Field Trip

On Tuesday all of the 3rd graders went on a field trip to War Eagle Caverns. It was our first time to go and I think we will go back! The kids loved it and so did I. It was a full day packed with different activities. We got to go in a cave and see bats, it was awesome! The kids had their flashlights and cameras, they were so into it! I loved seeing them get excited! We also got to pan for gems. Each student had a bag with sand, rocks, and gems in it. They put their sand in water and shook it until all they had left were gems and rocks. The best part about the gem panning was the students got to pick out and keep whatever they found. They loved that! They were so excited and were telling me what gem or rock they had! I was so proud to see that they remembered the difference between rocks and minerals, I taught that back in November. After gem panning they got to go to the gift shop. I had the students write about their favorite part of the field trip and so many of them wrote about the gift shop! I thought the bats would have been at the top of their list. We then had lunch at the picnic tables and went on a treasure hunt in the woods. We were to follow the wooden signs with black bats painted on them, to find the treasure. Each sign had information about the area we were at in the woods. The students got to balance on a log, dig for fossils, and look at animal tracks. The treasure at the end of the trail was a wooden coin that entitled them to a free tour! After the treasure hunt, we headed back to school. The kids were so exhausted that some of them fell asleep on the ride back. It was a great day for the students.

Entrance to the Cavern

View of Beaver Lake

Getting ready to go into the cavern

The ceiling in the cavern

The first bat we saw of the day, it was asleep. So cute! The students were so excited about the bats, they were taking pictures and shining their flashlights on them. Most of the bats that we saw were brown female bats. They were all hanging upside down sleeping. Bats eat up to 3,000 mosquitos a night! Thank goodness we have bats for that!

This bat had one of her wings extended, we did see some flying and it was a little creepy. Our guide told us to not move and what do I do when I see one flying....duck down! At least I didn't scream.

This was a view from the top of the trail. We had a great day at War Eagle Caverns, can't wait to go back next year!

Clipboard Madness

This past weekend I was a modge podge queen! At the beginning of the school year someone donated hundreds of clipboards to our school. All of us teachers frantically went and grabbed 25 or more for our classroom. We weren't sure what we were going to do with them at the time, but now that has all changed. We always make a craft or gift for Mother's Day. This year we decided to buy scrapbook paper and modge podge the clipboards for our gift. Boy o Boy that was a crazy idea! I don't think we realized what we were getting ourselves into. It wasn't a project that you could whip out in an hour, I spent several hours throughout the weekend working on them. I worked on all 22 of them on Friday night (Andy was out of town so I figured it was a good time to get them done). I got them all done and then put the last layer of modge podge on Sunday. It was very tricky using the modge podge. I am a little of a perfectionist so the crinkles and bubbles drove me insane. I had to finally just stop worrying about it and just let it be. I modge podged the back of the clipboards and the front the students will get to decorate with pictures of themselves throughout the year. I am so excited about these clipboards and I know the moms are going to love love them! Here are a few of the designs..

The students picked out the paper for the clipboards, the initial is their mom's first name. I can't wait until they are all done!

Gentlemen Start Your Engines!!!

This past weekend Andy and I went to Dallas to watch a NASCAR race. We went with my parents and several other people. We left on Friday after school and drove to Dallas with my dad. On Saturday we went to this famous bike shop called Strokers. It had a lot of custom bikes as well as biker gear and a restaurant. It was pretty cool.

 This is my future helmet, I thought the red skull would be perfect for me!

We had a good time looking at bikes! Andy really wants a bike but I keep telling him to hold off on that for a few years! After Strokers we went to the infamous Sam Moons! What woman does not like Sam Moons? It is definitely a womans dream...purses, jewelry, etc all under one roof! Andy and my dad weren't too excited about it. They mostly sat outside and waited on the women! They are such good sports! We also went to a store called IKEA. It is awesome! It is a home decor store. You walk through all of these rooms that are set up with actual merchandise. They have kitchen, bedrooms, bathrooms, closets, kids rooms, etc.  You look at the set-ups then you can buy any of what you saw on the bottom level. I bought some place mats, green napkins, metal dividers for our cabinets, and a lid rack for our pots. It is very reasonable!! I wish we had one here! That night we went to dinner at Babe's Chicken. It was soo good, it reminds me of Monte Ne. You pick your meat and vegetables are served family style. Yum! Sunday morning was the day of the race. We got up really early to head to the track. It had been raining all night and morning but we still trucked out there. It was about an hour drive from our hotel. Once we got to the track we went to all the driver's trailers and looked at the merchandise. They also give out free stuff, there wasn't much good stuff this year but we did get a ton of Tums, suave shampoo, and Andy got enough dip to last him for a long time!! This is my mom's favorite part of the entire race...getting the free stuff. I took a picture of one of the driver's Clint Bowyer who was signing autographs at his trailer.

