Back to School

I haven't posted in a while and that is because I have been so busy getting ready for Back to School!!! I officially went back to work last Monday (the 18th), but I went 4 days before that so I could get a head start on setting up my classroom. Here are some pictures of my classroom in progress before the official work week.










Yes... it still needed a LOT of work. I knew I would be so busy between meetings, professional development, PTO lunches, etc. and that is why I wanted to try to start early.

Every year before the school year starts, all Spotsy. County schools staff pile in school buses and ride over to one of the high schools. This is where we participate in a HUGE rally to get "pumped up" for the new school year. This is a big event, as there are 17 elementary schools, 7 middle schools, and I think 8 high schools in Spotsylvania County! Every school wears special matching shirts designed by your school. Riverview is a big "character" school. So our shirts said, "got character?" on the front, and, "we do at Riverview" on the back. They are very cute! :) Here are a couple pictures from the rally.



*My principal and our panther mascot*



*Getting ready to make our big entrance haha*



*the place was packed*


After the rally, we had to sit in professional development meetings for hours..... fuuuuun.
Finally, Thursday, we were able to get back into our classrooms and continue setting up. Here are a bunch of pictures of my room!!!!!!


*my door*



You might remember me talking about making parachutes. Well, here is the finished product!!! I have gotten MANY compliments... so thank you everyone who helped me make this!!!! :)


*Look Who Landed in 2nd Grade!*



*view looking at the front of classroom*


*view of when you first walk in*


*The papers on the desks are for open house*


*my door again!!*





*word wall*




















*books*


*prize boxes-- for good behavior!*

I didn't realize I had so many pictures! Oh well! Now you all can picture what my classroom looks like!!! :)

I got to meet most of my kids yesterday at Open House. They are really cute! I am excited for the first day of school on Monday!!!

last day

Tomorrow is my last day of summer vacation..... back to work I go on Monday......

Who wants a good laugh?

Okay... so yesterday Stacy (my sister) had her wisdom teeth taken out. After she had the procedure done, I received a phone call from her. Unfortunately, I did not talk to her right away in person... my answering machine picked up. The message she left is HILARIOUS!!! She was on her way home with my mom and she is obviously very drugged up!!!! I laughed so hard and just had to record this video to share with you guys... Here it is...

***YOU MAY WANT TO TURN DOWN THE VOLUME FROM THE MUSIC PLAYLIST AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS SCREEN FIRST SO YOU CAN CLEARLY HEAR THE VIDEOS!!!




Just in case you can't tell what she is saying... She is saying, "Hi Cindy...I just got my wisdom teeth out...umm...call me later...umm...come visit me...bye." (notice my mom laughing hysterically in the background!!)

Later that afternoon, when Jared came home from work, he was like, "Cindy, you have to hear this message Stacy left me... it is so funny!" Stacy had called him too!!! And left him an even funnier message than she left me!!! So I recorded that one, too, for you to hear!!! Here it is...




In this message she is saying, "Hey brother...It's Stacy...and I just got my wisdom teeth out...I'm so numb...umm...you don't have to call me back...umm hope you're having a good day at Target...umm...okay...bye Waluwigi...I'm a winnerrrr! bye!"

*Just in case you don't know, Waluwigi is a character on Mario Party who Jared always is whenever he plays!!! Every time Waluwigi wins a game he says, "Waluwigi's a winner!" (winner pronounced weiner!! LOL)

Hope you are feeling better, Stacy! :) Thanks for the laughs. I think I laugh more every time I listen to these messages.... if that is even possible!!! :)

p.s. FYI- I did get Stacy's permission to post these videos!!!! ;)

Time to get in a routine...

Well folks... it is about that time.

As you know, I am a teacher and I opted NOT to teach summer school this year. I have been off since mid-June and enjoying every minute of not working. I have been relaxed and stress-free. It's been a great summer vacation. I am excited to get back into the swing of things soon, though. I am looking forward to setting up my new classroom and meeting my new darlings. (I might not feel this way in a couple months! haha) I have actually done quite a bit of "school stuff" this summer to get ready.

The only hard, scratch that, VERY DIFFICULT part of going back for me is getting back into a normal routine. I have been staying up way too late and sleeping in way too late. Even when I TRY to go to bed at a decent hour, I can't fall asleep until at least 2 am! Teachers have to go back to work on Monday, August 18 (next week!) so I need to start getting back on a normal schedule. We'll see how it goes...

I am going to go tomorrow to my classroom and try to get as much as I can done. I went a couple weeks ago and was able to set up the desks, chairs, etc. I have a TON of things to hang up and set up around the room. My goal is to have my classroom all set up in the next few days so that next week I can use my time planning, making copies, and getting ready from that point of view. Not to mention the many meetings I have that whole week before the kids come on Monday, August 25th. :)

Stay tuned for pictures/updates on how the classroom is coming along. I'll be sure to keep you updated!

