Happy Easter

Happy Valentine's Day

First I'd like to wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day, hope it is the best! Here is Rusty to help me.

Below is a picture of the card I made this year for Valentine's Day. Of course I was late in mailing them. No one will be suprised when they show a little late. The image is a little blury, sorry.

Here is an example of the little cards I made for my students.

Slowing Down, Gearing Up

Wow, I caught my breath today. It has been a busy week! As I said before I picked up my niece, her husband and the baby for New Year's Eve. We had a great time. Below is a picture of my niece and great-niece. Aren't they cute!

On New Years Day we decided to have a movie marathon so we went to rent some. We picked up popcorn and cokes as well. We stopped back by my friends house to pick up the camera I left there the night before, visited for awhile then came on home. As it was New Year's Day we had to have some traditional good luck foods: black eyed peas. My husband grilled chicken and we had black eyed peas and cornbread. No one wanted cabbage so I didn't fix that. I would have been the only one eating it. We played Skip-Bo for awhile then went back to the den for the movies.

We saved Happy Feet for the baby the next day. I took my niece & family to the new Pizza Hut Bistro for dinner and made it back home by six in time for the movie. The local nieces and greats were invited over. That was a total of 6 little kids - OH MY. Rusty and the cats had to stay in our bedroom, it overwhelmed them. We had plenty of popcorn, cokes, sweet tea, and other snacks. The kids enjoyed the movie for the most part. Part of their time was spent with Uncle David in the computer room talking and watching him work.

Thursday morning we got up, finished another movie and got ready to go. We went to Tyler for breakfast at IHoP. Lots of coffee & yummy food. After a bit of shopping I took them on home.

On the way back home I stopped at Hobby Lobby where I got a great sunset picture from the parking lot, and some stamping paper & ink from the store. Them on to Barnes & Noble for a Vinte Vanilla Latte. Love it, gotta have it. Also picked up another new book. This one is March by Geraldine Brooks.

Today I cleaned up the house. I'm about tired of cleaning. :) David and I ate out with some close friends at the Ranch House and went to the show to see The Water Horse. I wish I could get a copy of the little poster they were handing out to the kids. It would be great in my classroom. I always read The Mysterious Tadpole by Steven Kellogg to my class when we discuss thinking about the story as you listen or read, and for studying illustrators as well as real & make believe & well, lots of other stuff. This would be great for comparisons.

Have to get back in gear! Vacation is about up. School starts back up on Monday!

New Years Eve & Recipe

Yesterday was a busy one. I was preparing goodies for the party at my friend's house, we went to get my 21 year old niece, her husband and baby to go with us. They will be spending a couple of nights in the guest house. ;)

The goodies I took were simple but edible. With all the young people and kids that were there that's fine. I brought cokes, sandwiches, a meat and cheese plate with crackers, apples with two kinds of fruit dip, tortilla roll-ups, and a relish tray. This is always a family party with lots of eating, laughing, game playing, talking and more eating. We palyed Apples to Apples and Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? The little ones watched Dora the Explorer and High School Musical. We toasted at midnight with sparkling grape juice and egg nog. My friend makes THE BEST home made egg nog. We visited a little more then cleaned up and every one went home. We had a great time! Below I will give two recipies for versions of this appatizer.

Tortilla Roll-ups

20 flour tortillas

3 8oz. blocks of cream cheese

1 8oz cour cream

5 pickled jalapenos (or more to taste)

Picante sauce

Mix bottom three ingredients together, warn tortillas in microwave and spread mixture on tortillas, roll up, refrigerate until set, slice, arrange on platter, and serve with picante sauce. I usually use more than 5 jalapenos and take out the seeds. Also I usually add at least a teaspoon of juice from the jalapenos to the mixture.

Rolled Trotillas

3 8oz blocks of cream cheese

1 8oz carton sour cream

g to 8 green onions (chopped)

1 Tablespoon jalapeno peppers

1 large package flour tortillas

Picante sauce to taste

Warm tortillas in microwave and let cool. Mix other ingredients. Spread over each tortilla, then roll. Chill overnight, then slice into 1/2 inch slices. Serve with picante sauce.

Ornament Recipe - Kid Friendly

Here it is Saturday and I'm looking at a 2 week break from school. Of course I'll be up there working on lesson plans and so on a couple of days. The end of the school day doesn't mean the end of work! My kiddos went home happy after the Christmas party yesterday. During the week I provided ingredients for them to create gifts for their parents/caregivers. They included cards, a candle and two ornaments. One was a 3D paper ornament either made from pertty patterned paper or self decorated, their choice. One was an applesauce and cinnamon ornament. Sounds weird doesn't it? Other than the thiness our ornaments looked like these.