The race ended up getting postponed until Monday due to the weather. I was amazed at how many people were there, NASCAR is definitely a big deal. There were a ton of people there from all walks of life! It is one of the most diverse sporting events. I never thought I would like NASCAR but my dad use to race stock cars when I was younger and it really was fun to watch. NASCAR is different from dirt track but it is still fun! My favorite part about the whole race is when they say..."Gentlemen Start Your Engines". They have someone different announce that every race. It gets me really excited about the race! The race actually got postponed to Monday at 11:00 due to the rain. I wasn't too thrilled about that even though I had taken Monday off. I knew if we went we would be getting home really late. Andy really wanted to go so we stayed and went on Monday. My parents did not get to go to the race because my dad had to get back for work on Monday night. There were only 6 of us who stayed for the race on Monday. Even though we got home late I am glad we stayed. It was a great race and Andy really enjoyed it! Here are some pictures from the race.

This is Andy and I before the race started, it is so loud at the race that a lot of people wear headphones or ear plugs. We wore headphones because we had a scanner that we could use to listen to the broadcast or to the actual drivers during the race.

Fighter jets flying over the track as the national anthem is being sung by Charlie Pride.

With 12 laps to go there was a pretty intense crash right in front of us. Most of the drivers in this crash were leading or in the top 6 the entire race. It was sad to see them crash and not be able to finish the race. Some of the drivers that were in the crash were Carl Edwards, Tony Stewart, Joey Logano, Jeff Gordon, etc. The race ended shortly after the crash with Denny Hamlin winning! I had a great time and can't wait to go back!

Handy Andy is his name

I just love my husband, Andy. He has earned the nickname "Handy Andy" from some of my family members because he really is handy! He can make, build, and fix anything. Andy is the saver and I am the spender (who would have thought?) I am always wanting to change things around the house (I know your not surprised) and he doesn't really like that I change my mind a million times. My friend Lindsey had her dad build this wall hanging and I loved it! I found it in Pottery Barn and it was like $100.00, Andy was like I can make that for cheaper. My ears perked up and I was like okay let's go to Lowe's NOW. So off to Lowe's we went and we made the hanging for $50.00. It is awesome! I haven't hung it up yet because I'm waiting on a table that he is supposed to make me for my office.

It has 6 squares total, 2 are cork board, 2 are chalk board, and 2 are fabric. I love it! I can't wait to hang it up! Andy has also made several wood frames, we bought the wood he cut it down, put it together, and painted it. Here is one that he did..

Andy is always the person that our friends and neighbors call for help with hanging things, making shutters, mounting tvs, fixing lawn mowers, etc. He made our shutters for our house and our neighbors house. He put them together and I painted them.

Andy has also taken a lawn mower completely apart and put it back together and it WORKS!! I wish I would have taken some pictures of that. He really is handy! We are hoping to landscape outside our house this year, I will post pictures once we get started. We have a big weekend planned in Dallas. We are leaving tomorrow after I am out of school and will return on Monday. We are going to the NASCAR race! It should be a fun and exciting weekend. I'll have pictures to post on Monday! Have a great weekend!

Take me out to the ballgame

Last night we went to the Arkansas Naturals opening baseball game. My mom was able to reserve the Tyson Suite for us so that was nice! There were about 20 of us out to support the Naturals. The suite was nice since it was a little chilly last night, we also had food brought in. So good! The game was filled with exciting events such as skydivers, singing, games, and fireworks. I love baseball but I was more into talking than paying attention to the game. The Naturals won their opening game and fireworks went off in celebration.

Picture of the scoreboard

View of the baseball field from the suite

Skydiver

Lindsey and I before the game started

Some of the players for the Naturals

Andy and Grayson 

Mom and Dad

Lindsey and I with Strike 

Mom, Roberta, and Christine all bundled up

Fireworks after the game

We had a great night at the ballpark. I just love this time of year! We hope to go to more games this season!

Back to Work

This was my first week back to school after being on Spring Break. I was definitely not ready to go back because we have two weeks until testing begins (we teachers hate this time of year). It was great getting to see my kiddos and hearing about their spring break! This week was somewhat stressful, I am usually on top of things like grading, filing, planning, etc. This week I was behind on everything and I hate that feeling! We have one more week to prepare for the Benchmark exam and I am so ready for it to be here and be over. I know my kiddos are ready too! We did have some excitement at school this week. We are taking a field trip at the end of April to War Eagle Caverns and we needed to have a fundraiser to help raise money. The trip is going to be awesome but it is a little pricey. We decided to sell suckers Tues, Wed, and Thurs morning before school and it was a HUGE success!! We sold over 600 suckers!! We raised almost all of the money that we needed for our field trip! If you are a teacher and need to do a fundraiser I recommend this one! We bought the suckers from a company called Ozark Delight in Prairie Grove. They have a ton of flavors and the kids loved it!

This happens to be one of my favorite flavors.....Tutti Frutti