'Tis the Season

It's Christmas time already! If you know me, you know that Christmas is one of my most favorite holidays. I look forward to it because I get to spend time with my family all while celebrating the birth of Jesus. This Christmas has been a humbling experience for so many reasons. One reason in particular shed quite a bit of light on what Christmas is really all about. It's so easy to get carried away with buying and giving gifts, and sometimes we forget what this holiday is really about. It's easy to focus on the materialistic things of Christmas. My prayer for myself for these past few days has been to help me to not lose sight of the "reason for the season" (for lack of a better phrase....I know it's a corny phrase, but it's true).

I'm out of school until January 9th. Though I am in need of a break, I will miss my sweet little 4th graders. I'll be working hard to get things in order for this next semester. It's hard to imagine my first year of teaching is halfway over. It's had its ups and downs, but nonetheless it's been a wonderful experience. I'll be doing literature circles when we start back, and I'm so excited about them. I've been doing a good bit of research about them. If you read my blog (do people even read this?) and have some knowledge of literature circles or even ideas, let me know! Like I said, I'm very excited about starting these in my classroom.

I'm using this break to catch up on my crafts board on Pinterest. I feel as if it has been neglected lately.

If I don't write until after Christmas, Merry Christmas to you and your families. I pray that you have a safe and wonderful holiday.

Recycling Glass Jars

In my family we have a few odd traditions. Where we spend our Thanksgiving depends on where the Egg Bowl is played that year. We watch the Christmas Story 24 hour event every Christmas. And we drink milk out of frozen mason jars. People that come to my apartment say it's quite strange. If you were to open my freezer you would see about ten of these said jars. I decided to downsize the number of jars, but needed something creative to do with a few of them. Of course I would turn to Pinterest for this project. I found this article in my research of crafty things to do with my jars, now all I needed was some spare time. Between teaching, lesson planning, daily chores, and a social life, my spare time is just that.

Two weekends ago I had a free weekend. Stefan was at UAB working the MSU v. UAB game. I had some friends come into town from the coast. While I was waiting on my friends to arrive I decided to dive into making my jars into tea light candle holders.

The materials needed.

Put the twine on the jars in different designs. It helps to tape the the ends to the inside or on the bottom.

It's also nice to have some helping hands! (Thanks, Mom!)

Jars after coats of white spray paint. I put 1-2 coats.

Let it dry for 10 minutes.

Take the twine off and you have beautiful tea light candle holders!

Pretty easy, don't you think?

A Good Luck Charm

I've had the wreath finished for about a week now. I've just been busy with my little 4th graders and barely have time in the evenings to post anything crafty. I'll get better.

My MSU wreath is finished just in time to cheer on my beloved Mississippi State Bulldogs at their first home game against LSU on Thursday. I have I said that school gets out early on Thursday? My students are as excited as I am! (Them probably being more excited that we have a half day on Thursday.)

I want to make more of these to sell to friends, family or whoever. So if you or anyone you know might want a ribbon wreath of any kind, let me know!

If you know anything about me, then you know that I absolutely love to cook, and that I am on the crafty side. I have this lamp in my room that I have been meaning to do something with, and a stack of old magazines that I have yet to recycle. I'm sure my next post will have something to do with the lamp. Until then, love and peace.

Just In Time For Football Season

After being obsessed with Pinterest, and stumbling upon this blog post by She's {Kinda} Crafty blogger Stacey, I just HAD to make a wreath in my Dear Ole State's colors of maroon and white. While I have not yet finished it, I am giving you readers two photos of what it looks like now. It is almost finished, I just have to get the letters on it. It's my first attempt at doing a wreath, so don't leave too many negative comments on how it looks. The pictures are also not as good as I wanted them to be since they were taken from my phone. Oh well. The finished one will be taken with a real camera.

The materials to make the ribbon wreath.

The ribbon wreath minus the MSU letters and football cut out. It's a terrible quality picture. I'm ashamed to say I am a photographer.

I am waiting on my letters and football to dry, then I will put them on the wreath. Just in time for football season!

Dress Shopping and BFFFL Time

I should be getting ready for school, but I really had the urge to blog. This morning I am more excited than usual. No, not just because it's Friday, but at 3:20 this afternoon I'm hitting the road to go here

to visit this pretty friend of mine in the pretty green and white dress.

I am so excited to see her and I'm counting down the hours. She is my wonderful Best Friend Forever For Life or BFFFL as we say it. She is also getting MARRIED in May to another one of my friends, and I'm so very happy for her. Aside from not seeing her in about a month and a half (the main reason for the weekend trip), we're also going to pick out bridesmaid dresses (another important event of the weekend).  I am also delivering her engagement pictures that we took in June. She's probably more excited about that than seeing me......kidding. She's excited about seeing her BFFFL, but I'm pretty sure the excitement for seeing her pictures are next to that.

It's about 6:00, and I should be getting ready for a fun filled Friday with my precious 4th graders!

LK

Pinterest and Mississippi State

I have recently been acquainted with Pinterest. This is my new obsession. It has everything from craft ideas to teaching ideas. Along with some other "must make" DIY ideas I just HAVE to make this (In my dear Mississippi State's colors, obviously!):

It seriously broke my heart made me cringe to put something with Florida's colors on my blog. I hope my fellow State fans can forgive me. I want to make it before football season begins (9 days away).  A trip to Hobby Lobby is in order.

Adventures in Teaching

I'm a teacher. It looks weird even when I type it. I can't believe it, but I'm already into my 3rd week as a first year teacher. It's going by faster than I could imagine. I have 22 little 4th graders, who have already captured my heart. I am quickly learning how different my students are from one another. I'm seeing first hand their success and their struggles. Student teaching prepared me material and ethics wise, but in all honesty, nothing prepares a first year teacher to be in charge of her very own classroom. I am so grateful that God has placed me with such a wonderful group of students. The first week was great, as was the second week. There were a few rocky places, but we worked together as a class to smooth them out. Just like it's their first time to be in 4th grade, it's my first year to teach, so we learn together. I am now emerged in the lesson planning, paper grading, pencil sharpening first part of the school year, with so much more to come. I look forward to each and every day with my students, even on the hectic days. They are precious to me and I can't wait to see how each of them shines throughout the year.

Thanks to Pinterest, I have stumbled upon quite a few teacher blogs. I love blogging, even though I haven't been as avid of a blogger as I have wanted to be. Hopefully that will change now that I am in week 3 of the school year. Each of these teacher blogs offer something unique, whether it's classroom management 101 or decorating your classroom on a tight budget. There are fun activity sheets and penny pinching ways to do fun things in the classroom. Seriously, if you're a teacher (Or know one!) check these blogs out. I've put a button to each of them on the sidebar of my blog! Enjoy!

Happy Teaching!
Laura Kate