Big Changes for Next Year

I am so excited about the upcoming school year! I am going to move down to teach 2nd grade next school year! I'm excited about the changes, but nervous of course. It was so hard to leave my team. We have been working together for 4 years and I feel like we really had our groove! But, I was also getting bored with the routines and really needed a change! So a couple of weeks ago, I packed up my classroom, threw away a ton of stuff (seems to be a pattern of late), and moved my things downstairs. I'm in love with my classroom already! It should be relatively quiet, since it's not in a pass through hallway. Also, it's one of the few classrooms in our building with a mounted projector. I am really excited about having the projector. I've been using the promethean slate for a lot of my lessons and I think that the little ones will be really engaged in their learning while using this, and I won't have to drag in a cart.

So I have a lot of learning to do over the summer, but after a few weeks of relaxing by the pool, I figure that I'll be ready to tackle a new curriculum and a new math series. But for now, I have a new book to enjoy!

Disney Day 2

On Sunday, we woke up bright and early and headed off to Epcot. This is probably one of my favorite parks! I absolutely love walking around the world in the World Showcase. We first jumped onto Test Track with the kids - Christopher insisted on "driving"!

After our test driving session, we took the kids over to the Character Spot so that Caileigh can meet some of her buddies from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse! It was so much fun to watch her see the characters for the first time! She was timid but she didn't freak out. I was more than happy to carry her over to meet the characters. In a couple of years, I am sure that she will have a much different feeling toward Mickey, but it was cute to watch her during these first few interactions.

Our next stop was Soarin'. This is an amazing ride! If you haven't seen/heard of it before, you are flying in a hang glider over different parts of California. We are going to get to go to California next year, so it was fun checking out some of the sights we will get to see next summer.

We then headed toward World Showcase - which is my favorite! We let the kids check out some of the items along the way then went to Great Britian for fish and chips. Yummy!!

We left Epcot following lunch, and went back to the hotel for swimming and naps. After resting, Matthew wasn't feeling too well (it was so hot!) so he stayed back to the hotel to rest with Grandma, and Mike and I took the kids over to Animal Kingdom. Animal Kingdom was relatively empty. We let Maddie and Christopher ride Expedition Everest alone, and then headed over to the safari. We don't usually do the safari ride late in the day, but the animals were out in full force! We have been coming to Animal Kingdom since it first opened, and we have never seen the cheetahs up close! The hippos are almost always in the water, but this time we got to see one out of the water enjoying his dinner!

We finally headed back to the hotel for the evening. Thankfully, Matthew was feeling better, so we grabbed some dessert from concierge and watched the fireworks from our balcony.

Disney - Runyon Style!

We just returned from our latest trip to Walt Disney World! We had so much fun this time around. We stayed at the Polynesian, which is one of my favorites anyway. We got to upgrade a bit thanks to my wonderful mother-in-law, and had the Magic Kingdom view plus concierge service! Talk about being spoiled! We had breakfast every morning, snacks and beverages throughout the day, appetizers and wine in the evening, and mini desserts and cocktails at night. Such a treat!

We left last Friday evening (which was the last day of school) and drove through the night. It was surprisingly easy, especially since all the kids were fast asleep by about 10 pm and slept through the night. I slept off and on while Mike drove, and then took over the driving through southern Georgia and northern Florida. We arrived in Orlando at about 8:30 am - it took under 14 hours to drive the entire way! I was surprised to learn that we were upgraded to the club level when we arrived, although Mike knew ahead of time.

Our first stop was to get a bite to eat at the Kona Cafe! They have this amazing dish called Tonga Toast! Basically, it's this ginormous french toast stuffed with bananas and covered with cinnamon and sugar. Oh my! It's wonderful! Matthew and I shared a piece because there was no way that either one of us could finish it all!

Soon after eating, Mike's mom arrived and we checked in. We decided to hold off going to the parks right away because we knew the kids were going to be exhausted, so instead, we went to the pool. The kids played in the pool for awhile and then we went back to the room for much needed naps. When everyone woke up it was raining, but we decided to not let it stop us, and hit the Magic Kingdom. We really just took in all the sights, but then headed over to Buzz Lightyear. Caileigh loved this, especially since she is really into the Toy Story movies. The kids then wanted to ride the race cars at the Speedway. We then called it an early night because we were beat from the long drive and the lack of sleep!

Tips Tuesday - Cleaning

This week's Tips Tuesday is all about Cleaning Tips. I'm not sure that I'm the go-to person for cleaning tips. I'm actually looking forward to reading about what other people do to keep their houses tidy.

Like Leslie, I also get emails from www.flylady.net. I don't necessarily follow everything they send, but I am definitely on board to cut the clutter. We are getting ready to move in a couple of weeks, and we have purged tons and tons (I think literally) of clutter. I absolutely refuse to move junk, and I think we've done a good job to get rid of what we do not love.

The other tip that I think is helpful is to spend 15 minutes just picking up after the kids go to bed. It amazes me how messy the kids can be in such a short amount of time. If I can stay ahead of their messes, then it keeps the messes away.

