Christmas at Home

I am so excited to share my home with you this Christmas! Although it is late, I wanted to make a post for the holidays.

I hosted my first Christmas with my parents and a sibling and enjoyed every minute of the week we spent together. We shopped our butts off, ate delicious food, watched movies and a new show I got my parents hooked on called Designated Survivor. If you haven't heard of it, clear your evening and tune in... it's addicting!

 Now, my family has headed home so I took the morning to snap a few pics to share. So light a candle, turn on your favorite Christmas playlist and sit back with a warm drink in hand and enjoy!

-:- Living Room -:-

Santa brought me The Magnolia Story in my stocking this year. I am dying to get started on it. 

Perhaps my favorite ornament ever... 

The best dogs have underbites!

Poor Mary, her hand is missing!

-:- Bedroom One -:-

-:- Bedroom Two -:- 

My new planner set from Costco by Me & My Big Ideas. My mom and I both got one and what a deal! Two years of planners, two folder files, decorative tapes, planner stickers and fine-point pens. I think it may be the best $25 I've ever spent.

-:- Kitchen & Dining -:-

I received a lot of copper colored kitchen items as gifts this year, one of them being a set of these most AMAZING hammered Moscow Mule mugs from Nordstrom.

 Seeing the trend of hot chocolate bars made me crave a peppermint twist or marshmallow topping all month long so I set up a super easy jar display near the Keurig to do the trick!

This is set up in the laundry room. Nothing quite like a picturesque town covered in snow.

I got another Harry Potter Christmas card this year...wahoo! Someone knows me well :)

Now for planning those inspiring New Years Resolutions.Wishing you and your families a wonderfully blessed 2017 - until next time!

Harry Potter Classroom/Library Tour

This will probably be one of my favorite posts because I am a total Potter fanatic! At a district meeting today, we were talking about how everyone has something they "nerd out" about....well that's Harry Potter for me! I wanted to do a fun theme this year and what's more fun than magic broomsticks and silly flavored jellybeans? I have been busy working on getting my room decorated before the kids come to school next week and it is starting to come together. Take a look and see details below!



                       


One of my favorite details is for sure the library doors as the Platform 9 3/4. I used four sheets of butcher paper and hand-stamped the bricks from a mixture of red and brown paint with a sponge. The sign 9 3/4 is from a poster that I ordered off Amazon. 

I didn't feature this cutie in the video, but I took this idea from Pinterest and just sort of made it my own since I wanted to keep the time and expenses low. The stickers I used really made it come to life, and while the directions may not completely be true, it is the perfect detail to the entry of my room. 

This is definitely one of the coolest parts of the library! Every year I have a new quote on the counter and rather than a character's quote, this one by J.K. Rowling set the tone. I couldn't imagine a better thought to inspire young minds to want to read and create!

P.S. PROUD MOMENT - YES, I PAINTED THAT! :)

Since I am doing the first book as a read aloud with my upper grades, 4th - 6th, I wanted to involve them in Hogwarts activities to play along with. Each week, they will get a point to add to one of the Hogwarts houses. Red would mean they did excellent, blue well, yellow average, and green needs improvement. At the end of each quarter, I have a reward for each classroom, depending on how they scored in the houses. If Gryffindor wins, they get to have a "potions lesson" after checkout. I have several ideas brewing, but Pinterest also has many examples that I want to try as well. If Ravenclaw wins, they get to play "Potter Games" which consist of my Harry Potter classroom Kahootz game and the Harry Potter Scholastic site. If Hufflepuff wins, they get to have a "Butterbeer Float Party". You can find the recipe here. If Slytherin wins, they get to bring a treat from home to eat during class. I tried to make it the least fun so that they would be motivated to act responsibly and respectfully to earn the best reward!

In the video, you will see that in my "Potter Shoppe" I have Bertie Botts Beans, licorice wands, plastic Harry Potter glasses, Olivander's wands, soon -to-be-made chocolate frogs, Potter Pins (HP collectors pins), bookmarks and other Hogsmeade items. In the video, you will also see that I have a Gringott's container full of gold coins aka galleons. For perfect behavior, I will give out a galleon to the students and they can purchase those goodies from me. 

Example: Licorice Wand: 2 Galleons - Potter Pin: 5 Galleons, etc. making the less desired items less expensive and the higher interest items must be saved up and worked for.

Lastly, these are just a few fun details that help set the stage for a magical adventure as we set out for Hogwarts next week! 

Summer Patio Preview

Hi everyone! First off, let me apologize for my absence lately. I got distracted and have been pretty busy the last little while and kind of let my blog take the back seat. I've been working on getting my yard cleaned and prettied up and Chris and I are also in the process of replacing the fence in my backyard, so stay tuned! I've been wanting to post about my yard for a while and since I always welcome each changing season, I put together a little patio preview and where you can get the look!

The scallop gardening pot I have on the right hand side, I was not able to find any online but they do have them at anthropology in gold. The pineapple dish on the veggie tray was given to me as a gift so, unfortunately, I was unable to locate that as well. 

Click on an item below to see where you can get these fun pieces to brighten up your living space!