Brush wash

It's 2015 and I've come to realize a few things. Some of the things about myself I really don't like...weight, makeup, hair, clothes, my lack of organization, mouthiness (is thing a word?). Don't mistake this as a post about my lack of self confidence. I love myself. I just feel like I've been spending far too much time on some things (social media) and not enough time taking care of myself. This isn't a New Year's resolution, but hopefully a lifestyle change. I've used the excuse that fb is my way of sharing with my family, since none of them live near by, but this blog used to be where it was at! 

I'm ready to start caring a little more about myself. I started with a brush wash. All you makeup junkies don't laugh at my little hodgepodge collection of cheapy brushes. I can't spend money on brushes when I'm not educated on them.

 

I used Lauren Conrad's suggestion http://laurenconrad.com/blog/2013/06/beauty-school-how-to-clean-your-makeup-brushes-tips-tricks-ilana-saul-june-

That bowl of gunk came out of my brushes...this was the third bowl full. I'm embarrassed. This should be done weekly per Lauren and my new YouTube obsession. I'll share more about her soon.

Happy new year to all of our friends and family(and may be a long lost reader or two).

Dusting It Off

It's time to (yet again) dust off this old blog. I really want to print yearly blog books (I'm all about memories) but I haven't added any in so long.

It's soon time to start back to school and this year is bringing a big change. My Sweet E will not be getting out at daycare anymore. She'll be traveling on to big school with me. I am so excited (and I think she is too). I don't think it has hit her yet though that she's not going to be attending with all the girls and boys that she's known since babyhood. We live in the city, but I work at a county school (it's never made since to me...I think if all the school systems combined it would be a less wasteful use of resources).

Today we did a girls day with a haircut, spaghetti (Olive Garden), school supply shopping, and a cupcake. 

Hopefully I'll get back in the habit of blogging. I've got to do some posts about funny brother.

Walking and a Spend the Night Party!

Our Rowe Baby turned 16 months on Saturday. I can hardly believe it. He's not into walking much (5 steps max). In Sunday he decided he's going to take off! So at 16 months and one day, I proclaimed he is an official walker.

Sweet E had two slumber parties over the weekend...yes two! The first with me, mommy! It's something we've wanted to do for months, but something has always come up. I decided Friday afternoon to just go for it. We had dinner with the boys and then went and locked ourselves in her room. We did a lot of playing with babydolls and hair. B said it was an official slumber party because their was lots of giggling and staying up past him. 

Saturday night the fun continued when one of E's classmates needed a favor because of a death in the family. Georgia came over, then we headed out to a gathering for our hunting club. Another of their classmates',Ella, dad is in the hunting club too. We stayed out past their bedtimes and then they stayed up another hour when we got home. They had a blast! 

By Sunday, my Sweet E was worn out! She is growing up so fast! 

Another off the top side note-when I picked her up from gymnastics yesterday she was more excited than Christmas morning. She had conquered the bars! She has been taking gymnastics since August, but has been afraid of the bars. She was so thrilled that she did all of it by herself! That talk we had last week about setting goals and pushing yourself paid off! I love to see her so determined and reaching her goals!

Be prepared SNOW is predicted for lower Alabama today!!!

Mid January New Year's Resolution

Make more posts on our blog (where it counts) and less time on Facebook.

I would love to print this at the end of 2014 to help preserve precious family memories.

Ones like this jewel from last night. Sweet E and Rowdy R (like that new bloggie nickname?) watching Monsters University while I cleaned. This was the sweet moment before Rowdy decided to grab hands full. Of popcorn and throw them across the living room! So goes life with a toddler!

Our Clean Change

Last week I decided to make a huge change for our family. Our diet had to get under control. Sugar and processed foods were taking over! At first I thought about Paleo, but its much too restrictive, especially for kids. So clean eating was my choice. We re-enrolled in emeals.com under the clean rating plan. This is very helpful to me as I learn the does and don'ts. We have had some delicious meals! E has been eating all of her fruits and veggies like a champ. She has had raw spinach as a snack two different times over the last week. 

Tonight we had Beef (aka venison in our house), spinach, and red quesadillas, not the most creative name, but the most delicious thing I have eaten in a long time!  We also had minted strawberries. Everything was so good I brought this dead blog back to life, you know to save FB another food post! 

