Ipsy GlamBag August 2015: Prep School.

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It's been awhile since I've done a review/revealing of on of my glambags and so I decided to start doing that again. I think the last time that I shared my bag was back in 2014...I think October...too long ago! But I still love the surprises that I get in the mail! I love these bright pink packages in the mail!

 It's actually pretty early that I got my package! Usually it takes a bit longer for it to get to Hawai'i, so I don't normally get it until the end of the month...but this time I got it today! Yay! The second week of the month, so that's pretty cool! I'm pretty impressed! :)

This month's theme is Prep School...understandably so since for the most part, school does start this month. So, with Ipsy: Glambag...it always gets shipped in the beautiful bright pink bubble envelope and most everything is usually in a little makeup bag...which I absolutely LOVE! Because I can never have too much of those! I have enough now that I can switch it out in my bag and give away just because presents to my friends in them! They also give you a card to let you know what the theme is about in-case you don't go online to see what it is. I wish that they would tell you what is included in the bag though, I think that that would be more use to me than a card that says the theme.

So these are the items that I received in my bag; first glance.

At first I didn't know what this was! I thought it was mini perfume bottle or something...but when I opened it I realized that it's a lip gloss! So cute! So tiny! It is the Deluxe LipSurgence Skintuitive Lip Gloss in Energy. It goes on fairly sheer and just adds a nice gloss to your lips.

Ever since I started receiving my GlamBags (and BirchBox) I have never had to buy eyeliner and for the most part, the eyeliners that I've received have been pretty good! And so, I'm excited to be using this one! It's called the Luxe Longwear Eye Liner Pen.

This looks to be a one use face mask. I love face masks! I use them often as part of my home spa treatment. This is the Juara Skincare Turmeric Antioxidant Radiance Facial Mask. According to the site, "Free of Parabens, Phthalates, Sulfates, Mineral Oil, Gluten, Artificial Colorants and No harsh Chemicals."

Between the lipgloss (I adore lipgloss!) and this, I can't decide which I like the best in this GlamBag! Because anything that can make my hair smell amazing is a favorite of mine...! :) This is the Marc Anthony Nourishing Argan Oil of Morocco Oil Treatment.

Ofra Comsetics Lip Liner in Wine. I already have this...but I use it all the time! It gives the perfect tint to my lips that it doesn't look to dressy, just casual...enough to give my lips come kind of color...so I really like this lip liner and I'm glad that I got another one! :)

And so that is my GlamBag for this month of August! I'm so impressed with the shipping this month...and I am pretty sure that I will be using ALL the things that I received this month! Yay! :) Remember, is you would like to subscribe, please use my referral link right here! I think that it's worth it! :)

Eventful day.

Well, not really...it really was an eventful day...but not that eventful...just, lets just say that I'm glad that it's over...because I really was stressing over it for awhile. Today the two main things that happen was 1) we celebrated my DollGirl's school birthday. Even though her birthday is tomorrow, we did celebrate it today because since she only comes to school on Tuesday and Thursday, she won't be here for her actual birthday. And 2) Open House/Parent Night.

I'm not always so worried when we have Open House or Parent Night...just this time it was a lot different from how I would do it in my other schools that I've taught at. But I guess it was my fear of the unknown that made it worst than it really was. :)


For her birthday, DollGirl brought the class brownie bites. I made her a birthday crown and let her choose several toys from the birthday chestbox. I was so proud of her as she shared her brownies with everyone and everyone was so cute greeting her happy birthday.

She really does have a sweet soul and I hope that she never changes. I love how I get the children SO young...and my prayer for them is to remember the innocence that they possess now for when they grow older. It is very rare that I get a child at this age who has a bitter soul...and I love watching them grow and develop their character and personality. And, of course, my DollGirl is no exception. In this cruel world, I hope she retains her curiosity, her initiative, and her loving personality. I love this girl so much.

I actually just got home from open house...and I have to say that now that it's of the past, I can concentrate more on pressing matters in life...but I'm glad that it happened. It was only 1 hour long with about 1 more hour of getting to know and mingling with each other. I love how the parents were able to get to know each other since some of them won't get to see each other since their child comes opposite days from theirs. I was able to see several numbers exchanged so that play dates could be planned out...and I think that it's good place for parents to also find friends...and also for them to get to know me and explore the classroom.

So, I purposely made these welcome packet for them to take home so that they could get to know me and reminders and just articles that talks about children development the reason why we do what we do in the school. Our school concentrates on emotional/social behaviors and I really like that. I do do some academic things as well...but I like how we concentrate on developmental social behaviors, which I think is very important.

