Fancy Friday

This week was F week, which means we had "Fancy Friday". I am super nervous considering this fell on friday the 13th. I was pleasantly surprised that the unlucky date did not throw off this mojo, and we had a GREAT day! Here are some pics of my cutie pies :) We were "oh so fancy!" a la Fancy Nancy accessories :)

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What do you do?

I had this great post planned out for today. All about a super cute MLK project we are doing at school tomorrow. It was going to be awesome. Then, I met with our school counselor to talk about a child in my class. The things I learned about this child and the situation he lives in every day completely break my heart, as if it wasn't breaking for him already. Needless to say, now I am not in the mood to write about our project. Sorry friends :( It'll have to be a project for another day.

This little guy in my class is amazing. truly wonderful. sweet, loving, super shy. I had no idea what a nightmare life was like for him when he left school. They have been shuffling homes for awhile now, but I thought that was the only problem. I wanted to call DHS just for that. But I knew that with the system the way it is, neglect through homelessness is just not going to make a blip in the radar. I had no idea. I don't want to get into it, but Oh wow, this poor guy...

 Reports have been made to DHS for him and his siblings, and many reports have been made to the school. But, unfortunately, when a first hand account comes to the school and then we call DHS, it becomes 2nd hand information. How is that fair?? The people do not want to make a report on their own, for whatever reason, but the fact that they came to us alone makes it a very valid concern in my opinion. but not enough to launch an investigation.

I can only pray that someone comes forward to advocate for the kids if our cry is not being heard. My heart is breaking. I will continue to show the little guy how much I love and care about him every day. I guess that's all I can do right now.

Please pray for him, too.

What would you do?

UPDATE: My little munchkin moved today :( I am really praying that this is a good situation he is moving into and that the new school will be able to pick up where we left off! 

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Versatile Blogger Award

a BIG thank you to Wild about K Kids and Lisa at Connecting the Dots for honoring me with the versatile blogger award!! I loved seeing all of the blogs that they recommended, many of which I am now following! How great!! and, they both share some awesome freebies of their own, too! Make sure to go check them out!!

Here are the rules to this award. 

1. Thank the people who gave you this award and link back to them. 

2. tell 7 things about yourself (I copied these from my original award post, sorry that I'm not feeling that creative today!)

1. I am blessed to have many best friends in my life, all of which mean more than words can explain! however, there is one extra special lady who has been in my life since the day she was born. yep, that's right! Her mom and my mom are best friends. We are so much alike it can be funny. because she is teeny tiny 4'11.5" tall and I am definitely not ;) We can go months without seeing each other and come back with the same exact hair cut, color and (at one time, leopard) pants! no joke! Love you Ms. Baseball :)2. I live in my childhood home. My mom and dad moved to washington last winter and my husband and I began renting it from them. Way bigger than we could afford right now, and we get a reduced rent! Sweet! :) (my landlords are pretty cool, too...)3. I was a swimmer and a cheerleader for most of my childhood. I was much better at swimming, but cheerleading was my passion. in high school I had to choose between the sport I could potentially go far in or the sport I loved. I chose cheer :) AND we won state my senior year, which shows dedication can pay off!4. My mom subs in my classroom. Even now that she lives in another state, she is keeping her sub number current so she can sub for my kinders. SO COOL! Last year some of the kids thought all "moms" in the school were teacher's moms. So cute :)5. I <3 Sex and The City. Even the 2nd movie. I quote it constantly :) My senior year of high school I bought all of the dvd's on ebay (this was pre- boxset) One season has japanese subtitles....fail. But, we still watched them constantly in college!6. I love traveling and my favorite place is Mexico. My husband does not like to travel much and is not going to get a passport...probably because he knows I'll beg him to vacay with me :) But...he doesn't mind me traveling with the girls! woohoo!7. I had 9 bridesmaids in my wedding. 5 of which were sorority sisters. I am blessed :) A group of us travel with our families every new years. We stay to the west coast, but have a lot of fun!! The first official group new years was when I "met" my hubby. (we had known each other for 4 years, but we'd both been in relationships. It was our first single new years together!)
Had enough of me? Go check out these awesome bloggers!! I blog-stalk each of them regularly :)Diary of a Pitcher's "Wife"Sneaker TeacherTales of a TeacheristaHerding Kats in KindergartenThe Teacher WifeWhat the Teacher WantsAdventures from Room 129All The WeighEberhart's ExplorersLittle Warriors
Happy blogging! and thanks again for thinking of me!!

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Roses and Awards!

My Ducks won the Rose Bowl!! Woohoo!!! We are SUPER happy in the Bee household today!! I can already tell 2012 is going to be great! And did you see those helmets?? 

Sick!! I <3 my ducks! I mean seriously! They were awesome!

Anyways, onto the reason for this post! Kelly B over at Busy in K has awarded me with the 

award. Thank you, Kelly!!! That is so sweet! I am truly honored that you thought of me for this award. If you haven't heard of Kelly B, you HAVE you check out her blog! She is awesome! I was amazed that such an great blogger like Kelly even knew of my little blog! Seriously though, check her out and make sure to follow her so that you can get all of her perfect kinder freebies! 

Now here's how the award works. 

The Liebster Award goal's is to spotlight up-and-coming blogs with less than 200 followers. The rules are:

1. copy and paste the award on your blog
2. thank the giver and link back to them
3. reveal your top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog
4. hope that your followers will spread the love to other bloggers

Here are my top 5! 


