Sunday Smorgasbord

Happy Sunday y'all. Sunday is now even better because thanks to Michelle at Fabulous at First I can be totally random and just talk about whatever I want. :) Summer is coming to an end and well my mind is already in "teacher mode" so I have to do something fun to let you guys see what I've been up to besides sneaking off at night to Walmart. :) (I'll talk about this in a bit) 

{one}

YAY BABY GRAY!!!  (all of 5 weeks old) How can I not be loving on this sweetness. I'm way obsessed (lame I know) with the finished pics that my friend Kim from Modern Bebe Designs and Photography did for us. This is Coach's (hubs) surprise for his desk. :) He has no idea yet, but it's being blown up into a bigger size for his at home office. :) swoon....I'm in love. (Sorry facebook...I've blasted you with pics of my sweet babies all week long) 

{two}

WHAT'S THAT SMELL? [If you're Ladybug and smell bar-b-que you yell out "Oh someone is making saw-sage!"  yes with the "w" and all :) ]So I'll admit it- I just got my first official bar-b-que pit. Yes....I live in Texas and just got one. (Thanks to my father in law being totally cute and getting us one because I was talking about it)

Now I will tell you that I grew up in a house with one of the best bar-b-quers EVA! Mariana...my momma. <Gasp...I know not my dad, but my momma is the best> So it's only natural that I be amazing as well....well not yet, but I'm working on it. I'm all about a bar-b-que right now so come on over and I'll serve you up some good treats. :) 

{three}

FOOTBALL TIME!!! Thank you Hey-sus it's training camp time and my TV is filled with the sounds of Sportscenter and talk of camp and football. The less I hear about baseball and A-roid the better. This girl is in football heaven and can not wait till season opener. Yes...I have a countdown for each team. 

-34 days until UT Football

-40 days until Pats football

-33 days until my hubs HS team has their first official game.

My days will be filled with Fridays in purple (Coach's team), Saturdays in burnt orange (Hook 'em) and Sundays in Red/Navy (P...A...T....S...PATS! PATS! PATS!) 

{four}

DEFINITELY MAYBE

I love this movie and if I could watch it over and over I would...if I could get Ladybug to zip it. :) I mean that with love...this is Momma's late night, can't go to sleep movie. 

{five}

{Please excuse the lack of make-up and look- I was rocking on 4 hours of sleep....thanks for that Baby Gray and 6 week growth spurt :) }Oh Walmart....you and I have been best friends for the past two nights. I've been in teacher mode for the past week and all I can think about is what I need to buy and all of the amazing deals I want to find. Y'all- I am obsessed right now with finding cute little plastic chairs on sale...unfortunately for me, Walmart here have not put them on sale. :( Walmart is hitting my bank account hard this week. Poor Hubs, but it allows this momma of two a chance to get out and take a break while getting her teacher on. :) Holla!  

Head on over to Fabulous in First and see what other teachers are talking about on Sunday! :) 

What I'm loving Wednesday (Linky)

Happy Hump Day y'all! :) I thought I would do something fun and link up again with another wonderful teacher Jessica with Covered in Glitter and Glue. She's making Wednesdays fun with

Here goes nothing:

1.I was that little girl begging her grandma to give her coffee....just to try it. :) Well guess who else caught on and begs here Nanas for some? You got it Ladybug herself.  I love that for some crazy reason (Call me a bad mom) my ladybug is a fan of coffee. Unfortunately for momma, she likes Starbucks coffee only. :) Her words not mine, but I'm not sure where she has tried more than Starbucks she sneaks from Nanas. Sadly, this girl right here is not a coffee drinker so we will see if Ladybug continues to be as well. 

2. I know I'm way late on this commercial, but I love it. Just having a 1 month old (Wow- can't believe he's a month already) and having a hubs who loves sports this commercial hits home. My hubs swears that since Cammy has been born she's been like a good luck charm for Spain Soccer. :) If only Grayson could be the lucky charm for our Pats winning....so far not so much. (One former player in jail and the rest have left- except for my Brady....oh and the great TEBOW!)

3. Don't judge y'all, but this Suave dry shampoo is the best thing in the world...EVA! Don't get me wrong I wash my hair all the time, but as a now mother of 2 there are days where I'm lucky if I get to shower by noon! Shameful, but true! So this dry shampoo has come in handy on days where I need to run out and grab something real quick. I swear you would have no idea I had second day hair with how it works. Definitely something you need to try for those long nights you stay up late on a school night....you know...grading papers! :) 

Link up and let us know what you  are loving on Wednesday! 

10 Things I've learned from Teaching (Linky Party)

Hey Y'all!