I've had several people ask me about it, so I thought this would be a good way to share the details. I can't say I have complied 100%, but I am finding the more I follow the rules the less I want the junk. I had a brownie today and threw most of it away. I felt yucky! That is something I never would have done before. I usually would have gone back for another! 

This was from our first night. It is a spinach salad with grilled chicken, strawberries, and nectarines plus lots of fresh herbs. We had it along with these yummy grilled whole wheat pitas topped with olive oil and garlic.

I hope we're making this a lifestyle change. I don't see why it will not work for us. 

Since January, I have lost 25 pounds. Now I feel like I am at a plateau. So I also started CrossFit last week. I am not strong at all, but I am trying my hardest. I am very sore...so I know I'm doing something. 

Hopefully, I'll update the blog more with the details of our lifestyle change. I want to include some clean eating recipes we try also plus keep adding a few funny stories from those beautiful kiddos that opened this post!

Top 10 Tech Tools I Can't Live Without

I have really enjoyed learning about new technology resources in this class.

My Top 10 Tech Resources I Can't Live Without Are-
10. Glogster
9. Prezi
8. Blogger
7 .YouTube
6. Pinterest
5. My class iPADs
4. Go! Math teacher resources
3. My classroom projector
2. My laptop
1. My cellphone- It's old as dirt, but I still can not live without it.

Mobile Apps

What mobile apps are available for your subject area? List and describe at least 4 apps that could be used on a smartphone, iPod, or iPad in the classroom.

Some of my third graders favorite apps are listed below.

SparkleFish is a modern version of Mad Libs. Students are asked to record nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Their voices are then used in an animated story. It always brings plenty of laughs while learning the parts of speech.

Strip Designed (POW) is a great app to use while teaching sequence of events. Students use the camera to take pictures and turn themselves into a comic strip. It comes complete with speech bubbles and special effects.

All my students, especially the boys love Rocket Math. Students complete math problems to earn money to design a rocket. The more they get correct the better rocket they can build. The goal is for the rocket to reach outer space.

I know this is one that everyone has heard of, but my students love Stack the States. I am so glad because at the beginning of the school year many of my students didn't even know what state they live in. I'm not joking! This app has students answer geography/history related questions about states. It has a multiple choice answer section. If the students answer correctly the state is dropped and the students move it around to stack it. If they stack it to the goal line they earn a state to help complete their map. The goal is to completely fill a US map. They have to be careful though because the states can fall if they are stacked off balance.

Digital Citizenship

Why is it important to be a good digital citizen? What value does a good digital reputation have?

It is important to be a good digital citizen to understand etiquette, access, and laws related to technology. Digital citizenship helps you to respect yourself and others. An understanding of digital citizenship helps to protect a good digital reputation.

Your digital reputation is your behaviors in the online environment. It is the content that you post about yourself and others. This includes tagged photos, blog posts, and interactions on social networks. All of these will shape how you are defined by others not only online, but offline. This judgement is not only today, but in the future. 
A poor digital reputation can affect your friendships, relationships and even your job prospects - so protect your digital reputation.

3 kinds of material generators

I have used several of the material generators in my classroom.
I have used certificatemaker.com to create end of the year classroom awards for my students. The students vote for awards for their peers to win. The awards are given to receipents at our end of the year party. Everyone wins an award. It's great to see the smiles on their faces as the receive their awards.

I have also used discoveryeducation.com to create word searches with Alabama History vocabulary words. These were used when students completed tests early.

Another of my favorite material generators is quia.com. I use it to make review games before testing. Last year I used it with the Pearson Reading Street series. This year I use it to review skills taught in the Go! Math series. I usually make a Jeopardy type game and spilt the class into teams. All students have a individual whiteboard and must work out the problem. If a team does not answer correctly, the next team gets a chance to answer to score the points.

Instructional Software

Drill and practice-provides exercises for students to work example items, usually one at a time. Students receive feedback on their progress.
Examples-
http://www.mcsdk12.org/curr/old_site/Subjects/Math_Drill.htm
multiplication.com


Tutorial-an entire instructional sequence on a specific topic, similar to a teacher's classroom instruction.
Examples-
http://www.webmath.com/
http://www.free-training-tutorial.com/typing-tutorial.html
http://aaamath.com/grade3.htm#topic1
http://www.kidsolr.com/math/fractions.html

Simulations-a computerized model of a real or imagined system that is designed to teach how the system works.
Examples-
http://www.eduplace.com/kids/hmsc/content/simulation/
http://kids.discovery.com/games/build-play/build-a-coaster


Instructional Games-add game like rules and/or competition to learning activities
Examples-
http://www.funbrain.com/
http://www.abcya.com/third_grade_computers.htm


Problem Solving-functions focus on fostering competent skills in or approaches to general problem-solving ability, or provide opportunities to practice solving various kinds of content-area problems
Examples-
http://www.kidsmathgamesonline.com/problemsolving.html
http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/gamesactivities/math/problemsolving.html

Should Students Play Games (software) in school?

