because of

i was able to spend this past saturday with my nina
to help her celebrate her birthday!
it was great to see her
and the rest of our family
and just be together....
we all had a great time together

but as you guessed....

we
were
sad
flake
couldn't
be
with
us







-----------------------------------------------

on another topic,
my bloggy friend, stephanie, over at because of love

gave me this sweet bloggy award

thanks so much stephanie!!!
it has been great getting to know you and your precious family through your sweet blog!!!

so to accept the award, i followed these rules....
The rules of the One Lovely Blog Award are: Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award and her blog link. Pass the award to another blog that you've newly discovered. Remember to contact the blogger to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

i'm giving this blog award to my newest bloggy friend
amethyst moon over at life, music, laughter
not only is she super funny
but she ties all her post to music
and i LOVE that!!! :)
from the first post i read....i was HOOKED!!! :)

so go check out stephanie's blog
and amethyst moon's blog
and tell them i sent you by! :)

green is good

at school
we have a discipline chart that has colors...you know kind of like a stop light, but we use paws....and we have five colors
i despise the whole negative discipline thing....
but it is what it is...and i do it because i am told to....
but i honestly feel like the kids would get farther in life if we focused on the positives, and redirected the negative..... especially in kindergarten
and this is why i'm on the discipline committee,
and why i feel the need to give my granola (as my assistant principal describes my "hippie" ideas) approach to discipline but until change happens....we will continue with how the world is right now.....

each day, the children start on green,
and move through colors as consequences for their behaviors.
so green is good!
i do what i can to encourage the kids to stay on green (or scare them to do the right thing), and promised them at the beginning of the year an everybody on green paw party if we all could do the right thing for a number of days.....
our goal was 100 days, with every one on green!
i realized quickly that if we got to 50 days....that was going to be an accomplishment worth celebrating.....
so in april....
we finally did it!
50 days with EVERYONE on green!
i set out to find green things....
that could reward them for their behavior....
we had green apples,
green peeps
broccoli
celery
and apple grape juice in green boxes....

i was oh so excited for their accomplishments
AND
totally surprised that i had NO broccoli or celery left over!

friendship and awards

this weekend,

the rambler was sweet enough to give me the friendship award!

i love that! :)

i love friends, even more than i love awards!

so.....

to all of you who are sweet enough to read my blog....

here is the friendship award for you!

ahh .... awards....

goodness don't they just make me happy!
:)
i sure do love seeing other blogs that have awards
i sure do love seeing my bloggy friends receive awards
i sure do love the ideas behind the awards
i sure do love receiving awards

so when i got my very first award, i was beside myself with excitement
so much so,
that i knew in that moment....
that i needed to start making my own awards .....
to gift to my bloggy friends
that way, my bloggy friends would know that not only do i love their blogs....
but they would know i really do care about what they say
enough....to make them a thank you! :)

the l.o.v. awards....

(in the order that photobucket put them in the code)

the "your blog makes me smile, a smile worthy of a frame" award goes to....

brooke for all the stories and pictures of those precious babies!

the "cute as a button blog" award goes to....

randi for being so darn cute!

the "a+ blog" award goes to....

missy for persistence....she's only been blogging for a short while...but her post are fun and exciting!

the "proud to be a blog stalker" award goes to....

allison cause ....she is totally proud to be a stalker...like me!

the "cloud 9 blog!" award goes to.....

the rambler for always making my thoughts wonder with your rambles!

the "you're so crafty" award goes to....

jenn cause she always comes up with cute things to do with her kiddos....and her friends

the "i can't stop hopping over to your blog!" award goes to....

j.a.m. for keeping me coming back for more!

the "thanks for the laugh" award goes to...

leah for always making me laugh .... (seriously, i'm still laughing about this post)

the "love" award goes to....

baby steps for making me fall more in love with my precious nephew through each post!

(..... hint hint!)

the "your blog makes me think" award goes to....

mrs. goodneedle (my m.i.l.) for always writing things that are though provoking....and reminding me daily...that life is good!

the "like omg i love your blog" award goes to....

danielle cause for real....i love your blog!

the "prince charming didn't look this good" award goes to....

aly for always having the perfect picture to help tell your story

the "i am stuck on your blog!" award goes to....

all of you!
and every one that i follow

cause seriously...

i'm totally stuck on all of your blogs!!

now....here are the rules....for the l.o.v. awards

take them....

and....share them

please take the one you were gifted

and any that you really just want!

