Race for the Cure

If you would have talked to me over the summer, I would have told you that I have no desire whatsoever to run a 5K. I probably hadn't run since 9th grade when I played basketball. That's not to say I haven't worked out. We used to have a treadmill and I loved walking on it, I love taking the pups on walks, and recently we got an elliptical and I could go forever on that thing. But running is a totally different ball game!  

After we got Whiskey and he grew up a bit I would take him on walks and I could tell he was a little bored. Trevor was in the process of training him to heel, so he would stay right beside me the whole time. So I started to run a little with him...and by that I mean, I would run one block and then maybe a few blocks later I would run another block...nothing to brag about. Haha! 

From there, Trevor and I kind of started talking about running and we started the Couch to 5K app. After a few weeks that phase kind of fizzled out. Then, Trevor's work sent out a sign up for the Susan G. Komen - Race for the Cure 5K. Since we started running but quit since we didn't have a goal in mind, this was now our goal. 

So we signed up and started getting in shape. To be honest, we are terrible accountability partners when it comes to running. If one of us didn't feel like running one evening, the other one had no problem with it. But we made it work. We used the C25K app for awhile and then we got tired of using it and we just started running a specific distance and we made it longer and longer each time. 

We definitely had some funny moments when training...on a few different occasions I was attacked by a frog, once a little Yorkie started chasing me, and the worst was when a bug flew in my eye the first 5 min of running and I could barely see the whole run. 

I was actually pretty nervous the night before the run. I know I'm not a great runner but I wanted to finish in a time that I would be proud of. We didn't do much Friday night since it was going to be an early morning. We got our shirts ready, stretched a little, and just relaxed. 

The morning of the race we got up about 5:30 and ate a bagel and peanut butter (we read that that is a good thing to eat the morning of a run) and then stretched and got ready to head downtown. 

Ready to go!! We had "Martha's Mob" on the back of our shirts for a woman that Trevor works with and we wrote "P.A." on the front for Trevor's grandma who is a breast cancer survivor. 

When we got downtown we walked around a bit and then we headed to the start line. The night before Trevor and I made a playlist for good running songs, so we got that ready to play and started the "Map My Run" app. A friend told me about that and I loved it because at every mile it tells you your average speed. I like knowing how far I have gone, so that was really helpful in keeping me motivated throughout the run and it helped me maintain an okay speed. When the starting guns fired, I had some butterfly's in my stomach! Haha! It was honestly really exciting to be running with so many people and for such a great cause. I loved reading everyone's shirts as I was running...they were definitely a great motivation to keep running. I accomplished 2 of my goals for this run...I never stopped running and I FINISHED! So I was so happy at the end!

Here are a couple action photos: 

Trevor did awesome and made it in 30:24.

I was a bit slower and made it in 36:22. 

All nice and sweaty at the end!!

I was so proud of both of us at the end. I know it's only a 5K and people run WAY more than that, but it was definitely something I never thought I'd do. 

If you think you are a bad runner, I just want to encourage you to try! You might just surprise yourself! 

Interactive Notebook (Pt. 1)

Over the summer I saw lots of buzz about interactive notebooks. So I started looking for stuff on Pinterest and I started following blogs that had activities/posts about interactive notebooks. So I decided to try it out this year! 

For those of you that don't know, I teach 6th grade math. The only thing I required my students to purchase is a 5-subj spiral notebook. I already had my supply list made when I decided to do interactive notebooks, so instead of using a composition notebook, like most do when they do interactive notebooks, I just made my 5-subj. spiral work. The first two sections of the spiral are dedicated for the interactive notebook portion. The 3rd section is for Classwork. The 4th section is for Quizzes and Tests and the 5th section is for their Bellringers. So, here are my first few entries of the Interactive Notebook portion. 

Here is my 5-subj spiral. 

The first page (A) is their Math About Me page. I wanted it to be personal, so I started with this. Plus it was math related!

The second page (B) is my expectations. Each student has signed and dated theirs, so they know what I expect daily. 

The third page (C) is their expectations and guidelines for the notebook. Again, they have signed these and they know what I expect. 

Page D, E, and F are their Table of Contents. 

I also have a rubric to go along with our notebooks that I had them glue in the back of their spirals since I will be grading them every 9 weeks. 

One of their first entries is actually something that really isn't in our curriculum map, but we always have to go back and review adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing, so we made a foldable to help us remember key works. 

This is what we first made. 

The inside contained an example, plus sum, difference, product and quotient. 

The following week I did an activity where we had to sort key words that will help them when they are working on word problems to decide if it's an addition, subtraction, multiplication or division problem. 

Here are the key words we added:

The other thing we cover that is not necessarily in our curriculum map is place value. The students always need a little refresher on this. 

I had them glue a place value chart in their spiral and they had an assignment. The next day we made a foldable. 

