Piloxing/Running!!!!!

Have any of you ever tried a piloxing class? I did for the first time last night and it was a lot of fun! I also ran almost three miles...yay! I officially signed up for the Music City half marathon, so I have LOTS of work to do in preparing for it! I really wish it was warmer so I could run outside, but for now, the gym will do! On a side note- I always complain about our gym. Well, apparently it's under new ownership now and they are re-doing everything! It looks so much better. For what it's worth, I really appreciate it haha!!

Have a good night!

Pinterest Craft ~ Winter Wreath

I absolutely love pinterest! It is the perfect fix for a rainy, or in this month, cold day! I wanted a new wreath to put on my door for the winter. Of course, pinterest had a burlap wreath that was so cute, and really easy to make.

Here's what you need:
1 yard burlap (any color)
1 yard tulle (any color)
1 10 or 12 inch foam wreath
straight pins

Take the burlap and cut it into 4x4 squares. I cut long strips first, then made squares out of those. My squares were not perfectly sized 4x4's..so don't freak out about measurements! Take the two opposite corners of the square piece of burlap and make a triangle, then bring up the other two corners, too. Put a straight pin where all four corners connect and pin to the foam wreath. I just looped the tulle through the top of the wreath to make a bow. I also added a little wooden letter!

Happy New Year!

Happy 2012! I love starting a fresh new year and setting goals for myself. I'm so thankful for the new beginnings God allows us to have! We rang in 2012 with some of our best friends in wonderful Nashville. We ate at the amazing Merchants, downtown, heard some music, and finished the night with catch phrase at the Sheraton Music City! Last year we celebrated in Atlanta, and next year we have promised to celebrate in Chattanooga! I keep telling my bestie, Jessica Bills, that 2013 is our year (for many reasons :)!!!!

Last night, I made pork tenderloin, black eyed peas, cabbage, mashed potatoes, and an oreo cake. Brett and I made a list of goals for the year and sealed them up. We'll open the envelope next new year's day... starting our own little tradition!

Here are some pics, Happy New Year to you all!!

Weekend at home...finally!

We are finally staying in Jackson for the weekend and I am so glad. We have been traveling every single weekend for over a month! Please don't get me wrong- I LOVE to travel, but it's been a little much lately! Last weekend we went to Chattanooga for a surprise birthday party for Brett. Thanks to all of you for coming! I really hate that we don't live closer to most of our friends, but hopefully we will one day....sooner than later.

Here are some things we are looking forward to........

FALL BREAK! I am SO excited about our beach trip to Destin! I am hoping to have my "trash the dress" pictures done while we're there.

Halloween party in Atlanta. I am SO excited about this!

Gatlingburg trip for the MT vs. UT game with Jessica and Bree! I love our fall Gatlinburg trips. I wish we were staying longer than just the weekend!

Have a wonderful weekend :)!

Serving Others

We finally were in Jackson on a Sunday and were able to go to our wonderful J2L class this morning. Our message was about being a servant to others. This really hit home to me! I am good at encouraging people, but I will admit that my free time is limited, and sometimes I do not want to use it serving others..so that is one of my goals this week! Mike talked about how Jesus set an example of serving, by washing his disciples' feet, which was a huge act of serving in those days! (John ch. 13) We also watched a clip on Beth Moore titled The Hair Brush. Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U088JkiQeDQ. I hope this video inspires you to be a servant to others this week!

Crafty Saturday

I have found so many cute decorations to make for fall, and with the hubby out of town this weekend, I decided to have a little craft night/day!

This is a door sign for my classroom! I added ribbon to the edges, and am going to make a bigger orange bow the the top!

Here's what you need to make this (super simple):
1 yard burlap
white, yellow and orange paint
paint brushes
ribbon
hot glue gun

I painted the burlap, let it dry, then hot glued the ribbon to the sides. Today I wrote trick or treat with puff paint, then went over it with a paint brush and black paint!

Not gonna lie...

So, before I started teaching, I seriously thought it would be a piece of cake. Boy was I wrong!I guess I thought, I love children, I would love to have summers off... I knew about standards and didn't think it would be a big deal to teach them to younger students. The thing is, you don't just teach standards, you have to make them somewhat fun so the students will actually retain the information! How would you make comparing and ordering numbers fun?? It takes a lot of time, thought and effort to put a lesson together! Please do not get me wrong, I LOVE my job and can't see myself doing anything else. It is very rewarding seeing all of my time and energy put into a child, especially when they have the "light bulb" moment and get it!

In our journal article today I asked them to tell me two adjectives to describe school, then tell me what they needed me to do to make school a more enjoyable place. Pretty much all of my adjectives were fun and boring. I asked them how school could be fun and boring at the same time and they said it just was.

Some of my students have a really hard time getting all of their books in their desk so I decided to clean a few of these desk out today.. Well, I found a journal article torn out and crammed into the back of one desk. It read, "School would be more fun if you would not make me sit by (two other children's names) I told you Mrs. Smalley I wanted to sit by (another child's name)! I laughed SO hard and when this little boy got back from exploratory, I told him I found his journal article and got the note. Little things like this make all of my hard work worth it! I NEVER know what is going to come out of their little mouths..but they definitely say something every day to make me laugh!