My Pre-K Classroom

At the end of EVERY year, we have to take EVERYTHING down and pile it onto our tile so they can clean our carpets and then make our tile SPARKLING!!

I know.. I'm an awful packer!!

My mom (who also teaches Pre-K at a Title I school) came and helped me get the basic layout down. After teaching this program last year, I KNEW I needed to CHANGE it from last year! My BLOCKS were in the center and I felt like they ended up ALLLLL over my classroom!!!

After our teacher work week, I feel like I am FINALLY ready to start the year!!

We changed the carpet and shifted the middle island over...

My mom is a PRO at these stuffed animal heads!! 

The library finally has a shelf for puppets, felt pictures, all the fun stuff for them to read with!! (I use this area after snacks as well so they have a place to go to when they're done eating and waiting for circle.)

Okay... So I have a FEW too MANY monkey decorations!!

Yesterday (Friday) we had our Open House.  I was SOOOO excited to meet parents and my new students!! I have some returning students who were 3 last year & it's ALWAYS fun to see how they've grown over the summer!!  

Here's a little peek at my Open House info I give out.. (Anyone who wasn't able to come will get the brochure & info sheet on the first day..)

A brochure the teacher I work with made with all the info for the class..
An information sheet we've adjusted from others we've seen or used previously..
And a cute little book I found on PINTEREST last year (Sorry,  I'm not sure who I got it from.. credit to whoever it was.. I LOVE IT!!)

Practicing Camping

My husband and I grew up camping.. So when we created our wedding registry, we decided to register for camping supplies. We figured why not register for FUTURE vacations?!  We got almost everything we needed, plus the help of my parent's supplies and were all set to go!! Only problem.. I HATED camping growing up!! However, I REALLY want to take our future Bendi's on camping trips.. Solution: PRACTICE, practice, PRACTICE!!

Our FIRST Camping Trip: San Diego

We wanted to take it easy on our first camping trip to EASE into it. Ben and his buddies at work found a campsite at CampLand right down the street of PACIFIC BEACH.  It was the first time I had camped in years and the FIRST time I had ever camped that close to other people.

On the way down there, we stopped at the WINERY our friends got married at and had a wine tasting. We found 2 DELICIOUS sweet wines!

See that RV.. We were all THAT close!! RVs were basically all the barriers we had between each campsite!!

It was kind of a cool location. We were right on the bay and could watch the FIREWORKS from Sea World EVERY night from behind our tent.

I found an AMAZING meal planning sheet I had found on pinterest. Ben and I did almost ALL the cooking and.. mmmMMmm was it DELICIOUS!! I loved the WALKING TACOS and HOBO PACKS. The best dessert by far was these WAFFLE CONES.. You put the chocolate chips, marshmallows, and any fruit you want in it.. Wrap it up in foil.. Throw it in the fire to melt.. And ENJOY!!

We brought our dog, Diamond, with us and she really enjoyed the DOG BEACH. It was so much fun and she was sooo cute playing in the water and with all the other dogs!!

Overall.. Our FIRST camping experience was a BLAST!! I survived.. And now I'm ready to try more MOUNTAIN-y camping.. As long as there's still a bathroom and shower LOL!!

OF COUSE on the way home we had to stop by my FAVORITE Tom's Farm and pick up just a few candies.. Or maybe 5..

WHY I'm starting my blog?!

I am TERRIBLE at taking time to print pictures, cut/paste, and attempt to make CUTE scrapbooks to look back on everything that is going on in my life.. So I've decided to try out a blog!! KEYWORD... TRY!!

I wasn't sure what I wanted my blog to be about.. my life? teaching? crafts?

Like I said.. I am terrible at documenting my life, so maybe this will help me out!! Plus I've seen so many friends make cute blog-books at the end of each year.. What a great way for me!! NO cutting pictures out.. NO spending millions of hours/dollars at the scrapbooking store.. I'm keeping my fingers CROSSED that this is a much easier way for me!!

I look at so many AMAZING teaching blogs, but I don't have that many new things to post.. They all have SOOO many great ideas for their classrooms and make so many cute new handouts.. I'm not so creative.. But, I do LOVE my job.. So from time to time, I'll probably post things about what's going on in my classroom!

Crafts.. So I like to pretend I do crafts.. I pin a MILLION cute craft ideas and I've done maybe 3.. But I do absolutely love to make DIAPER every things.. Diaper cakes, diaper motorcycles.. My new thing is I want to learn to make the diaper changing mats.. Anyways, I'll be putting up small crafts that I do every once in a while! They may not be perfect.. So PLEASE no judging!!

A little about ME!!

Hi Everyone!!

My name is Mindi.  I just married my BEST friend this past month and couldn't be happier! He is such an amazing guy and I am so excited to spend the REST of my life with him!

I am a Special Ed Pre-K teacher in Las Vegas.  I have successfully (or so I like to think) completed my first year teaching in Sp. Ed. Pre-K and LOVED every second of it!! This will be the FIRST time I am staying in the same grade for another year!! I couldn't wait to teach kindergarten after doing ALL my student teachings/practicums in kinder, but starting in a classroom and being the 3rd teacher was not the best first impression.  So... I moved to 1st grade.. Then to 2nd grade. I enjoyed 2nd grade, but when I found out there was an early childhood class open at my school, I knew I HAD to try it out!! I am sooo THANKFUL that I was able to switch down and now FINALLY love to teach!!