So, before I go and do the rest of the things that I have to do tonight, I wanted to show you the new cubbies that I got for my classroom! I LOVE THESE CUBBIES!!! I love how they have a slot on the top for the papers that I have to give to the parents. It's so convenient! So that is where I put the welcome packet for the parents...so that's pretty cool.

Well, I am glad that I survived Parent Night...and SO glad that DollGirl was able to celebrate her birthday at my school. :) Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, but as soon as school was over, I went hoem to take a shower before going back to school for Parent Night...and I got my GlamBag from ipsy! So I opened as soon as I returned from Parent Night...so I wanted to create it's own review post about that...so that's what I'm going to do!

Distraction, please.

I need a lot of distraction...please. I don't normally ask or even want distractions in my life, there are enough already that I don't go looking for them; they are usually constantly right there, like SQUIRREL!!! :) In less than a week my parents will be returning to the mission field in the Philippines for who knows how long...I don't even know when I will be talking to them after they leave! I don't want them to go, but I am not going to beg them to stay. They already know that I want them to stay without me asking/telling/convincing them to stay. I am not going to go against what God is impressing them in their hearts to do.

That being said, I am trying to distract myself from this empty feeling in my heart. I am painting my nails right now...

...the first part is a shimmery blue/green color. I think that I'm going to do my nails in somewhat ocean-y theme...but for right now (tonight) I will leave it like this (still need to put a clear coat onto it!) I used two colors to get it this shade. The first color was from Avon.

The second color was the Color Club 3 polish that I got from one of subscription boxes that I have and I love this shiny, shimmery color to it! I have so much nailpolish that I sometimes forget the ones that I don't use as often but I like...and this one is one of those!

So, I know that it looks pretty plain...and I don't normally do just a one color type nail...but for now, it works. I need to let it dry a bit before I attempt to go to sleep. Yes, I move around a lot...but if I tell myself NOT to move for the first 30 mins, I'm okay nail-wise....So I have to wait for a bit....

Tomorrow, IF I have time I will add more design to my nails, but for now, this is it. :)

My classroom is getting along...today we were learning about our "feeling/touch" sense and so we did bubble painting with bubble wrap. I just added the primary colors (red, blue, yellow) and told the kids to mix it around on the bubble wrap and then when they were done we pressed a white sheet of paper on it and got a print of what they did. They LOVED doing that...so that will be a project that we can do again in the future. I've done this project several times with former classes and they loved it as well...so it is a loved project. I think they turned out pretty amazing to.

Since it will be Open House for the parents tomorrow, I'm glad that I have several art pieces that I can put up that the kids did. It's always a challenge when Open House is in the beginning of the school year. But it was good though because originally we were going to have Open House a week earlier...so the 1st week of school...but it is good that we are having it tomorrow, during the 2nd week of school...so that parents can get a feel of what is happening and then ask question from there.

Speaking of Open House, I have been trying to get my classroom ready for Open House...for the most part, it is ready...it was ready the first day of school, but that there are "projects" that I have been wanting to do in my room to make it "my" room and how I want it. One thing that I was able to do was....wait. First, let me say that it was decided that a refrigerator would be put in my room. I didn't want it in my room...but it had to be in my room and so I took full advantage of it...that being said this is what I had done. 

I like how it turned out. I plan on using this several different ways...since this was the first time, I used the "Question of the Week"....and then during Circle Time I asked the what they liked...my original question was, "What are your favorite things to see?" But I changed it to something more simple...and these were their answers! I like the little magnet people because in the future I can ask question like "Who went to the beach this weekend?" and they can place their little people on either "I did not" or "I did!"....like a chart bar chart or something, but with people...so yes... I was able to get this up for Open House tomorrow.

Another thing that I have been working on was Binder Organization. I bought the 1.5" colored binders from Costco and I am going to use them for the organization of my curriculum units and the children's portfolios....I think that I've pretty good so far...but I have a lot more to do. Slowly I have been adding different activities/artwork in each binder....and I will always continue to do so...I also need to make cover pages and side titles for the binders...because right now it looks like this...

 

...so it is getting there. :) I love an organized classroom. :) 

 Well, I think that my nails are dry enough to attempt to go to sleep now...at least lay down. Goodnight!

Making Over Cradle Roll.

