Fall Inspirations..

Okay....so I got my Fall Pottery Barn catalog this week and let me just say I'm super excited about decorating my house. I love Pottery Barn and every year they come out with something better than the year before. Last year, I tried to tackle one of their ideas and it didn't work out so well. However, this year will be a different story. I was reading my good friend's blog and she had posted some of the same things I had seen. Great minds think alike! So here are a few of my inspirations that I hope to make my own!

I love this!! I don't have big lanterns so I may not be able to do that. I love the wreath and the pumpkins. I have urns by my front door that I will put wicker lit pumpkins in and hopefully get some real pumpkins to go with it. One of my favs!

Pre-lit pumpkins! I love these! I actually bought some last year from Hobby Lobby that look very similar but were much cheaper. I have 2 large ones and 2 small ones. They will look great by my front door.

Lanterns..a must! I have 2 lanterns but they are not very big. I am hoping to use them on my dining table and fill them with acorns, small pumpkins, and a small ivory candle. I am super excited about my table! I can't wait to start decorating! Moving on...another big event that is getting ready to kickoff is HOG FOOTBALL. The Hogs first game is next Saturday. We will not be there but will be supporting our Hogs from afar. I love getting all decked out in red and having people over for the game. I recently bought this shirt and I am so pumped about wearing it. 

Isn't it great??? So feminine and cute! Can't wait to put this on! I have also decorated our kitchen with Razorback dishes and platters. They have been in our office but I decided to put them out so others can actually see them. 

Ready to call those HOGS!!! 

What I miss..

Well..school has officially started and even though I was dreading it so bad its nice to get back into a routine. I have a good group of 3rd graders and I think it will be a good year. However, there are still some things that I miss about summer...

1. Being able to sleep in and not shower until noon....now I get up at 5:45

2. Staying up late....I'm usually in bed by 10

3. Laying out all afternoon....in my classroom

4. Eating OUT for lunch....eating Lean Cuisines

5. Going shopping in the middle of the day just because I can!....teaching

6. Not putting on makeup....I wear makeup everyday to school

7. Wearing a hat...I have to fix my hair

8. Eating a good breakfast....get something as I'm walking out the door such as a granola bar

9. Not dressing up....I usually wear skirts, dresses, or dress pants

10. Spending my day doing whatever I want....Now I spend my time keeping my kids in line and grading papers

I do miss summer a lot!!! I mean A LOT!! My kiddos do make my job fun and exciting, which makes me want to go to work everyday. They always have a story to tell me about what they did over the weekend. They truly are excited about being at school and learning.

Back to School

I can't believe summer is already over :( I start back to school tomorrow with teacher in-service. The students come back on August 19th. I am so not ready to get back to school but it will be nice to get back into a routine. I have been working in my classroom for the past couple of weeks. I didn't change very many things from last year. I don't have a particular theme but my room is decorated with bright colors and polka dots. My classroom library is jungle themed. I did get new curtains this year..I love them! They are so bright and colorful. I love anything personalized and my sign and chair are probably my favorite items in my room.

Director's chair

My neighbor Whitney painted this canvas for me last year! I love it! Here are some more pictures of my classroom.

The rug I painted for my door

My curtains that my wonderful Grandma made. They have circles and diamonds on them. The colors are pink, orange, red, green, blue, purple, and yellow.

Bright and colorful welcome sign

Calendar

My behavior chart...the students pull a slip for misbehaving, not returning homework, or not being prepared.

This is where the students turn in their work

Posters about the different types of writing

My classroom library

My desk

This is where I put up good work

I post posters of what we are learning about on this bulletin board.

I have no idea why these pictures are so small. Sorry! I can't believe next week I will be starting school. Even though I'm not ready...I am excited to meet my new 3rd graders!

Busy Bee

I have been working on a canvas for a co-worker at school. She will be teaching Kindergarten this year and her room is decorated with bees. So..I told her that I couldn't make a bee but we could use the same colors. So I painted the canvas yellow, added black polka dots, and Whitney thought we needed some white polka dots. I am very excited with the way it turned out. I hope she likes it!!

I have also been working on my classroom! My grandma is making me new curtains for my class and I can't wait to see them and hang them up. I will post pics of my classroom soon. We start school tomorrow and I'm so sad :( I can't believe summer is already over! 

Long week

This past week was super long for me. Andy left for Haiti on July 31 and returned this past Saturday. I had to keep busy or I would have gone in sane. I worked in my classroom, had a workshop, swam, and my mom took off on Thursday and Friday to hang out with me. Needless to say, my week was pretty busy which was good. I was so glad to see my hubby and couldn't wait to hear all about his trip. He got in at midnight on Saturday and we stayed up until almost 2 talking about the trip and looking at his pictures. I couldn't believe some of the stories he had told me. He had an amazing time and God worked through him in so many ways. One of my favorite stories was about the family that they had built the house for. This family lived up on a mountain in Port au Prince and their house was damaged in the earthquake. The wife had a vision that white missionaries would come and build her family a house. She had prayed for months that a house would be built for her. Andy's team was the answer to her prayers. Andy's team and some other guys from Texas and Virginia helped build this house. It is a 9 X14 house with 2 windows and a door. It is made of 2X4's, plywood, and metal. It took them only 3 days to build the house. Here are some pictures of the house being built.

The foundation

Making progress

The finished house..the family was so grateful and excited.

The goal for Andy's group was to build this house. Since they finished it somewhat earlier than expected they also went and helped out in an orphanage. The orphanage that they visited was one of the nicer ones and most of the kids were clothed and healthy. He took some cute pictures of the kids and they loved getting their picture taken. He said they would want you to take it and then they wanted to look at the screen to see themselves..so cute! Andy had a great time on the trip..he really saw God work through him and his team to help the Haitians. He would love to go back sometime and I might go next time :) I'll leave you with some more pictures from the trip.

View from the house that they stayed in

Tent city that they worked in

Andy and Jacques

Ben

Rubber boats boy..Andy said he wore yellow rubber boats everyday

The whole group...Stacy, Randall, Ben, Andy, Sontina, Betsy, and Liz