Pregnancy Update!

 So this is a questionaire my friend Amanda has been using. I'm taking a leaf out of her book and attempting to give everyone a decent picture of my life so far. Enjoy!

Me at 6.5 weeks. I figure I need this to show the difference lol.

13 weeks to the day. This is kinda exaggerated. I was really trying to push my stomach out lol.

 

How far along? 14 weeks today!! I'm 2 weeks into my second trimester and LOVING it!

 

Baby:  Our baby is about the size of a clenched fist. He/she is also working hard to develop into a boy or a girl. :D   It still totally amazes me that there is actually a baby growing inside me. I can't fathom how they fit in there! I don't feel like I'm showing much, so I hope they have enough room!

 

Maternity clothes?  I have a pair of shorts I bought a long time ago that are officially maternity . I like wearing them when I don't have to worry about them slipping down too far (they're still REALLY loose), but I honestly don't like it when my clothes put too much pressure on my tummy. It makes me feel icky! Hence, I wear looser fitting jeans in my closet, or I just wear stretchy kinds of pants/skirts. I also like wearing loose shirts. They're comfy. :D

 

Stretch marks? not yet. I'm hoping lotion will help, but I know they'll be coming one day. I'm not gonna rush them though.

 

 

Weight gain? So far, I'm not showing enough to feel like I've actually gained much weight, which the doctor says is fairly normal. I still fit into my clothes, bras included, and I hope I can for a good while longer. At this point I'd probably guess that in the last 3 months I've gained 5-7 pounds, but I can never tell. My last doctor's appointment showed I'd lost weight, which was weird, cuz I literally eat ALL the time. I figure I'm eating what I need to, I'm taking my vitamins, and the baby's heart beat is still going strong. I must have enough "maternal fat" for the time being. I'm guessing I'll start to notice more of a difference by April, which will be when I no longer step on the scale of my own free will. ;p

 

 

Sleep: I sleep mostly like a rock, until my bladder wakes me up and says TIME TO PEE, NOW! I have a hard time sleeping without anything up against my tummy--a pillow usually does the best. I sleep inbetween two kingsize pillows, but I roll around so much that one usually ends up on the floor by morning. I need a body pillow. Then maybe it would stay put. I used to only feel like I could go to bed at 9 at the latest, and now I don't feel as tired by the evening. I'm still beat, but not as bad as first trimester exhaustion.

 

Miss anything? Not at the moment. I'm just SUPER excited to be a mom--it feels so far away that it almost doesn't seem real yet.

 

Movement: Nothing yet. I'm excited for when we feel the first kicks! Its been neat to see an early ultrasound and hear the heartbeat though. :D

 

Cravings: Acidic fruits, like sour apples, kiwis,strawberries, tart blueberries--just about anything sour that has natural sugars! I have a lucky aversion though: I get a terrible aftertaste after eating anything like ice cream, candy, etc. It's my motivation to NOT let loose on crappy foods while I'm pregnant--cuz it doesn't taste good!

 

I've also had some random cravings, like wanting a pizza lunchable, or wanting fish sticks, and lately, every Friday I want Crazy Subs and root beer. (It's really good, believe me.)

 

 

Symptoms: Morning sickness, all day sickness, night sickness--they were my constant companions during the majority of the first trimester. There was this one time that I took my prenatals without enough food and THAT made me throw up dinner. WORST experience of throwing up I've ever had. (I eat those vitamins with an entire meal now and I've been fine)I've also tended to get light headed/naseated if I stand for too long--I accidentally locked my knees while hugging Danny goodbye for the day and I nearly fainted. Black spots and everything.

 

Now, however, I'm LOVING being pregnant--it was kinda just a sick feeling for a while. That sick feeling only comes back if I don't eat quickly enough, or if I haven't had enough water, or, get this, if I need to pee really bad and don't go quick enough. lol.

 

I have hit something of a burst of energy and I actually don't feel totally exhausted by the end of the day. I've gotten so much done with spring break--mostly baby room related, but school break means a break from school right? I'm excited for when I start to show more--some clothes show my little tummy more than others. I'm not to a point that people can ask me if I'm pregnant...I just feel fat lol.

