Sunday my oldest son turned 8!  I can not believe how fast he is growing!  Xavier is a sweet and caring child.  He is the type of kid everyone wishes they had in their class, I know because I have been told this by several of his teachers!

He is the first to help someone, pray for someone, and appreciate what others do for him.  He loves to talk so we joke that he will most likely grow up to be a Pastor or Sports Castor.  :)

LLI is new to me and I am trying really hard to figure it out!  I am struggling with determining if it is being effectively implemented in my school.  I would LOVE to know how you use it at your school (if you do)!  I think it is a valuable intervention, but looking for a better way for it to work at our school.

One of the great things about being an Instructional Coach is when your hubby text you that he is in the ER for chest pain and shortness of breath you can drop everything and head to the hospital.  No calling in a sub, and no sub plans.

He was admitted that night for observation.  Still waiting to see if they figured out the cause.  He has been stumping doctors for three months now.

I LOVE being an Instructional Coach!

I am working with a small group of 4th grade students three times a week in a small Guided Reading group.  This week we reviewed Drama and Prose and going back to the text to find evidence for answering the comprehension questions.

I think my favorite part of my day/week is going into the classrooms to observe the teachers and the students.  I normally go into the rooms for about 5-10 minutes.  This week I jumped in during a two math lessons to coach teach a little bit with the teachers.  I am grateful to work with teachers who are open to me doing this and aren't intimidated when I do.

After my walk throughs I ALWAYS leave the teachers a little note in their box praising them for something I observed.  This week I saw students acting out multiplication problems, students working together in collaborative pairs, and teachers teaching to mastery.  I love using bulletin board cutouts for my notes, I picked up these cute robots at Walmart for $.97!

I think my teachers appreciate my little notes because many of them will thank me, some have saved them, and some have told me they reread them when they need a little boost.  I can't say it enough I LOVE this job!

Monday night I posted about Close Reading and asked you all to join in my "online PLC".  I randomly chose two commenters who each win $5 worth of products from my store. 

The winners are....Anne and Mommy24!

Congratulations!

(Please check your email.)

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I {Heart} Recess

My Grandma isn't doing well. She has stage four colon cancer and can only survive on a special food/medicine.  Thursday she decided to have her feeding tube removed, meaning she has decided to stop fighting.  They have sedated her and moving her to Hospice Monday.  Please pray for her and my family through this difficult time.

"Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.  And you know the way to where I am going."

John 14:1-4

My baby was the last one to get the back to school "crud" going around this week.  He is finally back to normal, making a mess and being Mr. Bossy pants.

I need your votes!  I finished my 60 day Get Fit or Get Fat Shape Up challenge.  I lost 12 lbs, tons of inches, and went from a 14/12 to a size 10!  I also have gotten over my fear of posting these pictures. :)

Please vote for me to be one of the winners!

VOTE HERE!

Our kids are over assessed...I know I am preaching to the choir here!  Our feeder school Reading Recovery teachers came this week to help assess our 3rd graders.  The last day I left them a little treat for helping us out. 

Thursday the DOT decided it was the perfect time to start repaving the road right at the time our buses and staff headed to school.  I sat in this spot for 10 minutes!

My middle guy turned 6 yesterday!  He could choose anywhere to go eat for dinner, he chose McDonalds of all places.  After dinner he was allowed to pick out any toy from the toy store, so a Nerf gun as tall as him is what he got.

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I {Heart} Recess

I am linking up with The Teaching Trio for The Sunday Scoop!  

My friend from Simone's Math Resources is celebrating FIVE YEARS with TpT!  How amazing is that!  She is also one of the contributors of the collaborative blog I am a part of, The Lesson Deli.

You can enter a chance to win a $10 shopping spree from EACH of these TpT stores! There are two other Giveaway Groups so hurry over and enter ALL Three!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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I {Heart} Recess

Today is my first official day BACK TO WORK!  I've been working all summer off and on for various Coaching meetings and moving a book room, but today I am officially off of summer break.  I am looking forward to my new position and can't wait to see what this year brings!  I do miss decorating a classroom, but a I am grateful for a very large office that I get to decorate all my own!  Can't wait to show you completed pictures in the days to come. :)

A few weeks ago I was told my Grandma was diagnosed with Stage 4 Colon Cancer (if you have been following me for awhile you may remember my other grandmother passed away last summer due to lung cancer).  This past week end I drove from NC to Western NY,  I left my hubby with the three kids for four days....they all survived. 