When I first started I had no idea of all of the things I thought I knew, but didn't. Even after 6 years I feel like I'm learning something every year. For new teachers it can be overwhelming- I've always been the type to help where I can so I found Miss Kindergarten's super cute Linky Party "10 things I've learned from Teaching" and I had to participate. :) So here goes nothing y'all!

Ten things I've learned from Teaching

1.Be Prepared!  Even after years of teaching and knowing what I am doing, if I walk in unprepared- my kids have some spidey sense and know their teacher is unprepared. It usually leads to them acting a little cray. :/ 

2. No matter how many times I tell my kinder babies my name "Mrs. Martinez" there is always going to be a few that call me "Mrs." or "Teacher". Forget the fact that well....it's been almost an entire school year and I've reminded them oh....a BILLION times! :) You just get used to it.

3. Do not do something because everyone else is. Do what you feel best doing and know is going to work for your class. I struggled with this for writing. I'll be honest and say that our district curriculum....well...it's not the best. I tried it how the district wanted but I wasn't seeing progress in the way I thought I could. So I changed it up and did it in the way that worked best for my babes. And I tell you what, I saw amazing progress. 

4. A kid will do whatever they can to avoid work. I'll tell you a certain friend used to sharpen his pencil like it was going out of style. Another friend had a close relationship with the restroom. He always found a reason to visit the restroom when it was time to work. Silly kids! Gotta love them. Thankfully, I caught on and always had a extra pencil  or two or four for my sharpening loving friend. 

5. You wanna know the truth? Ask a 5 year old. I can not tell you how many times I heard "Mrs. Martinez, you're baby is huge!!" (Thankfully- I was pregnant during this comment) They don't miss a beat, but they sure forget to be quiet or what directions you just gave them. Mess up once and they remember that FOR....EVER! 

6. Count, Count, Count and Count some more. I'll tell you the truth- I left a friend in the bathroom once. Not realizing that they had gone without my permission. Count those kids like it's going out of style because one always finds a way to stay somewhere to follow another class down the hall. I cross my heart and promise the kid was okay, but it reminded me to not assume they were all there. 

7. SING! Sing your heart out. My best bet was making up a song to get them to follow directions. It's crazy how they remember when I mess up, but they never said anything about when I made up a song and the tune changed or was different from the last time. Once I started singing they didn't care, they were just happy to sing along. 

8. Mommies and Daddies don't care about you lingo and all you know until they can see how much you care about their babies. Show them you care about their little ones and parents will support you and listen to "most of" what you have to say. 

9. Make friends with the custodians and office ladies- those peeps will be your best friends when you need something. Coming from a mom who was a teacher, I learned quick if you take care of them- they take care of you. I bring them treats and tacos or always stop in to check on them. Gotta love those people because they work hard and mean well. 

10.No matter how many times you try to explain to people that teaching isn't as easy as they think, unless they step in the class they will never understand what we do. The only thing that matters is that my kiddos know I am doing what I love and I will do anything to be the best teacher for each of them. It takes heart regardless if the rest of the world understands. 

Head on over and join up I'd love to hear what you have learned. :) 

Need a Pen pal?

I don't know about y'all, but I love to write. I know you can't tell by my lack of blogging, but it's true. I was that girl writing endless notes in high school to random friends and sitting there writing my name over and over again in different ways. Lame! I know, but I consider it creating fonts before it was cool. :)

Enough about my love for writing and lame high school habit- Kelley at Teacher Idea Factory had created a place for you to go to find a Pen Pal to pair up with for your class. I'll admit it- I've never done this before, but you can sure bet this girl is way excited about it. I can't guarantee that our Pen Pals will be able to read what my Kinder friends send at first, but it sounds like it will be amazing fun.

So head on over to Kelley's blog and pair up for a Pen Pal- what a great way to promote writing and a love for writing. :)

Click on the link above or the pic below.

Ready, Set.....Blue thirty-two?

Hey Y'all!

Hope you are enjoying your Summer....I don't even want to think about how many weeks....errr days we have left? I honestly might cry if I think about it. But one thing I don't mind counting down is how many days until football season!!! Holla!!! There are 48 by the way. :)

Don't get me wrong- I'm getting things done for school, but in this house right now we are focused on football season thanks to our Coach (the hubs) and his football summer training.There are big things happening over here y'all- at least they are big to us. The hubs was offered a coaching job in a district by where we live and will be coaching Varsity football as an assistant.

Meanwhile, this girl is hanging out with the 4 year old and now 1 month old everyday on her own (I know lots of people do that daily) . Mommas of 2 or more kiddos- I commend you. Two kids is an adjustment y'all. I'll be honest....I've had my moments of "what the heck is going on here?" So it got me thinking-I can't be the only one going through this and I'm surely not the only Coach's wife who might be struggling with this new life.

