5 Years Ago Today

On this day 5 years ago, I met my husband in person at a bar called Linksters. We actually met on eHarmony. Crazy, right???
We don't have an actual dating anniversary and have always said, "we met and he never left". :) So, today we celebrate 5 years of being together. We've had our ups and downs, and I am so thankful that we are having more ups than downs. I wouldn't change our life together for anything.

Our first "holiday" picture as a couple

The picture from his eharmony profile

From our wedding

At Fantasy Fest

Welcome home Soldier!

 I love you hunny! I can't wait to see what the coming years hold in store for us. I believe we can make it through anything. Happy anniversary!!!!!!

Thursday Thoughts: Success

 I'm linking up with Wife of a Sailor again for Thursday Thoughts.

This weeks word is Success.

Success means so many different things to so many different people. To some people it means the job you have, how much money you make or how much money is in the bank. To me, success means how my life is. How I treat people, those around me and those I come into contact with. Success is how my children are raised and how they will grow up to be productive members of society. Success to me means how happy my husband and children are and that I am doing everything in my power to give those in my life the best possible life I can. Success to me means working as hard as I can to achieve those things in life. To not just wait for someone to hand me something, but to work, learn and strive to be a better person.

Just because that is my definition of success doesn't mean the other definitions are incorrect. Success needs to be different for each person. You have to find what motivates you, what YOU want out of life and to go for it. If money in the bank is what drives you, good for you. But work hard to get what you want. I cannot stand those who wait for things to drop in their lap then complain when things aren't how they imagined it.

Find what motivates you, make your own definition for what success is and strive for it. We can all reach our own levels of success, but it takes hard work and determination.


These are my measures of success:

What does success mean to you?

Mom Fail

It all started when I decided my car needed to be cleaned out this weekend. It was about time. Pretty girl decided to come outside and "help" me (basically she just played in the car, while I cleaned). It was all fine and dandy, I got the car seats out, the entire car vacuumed, I was then working on getting some of the spots and stains off the back seat......when Pretty Girl start yelling "mommy! Mommy! Look!!" I look up and see her cloth dolly has green sharpie marker all over it! I was like "pretty girl!!!! we don't draw on our dollies!" That's when I moved around to where she was and found this.....

Yup.....that is green sharpie marker all over her belly. Doesn't she look proud of herself?? I couldn't believe it! I leave that marker in my car in case I forget to put one of the kids names on something that has to go into preschool. I never thought she would find it, and start drawing on her dolly and her belly.
Oh geeze!
My mom reminded me that at least it wasn't the wallpaper (I guess I did that with a regular pen when I was a kid, like literally the day after the interior decorator put it on our walls. I of course do not remember this incident). Thankfully it is slowly starting to come off.
Let's hope she learned her lesson. :)

Need a little help on deciding.....

Good Sunday morning to you all! It's about 9:15am and BOTH of my kids are still asleep. I actually went to check on them to make sure they are ok, and they are. It's not like Pretty Girl to sleep this long. I have to decide if I should wake her, or just let her wake up on her own. I will probably enjoy this alone time and let her wake on her own.

Anywhoo

I need some help from you all.

First, I have been using the Notes app on my iPhone to keep lists and things I need to remember. However, now that Pretty Girl plays with my phone I have noticed she keeps deleting some of my notes. Does anyone have a good recommendation for a list app? Preferably one that doesn't cost a fortune, or if anything? Thanks in advance.

Also, I have been toying with the idea of starting a second blog. This one would focus around my classroom and what kinds of things I am doing in the classroom. We are creating interactive notebooks and I would like it to kind of focus on that journey. I have noticed most of the education blogs use their grade level in their names. I need help picking out a name. I teach 7th grade civics and cannot for the life of me come up with something that is cute/catchy. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Thank so very much!!!!!

I hope you all have a great Sunday!!!! We will be heading back over to my mom's as soon as they wake up. :)

Friday Letters

It's Friday again! Thank goodness! This has been a long week! Time for Friday Letters!

Dear School year: Please be nice to me. I'm ready for a good group of students. Let's hope this year goes by fairly quickly.

