a phone call about taking this one down...she is so rarely captured on film...LOL.

Having all my kiddos together...with the hubby...and with my dad...WOW..doesn't happen very often. 

While I love all of my vines, they are truly taking over! I am waiting for a knock on the door any day now from frustrated neighbors...so beautiful but sooooo out of control!

Some of the sweet kiddos reading at one of our Summer Reading Hot Spots! Love seeing them have a love for books so early!

Here is a silly one for you...that's me with my earphones in the dark...watching the TESS videos...this little girl couldn't stand not watching with me, so she spent much time in my lap. 

Now on to the classroom....

I am so stinkin' excited that I finally have all 129 baskets in my library labeled! Such a relief!

There were no baskets to label for this Small Groups Library, but it is all organized and inventoried! This is one of my favorite shelves in the room just because of the sheer volume of books, and it just hurts my soul that by the end of the first month of school it will be covered with anchors.

This is a few days late, but I really want to thank Susan at Thoughts from Mrs. Susan for nominating our blog for the Liebster Blog Award...this is an award to recognize new blogs...Thank you so much for thinking of us Susan!

In order to accept the nomination, I must:

1. Link back to the blog that nominated me

2. Nominate 5 blogs with fewer than 200 followers

3. Answer the questions posted by my nominator

4. Share 11 random facts about myself

6. Contact my nominees and let them know I nominated them...

For those of you that have been with me for a while, you know this is my second nomination, and you can check out that nomination in this post... be sure to check back to see the blogs that I nominated then!

These were my random facts...

1. Random thing number 1...I typed this entire post and when I went to publish, well...one error code and one too many back keys later, and I lost the whole post. So I really must warn you; my first post was so much witter and original and just down right hilarious. I am so sorry that it was lost out in the blog-osphere...

2. I have four wonderful children that I am so proud of that I could bust! But secretly, when I look at them, I think to myself that there is just no darn way that I am old enough to have four almost grown children ~ two in college ~ holy moly!

3. I was in the Air Force a whole separate lifetime ago. In basic training, when you get to list your "preferences" for duty, I listed Florida or California or anywhere that had a nice warm beach. They sent me to ALASKA...WHAT?!

4. I have been married to the crazy and unpredictable Mr. Dunn for 20, yes...TWENTY, years! Guess where we met?! Alaska!

5. If you had told me when I was a kid, that I would grow up to become a teacher, I might have told you that you were crazy. I was about as mediocre as they come, a true wallflower, please-don't-notice-me sort of kid, and the thought of making a life out of school - well...it never crossed my mind.

But I can promise you that, now, I could NOT imagine doing anything else!

6.Hi...my name is Tina, and I am a book hoarder. My friend, Linda, just helped me come up with that one. LOL

7.How about...my name is Tina, and I am a book sniffer! Yes, I said book sniffer, and do not sit there and pretend for one moment that the smell of a brand new book is not the most amazing smell ever! I mean the smell of new, crisp paper and glue and ink and the promise of new things to come! Can't get any better, but I must warn you. NEVER stick your nose between the pages of an old or used book; you do NOT know where it has been! (And if you are a true book sniffer, you have accidentally stuck your nose between said pages of a wrong book or two and lived to regret it.)

8. My favorite punctuation mark is the ellipsis...I tend to overuse it. My second favorite punctuation mark; however, is the completely underrated and underused semicolon. Does that make me a nerd?

9. I am a self-proclaimed nerd. Look at that...one random thought led to another random thought!

10. I love everything about flower gardens except the work it takes to maintain them. And my favorite vine is the wisteria vine, even though as I type this, it is out there right now diabolically consuming the grass garden that used to be my beautiful flower bed.

11. Oh. my. gosh...(read that really slow and drawn out for full effect please) I have had about all I can take of randomness for one night...let's see if I can spit out one more. People at work often tell me I am very organized, but if they saw me at home, they would never say that. I guess once I leave the building any organization I have (if I really have any) stays behind. 

Here are Susan's questions...

1. How do you spend your free time? Well...reading or working with books...watching House Hunters International and wondering why I can't afford one of those lovely beach side mansions...hmm maybe if I quit buying so many books....

2. What makes you laugh? Lots of things really...I love to laugh...really loud too! But I guess mostly my crazy hubby and kids!

3. How long have you been teaching? This will be my 9th year! Wow!

4. What is your favorite subject to teach? Why? Let's see...LOL...reading and writing! Why...well...duh...BOOKS! BOOKS and MORE BOOKS!

5. Where is your favorite place to vacation? Anywhere with my Flamingo Girls!

6. If you could only take one thing on a trip with you, what would it be? Well...it's between my phone/camera and a good book. I don't know which I would pick.

7. What is your favorite book? My ALL time, absolute favorite book in this whole wide world of ours is Outlander by Diana Gabaldan. Cannot wait for the series to come to Starz!

8. What do you like best about where you live? I don't know that I ever really thought about it, but now that I have, I would have to say the quiet.

9. If you could meet anyone, who would it be? Oh my...Susan these are so hard LOL....There are so many...is a fictional character a choice? ....OK...well I am going to take the safe road...Diana Gabaldan...I mean she did write my all time favorite book.

10. If you had a day to yourself, what would you do? Well, you're looking at it...read, blog, surf the web...fall into the black hole of Pinterest.

11. What is your greatest accomplishment? Without a doubt...my children and my marriage. I do neither one perfectly, but I love them all passionately! Having them and keeping them in my life is the greatest of all accomplishments!

Thanks again for thinking of us, Susan!

Don't forget to back and check out her blog to see her nominees, and my previous post to see mine.

Once again, I have left you with a crazy long post...so with that I will bid you farewell!

Happy reading my sweet friends!