 

 

Wedding ring on or off? Definitely on for now. I'm hoping spending the summer in a cool pool will lengthen the time I can wear it. :D

 

 

Happy or moody most of the time? Hmmm...Not sure what Danny would say here, but I feel like I've been pretty happy most of the time, now that I don't feel miserable. My moodiness tends to hit after watching an emotional movie, or something like that.

 

 

Looking forward to: APRIL 9TH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is the day of our doctor's appointment to have the ultrasound we've all been waiting for! It's only 4ish weeks away! Hopefully we'll be able to find out our baby's gender and we can start really name exploring. :D 

 

I'm also looking forward to showing a little bit more so that I can start looking for a maternity swim suit that I think will fit. Last thing is that I have to be super thrilled about is starting work on my nursery. I've been working on a project--posts coming soon--that will go in my nursery--all very gender neutral so the room can be used for a boy or a girl in coming years. It's gonna be AWESOME!

 

Things to Stress About: Not exercising enough. I feel like the whole first trimester, I would get home and could hardly stand to think about making dinner, let alone exercising. Danny and I have a gym membership though, so we need to start going more. I'm thinking now is the perfect time.

 

Silly me, being overly anxious like I am--I have this problem of occasionally wondering if because I'm not showing yet that there is something wrong with me, or that the baby isn't growing as they should. I also get freaked out by the idea of miscarriage. :( I know it's a lot less likely now, but I still feel anxious about it every now and then.

 

 

How is the Husband Doing? Danny is a phenomenal support to me. He has barely complained about anything besides work stuff, which is saying something cuz I've complained a lot about feeling yucky. He's completely sympathetic and loving and very careful to take care of me when I need something and can't get it myself. He tells me just about every day that I'll be a wonderful mother and I know he'll be a fantastic dad. We're both extremely excited to find out if we have a little boy or girl in there. I love him very much and feel lucky that he's the best friend I have to carry me through this next adventure.

 

 

 

That's all for now! I'll post another update after we learn if it's a boy or girl!!!

First comes love...

Life update:

1. I'm finally in my final semester of school! Yay me! Only 4 months left and then I can have the summer off and hopefully start something of a teaching job come August.

So far, student teaching has been going really well. I'm in a resource room with K-2nd graders, teaching math, reading, and writing for students with learning disabilities. The kids are so fun! I love them all, and have had such a great time getting to know them this last month. My mentor is incredible--super easy to talk to and very good at what she does. I'm really grateful for the phenomenal advice she's given me so far.

The only downside for this last month was that right after Christmas break ended, I came down with the flu, bronchitis, pneumonia--I actually never got an official diagnosis from the doctor--more on that later.... It sucked! I was coughing for over 3 weeks! The sad thing is that I was still trying to make myself go to school :(. I'm just lucky most of the kids I work with haven't gotten sick too badly.

2. Danny is now a Professional Engineer, and will be recognized by the state of Arizona as such as soon as he gets the verification of his paperwork. Back in October, he had to take this insane, 8 hour test called the PE exam, which basically had him working on crazy hard math in all the areas of engineering. He studied extremely hard and we're both relieved that he passed the exam the first time! Congrats again to Danny!

3.  Danny spent the first month or so after we got my birthday kitten, Niza, trying to potty train her to use the toilet. Talk about funny! She probably would have learned too, if her training hadn't been interrupted by having to go back to the litter box for company. Hopefully, he can train her and Jet-Jet to use the toilet, cuz I can't be anywhere near the litter box. ;)

She's growing so big! I hope she gets to be about as big as Jet is cuz he's a giant cat and deserves a large buddy. It's insane how playful she is. Every time she dashes through the house, it sounds like a herd of galloping horses is trying to find its way through our house! (She's usually chasing the older cat, Jet...he doesn't like it very much.) The two kitties are getting along much better than we had hoped, though Jet still goes through some "old man" grumpiness, which comes with getting old.

