Where did the last year go!?

Ashley Schroeder- you are the most inspiring teacher author I have ever met!! So good to see you again! See you in July!

Picture from Santa Monica Pier

Dinner on Katella Blvd.

Laguna Beach, California

Whale Watching in Dana Point

Being 6 months pregnant in Disneyland was definitely a different experience. Ross was such a good sport and rode all of the “pregnant approved” rides! I’m not much of a thrill ride type of person so it wasn’t a big deal for me. We rode a few of my favorites from when I was a child… Haunted Mansion, It’s a Small World, Splash Mountain, and Pirates of the Caribbean. I purchased a Fast Pass for Ross to ride the Indiana Jones ride since he is a thrill ride junkie. The Fast Pass wasn’t working when we went to retrieve it at the kiosk. I found an employee and explained I bought him a fast pass since I was pregnant and could not ride. The employee did not question it for a second and brought Ross straight to the front of the line. I can’t say enough good things about the employees at Disneyland! I definitely want to bring Graham one day!

Back home I had to finish up my classroom! I moved classrooms, again. My choice of course. There was a MUCH bigger room open in a different hall and I jumped on it after being stuck in a room that felt like a closet the previous year.

These banners are for sale in my store if interested! I just attached them to ribbon with clothespins from the target dollar spot! Click HERE to see them!!

I had to figure out some type of storage for my computers. I’ve been writing donors choose grants for over 5 years. Since I try to use all funding possible to get these laptops I needed to find my own storage for them. I found these 10 drawer organizers from Michaels and bought 3, in hopes to one day have these many laptops! I made these easy labels for the drawers. Just printed them on astrobright paper, punched a hole for the drawer knobs, laminated and attached to the drawer. My husband drilled holes in the back of the drawers for the chargers to come out and be plugged in! Super easy! Click HERE to see them in my store!! I also have tablet and ipad labels included!

My FAVORITE organization tool is my 10 drawer organizer behind my small group table! Seriouly I think the 10 drawer organizer is the new age filing cabinet! It puts a limit on how much you can hoard thoough! Also, much easier to move and clean behind. Here is how I labled mine this year! It lasted all year and I am probably leaving it for next year!

They can be printed on white card stock to get these colors but there is also some plain ones that you can print on colored card stock. All labels are editable so you can title each drawer something different! I have SO many theme available in my store!

Click HERE to see all of the drawer labels available! They also fit the three drawer organizers as well!

I’m going to do a blogpost soon about how I attach these labels so easily! Stay tuned!

Starting a brand new school year 7 months pregnant was SO EXHAUSTING! I don’t think I mentioned yet that my students were AMAZING! I’m not even joking. I truly believe God handpicked each and every one of them to put them in my class. After last year being so difficult for me professionally, now being pregnant… I think God was saying to trust him and his plan! I fell in love with my two classes from Day 1! I had a new partner teacher who was the sweetest thing ever! I was LOVING my job again! It felt great!

Fast forward to end of September and my fabulous, selfless, caring co-workers threw me and Graham a baby shower! It was the cutest! So many of my co-workers from my school before our district reconfiguration came to support us as well. I was so overjoyed!

THEN my friends hosted a baby shower at Graham’s godfather’s house. Another gorgeous event! So much love for my boy already!

My cousin’s company did the decor. Check her company out HERE. They decorate for weddings, birthday parties, showers, etc.

Ross’ godmother makes these blankets for every new baby in our family. I didn’t know what patterned fabric she was going to go with but this is better than I could have picked!! Love love love it!!

Fast forward to October. I woke up one night with really bad stomach cramping. It didn’t feel like anything anyone described as contractions and I was a few days short of 35 weeks. Ross called the hospital. We went in at like 11p.m. Turns out I was in pre-term labor and having contractions. Nothing super serious. They were able to easily stop the contractions. We were released around 2a.m. Followed up with my doctor the next day and he advised that I be on bedrest. Yeah, defintiely was not ready for my maternity leave to start just yet. My mother in law and Ross’ aunt came with me to school to prep my classroom for my sub. I typed up as many notes as I could to make it a smooth process.

