July Currently & Belated Birthday Sale!

We are linking up with Farley for her July Currently!  Click on the picture to check it out.

Katie is crazy busy right now so I am flying solo on the currently this month!  Here is it! :)

Listening:  All 3 of my kiddos are actually asleep at the same time right now!  Granted, Lucas will be up and ready to eat in a half hour or so, but I am sure going to enjoy my hour of quiet time. Now I just have to decide if I want to catch a cat nap or watch New Jersey Housewives!
Loving:  Oh I had just absolutely forgotten how snuggly newborns are! My twins just turned 2 and I mostly hear, "No thank you mommy", to anything I do..especially if it involves cuddling.  I can usually get some snuggle time in at nap time or bed time and any other time they are too on the go to stop and snuggle with mommy.  So I am thoroughly enjoying that this little love bug wants to snuggle 24/7.

(Head over heels in love with this little man!!!!!)

I am also loving watching my girls be so very sweet with him.  They are so in love with him too and really never leave him alone.  If he cries at all they both come running to find me yelling, " oh no, brother cry, oh no",  Here is a pic of Brylee "chatting" with him one morning.

(Please excuse the blurry pic.  I only had my camera phone but this was too precious to pass up on.)

Thinking:  Where has the time gone!!!!???  A whole month has passed and my summer is almost 1/2 over.  I am so glad that I get 6 extra weeks with my little ones before I start back.

Wanting:  Sleep...I have a newborn so this is probably pretty self explanatory. :)  At least we get a lot of one on one bonding in the middle of the night.

Needing:  A common naptime for ALL my kiddos so that I have a few hours of work time each day....not happening yet, but I can hope!  I have so many things I want to complete and get up on TPT but I have to find some work time!

Tips, Tricks, or Hints:  Don't sweat the small stuff.  I used to worry if we didn't blog consistently or didn't get new products finished as quickly as we wanted but I have come to realize that life gets in the way and that happening is just, well....LIFE!  My family has to come first and as much as I absolutely love blogging, it has to fit in when my kiddos don't need me.  I tried the staying up late to get it in but I felt like I was not a very fun mommy when I was lacking sleep (my husband confirmed this!:)  So I realized that I needed to stop stressing and just blog when I could.  I know that I love reading my favorite blogs no matter how often they are able to (or not able to!!) blog and I just have to hope that no one gives up on us because we are infrequent summer bloggers! :)

Here is a  picture of my girls enjoying Deanna Rose Farm instead of being bored while mommy is on the computer!  So much more fun for all of us!!!

 I also wanted to share a totally random pic of the CUTEST onsie I have ever seen.  We call our little boy Little Man most of the time and I found this at Carters today. If you have a Little Man you just might need to stop in and pick one up!

We are also having a quick 2 day sale in our TPT store.  My bday was yesterday and I am just now getting around to having a birthday sale! So if you have anything from our store on your wishlist you can head on over and pick it up for 20% off!

Happy July!!!

***We are also not at all sure what Bloglovin is about but we are jumping on board.  So you can click the icon at the top right to make sure that you are following us!  Thanks so much!!!




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Summer Bucket List Linky and an End of Year Craftivity Freebie!

We are linking up for the Summer Bucket List Linky Party!  Click on the picture above to check it out and link up yourself!

Here is my Summer Bucket List!

1.  Spend a whole lot of time snuggling and playing with these two sweethearts!

2. Welcome baby #3 any day now and spend a whole lot of snuggle time...and time making sure that his big sisters don't smother him with love!

3. Work on items for TPT!  I have an entire list of things that I have been wanting to make, but haven't been able to find the time for.  I might be a tad bit busy this summer with 3 kiddos under 2, but I am hoping to cross a FEW things off of my list!  Katie and I are currently working on coordinating Daddy/Kiddo days once a week so that both of our hubbies are home with kiddos and we can get out for a few hours to grab coffee or lunch and work!

4. Visit Florida!  I am SO excited about this one! My Aunt and Grandpa live in Ft. Myers and I love getting to visit them.  My parents just got back from taking my girls to visit for 5 days so that we could get the new baby's room ready.  I get to take some maternity leave at the beginning of the year since little bit is coming over the summer.  My hubby is done with his busy season (ALL of Summer!!!!) so in early September we are going to fly down to Florida with all 3 of the kiddos and spend a week relaxing!  Woo hoo!!!!!!