4.  SO....back to the urgent care doctor. Danny took me on on a Tuesday during the day to an urgent care in the area to see if they could do a chest x-ray to make sure I didn't have pneumonia or something terrible like that (my rib cage had been killing me for a couple of days). We met with the doctor, told him what cough syrup I'd been taking, and he sent me over with a nurse to do an x-ray. Before we walked into the room, the nurse asked me if I could be positive I wasn't expecting. I honestly wasn't sure, so off I went to the bathroom...

The nurse sent me back to Danny to wait for the results, so I'm sitting there, feeling miserable and sick, and the doctor comes back in. He's got his clipboard in his hand, and he's looking down at what he's written up to this point. In my delirium, I wasn't really paying too much attention to what he was saying. He looked up, after crossing something off on his notes, and his head swung from me to Danny. "Well, congratulations!" he burst out.

Danny and I both stared at him a little blankly. "What?"

He took a big breath and told us again, "Congratulations, you're expecting." (Being his doctor self--not a mom doc--he probably was thinking I really hope you don't get any more sick, cuz there's only so much I'm allowed to do when you're pregnant.)

Despite how sick and utterly exhausted I felt, I honestly felt like I hit a bubble of energy. Danny and I were both smiling at each other and squeezing hands because honestly, we hadn't expected that we'd be pregnant as quickly. (Plus, I was sick...It was kinda a downer to be sick and realize I was pregnant, try to be happy, and then feel sick some more.)

ANYWAY, I spent the last 3.5 weeks aching to tell everyone, but because of some strange girl issues, like not having a period to count a due date off of, we needed to wait until after our first ultrasound to make any announcement to family, then friends. You're the friends group. :)

Here's some fun pictures my mother-in-law took for us: I had fun editing them. :D

Danny and I both had a hard time sticking our bellies out, but you can kinda barely tell I'm trying with mine. I doubt Danny could have a belly if he tried. :D Lucky guy.

                                   

Today was our first time seeing our baby and it was a fantastic experience!  We were thrilled to hear the heartbeat and see our little munchkin. I can hardly believe how small they are right now (the doctor said like about the size of an olive!)! We're actually 9 weeks along as of tomorrow, so almost through the first trimester!  Danny and I are thrilled! It was incredible to see and hear them today. Here's the ultrasound pictures! (Yes, they spelled our last name wrong and my first name right....doesn't happen every day that that happens haha.) Oh! Our due date is September 12! Hurray for a summer pregnancy! ;P

We are SO excited to finally get to be parents! Danny is going to be a great dad! I'm so eager to graduate now so that I can focus more on baby stuff!  More updates to come!

Dig it up uh, uh....dig it...

The adventures of student teaching: one of many to follow, I am sure.

Thursdays is the day that Danielle (my mentor teacher) and I plan for the following week. Typically, I bring my computer to show her my lesson plans and everything I have going on for ASU classes. This Thursday was no different.

We planned, we talked, and then, we packed up our bags with the things we needed to take home with us. I packed up my laptop, unplugging my flashdrive from the computer, same as I always do. I thought I put it in my bag, but I must have been distracted packing up, because it wasn't there when I got home. I figured I had left it on her desk.

I decidedly couldn't do any school work without my flashdrive, so I just read, played with my kitten, and went to a Relief Society activity. Pretty relaxing, right?

Little did I know what kind of a morning I was about to experience...

I got to school around 8 AM cuz I had to buy lemons to show the kids (our weekly story was Lemonade for Sale). As soon as I got there, I looked over on Danielle's desk, where I was pretty certain it would be.

It wasn't there.


I can't even describe how I felt right then and there. My mind jumped to the worst possible conclusion: it had fallen in the trash can right below where I had set my computer to plan.

Problem: the trash gets emptied every night by the janitorial staff.

Trying not to panic, I went through with the morning, getting the classroom ready for the kiddos, and frantically picking my brain for other possible locations of this tiny little flashdrive.

