1st Giveaway/ Happy Birthday TPT Sale!

To celebrate the 27th Birthday of this boy right here..... 

...everything in my Teachers Pay Teachers store is 15% off! It will be starting now and ending at 12:00 A. M. on June 30th {his birthday is July 1st :) }!

ALSO,
I recently realized I reached

followers! AH. I feel... beyond. Therefore, to celebrate my dear sweet blog friends I am doing a giveaway! Try and tell me you aren't smiling now. 

The prize: $20.00 gift card to the one and only Lakeshore Learning and a lifetime guarantee of my blogger friendship!

Here's how to enter: (2 chances!)
1st Entry: You must be a follower of First Grade Fresh. Then, leave a comment below letting me know that you are a follower.
2nd Entry: Blog about my giveaway, then leave the link in a comment below!

Pretty Simple right?
I will be heading to the beach this Thursday for the 4th of July so I will post something tomorrow about the Debbie Diller's conference I attended. You just don't even know the amount of knowledge I gained from two days with this woman. Love me some Deb.

Anyways, the giveaway will end Sunday night at 12 A.M. The winner will be announced Monday night when I return from my lil' fun in the sun vacay. I'll have a nice bronzed glow so we will ALL be in good spirits Monday!

Teacher/ Lakeshore Purchases

While in Houston for the Debbie Diller Conference, Ms. Thomas suggested we go to Lakeshore. Seriously? Bad Idea! Thanks a lot Ffi. We both gave ourselves a budget... and yet still went over. I just CANNOT pass up a teacher sale. I am weak. 

However, I did good and put things back that I did not need at this exact moment and they were not on sale. I am a recovering from an obsession with shopping...these things take time. Anyways, I got a school planner which is perfect. It even has to do list pages throughout, we all know I love a list.  As you can see I bought the Blends and Digraphs Work Center. It came with cards and foam letters. I figured this would be great to incorporate in one of my workstations and it was on sale for $23.00. I had to get it. 

I also purchased this new Vera Bradley notebook. I have an obsession with notebooks. I like to write down my lists, teacher ideas, and to do's in something cute. Can you blame me? It makes me happy.

At the Debbie Diller Conference she gave us these book bags from Really Good Stuff. I'm thinking about getting these for small groups next year. Do any of you use them? Is it worth the money? 

 Lastly, I told you I won the $25.00 gift card from Lakeshore from Primary Graffiti. After trying to figure out what to buy with the money, I finally decided upon the Teacher organizer. I love all things organization and this is purely for the teacher. I figured I would never splurge for something for myself otherwise, so I might as well do it with my gift card. Therefore, when Lakeshore did their end of the year promo code for 20% off, I just had to go ahead and get the Teacher Organizer. I think the grand total for my purchase was $17.00. Can't beat that! 

I love getting packages at the door...

Yay! It's so pretty! I know I am going to love it. 

Just a lil' Vacay

Yes, I did not abandon my blog! I realize it has been a while since I have posted! I needed to take a breather from the blog world and focus on the end of the school year (and my own life). I wanted to enjoy every last moment with my kiddos as much as I possibly could! Is it weird to say how much I miss them?

After the end of every school year I need to re-group and take a break from ALL things teaching. It becomes SO consuming over the school year, because I love it. Its my favorite hobby, yet this can lead to problems in my social life ha. So, we all know giving up all teaching things... not possible. I was still reading the Debbie Diller Math Workstations book, while I was taking my "break". Typical.  I want to feel refreshed and ready to take on the new school year! THANK YOU SUMMER BREAK!

Here's a lil' update on what I have been doing on my vacay from the blogging world....

1. Tore down everything in my room. Tear. Sadly our rooms are used for Summer School so EVERYTHING must come down and be stored away! This was not fun! Below is my class and I enjoying our last day together! I love these lil faces! And in true "me" fashion we did a lil' soul train to end of the day. 

Above is a picture one of my students drew of me in his memory book. Tyler obviously can see my love of fashion! ha

 2. I got to catch up with my besties! School was taking over my life, so its nice to now visit them at work and just hang out!

3. Went to Jazz Fest and Bayou Country Fest! Love.

4. My baby brother graduated. We're 7 years apart, so hes my baby and I'm so proud of this kid. Plus, isn't he adorable!

5. Wedding Season. Do I need to even say anymore? It's taking over our lives. At least it gives me a good excuse to shop! Guess that budget went out the door. I'll try again next month!

6. Went to Portland for a business trip with the boy. Took a tour of the Gorge with his mother. I guess I didn't realize what this tour entailed. I wore my wedges... and found myself hiking in them. Fun. 

 (Not made for hiking. Duh.)

And LAST and MOST important... I got to hang out with the FABULOUS Debbie Diller. If you read my blog, then by now you know I love this woman. Girl crush. She's what I want to be "when I grow up".  She got a lil spark in her, life myself... which is one out of many reasons why I love her! Her conference was wonderful. I will tell you ALL about it in my next post!