My Marine's Homecoming

Please excuse the lack of posts lately. As the title suggests, my hubby is home, and we have been spending some wonderful quality time together! So here's the recap of the homecoming, now that I'm free to share all the wonderful details.

Everyone says to be prepared that dates and times will change, and often. Oh boy, they were right. We were given a four-day window, which soon became an arrival date (!). Then Hurricane Sandy tried to mess it all up and delay their return. He was suddenly due to come home at 10:00 p.m., but I decided to keep my request for a substitute teacher open for both the day of the return AND the following day. I'm glad I took both days off because after three more time changes, the guys arrived in the early afternoon on Thursday.

I spent the morning bouncing from spot to spot in the house putting together last-minute details. I vacuumed the house extra-good (my poor husband is allergic to our cat), and decorated the house with some red, white, and blue.

Then I was off to hang up my two beautiful banners. I think they turned out pretty nice! I felt like a zip-tie queen getting both shower curtains hung up in 5 minutes flat.

Then I headed back home to make a quick sign to take on base, and get myself all dolled up for seeing the hubby. I felt a huge rush of emotions as I drove the 30 minutes to the base, and actually teared up during the drive. Thank goodness for the waterproof mascara, because I think the months of stress were just finally starting to be lifted off my shoulders now that I knew he was en route to me. Before I knew it, I was in the company of some good friends I hadn't seen in a year, and then was the announcement to get out of the street because the buses were pulling up!

I couldn't find him at first, but when I did, I felt such a wonderful feeling of closure. This deployment was over! Here are some of the happy photos of us. I will post another entry later about how we spent the rest of his first weekend back!

Wine and Design Night

I have loved doing crafty, artsy things ever since high school. Not to a level where I would actually consider myself any good at it, but it is just an enjoyable hobby. So when I saw that the spouses from Dustin's unit were hosting a Wine and Design night on base, I had to say yes! And I am so glad I did.

The drawing was already sketched onto the canvas, and the pros talked us through the painting, step by step. Everyone's paintings turned out unique, and it was a really fun night. Lots of snacks, wine, and laughter. It's hard to believe this is the last spouse event before hubby comes home!

Banner Making Event

Today I headed to the USO in Jacksonville for a Banner Making event with my husband's unit. Knowing that it is time to start preparations for Homecoming makes my step just a little bit peppier lately!

Before I was ready to work on the banner, I had to get all my supplies ready ahead of time. I ordered some shower curtain liners (fabric) online through Amazon. I have decided I am going to make a navy sign and a black sign from me, and hang one on the Midway Park side of Lejeune, and the other one on the Tarawa Terrace side of the main gate. Plus, I ordered a white curtain for my class to decorate. We are going to make the hand print flag I have made for the past three years, but take it to the next level by letting the kids sign their names with a sharpie, and write a giant "Welcome Home Heroes" to the top of the sign. I can't wait to start that project together!

Back to the topic of making my banner. I have been tinkering around on the computer to design my signs, and once I was all ready I printed the letters out in giant font. I laid the letters out on the shower curtain, cut out the letters, and then stenciled them with a white crayon.

Then I was all set to work on painting with the other wives down at the USO. It took forever since I had to do the work on the floor, but it was fun to work in the company of the other families, and chow down on some free Girl Scout cookies! I ended up painting about half of my base white coat, so that the other colors will really pop on top of the white. I am going to leave you with some progress shots, and I am hoping I will have my two banners finished a week from now!

Autumn Wreath-mania

With the husband deployed for nine months and counting now, it seemed just about the right time for me to knock off some items on my Pinterest to-do list. Several trips to Michaels later, and I have some lovely handmade fall wreaths hanging in my house now!

Here was my "pinspiration"

Source: kimmccrary.blogspot.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

This first wreath seemed to take forever! I used some pinking shears to cut sheet after sheet of orange felt into 3-inch circles. Then I folded them into sixths, and pinned them into my foam base. Afterward, I clipped on a black spider decoration and added black ribbon for the spider's web, and a larger ribbon to hang the wreath. It still feels like it is missing a little somethings, so I think I'm going to add some black letters saying EEKS! I'll update the photo after I get that finished.

And wreath #2 "pinspiration", followed by my version.

Source: craftingmom.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

This wreath was a much quicker project - only 15 minutes! I bought a plain twig wreath from Michaels. Then I added a couple sprays of beaded garland, and made felt ribbons. The felt ribbons were made by simply cutting felt into long strips. I wound the strips around and around. When one strip ended, I incorporated the next strip where it left off. I think the colors from this wreath match beautifully with our family room decor, and should be able to stay up until Thanksgiving! Here is a photo of the original wreath, and then my version.