Pray Teach Love- Kelly Beason (Different Kelly than Kelly B!) I nominated Kelly for a different award in the past, but she seriously is so awesome that she deserves another! Check her blog out for lots of freebies, inspirational tidbits AND she's a college football fan, so really, how can you not like her? :)
File Folder Farm- Nia creates AWESOME file folder games that I use in my classroom regularly! They are super cute and interactive, the kids just love them! and the best part is, they are really easy to make! Did I mention that she does this out of the goodness of her heart? That's right! I mean FREE! Now hurry, run and check her out before she catches wind that she could make a bunch of money off these babies! haha.
What Happens in Kindergarten...Last's a lifetime- Mrs. Giese write a super sweet and fun kinder blog! I have been stalking her blog since she started last spring! She always shares her ideas and does really fun things in her room! Check her out!
Kinder Journey- Margaret is a new blogger (last summer) but you wouldn't know it by how awesome she is!! She started off with a bang by sharing all of her amazing ideas, lessons and adaptations to things she has used in her classroom. Margaret is a first year kinder teacher this year, and she is fabulous!! I would love to be in her class!
Kinder Zoo- I love this blog! her graphics are ADORABLE and her ideas are (you guessed it!) Awesome! You'll definitely want to check out the Kinder Zoo so you can start doing her activities in your classroom, too!

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Trip to "Little House on the Prairie"

Before I start this post can I just say that today I made a "quick" trip to the mall to exchange a couple of things. Umm, what was I thinking?? It was complete craziness there! Ugh. I'm definitely not a crowd shopper, the deals are just not worth it! I was planning on doing a little "school clothes" shopping spree to update my wardrobe (I dress by far the oldest and frumpiest at my school, how sad!!) I made it out with a couple sweaters and a pair of jeans...I've got a long way to go. maybe I'll brave it again in a couple weeks. the line at victoria's secret alone took 40 minutes to get through! yikes!

Anyways...onto my post topic....

My aunt and grandma went to visit the "Little House on the Prairie" while on a trip last summer, and they picked up some awesome posters for me! I just HAD to share them with you all!

Aren't they cute??? Pretty funny, too! I was saying how weird the "marry or engage in improper conduct" rule was, and my Grandma told me that her mom was dismissed because she got married and pregnant! wow. My favorite rule was the one for male teachers who can "take one evening a week for courting purposes, or two evenings a week if they go to church regularly". Oh my gosh, I died laughing! Too funny!

 I really want to frame them and put them up in my classroom...but I'm thinking i'll only do that with the Teacher's Prayer. :)

Hope you guys got a smile out of these like I did :) It's time for me to finish packing for our annual NYE trip! Each year we go to a different place with the same group of friends from college. We leave in the wee hours of the morning for San Diego. I can't wait to enjoy the sunshine with some of my best friends!! It'll be a nice break from the torrential rain in Oregon that's happening right now....

Happy New Year! (a little early)

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Merry Christmas, friends!

I've been on a blog hiatus, spending time with family and such! It's been wonderful!!

Today we drove up to visit my family in washington. Mom, Dad, my niece and I went to Christmas Eve service at their church complete with a candle lit carol by the insanely large outdoor tree and a live nativity. too cool! We got there late so we were going to sit separately, when the kids sitting next to my parents asked if we would like to have their seats so we could sit together. How sweet is that?? I LOVE Christmas. and I love my parents church :) Here is a picture from their parking lot. Gorgeous, right?? It's on an old golf course.

Now we are relaxing and enjoying "The sound of music" with a glass of wine. aka Heaven. My niece, who is 4, said the funniest thing at dinner tonight. As I grabbed the bottle of Cab Sav to fill everyone's glass, she proudly called it "Auntie Bee's milk!" haha. Classic :) (btw, she has never seen me drink before...so this was so cute!)

I hope your Christmas is filled with love and family! Blessings to you and yours as we celebrate the birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ! He is GOOD!

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Family traditions

Wow! I am so sorry (again) for how long it has been since I last blogged! I have noticed similar posts on many of the blogs that I follow, so at least I'm not alone! right?! But, I still feel bad! life has been a jumble of commitments and minor meltdowns lately. I figured that wasn't the best time to post on my blog...no matter how "anonymous" I am. haha.

This year my class joined Mrs Sneaker, my amazing teammate, is creating family traditions projects. We already do family projects throughout the year that give children a chance to decorate a project in whatever fashion they would like (snowmen, turkeys, eggs, etc). I have loved getting to see the creativity that comes from these kids! Last year, Mrs Sneaker had her class create family traditions projects where she sent home a letter with instructions and some ideas of traditions, and they got to decide what that would look like for them.

I am LOVING learning about my kids and the traditions they have in their homes! I have learned about (and therefore been able to discuss) many different religions, cultures, and special events for each child in my class. One of my favorite things about this project is that it doesn't have to been one holiday or religion-oriented, but it is open to all interpretations! We even talked about how my family could do Duck football as our tradition :)  With so many different religious preferences and backgrounds in my classroom, I love not needing to worry about offending anyone with this project :)

Here are some of the awesome projects I've received (I wish I could share them all, but many of them had lots of photos and for the protection of their privacy I have not included them) By the way- sorry about the ugly cropping of faces...it's been a long day! Did I mention when it was time to get coats and backpacks we had a fire alarm go off? ya....

We learned about one student who is a Jehovah's Witness, it was pretty cool!

I learned this student is Hawaiian!

Do you do anything like this in your classroom? If so, I'd love to hear how it works for you! 

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