Bows, Bows, Bows

Two posts in one night...gotta be a record for this girl but I just couldn't wait to post this cutie little project. Once again, I'm thrilled that I have friends who are having little girls so I can make fun things for them!

My friend who is expecting in September recently had a baby shower and received over 30 bows!!! That's gonna be one cute little head. :) Anyway, she definitely needed a place to store all of those bows so I got to work.

Here's the bow holder. Sorry the picture's not a little brighter. This was super simple. I bought the plaque and letters at Hobby Lobby and painted them to match sweet Ryleigh's room. Then attached the green ribbon and added some little bows at the bottom so the ends looked finished and so the bows don't slide off.

 

I also got to practice my bow making skills with the leftover ribbon from my signs. I'm still working on the technique for those so they're not perfect. But they'll still be cute on those sweet little girls. Can't wait to meet them!

Kids Say the Darndest Things-Take One

As I was heading back from dropping my kids off at lunch today two first graders were walking by and their conversation went something like this....

Little Girl: What school did you go to last year?

Little Boy: Nowhere. But last night I had Chinese.

Little Girl: Ewwwwww.

Then a substitute teacher who is petite walked by and the Little Boy said to her:
Why are you so little?

I just about died. That little guy was TOO funny! So thankful for these moments that put a smile on my face and help me appreciate my job. Anyone else have any good stories lately?

Hand Painted Name Signs

I've been working on a lot of these signs lately. And I'm loving it! Last spring I wanted to make something fun for my student teacher and just came up with this cute way to display her name...and this was even more fun because it's her soon to be married name. It was her first thing with her new name! Well, once I made her one I decided I definitely needed one for myself. And since then, I've been making them for other teachers at school. I love getting to use all the fun ribbon out there. Plus I can use the extra to make hair bows for my friends' baby girls on the way (post coming soon about that)!  :D

A little more masculine version.

I work with 2 males in my grade and so I made them signs too so they wouldn't have to worry about decorating their doors. And we all have fun matching doors!

This one is for my awesome guidance counselor roommate!

This is for a friend who is expecting a sweet baby girl in late September. It matches her nursery and hangs on her door as you go in.

Finally, I couldn't leave out my CATS!! Can't wait to cheer them on!!

I really don't care about politics but....

....it's not everyday you get to meet a president!

My mom and I were given the opportunity to go to a fund raising event for the Lexington Hearing and Speech center held at the RJ Corman complex in Nicholasville Friday night. The president spoke on the importance of an organization like LHSC because it is a private program serving the public.

Me and Mom

As a teacher what he said really resonanted with me. His 'line' for the night was something along the lines of--People all over the world are born with intelligence, ability and dreams but not everyone is given the empowerment and opportunities they need to fulfill all of those things. All of my students have strengths and gifts and it's up to me to help them and give them the opportuntities and empowerment to move them further in their lives. Great way to end the first week of school!!

Back to School

So today was the official first day back to school. The kids don't come until Wednesday but we had faculty meetings and such today. Let me just say, I am EXHAUSTED! Wow! I haven't set an alarm for before 8:00 all summer...this morning it was 5:30 and it definitely came early! Especially since I went to bed at my usual summer time. This night owl does not like going to bed early or getting up. Hopefully tonight I'll be able to go to bed early. I'm doing anything I can right now to not take a nap! :)

I'm looking forward to the kids coming on Wednesday and meeting my new little kiddos. We had open house last week but it's such a whirlwind with all the kids and parents at the same time. It'll be nice to just have the kids and start to get to know them. Our superintdent today spoke about the importance of relationships since without them we can't really accomplish anything else. One of my goals for this year is to do a better job building relationships with students and helping them to be excited about coming to school each day.

At open house I had one of those, "this is why I became a teacher" moments. I had a student last year who was pretty tough to build a relationship with and I never knew if he was having a good year or if I was making any kind of impact. But, at open house he stopped by my room just to say hi. I know that's not really a big deal but for him it's not easy to do that and it just made me feel like he must have had a decent year and enjoyed 4th grade. It's the little things that make the difference in this profession.

Since school is starting soon hopefully I'll have some funny and wonderful stories to share for the "teach" part of my blog.

And I've been working on lots of painted signs for some classroom and baby room doors. I'll try to have those pictures up this week.

Here's to the first week of school. Hopefully I'll survive!