I had a wonderful time visiting with my grandmother!  She was in ICU the night I arrived, had been there for two weeks, and was released to go home Sunday afternoon!  God is good!  I enjoyed visiting with her and just chatting with her every time I went to see her.  She loved my charm bracelet and even gave me hers!  This bracelet was one my grandfather gave her years ago....I love it!

She is a fighter!  She will have her next chemo treatment next months, and we are saying our prayers for her!

One thing I miss about WNY is the beautiful hills!  It's SO BEAUTIFUL there, COLD but pretty!  While at home visiting family and friends I also met up with my BBB, Holly from Fourth Grade Flipper.  She was only a 30 min drive from where I was!  We met for lunch and while talking we discovered that we worked one or two shifts together at Mc Donalds 17 years ago!

Holly went to college at the college in my small hometown and worked at McDonalds while there.  McDonalds was my first job!  We reminisced about a few of the people we worked with, it's a small world!

 Not the best picture of me, but it was so good to sit down and have meal with a great friend!

If you follow me on IG you have seen all of my Get Fit or Get Fat Shape Up 2014 pictures!  This cycle ends next month, but so far I am feeling great and doing great!  I need/appreciate the accountability part of this challenge and will most likely sign up for the next cycle as well.  

Last October I had a nasty fall on the box during a Crossfit WOD.  I haven't been able to get over my fear since then and have not completed a box jump since.  I have been using a large tractor tire instead.

Wednesday I FINALLY conquered my fear!  I completed 20 Box Jumps in a row!  My first round I stepped up on the box, my second round my goal was to complete 5 box jumps.  I felt good after those five and then attempted another 5, and so on until I completed ALL 20!

I. HATE. THE. DENTIST.

As a child I have always hated the dentist, still don't care for it as an adult.  Well this little guy needed to get a crown and I was the lucky parent to take him.  

During his procedure I sat at his feet and leaned over him to hold his hands.  He was not the best patient, he kept crying, sticking his tongue in the way, and just being difficult.  The doc put the crown on to see if it fit and then couldn't get it off.  He felt a head lock and some tools were the best way to get it off.  Once off and the glue stuff was ready, he put the crown on and then said, "oh that didn't go on the way I wanted it to".

I couldn't take it anymore and I sat up straight....didn't feel right and made the poor decision to get up and walk across the room to a chair.  I ended up passing out and all the nurses came in to lay me on the floor and get my blood pressure to raise back up.  All while my child was screaming and crying in the chair.

What does this stinker do after everything? (I was okay, my BP just dropped from the stress and heat.) He chooses sunglasses and plastic vampire teeth from the prize box.  Pops the plastic teeth in his mouth as if he never had any procedure done!!!

I can't believe I will have a 2nd grader in one short week!  We've been working on his math skills using Jamie's 2nd Grade Math Journal all summer!  Check out my review HERE, absolutely LOVE this product!

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I {Heart} Recess

Well I have been MIA for a few weeks, thanks to all who have linked up to the Back to School Goals Linky!  It is still open, so feel free to link up!

This is how we eat on the road!

We went to Arkansas and Oklahoma to visit my in-laws this year for our family vacation.  That's right we drove across country with three small boys....CRAZY!  Our trip was off to a great start, the boys were doing well, considering, and we spent three days at my mother in laws in Arkansas.  While there my hubby worked on redoing her front flower bed. It quickly became a BIG project!





The fourth day we headed on to Oklahoma, eight hours away.  The trip was okay, no major melt downs or events.  We arrived at my father in laws at dinner time, which was delicious homemade noodles!!!  We spent the next two days visiting and working on the go cart he got my boys, or really my hubby!

Whatever keeps him from screaming!