My amazing sister, who has a huge heart, has decided to take on the Cradle Roll room at Kailua SDA Church. She has suckered me into helping as well. But I'm just the accompanist. That's okay though because I'm most comfortable around kids...and since Cradle Roll is 0-3 years old...this is right up my alley. I will say that I do not give her "advise" unless she asks for it though since technically this is her classroom...I won't tell her how to teach it. I think that she is doing an amazing job at it to. It takes a different kind of heart and person to teach. No matter the age group.

Well, when her and her husband took over the church told her that she could remake the room over again. I wish that I took before pictures...because wow, you a coat of paint makes a HUGE difference in the room! The color use to be all tannish color...a VERY neutral color. There is very bad lighting in the room so it made the room look really dark and not very welcoming. So during work-bee today, we got together and painted the room a light blue and Kuya Neal and I painting on the starting layer of the grass...and I think that it looks A-MA-ZING! And like always, painting was VERY therapeutic.

I had already had a very long week...and I seriously went from one job to the other to going to the church to help at the work bee and support Mandy since it was her school that we were working for. I really didn't want to go because I just wanted to sleep, but when my sister told me that my parents were going to be there, I decided to come. But, my mom came down with a very bad cough and couldn't go...but my daddy was there. I don't even want to THINK about how hard this next week is going to be knowing that it will be my parents last week here with us until they go back to the Philippines to be missionaries.

But when I got there, Neal, Uncle and my dad were painting the room blue already (I was doing with Passion Roots job at 2:pm and the work bee started at 1:pm) and so I grabbed a brush and helped. I had fun. :) The paint dried REALLY quick and my sister had to go home and feed the baby...so Neal and I were able to paint the grass.

I liked how Neal got TWO different greens for the grass so that it wouldn't have to be just one green color. He said that it was for the accent color. :) So, first Neal rolled a thick paint strip of green on the bottom and then my sister and I experimented with how we wanted the grass and then she went home. Neal finished her green color...and I started doing the mint-green color and I LOVE how it turned out!

I think that it looks good...my sister wants to paint a rainbow and a tree and add clouds...and I think that would look so nice! :) Someone is also going to donate new furniture for the room as well...and I think that my sister is going to do well for this room. I know it. She said that she wanted to take on this room because she has seen an increase of new parents coming in...and she wants to be able to connect to them as well and create a place where they can feel comfortable and meet other parents and talk about how parenthood and something like that. She also said that she likes this age...and I know what she means. I like this age to. :)

I'll post more pictures up as we add more to the room. I'm excited for this room. I know that I loved doing my classroom and designing it and creating it...and so I know the excited feeling my sister is feeling...so that is good. :)

It's been awhile.

It's been awhile since I've posted up anything about weddings. I am surrounded by them on a daily basis...that sometimes...well, a lot of times I don't take pictures of all that I do. I love my preschool job. I really do...yet, I also love my wedding/event designing job. Both jobs are highly demanding jobs, but both jobs are so rewarding. I love flowers and being a florist, I am constantly around beautiful flower and people. I am so blessed that I am have TWO jobs where I am the most amazingest co-workers AND bosses! I really wish that I took a picture of the cupcakes that my boss brought us this morning. We worked REALLY late last night and so today she brought us bagels and cream cheese, Cinnamon bread, energy bars, COLD water bottles, and cupcakes. We LOVE cupcakes! We are always on crunch time...yet, my amazing boss yells out admist crazy time, "Guys! Don't forget to eat your mid-morning cupcake!" Who does that?! Does any one else have a boss that looks out for you like that?! Today, she bought us, chocolate chip, chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. Yummy! I didn't have time to take a picture of it because I was too busy eating my mid-morning cupcake and creating flower cake flowers for the wedding cake! *laughs*

These were the gorgeous beauties that I got to work with today. These are the flowers BEFORE they were created into an arrangement...but they are so beautiful! I love coming into the studio and smelling the beautiful scent that they create and then going to the freezer and opening the door and smelling another burst of gorgeous scent! And as you can see from past PAST posts...I love when I work with the different shades of pink. :)

 

And here are some of the creations that we made. Flowers make me SO happy! Many times when we do weddings like this...sometimes the flowers are blinding to work with...you just see a sea of shades of pink (coral) EVERYWHERE! But when you go to the wedding ceremony site or reception site...it works out real well!

There is my awesome boss, Shilhi of founder and designer of Passion Roots, doing her thing! (The one wearing black...say hello to Amber in the back there! :)) 

I was able to grab a few pictures that my boss has already posted up for this wedding..and it's so gorgeous! So all the credit for the next pictures go to my boss Shilhi.

