Liebster Award

My cup runneth over!  Thank you to Linda over at Tales of a Fifth Grade Teacher for awarding me the Liebster Award!

The next step is to award five blogs with the award--they have to have 200 followers or less.  So, without further ado:

Smiling in Second Grade

The Best Endings

Ms.Rachel's Room

Live, Laugh, and Love to Learn in 2nd Grade

Versatile Blogger Award--WHOOOOT!!!

I headed back to work today (YAY!) and after finishing my grades I checked my email.  Imagine my surprise and excitement when I realized that I was awarded my SECOND blogging award!  I can't imagine this ever getting tiresome because I was WHOOT, WHOOT, WHOOT THRILLED (yep, THREE whoots)!  So a HUGE THANK YOU to Lauren from Life in Middle School for the recognition AND Sara S. from Smiling in Second Grade.  You rock my socks!

Okaaaay, so the rules of the game are as follows:

1. Thank the person who nominated you with a link back to them. Thank you again, Lauren and Sara S! Head on over and check out their blogs by clicking on their links above! 
2. Tell 7 things about yourself. 
3. Pass this on to 15 newly discovered blogs and let them know they've received an award!   

7 Things About Me:

1. I am a small town Michigan girl at heart (GO BLUE) and LOVE my home state and town. All except for that cold, white stuff that they get during their winters. 
2. I have lived in Florida for about 18 years and LOVE the winters here ;). 
3. I put myself through college by working at Longhorn Steakhouse as a waitress and then bartender and graduated debt free because I paid as I went. It was HARD WORK and there was little rest involved because I was also supporting myself very far away from home, but it was worth. Every. Minute! I knew that if I took out loans while going to school to be a teacher, I'd be working to pay off said loans my whole career (due to the pay cut I'd take when I went into teaching full time). 
4. I'm "one of THOSE moms" who thinks that her children are Golden. 
5. Number 4 is a 1/2 truth because my children (three of them) ARE Golden. Retrievers, that is. ;) They have brought my life so much joy and filled many empty moments while my husband was deployed the past three years. 
6. I drive a 2003 Hyundai (another decision made because I was just graduating and wanted a car with low payments and a looooong warranty). 
7. My other car is a '57 Chevy. ♥ 

15 New Blogs I'm Sharing This With

*I'm coming back to edit this one because it took me soooo long to get the post finished in the first place. I am off to find my recipients NOW!

Honored with an Award!

I am absolutely BEAMING! My baby (blog) is so brand new and I'm still learning the ins and outs of how to do everything and then BAM!  I'm awarded an

Click on the award to check out Mommy and Me's WONDERFUL blog!

Thank you to Jacque for such a super-sweet and thoughtful award.  And cute to boot!  I never would have imagined that in my first month of blogging that I would win an award AND be paying it forward already.  I wasn't even really sure what it would be like to consider myself a "blogger" to be honest.  I was a little concerned that I may have bitten off more than I can chew, but truthfully, it has given me a creative outlet and a voice that I hadn't realized had been ignored.

Okay, back to the award:

Rules:

1. Give the "I Heart Your Blog "Award to your favorite Top 10 Blogs that have touched your heart and inspired your teaching by listing them on your blog.

2. Contact that person and let them know of their heartfelt award.

3. When you receive the award, copy and paste the graphic onto your blog and give a shout out to the person who nominated you.

4. Spread the LOVE by passing the "Heart Your Blog" Award on to your Top 10.

Now if I can just try and narrow my choices down to 10.  As honored as I was, as a newbie, I think I'll try and make sure to include some of them...

Teaching with Flair

Smiling in Second

That's it...those are the ten I'm picking (and that was the hardest thing I've had to do all day)!  Thank you, again, to

for such a sweet blessing! I HEART YOUR BLOG TOO!!!