Summertime Blues - Part 2

Whew, that last post was long!  This one may be as well, but I will try to shorten it.

The last thing we did before we left was celebrate the 4th of July!!  It was so nice to have a good old fashioned BBQ with the family before heading back to Florida.  My in-laws are French-America.  While America is obviously important to them, they don't traditionally celebrate the 4th like I grew up doing.

My 2nd cousin Cross.

  

My daddy Jerry!

My niece Madelynn.

My 2nd cousin Cannon.

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I also got to meet a brand new cousin (at the time).  He just turned a year old! These are pictures of me holding him and my husband holding him.  Nothing is sweeter than a man holding a baby.  ;-)

 

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When we left to head home my niece Madelynn and nephew Trevor came home with us!  I was so excited and had so much planned for them to do.  We had a blast!  Here are a few photos from the week.

                                                Did I mention it's a LONG car trip?!  :-)

At the Florida Welcome Center.  They loved this chair!

We went to the movies and then to IHOP for National Pancake Day!

This is a kid after her aunts heart.  She loves painting as much as I do!

Oh, and she adores her Uncle Noel!

We went to the city pool!  This place rocked!  They had water slides and other stuff.

We did movies at home too.  We introduced them to Jurassic Park!  Of course there was popcorn!

No trip to Florida is complete without a trip to the beach!

They tried sushi for the first time....it didn't go so well by the way.  Hehe!

Heck, this one wouldn't even try it.  He demanded (okay he asked nicely) for Chick-Fil-A instead.

Did I mention that she loves Uncle Noel a lot?

This was technically after their mom had come in to town.  We went to the beach for family photos!

My summer was VERY busy and very fast!!  I wouldn't trade it for the world though.  Now it's time to get back into the "school zone" because Day 0 is approaching fast and I am vastly unprepared!  See you in the fall!

Summertime Blues - Part 1

Summertime, summertime, summertime sadness.  Why does it have to be over so soon?  I have had a wonderful summer.  We didn't take a huge vacation this year but I spent 2 weeks in Orlando at an all expenses paid professional development for Think Math with FSU-STEM program.  I got to visit my family in Louisiana and then my niece and nephew came home with us and spent a week here until their parents (my sister and her husband) came over for a week long beach vacation in Sanibel, FL.

Two weeks in Orlando seemed like a terrific idea and other than missing my husband a tons, it was.  It was an incredible opportunity to learn from some of the best in the state.  I also got to write a lesson plan for CPALMS using one of the brand new 1st grade MAFS Standards (Florida's version od CCSS).  I am so super proud of it.  As soon as I figure out how to turn it into a PDF I will offer it here.

This is just a grid image of a few of the activities we did while I was there.

I completed the PD on the 27th of June at 3:30p.  I got in the car and drove to Tallahassee where I met my husband at my moms house (this was 4.5 hours for me, 6.5 hours for him from our home in Fort Myers).  We immediately got right back into the car and head to Monroe, Louisiana.  This is an 8.5 hour drive for normal people who haven't driven already that day.  We were driving it at 8:00p.  It turned into the nightmare drive.  We were EXHAUSTED!  It ended up taking us about 11-12 hours to drive it.  Why did we do it all in one night you might ask?  Because my fathers side of the family was having a family reunion on the 28th and since my husband had never met most of them after 7 years of marriage I had decided we weren't missing it..lol.  We got to my sisters house and fell asleep and missed the first half of the reunion.  We did make it for lunch and then went immediately to my grandparents house and crashed!  It was THE single most best nap I have ever had!  :-)

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The next week was filled with so much family fun!  I got to see cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, my dad, and my sister's family and my brother's family (who lives in Georgia and made the trip for the reunion too) a ton!  Here are a few snapshots.  

Then I got to visit my grandparents graves.  I haven't been to see them since I was about 13 or so.  I am now 35.  It had been far too long.  The best part is that it was just a few days shy of 4th of July so we brought fresh flowers and flags to put out.  My papaw was a WWII veteran.

Then I took my husband for a tour of my home town city.  Now, we have been married for 7 years, but since we live about 15-17 hours away from my hometown, we don't get a lot of "touring time" while we are there because I have such a limited amount of time with family.  It was time!  Here are a few pictures we took downtown.  My hometown has SO MUCH rich history.  I think I will do a post about it soon to show you more and tell you more.

 

 

No trip to my hometown would be complete without a visit to the Duck Dynasty Duck Commander headquarters!!!

I have SOOOO much more to share but this post is long enough.  I will make another one in a few days!  :-)

Ahhh! My First Post!

I am so excited to have my first post.  I am not sure what this blog will entail, but I am most sure it will have to do with my family, friends, and most importantly 1st Grade!

Let me introduce myself a bit.  

My name is Mrs. Kellams and I am so excited to be teaching first grade in Lee County, Florida!!  1st Grade is very fun with tons of learning and new adventures and I can’t wait to share them with my students and see what the year has in store for them.  I am excited to learn all about them, but first I am going to tell you all about me.

I was born and raised in a small town in Louisiana and I am the oldest of three.  I have a
younger sister and and a younger brother, and 6 nieces and nephews (who you will see lots of on here!).  I love them so much!  When I graduated from high school, I moved to Tallahassee, Florida with my mom and brother.  In the fall of 2006, I met my now husband, Noel.  

Noel is a wonderful teacher too!  He has been a teacher for 6 years in the same county; he teaches middle school, gifted, history.    He is beginning his 7th year right now!  After Noel and I were married I decided to speed up the college process and quickly finished my degree in Elementary Education!  I was so excited and couldn’t wait to begin teaching!

I began here at the school I am currently employed at in 1st grade and I never left!  This is my 4th year and I couldn’t be happier!  I adore teaching in first grade because this is such a big year for children academically.  They learn so much!!  This is the year they begin reading more and discovering the things around them. 

Some of my favorite things:

Favorite - black
Favorite Season - Spring
Favorite Food - Asian
Favorite Fast Food - Chick-Fil-A
Favorite Drink - water
  Favorite Sport - Football (Go Saints!!)
Favorite Animal - My kitty (Scampi)
Favorite Book - Hunger Games
Favorite Song - I am a music ADDICT! 
Favorite Hobby - Photography

Some pictures of my family and I!

Noel & I

Me, my brother Jeremy, and my sister Kelly.

Makenna & Trevor

Gabriel, Madelynn, my dad Jerry, Warner (in his lap), & Taylor

My mom Kathryn, my step-father JL, and Ariel.

I have to find some great pictures of my husbands family and then I will post them.  I will also post some of my classroom when I get it finished for the year!