P.S. Thank again to you guys who helped me with the "Look Who Landed in 2nd Grade" project. Debbie and Jenny--the coloring on the banner looks B-E-A-utiful!!! Sue Sue and Phoebe-- hope you can move your hands! Thank you for cutting out all those parachutes!!! And mom-- you should really have been an art teacher! I can't believe you free-handed the plane and parachutes. Thanks for helping me!!! I will post a picture once they are all laminated and hung in my hallway!!!! :)

One more thing--- quick note about the weekend. It was great hanging out with you Texans! We had so much fun playing Rummy, Loaded Questions, Game Cube (even though I am not that good haha Jenny!) It was quite a hoot laughing about our neighbor on the left.... and banging pots against trees in the backyard....and watching Stacy, Debbie, and Jared "pinch a nerve" to play Pokey Pummel. hahahaha


"I like playing with you guys... I win every time!" -Jenny

"Cindy, did you just eat pizza?" -Jared

* * E X C I T E D * *

I can't wait until the weekend! We don't get to see our cousins from Texas very often... usually only about once a year. We saw them last month when they came to visit- then we all went to the beach for vacation the same week. We had such a fun vacation and it was really nice to see family from Texas!!! Well....they are coming back this weekend!!! They have a wedding to go to, but they are going to stay the weekend with us after the wedding. I wish the whole group was able to come--we'll miss you Jimmy, Greg, and Badi! I am so glad we get to hang out with Debbie and Jenny at least! We are going to play lots of games! Get ready for rummy, Loaded Questions, Game Cube, ... It will be fun and I am very excited!



AND!!!! TO TOP IT OFF!!!! JARED IS OFF THIS WEEKEND! Jared works all the time and I am so happy he will be able to have fun with us this weekend! :)



Other exciting news...

Tomorrow (August 7) is my sister-in-law's birthday! Rachel is married to Justin, Jared's older brother. I am very lucky to have a sister-in-law like her. We are really close and just get along so well! I wish we got to see Rachel and Justin more often. They live in Florida. We don't see each other as often as we would like at all. (just like we don't get to see our family from Texas as much as we would like) It sucks. I wish everyone lived closer together..................... :(

<3 *Rachel and Justin* <3

*me and Rachel*

I wish we were there to celebrate your special birthday with you! Happy Birthday, Rachel! Thanks for being such a great friend to me. Love you and miss you! xoxoxo

***DRAMA QUEENS FOR LIFE*** haha ;)

p.s. send me some pictures of andy soon. i miss him so much :)

Mamma Mia!

Yesterday, two of my college roommates, Ainsilie and Kendall, came to Fredericksburg! It was really good to catch up with them!!! We went to Olive Garden for lunch. I love their soup, salad, and breadsticks!!! After lunch, we went to see the movie Mamma Mia. It was really good! I loved it. It's funny because it is definately a chick flick. The theater was FULL of women. The only men that were there were old men with their wives. LOL

I really was not too sure about going to see it because I thought it was going to be stupid. *Usually musicals are not really my kind of movie-- although, I did love Hairspray!* I was stupid for doubting it.... it was GREAT! :)



*Ainsilie, me, and Kendall*

I want the soundtrack!!! :)

Newseum pictures!!!

I finally loaded the pictures to my computer from the Newseum!

*Here is me with my cousin Caitlin in our cool glasses ready to enter the 4-D Theater!!!*

*Jared loves this look!*

*Looking down at the newsuem from the fifth level*

*I told you about Jared reads every single thing. Here he is in action!*

*9/11 area... They had the wall covered with newspapers from every state the day after 9/11*

*also this is the antenna from the top of one of the towers*


*close-up of the wall*

*On the sixth level, you could go outside for a terrace view of the capital building*

*Caitlin, Jared, and me*

*it was cool... before it started to storm!*

*Jared and Cindy*

*Caitlin and Cindy*

i can't take this anymore!!!!!

This summer I have become nocturnal. Every night I am up until at least 3 am then I end up sleeping all day! It's funny because when Jared gets up to go to work at 2 am, here I am awake! He is getting ready for work right now as I am typing this blog. Sucks for him!

I don't know why I stay up so late. It's not like I am doing anything super exciting. I just watch all the shows I DVR... days of our lives, ellen degeneres, dr. phil, super nanny, wife swap, last comic standing, house hunters, my first home, a baby story, bringing home baby, hopkins, baby borrowers, BIG BROTHER, and the list goes on...

I am OBSESSED with big brother. I have watched almost every season of big brother and i LOVE it. Now I say I am obsessed, but I am not as bad as some people in this world. There are some people who watch the 24/7 live feeds on their computers and then "update" everyone online on what is happening inside the house. They put the "updates" on a spoiler page with pictures, videos, etc. I do not subscribe to the 24/7 live feeds; however, I am one of those people who read the spoiler pages constantly.


Jared and I have Comcast for our cable television. We have so many flippin channels...way more than we ever watch. We have all sorts of movies on demand. The reason I am getting into this is because out of all the channels we have, we do NOT get Showtime 2. This particular channel is where "Big Brother After Dark" comes on every night. You can literally be a "fly on the wall" in the big brother house and watch the houseguests for 3 hours live. haha It sounds funny, but it is awesome. For Season 8 and Season 9, Jared allowed me to purchase this extra channel, but it charged us about $20 extra a month on our bill. RIP OFF! As if the cable bill isn't enough as it is. I really shouldn't order it because before I know it school will start again and I will not have time to watch the 3 hours a day of this show. My family gets it though. My sister Stacy is more obsessed with it than I am. She watches every minute of the 3 hours of BBAD (Big Brother After Dark) every night!!!! She texts me and lets me know what is happening! Unless it is something really big then she calls me! LOL

Oh, showtime. I can't take this anymore!!!!!!!!!!!! I want to be a fly on the wall. :(

Keesha is my fav. I also like Renny and Dan. I do not like Jessie at ALL.

Well, it is 3 am and I better try to get some sleep. Goodnight. xoxo