Teachers of Instagram!

My friend Elizabeth over at Kickin' It In Kindergarten is hosting a linky party for teachers on Instagram! I must say, Instagram has been my most favorite "go-to" this year when it comes to connecting with other teachers and finding new ideas, so of course I will link up with my top three favorite Instagram pictures from 2013! You should too!! Only a couple rules....don't post about a product and check out three other linker-uppers (I'm digging the new word Elizabeth)! :)

It's so hard to narrow it down to three, but here they are! Oh and if you'd like to follow me on Instagram, my username is @keepinitkrazy! :) 

1. I love that new school year feeling! This is my classroom ready for the first day of school. So neat and tidy and ready to embrace all the new faces!

 2. This was my back to school bulletin board with mister Pete the Cat! I was pretty happy with how it turned out and we've had lots of fun with Pete this year in our room! 

 3. Annnnnddd last, but not least, this picture of me and my hubby! We took a few fall pics this year and I love this one and I love him to pieces!! He's my biggest supporter in everything that I do! 

Now, what are you waiting for? Get your Instagrammin' on and link up! 

I'm also going to link up with Simply Kinder. It sounds like a great way to meet and follow new blogs. Any way to find more inspiration and support fellow teachers sounds like a plan to me! :)

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Back to Work {Five for Friday}

It seems like forever since I've linked up with Doodle Bugs for Five for Friday, but I'm baaack! :)

1. It was my BIRTHDAY on the 7th!! I have a feeling it's going to be a FABULOUS year! :) My sweet little nieces made me gifts and this little one on the left gave me a stuffed puppy and an old phone! Haha! Then she took it back before I left! It was so funny yet so sweet all at the same time! :) On the right you will see the cute flower bouquet made out of balloons and a bottle! How creative?! I was quite impressed!!

 2. I went back to work on my birthday! Definitely bitter-sweet! I love the people I work with, so at least I was able to still enjoy the day while I was at work, but of course it would've been even better if I had the day off! The morning we had welcome back activities with the staff and in the afternoon, we got to work in our rooms. On the plus side, I got to pull the birthday card and my sweet husband came to help me in my classroom that afternoon! He's the best and took me out to dinner when we finished up!

3. Speaking of my classroom, it is almost completely finished and ready for our back to school night on Monday! We get all of Monday to work in our rooms, but here is a small sneak peek. I plan to do a classroom tour soon.

4. I made a new friend to go with my back to school theme! I am super excited about it because it turned out better than I even imagined! Does this little guy look familiar?!

PETE THE CAT!!!! He was so much fun to paint and I can't wait to see what my new kiddos think of him! Here is my back to school bulletin board in the hallway! We will be rockin' in our kinder shoes this year! :)

5. I'm so glad the weekend is here because that means FAMILY TIME!!!! I can't wait to head to my parents' house tomorrow and celebrate my grandma's birthday with my huge family! When I say "huge" I really mean it too! We are having a big celebration for her and we're going to get pictures taken with grandma and all of her kids, grandkids, and great grandkids and it will be close to 75+ people in the picture (I think we're somewhere near that number now...maybe even more with spouses). It's so much fun and I can't wait! 

Well I hope you are either enjoying every last bit of your summer or having a great time getting your classroom ready or teaching your littles! Have a super year! :)

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July Currently & Let's Get Acquainted!

Tomorrow is July already, can you believe it?! I can't, but I'm excited to have a whole month completely "off" or so to speak! I have a long list of things I'd like to make for the new school year and post on TpT and I'm sure I'll be getting my classroom ready again toward the end of July too! So I guess I wouldn't necessarily consider it a whole month "off" but I don't really have to be anywhere! We moved into a new house at the beginning of June and these last two weeks I've been taking a full day class for a lesson study grant I'm participating in, so I finally feel like I'm back on summer break! YAY!

Alright, let's get to this Currently for July with Farley at Oh' Boy 4th Grade!

Listening: I've got my husband to my left on the couch working on his master's class, so besides the typing on the computer and the clock ticking, it is silent! It's kind of nice to wind down like this on a Sunday afternoon after getting home from church. :)

Loving: I love that I'm back on my summer schedule!! I'm definitely a night person, so I'm excited to be back on my summer schedule where I can pretty much do whatever I want, whenever I want. There's no alarm that has to wake me up and we can stay up late, hang out with friends/family, sit outside on the deck, and just chill! I love it! 

