Remembering my sweet mom today... and a surprise!

Today and April 1st are hard days for me....today is my mom's bday.  She passed away in 2007.  She had a rare cancer called Bile duct cancer and passed away 6 months from the day of diagnosis.  She was my best friend in the world and miss her everyday.  She was a teacher and amazing mother and one of my biggest goals is to honor her and pass on her legacy.  I wanted to share with my new bloggy friends her memory and picture...She was soo beautiful.  She loved to sing and I know she is whole again and singing with Jesus.  Thanks for letting me share guys. xoxo

*UPDATE** What a coincidence!!  I just got notification that I've been chosen to be Education World's Teacher of the Day... on my mom's bday!  :o) That is too cool.  See link here:

http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/teacher-of-the-day/vicky-moore.shtml

Facebook Fan Page

Hi all --- I just started my facebook fan page for this blog.  Click on the fb icon and come be a fan....I'm feeling the love and support from everyone, thank you!! :o)

Award ~ sharing the blogging love and Western Day -- YeeHaw!!!

An Award...

Thank you Adrianne over http://cogworks.blogspot.com//    for giving me the Liebster Blog award -- given to new bloggers with under 200 followers!

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Here's what you need to do:  Thank the person that awarded you the award in your post, choose 5 other friends to nominate and comment on their blog so they know, copy and paste the award to your blog and hopefully your followers will see your 5 and start following them as well...As part of receiving this award  I am honored to nominate 5 other blogs that I enjoy reading...I here by nominate:

1.  http://carriedawaykindergarten.blogspot.com/

2.  http://chickadeejubilee.blogspot.com/

3. http://2ndinline.blogspot.com/

4. http://ayearofmanyfirsts.blogspot.com/

5.  http://www.akindergardeninbloom.blogspot.com/

Now it's your turn to nominate some other fortunate blog authors. Just make a post similar to mine and tag five authors with the award.  Make sure to come visit my page to copy and paste this and pick 5 others. :o) Great job on gaining followers and already creating freebies and TPT - nice!

I love that we all are passionate about our professions and care enough to share with others, thank you all for inspiring me to be a better teacher everyday.

On a different note Friday was Western Day at my school ~~  here I am with my sweet son!

Thing 1 and Thing 2 are ready for U!

So this cute idea came to me and this being the first year I tried it I'm sure there are kinks in it. I am creative but no artist so I'm sure someone out there in the bloggy world can spruce this idea up a bit. Anyway this is what we did today --- they loved it!

Here are some of them - also the bright blue yarn I used...

Here is the board - the ones that didn't fit will go onto the windows.  A mom helper put them on the board for me.

They also wrote about their favorite book which I got from

http://frompond.blogspot.com/

What do you think?

I'm going to try and attach the template pattern I made for their heads...

Click Here

*** I HIT 100 followers***

I KNOW, I KNOW - I have learned enough blog etiquette to realize that 2 posts in ONE day is a big NO NO but....I hit 100 today and I want to say a big THANK YOU. I love how in just one week I have felt so supported by other teachers and friends out there in the bloggy world. AMaZing!! So in honor of that -- I have a little challenge...The first person to comment AND answer the following questions correctly will win a pinterest inspired prize from me in the MAIL. It will be handmade with LOVE.
1. What is my daughter's name
2. What is the name of my website -- not my blog
3. How long have I been teaching ( easy one )
4. Follow me here and ON pinterest if you haven't yet
Okay -- let's see who's up for the fun...

PS This is what I'll be making for you :o)

Making your children feel special...

I think it's so important as a mom to make your children feel special and help build their self esteem. My mom was always very good at that, and I'm thankful. This is something I did for my daughter when she made the volleyball team at her middle school. My mom did the same thing for me as a kid and I still have the long poster(s). She was so surprised when she walked into her room and it was something she will always remember. Also make a family fun can -- have your children brainstorm things they can do --- they can be free or cost money. ( I like the free ideas :o) ) For instance today we are walking around the lake in our city with our dog. It's a beautiful day and it will get us out of the house spending time together on our day off. Enjoy the time you have with your kiddos, trust me they grow up WAY too fast! xoxo

