If you're happy and you know it...

Our wonderful Fairy Godmother visited Pre-K today! She was so much fun to visit with!

She read us three stories and we loved all of them! (Seriously, my little Loves were so enthralled- you'd think they had never been read to before!) I was one proud teacher!

That being said, I wanted to share with y'all two books that we read today. If you are looking for two new books to spruce up your library and get Littles moving a little, pay attention!  

This book was read by our Godmother. It's a pop-up book, which excited even me! Seriously y'all, each animal does the cutest things! I have already ordered it on Amazon!

This gem was so cute also. Sadly there were no pop ups but the illustrations were fantastic! 

The story takes place in a jungle themed play ground. The kids pretend the animals come to life and of course, the mom who is there 'watching' them is nose deep in her book and is completely ignorant of the shenanigans. (That was the funniest part to the kids!)

I highly recommend these books! They are so cute and so fun!

If you're happy and you know it....eat some candy!!

XOXO Summer

Wordless Wednesday

XOXO Summer

Throwback Thursday

This picture sums up everything in a perfect friendship. 

          College Zoo Trip 2005

Bestie Houston, as grown up as we may seem, it is such an honor to know I can still act like a three year old when you're around. Even in public. I love you. So so much. 

XOXO Summer

Fairy Godmother

Dear friends, I believe in a lot of things. Harry Potter. Unicorns. Butter as a vitamin. Fairy Godmothers. So when a wonderful, sweet woman came to visit me today, one of my wishes (and beliefs--thank you Disney!) came true. And I was not prepared for it!

In walks my beaming principal and this lovely woman. My boss keeps smiling and taking pictures of me. Bestie Aide is grinning so hard her smile probably caused a few doses of Botox. 'What on earth is going on??'

Y'all. I am not a calm person. So when things like this happen I get all weird and squeaky and make inappropriate jokes. -(seriously at some pioint I asked her if she owned a Sonic. WHO does that?!). Sadly my 20 pre k Loves were there to bear witness to it!  And Mrs. M just kept snapping away!

This kind woman talked to me and the children about how she was a student at our school a long time ago. And she grew up to be a teacher. 

(At this point Beatie Aide had made me sit in a chair.  I. Am. Sweating.)

I digress. This Fairy Godmother told me how she had seen my unfunded Donors Choose grant I had written back in November. NOVEMBER. She went on to tell me how she loves to help other teachers. Especially TPS teachers. Especially Jones Elementary  teachers. 

I'm almost about to pee my pants. Then in walks a sweet student pushing this GIANT cart of these amazing gifts:

Before I know it, I space jumped out of my chair and into this poor unsuspecting woman's arms. Mrs. M still clicking away. Bestie aide still grinning. I am shaking.  Think chihuahua in a rain storm. 

You guys, many of you know how hard it is to get by. We are one of those families. I am obsessed with my kids at school and I would do anything for them, even if it meant eating ramen noodles for a few days so they can eat decent snacks at school. This woman gets that. When I 'hugged her carefully as one does a stranger' -- I'm lying. It was ridiculous. I couldn't let go of her!  Anywho. When I hugged her I could feel that love and energy pass through us. 

Who knows how many wonderful teachers she has helped. No one can describe the waterfall rush of love and gratitude one feels in such a situation. I can't stop crying and my husband thinks I've gone off the deep end. (Luckily I have arm floaties for that!)

My point is this. Give back. It doesn't have to be big and extravagant. Hand someone a diet coke. Trust me-- that's a magic power all in itself!  Give someone a hug. Preferably not the Peter Pan style I proceeded to perform in front of 20 kids and three full grown women. 

Fairy Godmother, you truly are a gift from God! Thank you from the bottom of my crazily beating heart. I hope you know just how very many little lives you have changed today. 

God bless you. Thank you!  PLEASE visit us all the time!!

On third box of Kleenex,

XOXO Summer

Pre K Craftivities

We have been busy bees in Pre K! Here's what decorated our hallway last week:

Aren't they ah-dorable?? I LOVE their melted snowmen!

Then we started decorating our Valentines Party bags. We folded paper towel rolls to make the heart shape and 'stamped' hearts. 

Our door is the most amazing thing ever! Bestie Aide wrapped kiss cut outs in foil and we printed their names off. Then we took kiss pictures. SO funny! 

We sure are enjoying our inside days at school!! How are you surviving winter?

