Not yet 1 month

Okay! So I was almost to the "not bloggin for a month mark"

But I didn't make it! YAY!!!! (just shy a few days)

So update on our lives

We are on our 2nd round of the crockpot meals... and boy can I say LIFESAVER! This year has been less stressful already just because of those. Some of our favorites so far... the pulled bbq chicken sandwiches, the potato soup... and those are 2 to name a few!

Now to the pictures!

You might ask why I have an awkward picture of myself... Well I had to document this day because when I was younger I NEVER thought I would tuck a t-shirt into pants.. Well ladies and gentleman at the age of 24... I did! (This is for you mom!)

 Had to include this little cutie niece of mine!! WAR EAGLE!

 I had to miss one day, and my class wrote me a note! They are so much fun!

 For all of you Big Bang Theory lovers (or BBT!) I was looking through our Word Work books, and came across this... I about went through the roof. I want to teach my kids this just for Sheldon!

(For those that don't watch it..Sorry you wouldn't understand!)

 We got to go to a Razorback game! So fun... even though they lost!

 Let's talk about an awesome book!!! My kids are really starting to figure things out! If you are a teacher you might consider using this. It only takes about 10-15 min when they get the hang of it!

 Last week my grandaddy (DD) was in town, and we headed up to Kansas City for the day to see my cousins twin boys! They were so cute! Almost a month old... and so little!

My lil sister was in Miss BHS at her school. She won overall interview and a scholarship!!! WAHOOO!!!

So on a funny note... While I was gone to Kansas City my sub (who knows me) was talking to my kids about my hair (recently died.. back dark like beginning of summer) and then cut short (above my shoulders)... She told them that my hair changes with the seasons... ha. They asked me the next day if my hair was going to get long again... I was confused until I talked to her and she explained!

Well guess I now have to change it come winter.

And on a final note.. Tomorrow is an exciting day in the classroom!

My class can now read 20 minutes for both read to self and partner reading! That is 40 minutes all together! (Jump for Joy!)

We are having a reading celebration where their parents are invited to read with us for that time!! 

They are so excited!!! 

I love teaching 1st grade...  I mean come on... they get excited about a reading party, what more could you ask for?? :D

Yes I'm Crazy!

So since I have posted I have finished another week of school!

My class is doing great so far... We are reading for 7 minutes by ourselves and 10 with a partner! 

If you are a teacher... You realize how big of a deal this is!!!! That's a long time for a little one to look at a book, and actually look/read a book! But I am so proud of them!!

We are also getting into our routines. We have started really diving into our units of study. 

We are talking about started sentences with capital letters.

Time to the hour!

Ya know! First grade stuff!

So other things going on...

Labor Day!!!! This past weekend was labor day, and as usual I was sick :( 

I told my mom that I felt like I have been sick the past few labor days.

It all started Friday with a sore throat. I was worried I was going to get strep. I immediately started taking emergenCe. My go to when I start feeling something coming on. 

Friday night we went to watch my sister dance at the high school football game!

So then Saturday I literally laid around and did NOTHING. Absolutely NOTHING! 

It has now moved from my throat to my chest. It hurt so bad.

Sunday comes, and still in my chest. I decide to start taking mucinex. 

Nathan had a photo shoot that afternoon, so we headed there. If you want to see some of his "sneak peek" pictures check it out here. Also I know the holiday season is approaching, so if you would like him to take pictures for Christmas cards contact him. He'd be more than happy to work something out!!

http://nathandelriophotography.blogspot.com

Monday morning hits, and we had a 5k to run. We signed up for it about a month ago. I told Nathan I would go, but I wasn't sure I was going to run. 

Well... CRAZY ME... decided to run!

 This is me before hand! I was SOOO excited because we actually had bibs this time. When we first signed up for my first one (this is my 3rd) I thought we would have bibs. Well they have these trackers that you wear on your shoe, and so I guess they figure no need for bibs...

 Both of us before the race...(I have decided not to take pictures after because I get as red as a tomato) No fun!

 Here are our official finish times... Nathan was on the first page.. Finished under 100 awesome!!

I was on like the 3rd page finished late 100s. (8th in my age range!!)

Nathan decided to point out that we are the top of our age range (20-24) Wow!!

This was my worst time yet (around 36:00 I think) But I had to consider that I was sick, and had to walk some of the race. So 6 minutes above my best time isn't to bad...

