Teacher Favorites

Happy Friday!  We are ready for the weekend!  The best parts of my teacher week were:

1. Iced coffee in a cute teacher cup.

2. A Peanut helper when I'm working on school work at home.

3. Finding new favorite shops for resources!  This turned out so cute for our frist bulletin board.  I traced their hands instead of painting them because I'm not painting with kindergarteners in August.  haha.

3. A desk stash of treats.

4. New year.  New Spirit wear.  We are gifted a new shirt or two every year.  The one this year is CUTE.  Also favorite teacher neighbors.

5. Gift card gifts with a nice note.

6. Watching The Jordan boys head off to class together every morning with matching Jordan backpacks.

7. Bumping into the boys in the halls for a quick hug and hello.

8. Flag football with Leo + loads of my former students.  It's so fun to see them in their element and in a different setting than the classroom.

9. Packing school lunches to include bites of all their favorite things.  A big hug from home in the middle of their school days!

10. A cozy classroom corner.  I put this giant pillow on my classroom Amazon wish list.  It's so fun!

Wishing you a wonderful weekend!  See you back here next week.

Linking up with Momfessionals

Day in the Life - K, 1st, 5th & 8th Grade

Let's do a day in the life of a normal school day in 2026 for all of us.  It's my third year teaching kindergarten.  Leo is in first grade.  Fletcher is in fifth grade and Olive is in eighth grade.  I can happily say that we are navigating life with two parents working full time well.  We do a lot on the weekends (gas, groceries, meal prep and plan, cleaning and errands) so that we don't have a lot of extras to do during the school week.

5:30am My alarm goes off and I get myself ready for the day.  This involves greeting all the cats and trying hard not to hit snooze until 5:40.

6:00am Olive is up and getting herself ready.  I do all the things to help us all get out the door.  Fill 8 water bottles, assemble 4 lunch boxes and set everything out on our kitchen table.

6:20am Fletcher gets up and does his best to get Leo up with him.

6:30am Olive off to school.

6:35am Drink an ice coffee, check my inbox and texts, chat with the boys, tidy up the house and get the boys dressed and ready to go.

7:00am Leave with the boys to head to school together.  We listen to all of our favorite songs on our commute to school.  The boys help me wake up my classroom - change helpers of the day, pass out papers, and get stuff ready for the day.

7:30am Everyone heads to their classes to start the day

Kevin heads into work at whatever time he needs to for a day of meetings and classes.

8:00am The tardy bell rings and we go nonstop all day long managing 22 kindergarteners.  I look forward to my morning plan time and try to get as much school work done at school as possible during recess and plan.  I bump into the boys when I'm out and about throughout the day.  It's my favorite part of the day.

11:00am My class heads to lunch and I get to see Leo and Fletcher in or around the cafeteria.

11:30-3pm We are busy in Kindergarten land - Bible, Math, Science, Recess and some brain breaks.  Restroom breaks, bandaids, recess and probably a few tears.  Plus a lot of parent messages and emails.  Hand off my class to their parents.

3:15pm Grab Leo from his teacher.  Meet up with Fletcher.  Zoom to my room to close down my classroom and head home.

3:45pm Arrive back home to say hello to Olive and Kevin if he's home already.  Make snacks for everyone.  Unpack all the backpacks, lunchboxes and water bottles.  Do some dishes.  Do some laundry.  Make some more snacks because everyone is hungry.  The boys play video games or go fishing.  I drink an iced coffee, the kids have been making iced PSLs at home and enjoy a moment of quiet since it feels like I haven't had a quiet moment since 5:30am.  Get dinner started.  Either cook something that can be warmed up easily in a couple of hours or pick up something easy for Kevin to pop in the oven after football.

4:40pm Get Leo ready to go for flag football.  Change clothes.  Make new water bottle.  Lace up the cleats.  Go!  We'll have dinner when we get home.

5:00pm Flag football time!  I sit with the moms and chat while Leo practices his heart out.  I also do a little check in for my email, socials and texts from throughout the day.

6:30pm Arrive back home.  Tag team the rest of the evening with Kevin.  Eat a quick dinner.  Homework.  Showers.  Snack.  Pjs.  Pack four lunches for tomorrow.  Dishes.  Change over laundry.  Take care of cats.

7:30pm The kids head to bed.  Start the going to bed process.  Devotions.  Prayers.  Chats.  Read alouds.  Chat with each of the kids before bed.

