February...

Well, I've failed again.
Here's what is happening around the Buckingham house:

I love my job and more than my job I really love the kids I work with everyday. I was meant for this.
Dylan's been on tv quite a bit. I love that.
I've only had water to drink since the new year. Excluding alcohol of course. ;)
I've kept up with our laundry pretty well. Definitely better than before, but not perfect.
The dogs are good. Lambeau is shedding like a crazy person and I may or may not have had a meltdown about it. (Let's be honest: by "may or may not", I mean most definitely.)
I've finished two books this year.
I have an awesome art project going on at work and I'm so excited about the future of it.
I've got several new recipes I need to document on here, but we'll see if I get around to it.
I love pinterest and have been on there more than I have been on blogger.

I'm working on it.
Til next time- peace and elbow grease. ;)

2012 has arrived...

Happy 2012, friends!
I can't believe this year is already here! I know I'm ready! Today is my last day of my (almost) 3 week Christmas break. I have enjoyed it tremendously, but as usual, I got sick. I'm feeling much better today and ready to get back in the swing of things!

2011 held a lot of great memories but also some of my least favorite. As a whole, I'm glad to say goodbye.
I hope 2012 will hold a lot of joy and exciting new memories.

My goals this year are to:
-take more pictures
-drink more water
-accomplish my goals
-keep our house cleaner
-go on a fun vacation
-cook more frequently
-blog more, seriously.
-get my lesson plans done in a more timely manner (ha!)
Now this last one is bold, but I hope to not let our laundry pile up.

I think I can do it. Here's to a great 2012!

I'm baaaack...

I love these as much as the next girl. BUT, seriously? 1lb. of peanut butter cups. Yeah, right. ;) Happy Sunday!

Picture Dump...

Well, I've been in school for six weeks now! Crazy to think that's the truth. My classroom got a little facelift in the last few weeks that aren't on my classroom tour, so I thought I'd show them here. I painted a rocking chair to be my teacher chair and added a white board next to my smart board and an alphabet/number line for my reading class.


My cutie brother moved away to college and as a family we went and bombarded his new dorm room. It's surprisingly great and for a hot second made me miss dorm life. ;)

Piper {finally!} got a hair cut, I'm embarrassed at how long it had been. but LB was sure glad she was home.
Speaking of dogs my mother in law got a new puppy. He is absolutely precious!!

And we celebrated my wonderful husband's 24th birthday. I hosted my first little birthday party at our house. It was wonderful if I do say so myself. Can't wait to see what the next 24 birthdays are like. :)
OU had their first game of the season (We won!) which means we had our first family watch party, I definitely forgot to take pictures-dang! But I made these, along with guacammus. Both were divine.

Happy Tuesday! BOOMER SOONER!!

I did it...

Well, I did it! I survived my first two days back at school. The first day- whoa. So heart heavy and emotional for me. I knew this school was a low income school. I knew that these kids were from the hood. People have been telling me that for ages. BUT, I had NO idea. You guys. Seriously, my heart was so heavy on Thursday. Friday however went much better, but I was emotionally drained.
I wasn't in so much shock on Friday, so of course it was much better. I was ready, confident, and I like to think I did a great job. I was asked by three different kids if I could adopt them. I was asked if I was a teenager-multiple times. I was told my room was like "paradise" and that it looked like "a movie." It's just so crazy to think that these kids live not even a mile from my house, but still we live in two completely different worlds. This year is going to be so good for me. It will force me to rely on God for my strength and to really strive to be a huge inspiration to these kids. I think that's what teaching is all about though. The amazing thing is our school is the best part of these kids day. If I can make a difference in their lives, I will have done my job.

In other news we did a Teacher flash mob on Friday for our assembly. We completely shocked the kids. It was classic. All these ghetto kids with SERIOUS rhythm watched their white teachers try and bust a move. Holy hilarity. It was priceless. I'll try and see if I can get some pictures. So funny!

Happy Monday!!

Classroom Tour...

This is mainly just for my memory, but I wanted to do a classroom tour of my room. This morning is our first day of school! I cannot believe the school year is already started! Here is my classroom before I left last night. My mom and I painted just about everything in the room. The purple walls, the grey cabinets, there was a lot to be done in here. But I am SO proud of the way it turned out. One day I'll have to do a before post, so you can know what I was working with! Lime green, teal, aqua- you name it-Yuck!

This is what you see when you very first walk in the door. My desk area...

Here is standing at my desk looking at the door that I come in at. All that storage that you see used to be a hot mess. I spent many a long day cleaning out those bad boys. I also painted the cabinets grey and with chalkboard paint with one of my favorite quotes.


This is the door the kids will come in at. It's just to the right of my door. Here's also a close up of the cutie curtains my mom and I made.
My only bulletin board...

And where all of the kids will put their work, divided by teachers last name...

Just to the right of the teacher drawers there is the sink area... and some art work that are picture definitions of some art vocabulary that we will be working on throughout the year...

The smart board and half of my desk...

And my desk area...
I added this random blanket chest thing I painted a few years ago to the side of my desk, it holds my printer and a few odds and ends, but my favorite is the picture of me and Dylan. It makes me smile every darn time I see it, so I figured if I was having a bad day, it would make it just a little bit better if I saw that. :)


AND my favorite part of my desk is this perfect pencil mug from my sweet friend Sarah. Crayola & Burlap. What could possibly make me happier?!...
It makes me happy and is the perfect match to my cute classroom wreath!

Here's to a great first day today! :)

Last day of summer...

Tomorrow we start back to school. Agh! That just seems so wrong. It's a 105+ degrees every stinkin day! AKA- playground duty is going to suck. I am SO excited/scared to death about this first week. Teachers go back tomorrow and the kids come on Thursday. This is the first year our school district is implementing the year round schooling. I think it's going to be a really great thing if I can just make it through the dead heat of summer. I got a new plan book & my Landsend monogrammed tote all cleared out, I'd say I'm halfway ready :)

I've been working so hard this last month trying to revamp my room. The previous art teacher was only there for one year, and I somewhat get the feeling she didn't have the intent to stay. There was hardly anything on the walls and the colors were all kinds of wrong. Needless to say it has given me TONS of things to work on, before it's ready for me.

I have two cutie windows in my room, so I've been busy sewing curtains with my mom.

I have been painting up a storm, chalkboard paint, wall paint, cabinet paint. You name it, I probably painted it. I also had to put my teacher handwriting to use to re-do the cabinets for the kids to put their work in the drawer of their teacher's name.

Thanks to Pinterest I've been inspired to do a million new things, but first on the list was a crayon wreath. (Along with every other teacher in America) I think it's most appropriate for me, being an art teacher-and it's darn cute if I do say so myself. Our theme this year is reach for the stars, so I'm not just star crazy. :)

Today I plan to finish my room and I'll snap some pictures to do a room tour. Happy Sunday!