 I decided to get myself motivated about blogging again and want to have a place to document the craziness I am about to go through this year with the hubs- so I have started a blog about being a teacher and a coach's wife. Don't worry I'll get better about blogging here and posting freebies for you all, but I'll also have that blog to add a few fun teacher things and entertain you with the fun that is having a coach for a hubs. I mean imagine....teacher with a crazy 4 year old and 1 month old getting ready for the school year and now on her own until December thanks to the game she loves...football. You all know there has to be some funny and somewhat sarcastic times and stories coming from that.

So pop on over to the new blog and follow me: The Teacher and The Coach

The Stars and Stripes are big and bright....{clap, clap, clap clap}

Hey everybody!!!!

I'm so nerdy excited ya'll about this link up with Diane from Fifth in the Middle! (I'm totally late on this, but what the heck!)  She had this amazing idea to get bloggers to connect with other bloggers from their state. :) Being from the friendly state of Texas I'm all about making new friends so pop on over to her site and find some new friends "bloggers" from your state!

Missing in Action....

Yes....for a whole year almost- I have been missing in action. I'll be honest- I could make a ton of excuses as to why I stopped blogging, but that list would take forever. Let's just say I was overwhelmed by life and sad to say blogging was the last thing on my list of things to do. So much has happened in the last year since I last blogged so instead of go into detail of each and everything, I'm going to make a quick list of some of them:

1. I moved into our new house that was being built over last summer and can I just say it's awesome and so worth the wait. :)

My amazing kitchen almost done before we moved in. It looks so much better now with decorations. :) 

2. I moved from 4th grade to my dream of teaching Kindergarten again- I have to say that I loved my little class oh so much and could not have asked for a better group of kids. I'm going to miss them so much next year. I know I need to change the header on my blog. :)

3. My babygirl started going to school at my school- she's not in Kindergarten yet (she's got one more year {I'll be a hot mess when she does go to Kinder} ) It was quite the adventure having her there with me. There were smiles, tears (lots of them at first- not from Mommy, but from ladybug) and lots of laughs having her there.

Ladybug and I on "Career Day" She was a little teacher with a teacher badge and all. Loved it! 

4. Remember that blog I did on being a "fat girl" and wanting to lose weight? Well I did!!! 45 lbs to be exact and I could not have been prouder. I almost made it to my goal of seeing the 130's again which let's be honest this girl has not seen in....oh a good 10+ years.

Rocking in the 140's but totally a happy girl. 

5. So I lost most of the weight....almost made my goal and then this happened....

You see that right there folks...that's me Preggers!! :) I just was blessed to find out that I was expecting in October and my sweet baby boy was born June 20th (just shy of 2 weeks ago). I can not explain to you how much my heart smiles looking at him and his sister together. 

6. In the middle of all this excitement, was the stress of helping my hubs get through his last year of college (yes he went back and I couldn't be prouder) He went back to get his degree in Kinesiology and teaching. His ultimate goal was to be a high school coach which in Texas is hard to do right out of school, but leave it to my determined and hard working hubs- he was offered a job as a Varsity football assistant coach and Varsity Soccer Assistant coach. 

It doesn't stop there ya'll- he also interviewed for a elementary PE coaching job in the same district and both schools liked him so much that they both wanted him. Unfortunately, the high school did not have a PE spot available and wanted him to take a Science test to teach Science. The poor boy had only taken his PE test and the Social Studies 8-12 test. :( 

He stressed over making a choice because he loved both, but believe it or not- they offered him an opportunity to coach PE at the elementary during the day and coach at the high school in the afternoon with the option to move to the high school full time in the next year . That crazy boy accepted the jobs and now we are in the middle of getting him ready for next year. Anyone that knows me knows I'm a sports fanatic, but more than anything growing up a cheerleader all my life with a Dad that coached for a while- I love my football!! So coach's wife doesn't sound too bad to me! :) 

It's very crazy to me- the girl who always wanted to be a teacher, to have my hubs become an educator as well. He always seemed like a lawyer or business man from the day we met. He's still surprising me after all of these years and I'm so proud of him. So it looks like we will inherit an incredible football team of boys as our family this year and I can not wait. 

As you can see its' been a year full of craziness, new adventures, and definite blessings. I wouldn't say these are excuses- they are anything but excuses,but they are some of the things that drew my attention away from blogging. Don't worry friends, I have tons of new things to share for Kinder and a lot of new things to talk about. 

Enough of my craziness! What have ya'll been up to this year? I'd love to hear about it- leave me a comment! 

I better run to bed before the newborn gets up!!! Night ya'll! 

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