8:30pm Go downstairs and lay out everything we'll need for tomorrow.  3 backpacks.  Pack my school bag.  4 lunch boxes and 8 water bottles.  Lay out breakfast for everyone.  Plug in computer for school.  Lay out the must have items for school tomorrow.

9:00pm Check my email (personal and work), blog, do my hair, tidy up the house, eat a snack and watch a show (currently Ted Lasso) with Kevin.  Make a to do list for home and for school for the following day.

10:00pm Head to bed.  Set alarms.  Repeat again tomorrow :)

Thomas Rhett Came to Town

Olive and I went to see Thomas Rhett when he came to town last week.  We had never seen him in concert before and his show was fun.  He did a mix of old and new songs so we both had a really fun night!  We were questioning our decision for a late night concert on a school night, but I'm here to tell you it was worth it!  He gave a shout out to all the parents in the crowd who'd be waking up to get their kids to school in the morning.

Waiting in line to get inside.

Olive's must have - the cutest concert tee at the merch store.

Emily Ann Roberts and Conner Smith opened for TR.  She was so pretty and he was new to us.  Then Thomas Rhett hit the stage and he was so likeable.  He went into the crowd, brought a fan on stage to sing with him and it was just a fun night.

Can't wait for our next concert!

Tiny Joys

I love the idea of looking for tiny joys in my day.  These are little things or little moments that bring me joy throughout the day.  I have a list of tiny joys from August.

Chick-Fil-A in the car with my kids.

Iced coffee made just right.

New markers or pens.

A perfectly planned kindergarten activity.

Seeing bookclub on my calendar.

All 3 of my kids heading off to school happily.

Dinner at home.

A stroll through HomeGoods.

A nice note from a parent.

Packing my favorite things for lunch at school.

A purring cat.

Hanging art you love on your walls.

Not setting an alarm.

A country concert.

Wearing a cute outfit.

A car wash and hopping out to vaccum the car afterwards.

What are some tiny joys that have come your way this month?

Hunting for the Perfect Lamp

I have been on the hunt for the perfect lamp for our upstairs family room for several weeks now.  It had to be lovely, tall enough to make a statement on this dresser and I wanted it to look expensive without being too expensive.  I visited HomeGoods, TJ and Marshalls a few times each to find the perfect one.

I even checked Target and was shocked to find their big lamps were all $120-150 and didn't seem special.  Back to HomeGoods and I found the perfect lamp in the perfect color - green.

I just love this cozy spot upstairs.  I have collected the things you see over years.

Chair - local marketplace find.

Striped storage bins - At Home

Floral art - World Market find from ages ago

Wooden dresser - Ethan Allen from Kevin's childhood bedroom

Lamp - HomeGoods

Family photo + Pearl :)

This green lamp had a pretty shade.  I loved the color of the base and the brass accents.

And I really loved finding this lamp for $79.99 instead of $135.  HomeGoods for the win!

Give yourself time to collect the perfect things for your home!  Stop in frequently at places like HomeGoods and hopefully you'll find what you need.

Back to School Favorites

Whew!  We made it to Friday of our first week of school!  It's always a shock to our system to set 5:30am alarms again.  But everyone is happy with their teachers, their classes and Leo had the best day of his life this week.

Back to school night for me and the boys.  Kevin took them to meet their teachers while I hosted my own kindergarten open house.  Olive came for moral support.

We took Olive to her back to school night to map out her schedule.  She gave us the tour, we met some teachers and she's feeling confident about her year.

My favorite assistant.

Back to packing lunches.  Hugs from home in the middle of their school days.

The prettiest summer sunsets.

8th Grade Olive.

6:30am comes early for this junior high girl.

5th grade Fletcher.

First day of K.

First grade Leo.

Big iced coffees and kitty cuddles after school.

It's been a good week.  We're all ready for some rest and time to recover this weekend.  Hope you had a great week!

Linking up with Momfessionals

Family Road Trip Tips

We are back to school today, but I'm still living off the Summer travel high.  We had some really great trips this Summer.  Kevin plans the details of our trips and I work on packing and organizing us along the way.

If you need an INSTANT mood booster, stop at a nice gas station and let everyone pick out a snack or two of their choice.  I don't police this process much other than to remind them it's a great time to get things that they love.

Pay attention to the restaurant signs along the way and if you want something, say something.  I love a good iced coffee.  Kevin prefers the gas station taht has coffee bean grinders to make each individual cup.  So we scouted out the food and drinks we enjoy.