After reviewing the background reading articles (the last link would not open) from the textbook I did not change my position. I do believe that students should be allowed to play software games at school. There are so many great, educational games that are available that correlate with the Course of Study that I believe this type of activity is beneficial to students. I even use them as a whole class review for my third grade math class. The students are much more involved in a review using a Jeopardy game than they are just using a study guide and pencil.

The background articles reported negative results with extreme usage. Just like everything else software games should be used in moderation.

Web 2.0 Resources

How did I like the resources we had to use for this project?

Glogster
I really like the idea of Glogster. I will probably use it in the future in my classroom. I like that you can have all of your links and video for a lesson plan in one place. I found the website to load very slowly on occasion and I found that frustrating.
Famous African Americans with ties to Alabama


Animoto
I have used Animoto several times in the past both personally and professionally. I find it is very easy and quick to use. It is a great way to incorporate technology into any lesson.
Famous African Americans with ties to Alabama video


FAKE Book
I think this is so cute! My students are obsessed with Facebook, but thankfully most of their parents do not allow them to have it since they are only in the third grade. They would love to use this to complete a research project. I would have to purchase the full version so the ads would be removed. They are such a distraction.
Rosa Parks Fakebook
Martin Luther King, Jr. Fakebook

Introduce Yourself

To all my friends and family, I haven't gone crazy. I know you know me! I started graduate school this week. It is an education technology class. We have to do weekly blog posts. This week's topic is introduce yourself.

So here it goes-
I am a Christian wife, mom to two (a 3 1/2 year old girl and 3 month old boy), and a teacher. I have been married for five years to my best friend. We live in my husband's hometown. It has taken me a while to get used to living in a small town without all the conveniences of a big city. You can't replace the support and love in a small town though.
I love, love being a mom. Our children have brought so much joy and definitely completed our lives. The adjustment from one child to two children has been pretty easy for us. Baby brother fits right in with our crazy schedule/routine.
I finally graduated with my bachelor's degree from Troy University in the fall of 2010. I got a job at the school where I interned and hope my children attend. Since beginning my teaching career I have taught fourth grade Alabama History, fourth grade reading, and now third grade math, science, and social studies. I love my job, students, and school.
I am working to earn my Master's degree in Library Media. I do not really have plans to leave the classroom any time soon, but if the perfect opportunity presents itself I want to be ready. More pay would be nice too!
Life is good! I have been blessed with far more than I deserve.

One month already?

Bad, bad mommy has not blogged since Rowe Baby (E's nickname for him)has been born. Today he is one month old. At birth Rowe weighed a whopping nine pounds and eight ounces. He was 22 inches long. I'll try to do a birth experience post soon, before I forget the details. It's something I definitely don't want to forget.

Here he is today...

Yeah, he doesn't really enjoy picture time! Laying down makes it better...

 

Big sister is in love with him. She wants to kiss him and play with him. She can not stand to hear him cry! I think she thinks he is hurting or something. I had to explain to her that crying is the way that babies communicate. She still runs to try to put a paci in his mouth...which by the way he will not take!

 

 

E has been a busy girl! She has still been going to preschool since brother has been born. She started taking dance/tumbling at a new studio in August. Tuesday they had their first parent observation. I am amazed at her progress and with the teachers. They have about 20ish students and they are doing a wonderful job. It was so much fun to watch them.

 

Here is a sneak peek at what sister is learning (that's her in the black ribbon)

 

We have adjusted very well to being a family of four. We are spending lots of time at home, which I love. I am so glad that we worked our tails of this summer remodeling lots of our house. It is so much more comfortable and it actually feels like it is our home. The picture below shows my little heaven on earth. Night time, relaxing in our pjs is probably my favorite time of the day. That sectional that B and I went back and forth about has already provided so many wonderful family memories...and he actually agrees! I am so happy with my life that I am actually scared sometimes that something will happen. I've never had it so good...with my children, the man taking this photo, my job, my house. I am so thankful to the one that provides it all, my Jesus. 



