1st Day of School!

Today was the first day of school. I wasn't totally ready for my summer to be over. After meeting my kids last night, I was excited for school to begin. I have 28 darling kids in my class. We are having a lot of growth in our area, so who knows how many I will have by the end of the year.

Here is my bulletin board that I put together for Back to School night.

And here is my cute class this year. It was so hot outside and they weren't too excited to have their picture taken. 

And here are the high lights of our 1st day.

--One boy broke his glasses on the first day, he didn't cry... and told me he could squint until the day was over.

--One girl put her lunch box in the wrong bin after lunch. She didn't realize it until school was over and then she cried for a good 5 minutes. She claimed I didn't tell her where to put it, but.... we all know I did. Don't worry, we found it!

And for the grand finale....

I play a name game with my students to get to know their names. I always start by saying my name, and something I love. Usually I say, "Mrs. Barber loves chocolate." But this year I told them how this summer I have been eating a lot of watermelon. And that we usually buy one big one at Costco each week and I eat most of it. So I said, Mrs. Barber loves watermelon. (One by one the kids say their name and their item, and we repeat it.)

Then later in the day we read the book Chrysanthemum. It's about a girl named Chrysanthemum and how everyone makes fun of her name. After reading, I asked the class if I should name my baby Chrysanthemum. The kids then realized that I was pregnant. One boy shouts out...

"Oh you are pregnant? I just thought you were fat because you ate so many watermelons!"

One nice boy sitting next to him slugged him and told him he was rude for calling me fat.

They made my day. I guess I can go back again tomorrow!

Ignore the face, and focus on the belly. It does look a little like a watermelon right?? (Team building activity.)

Excited for B2S

In case you didn't know, but B2S is my lingo for Back to School. Tonight Bob was helping some friends in the ward move. So while he was gone, I put together my B2S treat bags. I have done this every year, and love it. I am sure that maybe 2/30 students actually read the poem before ripping the bag open, but oh well.  (Don't worry, I only ate 2 laffy taffys during the making of the bags.)

I still can't believe that I will be meeting my new students in just a few days. I also can't believe that this will be my 5th year of teaching. Seriously? 5 years!!! Sometimes it feels like I just finished my first year.

1st Day Back

Today was my first day back at work. It's always hard to get back into the groove of working all day. Luckily they ease you into it, and you sit for a lot of back to school meetings. (Although the chair wasn't too soft and I had a hard time getting comfortable today.) We started out the day with a district celebration and then faculty pictures. Yesterday we were all given our new school shirts to wear to the celebration and for pictures. (Our principal emailed us earlier in the summer asking us for the size we needed. I responded and said large, hoping it would work with the bump. When I picked mine up, they had me listed as a small. I was so glad they ordered a few extras so I could get the large I needed.)

I know I shouldn't, but whenever I have pictures taken, I ask for them to be chest up... still not used to the growing belly!

One small error, the people that printed our shirts, spelled Vineyard wrong. Our school motto is still going strong, we are working on Educating The One!!!!

I didn't notice the error until someone pointed it out to me today. I was more worried about making sure my belly wasn't sneaking out of the bottom of my shirt. My belly sure has grown in the past month. I'll have to get you a new belly shot soon.

Last day of summer

Yesterday was my last day of summer. Not just my last day of summer for this year, but my last day of summer ever. And by that I mean, not having any responsibility for anyone and being able to come and go as I please. Earlier in the week, I was wondering what I would do on my last day. One thing for sure, I knew I would sleep in.

I got news that my new school computer was in, so that took me to school. There were lots of people at work, and it was fun to see friends I hadn't seen all summer. I got my computer and the game plan was to leave, but when I was in my class, I realized I had so much to do. (I don't think that ever goes away.) So I decided that even if it was my last day of summer, I would get some work done, so I wouldn't be stressed and exhausted this weekend and Monday. I also realized that I was doing what I loved, and that was a great way to spend my last day of summer.

My new computer... I am in love. My last school computer gave me the wheel of death all of the time and was so hard to work on. 

My quilting lady called to let me know that my baby quilt was finished. I quickly finished up what I needed and headed over to pick up my quilt. I was thrilled with the final product. And I have to say that this is my favorite quilt that I have made so far.