:)

and try to come up with your own awards!

it was totally fun!

AND don't forget to take the friendship award! :)

gotta love blogging

so blogging makes me happy
for so many reasons
but my favorite reason for continuing to blog is simple....
friends
real life friends....and my new bloggy friends
:)
you guys keep me coming back time and time again!

one of my new bloggy friends
the rambler
was sweet enough to give me my second award!
yay!
thanks so much!!
i'm soooo excited!

and in the fashion of accepting awards...
there are rules...
so ....here they are

First, choose a minimum of seven blogs that you find brilliant in content or design. Secondly, show the seven winners' names and links on your blog, and leave a comment informing them that they were prized with “Honest Scrap". Well, there’s no prize, but they can keep the nifty icon. Lastly, list at least ten honest things about yourself.

since i gladly accept the fact that someone thinks that i am...or my blog is .... brilliant....
i will totally follow those rules!

i'm gifting the award to these 7 bloggy friends
(fyi: i know none of these people personally....but i'm using this award to let them know how much i love their blog, and how much their stories inspire me....in other words...i find them AND their blogs...BRILLIANT!)

annalee ♣kara ♣shawni ♣wendi ♣mckmama ♣angie♣emily
check them out! :)

for the second part ..... 10 honest things about me....

• i adore my relationship with god....but i strive daily for ways to improve it!
  
• i love cold weather .... probably because i'm hot ... all the time!
  
• my body's ability to regulate calcium....is pretty much zero....
  which has resulted in pretty much all of the health issues that i have had (i.e. kidney stones & chronic kidney infections, constant migraines, gall stones (and eventually having my gall bladder removed) degernative disk disease, issues with healing (allison & danielle...remember my broken arm...) brittle bones/teeth, fibromyalgia)
  
• i am a very picky eatter.....which i'm quite sure stems from the fact that i have texture issues with food .... and the reason i could eat the same thing for days on end with out getting sick of it
  
• my side of the bed....is always the side closest to the bathroom....so when we go places.....i switch "my side" depending on where the bathroom is....poor flake...he'll get used to it one day! :)
• i don't like to drive....well, actually, i don't mind driving, when no one else is around, but when other drivers get on the road....i get very very nervous....
  because of this....i find ways to get where i need to go, without having to get on the highway! :)
• i can hold entire conversations in my sleep.....flake uses this as his party trick! :/
• one of my dream vacations is to .... sesame place .....
  flake says we have to wait to have kids before we can go
  i think that is silly!
  for some reason he thinks.....it isn't for adults!
  seriously.....what is wrong with him?!?!
  
• i am very particular about some things (i.e. how the clothes are hung in the closet, how my underwear is folded....to name a few), but could care less about other things (i.e. the bathroom drawers!)
• i despise the taste of toothpaste....and because of that, i hate to brush my teeth at night...only cause i can't chew gum after i brush my teeth, like i do in the morning!

ok....that was hard!
(but the sad thing is....there is so much more i could say!)

thanks rambler,
and everyone....
for making blogging addicting and fun!

(for those precious bloggy "friends" that i gave this award to.....you don't have to gift it along, i just wanted you to know i love your blog!)

random

its ok to be random from time to time
and this is one of those times for me
--------
random part 1
jam tagged me a few days back with a picture challenge.
the fourth picture in the fourth folder challenge
since i had already done that challenge a few weeks ago
see here
i tried to come up with a new way to complete the challenge for her
you know like 5th picture in the 5th folder...
or something
then i found myself looking through pictures....
and trying to figure out....why i shouldn't post them all....
i have so many favorite pictures......
i guess that is why they are all somewhere in a frame....
looking back at me daily
:)
so i decided to post a few for you!

