Memories from the Three and Four Year-old Sunday School Class

Last year, I had the privilege to help in the three and four year old Sunday school class. So before I completely move on, I wanted to write down some of my favorite moments from this experience so that I can look back on them in the future. These kids have been a blessing to me. I'll miss getting to learn and play with them every week.

1. One of my favorite memories from the three and four year old Sunday School class is when a little three year old would excitedly greet me with "Hi, Caroline!". This little girl was usually pretty quite during class, but always greeted me with a big smile and a warm hug, which always made my day!

2. After the Bible lesson, we would occasionally play hide and go seek inside. The kids took turns counting. It was a little boy's turn to go and count. So he counted, and the other children hid. There were about three kids that decided to hide under a rug. It was obvious they were underneath it because it looked like a little hill. When the little boy came to find them, he decided to jump on top of the rug. It was pretty hilarious (no kids were hurt).

3. One lesson we learned in Sunday school was about how Jesus calmed the storm in the boat by saying "Be still". I remember we had a big blue bed sheet with a boat pinned in the center. All the children grabbed around edges and shook as hard as they could. They loved it. Then we quoted the word's of Jesus, "Be still," and everyone would stop shaking the sheet. It was just a wonderful reminder to me of how God is in control of everything.

4. It was the Sunday after the terrorist attack in Nice. For those of you new to my blog, my sister and dad were in Nice at the event where the shooting took place. If you would like to know more then click here to see the blog post I wrote after it happened. Anyways, a little girl picked out a book for me to read. I do not remember the name of it, but it was such an appropriate book for me to read. The animal characters in the book symbolized God and his people. The story showed how God has a plan for our lives and how He protects us. I wish I could remember more about the story, but it was so fitting after what happened to my family in Nice.

5. On my birthday the last day I helped in the three and four year-old Sunday School, a little boy told me something I will cherish as I wrote his name on his paper. He said "You are someone who cares for me." My heart melted. 

Why do I Blog?

Welcome to my blog! There's really no theme here. You will find crafts, thoughts on teaching, contemplating on God's grace, college & home organization, story times, life lessons and other random posts. If any of that interests you then I would love to have you stick around. Today, I am going to talk about what inspired me to blog!

During my very first semester of college two years ago, I took English 101. I loved this class. I remember really liking it because it taught a lot of grammar, which has always been a favorite of mine. It was an online class, so I never met my teacher. I am not exactly sure what inspired me, but my teacher (or something we read in the class) suggested making a blog. I just remember falling in love with English and loving writing. It was November 11, 2014 when I posted my first blog post. It was the end of the semester, and I was losing motivation. So I wrote about how to get through finals. Sometimes writing about something can really clear your mind and help you to focus.

So I told you how I was inspired to blog, but why do I blog? I blog for fun. I blog to express myself. I blog to clear my mind. I blog so that I can go back and look at my memories in the past. I do care what others think about my blog, but I really blog just because I enjoy it. It's a place I can express myself and not really care if my grammar is spot on. I hope those that read my blog benefit from it too. I hope that they enjoy my crafts, my college organizational tips, my love of teaching, and my reliance on God's grace. It's a place where I feel more comfortable expressing my feelings. It's a place I express my love of crafts and creativeness. It's a place where I cherish stories and things I have learned. On my blog, I can go back and look at lessons I have learned and memories I have made. I can revisit the things I learned from my very first year of teaching, look up the methods I used for cleaning out my closet, or remember the compassion I felt after the terrorist attack on Nice.

How I Organize my Ballet Class

It's been two weeks since I started back teaching ballet. I only have three students, and so far it's been fun. I'm really excited to have the opportunity to get to spend more one-on-one time with these precious students. They all have such different personalities. I am excited to see them grow in abilities and encourage each other! In order for these things to happen, I have to be organized, though. So here's how I organize my class.

First over the summer, I sat down and made a list of what we were going to learn each week. This is always tentative and more than likely to changes. Most of the time, I'll run out of time and occasionally I'll have extra time to fill. It's just a guide line of what I hope my students will learn. It also depends on the ability of the students in the class to how much we are able to learn. So far, my students have been learning rather quickly!

Each year I teach ballet it is a little different. This year I have a "Book of Accomplishments" for each student. The book (as you probably guessed) contains the student's accomplishments. I wanted something where they could visually see how much they have learned. They get to put a sticker by movements and ideas once they learn or do them. I'm excited to see how it works out!

Since I have my week to week agenda already planned out I don't have much preparation to do. Usually, Thursday night I pick out music and come up with combinations for class. If we're reading a book, then I'll pack that up in my bag. I try and keep preparation minimum, but I also like to do exciting things for the kids. For example, I plan to have one day where the students get to make up the combinations for the class for fun. I want my students to learn and have fun. We almost always close with a fun game that they can incorporate their dance moves into.

Overall, I'm really excited about this new school year with these precious students! I think it's going to be fun!