I am linking this project up with The Pinterest Challenge. And in Thirty Handmade Days' Friday Pity Party. And in the Halloween Link Up Party. Join in the fun by clicking the links below!

http://www.thirtyhandmadedays.com/

SEC Football in the House!

Ever since I started college at the University of Florida eight years ago, I have found a new way to mark the coming of fall. No, it's not with the introduction of Pumpkin Spice Lattes at Starbucks, or even the explosion of Halloween decorations at Michaels. I know fall is here when College Game Day is playing on Saturday mornings, and I spend three hours cheering on my Florida Gators! These last two weeks have been true nail-biters at times, but I love my college football.

In fact, I love my Gators so much - I am devoting this post to some crafty creations inspired by my alma mater's mascot.

Like this "Chomp-Worthy" display for student work in my classroom. I simply painted a plaque from Michaels, wrote the letters using puffy paint on wax paper while tracing computer-printed font, cut out an alligator shape using my Cricut, and then mounted it with mini clothespins to allow it to hold paper.

I think my love for the Gators is definitely rubbing off on my students as well. I use a little Gator stuffed animal as the mascot for our class (named Albert), and he gets to visit student homes over the weekend. Quote from a parent e-mail this week:

"A. also learned the Gator chomp over the weekend while my brother n law and his girlfriend were in town. She has been doing it non stop so don't be surprised if she comes in showing you! She was really excited because she watched the "Albert" team play football this weekend!"

Love it! Nothing like recruiting Florida football fans from the age of 5, ha ha.

Anyway, the other craft I worked on is this Florida ribbon wreath. I bought some ribbon from Michaels, along with the foam wreath base. While organizing my spare bedroom I also discovered a collection of ribbon I had purchased while making belts my freshman year of college. So I used some of those cutey gator ribbon pieces as well.

Once the hubby returns from Afghanistan, this football season will get even better. And I just may be getting him to become a Florida fan as well. Today when I asked him if he disliked every other coach in the SEC as much as I did, he answered that he didn't hate Muschamp, but only because he went to UGA. It may not be much, but I am still going to take it as a small victory from this Athens-raised Georgia boy.

What helps mark the start of fall for you?

Classroom Crafts: Word Art

Now that it is August, it is that time of year where I become totally consumed with all things classroom. Here are some of the little classroom projects I have been working on over the last week. Plus I included some crafty gifts from my little students.

Love the colors on this one!

So true...

This was a gift from a student last year

Another gift from a student

My word wall banner. Just need to hang it up high by the ceiling now!

School's Out for Summer!

After 180 days of being a broken record of: stay seated, raise your hand, pay attention, push your patience button, toes and nose forward, keep your hands to yourself, write your name on your paper, give him/her an 'I feel' message, etc. the end has finally arrived! For weeks it seemed like this day would never arrive, especially as my class size ballooned up to 27 kiddos. But then, the last day of school just quietly arrived, almost as though it sneaked up on us.

I have three students in my class who are moving this summer, and another student whose parent will be homeschooling next year. I had a few little girls with mini meltdowns as they arrived at school in the morning or ate their last kindergarten lunch, but I thought the kids were excited for the most part. Then, the final announcements came on the intercom at the end of the day. One of my little boys started crying, so I gave him a hug, and when I looked up from the hug, it was like a floodgate had been opened. My parent volunteer (I've taught both of her children in the last two years) was crying, and I think at least half my class started at that point. Poor kiddos! They are now first graders though, and it will be hard for it to sink in that first day back when they walk down the hallway to give me a hug, but no longer get to spend the whole day with me, and have to walk past to first grade instead.

But on a positive note, I made some cutie volunteer thank you gifts and end of year goodies for my class.

I stole the saying for this gift from Pinterest (original idea here) , and then just kind of tweaked it based on what I found in my local stores the day before school ended (procrastination at its finest). I bought the sundae cup from Wal-mart for a $1 and the IBC root beer came in a 6-pack at Food Lion. For one of my parent volunteers that still comes even though his child went on to 1st grade, I tucked in a little Cold Stone Creamery gift card as well.

My friend from college and colleague my first year teaching posted an adorable s'more goodie package she gave her kids on the last day of school. I totally stole this idea from her (with her permission of course). The kids had fun assembling all the pieces in the bag and talking about all the different ways they could cook the s'more this summer. The s'more clipart came from Decorating from the Heart.

Now I will spend next week packing up my classroom and preparing for a summer full of flip flop tan lines, European vacation with my hubby, and no alarm clocks!

