BIG birthday present :)

A little over a month ago Matt asked me what I wanted for my birthday. We both laughed as I said "a house." Here we are a little over a month later, on our way to buying our first house :)

We met with a realtor a few weeks back and thought it would just open the door to allow us to look at houses that we liked. 2 days later we looked at 3 houses. 3 days later we were putting an offer on the house. That evening our offer was accepted. Things have been moving along quickly as we look ahead to moving in the end of October.

View from the kitchen into the living room

Entry way--and a view into the dining room (which we'll probably make an office for now)

Living room

That's the big news for us :) We're excited to be entering this new adventure in our life.

first day

Overall, it was a wonderful day. I have a great group of students who are already showing eagerness to learn and excitement for 3rd grade. Their eagerness and excitement began to dwindle as the day wore on. Normally, I may take this rather personally...however I realize it was the near 95 degree temperature in the room that brought about the droopy eyes and sleepy heads. Tomorrow is looking to be more unbearable, although I think the ice pops I bought tonight may help :)

About 20 minutes after the students had arrived and were hard at work one of the boys called me over and told me in a soft voice, "Mrs. George, Thank you for our morning work. Thank you for being so nice. And, you are beautiful."

About 2 hours into the morning, after we had practiced our fire drill line up I gave my students about 5 minutes to go play on the playground. One of my girls ran up to me with her arms held out wide, looked right at me and proclaimed, "Has anyone ever told you that you are the greatest teacher EVER?"

Well...how can I not be excited for what this year has in store? I pray that God can use me to change the lives of each student whom he has entrusted to my care. Please pray along with me this year as I will undoubtedly face great challenges and even greater successes.

my classroom

I spent last week in my classroom preparing for the year ahead. Between last year being my first and the year's rocky start I never really felt good about the set-up of it all. This year I love it! Thought I'd share some pictures of where I spend a lot of my time...

This is the area to the right when you walk in the door. It is my writing center/sign in table/small reading carpet. I think this corner is my favorite space in the room :)


This is just a better view of my sign in table. I especially like my $2 fake plant :) There's another one by my desk.


This is the carpet area, straight ahead as you walk in the door. This is probably my 2nd favorite place in the classroom. Notice a trend? I enjoy the comfy reading areas :)


This is my desk area...I've still got some work to do here. But you get the idea. I have a window view :) Can you find the other $2 plant?

I have one more day of preparation before the kiddos come Thursday :)