Sunday Smorgasbord!

I'm having the "I'm a bad blogger" guilts today. My bloglette is a bit neglected but work is CRA-ZY at the minute. It shouldn't be but it is!

So to celebrate the craziness and actually encourage myself to blog I'm linking up with Michelle for a Sunday Smorgasbord.

Monday we had an amazing local artist named Terry Jarvis come and visit. He had sessions with all of our classes this week and they love him! Their paintings came up really well!

This week I am in the wonderful chaos of preparing for our grade 3's to be confirmed next week. (I work in a Catholic school if this sounds confusing). It has been almost 6 months of prep and it is finally here! This is my first year in charge so it's been a learning curve but lots of fun...

The display the grade 6's & I worked on, on Friday- the kids names are on doves if you can't tell- it looks pretty good I think!

Although after spending over 6 hours today working on the PowerPoint for the Mass I'm not feeling as excited as I sound but at least it's finished now! I am so looking forward to Saturday night being over just so I know it's all been successful. 

 This is our fat cat Axel. Just because :) He loves milk (particularly out of a bowl full of cereal while one of us is trying to eat it), chewing paper, vegemite, dark spaces and sticking his head into things like mugs of tea, jars of peanut butter, etc. He's a weirdo but we love him!

I've also been baking up a storm this week. I love to bake but I am completely random- I won't bake for a month and then I'll bake 3 things a day for a week. This week I've made a few batches of yo-yo biscuits & choc fudge.

YO-YO BISCUIT RECIPE:

6oz (180g) butter
2oz (60g) icing sugar, sifted
6oz (180g) plain flour
2oz (60g) custard powder
½ teaspoon vanilla essence

FILLING:

2oz (60g) butter
½ cup icing sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla essence
2 teaspoons milk

What are yo-yo biscuits (cookies) called in America? I base all my US knowledge on the gazillion Baby-Sitters Club books I read as a kid and I remember snicker doodles, ice-cream sandwiches & ding-dongs but no yo-yo's. Are they called cookie sandwiches? Hmm..

Hope this was a random enough post and that you stuck with me :)

10 Things I've Learned from Teaching

I have been feeling a bit 'head up in the clouds' at the minute- way too much to do and I wish I had a clone- so I haven't been putting much effort into my blog but.... I had a good chuckle reading Miss Kindergarten's "10 Things I've Learned" post so I thought I would join in!
{sorry about the extremely long sentence!}

1. It's ok to ask for help & ask for it a lot!

2. Tissues & hand sanitiser were made by the Gods- have them in vast quantities.

3. Student teachers who say "oh, I don't drink coffee" are cute deluded things

4. Even on the worst days a poppet will always do something to make you smile. Yesterday it was the cutie who said, "Good Morning Mrs Perry and you look very beautiful today", he is 5, a terror for most of the time and made me smile hard- the sweetheart.

5. Sometimes, no matter what you do you can't please everybody. Yes, I mean "that" parent.

6. When you think you have seen it all- you haven't. Some kid will always do something to surprise you in a good way (the child who reads a level 28 at the end of Prep) and in a "they did what?!" way (like the poppet and her two friends who somehow opened the power switchboard, flicked a ton of switches & managed to short circuit our Admin's computer system.... yep)

7. Somehow it is possible to go through 300 grey lead pencils in 41 weeks with only 23 kids in your class.

8. Excursions always seem like a good idea at the planning time and like the worst idea ever the day before.

9. Getting the glitter out to use with any kids under 10 is a bad idea. Just don't do it {she says as she gets out the glitter}

10. I can handle vomit & pee but find a dead mouse in my room and I'll run for the hills.

A new title & Giveaway time!

See anything different? 
I spent a very late night last week making a new blog header- whattaya think? It may only last for a little while as I keep trying to improve it but it's here for now!

Oh my goodness, I am so tired tonight! 2nd day back, 500 things to do and all my holiday sleep in's are catching up with me! We have PSGs this week and our whole school review tomorrow- everything happening first week back! 
Great two days though, I have missed the kidlets.