My first freebie

Click here

I hope this works, it's my first time trying this. I'm working on more fun things so make sure to come back often. Hope you all have tomorrow off too. My hubby teaches high school in a different district and has all of next week off...isn't that kinda random?!? Well enjoy if you have tomorrow off :o)

Fancy Schmancy Behavior Tip

So...we all love what we do and are very blessed to be in this profession -- however...sometimes we need to add some tricks into our teacher bag ( even after 18 years of teaching ).  I have moved my desks around more this year than I have in probably 10 years of teaching...nothing seems to be working.  CHATTY bunch that just seems young and needs lots of reminders.  So what else can I do?!?  Well one night around 3 am LOL like most of us an idea came into my head and I knew I had to try it.  I call it the FANCY desk.  It has streamers and all new supplies ( markers, colored pencils, new erasers, a comfy pillow to sit on, etc. )  I introduced it and the first day they were so excited -- It worked GREAT!!!  They continue to be excited with it and it's been about 3 weeks in now.  I just want to update the poster on it with my new cricut and it will be all set.  Until then I had to share a photo.  I try to pick a child every hour during the day.  They all want to sit there so they are motivated throughout the day which is key.  They get to sit there, be comfy and use all the new supplies.  Then I tell them I'm keeping my eye on them to see who will sit there next...so far so good.  Tell me what you think...what are some other ideas that come to you in the middle of the night. :o)

President's Day handprint and writing

How cute are these?!?  My partner teacher in first made these the other day.  She thought they looked like little amish men -- LOL  but everyone fell in love with them.  She added the top hat writitng and not only does she have a cute display but another great page for her kids memory book at the end of the year.  Hope you can use it....have a great day everyone!! :o)

Hearts Galore!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!  So I started off this day like I have every year since my kids were toddlers I think.  Heart shaped pancakes with fresh fruit, whip cream and milk.  Then the Heart Hunt ~~  My kids love this and I have been doing it forever and they are in 6th and 4th grade now.  I write I <3 Mandy and I <3 Josh on about 7 hearts and hide them in the dining room mainly.  They look for them, collect them and then get their Valentine present when they have collected all of them.  This year I added an idea from Pinterest that I felt was right up my alley.  They call it Heart Attack.  So I used the same hearts I use every year and then wrote why we loved them all over the hearts and taped them to their doors while they were sleeping.  What a way to make your child(ren) feel special.  Love It!!!  They enjoyed their morning for sure!!  Here are some pictures of our special day....hope yours was great too. :o)

Here is Josh's door

Mandy's door

Yummy heart shaped pancake breakfast

Josh found his first heart in the wreath

One on a topiary -- kinda obvious but that's okay

In a flameless hurricane candle

He's got a few...

Josh notices the one up high...

remote control helicopter :o)

tilly's stuff :o)

After a fun day at school and our busy morning...another great tradition of 12 years at least...heart shaped pizza from a local pizzeria here in town....how cute are they?

Hope your Valentine's Day was as great as ours. <3

I'd like to order 2 McMoore Happy Meals...

So we were planning on bringing a meal to a friend who had unexpected surgery tonight and I luckily found an adorable idea on pinterest I just had to use and change up a bit.  Young kids usually don't like the adult meals we bring so they both got cute McMoore happy meals with carrots, mandararin oranges, drink and straw, mac n cheese and a toy of course.  I added their names to the top with my cricut and there you go.  The kids LOVED it!!  I was so happy when I saw the look on their faces.  I will use this idea everytime now...don't you just LOVE pinterest?!?

I tied this cute little sign with twine around it, the kids got a kick out of it.

Here's a picture of the goodies inside.

Couldn't resist adding the cute straw :o)

I can't be the only one...

So on Wednesday after work I take my daughter to an orthodontist appointment,  go to dog training with her for our crazy pug...okay kinda crazy pug. :o)  Then when we got home around 9pm turned on the oven to bake the double batch of brownies for her middle school teacher luncheon.  I lay down on the couch to watch tv  okay sleep and 50 minutes later heard the beeping of the timer.  Got up ( exhausted ) and notice the BROWNIES still on top of the oven.  I NEVER put them in the oven!  So I put them in...fell asleep on the couch again only to hear the timer closer to 11pm this time.  Ugh! I'm sure I'm not the only mom to have pulled that one off... LOL