A Work In Progress....

Oh boy! Summer is HOT!!!! I have been trying to stay inside for the most part but this week has been busy with Vacation Bible School and homework for my Grad school classes. I just realized I didn't take pictures of VBS. It truly is a wonderful thing my cousin does as a pastor. His heart is so big with love for his faith as well as extending that love to the kids and spreading the word to his youth. I am happy I got to work the arts and crafts/science station with my aunt (aka teammate!). We were busy but tired so today was meant for recuperating. I in the mean time did my homework for classes. 

So my title for tonight is called "A Work In Progress" Maybe this picture will give you a hint why....

Here is Ben after scoring the winning run to lead his team to victory 10-9! He looks kinda strange though.....

Ooohhhhh!!!! That's why he didn't look good. It looks worse today though. He decided to make an unnecessary slide into second plate and later into home plate. This of course is the result of a man who still thinks he is young. Haha!!!!! He has so far ruined one of his white shirts and I got a nice wake up call this morning to my very nice sheets spotted in blood!!!! Let's just say I have become very good friends with Shout! I am sitting in my living room writing this as I listen to my husband in the bathroom screaming and cursing as he tries to peel off the gauze from his scabbed over wounds. I guess I feel bad for him....Poor thing!

These are the times that make me realize that we are not spring chickens anymore. The sad part is that it only gets worse! To all of my readers who are older than I, you are my heros! I am sure you have been through tougher than this but how do you limit yourself when you want to do so much?! My husband could use the advice. LOL! Thanks for reading! Love you all!

Clarissa

Flowers and organizers...oh my!!!

Hello Everyone!

It has been a few days since I posted but that was because my BEST EVER EVER FRIEND (BEEF) came into town from Canada and I had to see her! I miss working and hanging out with my friend. Tricia and I had a wonderful time with her! So excuse my absense this weekend.

Today was craft day! I look forward to these days when I can create things. That is what I consider relaxing! My great and talented friends (Tricia and Amy) came over to craft. We were one a mission....create bouquets of flowers! My best friend Tricia is getting married in October to a wonderful man and I am honored to be a part of her day. Her vision is to create hand made bouquets. (Thanks Pinterest!) I knew this would be a daunting task but I also realized it would be quite fun. Today was to determine which kinds of flowers we would make. 6 hours later (watching tv, fooling around with different cricut cartridges, telling stories, and eating snacks) we finally came up with the "rought drafts" of what would work. I have included photos below. I am so excited. We have an army of crafting assemblers but we need to collect the paper and set a date. I think I may need to purchase stuff for mimosas too! 

This evening was dedicated to creating a classroom craft that was on my "to do" list. I had seen this post on several peoples Pinterest account. Thanks to Rebecca and Tara (two awesome teachers) that both did this project and created this awesome organizer. So excited to fill it tomorrow but I also included pictures of my own.

Snuggles having a lazy day today. She was given lots of love today and she was a little sick. She looks comfy!

Oh geez! This is only a part of the mess I made in the house today. Yes, you are seeing two Cricut machines. I want to see my older one but it's tried and true so I end up using both today. LOL!

Close up of half of the organizer...

the other half...the bottom is empty because I wasn't sure what to put in there but I think I may do crayons.

The bigger flowers without the flash.

Part of the finished product of sample flowers for my friends bouquets.

My sweet dog....

I thought today's blog would focus on something very near and dear to my heart.....my dog! My dog's name is Snuggles and boy does she live up to the name. As you can see from the pictures below, she loves to snuggle with people as well as my pillow. LOL! She is a Pom-a-poo (part Pomeranian/ part Poodle). She was also born the day after we got married (October 2, 2009). We adopted her after my parents realized they were not ready to take care of a puppy. Since then, she has been spoiled rotten with love and attention. She loves sleeping on ALL the furniture and she burrows in our bed when she wants peace and quiet. Sometimes I wish I had her life....sleep in, nap all day, play when I feel like it, eat when I want, and get unconditional love. Ahhh.....it's the dog's life. Although, Snuggles doesn't have Coach bags, so I may have to rethink wanting to live her lifestyle. I love my Snuggles!

Her favorite spot....my pillow!

Chillin' out watching tv

Terrific Tuesday!

Good Evening!