Anyway, the whole reason for posting tonight is to tell you all about Amanda's amazing 400 Follower Giveaway over at Mrs Pauley's Kindergarten. 

There are some super sweet prizes including Winner's Choice from my store.

Before you go, have you entered my 100 follower giveaway? Click on the link to enter.

Flash Freebie! and Saturday {Holiday} Snapshots

To celebrate {finally} updating my Getting to Know You pack I'm listing the Australian spelling version of this free in my store for the next few hours. 

Hop to it! And if you do download it I would really appreciate any feedback left. 

While I'm here I thought I'd link up with Miss Nelson for her Saturday Snapshots linky.

Ok, so remember me telling you about that glorious holiday my hubby and I went on last week? Thought I should finally share the pics! 

The view from our room

We went to Hamilton Island for a week where it was a gorgeous 22-24C (high 70'sF) all week! It's winter here at the moment and it's been freezing {for here- about 5-10C- we don't get snow here so that is cold} so it was so nice to go away.

View from the harbour

We took a boat ride to Whitehaven beach for a half-day trip. Isn't it just gorgeous?!

We spent a lot of early mornings and arvo's just lounging on the beach

Almost Sunset

Lounging under a palm tree

 There are no cars on the island so we rented a golf buggy for a day to explore. We loved it!

 

My turn driving!

Back to work this week {sadly} but I'm feeling refreshed and ready for it! Let's see how I feel this time next week... Probably wishing I was back on the beach!

Liebster Award

Julia at The Army Teacher Wife has nominated my little blog for a Liebster Award. I had never heard of this until she emailed me but it is another great way to link up and see other people's blogs.

To accept the award I must:

1. Link back to the blog that nominated me
2. Nominate 5-11 blogs with fewer than 200 followers
3. Answer the questions posted for you by your nominator
4. Share 11 random facts about yourself
5. Create 11 questions for your nominees
6. Contact your nominees and let them know you nominated them

I have nominated:

Lauren @ Love, Laughter & Learning in Prep

Heather @ Berry Sweet Teaching Treats

Rhonda @ Classroom Fun

Mrs H @ Just a Primary Girl

Lola @ PreSchool Wonders

Julia's questions for me:

1. What is your favorite subject to teach?
Maths! I love seeing when my kiddos "get it". I am a trained EMU teacher {basically a reading recovery style program to pick up students who are behind in acquiring Numeracy skills} and this program has given me a much better understanding on how to teach students numeracy skills. Love it!

2. Why did you start blogging?
I had been reading other people's blogs for ages and thought I would give it a go over the summer holidays (from Christmas to the end of January here) and have been really enjoying it.

3. What is your favorite part about blogging?
Getting to "meet" so many other people and get great ideas.

4. What do you hope for the future of your blogging?
To get to know more people and to use it to build my store more effectively.

5. What is your dream vacation?
Europe! I'm heading back to the UK & France later this year but I really, really want to go to Spain which is the last place I reall need to cross off then I'll hopefully head State-side {New York, I know you are waiting for me!}

My "dream" would be to make the flight from Australia to London shorter- it's about 24 hours to get there. Jet lag is brutal.

6. What is your favorite thing to do on the weekends?
Read, go to Yoga and grab a Chai latte while I wander the shops. If I had time do a bit of thrift shopping, get Pad Thai for lunch and duck to our local Art gallery.

7. Where did you go to school?
I went to University at ACU in Ballarat. It was small but I loved it. I have the best group of friends from my time there and a continual craving for profiteroles from the King Bakery. Mmmm

8. What is your favorite children's book?
There are so many! If I had to pick just one, I would have to say Mr Nick's Knitting by Maragret Wild which is now out of print. I am on a search to find a copy.