When the pledge started, I got really emotional, and had tears streaming down my face. A lot of my kiddos looked really worried for me, so I tried to suck it up at least until they went to specials. By the time they left though, the waterworks started again.

I explained to Danielle what had happened, and she let me drive home and look for it, which I did.

I didn't find it in my other bags, I didn't find it in my folders, and I didn't find it in the pocket of the pants I was wearing the day before.

I was seriously praying so hard this whole time, begging Heavenly Father to just send and angel to pick it up out of the trash and put it at my house. Suffice it to say, that didn't happen.

As I prepared myself to go back to school, I was attempting to accept the fact that it was probably in the trash, which I knew got taken out on Fridays sometime. I didn't think I'd find it ever again.

Literally shaking with sobs, and feeling queasy, I texted Danny to tell him I hadn't found it, and I went back to school. I was counting on the fact that I wasn't going to find it anywhere, that I'd have to redo all my huge ASU projects that I had saved on there. I was feeling pretty much like I'd hit rock bottom of student teaching. I had extremely important assignments on that thing and didn't have the time or energy of mind to try to redo them before Monday, when my second evaluation was scheduled for. Danny sent back a message saying that he loved me, and that everything would be okay, and that he was praying for me.

When I got to school, I had to park in the back, near the dumpsters.

Just go look by the dumpsters. I stopped where I was, attempting to get out of my car with my bags again. That certainly hadn't been my thought. They're smelly and nasty.

I started to walk toward the school, and the thought came again: Just go look by the dumpsters.

So I did. I slowly walked toward the dumpsters, scanning the blacktop for my little flash drive; harboring, I suppose, a tiny hope that if it had come to the trash, that it had fallen out on the ground somewhere.

I didn't see it, but got to the dumpsters and was looking at the mounds of trashbags in there.

My first thought was, No way am I looking in there!

I went inside the school, with the mindset that maybe the janitors hadn't taken out our classrooms trash from their custodial office. They had.

Danielle saw me come back in the classroom, hopeless written all over my face, and then I had that same little thought come back: Now look IN the dumpster.

I told Danielle what I was thinking I should do, figured out that the trash would be picked up at noon, and found a kind man who equipped me with a ladder, and a big rolling trashcan to use for sorting.

Yep. I went digging. In the trash.

Rubber gloves and all, I started grabbing bag after bag, and opening them up, searching for some clue that the trash I was looking through had come from our classroom.

Then something interesting happened.

Searching through what was probably close to my 7th or 8th bag of trash, I found a cupcake container from Safeway, probably from the Halloween party, or someone's birthday treat.

My mind immediately remembered that a boy in our class had had a birthday Thursday. His cupcakes were very distinctive. 3 rows of 4 cupcakes in green, purple, and orange.

If you find the cupcake holders, you'll find the thumbdrive. Literally relying on faith, I grabbed the next big trash bag and opened it up. No cupcake holders. Next one.

I sifted through what was probably my 10th bag of trash, and saw the cupcake holders. Heart pounding, I picked through the trash, recognizing the pencil shavings I'd tossed Thursday, as well as some papers.

I lifted another cupcake holder out, and there, in the pencil shavings, was my black and red flashdrive!

I could hardly believe it! I started crying again, this time though, it was tears of relief and happiness.

I knew that without the promptings I'd received from a patient and loving Heavenly Father, I wouldn't have found that flashdrive.

Yet again, my testimony of the power of sincere prayer has been answered.

Lessons learned here: A) I can pray anytime, and anywhere, about anything--because Heavenly Father is looking out for us. B) I need to back up my files from my flashdrive on my computer. Every day. 

And I've also gotten a nice dose of perspective. I was super stressed about the assignments that are due coming up. Now, I feel a lot more relaxed.

It could be worse. Much worse.

Halloween Decorations, Fun House Crafts, and More!