You {Doughnut} Want to Miss This Story

The other day my sister and I went to Krispy Kreme with a few friends. The case was full of delicious looking donuts. Of course, I got one with colorful sprinkles on it. There were not many people in Krispy Kreme except for a father and his six young kids. After eating my doughnut, I went to the bathroom to wash my hands. However, the little girls (there was either three or four of them) who were there with their father beat me to the restroom to wash their hands. They struggled with opening the heavy door, so I helped them open it. Also, the light was difficult to turn on so I helped with that, too. I don't think they said anything to me. I don't remember a "thank you", but I do remember appreciative smiling faces. As they washed their hands, I waited outside the restroom. Their father apologized. Why did he apologize? I have no idea. They were there before me, so they have the right to wash their hands before I do. They didn't cut in line. They weren't rude or rowdy children either; in fact, they were quite the opposite. After they had left and I washed my hands, I passed by them to go back to my table and they smiled at me. Later, after we left, my sister forgot her bottled water so I went back inside to grab it for her. As I grabbed it, one of the little girls waved to me. I thought it was so sweet. They seemed overly grateful for my tiny act of kindness. It gave me so much joy that I could help them in a small way. I was only with them for one minute, but I kind of grew to love them and how sweet they were. As the day went on and I thought about our encounter, I actually missed them because it was such a joy to help them. So I prayed that God would bless and protect them. Helping these children also made me realize the amount of joy I receive when I have opportunities to help children. I love working with kids, and it's always a blessing to be able to help children or invest in their lives. Becoming a teacher, means that is the kind of stuff I will be doing every day! Thank you to the little girls at Krispy Kreme for filling my heart with joy. Thank you for reminding me how much I love helping children. Thank you for reminding me why I am studying to be a teacher. I need those reminders.

Thank you for reading my little story.

A Birthday to Remember

     My birthday was Sunday, and it was one to remember! My birthday was full of surprises. On Friday leading up to my birthday, Sarah, my sister, told me that she wanted to go shopping that afternoon. We went shopping at a few stores, got some popsicles, and then we headed for home (at least that's what I thought). However, we pulled into the Target shopping center in front of a frozen yogurt place. My sister asks "Do you know where we're going now?" I answer with a "no". Secretly, I am hoping that we are not going to have frozen yogurt right after having a popsicle. Thankfully, that is not where she is planning to take me. Instead she surprises me with a pedicure! We had to wait a while, but it was relaxing and fun. Once we finish, I barely have time to let my toes dry because Sarah is in a rush to go. So I clumsily march out to the car in my styrofoam flip flops trying not to trip in them. We listened to Hamilton on the way home. It was a fun day, but it got better.

   When we got home, I walked in the door and saw balloons. I was very confused why there were balloons. Then some of my sweet friends popped out of their hiding places and yelled "surprise"! I was shocked. I'd always wanted a surprise party! It was such fun getting to hang out with a small group of my ballet friends. I want to give a big shout out to Laura for the idea of giving a surprise party and to my mom and sister for doing the planning. Y'all did a great job because I didn't suspect anything, was very surprised and had a wonderful time!

Saturday was a lazy day and we did not do much. Sunday came, and it was my 21st birthday. The plan was go to church and then go out to eat. There was a possibility that Sarah and I might work in the three and four year old Sunday school class. I didn't expect they would need our help, but I am glad they did. It really made my day getting to spend time with these sweet children. I got several hugs, and got in a few good laughs. While I was writing a boy's name on his paper he told me "You are someone who cares for me". My heart melted. That totally made my day.

These are the things that made my birthday so special! I wanted to write them down so that in years to come I can visit these sweet memories again.

Back to School Supplies and Organization

I love school supplies! So in this blog post I'm going to show you some of the school supplies I have bought and little bit about how I organize my school stuff.

The very first thing I do, is I color code. I assign each class a color and then choose binders and planner stickers based on that color. To know more about my organizational method check out my Back to School Organizational Ideas blog post. Next, I label everything, so I don't get confused.

Now for the school supplies! Let's start with planner stickers. I bought a little book of cute planner stickers for 50% off at Micheal's. It has 1,486 stickers so I'm probably set for a long time. I also purchased some customizable stickers off of Etsy for my classes. To learn more about how I use my Etsy planner stickers check out this blog post, here. Want to know what planner I use? Click here.

"Be Still" Pen

Pen & Pencils on my desk.

Now for pens and pencils. I love these gold pencils! I mixed them with my #2 pink pencils on my desk. My pens I purchased from Kristin Schmucker. She has a lot of cute items to buy.

Gold pencils from Micheal's. 

Now, for the cutest eraser ever (purchased from Target)!

We all make mistakes.

What are some of your favorite school supplies to buy? I hope everyone has a wonderful school year! As always thanks for reading! Come back next Thursday for a new blog post! 

DIY: Painting My Desk

With lots of help from my mom and some insight from my grandparents, I painted my desk! The light color really brightens up my room, and I am loving it! Have you ever wondered how to paint a desk? There's actually more steps than I though there would be. I absolutely love seeing things transform into master pieces, so I thought others would enjoy it, too!

Before & After

The desk we painted was a desk we picked up for free off of the side of the road several years ago. The finish of the desk had lots of small scribbled engravings. The desk needed a little bit of wood glue here and there before we could start on anything. After that, we cleaned the desk with Murphy's Oil to get rid of all the dirt.

Next was sanding. This was probably the hardest step. The sawdust flew everywhere, so I would definitely recommend using a mask and safety goggles so it doesn't get in your nose and eyes. Once most the finish of the desk was all sanded off, we wiped the desk down with a tack cloth to get rid of the dust from sanding.

The drawers after being sanded.

Very first coat of paint!

Next, we did the primer coat. Then, we painted three coats of white paint (lightly sanding in between each coat). Lastly, we put on a wax to seal the paint. Once dry, the handles can go on and the desk is done!

Finished Product!

Thank you for reading this week! I hope you enjoyed seeing my desk go from drab to fab!