Dear Master's: I'm sad I won't be starting you this year. I'm thinking I might wait until the kids are older to tackle this. When the school board can't confirm they will recognize the program for my step increase in pay, then it's not worth getting more into debt to possibly not get the pay increase. I'm still pretty bummed.

Dear Booger and Pretty Girl: Can you two get any cuter???? Booger I can't believe you're in VPK and loving it and Pretty Girl, you get more of your personality and attitude every day! (the teenage years could be difficult for us) I love that you two are finally playing together and enjoying each other's company. I love spending time just watching you two.

My 4 year old, so silly!

She LOVED the balloons!!!!!

Dear Husband: Thank you so much for fixing the screen to the back porch. I was getting tired of having our animals run away. Thankfully each came back. Also, thank you for the amazing hug good-bye the other day. It was really special and made my heart melt. Who thought a simple thing like a great hug could make you melt and make any dark day bright?

Dear Workout routine: Well, I have kind of fallen off the wagon, which is what I thought would happen once I returned to work, but I am determined to get back at you on Monday (ok maybe Tuesday)! I have to!!!!

I'm off to spend the weekend with my mom seeing as M is at drill this weekend. I hope everyone has a great weekend!!!!

Thursday Thoughts: Learning

This week for Thursday Thoughts is on Learning.

I am a teacher and with that means a life time of learning. I am required to do so many hours of professional development to renew my certificate every 5 years. I am always going to professional development for the new Civics curriculum we have. I am always learning.

To me, learning is important. Whether you are doing it in a classroom, or just learning from life, you are always learning. You should learn from your past, you should learn from other's pasts. Learning from others is a great way to learn from a mistake without actually making the mistake. Learning is what helps us grow as individuals and become better human beings. Those who don't learn from their mistakes are doomed to repeat those mistakes.

I learn a lot from my husband. He knows so much about topics I know nothing about. He is great at explaining how things work so that I can understand them. I love learning from him.

Learning is important. I will be a lifelong learner and really enjoy doing it. I LOVE learning about technology and how to implement it into my classroom. I would love to get my masters in Technology integration, however our school board won't recognize that masters for the step in pay. So, at the moment I will have to focus on something else. (that is whenever I decide to go back to school)

Learning is everywhere and is so vitally important. Which is why I find it ironic that the government always cuts education, when in reality education is what got those politicians to where they are today. They didn't get the knowledge they know on their own. But that's another topic for another day.

Learning is so very important and I am so proud to be a part of that road to success many students take. I'm proud to impart my knowledge on the younger generations. I am proud to be a life long learner.

Teachers Pay Teachers, What a neat site!

I am so very excited! I have set up my site on Teachers pay Teachers! What do you ask is Teachers Pay Teachers? It is an online "store" where you can buy anything from plan books to worksheets to lessons for your classroom (many are even FREE). They even have resources for people who homeschool their children! I think it's such a neat site!!!! I have some things that are general as well as specific to Civics. If you want to link to my site, there is a link on the side bar under My Favorite Reads.

"Teachers Pay Teachers is the world's first and largest open marketplace for educators to buy, sell and share their original resources. TpT helps teachers to teach at their best and provides a community where teachers succeed."

Isn't that a great site??? You can find all kinds of resources. Even if you're just looking to get additional resources to help your student at home, or you are a teacher, this site has it all!!!!

I'm pretty excited about some of the new stuff I just posted to my site. I have been creating from scratch new stuff every year for my classroom. I share those resources with those I work with, but I would love to share it with other people as well. There is never a good reason to re-invent the wheel. :)

So, if you're a teacher or a parent, stop on by and check it out!

P.S. This site did not ask me to write a review on them. I am a member and have my own resources posted on their site. I just really wanted to share a great site with everyone! 

Thursday Thoughts #1: Beginnings

I am linking up with Wife of a Sailor and doing Thursday Thoughts on Beginnings:


Beginnings- they can sure be exciting yet scary. I like the feeling of new beginnings most of the time. With me being a person who hates change, sometimes beginnings really throw me for a loop. But as a military wife I have started to learn to deal with new beginning (and changes) and I am learning to roll with the punches.