During these first few days in OK my hubby started feeling weak tired, and not normal.  On the morning of July 4th I took my husband to the ER because he thought he was having a heart attack (Praise God it wasn't).  He was admitted that day to complete some testing, therefore the kids and I spent the 4th of July with my husband's family.

Waiting to find out if daddy was okay.

Stopped by to visit before heading to the fireworks.

The next day my husband was released and did not feel good when he left and went back into the hospital.  They said all his test were normal and there was nothing they could do.  So, his dad brought him home.  That night we had another family get together at the pool (my husband's aunt owns the town pool) and my husband looked awful and felt awful.  His cousin's hubby is an EMT and took him to a different hospital.  He was admitted.


They pumped him full of fluids and he felt a little better, but was extremely fatigued and still having chest pains.  He was referred to a cardiologist in OKC, 2 1/2 hours away.  We went back to his parents, took a nap, and packed for our stay in the city.

The next day I dropped my hubby off at the cardiologist and took the boys to Chuck E. Cheese for two hours.  There wasn't anyone available to keep or watch our boys.  After two hours there, (*Note: NO ONE goes to Chuck E. Cheese on a Monday), we went and did some retail therapy at Target.  I can always count on Target to take my stress away!

Hanging out at Chuck E. Cheese and I think I successfully taught him about retail therapy!

Well, the doc didn't like something he saw during the stress test and we were told my husband would have an angiogram in the morning.  Yep...I was stressed, exhausted, worried, confused, and trying to hold everything together all while trying to keep my boys busy.

My in laws came that night so they would be there for the procedure the next day.  We went to the hospital with bags of toys and snacks the next morning.  While in the waiting room the nurse came out to speak to me about how the day would go and what to expect...this is the moment I realized I am the adult.  Now, yes I do know that I am an adult but what hit me like a ton of bricks is the nurse was talking to me, the wife, and not his parents.

During the procedure I was able to go to a waiting room separate from the one my kids and in laws were in, this is what I needed.  I was finally able to ONLY be a worried wife.  The doc came out and said my hubby had a small build up in one artery, but not a major concern, a heart flutter, and an enlarged aorta.  He said a CT scan would be needed when we got home, and that my hubby was clear to travel the next day!  Relief!

We have been home for a week now, but my hubby still doesn't feel well.  He's been back in the ER twice and saw a doc this past week.  He did have the CT scan and found that there is no aneurysm, and has a referral to a cardiologist here and a referral to the GI.  He has lost 18 lbs since the 4th (I am jealous!), still tired, and not 100%.  The newest docs believe his chest pains may be pressure from his stomach, and that the issue lie in that area.

Heading Home!

They love hotels!

I do want to share that through all of this my BBBs were there for me!  They listen to me vent, prayed for my husband and me, asked for updates, Christy even tried to help me find childcare help in OKC, and most of all supported me through all of it (and continue to as we continue through this difficult season in life).  I am very blessed to call them my friends, not just my "Best Blogging Buddies"!

This week I hope to share with you somethings I am working on :)

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I {Heart} Recess

Today I am linking up with The Teaching Tribune's Summer Bloggin' Linky.  I have shared with you three things you may not have know about me.  :)

Does anyone else love liver and onions!?!  :) Growing up our family would go to a fish fry on fridays and I don't like fish so I would always order my favorite.  So Yummy and good for you!

 
4th Grade Frolics

I've been working on a craft project over a week now, I can't find my glue gun to finish it up!!!  Once I locate which box it was packed up in I will show you my newest project....it's super cute!

I have however, finished up revising two products and created two new ones to go along with the unit. I have created lesson plans and everything  you need to teach the lesson.  You will receive a math investigation, interactive notebook foldables, cooperative learning activities, practice sheets, and homework sheets for each CC standard. Some lesson plans contain two days of lessons and all materials.

I am currently working on 4.NBT.5 and 4.NBT.6 to complete the unit.  Since I will be a coach at a 3-5 school I will also be creating lesson bundles for those grades as well. :)

I am very excited and proud of these units that I am going to give them away to one lucky follower!  The winner will receive all four bundles and 4.NBT.5: Multiplication and 4.NBT.6: Division (once they are completed).   Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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I {Heart} Recess