Happy Halloween and Happy Beginning of the Most Gratifying Month of the Year! (AKA the month of my 21st birthday)

So I have to just let everyone know, contrary to what my photos show, Danny and I do dress up a bit for Halloween. We didn't do much for the trick-or-treaters, but we did a "country guy and gal" deal for the trunk-or-treat at church. I was just too preoccupied holding everyone's cute kids and talking with the fun gals in the ward that I forgot to have us take a quick picture of our costumes. (We had no cowboy/girl hats btw.) This will be the second year I haven't gotten a picture of our Halloween costumes. Note to self: must do better next year.

Rewind a couple of weeks.

Student teaching has been a blast! I'm really enjoying getting to know the kids better, and I feel like I'm growing a lot as a teacher. I've got tons of incredible ideas, and hardly any time to try, let alone plan all of them! I'm super grateful for a phenomenal mentor who is extremely patient with my faults and weaknesses in the teaching profession. On a lighter note, I did have a break.

My fall break went something like this:

1. Wake up Monday morning, realize I didn't have to go to school, then promptly go back to sleep.
2. Finally crawl out of bed, get on the computer, and try to crunch out some of my ASU course work, lesson planning, and of course the never-ending grading that all teacher's experience (student teachers, it's definitely less, but sometimes it doesn't feel like it).
3. Read a book.
4. Grow bored of sitting still so long.
5. Go shopping, find cute things or buy the stuff to bring cute ideas I've had to fruition in our house.
6. Realize Danny's back from work, and rush home to make something yummy for dinner.

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were a little more like this:

1. Wake up too early, then fall back asleep.
2. Spend 5 minutes telling myself I'll do homework and lesson planning, then quit.
3. Go shopping, socialize with old friends (Ashley Houston) from elementary school, go grocery shopping, or do some kind of home-improvement project--lose track of time..and then of course...
4. Get home later or finish than I should, try to make something good for dinner, and then read/watch movies.
 
Below are a few pictures of what I did around the house to decorate and add some pizzaz to our home:

I found this desk on Craig's list for 25 bucks. I knocked out the drawer that used to be above the chair, cuz I forgot to account for Danny's height when I bought the desk. Still looks good, and it certainly gets rid of the clutter and hides the cords I hated so much from the viewer. All I had to do was repaint it a bit with some paint sample from Home Depot.

The only thing that looks different here is that there's SO much room around the kitchen now. I moved the big computer desk we'd been using out into the garage to sell (if you want one, let me know), and then moved the desk I just told you about to be underneath the counter area. Lastly, I got some white paint at Home Depot and painted the molding around the kitchen white. My only regret is not sanding off the staining and the finish that was already on the molding. The paint is holding up well for now, but I can imagine that it'll be a little more chipped looking when we have kids. On the kid note--that corner is definitely where I envision keeping a high-chair once we start having kids. :D

Guest bedroom: Finally got the bed on a frame (thank you Evan's family!) and I got the colors in there that I liked the best. My hand-stitched pillows ended up in the guest room (they're really pretty here), cuz I didn't like them on the couch as much. :D My living room now has some black curtains. Kinda a random note, but I also did that for "home improvement."

Back to my break (which wasn't a break at all): Friday, however, was a different story. I got up, ran a few errands I needed to run (which involved spending money on the maintenance of our cars...talk about a depressing morning) and thought about getting some homework/lesson plans on the table. Yeah, that didn't work out very well.

Suffice it to say, I went to a "NOT" Super Saturday--A time when a bunch of ladies get together and we make as many or as few of the cute crafts that someone showcases on a blog of some sort--in Tempe with a few of my old Petersen Park Ward friends. It was really fun! It just took a LOT longer to do than I thought it would take to do 2 projects.

Here they are! :D

These super cute pumpkins are reversible! Best idea EVER!

I made this for the guest/kid bathroom. I hope my guests this winter get a kick out of it. :D I know I do. 

Whew! This is a long post! (I've been meaning to do this in pieces for weeks now!)

If you'd like the instructions for how to make either of these crafts, I plan to type up the instructions we got at the craft day. They're really detailed so I don't think I'll post them yet.