(Getting ready to explore in Florida last week!)

5. Declutter and Organize at my own house!  I swear the amount of stuff we have increases every year!  I keep donating to Goodwill and organizing what we have, but I feel like it is a never ending process.  So once again I am going to have the best of intentions to get it all done over the Summer!

Yesterday was also our last 1/2 day with kiddos!!!  We have a few hours left today before we finish checking out of our rooms, but it still feels like Summer already!  Here is a simple activity that we did with our kiddos yesterday.

If you would like to grab this Picture Perfect Year Craftivity just click on the last picture to download it for free! (This could also be ADORABLE with a kiddo's picture in it and then writing about all the picture perfect parts of their year below!  We just simply ran out of time for that!!)

If you are on Summer Break then yay!!!!!!!  If you are still at school for a while longer then get that countdown going!   Happy Summer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Five for Friday

We are linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching today for her Five for Friday!

Happy Friday!  We have 8 1/2 days left of kiddos before it is time for Summer!!!!!!!!  I have a little countdown going for this reason and also a baby is coming countdown.  Unfortunately little Mr. has a mind of his own and even though his due date is June 3rd my Dr is thinking he is coming early....like any day early!!!!  Yikes!  I am not ready for him!!!  So I am frantically trying to get all of my end of year testing done a little early just in case he decides to put in an appearance.  Of course I thought I had my maternity leave all figured out for the beginning of the year and if he shows up early that is going to make me do some serious rearranging of my plans.  Oh well....it's out of my hands I guess!

So here are some pics from this week!

Kansas has the CRAZIEST weather ever!!!!  We have had days in the really high 70's and then....snow!  Up and down, up and down, etc.  It has been ridiculous.  So on one of the nice days I had to take my girls to Peachwave for some frozen yogurt.  Yum!  They are so stinkin cute with their own cups and are so proud of how big they are to not have to share with mommy!  I also love that at nearly 2 they don't think it is odd that mommy puts just a tiny bit of yogurt in the cups and no toppings.  I'm dreading when they start realizing that other kids have bowls FULL of yogurt and tons of toppings!  I'm pretty sure that when they get old enough to realize that we are going to have some meltdowns and end up leaving without yogurt because with this mama it is you get what you get and you don't throw a fit!

Couldn't resist this non school related one either!  Seriously, my girls growing up is happening FAST!  My big girls are old enough for big girl jammies without feet! They were so excited when I pulled these out and let them pick their own jammies.  Brylee actually turned circles and Rylan jumped up and down and clapped.  I can't even imagine how big they are going to seem once little brother arrives!!  Kids growing up is hard!!!

On to school!  I love Teacher Appreciation week!  Our kiddos do something special each day.  So one day might be homemade cards, wear your teacher's fav color, bring her fav snack, etc.  Soooooo sweet!  The kiddos are so cute when they come in all excited and proud to tell you that they are wearing your favorite color or that they know you like pretzels. So one of my sweeties brought this to me on Monday and I had to take a quick pic before I dove in because this has to be one of the cutest cupcakes I have ever seen!

 This is what showed up on my desk Friday!  I feel very loved and spoiled!!!

Katie found this cute book for her daughter Jenna and ended up bringing it in to school to use.  It is VERY cute and we thought we would share in case you haven't seen it yet!

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May Currently

It is MAY!!!!!!!  That means an end of year countdown and also Farley's May Currently!

Lisen

I am part of a mothers of multiples group in my area and we met last night at Jose Peppers (my fav!!) to plan our annual picnic and brainstorm some playdate ideas for the summer.  Several of us had hubbys working late so we brought our kiddos.  So hilarious!!!!  We had 4 sets of twins and a set of   triplets at the table, plus some mommies who escaped without children.  My girls were in hog heaven with all the friends to “talk” to!!!  My girls are little hams so they danced on their chairs, flirted with the triplet boys, and waved at anyone and everyone who walked by!  What a hoot!  I didn’t get to eat much, but there is a comfort in going out to dinner with a bunch of ladies who know the craziness of multiples and expect nothing less than chaos! :)

This week was our last reading story and spelling test! Woo Hoo!!!  So we are officially ready to start our End of Year Fun unit (We have this for 1st-3rd!) and to get ready for our 2nd grade Smartypants Camp. (There are 1st and 2nd grade versions of this!)  Love this time of year!!!