Thinking: Speaking of that summer schedule, I think it's about time for our regular Sunday nap! :) I love a good Sunday nap, but I always hate it when I have somewhere I need to be early Monday morning because I can never get to sleep Sunday night! Haha! 

Wanting: I would love to go on a vacation with my husband again this summer, but we are having a heck of a time selling our house! We already bought and live in a new house (which I LOVE btw), but it's stressful being an owner of two houses! I think once we sell our other house, we owe it to ourselves to just get away somewhere....anywhere! This leads me to the next one...

Needing: To sell our house!!!! Enough said! :)

Tips, Tricks, or Hints: My tip is for selling on TpT. I started selling back in November during my first year of teaching. I would just make things that I loved and knew I would use in my classroom! I had fun with it and lucky for me, many other people fell in love with my products too! It's a great feeling and I know that no matter what, nothing I make is for no good reason because I will make great use out of it! So don't be afraid to post something on TpT because you never know who will love your product just as much as you do! :)

Okay, switching gears just a bit! Latoya is BACK with her Let's Get Acquainted Party and I am linking up!

This week's topic is Tic-Tac-Toe! I am choosing diagonally left to right, top to bottom!

I went to college at Kansas State University! My favorite memories would have to be Thursday nights with my best friends. We were all a part of the college of education and became really close. During our last year at KSU, I was married and living in another town about 40 miles away so we would have sleep overs on Thursday nights since we didn't have class on Fridays! It was so much fun to have either a girls' night in or out and just stay up talking about everything in life! I miss seeing my girls every day, but I'm so happy I made such amazing friends and that we still stay in touch and are very close! 

My favorite school memory as a kid....hmm, that is so tough to pick just one! When I think of elementary school, I think about one of my favorite teachers who taught me in 1st grade! She had a big bus in her room made out of wood where we could go read and play. She was very artistic and I remember making something special out of each letter as we learned it. For example, we made a zebra in the shape of a Z. She sparked so much creativity and imagination out of all of us and I hope that I can someday be at least half as good a teacher as she was!

Some of my favorite hobbies are to play volleyball and take pictures! I played volleyball, basketball, track, and softball growing up, but there's just something about volleyball that makes me love it the most! Luckily we have a rec center in my town, so I still get to play! My husband and I play co-ed which is fun and this summer we are playing sand volleyball with another couple in town. We are pretty competitive, so it's fun to go out and play together. I also love taking pictures and looking at pictures. There's just something about capturing special memories that is so fun. I'm trying to do better about just enjoying moments a little more though too instead of taking pictures of every single little thing. It's kind of hard sometimes though! ;)

Alright, go link up with Latoya! I'm excited to read which row on the Tic-Tac-Toe board you choose! Also, just a reminder about my flash sale on TpT today (June 30th) only!! Everything is 20% off...read about that here. 

You can also enter for a chance to win free items from my store here and here! Today is the last day for each of these things, so don't wait!

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Busy June Currently!

It's already June and I'm just now getting a free second to link up with Farley's Currently. Check out my currently below and then go link up for yourself (if you haven't already!).

Listening: I'm watching and listening to my guilty pleasure reality TV show, The Bachelorette! I really like Des and after last week, I must say I wasn't too excited about the guys. After the first date, I am hooked again! Haha! There might be a couple nice guys on this season after all! :)

Loving: If you've been reading for a while, you may know that my husband and I bought a house. We have been in our new house all day Saturday and all afternoon today painting! I am so in love with this house and our new paint job! We haven't actually closed on the house yet since we're still waiting on paper work to go through, but the builder is allowing us to go in and paint. Yay! Here's a sneak preview of the living room before and after. 

Thinking: On Wednesday this week, my husband and I will be celebrating 3 years of marriage!! Time sure flies when you're having fun and with the one you love! He's the best and it's been a great three years. I can't wait for all the adventures we have ahead of us! 

Wanting: I'm so anxious to start moving into our new house! We were supposed to close on our anniversary, but the appraisal was the hold up so the paper work with our loan hasn't come back yet. We had already lined up people to help us move this coming weekend, so we asked the builder if we could move in early and he was okay with it! Double YAY! :) We are so ready to get in there and start decorating it to make it OUR home! 

Needing: Now the "bleh" part of moving....packing! We need to keep packing, but we've been so busy. I know what's on the list for this week though! Fun, fun! Our spare bedroom is going to be pretty full of boxes after the week is over. 

3 Vacay Essentials: 

1. My husband...of course, no vacation would be as fun without him there! 

2. My camera...I LOVE taking pictures! Wayyy too many pictures probably, so my camera is a must!

3. My sunglasses...my eyes are super sensitive and when I think of summer vacations, I think of some place warm and sunny so I will definitely need my shades!

