Mele Kalikimaka

This just might be my favorite Christmas Break of all time.  To start with, it was kicked off a week earlier than most for the fam to head to Hawaii!  I've never been more excited to whip up some sub plans and pack a suitcase.  Matt's basketball team had a tournament that took us to Paradise (thank you, Pioneers) where we basked in the sun, ate Sno Cones on the beach--special shout out to the hotel deli run by cute Asian ladies, ate great food, and shopped. 

I could definitely see why people would move to Hawaii...weather was a steady 75-80 degrees and the scenery was beautiful!  We became quite the sport and leisure people which is sometimes a tad outside the Sauder norm (the sport part...we've got the leisure down).  Remember the jean shorts and penny loafers at basketball tryouts, Jana?  Anyway, we got to snorkel, parasail, and hike up Diamond Head, which was much more "sport" than I expected.  Seriously, I was thinking easy stroll as I saw little kids strapped to dads' backs, and old women wearing flip flops making their way down, but I really question how they did that.  It was much more strenuous than I expected and at one point I looked up to see what had to have been 1,000 stairs straight up.  So those thinking of going...be warned.  Maybe leave bread crumbs and wear a camelbac.   

The view at the top was well worth the sweat!

I'll save you the long documentary and just let you enjoy the pics. 





The Kid, naturally, became my photo buddy :)



We also enjoyed Pearl Harbor and a Luau

The roughest part was definitely getting on a plane in summer clothes and landing with snow on the ground.  Home sweet home.  T-minus three days to reality.  

The Lost Shall Be Found

Some could say I've been "lost" as far as the blogging world is concerned.  Others might say I've been far too busy lazy and have seen blogging as a major burden lately.  There are a number of things that could be documented:  Thanksgiving, KC shopping rendezvous with the fam, my current addiction to the television show Prison Break, or my putting off finishing starting the project for my master's class due next week. 

So....what fascinating event wins out to be the first thing posted in the last month?

Two words: Gingerbread House.



Allegedly the house sticks together via frosting...we resulted to a hot glue gun



Mom's love for decorating paid off when she spent an extra hour jazzing up the house.



Final product

 December has come which usually means I'm primed and ready for Starbuck's Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate and Christmas music blaring every time I'm in the car.  However, this crazy nice weather is throwing me off here.  And the fact that the fam is headed for Hawaii in less than two weeks might also be throwing me off this month.  Jana's husband, Matt, has tournaments there for his basketball team, so of course we've all decided to join the fun and support the team.  Bronzing on a beach in the middle of December doesn't sound half bad either.  Aloha!

This and That

I'm almost positive if I were to dig back through the archives I've got another post titled "This and That" somewhere, but let's get past my lack of creativity and catch up on life via pictures.  A few weeks ago the Sauder clan met up in the Bend and enjoyed a weekend together.

The last week has been a fun one filled with enjoying events at the Intrust Arena here in Wichita.  The roomies and I hit the court and posed as some of the biggest OKC Thunder fans ever.  We had great seats behind the goal and were in the section that received the blow up paddle things...you know what I mean, right?  Those bright yellow obnoxious things you bang together when the other team shoots free throws. We loved it, but not as much as the boy sitting behind us who scared us everytime he drilled his together.

Go Thunder!

Kevin Durant....so tall

My second outing had me at the Carrie Underwood and Hunter Hayes concert with my parents.  My dad's business went for an early Christmas party and I lucked out with the extra ticket.  I gotta say, I'm not a huge Carrie Underwood fan, but after listening to her live, she really is very talented.  It was definitely over the top with at least five outfit changes and a crazy cool stage that floated over the crowd.

Ya, that's a portion of her stage transformed into a hot air balloon flying over the crowd.



Beach balls and confetti....she knows how to party.

 Christmas decorations are officially out and I'm counting down to Thanksgiving break.  Not that I'm really dying for a break or anything, I really do think I've got my favorite group of kids this year....but who complains about days off?  Happy fall to you all!

A Magnificent Way to Make Meals!

Like the alliteration used in the title?? If that doesn't scream English teacher, I don't know what does...

I just completed my Action Research class for my masters where I had to choose a problem to study and create a paper/presentation over it.  The official question I researched was, "How will implementing a meal plan affect my budget and attitude?"  Now I hate to give up all my secrets, but I'm no great cook.  Three+ years out of college and I'm still no Betty Crocker.  This research project allowed me to discover the BEST meal planning website ever.  Seriously, best.ever.

You have to create an account, but it's FREE!  It will try to get you to upgrade to some better version for a price, but click no thanks at the bottom.  The site can link to your local grocery store (Dillons, Super Target, Homeland were the ones I was familiar with) and then it will let you know what items are on sale at your store for things you'd need in the recipes you select.