 Up close and personal with this beauty! I love the colors! I love the texture! I love flowers! And I love the vine that gives it a more chic look! :)

I wish this couple happiness. :) It was a fun wedding to do...and it turned out extremely beautiful and lovely. :)

A Work In Progress.

My classroom will forever be a work in progress. "Work in progress"...that is such a funny phrase...but it's the truth! I feel like even though I had last week to set up my classroom how I want it, I am constantly doing something to "fix it up" and I highly doubt that I will stop any time soon. For the most part...I really love my classroom. I was finally able to go through everything and put things where I want it to go and throw things away that I didn't want. It was hard starting at a new school when the school year had already started and then also switching classrooms in the middle of the school year. But I am glad I am where I am.  I can't think of anything that would make me leave my present job right now. I love my job. I love my boss. I love everything about my job.

I finally was able to take a few pictures of my [work-in-progress] classroom. I had to take some to show my family and I thought that I would use the same pictures on here...but pick and choose. :)

Before I share the pictures, I would like to say that even though my room is NOT what I had planned it out to be...I absolutely love it. I love how it turned out. Being flexible about things you can not change is part of being a teacher...and so with that being said, I present to you the first pictures of my classroom of 2015. :) (Wow! Dramatic a bit, are we?! :))

This the HUGE welcome sign that greets you as you walk into my room. My brother-in-law (AWESOME brother-in-law) just so happen to walk into my classroom since he was in the area and he was able to help me put up this sign...I was lugging a ladder around with me...he only had to stand on his tip-toes and reach and was able to do this is less then 2 minutes! *laughs* Glad he was around to help! But this is right above my parent board. I never had a parent board in my room when I came into this classroom...I made a small one when I started, but I knew that when I was able to redo my classroom,  I wanted to make a proper parent board...and I did.

One the opposite side of my Parent Board are my keikis' cubbies. On top of the cubbies, the parent sign in/out board is there...on the side of the cubbies is this....

 ...a bunch of cute owls with my kids names are it. They are velcro'ed on so the kids can check-in themselves! They find their name and then they place them...

 ...here! I love this Owl Check-In! It teaches the kids to recognize their name and to make choices since they can choose which house they want to be in for the day. I'm still in the process of getting my keikis in a habit of doing this when they come in. And I keep telling them they can't move any owls for the house that they want! *laughs*

The color's of my bulletin boards are orange, purple, and green. I originally wanted blue and green, but we ran out of blue paper and so I made do. :) The boarders that I have are Chevron strips and Polka Dots. The Parent Board is glitter green though and my Owl Check-In house is different...but for the most part, it's Chevron Strips and Polka Dots.

 This year we were able to buy new furniture for our classroom. I think this was the first time that we were ever able to do that. We are doing like a whole school make-over! Which is good...a lot of our stuff was donated or we made them ourselves....so being able to buy furniture and toys that we wanted was good.

One of the things that I got for my classroom were these cubes.
 

 I put them in my home/dramatic center. I love them because each cube could be use in three different ways. So, they can either be a table or a chair (of two different sizes). The kids love them and they are perfect for my lil 2-3 year olds!

I also go this climbing structure.

 I love it! The kids love it! And I'm really glad that I got it! It's in the center of my room laid on a round 9 foot carpet. I know that at my age kids, they love to climb, so I was forever telling them NOT to climb on this, or on that...and so I decided to get them a climbing structure to climb on...and the do! So far they have followed all my rules and they LOVE it!

And I HAD to get this Reading Nook as my library. I love reading and I wanted to get this to create a more welcoming place to come and explore books. It really is comfortable in there! That is Mr. Chubs, Dori, and Mr. Stripes in there right now. :)

 The past 3 weeks have been really tough...and I am so glad that this first week is over...now that my keikis are getting used to me, they aren't crying as much. So that means we can have more fun now doing all the different crafts and activities. :) I love this sign that my sister made (since her daughter started preschool last Tuesday!)...she allowed me to leave it in my class for other children to take a picture with. :)

Well, hopefully, I'll remember to keep you updated with the improvements that I have in my classroom. I am currently working a few projects that I'm excited to share...but for now...let the weekend begin! :)

First days of Preschool.

(Sorry, it's been a long while since I've updated. And I have a lot to update on...but later on, I'll do a quick catch up...but that time is not now. :))

To say that these past few weeks have been crazy is an understatement for sure. I do not even know where time went! I was planning all these post to put up: my 30th birthday, my brother's wedding, the redoing of my preschool classroom, Vacation Bible School, summer school, awesome weddings that we did...just a lot of things...and then I swear I blinked my eyes and it was WAY past those times already and I didn't even post up on those events! Oh mandope! Oh well, for my sake and looking back at memories on this blog, I'll post up a quick overview of what happen in the last 3 months but for now. Wow. First two days of preschool.