I highly recommend this long term sub binder! It was a life-saver when I didn’t even know where to start with notes for my sub! Click HERE to see it on TPT!

I literally spent the next 5 weeks resting and relaxing. After he stopped him from coming early, he was in no hurry at all.

My due date came and went and I was still pregnant.

At 40 weeks and 4 days I was induced. I will spare you the details but I am very blessed at how smooth everything went. I received pitocin at 6am and Graham was born at 12:15. Apparently, I am a lot tougher than I give myself credit! lol

Everything was all cleared to go home within 24 hours of his delivery!

We went home to figure out this parenting stuff.

Graham is such a happy and sweet baby. He was been sleeping through the night (with a few exceptions) since he was 5 weeks old.

He is always happy and smiling!

Our first Thanksgiving as a family!

OH!! By the way it SNOWED this year in South Louisiana!! It has not snowed here since I was about 15 years old! I was out on maternity leave of course, Ross’ company took the day off, and my mother in law (who lives next door), came sit with Graham so Ross and I could play in the snow! So much fun! I have NEVER EVER seen so much snow! 😂

I know, I know… some of y’all are laughing at me because I think this is a lot of snow! But seriously, we live 45 minutes south of New Orleans… this is A LOT of snow! lol

Meanwhile… inside our house…

Flu season was CRAZY.. so he stayed inside as much as possible! lol

Our first Christmas as a family!

January 2nd Graham started daycare at 7 weeks old!! I was nervous but I knew it would be better if he was just always used to going to daycare before he really knew better. The daycare was sooooo nice and just loved my boy from the beginning!

I went back to work Janaury 3rd! A week later, At 8 weeks old, Graham was diagnosed with RSV. We caught it SUPER early and was able to treat it at home. We are VERY lucky it was so mild and no hospitalization was required!

I went back to work and our district was out for 3 days due to ice! Again, may I remind you that I live in SOUTH Louisiana and this never happens. Our buildings and facilities aren’t equipped to handle that type of cold. Pipes busted and we were out of commission for a few days. When we finally went back in mid-January it was like I could finally get us all in a routine again lol.

More pictures of Graham in a separate post to come!

If you follow me on social media, you know how much I enjoy Mardi Gras!

February is Mardi Gras time!

Our parade theme was “Aquarius Loves Animation” and my float was Peter Pan!

Lets go ahead and assume March/April were a blur. State test prep, Spring Break, and state testing.

Let’s go to May. I was contacted by the Principal of an Elementary School in the city I live in for an interview for 5th grade Math. I had been coming to terms with the fact that driving almost 30 minutes to and from school was not working out for me and my family. There were huge budget cuts in our district that would change our take-in and dismissal times to even later in the day. I know 15-20 minutes later for dismissal does not sound like much but when you dismiss at 3:30, have 15 minutes of duty after that… it’s now 3:45 by the time you get back to your room to get anything done. Tack on a 30-minute drive home with traffic, I wouldn’t get home until after 5. It just was starting to not be worth it anymore. When this job opened up, I felt like it was meant to be mine. Anyone who knows meknowsw that 5th grade math is what I LOVE to teach! Even my students will tell you that! I was offered the job the first week of May.

This fall I will be teaching at a temporary location since my school is having a new school constructed! My school is being housed at a school that was closed down a few years ago due to numbers. Tentative move in date for our new school is hopefully December. We HOPE! Either way, I am excited to have a fresh start in a new parish. I explained to my students that my reason for leaving was not the children of the school. Its just sometimes you have to do whats best for you. My principals, co-workers, and all other administrators were completly understanding!

The students last day of school I loaded up all of my things and my husband hauled them to my garage. I literally have my whole classroom in my garage BUT it is all good. I downsized a lot and plan to downsize even more once I am in the new building!

Peace out South Thibodaux!

Until next time, i’ll be working on new tpt stuff, getting prepped for the tpt conference, and hanging with this cutie!!

See you next time!