this is me and my best friend robbie
playing outside
on a hurricane day
(you know, its just like a snow day, except you are out of school because of a hurricane instead of snow!)
we had a blast that day! :)


this is me and the flake
sitting on the stoop outside my old apartment the day i graduated from uncg.
it was a great day
for oh so many reasons
either way, i adore this picture
i have it sitting on my desk at school...to remind me of how special each god given day is


ahh what a great day!
:)
getting married to my flake :)
surrounded by our loving family and friends....
what could make it any better than this?!?!
in my case...
it would be...having my daddy be the one who marries me and my love! :)


ahh relay for life
i was there with my team from school
and our theme was something to do with disney
but for some reason we had a lot of swimmy things
so i felt the need to wear the floaties
one problem
i couldn't put them on, when they were inflated
so flake decided to blow them up for me....once i had them on!
the reason i love this picture....
other than it is cute
is that my friend amanda told me...that by seeing this picture, she knew flake was the one for me! :)


fourth of july
before the fire works
at roaring gap country club
i still can't stop laughing
as all of us....
walked up to the club....
with our tarp
and our cooler of drinks
seeing the looks on all the "classy" people
who were dressed like they were going out for a night on the town
with their fancy table to sit at
:) it was completely awesome!

i could totally look for pictures for days! :)
thanks jam for letting me share memories with all of you!
-------------------

random part 2....
the other day i posted .... would you rather
i loved reading all your responses!
:) they were so great!
baby steps asked what my answers were....
so .....
here they are
would you rather eat leftovers or eat a school lunch?
leftovers.....but if i got my choice i would eat pb&j ever day! :)

would you rather use the kiddie bathroom in the classroom or hold it?
hold it.....
as much as my urologist would hate to hear that....
i hold my pee until 1:05 every day.....
unless it is a "stone passing" day....
then i go like 30 times a day! :)

would you rather tie shoes or blow a nose?
99% of the time ...... i don't do either!
:)
mean?!?!
probably!
for shoes....i say....ask a friend to help you
for noses....i'll coach them through it....but the only time i help hold the tissue is if they are having a bloody nose....

would you rather use liquid glue or glue sticks?
personally i think it depends on the project at hand....
but when it comes to the kids....
i want them to use liquid glue.....just so they learn the concept
but ..... i do give them a choice from time to time .... depending on the project! :)

would you rather sit in a little chair or on the floor?
either is fine
it depends on what they are doing
i sit in the chair if we are all at a table
or on the floor when we are working in a group
i don't care either way
however i find it very funny when parents come in to talk to me, and i have them sit in a little chair....
most of the time they look at me like i'm dumb!

would you rather put things away the right way or allow the kids to do their best?
i let the kids do it all the time, i mean, if they made the mess, they clean it up...right??
about once a month, i pick a specific center to go into .... and will talk to them about how we should clean it up the right way....
but other than that....i let them do it
and .... for the most part....they clean things up the way i would like, because of a lot of modeling on my part at the beginning of the year! :)

----------
random part 3
thanks to the rambler
for teaching me how to make a button
:)

<a href="http://sunflowers-n-lov.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img border="0" alt="Photobucket" src="http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p38/igotduckies/wid.jpg"/></a>

so....now your job
take it!
put it on your blog!
and if you have one ..... tell me so i can steal it for my blog!
and if you don't have one.... tell me, and if you need help making one.....i'll do what i can to help you make one or make one for you! :)
also....
if you get a button,
tell all your friends to grab it,
and to make one too!
:)
its fun!

--------
random part 4
i said a few post back that i wanted to make my own blog awards
i've been busy doing this!
:)
but now, i want you all to have them.... all!
:)
but i really have decided that maybe it would mean more if each of you got your very own! :)
so today i'm going to gift just one
to hannes
who is a guest blogger on mrs. g's blog from time to time....

cause hannes, you're the reason dogger and blogger rhyme! :)

blog stalking #6

blog title: jam's own reality
author: J.A.M. (just a mom)
the goods: jam found me through batw
i don't know her
(in real life)
but as soon as she left a comment on my page
i went to hers
and became attached to her blog!
i love it!
on a daily basis,
she makes me smile
and laugh!
you can tell through her blog that she is an adoring wife and mom
and she blogs about the people that mean the most to her
and i must say that even though i don't know jam,
i feel like i get to know her more each day
and i thank her for letting me into her life!

the other day.....i was quite excited to receive my first blog award from jam
she gave such a great reason to gift the award to the bloggers she did....
her only rule....was to pass the award onto others...
i'm passing the award onto blogger friends
who make me smile
that....is my rule!
so i'm giving this sweet award to....

brooke
allison
danielle
leah
mrs. g
marcia
aly

thank you all for continuing to make me a happy blog stalker!
and thank you jam....for thinking of me, and giving to me!

and.....
ive decided to come up with special awards of my own
because....
it would be fun!
:)
so be looking for that!

happy blog stalking!