Rowe has his one month appointment tomorrow. I'll try to remember to post his stats...because I haven't started a baby book for him. I'm to busy enjoying this time in our lives!

Happy Father's Day! (and other random stuff)

Wake up Daddy! Happy Father's Day! Love, Everly and Rowe

Happy Father's Day to the "Best Pop Ever".

 

 Happy Father's Day to the Best Daddy Hands Down! (Thanks BKK for making these cute cards at school on Friday)

Having a blast at Sean's party with school friends.

It's Thomas!! I never knew she had this obsession with trains, in particular Thomas. She has talked about it for days!

"Take my picture Mommy!"  E in her rose colored glasses.

We had a great, but busy weekend! Friday night we went to a couples shower for Brett's cousin who is getting married in July so E totally enjoyed spending the night with her P-Pop and Gimme. Saturday E and I enjoyed a great Thomas the Train party with some of her school friends. Then we had to go to a bridal shower. She did a great job all day even though she didn't have a nap...which usually means T-R-O-U-B-L-E...or more like attitude with a capital A! Sunday we went to a great Father's Day service at our church. Then we hosted B's parents for lunch. E got her daddy Top Gun on DVD and a new Coastal Cotton polo (Daddy is tops in her book!). I paid a special tribute to my daddy by making one of his famous (in my eyes) recipes...meatloaf roll. It's like regular meatloaf except it is filled with honey ham and topped with mozzarella cheese. Then I made mashed potatoes and fresh corn with apple dumplings and ice cream for dessert. We had a great time. I am so glad that we moved closer to them. We really enjoy having them at our house. Monday Sweet E and I went out to play in the little pool and she kept wanting me to take her picture. She is so funny!

Also that day the nurse called to give us the scheduled date for Rowe's arrival-September 25th we will go in for a c-section, unless of course he decides to arrive early (which could very well be possible). I am so much more paranoid with this pregnancy...I have no idea why! We're less than 100 days away and I feel like I've done nothing! One big hold up is our wood floor situation. Whoever decided it would be a good idea to glue down carpet or padding was definitely not a genius! I can't wait until this process is complete so I can get on with the show. I've got everything ordered and delivered. It's just waiting for me...which is pure torture.

Our next big event is a Rootin' Tootin' Round Up party for our little cowgirl....she is so excited and I am too!



He's got one!

 

E after her first dance class sans mommy! She loved it.

There have been so many ch, ch, ch, changes in our lives since September. I've got to do a better job of keeping up with our family memories. I really like blogging, but there always seems to be something else to do. I could cut down my fb time and make at least a couple of posts per month. I think I will do that (like how I'm talking to myself). One of our biggest changes is that this girl above will be a big sister!! I am right at 25 weeks pregnant. Baby Brother's due date is officially October 2nd, but he will be delivered via c-section sometime during the last week of September. We found out on May 9th (my sweet sister's bday) that he is indeed a he. I shrieked in delight when she announced the gender. I knew from the beginning that it was a boy! I had only picked out...well not only picked out...but planned for a boy nursery down to the last detail. The night before the ultrasound I found a couple of girl things per B's advice. We took E with us to the ultrasound. It was a really special moment for our family.

So then the dilemma began...what will this little blessing be named? B and I had VERY different ideas about names. My request was that his middle name be James after my dad. I made a list, a pretty long list of names that I liked and we discussed names a long time...a whole well almost six weeks. This was really tough for me because I am a planner! We had a boy and girl named picked out on our way to the ultrasound to find out what E was.

Yesterday B came to my new third grade classroom (another change) to take down some shades for me to be able to finish painting. Right before he left I asked my usual daily questions, "How was your day?" "What did you do?" "Do we have a name?". I was shocked to hear a "yes!" to the last one. I asked if it was 100% and if I could share and I got another "yes!" I was so excited and he couldn't have picked a more perfect day than yesterday to decide. You see, yesterday would have been my dad's fiftieth birthday. B didn't know that until I told him last night.  

So baby brother will be-

Rowen James (we'll call him Rowe)

I'll try to do better to keep up with Mack changes from now on.

We hope all is well,

Brett, Angie, Everly, and Rowen (looks good doesn't it!)