I have 4 1/2 weeks until baby boy arrives and his nursery is NOT ready!  I feel so guilty because my girl’s nursery was literally ready 2 weeks after I found out what we found out what we were having!  Even worse, several of the projects for his room are things that I need to make, but I am just SOOOOO tired at night and there is NO way I could work on them with my girl’s help!!

I need to get everything packed up in my room for end of year checkout over the next 2 1/2 weeks and then I also have to plan the first 2 weeks of my 6 week maternity leave!  We only have to plan 2 weeks for our long term subs and I am actually okay with just doing that because Katie can fill in the sub about what we do after that.  It is so nice to have a coworker that is so similar in everything teaching!!

I am getting to the point where sleep is a fleeting thing at this point!  Add to that the fact that my littlest (ha! By 7 min!!) darling has allergies and can’t breath well at night when she tries to sleep.  So daddy brings her up to bed with us every night now and she sleeps ON TOP OF ME!!!!  Oh well, she will only be this snuggly and this age for so long!  I need to just enjoy it!!!!

My girls are really into animals right now so we are getting a zoo pass so that we can join the MOM’s group every week this summer and explore the zoo.  Now I just have to figure out how to wrangle 2 2 year olds and a newborn at the zoo… :)

I swear my husband belongs on hoarders...you should see our garage!  Maybe he isn’t that bad, but as an only child his parents have passed on EVERYTHING to him...junk too!!!!!  So we have been slowly weeding through it and I have been “encouraging” him to let go of the stuff!!!

Florida!! Yay! My aunt and grandpa live in Ft. Myers and I love to visit.  Since my hubby works a ton in the summer and I have maternity leave at the beginning of the year we will be taking all 3 kiddos down to visit in early September for a week!  So excited!

Katie

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Five for Friday...ON TIME!!!

We are linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for her

and the best part is....we are actually on time!!!!  Woo hoo!!!!!  I swear, since having children I am always playing catch up!  Since Katie has 3 kiddos of her own she is always in the same boat.  We seem to always take turns texting each other to please turn on my computer because I am running late!!!

On to 5 for Friday!

1. Animal Talks Field Trip

We walk to the high school that is right by our school and the student naturalist have centers set up with their animals.  We get to rotate around learning about and touching the animals.  Weeeeelllll, let me clarify...the KIDS touch the animals!  Not this squeamish lady!!!!  We get to cross a really busy road on this walk and it is always hilarious as we hustle the children across.  

On a side note, I thought I was doing so good (I'm 8 1/2 months prego now) and truckin along as we walked to the high school.  THEN I hustled my little cherubs across the road, convinced 3 of my boys that I really would have a heart attack if they walked THAT close to the road, and told my little naughty of the year that if he didn't listen I WOULD call the principal to come and pick him up.  After that I lost all of my energy and started waddling like a VERY prego lady.  Doggonnit!!!!!!!

2. Jenna lost a tooth! 

 Katie's little cutie patootie lost another tooth and this picture is too adorable not to share!  Yay Jenna!!!

3. End of year ordering.
We always have to order our next year's supplies by the end of April.  We get $50 to spend now on things and then we can still check out our school credit cards at the beginning for whatever else we forgot, but this is the fun time for ordering! Plus I will be on maternity leave at the beginning of the year so I am trying to get everything ready ahead of time for my sub so that I will not be dragging 2- 2 year olds and a 2 month old up to school to try to get stuff ready!  (Just saying that amount of children and imagining bringing them up to school with me while trying to get stuff done strikes fear in my heart!!!) :)

4.  It is ALMOST May!!!!!!!

Had to share where both my calendar and Katie's calendar are right now!  We are SO close to May and an end of year countdown.  We have 1 more story in our reading book and one more spelling list to get through and then we can start the fun end of year stuff!  It always gets the kiddos motivated!  If you are looking for something fun to do with your kiddos at the end of the year check out our End of Year Fun unit on TPT!!

5. Indoor Recess

Boo hiss!  We were supposed to have some pretty decent weather and at the last minute we got rain!  Ugh! These little darlings need to be outside running!  Instead we are inside for recess.  It never fails in Katie's room that her kids sit right in front of her desk with the legos and argue over them the ENTIRE recess. AT least the next 4 days are supposed to be gorgeous!