My favorite thing about this site is the plethora of recipes.  You select the types of food and dishes you like, then scroll through the many options of meals.  They include prep time, ingredients, recipes, sale items, ratings, etc.  At the end it allows you to print your grocery list (that they generate), recipes, and meals.  They also have an app for the Iphone.  Search "Food on the Table"

Here's the awesome website:

http://www.foodonthetable.com/

Enjoy! :)

Sock Hop, Anyone?

Need another reason for why I have the greatest job ever?

This past week was Spirit Week for Homecoming and favorite decade day had me in this little number.  I also got to wear my pajamas (my personal favorite day).  I wish I had pictures of other teachers throughout the week.  Let's just say, the Gorillas have some great school spirit.  

Another Year Older

Happy 20th Birthday, Kid! (Wow....)                        

To the most beautiful Cowgirl around!  You sure do have a lot of nicknames--Malibu Barbie, Cowboy Barbie, (Heck...anything Barbie) because of how darn cute you are, but you will always be The Kid.  You are such an encouragement to me and you stretch me to love people well like you do!  If you don't have this gal as a friend, you are missing out because she is a great one!

It's always a guaranteed great time laughing and being silly when we spend time together!  

You're a great vacation buddy and are always up for a good time.  I wouldn't want to share the hotel bed with anyone else :)  Hawaii, here we come!  (T-minus 73ish days)

We've all been more than impressed with the way you're dominating college life and growing up so fast.  Words can't express what you mean to me as a sister and friend.  

Excited for a great Sauder Sisters Reunion next weekend.  Love you, Kid!

I'm Back

I had been doing so good on blogging and keeping you all up-to-date on the latest...until September came, and then it left....so very quickly.  I can't believe it is October, people.  Here's a very quick update--because I'm sure you've been dying for it ;)

I've done some fall cleaning...

Before

After

I've had a very hard time finding a shoe organizer that I like and have room for in my closet.  This spinning one with pockets has been a keeper so far.  (Bed Bath and Beyond) 

Carved a pumpkin with friends

Sad to say, the pumpkin looked so great on the porch for less than a week because of all the rain we got here.  No complaints- just a nasty, soggy, moldy mess to throw away. 

The Kid (almost birthday girl) and I

This past weekend my mom came and stayed with me!  We shopped till we I dropped, ate out together, and we even went grocery shopping and she helped me make some meals to freeze.  Seriously, a great mom!  The next day we drove down to Stillwater to join in Cowboy Barbie's honor of being initiated into the National Society of Collegiate Scholars.  Had a fun time touring the place with her.  We couldn't go 100 feet before she'd stop and talk to someone she knew.  #socialbutterfly

All in all, life is good and going by fast! I'm really enjoying my students this year and my master's class is going well. Get excited for some future posts featuring a birthday shout out and an awesome meal planning website!

Happy Birthday!

To the greatest lady ever....my mom.  You are a woman of great class and sophistication.  Thanks for being such a great listener, advice giver, craft partner, and closet sharer.  You've got the best taste of any mom I know; I'm getting all kinds of compliments on those gold sandals of yours! :)  You always keep that "Sauder store" stocked for me to browse and take yummy stuff back home, and despite what we might say, Question Queen and Polly Planner are always appreciated.

 

You are a wonderful example of a loving wife and g-mom and such a woman of God.  Thanks for the example you set with your life.  But most of all, thanks for being a great friend.  I love spending time with you!  Hope this year is the best one yet!  

C & G's Pillows

I enjoyed a relaxing weekend at home over Labor day and I'd much rather blog than grade the stack of journals staring at me, so here I am.  My mom and I crafted some super cute pillows that I decided we could go into business and make bank on.  Of course our company name would be much more creative than C & G Pillows, but for now it will work. We used two old pillows that we'd had for years and turned them into the cutest throw pillows for my bed!  My bedding is black and white so we made our trip to Wal-Mart (3 trips to be exact) and came up with some black and turquoise fabric with some cute extras to make them pop.

Pillows before- Yes, the front one is made out of jeans :) 

I feel like time and time again I'm making disclaimers of not being a crafty person, but then I show up with another craft. So people, I'm not saying I'm great....but I craft.*  It's official.  We measured and cut the fabric and began sewing the new pillow cases.  Mom even gave me a lesson with the machine!

I'd be lying if I said I did the sewing.  I sat in that chair for maybe 10 minutes.

Once we my mom had the pillows sewn in the fabric, it was time for the fun part of adding pom fringe, flowers, and we even hot glued an old necklace to one.  This is when mom gave me multiple reminders that these are to be used as decorative pillows only.  I guess I can't use these for all my pillow fights. 

Voila!

A closer look.

This guy also turned another year older while I was home!

*Don't be fooled, my mom did the majority of the sewing and was the true master mind behind the craft. 