It's like I have "two" first day's of the first day of preschool. I only say this because my Monday, Wednesday, and Friday class is different from my Tuesday and Thursday class. Save from one child who comes every day, I have different children those different times. So yesterday, it was officially my first day of 2015-2016 school year...but so was today in a different way. Different kids, you know.

I love the 2 year olds; I love teaching them. I have worked with all (preschool) ages...but I have found that I like the 2 year olds the best. I prefer them. I think the only drawback, for me, with this age is the first two weeks of school. We do not have an infant care in our school...so my class is the youngest class in my school. Meaning to say, I will always have new children/parents each year. I won't have any repeats from the year before because they will be already 3...so every year I have to start all over again. Which I really don't mind. I love meeting my new class. I love getting to know and watching these precious kids develop their five selves...what I don't like is the crying. For days. And days. And days.

Now, I am NOT complaining, because I know that it comes with the territory. It is always my goal to help and encourage the children to feel comfortable around me, my classroom, and the school schedule as soon as possible. And not only the children, but the parents. (Oh mandope, I can write a lot about the different parents that I have encountered, but that is at a different time...if ever.) But the crying...the loud, wailing, non-stop, crying comes with the snot. Lots and lots of snot. Ew.

I have 8 children at one time in my class. (We like to keep the ratio small.) And lucky for me, at the VERY last minute we were able to get an aid for my class. Which is a VERY big help! Potty training alone with that many children can be a nightmare. Not to say that I didn't do it before on my own...but it's a lot easier when I have another person there to help. (I love my aid, by the way...NOTHING like past aids in different school at all!) For both days, they all started great...then mommy left and daddy had to go to work. Then the floodgates opened and the choir of banshees started. And the frustrating part? It only takes ONE child to start EVERYONE going.

The majority of my parents told me that they know that their child will cry because they have never been without mommy or daddy; that they didn't really KNOW that they were going to start preschool and that mommy and daddy were going to LEAVE THEM. (Wait, what?!?) Or that, they are "my" baby and so s/he's never been without "me"...this is the first time ever. (Really?!) Here's my thought, you KNEW your child was going to start preschool so why didn't you PREP them!? Talk about what was going happening? Start doing errands while leaving your child at home with a baby sitter. Do SOMETHING  to let them know that a big change is going to happen. I can't say, personally, I know what it's like to leave a child (since I am not a parents YET!)...but I can say, personally, I've seen children heartbroken because they are cold turkey left with complete strangers not knowing if mommy and/or daddy is going to come back. Because I can tell them that mommy and daddy will be coming back until I am blue in the face...but they don't know me and so therefore, they do not trust anything that comes out of my mouth.

That beings said...

it was a very challenging first two days. I will say that the majority of my children cried and wailed and threw temper tantrums because they wanted mommy and daddy. However, I was prepared for this. I have to honestly say that I have NEVER had this many children have this much anxiety on the first day of school...but there is a first everything. And you know what, because I survived I know that it will only get better.

Even now...by the time the school day was over there were no more criers...as long as I didn't leave the room or stop talking. That was the thing...I had to be constantly talking or singing to them. So as long as they could see me and hear me they ended up being okay. So it was all dancing on the line for me the past two days. But that's okay...because that tells me that they are starting to trust me and that by the time two weeks is over with them getting a feel of the new place, of me, of their new classmates....the fun will definitely start! Right now, it's just being there for my keikis and earning their trust.

Not all of the cried...there was 2 (ishy 3) who did not cry. I am so thankful to them for doing their own thing and not let the loud, overwhelming cry of the others deter them from having fun. Because they did have fun. Those that didn't cry really bonded well together. I love watching new friendships start. It's funny...because without even realizing it, they are already sharing because they don't want to step on toes just yet...I know in the new few days, that's going to fly out the window and they are going to exercise  their favorite words of "mine" and "no"...but for now, not only did they try to test my boundries...they were testing each others. It's fun to watch. :)

On a side, but not so side note...guess who started preschool today?!?

My little DollGirl! I am so proud of her. She did not cry. :) But then again, she has an awesome Aunty...er...I mean, awesome PARENTS...:) who prepared her for today and she was excited. SUPER excited. And I'm super excited she started at my school...in my class...with me.