I came home and put together dinner for a neighbor who had a baby. (Quick side note: In July, we had 10 babies born in our ward... it was crazy!) While dinner was baking I ran to the fabric store and got some thread to match my binding. After dinner I spent the night binding my quilt. I was so glad to get it finished!

These are the same colors as the other quilt I made for baby girl Barber. 

Love this quilt!

I had to take a picture of the minky, and can't you just picture a little naked baby picture on this blanket?

Baby Shower

I hosted a baby shower for Amber a week or so after Olivia arrived. It was so fun to have a shower, and to have the baby there to love on.

My sister Andrea holding baby Olivia. I think all baby girls should have a pink blanket like this!

I spent the week before making a few crafts. I had a lot of ideas, but only a little time each night since I had to work that week. 

I have been loving the button monogrammed letters for nurseries. Hope this one ends up matching!

Not the best picture, but I made this banner.

I also spent time reorganizing my living room to fit 20+ people. I doubt there has ever been that many people in our apartment before. It was a little tight, but it was so much fun. Our ward is so fun, and I love the friendships I have made the past 3 years. 

I told my mom that I was planning on doing 3-4 desserts and she volunteered to help make some. My mom seriously is amazing. She whipped up some homemade brownies and then another treat that I can't remember the name of. (Prego Brain) She dropped them off the night before. The next day while cleaning and preparing, I only had the energy to make lemon cookies. If my mom wouldn't have helped me out, we would've only had one option.

The spread. It looks small on my table, I only put out 1/2 of what was made.

The water looked awesome at first, but then kind of gross. I froze strawberries and blueberries into ice cubes. But once they started to melt, it didn't look as cute- but it tasted great!

It was fun to start out with Amber sharing their adoption story. There were a lot of tears coming from the ward members who were hearing it for the first time. 

Then we took turns in small groups to get treats in the kitchen... haha. Seriously, next time I host, I'll need to find somewhere else to do it. I also felt like it was 1000 degrees, but I'm hoping it was only me that felt that way. 

And last but not least Amber opened up her gifts. Baby girl stuff is so cute and I was so excited for little Olivia and all of her stuff! 

(Here is a better picture of the banner, and you can see 1/4 tissue pom poms that I made.)

I love when showers are just like a girls night. We all sat around and talked and enjoyed one another's company. What a fun group! 

Miracle Baby

When I got a text from my friend Amber the other night that she might be getting a baby through adoption the next day, I started to cry. You might remember Amber from previous crafting posts. Last fall we started getting together to craft during our spare time. Both of us were having issues with fertility and to help with our sadness and maybe a little anger, we would craft and vent together. Back in May their adoption profile through LDS family services went live. I know that with adoption it can take quite a while to get a baby. So when I found out, I was quite shocked!

Amber and her husband had had their profile up for 2 months when they were contacted by a birth mom who had had her baby earlier in the week. They picked their baby girl up less than 24 hours later. I seriously was on pins and needles until she text me letting me know that they had her, and that she wanted me to come meet her. I was finishing up some onesies and a blanket that I had put together in the last few hours. 

I met them at Amber's parents house where I first met little Olivia. What a little miracle she is and what a blessing, I am so happy for Amber and Jordan! I seriously cry when I think about their story and how they started their family.  From this post, you can see that we made baby girl dresses and matching shoes. Who would've thought that we would both have miracle baby girls to wear them only 1 year later. 

Strollin around the living room

The other week I came home from school to find that our carseat and stroller had arrived. (I love being able to order things online... so nice!) The 2nd surprise was that Bob had put the stroller together and had the carseat attached. He was pushing the stroller around our living room. He was so cute! It was fun to see his excitement for our baby on the way.

He told me that I needed to take it out for a test drive, and I pushed it around our apartment. (Granted, that only took about 40 seconds.) Later while watching TV, he pulled the stroller over by the recliner so he could use the cup holder while he was sitting in his chair. As of right now it is sitting in our nursery, and sometimes I push it around too.

We are getting pretty excited. The plan is to use the basic stroller frame until spring, and then hopefully get a BOB jogging stroller.