These applesauce and cinnamon ornaments went home with my students to decorate their trees. The kids enjoyed making them. We had a lesson on measurement (we tripled the recipe) as the ingredients were prepared in the mixing bowl. The resulting dough was rolled out on a table and each student chose from a variety of cookie cutters I had on hand. They cut the dough, removed the shape to a square of wax paper, cut a hole at the top of each ornament with a straw, and placed them on a bookcase to dry. With 20 of them drying the room sure smelled good for awhile! I purchased some pretty shiny ribbon for the children to thread through the hole once the ornaments were dry. We discussed the fact that these would not be edible once they were ready. ("edible" was added to the academic vocabulary folder)

Recipe

3/4 cup applesauce

one 4.12 oz. bottle of ground cinnamon

Mix to form a stiff dough. Roll out to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut with cookie cutter. Make a hole for the ribbon. Carefully, place on a rack to dry. Allow the cutouts to air dry for several days, turning occasionally.

Tips learned from experimenting with this before I took it to school for the kids to make: make sure it is at least 1/4 inch thick or a little thicker or the ornaments will break easily. Be sure to turn! The ornaments in the picture above look thinner than they need for easy handling by young children.

Christmas Trees

Christmas trees are my favorite Christmas decoration. No two trees are alike. Looking at friend's trees is always a treat. I've seen some really beautiful theme trees and have thought about doing one, but can't bring myself to leave my old treasured decorations in the boxes. I like to think of my tree not as a hodge podge of decorations and of styles, but as "eclectic." Many of the decorations were given to me by students. I write the name of the student and year it was given if there is a place. Others were given to me by my sister and nieces. (See the Gossamer monster near the top of the tree.) Many I picked just because I liked them. I've been trying over the last few years to find lamb ornaments. I call it my "Lamb of God" collection. My sister is always on the out look for them as well. Hanging inside the tree where it isn't visible is a replica of a nail from the cross. There are candy canes that tell the story of Jesus. Small glass fruit ornaments hang on the tree, each one naming a Fruit of the Spirit. Several cross ornaments are there, also. "Manger" nails hang from many branches, unseen unless you know to look since they are not colorful. Some were my mom's ornaments, familiar and loved since childhood. Won't be going to a theme tree any time soon. They are beautiful, but my "eclectic" tree holds so much meaning for me.

Busy Day at School

It was! First there was a bus safety video to view. It was mainly for the bus drivers, but state law said the little ones had to view it. Then we went outside and participated in a bus evacuation drill. Soon after that we loaded the buses again for the short trip to the nursing home. The kids sang Christmas songs for the residents, who seemed to enjoy it. The kiddos made cards that the staff there passed out among the residents. Then cards, that had been made by the residents and staff, were given to the students. We had time enough for a little phonics and reading before lunch. Whew! Math after lunch, reviewing carrying.

Then after school the School Board and Administration gave a reception for teachers and staff at the Central Office. It was very nice! Great wassail and the eats were good, but those of us from the primary school couldn't indulge too much because......

The Primary School faculty and staff Christmas dinner was tonight at the Country Club. Great food! Great company! We brought white elephant gifts (no, I didn't regift) and read a right-left Christmas story to exchange them. We presented the principal with her gift and she liked it.

At this point I'd like to say that I saw something on Mrs. G's blog that I want. I'm going to try to make one for next year and that is a WHITE ELEPHANT. It is a stuffed toy elephant (white of course) and I think that would be a lot of fun to pass around as a white elephant gift!

Christmas Recipie - Sweet Potato Souffle'

It is getting to be that time. Usually I do a turkey and dressing, or ham and dressing. My nieces love my dressing and fake giblet gravy. This year my husband has to work and my sister has moved to Kansas (where they are freezing their patooties off) so I'm going over to a friend's house and have been requested to bring my sweet potatoes. They like them a lot. The recipe calls it a souffle' but it's not. So here it is:

Sweet Potato Souffle'

3 c cooked sweet potatoes, mashed

1 stick margarine

1 t vanilla

2 eggs

1 c sugar

pinch of salt

Topping

1/2 c pecans - chopped

1 c brown sugar

1/3 c flour

2/3 cup melted margarine

(can add 1/2 cup shredded coconut)

Instructions

Beat souffle' ingredients together. Place in greased pan or oven proof dish.

Spread topping over the mix and bake 30 min. at 35o degrees.

Note

I always add extra pecans, I usually use real butter and I never add coconut.

When I need to make double of triple batches (depending on how many people will be there) I try to cut back on the butter some.

Card Making (for gift cards)

Christmas is getting here quickly! I've been through an orgy of shopping, card making, phone calling etc. Not to speak of the stuff for school. I think these are the final Christmas Card creations of this year! These are gift card holders. They look light blue in this picture but the ink for the swirls and the solid back are teal. The design is from a Staampin' up wheel. The larger one is holding an i-tunes card. The other two are regular sized cards.

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