XOXO Summer

Wordless Wednesday

XOXO Summer

Have you had your V8 today?

True (scary) story:

I haven't been able to drink as much Diet Coke as I normally do-- come to find out I was actually drinking SO MUCH of it, the caffiene in the beverage was prohibiting my body from naturally absorbing iron I was eating in my diet...

I kept getting nauseous and tired all the time.  I never had an appetite.  I felt...gross.  I researched a lot and come to find out I was either a). pregnant or b). iron deficient.  That freaked me out....several tests of sorts later, I was relieved to find out b was the answer!

I cut caffiene totally out of my diet for a month and after two weeks of grueling headaches and exhaustion, I feel so much better!

A dear friend I teach with recommended that I try these.  They are LOVELY!  And for my WW friends, they are only UNO POINT!  1 PPV!  Isn't that fantastico? 

The caffiene in these sweet cans of happiness comes from natural green tea and has just 10 mg short of the same amount of caffiene as an 8 oz cup of coffee.  That's a LOT.  And it works!  

The best part is that I don't feel yucky gross and it has 100% of my daily vitamin C in it.  And as always, thank you V8, there is '1 Combined Serving of Vegetables and Fruit'.  YES!

There are several flavors, Peach Mango is the only one I have tried so far but I am told Blueberry Pomegrante is divine as well.  I found these gems at Wal-Mart in the soda/water/gatorade aisle by the rest of the V8 stuff.

Have you had your V8 today?

XOXO Summer

You say cheddar, I say bacon!

I love my children. I love my husband. I love Jesus. 

But then there's Hot Pocket Love. Y'all, that's a different love entirely. 

Don't believe me? Try these:

Bacon. Cheese. Bacon. Cheese. Wrapped up in pretzel breading. Oh. Em. Gee. 

Went to the grocery store today. Bought six boxes. (2 were for Husby)...

What gets your heart aflutterin'?

Drowning in bacon cheddar pretzel goodness,

XOXO Summer

Flu Bug

Having the flu has not been fun. Here's my 'extended weekend' in snapshot form:

Terrible, isn't it?

Elmo nurse :)

Dinner had to be served at some point yesterday...

Crappy snow thru my orchids in kitchen window. 

Calling in bc TPS is too cheap for a snow day. 

Now Husby is sick :(  He got it waaaaay worse than me. 

You gonna eat alllll that?

Luckily I managed to vacuum today. I suppose that's a sign of life, right? Work will be fun tomorrow!

XOXO Summer

Roasted Shrimp

Y'all, I'm all about fast, yummy, cheap dishes. And I'm back on track with Weight Watchers (WW), so I need healthy stuff. This 'Roasted shrimp with broccoli and shiitake mushrooms' was right up our dirt road!

Side note: this recipe calls for some weird liquids BUT I was able to find them all at target so I know Walmart and other grocery stores have them. Also, each bottle is like $4 but worth it. 

Ingredients: 

3 TB toasted sesame oil

3 TB tamari (similar to soy sauce but thicker and richer)

3 TB rice vinegar 

12 oz shiitake mushrooms, stemmed (I used canned 'shrooms, drained and rinsed...cheaper)

1 crown raw broccoli, cut into florets

1 LB large shrimp (the recipe calls for them raw but I could only find precooked at Aldi so that's what I used and cut down my cooking time)

Preheat over to 450 with TWO cookie sheets in them-- you want them hot when you add ingredients. 

Whisk all liquids together. Set aside a few teaspoons for shrimp, toss the majority of sauce with mushrooms and broccoli. Dump onto hot cookie sheet. 

Cook for ten minutes, take out to toss again on sheet, and cook ten more minutes. 

After I tossed the veggies a second time, I coated the shrimp. I know it seems like it's not a lot of sauce left but the shrimp really soaked up the flavor. 

After the broccoli cooked another ten mins, put the shrimp on the other HOT cookie sheet and cook shrimp. Broccoli should also still be in oven. This last step takes about 6 minutes, just long enough for shrimp to heat up to a safe temp of 160. (*10 minutes if you are using raw shrimp. They turn pink when they are done*)

Take everything out of oven and combine in a large bowl. Voila!

I served this dish over buttered, salted rice I had cooking while I was cooking everything else. Minute rice works just fine. :)

Happy eats, friends!

XOXO Summer

PS- my beloved Uncle David showed me this magazine he has started subscribing to. Best money ever spent! This is where I got the recipe. YUM!