Fantastic February

February has been super busy! If you could see my planner-you would be amazed at how I'm still standing. Well actually, I am at my momma's house catching up on my shows. I am taking a break from studying and working on first grade stuff to blog! We have been so busy in the first grade world. :)

We celebrated Groundhog's Day with making a cute book using a super cute unit by www.lifeinfirstgrade.blogspot.com and a cute snack idea from Pinterest. They had to guess whether the groundhog would see his shadow or not by flipping their cookies. Then we watched the cute little groundhog while enjoying our snack. We never have time for snack so this was a big hit!

February is still going strong. We had our V-Day party on a Tuesday (why is still the ?)! Ha! We had a filled week with cute Valentine activities. They made the cutest Love Bugs. They had to write about their LoveBugs and several of them were very creative. They were precious!

Blake joined us for lunch that day and brought me these beautiful flowers! :) We didn't get to celebrate because I had class till 9pm on V-Day! One of my little boys was extremely jealous of him and my girls were giggly. Oh first grade love!

On Friday, Mayor Fuller of Opelika came and read to us. They were so good for him (whew!). Then we did Abby's The Sweetheart Snatcher and boy was it drama filled! I pretended that someone stole their heart candies and he left them clues. They had to infer and figure out where he left the candies around the school. It was great! Of course there was crying, excitement, running, and screaming but they had a blast figuring out where he left the candy hearts. Then we did several activities with the hearts and ate them that afternoon.

I'm enjoying my three day weekend with studying, first grad stuff, and a nap here and there! :) The kiddos come back on Wednesday and we'll be reviewing lots all while celebrating Snowmen and other fun activities. Before I sign off and get back to studying...here are some pictures of a typical evening of me "trying" to study at home and a sweet note from one of my students.

He's getting so big! I just love my boys!

Southern Love,

Tricia 

Christmas Vacation in February

I am so behind in blogging! Life, at the moment, has me super busy with 17 first graders, graduate school,    Plains Reading Council, selling Mary Kay and Scentsy, super fun Pinterest Parties, and did I say graduate school and 17 first graders? I knew I would be busy, but I wouldn't change it for the world!

I have so much to blog about but I need to back up...I noticed on my last blog, I said coming soon....Pigeon Forge and Chick-Fil-A Bowl! Ha! I guess February is coming soon! :) I thought I would do some random blogging to catch me up for the month of January, and then hopefully it won't be March before I come back with more exciting things!

Blake and I took a mini vacation during Christmas Break. We didn't have much money but we wanted to do something! Blake, my hunky outdoorsy boyfriend, wanted to go to Pigeon Forge. I did talk him out of camping! (Uh...no!) We found a really nice but cheap place to stay and enjoyed our time touring Gatlinburg, hiking, and shopping in Pigeon Forge. He had a day to choose what he wanted to do and I had a day to choose what I wanted to do.

His day consisted of "pushing" ourselves. By "pushing" ourselves, I mean he decided that we should take a 13.2 mile hike up to, across the Appalachian Trail, and back down in SNOW and ICE come to find out. At first, it was so exciting and beautiful! God's amazing landscape is untouched and hidden unless you decide to take the challenge and hike to its beauty. God definitely wasn't going to let it be an easy view to see, but it was BEAUTIFUL. No words can describe walking through fairyland of ice and snow, until after about the sixth mile, then you are just ready to slide down the mountain. :)

The beginning of the hike...I had no idea!

We crossed about three of these bridges and then some passovers involved hopping rocks! 

The higher we climbed, the more of this we saw, beauty! 

Almost there-the jacket did come off a coupe of times because it was so hot!

The TOP!!!! (Appalachian Trail)

I had aches that I never even knew existed on my body-it was my own fault. I should have went to the gym longer. I did keep a consistent walk the entire time and took very few breaks-only to stop and wait on Blake to catch up (haha-not kidding).

My day consisted of FOOD! We ate at the glorious Apple Barn and shopped until it was time to go home. We were extremely sore and dragged our legs. They felt like heavy weights but I wasn't going to let that stop me! Everyone needs to eat at the Apple Barn. I had the best trout cakes, apple fritters, chicken noodle soup, mash potatoes, and cream corn. They give you ample food and of course it was all too good to let go to waste!

We had a blast on our vacation and that same weekend, my dad was so sweet to give us his tickets to the Chick-fil-A bowl. We road in with other AU athletics staff, went to Fanfare, and made some new friends at the game. It was so much fun to watch my sweet AU tigers play and demolish Virginia. They did an outstanding job and I know they are already working hard for our 2012 Football Season. I can't wait!!

Augie Update: He is growing up way too fast! :) Milo and Augie are becoming best friends.

He loves his big boy bed but mommy still makes him sleep in the crate. I found a shoe chewed on last week...

Well, I have so much more to say but this post is entirely long enough, and I should get back to my conference. Yes, I am at a reading conference and multi-tasking (break). :)

Southern Love,
Tricia Adams