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

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday, friends!  I hope it's been a good week at your house.  School is getting busy.  The weather has been so lovely.  And we are all ready for the weekend!

The highlights of our week were:

1. Teacher Appreciation Week was so fun!  We got treats, the kindest cards and so many fun gifts.  And lost of extra hugs all week long.

I have a parent that is an AMAZING artist this year.  Her hand painted gifts are a treasure.

2. Windows down season!  I love seeing a tiny hand in my mirror feeling the wind.

3. I've got to find these smiley face pots at Dollar Tree!  They came across my feed and I think they'd be so cute in my classroom.

4. Leo got to bring home Sir Squeaks A Lot (his class pet) for a couple of days.  We did all kinds of fun things and he journaled about them.  The whole kindergarten is doing this project.  It was really fun to being on the parent side of things for a change.

5. Fletcher!  What a funny guy.  He had free time in art class and made himself a new set of eyes.  4th grade boys are hilarious.

6. Kevin surprised me with some smiley face sandwich bags for my lunches.  I'm obsessed.

7. Give me all the pencil accessories.  These bracelets were a big hit at school and so were the matching pencil earrings.

8. A beautiful surprise grocery store bouquet was waiting for me in the middle of a busy week.  The tulips are even prettier in person.  

9. Fletcher has after school clubs one day a week and Leo loves coming to my room.  He had his own Forrest Frank concert on the big screen this week.

10. I repotted this plant and can't get over this beautiful new pot.  I saved a HomeGoods gift card from Christmas.  It was love at first sight when I saw this scalloped purple pot.

11. After dinner walks.  There's nothing better.  Well, maybe the boys accidentally twinning + an after dinner walk.  We love saying hello to our neighbors and checking on all the new builds.

12. Chocolate chip cookies are my favorite.  I've got some big cookie projects in May so I'm gearing up for a busy baking schedule.

13. Errands with my favorite girl.  We did a mix of practical - returns, groceries, gas - and fun - books, outfits, mall and more.

14. Leo loves to pick me a bouquet of flowers on our neighborhood walks.  He grabs one of each kind of flower for the perfect bouquet.

15. Optimus Prime is losing all his teeth.  We keep laughing at Leo's new lisp, spitting when he talks and drooling because all of his front teeth are gone.

16. Olive had a sleepover and she missed the cats.  I sent her bedtime selfies with her favorite boys.  I have a feeling when she heads off to college, I will still be sending cat selfies her way.

17. Chasing sunsets!  Sunsets > sunrises every time.  We had some really pretty skies in the Midwest this week.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!  See you back here on Monday.

Linking up with Momfessionals

DIY Teacher Jean Jacket

I knew I wanted to do something special to celebrate the first year at my new school.  It felt like a big accomplishment to return to teaching after 11 years away.  I saw lots of ideas for dresses and aprons, but a jean jacket seemed like the best option for me.

I grabbed this jacket when Old Navy was having a big sale and bought all the paints/patches/supplies on Amazon to go with my school colors.  I tried to thrift a jean jacket, but they were all so stiff and not st stretchy.  Old Navy always comes through with soft, stretchy jean jackets.  Then one afternoon, I got my class list and worked my way through the list painting my student's little hands one at a time.

They thought it was so tickly and then I walked them right over to the sink to wash their colorful hand. 

Each student got to pick their paint color and hand print location.  I explained the project to the whole class and then we got busy stamping during brain break.  I let it dry on my back table.  Then I took it home to add the patches and the polka dots.

My students LOVED when I wore my teacher jacket.  I didn't add names or identifying details.  I just painted 2025 inside the jacket and will always remember my very first kindergarten class.  

It's the perfect jacket to wear on school spirit days or any teaching days, really.  I can't wait to wear it again this year and see my former students in the hall.

Another day, during brain break, I had my class make my assistant a personalized end of the year gift.  I found a big canvas bag on Amazon, used the same supplies from my jacket and helped them paint fingerprint hearts on one side of her bag.  She was a big crafter so she loved having a new craft bag from our class.