Tea Wreath from Pinterest

My mom loves drinking tea. She must have at least two or three cups a day. So, when I came across this beauty on Pinterest, I knew I had to make one for my mom on her birthday.

Source: kojodesigns.blogspot.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

Here is my version:

I used an embroidery hoop, ribbon, clothespins, scrapbook paper, glue gun, and assorted tea bags. In hindsight, I wish I had used two different sizes of hoops to add some greater stability to the clothespins, because a few of them fell off in transit to Georgia. But I think my mom liked it!

I am linking up with The Pinterest Challenge, and you can too! Just follow the link below.

http://www.pinterestchallenge.com/2012/06/pinterest-challege-round-9.html

I got crafty! Baby shower gift

I am getting to the age where some of my friends are starting to have babies! It is seriously hard to believe, and I almost have to pinch myself to think how fast time is flying by. One of my best friends from college, Emily, is having her baby girl in June. Since Ft. Lauderdale is so far away from North Carolina, I was bummed I wouldn't be able to attend her shower. I just knew that meant my baby shower gift would need to be extra personal to make up for my absence! One of my coworkers at my last school (shout-out to Kelly) was awesome at making adorable decorated names for hanging in babies' nurseries. So I headed to Michaels, picked up my supplies and got busy crafting.

Emily is decorating her daughter's nursery with the Carter Safari Brights pattern, so I tried to incorporate the colors and jungle animals when working on some of the decorations. Here is the photos from Carter's web site of the crib set.

Link to Carter's site

I forgot how much I love working on little craft projects. Without further ado, here are the finished products!

Painted the letters from Michaels, then used
end of pencil to apply polka dots.
Hot glued the ribbon to the back of the letters for hanging.

Pretty simple - just painted the frame -
traced a Chik-fil-a cup for the circle shape,
then hot glued a craft letter from Michaels to the frame

Bought the frame from Michaels. Trimmed a piece of scrapbook paper to
size of frame. Then I printed a clip art of an elephant, traced it
onto plain paper, cut, and added details with Sharpie.

I think they turned out pretty cute, and having projects like this helps me to put off my desire for a baby of our own - at least for now!

Earth Day at School

Since Earth Day fell on a weekend this year, we celebrated the occasion for a day before and after the actual date.

This is the third year that I have made these Earth day necklaces from blue and green glue. Although, I can't take credit for the idea - it came from the 1st grade team I interned with in Florida. Here are the steps, if you want to try your hand.

1. First, you need to mix up some blue and green glue (add food coloring to Elmer's).
2. Then, you print out some circles on paper, and staple a scrap of plastic sheet protector to it (tried transparency one year, but it wouldn't peel off).
3. Now, you give the glue to the kiddos and make sure they lay it on nice and thick inside the lines - no empty spots!
4. Let it dry overnight, then puncture a hole (with a pencil, if you're inventive like me) and add yarn. Voila!

My kids absolutely loved them, and even though it was a day later, I had about 5 students wear them to school again today. I had one girl who loved hers so much she told me that "it is so comfy I can even wear it to sleep". Kids say the strangest things!

Our school's National Elementary Honor Society sent a group of students to my class to make these lovely coffee filter Earths with my class.

I have had these pinned on Pinterest for a little while now, but had mentally earmarked them for next year. So I was thrilled when those fourth and fifth graders came in toting all the necessary supplies and directions. The older kids were very patient and enthusiastic, and it was really a treat to just step back and assist rather than run the whole activity for my class. And of course the kiddos loved it!

Thanksgiving Crafts in the Classroom

From the time Veterans day ended until Thanksgiving arrived, I had 7 school days to teach my class all about the first Thanksgiving! The kids learned about the voyage on the Mayflower, and compared the way people lived then to the way people live now. Let me tell you, it was a shocker to them that Pilgrims didn't have TV, even off the Mayflower. Kids are so funny!

Here are some of the Thanksgiving crafts we worked on during the week and a half. All that cutting and gluing was good practice for their little fingers!

I didn't take a good picture of it, but the sentence strip on the left is a patterned headband with feathers. The yellow page is a hand print turkey. I printed out a cute poem to go with it, leaving some blanks for sight words that the kids had to write in themselves.

Pine cone turkeys!

Toilet paper tube turkeys - with things the class was thankful for written on the feathers.

We celebrated the last day of school before Thanksgiving with a pie tasting extravaganza! We all tried a slice of pumpkin, apple, cherry, lemon, and chocolate pie, and the class voted on their favorite pie. Chocolate was the overwhelming winner with 16/24 kids claiming it was the best!