Kevin saw that there was a Wally's gas station just a little out of the way when we were headed to Wisconsin.  He planned for us to surprise the kids with a late night snack (popcorn of all kinds) at Wallys, a hotel nearby and then breakfast at Wally's before getting on the road.  Wally's is the Midwest version of Buc-ees.  It's so nice and clean.  Delicious brisket all day.  Gourmet popcorn and some really fun food, drinks and shopping.

Favorite snacks in our hotel room.

I don't plan as many road trip surprise gifts for the kids anymore.  Now that they are older, they prefer to pick out whatever sounds best to them.  So we plan our trips and keep an eye out for fun places to stop.

Some trips I do a post it note countdown on one of the back windows.  We did this for our road trip to Miami.  Although seeing a count down of 18 hours to get to Miami may not have been encouraging to anyone :)

We also empty any trash out of the van every single time we stop.  That keeps the van clean and mom happy.  It also helps make sure everyone has the space they need.

Make sure everyone packs the correct charging cords and/or has their portable chargers fully charged.

Bring a little car blanket for everyone in case they want to nap.  I use turkish towels and they work perfectly.  Each kid packs one in their backpack and uses it for a pillow or blanket or towel as needed.

Now it's back to school season and the traveling will have to wait a bit :)

Yummiest Pasta Salad

I made the yummiest pasta salad to go with our dinner last week and my whole family loved it.  They were fighting over the leftovers!  It was easy, colorful and the perfect addition to any cook out or tailgate.

I chopped up every veggie I could find at our house into the tiniest bites.

purple onion

carrots

red, orange and yellow sweet peppers

black olives

cucumbers

green onions

cauliflower

broccoli

snap peas

extra sharp cheddar cheese

Add a generous sprinkle of Kinders The Blend seasoning.

Cook our favorite pasta.  A tricolor pasta is always fun for a pasta salad.  Let cool.

Combine pasta and bowl full of veggies.  Stir well.  Then drizzle the whole bowl with Olive Garden Italian dressing.  Stir until well coated.  Refrigerate.  It'll be good for a couple days in the fridge.

This recipe is so great because you can customize it for your likes.

I made it again and left out some of the veggies, used shredded carrots, changed up the pasta and did pepperjack cheese instead of cheddar.  It was just as delicious.

I hope your family enjoys this as much as my family did!

Wisconsin Summer Favorites

We had a great time in Wisconsin in July!  Here are the highlights:

1. We have a favorite spot to get a family photo.  It was closed last Summer so I was thrilled to see the bridge back open this Summer.

2. We ate some meals at this complex.  Something yummy for everyone!  Fletcher and I really enjoyed MACS macaroni and cheese shop.  The portions were big and the mac and cheese was so good.

3. We had a blast making clay art creatures in our down time.

4. A birthday dinner at Hot Rocks.  This restaurant is so fun.  Your side dishes all come out fully cooked and then you cook your meat on the hot rock.  It's fun to cook and eat together.

5. All of the flower combos were beautiful!

6. A jetted jacuzi tub made this guy happy.

7. Arcade + racing + snacks.

8. An afternoon at Ski Hi apple orchard with a flight of apple beer, apple cider donuts and apple cider slushies.  We can't wait to go back in the Fall for some apple picking.  Their petting zoo animals just returned to the farm and were so excited to see people.

9. Kevin and Fletcher were super brave and headed to the zipline course.  They navigated a course through the treetops going platform to platform.  They said it was terrifying and awesome!  Olive, Leo and I went to Paint Your Own Pottery instead of zip lining which was also awesome.

10. Cabana Day!  It was very warm, warmer than usual in July.  We were really thankful for our shaded cabana reservations.  The big kids did the big slides with Kevin.  We lazy rivered.  Ordered fun snacks and played the day away.

11. Camp Social breakfast buffet.  We try to go here once and it never disappoints.  Everythign is so yummy!

12. A little more racing and arcade games.

13. We do a ton of walking all over the resort and big sis was sweet to carry Leo.  He might have also hopped on a luggage rack or two.

14. We ate at Buffalo Phil's where a train delivered all of our food.

15. Kid's club moved to a new location.  It was cool, movies were always playing and there was fresh popcorn.  We loved it!

16. I'm still not over their gorgeous flower beds.

17. The Boat House.  Kevin found us a new restaurant to try on the lake.  It was the best meal we had all week.  Homemade everything and everyone loved their food.

18. If you're ever tempted to plan a trip to Wisconsin, please do!!  It's so much fun!  Comment or message me and I'm happy to give you all the tips.

Have a great weekend!  We're back to school next week.  It's always hard to say goodbye to a really fun Summer.  See you next week :)

Linking up with Momfessionals