Teachers - you'll have to try to make something fun with your class this year!  I've seen dresses, head bands, aprons, skirts and jackets.  Find something that works for you and have your kids personalize it.

God's Plan for Me to Return to the Classroom

I have a good story for you today.  One of God's faithfulness to my family.  It's full of surprising twists and turns and has turned out better than I could have hoped.

Let's rewind back to the Spring of 2024.  Kevin and I were started to talk about what it would look like for me to return to teaching.  I had every intention of going back to work when Leo went to kindergarten in the Fall of 2025.  We'd both go back to school together.  Great plan.  Right?  I had him signed up for PreK 3 days a week at our church, plans of attending Bible studies, story times and playdates with friends. It sounded like a great year to me, but God had a better plan.

Kevin thought it would be a good idea to get the ball rolling - work on my resume, update my teaching license, etc. ASAP so that I could start seeing what kinds of jobs were available and what kinds of schools were hiring.  He also wanted to make sure that I landed at a really great school and didn't just have to take any job that I could find when I went looking.  I reluctantly agreed because my original plan sounded pretty good to me.  Haha.  I applied to a public school position and was notified pretty promptly that the position was filled.  No problem.  I kept doing some behind the scenes work to get the ball rolling.

We saw a variety of job positings at a variety of public and private schools, but not many that piqued my interest enough to apply.  

Kevin spotted a job opening at Evansville Christian School.  The school had been on our radar for some time for a variety of reasons.  The job description was vague so I wasn't even sure I wanted to apply.  At the last second I got the lengthly application pulled together.  This involved a lot - meeting with my pastor, contacting some of my favorite women coworkers from Utah, women from organizations I volunteered with to quickly write me letters of recommendation and making sure I was ready for an interview if one was offered.  It's a great school and I didn't know if I even had a chance at getting an interview.  

Remember that post about seeing 8 rainbows in one day?  This was about the exact same time that I was needing a sign from God that this timing was right for our family.  He sent me 8 rainbows in one day to confirm that I was heading in the right direction with applying for this job.  Wow!  

The principal quickly reached out to say there actually wasn't a teaching position open in April of 2024.  They loved my application and wondered if I'd be interested in a full time assistant position.  The job wasn't a good fit for me so I asked them to keep in touch if anything did come up.  Door closed.

Mid May I got a phone call asking if I would consider interviewing for a kindergarten teacher position?  I listed 1st-5th on my application, but said that I would love to interview for the job.

I figured it would be good practice to interview since I hadn't interviewed for a job in almost 20 years.  But I was skeptial about kindergarten.  That was never a grade I had imagined teaching.  I loved 2nd/3rd grade and figured I'd try to go back to that.  I knew that despite being licensed to teach K-8 that my heart was with the younger kids.  Kindergarten was always a favorite grade for my big kids so maybe God was nudging me to the perfect grade to make my teaching comeback.

The in person interview was set on Olive's birthday.  I was told to come with questions so I did resesarch ahead of time.  I came with a list of questions which they seemed to appreciate.  The interview went so well.  I knew all the right answers and really felt like God gave me confidence to tell them that I was now even more qualified to be a great teacher because I spent 9 years in the classroom and 11 years as a full time mom.  Now I understood what it was like to be the parent doing homework at home with the kids, wanting clear and open communication with taechers, I know how to better relate to kids after having my own kids and I was confident that I would be a better teacher for all of that combined experience.  They seemed to love my answers.  I felt like I aced the interview and then they said they had a weeks worth of interviews to do (yikes!) and would keep me posted.  I felt less confident after hearing that because I knew I had a lot of catching up to do after being away from teaching for a while. I  figured anyone with a current license, kindergarten background or more early ed experience would get it.

A week or more of no news.  I didn't stress.  I just prayed that God would open doors for us when it was time for me to return to the classroom.