Finally, I work full time, and we are so busy during the week and weekends. I have to spread out the cleaning throughout the week. I need to set a schedule and stick to it each and every week. Maybe being in the new house will help to establish some new habits. I'll keep you posted on that one!

Tips Tuesday! Cooking

Read more: http://www.lambertslately.com/#ixzz0flAGYVIl

This Tuesday, it's all about the cooking! I really do like to cook (I'm not good at it, but it's improving!) Since I'm a budding cook, I look to all sorts of places to find my inspiration. Some of the main requirements are that the recipes have to be healthy and delicious! They also need to have some form of meat - my husband doesn't do vegetarian! Here are some of my favorties.

The Pioneer Woman - seriously, this woman rocks! I don't know of too many in the blogosphere who hasn't heard of her. Not only is she hilariously funny, but this girl can cook! I love trying out the recipes that she posts on her website. Last night I made her recipe for homemade spaghetti and meatballs. De.lic.ious! Not only did my husband and I like it, but it received rave reviews from our four munchkins! I really need to buy her new cookbook!

The Food Network - Wouldn't it be awesome to be able to have your kitchen set up like the onee on the Food Network? I'd just like to have the clean up crew! Sometimes I think my husband thinks I am the clean up crew. Anyway, there are some very easy and delicious recipes on the website that my family loves. Hello, Paula Dean? We made her chocolate lava cakes on Valentine's Day - Oh. My. Goodness!!

So I do a lot of recipe searching on the weekends. I wish that I had time to make a bunch of new recipes every week, but let's face it, with a full time teaching job and four kids, it doesn't happen. So there a lot of stand by meals that we plan from week to week. On the weekends, I will meal plan for the week. I willl write everything down, and check with what we've got in the pantry. From there, I will send my husband grocery shopping (sometimes I go too) to make sure we have everything on hand for our meals for the week.

I make the decision about what my husband or I cook based on what is going on in the evening. For example, last night, we had nothing going on, so I could make home made spaghetti and meatballs. Tonight we were slammed with tutoring, a choir concert, and a basketball game, so it was steak sandwiches (from Sunday's dinner). Planning really helps with keeping the food budget down. We can avoid the drive thrus a lot more.

So there you have it, this is how we roll with cooking in a busy household of six! How does it roll in your house?

Tips Tuesday - Grocery Store Tips

I wish I could say that I have a grand plan for grocery shopping that would make everyone's life so much easier! I don't, but what I (and when I say "I", I mean "we") do works for us - most of the time.

I am a mom to 4 kids, so dinner is probably the biggest and most expensive part of our grocery budget each week. My husband and I start by looking through the different store ads in town. From there, we see what's on sale and then try to plan our meals around what is on sale. I make a list from the meal plans, then add the typical staples that our family wants, needs, etc, and then go from there. I also bring my lunch to school everyday, so I make sure to add my typical lunch food to the grocery list.

I wish that we had a grocery store that doubles coupons, but there aren't any here, but we will use a coupon if there is one for something we need or want. My husband used to be really bad about buying things we didn't need just because he had a coupon for it, and my pantry started looking ridiculous! Thankfully, he doesn't do that anymore!

I'll be honest with you, I really don't like grocery shopping. Because we have 4 kids, I will often send my husband to the store and I will stay at home with the kids. It usually costs us too much extra money to go with all 4 kids, and it helps us stay within our budget to "divide and conquer!"
So those are my "tips." I'm hoping to provide some insight to how a somewhat larger family makes things work, as well as learning some great tips from others!

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!

So, one of my favorite bloggers, MckMama, has these "stream of consciousness" posts, that I find totally random and rather hilarious. I thought I'd give one of these random posts a try, since quite honestly, it takes some pretty major events that make me want to write a blog post.

So here goes...

It's supposed to snow tomorrow. A lot! I'm actually really excited about that. I think we (and when I say "we" I mean "teachers"!) get more excited about the anticipation of school closing than the kids do. A few weeks ago, we had a two hour delay, and I didn't hear the phone ring for the staff phone call. So when I got up, and turned on the tv waiting for my Keurig (that's a whole 'nother post on it's own!) I saw a bunch of schools having delays, and I looked down at the phone and saw the school number on the caller id! Let me just say how excited I was for that delay! So yes, I am hoping to look down at the caller id tomorrow morning and see where our school has been delayed.

Our house is coming along very quickly. Almost too quickly. It's hard to believe that not all that long ago we had a huge mud hole, and now we have a house that is in the process of being painted right now. It's crazy. Unfortunately, I have been so busy lately that I haven't taken any pictures of the building process. Bummer! I was hoping to photo journal the whole thing, but I think I've taken like 2 pictures since we've started. Oh well! We are supposed to close very soon! I'm so excited, but really nervous! Maybe I can get there this weekend and take a few pictures before the kitchen and bathrooms are done.

This is the model version of our new house!!

We really have a garage...

Mike had an interview on Tuesday. He was called back for another today! Yeah!! I am really praying for him right now. I am so proud of him (even when he says I'm being condescending - in a loving sort of way) He is my rock right now - even when I should be the one who's there for him, he is so positive, so optimistic. He's my rock!