Another week down...summer is flying by!  Here's what I was up to this week:

 

Happy 4th of July!  I love fireworks and I'm excited that my daughter does too!

 We went to the Dodgers game this week and got a free jersey!

The jersey goes down to her ankles, but she loves it so we're calling it her new sleepwear!

 My copy of Divergent finally arrived!  I didn't realize it was so long, but I'm loving it so far!

 A few weeks ago I went to an amazing Balanced Literacy training and one of the take aways for me was that I need to read more!  So my daughter and I hung out at the library!  I love that she loves it here!

I am going to attempt to make this for dessert today!  I'll let you know how it turns out on Monday Made It!

Have a great holiday weekend!

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Brandi

I love summer and being able to do fun family stuff.  According to my daughter, this week we were officially on vacation since we went away.  Here's some of the fun things we did:

 We spent 2 days at Legoland California:

 

 

 

 We caught some nighttime fireworks at Disneyland:

 

 

 We practiced skating:

then had a backyard picnic:

Finally, we had to get some learning in so we spent some time at Barnes and Noble and checked out the Frozen books:

 

Can't wait to see how everyone's week went!

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Brandi

I'm happy to be linking up with Jennifer for this week's Peek at my Week linky.

This week we are going on a short vacation to Legoland!

We're only staying for 2 nights and spending 2 days at the park, but my daughter and I are very excited!  We've never been and are hoping to have a blast.

Our Disneyland passes will also be blocked out for the rest of summer soon, so I plan to spend a few hours at the happiest place on earth!

Those are some pictures from our previous trips.  We love going for the fireworks and to visit with the princesses!

Please be sure to stop by tomorrow as I'll be posting about a new guided reading book study and don't forget about Thursday's guided math book study. Have a great week!

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Brandi

This week The Teaching Tribune is hosting a Monday Meet Me linky!  I always tell the kiddos that I love talking about myself (which is somewhat true) so I thought it would be great to link up to share some about myself.

Most of this is pretty self-explanatory.  I will be moving to 3rd grade in the fall after having taught 1st, 2nd, and 4th.  I am very excited and looking forward to having some of my kiddos from this past year again.  Last week my daughter graduated from preschool.  I only shed a few tears when the director spoke about each child and said my daughter loves learning about God and hearing and sharing her favorite Bible stories.  That truly made me feel proud.

My favorite shows are Castle, Law and Order (any of them), Monk, and Scandal.  At times I wonder if I should have been in law enforcement!  When I'm working in my classroom in the morning, I start the day off listening to gospel music.  It allows me to focus on what's important as I begin each day.  During the day, I love listening to pop.  It gives me a little boost to keep going.  Unfortunately I don't read as much as I would like, but this summer I have many professional and personal books that I am determined to read.  I talked about them {HERE} and {HERE}.  Finally, I need to keep going with my exercise and get my eating habits in order.  So I want to keep talking about working out with Leslie Sansone.  I love her videos!

Thanks Teaching Tribune for hosting this linky.  I hope you learned some interesting facts about me and I can't wait to learn more about my blogging friends!

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Brandi

I only have 7 days left and am so looking forward to summer.  I am excited going into this summer to take time for me.  As teachers and parents, we give so much to others.  One of my biggest to do's is to do things that make me happy.  I've realized that this is not me being selfish, but me taking care of myself so I can take care of others.  When I saw Marie's linky floating around I knew I had to join.

Here are some of the fun reads I plan to dive into this summer:

I own many books in this series and love them.  They are urban Christian fiction and are easy reads.  My goal this summer is to catch up on the series and read some of the newer books.

A few of my friends have finished this series and loved it.  I'm motivated to start the series this summer and hopefully see the movie (a little late I know).

Finally, I'm making plans to see Wicked when it comes to LA this winter and thought it'd be fun to read the series (or at least the first book) before seeing it.

Looking at this list, combined with the professional books I want to read, I will be pretty busy this summer!  I'm off to see what everyone else wants to read to add to my list!

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Brandi

I hope everyone is having a fabulous Memorial Day weekend!  I was able to spend it relaxing with my family just hanging out.  I've been seeing lots of bloggers link up with Deanna for this linky and I thought I would join in.  Here's my list of 10 things I hope to do this summer:

1. Workout--I really need to get active and eat right.  I have a lot of weight that I would like to lose, but more than that I need to be healthy.  I am almost done with Leslie Sansone's Walk it off in 30 Days.  I'm really loving her workouts and know I will stick with them.  I also love that my daughter enjoys doing some of the walking moves with me!

2. Fun with the kiddo--This is the last summer before my little girl starts kindergarten.  In some ways I'm ready for her to be challenged but I don't want her to grow up so fast!  She's only going to preschool half-day for 3 days a week so we'll have plenty of time for fun.

3. Day trips--Going along with #2, I plan to go to Disneyland, Knott's Berry Farm, and the beach as fun day trips.  I feel very blessed to be able take my daughter to amusement parks with our passes and not feel like we need to do everything to get our money's worth. 

4. Vacation--In addition to the day trips, we'll be going to Legoland California this summer!  My daughter is so excited and I've heard that Legoland is a good place to visit when they're smaller.  We'll be going for 2 days and I can't wait to get away! 

5. Professional Reading--I feel like my Amazon Wish List keeps growing and growing.  Here are some of the books that I will definitely be reading:

  

Other professional books that are on my list include

   

6. Fun Reading--I also want to read for fun.  A friend recommended the Divergent series.  Some friends and I are planning to see Wicked when it comes to LA this winter, so I was also thinking of reading that series.  Any other good reads?  My last for fun book was the 50 Shades trilogy (no judgement please) so I need something new!

7. Blog--I go through these spells where I don't blog for months or so at a time.  I'm trying to do better at being more consistent and summer's as good a time as any to start!

8. Create--My creative juices have been flowing, but I haven't been creating and posting things.  I have a ton of ideas on paper and some half started projects that I'm ready to buckle down and finish.

9. Sleep--My list so far seems so long, but I know that I need to take some time for me to relax, unwind, and rejuvenate

10. Get ready for next year--This is for my classroom and as a mom.  I don't know what grade I will be teaching, but I will be back at my current school.  As soon as I find out, I know I'll be itching to buy, create, and prep for the year.  I also am excited to get my daughter ready for kindergarten.  She's so excited and I can't wait for her to start this adventure!

Now I'm off to see what everyone else is up to!

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Brandi