Five for Friday: April 8

I am linking up with Kacey over at Doodle Bugs Teaching for her Five for Friday linky! It's been a while since I have blogged and lots has been happening! Grab a cup of coffee and stay awhile; I'd love to share my recent adventures with you.

First up, I got a blog makeover!! I am so thrilled with the results! Jolene Ray over at Paisley n' Polkadots Blog Design was so easy to work with on the project! She was patient, creative, and willing to keep working until I was 110% satisfied. I truly can't say enough positive things about her or the experience. Jolene created watermarks for my pictures (which I hadn't even thought of needing) and also created a header for my FB page so that everything coordinates and is cohesive. She really helped me to create "the look" for my brand. Jolene is a TpT seller and blogger in her own right. As she builds her portfolio, she has been offering discounted packages. If you are looking for a blog redesign or thinking of starting a blog, I highly recommend you check out Jolene's work.

I presented at GAFE Southern Summit a few weekends ago with the technology teacher at my school. Sharon is ah,maz,ing!!  She really kind of roped me into presenting a project we'd been collaborating on with the 5th graders. We added a collaborative project I did with first and second, she threw in her 3rd and 4th collab projects, and before you knew it, we had Google Map presentation!  If you've thought about presenting at a conference, but aren't sure you have the nerves for it.....just.do.it!!  Speaking in front of complete strangers is 300% easier than speaking at your own faculty meeting. #thetruth #trustme

We celebrated Big's birthday with friends a few weekends after his actual birthday which fell on Easter weekend this year.  This is Little climbing the rock wall during the laser tag party. He has a blast, and I found out he's quite the little climber!

When you have a "staycation" for Spring Break, it requires a little imagination at the end to keep the natives from becoming too restless! One of my sweet colleagues had 3 left over owl pellets. The boys had a blast dissecting them to discover what was inside the massive hairball. Big got the smallest foil packet, but his had the coolest bones inside!  If you have a science or nature loving kiddo at home, you can order these online (or beg an upper grades teacher to let you place an order when she does hers). It was a big hit with all of my boys!

Another fun distraction.....roasting marshmallows around the fire pit!  Middle is pretending he has a light saber....a left over from creating tents in the house with blankets and chairs to watch Star Wars. We used to make "tents" when I was a kid and it makes the kid in me happy to see my kiddos enjoying it just as much as I did!

We only have 3 more days of break and then it's back to the salt mines. Sadly, my school reality and my home reality are lining up way too closely for my liking. We are getting the house ready to put on the market because we've outgrown it....which makes me incredibly sad! This is the house we brought all three of our boys home to from the hospital. In the meantime, I'm preparing for a summer renovation at school. Sorting, weeding, packing, and disposing are the words of the week (or is that month....or year)!!!

Wish me luck as I try to make all of my closets look like this! 

And if you have a minute, I'd love for you to check out my Hidden Pictures Numbers 1-30 January-June packet. You can read about it HERE. It's the number 2 item in the list.

It will be 50% off for the next 48 hours.

I hope that your weekend is relaxing and filled with fun!