A Stroll Down Memory Lane

I hit up the bend in the river last weekend to hang out with College Barbie before she made the trek back down to Cowboy Country for the fall.  She's officially a sophomore in college and turning twenty in a few short months....I'm so old.  We were congratulating mom on her success at cleaning out the junk extra bedroom and stumbled upon a box with some old yearbooks from the Lincoln Elementary days.  (Go Lions!)  Now of course to get to this box we had to crawl over dad's old, junky weight bench that he swears gets used three times a week.  Doubtful.  So the room was not a complete success, but so much closer!  In my mom's defense, she had that weight bench out of there and while she was out of town for a few days, Dad managed to bring it back in from the garage.  Hilarious.  In case you're wondering, of course The Kid and I tested it out, and yes, she could do multiple reps while I could not even raise it off its base.  #weakling.

Back to the good stuff-- the yearbooks.  I found the pictures too hilarious not to share with the world wide web....ok, the few of you that read this.  We're going old school with black and white pics as I snapped them with my phone straight out of the yearbook, but enjoyable nonetheless.

Feast your eyes on 2nd grade Gentry...

I think I have teeth, but quite possibly could not.  It was a given that the Sauder girls would wear dresses & matching bows in all school pictures.  Thanks mom.

4th grade Gentry- Still matching dress and hair bow.  Apparently sailor addition.  I distinctly remember trying to talk my mom out of the dress and bow this year, protesting that I was too old now and no one else would do that.  My mom clearly won.  And just as I suspected, no one else wore dresses and bows.  Needless to say, 5th grade I wore jeans and a top...with no bow.  However, due to my desire of keeping at least an ounce of my pride intact, I am choosing not to showcase the 5th grade pic.  Let's just say, the awkward phase had set in, and boy did it choose to stay awhile.

Here's the best part...

This was a sheet I'd filled out in the back of my 4th grade yearbook.  It's all kinds of questions about me- who's my teacher, friends, favorite TV show, etc...when asked what my favorite school subject is, I wrote math.  I literally laughed out loud at this because I now despise math.  If you've been around me at all you know I have major math anxiety and struggle to even help my 7th graders with their math homework.  Seriously, I suck.

But the best part of the sheet is at the bottom.  When I grow up I hope to become a.......teacher.  Livin' the dream people.  Living the dream.  :)  Happy Weekend!

What a Blur...

has me feeling like the last week and a half has simply been a blur!  We've had trainings, inservices, building and district meetings, work days, and "Meet the teacher Night".  Those squirly sweet seventh graders will be back on Thursday and I'm feeling ready.  Now if only I can cut the yawning and kick the caffeine headaches I get due to my withdrawal from Sonic Happy Hour every afternoon.....
Check out what I did with my school library!  Last year was the first time I had one and it sat in the back corner of the room lookin like this-

This year I moved my desk to the back corner and brought the library to the front and added another beanbag and a rug!

Hope to have it get more use this year.  This may be the last you hear of me for a bit with school and classes going on.  And can I just say, when the heck did August come?? Football practices and fall decorations at Hobby Lobby, crazy! 

Classroom Crafting

I think taking classes this summer has kept me in "school mode" much more than any other summer.  In the past I've been out of town the majority of the season (spent about 4 days in Wichita last summer) so hanging around here in school has found me checking out classroom stuff on pinterest, which honestly disappoints me more often than not.  Sorry pinterest lovers, maybe I just don't get it.  I find myself annoyed that they never really explain how they created whatever it is or I see a million of the same thing.  I guess I'm just not a true crafter.  However, with that said, I did find one thing on a teacher's blog that I created.  It's a hanging file folder craft that I'm going to use to keep track of absent work.

I'll start with the end product picture because it might make more sense then.

Supplies:

• File Folders (as many as you want- I have one for each class, 6)
• Scrapbook paper for each folder
• Scissors
• Hot glue gun
• Ribbon
• Command hook
• Laminating Machine

1. Attach scrapbook paper to front of file folders.  I used scrapbook tape.

2. Laminate each folder individually and cut out.

3. Hot glue the sides of each folder, keeping the top of the folder open. 

4. Line up folders on top of each other leaving desired amount at top (I left about 4 inches between each) and mark where you'd like them. 

5. Hot glue folders on top of each other where you've marked them. 

6. Label folders however you'd like.  I taped hot pink mini post-its with the class hours on mine.

7. Hot glue ribbon to folder and hang on command hook (or whatever you'd like). 

This is going to be where I place absent work for students to get when they come back.  Hopefully I will have invested enough time into creating it that I'll actually use it.  

Random, but seems fitting to include these two items I bought at trainerswarehouse.com for my classroom.

I took an amazing classroom management class that will seriously revolutionize my teaching (yep, bold statement). The instructor had this super cute popcorn ball and a great chime to bring the class back together, so I got online and purchased my own.  No more lingering of conversations in room D-2.  Next time you hear from me I'm sure I'll be wiping the sleep from my eyes, reporting back to school kicking and screaming....