Currently I have a new beginning starting. Seeing as I am a teacher, a new school year is about to start. I have been working all week in my room to prepare for the new school year. This is the first year that I felt prepared and ready to go by Tuesday night. I'm not quite ready for this beginning but such is life.

I have another new beginning. My son will be starting VPK on Monday. It's Florida's Free Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten. I can't believe he is old enough to start. That means after this year, he will be starting Kindergarten! How do I have a son who is old enough to be in school?? The nice thing is, Booger is SUPER excited to be starting VPK. It is held at the preschool he has been going to, so he knows the teachers and really likes it there. That of course makes the transition that much easier.

I guess my last new beginning is my weight loss journey that I started over the summer. I have always wanted to lose weight and feel my best, but of course pregnancy and other life issues kept getting in my way. Now with ZEAL I finally have the motivation I need to continue on my journey. I feel great, I don't have the cravings I used to have and I WANT to eat better. That point right there is the important one.

I feel like all three of my beginnings have been postive ones. I know not all are, but I think if you can find the silver lining and learn from your past, any beginning can be a good one. Beginnings can be exciting and scary, but they are a part of life.

What do you think about beginnings???

Shameless Self Promotion!

I am sooo happy and excited to announce that I have been selected as one of the Top 50 Military Mom Blogs of 2013!!!!!! I can't believe it! I feel very honored. My little blog hasn't been picked for many awards and such, so this is a pretty big deal to me so, I would appreciate if you would take a moment to vote. You can vote once from each IP address. You can click the picture at the top. :)

Thank you so very much in advance!!!!

Friday Letters

Figured it was about time I started doing Friday Letters again. So, here we go! :)

Dear YMCA: While I love taking the Body Pump and TRX classes, you will need to make a better schedule for when I go back to work. Day time class times just won't work. I've been doing good, I average about 2-3 days a week. I think that's pretty good so far :)

Dear Crossfit: Thank you for FINALLY coming to our area. I would love to try you out, however you are sooooo EXPENSIVE!!!!! Ugh! Can we work on this, please???

Dear School: I am REALLY not happy about my schedule for next year, but I think I will turn a not so great situation into one that will turn out great for me in the end.

Dear Master's program: I think I finally found the program I want!!!!! I'm soooo excited about it!!! I just have to find a way to pay for it. Anyone know of any scholarships that are out there??? Also, I'm waiting to hear from my school board if the one I want to take will be approved. I can't believe that I possibly could be starting my masters in less than a month!!! Eeeekkk!!!! (This could get crossed off my summer to do list)

Dear ZEAL: Oh my gosh, do I love you!!!!! I have more energy than ever before, without the crash. I have also lost 7lbs and I equate that to you and the gym time. I'm so glad I was introduced to you!!! I am also so glad you are all natural! What a bonus!!! I am also so thankful to you for getting me off drinking pop every day. I don't really miss it, which is pretty nice. :) (especially seeing as I used to drink 2-3 per day)

Dear Husband: I am looking forward to you coming home. Who knew we would think a three week training was no big deal??? After dealing with a year long deployment, anything less than that seems doable.

Dear car: I swear you waited until M was gone to break. Thankfully you were easy to fix. I was afraid you were going to be more expensive and annoying to fix. I have to thank my husband too for calming me down when I was freaking out and for having a friend that works for Ford who was willing to help me out today. He literally changed the part in the parking lot. :)

Dear Gilmore Girls: How I love you! I love that on ABCFamily you have started from the beginning. I love that I am home to watch you and M isn't here to make fun of me for it. I loved you when you were on the air, and I love you now.

Dear school/work: I cannot believe I go back to work in like two weeks!!!! How horrible is that??? I think it's not so great. I'm not looking forward to it at all. :( Booo.

Dear Kids: Booger.....I cannot believe you will be starting VPK in like three weeks!!!! How did you get to be 4 already???? You have become so independent and strong willed.
Pretty girl......you act so much older than you really are. You are funny and finally learning how to play on your own. This makes Booger and I very happy (even though you LOVE being my shadow).

too cool for a shirt, he really is a Florida boy

Getting ready for a nightly movie date

Our ham

Whew.....that was quite a list :) Happy Friday!!!!!

I off to the gym today and then getting ready for M to get home tomorrow!!!!