After the race I was so beat though. We came home and rested until we headed to Wal-Mart to get our food for our next set of 14 freezer meals!!!! :D So I got 5 of the meals from the same lady who did 5 of our first - savingyoudinero.com 

I then decided to do a pulled chicken sandwich http://askchefs.net/showthread.php?tid=924

and a potato soup http://joyful-mommas-kitchen.blogspot.com/2012/04/potato-soup-freezer-meal.html

I am so excited to try all these recipes. Like I said before we half each one since it's just the two of us! It took about an hour to prep everything, bag, and clean up! My husband is a HUGE help in the process, so if you don't have a handy helper it might take longer!!

After all of that work I was ready to crash again. Luckily I had a good night rest, so I was ready to go with my kiddos today!

Hope you all had a great Labor Day weekend! 

Time to get ready for what tomorrow brings!!!

School is here!

So school has started, and I promised to try to blog more often....

So let's see if I can give you an update on life since I have "failed" so far.

So school has started, and I am glad to be back in the swing of things!

My class is great, and we are learning our routines/rituals. Every day it is a reminder of how we do things, but they are starting to get the hand of it.

Friday and this morning was a blast... Our air stopped working probably around lunch time Thursday. I finally decided to put a report in Friday morning. (The air was moving, but it felt like outside air) Friday was miserable.. Imagine 25 1st graders.. plus yourself in a classroom that ended up at 84 degrees by the end of Friday. Today was worse... It was sticky outside, and sticky inside. I decided to take my class to the hallway for a game, and then our janitor came by and asked if we wanted a fan. He brought one of the big carpet drying fans, and it helped a little. At the end of recess the maintenance man met us in our room! It was fixed!!! :D 

I'm gonna give you an update through pictures - the best way to update!!

 Before school started I found this on pinterest. I was hoping to win it from a blog giveaway, but since I didn't I decided to make my own. It's now hanging outside my classroom!!

 The weekend before school our Sunday School Class headed out to the lake for some R&R!

 One of my students brought this to me the first day of school! Yes it is a real chocolate bar, and NO I haven't had to break it yet!!

Anad last! Something I am very proud of!!!! I have decided to do a different Tuesday folder distribution this year. Another teacher is doing this, so I decided to try it! My students will put any papers that they will take home (and I don't need to look at first) in the coordinating table box. Then on Tuesday folder day, they will sort their papers by table and put it in their own Tuesday Folder. If I need to check the paper then they will place in a separate bin and I will check and file in the right box.

The part that makes it really exciting is they cost me $0!!!!

I was going to get magazine holders for my students to file. When I got to Wal-mart each holder was $5 which would amount $25. I know that's not a whole lot, but still. So while looking around I saw all the boxes the school supplies come in, and thought they would be perfect.... and possibly FREE! So instead of just taking them :D I went and found someone. I then moved some stuff around, and got 5 of these boxes for free. Now they might not last as long, but hey it's working for the time being... and it's FREE!!!

I also wanted to let you know that my crockpot meals have been a success!! We still have about a weeks worth (so now our meals are going to be repeating), but we have not had a bad meal. It has been WONDERFUL to throw the food in the crockpot in the morning, and when I come home it's done! All I have to do is make sides (if needed). If you are busy/working/ or just want life to be a little easier... You should try it. This coming weekend we are going to make some more meals. The lady who we got 5 of the meals from blogged 5 more, so I believe we are going to try those as well as repeat!

I am going to try to be a little better about blogging more often, but for now.. here it is :D

Salvation Story!

So I have been meaning to share this with everyone, but I was waiting for pictures/video.

This summer  I had the chance to go to camp with our youth. 

Well...

I'll just let the video explain everything :D

Well that pretty much explains everything. And boy can I say I have seen a change. I LOVE spending time in the word and with the Lord. I have had a desire like no other! 

I have seen God work in my life in this short time! It's been neat to see my attitude change on a lot of things in life. I could easily become a "Debby Downer." But with God in our lives what can keep us down??? Not saying we will never get down or life can't be hard, but our God is right next to us helping us along the way!

I wanted to let you know that if you have any doubts or have any questions PLEASE settle it and get the questions answered. There's never been a better feeling! 

Here are some pictures from my baptism a few weeks after I got saved.

 My dad got to baptize me.

I actually have a video of the service, but I figured one video was enough! And the video on here is the most important one! It shows how God has a plan for everything, and he is the one in control!

Freezer cooking!

So school is fast approaching, and I have been wanting to freeze some meals to make life a little "easier." The beginning of the school year is always busy, and last year I felt overwhelmed trying to be a wife as well as a teacher. 

I have known some friends who have done freezer meals for a month, but felt a little overwhelmed by it. I found a few pinterest ideas that gave crockpot recipes that you could freeze then throw into the crockpot the morning you are cooking! 