On the outside we wrote numbers and highlighted one digit. 

The inside contained two things: on the left they had to write what place-value the highlighted digit is in and on the right they had to write the decimal in word form. 

We have made it a bit further than this, but I will kind of group things by topic. Our foldable led right into decimals which we cover first in our curriculum. I will blog about that when we finish our decimal unit. 

Happy Teaching!!

*if you are interested in any of the expectations, math notebook guidelines or rubric, just email me and I would be happy to share. Jilliancmorris@gmail.com

The Best Weekend

This weekend was just a fabulous weekend. We had some fun things going on and we got to see lots of our friends. 

On Friday night, my best friend Nichole and her boyfriend Josh flew in for the weekend. We picked them up from the airport and just hung out that night since it was already kind of late. On Saturday we went to the McNellies Harvest Beer Festival. Lots of our friends were there, so it was great to catch up and see everyone! Here are a few photos from the afternoon!

I just love this pretty lady!!! Aren't those the cutest little glasses! I was excited to get a souvenir!

Some amazing friends!!!

Me and my handsome groom!!

Trevor, Dixon, and Bringaze

It was a great afternoon and it was fun to try lots of new stuff! I definitely have some new favorites! Plus, I got his cute shirt!

After the Beer Fest ended we went to Louie's to watch the LSU game since that's where Josh went to college. Luckily it was a bi-week for OSU! 

The next morning we had to get up really early and take Nikki and Josh to the airport! Sadly, it was a short stay, but we made the most of it! 

Sunday afternoon we went to Pinot's Palette for their Pet Project day! We signed up for it with some friends a few weeks back, and I have been really looking forward to it! You submit a picture of your pet and everyone gets to paint their own animal! 

Here are a few action shots of mine and Trevor's!

Everyone did such an awesome job!! Here is a group photo!

Eric, Vanessa, Trevor, me, Matt and Andrea!! We just love our doggies!!

And because Trevor and I are dorks, we came home and made our pups take a picture with their paintings! 

Can you say: obsessed!! 🐶☺️

Yes, these will be hung in our home! 

To end the weekend, my neighbor got me the funniest gift!

If you can't read it, it says "We interrupt this marriage to bring you hunting season"

Trevor and her husband, Randy do all their hunting together, so I'm sure we will be hanging out a lot while they are off doing their man stuff...and now we have cute cups to showcase while they're away!!

Like I said: such a great weekend!!! I'm already looking forward to the next one!! Have a great week!!

Weekend Trip to MO

This past weekend Trevor and I made a trip to Branson to celebrate one of our friends getting married. We just went for one night, so we left Saturday morning and came back Sunday morning. On our way there we were curious to see if the billboard was still up and I'm happy to report: it's still there!!

Once we got into town, we checked into our hotel, got ready for the wedding and then headed down to the landing to get our Old Chicago fix. Plus, I wanted to go to the cute store down on the landing called Mark Ashton. If you haven't heard of it before, I highly recommend checking it out or just go to their website. Great prices for cute stuff! I got myself a cute new top and a travel bag. I can't wait to use it! 

Then we headed to the wedding! The wedding was located at Big Cedar Lodge and it was absolutely beautiful! Congratulations to Rachel and Jeff Gerken! It was amazing getting to see all of my Branson friends and catch up on their lives! 

Here are a few pictures:

The wonderful singers!! I just love these people!! 

The Beautiful Bride!!

Isn't this just a stunning view!

My handsome date!!

The most fun people I think I've ever met!!

Rachel, you looked absolutely beautiful and I couldn't be more excited for you and Jeff!! 

I just love weddings!! 

Pistols Firing!!!! 🔫

This past weekend was the college football kickoff...so we decided to celebrate in style and have a block party!! Us and our neighbors decided to do it in front of our houses. We invited everyone in our neighborhood and any friends that wanted to come as well. We had a great turnout! 

We first set up Trevor's dad's tent. 

Randy and Cassie ended up buying a big tent as well. 

We had a tv outside under the tents, we had ladder golf set up for people to play, our friends Jason and Morghan brought their bean bags game, our neighbor across the street set up some blow up toys for the little kids in the neighborhood, and Randy and Cassie's friends from Shidler cooked for everyone. We had bologna, brisket, pork, potatoes, jalapeño poppers, potato salad, pasta salad....lets just say it was a feast!! 

We cleaned up our garage so we could have people in their watching the game as well since we have a tv out there. 

I love our bar top!!

It was a lot of fun and we had a great turn out!!! Plus, OSU won, so everyone was happy!!! PISTOLS FIRIN'!!! 🔫🏈

It was so hot outside on Saturday that all the girls decided to watch the game/talk inside, and then we came back outside when it cooled off a bit. 

It was a great kickoff to some college football!! Let's hope for a great season!!!

GO POKES GO POKES GO POKES GO!!!