9. What is your favorite blog to follow?
There are so many! If I had to pick just one I would say Greg at Smedley's Smorgasboard

10. What accomplishment are you most proud of in your life?
Combo Uni/Travel
I am the first person in my family to go to university and I worked my butt off to get there so I am very proud of that. Then actually getting a job after Uni made all of the work worth it. I also have worked really hard and saved like a demon to be able to travel outside of Australia and see the world and I will never regret the sacrficies I've had to make at times to be able to do that.

:) How's that for bragging about myself?! Head is now 10 times bigger.

11. Are you married? Do you have kids?
I am married but no kiddos. My hubby is amazing {drives me crazy at times} and supports me in everything. I am a very lucky girl.

Random facts:
1. I LOVE to read.

2. Baking calms me down.

3. I cannot make an omelette to save myself.

4. Favourite place I have been so far would be Kyoto in Japan or Venice, Italy.

5. I am a Pisces so I am a water baby who loves the beach.

6. I love my Doc Martin's

7. We have a fat cat called Axel.

8. I love to sing- but it is strictly in the car/shower... not for human ears {other than my hubby's, who gets the joy of hearing me sing} 

9. I am going to see Pink tonight!! So excited.

10. My hubby and I got married at the beach in Coffs Harbour. Aww!

11. My favourite book series is Tomorrow When the War Began by John Marsden.

My questions for my nominees:
1. What do you love about teaching?
2. In life, what makes you the craziest?
3. What could you not live without?
4. How long have you been teaching?
5. What has changed the most since you began teaching?
6. Name 3 blogs you love to follow
7. What 3 things make your day great?
8. If you could go anywhere where would you go?
9. What is your favourite time of year & why?
10. Favourite music
11. What is your aim for your blog this year?

Whew! I am still in my pj's & now need to run around like a crazy person to head to Melbourne. Yikes! If you are reading this please visit these other bloggers & check out my 100 follower giveaway

100 Follower giveaway! Yay I made it :)

Holy Coconuts! I go away for a week and I come back to awesome craziness! First things first, I have finally organised my 100 follower giveaway but it could almost be my 150 giveaway... how did that happen. So excited! Thank you to all of the amazing bloggers who offered to help out... it was a huge shock to read the google docs to see the 9 lovely peeps who offered to help & I am a huge fan of all of them. Aw, shucks!
{By the way, one of my cute poppets always says "Holy Coconuts!". I have no clue why but the kiddo is a cracker & I have been using his saying all week}

Please enter below and share the love via fb or your blog. I spilt the prizes into two so feel free to enter both giveaways. Wish I could enter- I have especially wanted Brooke's sight word pack for ages :)

Drum roll please............... 

Clipart from Krista Wallden

Enter Giveaway 1 to win: 
{Cute little daisy frames from the 3am teacher}

  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Enter Giveaway 2 to win:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you for entering & good luck! I will post properly later this week about my amazing holiday and a bunch of other goodness... so excited!

July Currently!

Yesterday I was worried that I'd be away & wouldn't make the currently because it is awesome.... but that's also a bit of a sad statement because a week away from the computer would probably do me the world of good & I should have been more worried about packing!

Anywho, it's time to link up with Farley!

It's 8am here, I just woke up & the washing machine is already going with stuff to pack.... I may have been a little slack! Anyway, we head off this week to Hamilton island! Ah, bring on 22C (according to google 71.6F) as it has been around the 10C mark here for weeks and I am over it!
I have two chick lit books ready to go both by Zoe Foster, who I love.

I'm a little bit excited about my fav salty drink & being at the beach.... I have mentioned margaritas in 2 posts this week so this may be excessive but it's on the list! You can tell, right?!

And to wrap this up, my tip is to not be afraid of being proud of your achievements even the teeny tiny ones {like, that kid didn't throw a chair today, go me... or, yay that poppet used a tissue to blow his nose and didn't lick his snot again} ;). This is why I think blogs are so important because we are all sharing the good and bad stuff, getting inspiration from one another & help. It's good to be proud!

Can't wait to read all the other link up's! While you are here, check out yesterday's post for a link to a giveaway.