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The Product Swap & Five for Friday a Wee Bit Late!! :)

It is time again for the Product Swap! Yay!!!! This is our 2nd time participating and it is just as fun as the first time around!

We were paired with Nicole Rios this time around too.

We were excited about this because she is so great and has such wonderful products!  We were so excited to get to review another one of her items! We chose to review Nicole's Multiplication- Circles and "Spring Things" Practice Book.  (Click on the product name or the picture of the cover to check it out on TPT!!)

This is a great packet!  We are so excited to get to use this with our 2nd graders because we are just about to start looking at multiplication with repeated addition!  This is such a great  resource because it really scaffolds their learning and gives them time to slowly move from looking at great examples of groups of pictures and then moving them to creating their own groups of pictures.
Here are some pics of how the book shows examples and then gradually releases the responsibility of creating the groups to the kiddos.  The packet even ends with a great and quick way to review what students have learned!

Katie has her very own 2nd grader at home and took this to her house to test drive with her son before we started it in class.  (He has been absolutely dying to learn how to multiply so he was very excited when she told him she was bringing this home!)  Here he is in action with Nicole's packet!

Don't forget, if you want to check out this AWE.SOME packet then just head over to TPT and you can grab your own!!!

We are also linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday!  A little bit late, but Katie was in charge of pics this week and on Friday her phone decided to become completely possessed!!!!!  She had to get a new phone and let her old one charge all night to get enough battery on it to transfer the pics from the evil phone to her laptop! :)

Here are 5 random things about our week!

 1. Brain Breaks....Thank heavens for these little bits of bribery!!   We can generally get our kiddos to work quietly for at least 15 minutes at a stretch if we tell them they can earn a brain break.  They are SUCH an active grade level this year that we sometimes feel desperate for anything that will allow them to concentrate for small stretches of time! :)  We love the Just Dance Disney on You tube.  Soooo easy to pull up and the kiddo love them. It might also be an absolute crack up for us to watch them get so into doing all the moves for a High School Musical song or Calling all the Monsters!  Soooooooo funny!!!  This pic is one of my favorite action shots!

2. Field Trip!!!!  We went to Science City this week and we always have either a picture of one of us on the bike or Katie in the Mister E Cafe looking like she is just a floating head. So we had to continue the tradition because the kiddos at school love it and so do Katie's kiddos at home!  (We really do also have pics of our kiddos enjoying the field trip too, this one was just the funniest!!!)

3. Inservice.....booo....hisss.....  Great info, but they added an extra session this year so we went to 1230.  Way too long for us when we are used to getting out at 1115 and heading straight to lunch!  ( Mind you we had snacks and drinks to keep are energy up but it just wasn't enough to last us through that last added hour!!)  So we had to console ourselves with one of our favorite inservice lunches!  We went to Jose Peppers and scarfed up some chips, salsa, and of course a Pollo Magnifico!  Yum!!!!

4. Measurement Mania

We are working on measurement right now and anything that involves our kiddos moving is always a hit!  Here is Katie's class in action checking out some measurement around her classroom.

5.  Electronics Party

One of the items that our kiddos can buy with their stars (our class behavior system) is an electronics party.  Such a big hit! They get to bring in any of their own school appropriate electronics and play them for an hour.  So easy to plan and no mess to clean up for us!  Love it!  This pic cracked us both up because for some reason or other almost half of Katie's class decided to take their electronics and camp out RIGHT in front of Katie's desk!  Mind you, they had the entire room to spread out in, but decided to squish themselves as close as they could to Katie's desk!  Go figure!!!!!

We also just finished our First Grade Common Core Math Vocabulary Cards and Posters.  We have these for 2nd grade and use them ALL the time!  Our first grade mentioned to us that they loved them and would love to have the first grade version for themselves.  So of course we got right to work!  We just finished them up and our first grade is already using them.  You can grab them at our TPT store!

We will also be having a giveaway on Facebook for our Common Core Second Grade Language Arts and Math Homework 4th Quarter Bundle that Nicole is reviewing and also a giveaway for our First Grade Common Core Math Vocabulary Cards and Posters!  So be on the lookout!

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