I have survived a terrific Tuesday! (Can you tell the Kinder teacher side of me wanted to come out?) I have the wonderful privilege of babysitting my cousins three children and my other cousins older son all under the age of 10. I honestly have not had a lot of babysitting experience but do enjoy every chance I get to spend time with my family. I had brought over the leftover stickers that I had decided to trash from my collection and let the kids just do whatever they wanted with them. The older two cousins made collages and scenic backdrops using the stickers and crayons. The younger two cousins decided to just stick them on themselves as well as the paper they had. I was thinking of something they could do with these stickers and I just remembering putting the basket on the table and the kids creative minds took over. It was amazing to see. I honestly do not see that anymore in Kindergarten since we have so much to cover in state standards. Why can't we let kids be kids sometimes?! What I saw today gives me inspiration to create lessons for my students to be more creative in their own ways. I can't wait til tomorrow, we are making cookies!!!! YUMMMMMM!!!!!!

I also faced my fears of attending my first of eight "School Finance" classes. The professor was 15 minutes late since he had to drive from Benson (which is about an hour from the campus) and we started off doing.....MATH!!!! I put out my disclaimer during my class introduction that I am horrible and afraid of math. 

His response..."you will get A LOT of practice!"

I could only think "Oh geez! What have you gotten yourself into?!"

The math wasn't really that bad. Although all we had to do was figure out what age I could retire at and how long I actually had to teach to get my full retirement. (I had taught myself how to do that BEFORE I started teaching!) Don't judge or ask my why I had my financial planning done before I started my career but because I am goal oriented, I probably wanted to know when the end was in sight. LOL! We will see what Thursday class brings as far as more math is concerned. 

New Plan!!!! I think I may see if I can keep up with blogging for a month and revamp it into categories instead. I take this inspiration from Pioneer Woman. Of course, she is a woman who does it all but why can't I do it all too? I mean I enjoy teaching, cooking, crafting, my dog, shopping, and a whole lot more that I can't think of but it is just a thought for now. Oh well! Goodnight!

Clarissa

Summer is meant for relaxing....wait! No! What does relaxing mean?!

I am still getting used to this blogging thing so please be patient with me while i learn. My typing skills are off since i am typing on my ipad so excuse my grammar. Today I felt like cleaning, not my house but my classroom. The district has decided to save money which is good but they have decided to turn off the air in my building for the summer. My solution, take all the junk home! So my garage is my temporary classroom for the time being. One of my goals this summer is to become THE ULTIMATE ORGANIZED KINDERGARTEN TEACHER. For those of you that teach or have taught Kinder, it is a very ambitious task. Today's task was to reorganize my entire sticker collection. Well I have taken pictures and am ready to post them but I am too lazy to get out my laptop and upload them. I will do that tomorrow. I think what I have done so far, I am very proud and excited to share my idea. Some may think this was too OCD but I know I will appreciate it. Lol! Well tomorrow I am conquering another goal....babysitting my four cousins all under the age of 10. I am very excited but a bit nervous. I hope that I make it out alive otherwise this may be the world's shortest blog ever! Did I mention I was starting another class towards my masters? I have decided to take school finance. First off the word finance scares the living daylights out of me! It means MATH! I am horrible at math! (thus the reason why I teach Kindergarten math) Ben laughs at me when he has to do triple digit addition form me and even sometimes double digit addition because I take too long. Lol! As you can see, math is not my strong suit. Lets hope school finance is at my level. No, seriously I am excited to make my brain work this summer. I will do my best and try not to ask Ben for help with my homework otherwise it will feel like we are back in high school. Thanks for reading! I am open to any suggestions to making this blog better. I need tips! Goodnight!

Nevermind.......couldn't sleep without putting the pics up. :) 

These are the awesome storage shelves Ben put in our garage for me so  I could store school stuff at home. Our school got rid of our storage sheds so we had to put it in our garage since my classroom doesn't have any storage space.

These are the stickers I own. You will see my finished product tomorrow.....so excited!!!!

Stuff from my classroom.....geez this is going to take the whole summer! Luckily we are not going anywhere!

Welcome to my world!

Hello World,

My name is Clarissa Cristofori for those of you who do not know me and for those who do, thank you for checking out my blog. This is my first attempt at blogging and hope I can become someone who is proficient at this skill. The main reason why I want to have a blog page is because there is so much that goes on in my life and I want to share the ideas, events, and anything else sort of things I feel that I need to share. LOL! I am currently going to Graduate school to earn my Educational Leadership degree. Right now I am a Kindergarten teacher and I LOVE IT!!! I love it so much, I hope to add blogs onto this page of what I do in my classroom. :) Cheers to a wonderful blog beginning! Happy reading!

Clarissa 

P.S.- This is my wonderful high school sweetheart/husband of 2 1/2 years! His name is Ben.