I made a list of several recipes, and then picked the ones I wanted to do. I thought all crockpot ones this time, so I won't have to worry about actually preparing the dish. My next goal may be to add some non-crockpot recipes into my freezer meals. 

One website Saving You Dinero had 5 crockpot meals in one post. It gave me the grocery list, and the meals all together. I found another cilantro lime chicken recipe on pinterest (I then had to search in google cause the picture didn't connect to the link) Cilantro picture I posted the picture that way when you search it you know what the picture looks like!!! I JUST FOUND THE CILANTRO LIME RECIPE.... SO CHECK IT OUT HERE: CLICK AT TOP OF PAGE WHERE IT SAYS PRINTER-FRIENDLY DOWNLOADED VERSION It has several other recipes on the page, but I just did the cilantro chicken. So there are 6 meals. I then did a crockpot recipe I have made before Chicken Spaghetti I made the bag, but without the noodles. I will do that the night before like she suggests and put into the refrigerator. Which makes meal number 7.

Since there are just two of us I was able to half all the recipes which then gave us 14 meals!!! If you have more then 2 you could always double recipes to give more meals. While making the meals I kept thinking these are small, but I reminded myself there will be no leftovers like normal! 

Nathan was a GREAT help while making the recipes, so the fixing part went by quick! About hour and half to fix/clean up. We were planning on making 8 meals but we ran out of frozen chicken. I figured that meal was going to be easy, so I could run to the store and make that the night before if I decided to make it (chicken, corn, rice, cream of chicken...) You can find it here if you decide you want to make that one. The rice and corn you would put in after it started cooking and cook for an extra 30 min.)

 Nathan helping out!

 Last meal - Cilantro Lime Chicken!!! I labeled each bag with instructions and title!

Everything in the middle upper shelf is freezer meals! It didn't take long and much space! 

14 meals ready to go!!!

I plan on having rice with some, so I will have to cook that the day of. But rice will be easy compared to a whole entire meal. 

I printed off the recipes from Saving You Dinero and pasted them on index cards. I now have them, so when I need to make them again I have them handy. 

Saving You Dinero also recently posted that they just made 5 more freezer meals, and will be posting the recipe/grocery list within 2 weeks after she has tried them herself. 

I hope to continue this, so hopefully I can post more.

* And she really does try to "Save You Dinero" by using items you have around the house plus using same ingredients in several of the dishes!

I will also post after we have tried them, and let you know pros/cons.

Picture Post

So I have several pictures that I have been meaning to post. So today is a post full of pictures!

On my Birthday July 2nd with a cupcake from a place downtown.

Some of my presents. A cute basket that has my name on it, and a cricut! 

Messing with my cricut!

At youth camp on the high ropes course!

I did it!

The last night we had an "epic" battle. My 10th grade girls!

Someone posted this on Facebook, and I want to get it enlarged for my superhero themed classroom! 

Not quit sure how without making it pixelized. 

I got a class hamster last year for my class. They named her sprinkles! She is living with us this summer!

Our dog Samantha with Sprinkles. They are best friends, and very curious of each other. 

She loves to drink out of the fountain downtown. She fell in a few weeks ago. OOPs!

We take Samantha to Petsmart for training class. She has graduated from intermediate! 

We LOVE going to farmers market each Saturday. It's a great social time for Samantha. I finally got sunflowers. They are so pretty! 

Trying to stay cool.

Nathan's parents came down to visit. Us at the farmer's market.

It's finally that time to start getting school ready. I will start posting some progress of classroom setup, and some fun things I am hoping to make before school starts!

Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep - 5k

Back in June Nathan and I found an organization on the square that was holding a 5k. The last 5k I ran was in May, so I was ready to find another one. We talked to the couple at the table, and they told us more about the organization that the money would be going towards.

"Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep"

This organization is one that has photographers go into hospitals when still-born babies are born, babies who won't live but a few days, etc. They take pictures of the babies, so the families will have a positive memory of their child. 

This is a great organization that is all over the country and if you would like to support them, found out more, or even be a photographer for them check them out here:

Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep

Here are a few pictures from the 5k!

 Andy a friend of ours also ran the 5k.

 It was held out at Lake Bella Vista trail!

Luckily it started at 8am so not to hot in the day, and the majority of the area was shaded!

 Our Times Posted! Nathan came in at 25:41 (on the first sheet)

I came in at 31:22 (the 2nd sheet)

I beat my last 5k time, so I was pleased. 

We are planning on running another one at the end of August, so my plan is to come in under 30 if not better!