Linky Parties and Freebies

Okay, hope you guys are ready. I am joining TWO linky parties today and I have two freebies for you. I'll try not to be too long winded, but I'm pretty excited about what I have.

First up are the linky parties. I'm joining Bunting, Books, and Bainbridge's Show Off Your Piles linky and Let's Get Aquainted by Flying into First. To read more stories, click on either of the images and it will take you to the linky parties where other fantabulous followers linked up.

The last 6 weeks, my craft room has officially been my storage room for all things school. For the first time ever, I have only been to school once since my last day. I have worked almost every day, but I've done it in my little room. It's been great, but I have to say I can't wait to transfer some of this stuff back to school. Oh, and in case you are curious, yes, you see TONS of books and centers. I still (not sure how) plan on getting all of it reorganized into 36 weeks. It's going to be interesting to see where I'm going to put everything seeing that I've ordered everything except books. Oh, it's going to be a great year! This is my Christmas, well my second Christmas.

Tell about your favorite teacher and explain why. Share a memory or two.

When I saw this linky, I couldn't wait. Outside of my parents and grandparents, I actually have two favorite teachers.

My first favorite teacher was my second grade teacher, Karen Lash. I don't remember much, but I remember that we got to read a lot and she was very gentle. She made me feel important and I remembered that I loved her so much I didn't tell my Mom that I had little red dots on me because I was afraid I'd have to miss school. Well, my little red-dotted self managed to give Chicken Pox to my entire class because I made it the entire day. She is the reason I wanted to become a teacher. Now, here's the sad part, she moved at the end of the year to Germany because her husband was in the military. I have tried and tried to find her, but it's hard when you just have second grade memories. I seriously sent messages to every Karen Lash that I thought fit her profile on FB several years ago. Hopefully, one day, I will find her because when I was 7/8, I wanted to grow up to be her.

My second favorite teacher was my MS/HS teacher, Kristen Cundiff. I literally hated writing and anything to do with English before her. By the time she arrived at my school, my Mom worked there. That meant I was there quite a bit. I turned into her tag along and spent a lot of time sitting and talking when I was waiting for my Mom to finish up in the afternoon. You know when you are that age you are constantly trying to figure out your path in life, not to mention your emotions are all over the place, but Mrs. Cundiff was always patient with me. I think the thing that made her so special to me was I could always just be me. I never had to be the athlete, the artist, or a star student with her. I could just be me. She also always believed in us and that one little ingredient turned a C/D English student into a straight A student. To top it off, Mrs. Cundiff was always at all of our ballgames cheering for us.

Anyway, I could go on and on since I had lots of classes with her from English to Yearbook. I think the biggest thing I learned from her is I have always realized how much I influence my kiddos and how much they look up to me because that's who she was to me. The best part is 11 years after my last class with her I found her on FB. Now, I get to call her Kristen and I have to say she's a pretty incredible friend. Plus, how awesome is it to get to tell someone who influenced you just what a difference they made in your life?

Alright, now for the freebies. You can click on any of the images to go download my freebies. I hope you enjoy!

Freebie #1: