11 in 11

11. Favorite movie you watched
Well I really liked Captain America but I liked The Help too...And of course the final Harry Potter. I saw a lot of movies this year! Probably more this year alone than in the last 3 years combined. It was fun though. So I guess I just can't make up my mind.

10. Favorite TV series
Again its hard to choose. Loving Grimm at the moment! If you haven't watched it I definitely suggest you do. It is filmed in Portland, OR-just a short trip from my house. Also The Sing Off-LOVE it! Although this season was not as good as the last one.

9. Favorite restaurant
I don't really have one of these...I will say that a local restaurant called The Lost Roo has some AWESOME garlic tater tots. Enough said.

8. Favorite new thing you tried
hmmm...Does Teaching Kindergarten count?! It was new to me and I LOVE it!

7. Favorite gift you received
hmmm... I am super excited about my Kitchen Aid!!!!! It is silver and gorgeous and I can't wait to use it!

6. Favorite thing you pinned
Hmmm...I have pinned some awesome ideas but haven't had a chance to do most of them...Loving some of the quotes I have found though.

5. Favorite blog post
Does it have to be one of mine? Can I just say that any that Kristin wrote are my favorite? They always make me laugh. Especially her Halloween one...

4. Favorite accomplishment
Getting a teaching job!!!!!






3. Favorite picture

I take a LOT of pictures. So many that the other day when I went to upload my computer said "The disk for your iphoto is nearly full are you sure you want to upload?" I guess this means that I need to do some backing up and deleting...not my favorite thing to do. I will just go with a recent picture so I don't spend the next 3 hours searching through my 25,000 pictures.

This is "The Tribe" we have Christmas Eve together every year. There is one new person in the picture and we are missing two others but it was a FABULOUS Christmas Eve.

2. Favorite memory

hmmm...Again there are lots of those. Graduating college, getting my first real job, actually moving out, Christmas eve, going to the Reckless Kelly concert, awesome bull riding event, getting very good marks on my first formal observation, and so so so many more.

1. Goal for 2012

Hug more
Read more books
Keep myself organized because it drives me NUTS when I am disorganized but it happens so quickly!

There are my 11 in 11. Linking up...now. 

Christmas Break...

So I have had a busy break. But I have still had time to relax. So here is a list of the things I have done...
Tuesday:Go to moms house and bake cookies. Spritz cookie gun was NOT my friend. But we had a good time.
Wednesday: Drive to dad's house (a little under 2 hours) past my school-But I didn't stop!- This drive seemed to take FOREVER! I had my dog and my mom's dogs in the back seat and my sister in the front-there was a lot of complaining and it was NOT my dog. Lets just say I was ready to be out of the car. Then I got to go to Lunch (that was literally the name of the restaurant!) with two friends from high school. It was so good to actually get to see them! We talk all the time but we are never in the same place at the same time. I also saw many other people while I was back in my hometown.
Thursday: Woke up after a LONG night sleeping in a twin bed with my 60 pound dog! (I do not approve of this habit of hers but as she can't live with me at this time-darn renting anyway!- my mother has taught her bad things)Then I got to have coffee with 4 other friends from high school. I just love getting to see them. They are like my 6 extra sisters. Then I drove to my aunts house after dropping the pups off at the holiday hotel. (it's really a farm where they board dogs but they have too much fun there to call it a kennel)
Friday: Shopping. Followed by a night that included my younger sister making my drinks and playing Pictionary with the family. Grandpa had to draw a sumo wrestler and lets just say he broke the rules and acted as well. Very funny.
Saturday: I got up at 7:28. I have baked the cookies I promised to a friend. And tonight we will have our annual Christmas Eve "party". There will only be 17 this year (this is actually a small number...)It should be fun but I might not let my sister mix my drinks this time :)

Oh and each day you can add me talking about my kids and worrying about how their breaks are going and me thinking about what I am going to do with them after break...

Hope everyone has a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS! I think I will be braving the crowds today and shopping again because yes I procrastinated once again... Oh but we did have professional portraits done of my sisters and I yesterday...(have I ever mentioned how much I detest having my picture taken? But I will admit it was time since we haven't done that in 10 years!)

ok...I know 2 posts in one day

So I know this goes against blogging rules but I'm going to post for a second time today for two reasons-1)I have the time!!! HOORAY for Winter break! 2) I want to. So there :)

So I have been catching up on my blog reading-because I follow so many I don't always see the ones that get posted that I want to read all the time. Today I have been catching up over at Waiting on The Butterflies. And I have decided that Sarah and I need to be friends. So she did this survey and it made me want to do it too.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
I LOVE wrapping presents! And given the right conditions I can spend HOURS upon HOURS doing so. (on the floor of my carpeted living room does not qualify...which is what I have been doing)

2. Real tree or artificial?
REAL! Although I must confess this year my Christmas decorations are a little bit pitiful. The biggest tree in the house is 2.5 feet tall and fake with blue lights and no ornaments...I mean the tree in my classroom is at least 6 feet! My word. I MUST fix this problem next year. THERE WILL BE A REAL TREE! With all of the ornaments that I have gathered over the years and it will have white lights-lots of them. (I feel much better now that I got that out of my system)

3. When do you put up the tree?
Well it depends...I don't actually have a set time. But after Thanksgiving for sure. Preferably the weekend after in my perfect world.

4. When do you take the tree down?
hmmm... after new years. I LOVE having a tree in the house...

5. Do you like eggnog?
No I do not. Hot Chocolate with Buttershots though...thats a different story :)

6. Favorite gift received as a child?
this is difficult. 3 options. 1) Trip to Disneyland 2) Addy American Girl Doll 3) Barbie Dream House...

7. Do you have a nativity scene?
I personally don't have one. But my roommate does so there is one in the house. I haven't found one I like yet.

8. Hardest person to buy for?
This year it seems EVERYONE! I am having the worst time coming up with things to get people!

9. Easiest person to buy for?
My mom. She just says "I want that"-I say "ok"-place item in cart-"Merry Christmas to you". haha (this conversation actually happened in Costco on Saturday.)

10. Mail or email Christmas cards?
I didn't mail any... I did write some though and put them in mailboxes at school-does that count? I would never do them by email!

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
It would have to be the Metal birds nest with 2 birds and a couple stone eggs that had a little sign that read "Our Nest" that I got last year. I actually gave it away 5 minutes later.

12. Favorite Christmas movie?
I love them all! Love Fred Claus, The Holiday, Polar Express, The Family Stone. I swear the only things that I have watched since before thanksgiving are Christmas movies.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
When I find something. But this year not until the 17th...yikes. I have already made plans to do shopping on the 24th. (This is not like me at all!)

14. Ever recycled a present?
yes. refer back to "worst christmas present."

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
Cookies. Spritz to be exact.

16. Clear lights or colored lights on a tree?
Clear.

17. Favorite Christmas song?
So many. Currently "All I want for Christmas"

18. Travel at Christmas or stay at home?
Travel. Always go to my aunts for Christmas Eve.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?
I teach Kindergarten does that answer your question. haha.
Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen, and Rudolph of course.

20. Angel or star on top of the tree?
I don't have either one. But it will be an angel when I find one that I like.

21. Open the presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning?
Open one present on Christmas eve (always pajamas) the rest on Christmas morning. One year though we had our Christmas morning at 3am! It was C-R-A-Z-Y. My sisters were little and WAY WAY WAY too excited to sleep anymore. So we all opened presents and then went back to sleep.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year?
Grouchy Grinchy people at the stores.

23. Favorite ornament, theme, or color?
Have to say I am one of those people who doesn't do the whole theme thing. I like the whole each ornament has a memory tree. So no theme or colors here.

24. What do you want for Christmas?
A Kitchen aid (which I happen to know I am getting-its silver and GORGEOUS and I am SO SO SO excited!)

I promise I won't post a third time today. I guess I should go do that laundry and clean up my house... Teaching Kinder has turned me into the person who is not so good at sitting still. Except for yesterday when I was laying on the floor for 4 hours-haha-hey I'm sick and the couch got uncomfortable. I also need to complete my present wrapping since my sister is on her way here and one of her presents is currently sitting on my couch unwrapped. I think I will go make a list of what I need to do. (this might just be me procrastinating again...)
Enjoy your Tuesday!

Liebster Award!

Super excited this morning! I got the Liebster Award from Bonnie over at Living a Wonderful Life. THANK YOU BONNIE! I definitely agree that we could be BFF's in real life.

The goal of the award is to spotlight up-and-coming blogs with less than 200 followers. The rules are:

1. copy and paste the award on your blog
2. thank the giver and link back to them
3. reveal your top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog
4. hope that your followers will spread the love to other bloggers 

Here are my top 5!

1)Scott over at Brick By Brick.   I can't guarantee that he doesn't already have 200 followers but I love the ideas he has over there! Super cute candy cane blog.

2) Sarah at Waiting on The Butterflies. I just love her blog and all of her cute ideas and stories. And she has a pretty cute dog too! I think that if we didn't live so far from each other we could be very good friends!

3) Mrs. Cole over at Cole's Little Pups has an adorable blog and so many ideas! GO check it out!

(let me just say that finding 5 blogs who have not already received this award or have less than 200 followers is proving to be difficult but fun made me realize I have a lot of blog reading to do!)

4) Mary at Adventures in Kindergarten. Cute blog with so many great ideas! She is VERY close to 200 followers.

5) Kelly at Busy in K. Cute blog and fun stuff over there! She has been blogging for nearly a year!



Hope you enjoy looking at these blogs I know I do! I am headed to catch up on some of them now since I am on break and I'm not quite sure what to do with myself (although I should be doing laundry and cleaning house...) My sister is coming today!!! Hope everyone that is on break is enjoying the relaxation and I hope that everyone still in school is surviving the craziness!

Top 10 reasons I know Christmas is near... and some other side notes

Ok so I have been blog stalking hopping tonight while I bake cookies for the staff holiday party tomorrow night. Well I found two blogs that have done this and I was cracking up and nodding my head the whole time. This has quite possible been the longest  most exhausting glitter filled week ever in kinderland for me. So this isn't a linky party but I saw it here and here.
1) You have letters from Santa waiting in the staff freezer with a North Pole return address.
2) You are so excited that you have a job in which you get to wear your pajamas to school because getting dressed when you are this exhausted is a serious chore.
3) You took your childrens presents to school on Monday but didn't give them out until today because you were waiting for them to be making good choices...(yes it took 4 full days)
4)You had a prep time today but were unable to focus to get anything done...so you sat in the staff room with people and ate too many sweets.
5) You were making copies today because you wanted your kids to actually do some work today and the teachers from the older grades said, "You are actually making them do work?!"
6) You fin yourself wanting to say-if you don't listen I am going to tell Santa to put you on the naughty list!
7) When you walk down the hall other teachers just say "only 1 more wake up!"
8) You are currently baking like crazy so that you have something to take to the staff party tomorrow because you are just going to stay at school until it starts at 6pm
9) Your principal walked in at the end of the day while the kids were "Doing their jobs" aka cleaning up. And she said, "YIKES! They are messy!" You then let her watch the kids play "Magic Scrap" haha (nice observation time. lol)
10) You are going to be sending home what seems like a gazillion projects with your kids tomorrow and you are wishing that you had remembered to take pictures of all of the adorable things you made.

So I am exhausted now. I need to go finish those cookies so I don't have to finish baking in the staff room tomorrow afternoon... Heres to a day with Bingo in the morning and The Polar Express in the afternoon. And no instruction except for number corner first thing in the morning.

Oh and I survived my first Holiday concert. It was a great concert. Tonight I discussed with the music teacher how we would change it for next year so that the Kinders don't have to sit through the whole thing since it is K-12. That is a LONG LONG time for a 5 year old. I had to make 5 different trips to the bathroom. ugh. More on that later.

Hope everyone has a FABULOUS Friday!

C-R-A-Z-Y week

I don't know when the last time I posted was...ugh.
Well Thanksgiving was great. Too bad both the Cougars and the Beavers lost. Better luck next year.
Teaching:
I have been crazy busy at school since then. Our report cards go home on Tuesday so I had a TON of assessment to complete. I am very thankful that my aide helped with that! We have been busy making Chritmas projects at school. I am VERY lucky in the fact that my school lets me do Christmas things! There is a tree in the entryway and in most classrooms (mine is going up tomorrow as I was not aware that they are on top of things and most people had them up last week...oops). The kids will be thrilled though since they have been asking me about a tree all week. We made gingerbread boys and girls, reindeer out of our feet, trees out of triangles and rectangles for math, countdown chains to work on our patterns. Oh and some super cute Santa's out of paper plates I cut in half :) This week the kids will be turned into reindeer as I borrow an idea from another blogger for a bulletin board idea. Oh and we wrote our letters to santa! I am telling you it was a C-R-A-Z-Y week. And the next two will probably be just as nuts if not more. What is your favorite book to read to your class? My very favorite book at Christmas is The Christmas Collie. We have always read it on Christmas Eve and I can't wait to read it to my class!
Funny story. I have a little one who is just...different. Doesn't much like participating with the group. Well she was particularly perky and bouncy on Friday. I said, "Who put ants in your pants today?" She actually started looking all over herself to fin the ants! I cracked up.



Life: I have been watching far too many Christmas movies while working on report cards. Oh and enjoying watching the National Finals Rodeo. Gotta love watching people ride bucking broncs, bucking bulls and catching little cows oh and don't forget the barrel racing. Also watched Fred Clause for the first time-if you haven't seen it I highly recommend.
I have definitely been getting fewer questions about whether or not I am going to move closer to my school (I drive 55 minutes each way everyday). But people still ask everyday how my drive was.
Alright I suppose I should go start some laundry or something...or continue to enjoy my cheesy Christmas movies.
Oh but did anyone else watch the finale of The Sing Off?! I was VERY pleased with the winner. Can't wait for tomorrows Christmas special! Hope everyone has a GREAT week! Hopefully I will post some pictures soon.