We usually try to take one or two vacations a summer since it's our time off together. Like last year we went on a road trip to St. Louis and Nashville and then on a trip to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, but this year will probably be different due to our new house and the fact that our current house isn't sold yet (Crazy, I know!). I guess I'll just have to imagine we are back at the beach and keep praying our house will sell! Then maybe, just maybe I can talk my husband into (at least) a road trip somewhere! :)

Well thanks for ready this very "new house" heavy post...sorry it is just consuming my life right now! Now go link up so I can read about you currently! 

Happy JUNE!!!

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Five for Friday (Teacher Appreciation Week Style!)

Wow, this has been such a great week! It was busy so I have lots to share, but it also went by so fast! I will try to sum everything up the best that I can by linking up with Doodle Bugs again. :)

1. On Saturday, my husband and I went to a wedding reception for a dear friend. They got married in Mexico in January, so they had a reception close to Cinco de Mayo! How fitting right?! I actually student taught under both of these ladies (bride in the middle) and I'm lucky to have them both as friends now. 

2. I came to school on Monday to an adorable note (or should I say notes) on my classroom door for teacher appreciation week from all of my kiddos! It was so fun to read all of their notes. :)

3. I must say I feel very blessed to be in a school and community that really cares about their teachers. Our school had a theme for each day this week and the kids brought in things for us each day. I felt so loved and appreciated and it was wonderful! Definitely a great feeling! The days went like this...

Monday: Students wrote notes for their teachers.

Tuesday: Bring your teacher some flowers.

We got these adorable key chains from our principal on this day too! It says "Our Staff Is "Paw"some!" since we are the Lincoln Lions! Too cute! :)

Wednesday: Bring your teacher some chocolate.

I had to share some with the kids too because there was a lot of chocolate!! It's dangerous for me to have that much chocolate! ;)

Thursday: Bring your teacher a smile.

We took some class pictures on this day too! I sure do love these kiddos!

Friday: Bring your teacher a snack.

The popcorn came from the school. I actually helped order these because I used to work at this popcorn place called Schlaegel's Popcorn! My brother is a partner in the business now and it's also a tax company, so once we get our taxes done we get a free bag of popcorn. Score! Aren't these custom labels adorable?! Our secretary created them! Plus, the popcorn is quite delicious too, I might add! ;)

4. Thursday I had my mentor celebration where we shared a presentation about our first year of teaching. I must say, I'm glad I have "graduated" from my first year of teaching! I'd say it's time to celebrate! :) We also had our Schools in Review that evening which is basically an open house for parents and the community to come in our school and see what we've been learning. This year we had a "Solve the Mystery" night to get the kids to bring their parents back in. We had a case of the missing Lincoln Lion and one of the teachers was guilty! The kids had to do different experiments in each of the classrooms to solve the mystery and find out who it was. It was a fun little idea and the kids enjoyed finding out who "took" the lion. 

5. Today was crazy to say the least! I was supposed to have a sub so I could do my quarterly assessments, but the sub cancelled this morning and no one picked it up. My amazing para offered to do most of the teaching while I sat in the back of the room and pulled kids to assess. I think I'd be lost if it weren't for his help this year! He is the absolute best para I could've asked for and I'm so sad because he is leaving after this year. He will be a tough one to replace for sure! Luckily I am almost done with assessments even with the little hiccup that happened today. I am so excited and proud of how far these kids have come even within the last quarter. It is amazing! They are definitely ready for first grade, but I'm not so sure I'm ready to leave them yet! :(  We've had a krazy year with a wild bunch of kiddos, but they are MY krazy, wild bunch of kiddos and I've become so attached to them! I think this picture pretty much sums up our krazy, awesome class perfectly! :)

I also did a little shopping of my own this week on TpT with the big sale and all! You can show us what you bought by clicking the picture below and linking up!

I'm super excited about these two writing resources that I got. Writing is definitely an area that I need to improve in and get more ideas/resources for, so these will be perfect for next year!

Deanna Jump and Deedee Wills' Writing Through the Year Bundle!

Susan Moran's Writing Through the Seasons All Year Long Bundle!

Thanks to all who bought something from my store during the sale too! I really appreciate it and don't forget to leave feedback so you can get your points! :)

Check back on Sunday for the adorable Mother's Day writing that we did this week. Our moms are going to LOVE them because they are too cute! You won't want to miss it! :)

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