Fun little photo phenomenon: Danny and I carved our pumpkins too early, so they looked horrid yesterday. However, the day we carved them they were AWESOME! Here's a few pictures of those, and us taking silly pictures of ourselves. As you will see, I'm terrible at making a "panicked face." (keep reading, I promise there's more good stuff! ;D)

He looks very panicked....I obviously don't know what I'm doing....

I seriously love this guy so much. :D

Last but not least, (drum roll please!), I got an early birthday present from my wonderful husband!

Her name is Niza (short for Ceniza, which is Spanish, and translates to mean "ash"). She's adorable, lively, loud, and whiny--all in all, everything a kitten should be. :D Her little meow is absolutely hilarious!When she's really nervous, it almost sounds like the beep on a heart machine! We love having her!

She's 3 months old, and our giant of a cat, Jet-Jet (who's 10 years old) isn't loving having her around. They haven't officially met yet, but Danny and I are a little nervous.

We'll keep you updated. The plus: we're pretty sure they won't hurt each other. The down: we have to watch them get all angry and hissing and spitting before we'll know how they'll act around each other.

Yep.

To be continued.... :D

Time for some stress relief....

I haven't said much as to what's been going on in life. Honestly, it's been SO busy lately with school, and right now, at the peak of my stress, I feel like maybe it can help me to share some of the silliness and the cuteness that I have experienced as a learning teacher, and also as a learning wife. :D

First things first:

The kids.

They're adorable!

These little second graders are seriously so cute--even when they're tattle telling on another student. I love helping them learn (though I'll admit that it's harder than it looks to actually teach them suffixes, to teach them about the American Revolution, etc.).

Just today, I came in and on the desk, left from yesterday, was a compliment from one of the kids who quite honestly gets on my nerves sometimes. His name is Jackson, and he's just the funniest kid sometimes, but other times, he's purposefully trying to be funny and it's at the wrong time. Basically, he's a little boy! :D But he wrote me a sweet little note saying, "I compliment Mrs. Peterson for being sweet."

My heart just melted! All day today, even when he was being boyish, I had to just think to myself, he told me I'm sweet, I can handle this. It was really a pretty funny thought process to have, like a mini battle in my mind.

A few other little things: today I attempted Power Teaching. For those of you who aren't aware of this method of teaching, here's a link with tons of great and FREE information:

http://www.wholebrainteaching.com/

On the website is a quote by Ben Franklin that I have had on my mind quite often since yesterday:

" Tell me and I forget, teach me and I will remember, involve me and I will learn."

Whole brain teaching (power teaching) just involves the kids in so many ways! I taught suffixes--spellings and meanings today, so much faster than I have in the last two weeks I've taught grammar. Much more effective and much more engaging.

I LOVE this idea! And the kids today loved it too! I asked the kids if they wanted me to keep doing it and they said yes! Since we're going on fall break starting tomorrow, I guess that means I get to reteach this all starting in a week. But that's teaching! Chris Biffle said that if you don't like repeating yourself, then don't go into teaching! Makes sense right?

Secondly, my lovely husband. :D

A few nights ago, when we went to sleep, Danny turned to me and said that I had stolen the covers a lot the night before. He told me, "If you try and steal my covers tonight, I'm gonna steal them back, and then I'm going to push you off the bed and yell, 'I'm the king of the bed!'"   Cracked me up!

This same night, he had also run around the house, chasing our poor kitty with a pillow, telling him, "Run kitty run! Get your exercise!"  The pathetic cat was yowling around the house, trying to escape, and failing miserably. I could hardly stop laughing!

I love my husband. :D

Now I just need to go laugh some more. Tomorrow is the start of Fall Break and I understand why teacher's look forward to breaks more than students! Time to NOT think about school for the rest of the night!

See ya!

Home Decor and Improvement: Project 1...