There's no way to catch up...

for all the things that have been happening since our last post. I really don't have time to do this now, but I wanted to post something.
So here's a little post about Everly's big girl haircut. She is almost 27 months old and has never even had a trim. I really didn't want to get her hair cut yet but I was getting a little stringy at the ends. She had two layers in her hair and Brett and o agreed to cut it even with the top layer, which meant all the baby curls were gone :(
Everly acted like a complete pro after a little bribery from me. I promised her that we would walk down the street when we were done to see a giant Pooh bear in a store window.

Yeah...I'm typing this on my blogger app. I may have to back and rotate the pictures when we get internet at our house. We've lived here for almost two months and haven't had time for them to come out to set it up. Yes, we are that busy!

In one of the pictures Evie is chewing her finger. That is her nervous habit.

I Can't Sleep!

It's now 3:28 am and I've been awake for an hour or so. Now that I am awake I can't go back to sleep. My mind is racing. So many huge events are going on with us right now. We're moving from the only house we've ever lived in since we have been a married couple. We weren't supposed to close until August 9th,but all the paperwork is complete so they want to close this week. Luckily we have 10 days after closing to move. I am excited about moving. We're moving near our farm land and the whole family will get to see each other more often.

School is also about to start back. I have to start on Monday...yikes! I thought I was going shopping on Friday for my "back to school" clothes. Not that it's a big deal...but when exactly am I going to make that happen now. Then there's my classroom. I think of something new everyday that I want to do or needs to be done. I am in the process of painting my desk now. I am so thankful that one of my former students,Meg, came over today...check that yesterday to help keep Everly company while I worked. She's actually a pretty good painter too.

I thought maybe typing some boring random post would make me sleepy...no such luck. Sorry to bore everyone. I guess I'll go back to playing this Sushi Bar game on my phone. I'll probably stay up all night trying to beat it. Oh yeah and if there are any typos please forgive me. I always go back and read my posts and find several...yeah reading teacher who can't spell. That's the way to make our future brighter...ha! I just don't know of a spell check on the Blogger app. If you do, info me please!

Our Summer in Photographs

This summer has been filled with probably not as much fun as it should, but I had a big task to complete...a new classroom. Unless you are a teacher, you probably don't understand all that goes into that task. I am so very grateful that I had to work on it this summer. We've tried to sprinkle in some fun along the way.

 This sweet girl turned TWO in June. I still can't believe it. Here she is riding at her party. She doesn't like anything motorized, so this was perfect for her. This sharp ride belonged to the skating rink, but I found her a brand new one at a flea market for a third of the price of a new one. So proud!

 Glad she likes to come to school with mommy. This is her leaving one night. She takes that baby every where. She is still lovin' her pink boots...as you can see!

 First movie for Evie and her friend E.I. (Eli). They saw Winnie the Pooh with the SES camp kids. I was thankful the movie was less than an hour. Everly was not really into sitting still! I think they sat in this chair for about a minute.

 Swimming with Daddy. We tried to swim as much as possible this summer, because someone was taking swimming lessons this summer and she loves to show off her skills.

 Celebrating the last day of swimming lessons with friends with popsicles. We can't wait until next year!

At school with Mommy. A future teacher in the making? This is her new cheese face!

Mrs. Mack is back!

After crying my eyes out for while about not being rehired at SES, I proceeded to enjoy my summer. I secured a part time job for the fall and knew that I could substitute every day. I prayed about the situation. About a week or two after school was out I got a call from the principal. There was going to be a fourth grade unit added because of the number of students. This teacher would only teach reading...which I love! She told me that I was being considered for the position along with several others. Exciting news but I didn't get my hopes up. I also got a call from B's alma matta...Opp.  They also had a fourth grade position open. I interviewed with them, but their position was temporary. A few days later E and I were on our way to shop in Dothan when I got them call that I got the position at SES. I was so thrilled. We went to the teacher store that day just to buy something, anything that I could use in my room. Later that week I volunteered at Kids Kamp with a civic club I am a member of when I got a call from Andy, another local elementary school. I ended up not interviewing with them because the board meeting to approve my employment was that night. I told the principal that I would hate to waste her time. God is so good. I went from having no hope to having three opportunities for a job within a matter of weeks. I'll leave you with a picture of my room in progress. It is right next door to the room I had last year. I am so excited to be back at SES with my wonderful students and coworkers. I hope Miss E will be going with me when the time comes for her to go to kindergarten.