The principal reached out to schedule a phone meeting.  Of course as a mom of 3 kids home for the Summer, I had the meeting in my quiet van.  I assumed it was to tell me the position had been filled or that I could reapply down the road.  BUT she had a few questions for me and we had a really good conversation.  She told me that they were impressed with me, that I had all the intangibles of a really great teacher, they saw qualities in me that you can't teach people, they loved my experience and my desire to build community in the classroom and with parents. They also said that they got so many letters of recommendation for me.  ALL of the friends I've made along the way from teaching to community work came through to write me the nicest letters.  Then she told me to watch my email for a formal job offer later that day!!

I was shocked.  God was giving me the green light.  All of my experiences and connections along the way as a stay at home mom helped prepare me for this job.  Every hurdle I encountered was met with a quick solution - PreK for Leo, details for the older kids, schedules, routines, etc.  We were excited.  And could hardly believe our ears.

We prayed about it.  I panicked about things.  Made a million lists.  I asked lots more questions.  I got my licensing ducks in a row.  And I accepted the position about a week later.  We waited a bit to tell the kids and a bit longer to tell family and friends.  Kevin rearranged Summer travel plans so that I could attend new teacher trainings and our Summer was busier than every trying to make plans for me to return to the classroom.  The kids ate too much Chick-Fil-A and we traveled more than we would have if we had known I was going back to work.  But we did it!  We had a wonderful Summer together.

I signed my contract on Kevin's birthday to make the job official.

I felt nervous and excited to return to a job that I loved.  I knew loud and clear that this was God's plan for our family so that gave me confidence when I felt uncertain.  My kindergarten team is wonderful and God has put many people around me to help make this a smooth transition.  Some teaching things came back to me right away and I've had to learn lots of new things about teaching a new grade.  It's been an adventure of highs and lows and I'm thankful for the opportunity for my family.  My kids have new school options going forward and that feels so good.

A little photo timeline of my journey to return to teaching:

Interview with my pastor went great.

Late night prepping for my interview.

In person interview at the school.

God sent some rainbow encouragement to us on our Summer vacation.

My first day back to work.  Teacher training day.  I felt very official!

Hours of work in my classroom and work in general brought me to the first day of school!

God really did take care of all the details - a wonderful, welcoming K team, an experienced assistant, a new opportunity to experience private education and much more!  This all came together about a year before I expected it to and I am trusting that God's plan is better than my plan today and always.

Ask for Help with Dinner

I don't know about you, but it is daunting to come up with delicious dinners every night.  It's a lot of extra decisions to cook dinner most nights that your family will enjoy.  It requires grocery shopping, organizing, planning, prepping and preparing and some times that feels like too much work.  We grab dinner out (Door Dash or take out on the weekends) and then I cook most nights.

We started something new in February with our dinner routine and I have loved it so much!

I started asking for help with dinner.

I assigned each person a week and when it is their week, they help me come up with the dinner menu.  We look in the freezer, fridge and pantry to help come up with the menu and then I add new items needed to the grocery list for the week.  So far each person has loved helping me with the menu.  They haven't always loved being my kitchen helper for the week, but I kind of expected that.  When it is their week, they are in charge of setting and helping clear the table, getting drinks, helping me with dishes and helping prepare dinner.  I don't think anyone would call those fun jobs.  They're just absolutely necessary life skills.

My formula is super simple.  

Print out a free monthly calendar online.  Assign each person a week.  Pick a day to work on the menu for the week.  Pencil in dinners & maybe even a special treat for the week.  Penciling everything in allows for you to make changes as things come up during the week.  Shop and prepare like you usually do and ask your kitchen helper for a little extra help on their week.  I hung our menu on the week and the whole family is paying attention to dinner.  They're noticing and getting excited to put their favorite meals on the menu. We have had good conversations about seasonally appropriate foods, not having ground beef every night and meals that would work best for busy nights.

Chicken Quesadillas

Homemade Hibachi

White Chicken Chili

It has been so nice to have extra help in the kitchen!  I have enjoyed this routine and will continue it in the months to come.

How do you do your weekly menu planning?  Would my routine work for your family?