 

Crafting is something I LOVE to do. The problem, however, is that I tend to try to bite off more than I can chew. What I mean by this is that I start one project, and then have another project idea, and then try to do both at once. Usually, this doesn't work too well with my busy schedule. I've spent the last six months working on one or another of the projects you see below. Some took a couple weeks to finish, others a month, and some only took a day or two. Most of them I probably would have been able to finish in a weekend if I had made myself lol. Most of my ideas came from pinterest, so I'll attach the link to those pages and also include my own tips for making them. For today, I'm just gonna talk about my first project:

 

Project #1:

 

3x3 Scrapbook array

 

I had a giant wall to fill in our master bedroom and decided an array of square scrapbook pages I'd seen on pinterest was the answer. This is the link to the blog: http://jensidea.blogspot.com/2011/06/easy-art-blocks.html

 

My total cost for this project was about $20 bucks for scrapbook paper, wood, modge modge, and black paint.

 

I made a few adjustments to the intstructions she gives. Here's my tips: 

 

1. Get thicker shelving board (mine was only 1/4 in thick and I had to gorilla glue small pieces on the back to drill holes into for hanging the pictures over a nail)

 

2. Scrapbook paper--just head to the nearest Walmart and look through their paper section. I found a coordinated packet of TONS of paper there for $5. Saweet!

 

3. Use a glossy modge-podge if you want a more dressy appearance. Our bedroom is all silver, blue, and black. Shimmery seemed to fit best.

 

4. Paint the edges of the wood before you do the paper unless you want to play Picaso like I did: I glued paper down first, and then went to paint the edges black. Suffice it to say that my artistic skills weren't that amazing when I needed to fix a mess-up. I like how it looks now, but I wouldn't have had to add to the edges around the paper had I painted the edges of the wood before I glued down paper.

 

5. If you want your artwork to hang flat, then just drill a small hole, angled up into the wood, so that you can hook it over a nail. If you want to add dimension to your masterpiece, then add a few extra slivers of the shelving wood to the back before drilling. I just gorrilla glued, but wood glue wood prob work too. When you hang it up, be sure to measure out where each block will go so you don't fill your wall with holes. ;)

 

6. Have fun arranging the paper and don't be afraid to mix it up to be more random than I did!

 

Along with making the array, I decided to add a little green to my kitchen. I found the scrap book paper at Hobby Lobby and just followed the same steps as I did above.

 

 

 

This last picture is near our kitchen. I found sticky white-board block pages at Michaels and decided I could do something similar. I got thicker wood this time (about 1/2in thick) and just painted around with black like I did before. The nice thing was I didn't have to wait for glue to dry--it was kinda like whiteboard vinyl. :D

 

 

Anyways, this project is totally finished. I love how the arrays both small and large help to give the kitchen and the master a little personality. I hope you enjoy making this if you decide to try it! Don't be afraid to go smaller if you don't have wall space to fit one this big. :D I'll be posting another blog about my latest sewing project...the one that's still not finished lol.

Starting school...

This last week, I've started my student teaching for ASU at an elementary school in the GPS district. My little second graders are all adorable! I've been in there 3 days with the kiddos and I'm pretty sure I have all their first names down; last names, that's an entirely different story. I absolutely love being with the kids, and I can't wait till I get to teach in my own classroom.

A few plans for my future classroom...

I hope to do an overall hooter owl theme around the room.

This is a big canvas owl bag I made to keep my teacher stuff. :D

Ideas for bulletin boards include:

--- "Who are you?" to share all about me posters
--- "Who's ready to help?"
--- "Learning is a HOOT!" for a learning tree that changes every quarter or holiday with leaves on construction paper that display what the kids have learned
--- The "Owlphabet"--this was Danny's idea :)

So far that's all I've got, but I'm sure I'll figure out some more. Mostly, I just want to have little owls everywhere. And maybe a little "talking owl" for when we have circle time.

I've decided (officially) that pinterest is my addiction when it comes to teaching ideas. There are SOO many great crafts and lesson plans available out there!

Quick idea I saw on FB:



These last few days, there's been one little boy who, without fail has come up to give me a big hug every morning, at lunch, and after school. He's such a sweetie! I love teaching!