5th Graders.

Sorry for my little blog break... my little guys took the writing SOL here in Virginia today and yesterday. These past few weeks have been a little nutso... encouraging them as writers, while trying to make sure they are as well-prepared as possible. Now it's over... and I am beyond proud of them.

Anyways... (I use that word way too much. Need to expand my vocab.) we are learning about the five kingdoms that scientists classify with... My kiddos were having a bit of a hard time distinguishing between vascular and nonvascular plants... so we did an experiment :)

Celery is a vascular plant... so I wanted to show them how things travel through the plant using the 'veins.' This also helped my kiddos with the independent/dependent variables they struggle with always. Ask me why 10-year-olds should be able to identify the control in an experiment? THEY ARE TEN.

We put the same amount of water in two cups... put food coloring in one cup... and then cut the celery and put one stalk in each cup.

I don't have any idea why this is so grainy... but this is the 'right after we put the celery in' picture.

and this is the 'after two days of sitting in food coloring' picture. SO COOL.

be mine.

When I was little, I used to dream about the man I would marry... most of the time: he looked like a Disney prince and would fight off monsters for me.

As I grew older (aka in middle school), I began to realize that most guys I knew were not that guy. They were more interested in other things than protecting me. I kind of gave up on the finding a fairytale thing.

In high school, I mainly dated one guy who ended up getting drunk almost every day. Do I know how to pick 'em good or what? That did not end well.

My freshman year of college, I was certainly interested in getting my MRS. degree, but there was no one I really connected with.

The summer before my sophomore year of college, I met AJ. I thank the Lord every day for the blessing he is in my life, and I am so glad that all of my ruined expectations led me to him.

My husband is amazing... he's honest with me. He challenges me, which sometimes annoys me, but I know he sincerely wants the best for me. He cares for me. He protects me so well, and he listens to me. I could not honestly ask for more.

Last night, he made me dinner (he hates to cook), and let me brag: it may have been the best porkchop I've ever had.

Introducing: pesto porkchops and baked potatoes made by my incredible husband :)

are you drooling?

Happy Valentine's Day AJ! I love you so much.

assorted Christmas...

Man, I fell off the wagon again. Sorry... I wasn't even that busy over Christmas. It was very relaxing... and refreshing.

This Christmas...

We received a card addressed to our cats... from my in-laws cat. Best Christmas card EVER.

I was inspired by my mama to make these pretzel turtles. Problem is: I only had chocolate graham pretzels. Does that count as a problem? I guess not. So I improvised... and ran out of Rolos as well... so used some candy cane kisses. YUM!

before baking...

So melty... and so yummy!

Also, before we left for Christmas break, my students left me some sweet notes... they are the best!

I have the coolest job ever.

more pinterest

Another project I found on pinterest and made for my fifth grade babies (their Christmas presents): 

Sources: 

• http://www.scjohnson.com/en/family/family-economics/10-08-24/Back-to-School-Message-Pencils-Napkins.aspx
• http://eighteen25.blogspot.com/2011/08/back-2-school-printables.html

pinterest

I've held off on getting pinterest for quite a while now... several months. You see, I knew that once I got in, it'd be hard to get out. Well... I finally gave in this past weekend. Here are a few of the things I created:

this adorable sign to put on my desk.

and this for especially trying days ;)

I also have been wanting to make a 'faux' dry erase board for quite a while. All you need is a glass picture frame and a printout of whatever you want. Then you can write, write, write and erase, erase, erase! :)

This is in an 8 by 10 frame. I created this one myself, but I'd be glad to send the file to anyone.

Are you on pinterest? Are you also addicted??

O Tannenbaum

Our Christmas tree is up! We have a Charlie Brown tree and I'm okay with it. I think I actually love it. I haven't taken a picture of it with lights on yet, but I'll get to it.

Anyway, AJ and I half-love/half-hate putting ornaments on the tree. We have a really tiny tree. That'd be okay if we didn't have many ornaments... but AJ's family has this tradition...

Every year when he and his sisters were growing up, they'd get an ornament for Christmas. AJ's always had something to do with sports and his sisters got angels and musical-themed ornaments. I LOVE THIS. And... to top it all off, his mama kept a list of every. single. ornament.

Amazing, right?

Well... we have a lot of ornaments. This one might be my new favorite.

 I found it at World Market (where else?) and I think he's a little Swedish nutcracker with his salmon in hand. LOVE IT.

Listen to this :)

simple pleasures.

guess who got a food processor on Black Friday? THIS GIRL.

First project: salsa!

Side note: how have I lived almost 24 years of my life without a food processor? Mystery.

an assortment...

This morning, my husband (aka the BEST Husband EVER)  took me to Trader Joe's (aka my favorite grocery store EVER). We bought a few things, but I mostly just like to look. They didn't have the cranberry apple pie filling I was looking for... so we got some cranberries and I'm going to try and figure out how to put those in one of the apple pie fillings... we'll see how it goes :)

I also found some of my favorite Christmas cookies... candy cane joe-joe's.... YES, PLEASE.

And then, I found this recipe for candy cane joe-joe's bark. Sounds amazing. I'm going to try and save this box of delicious until Christmas with my Mama's family. I know Lydia will appreciate these cookies.

After Trader Joe's, we also went to Whole Foods, which is coincidentally right across the parking lot. It was my first time at Whole Foods... it kind of reminded me of Wegman's, but much more expensive. We marveled at all of the pretty food there: 

But ended up only buying two bottles of Swedish soda that they used to sell at Ikea but have since stopped. Apple and pomegranate... yum!

And then we came home and had to stop at Food Lion... (three grocery stores in three hours... my dream come true) for milk... One of AJ's co-workers brought in a sweet potato pie a few weeks ago and he's been raving about it since then... he doesn't even like sweet potatoes so it must have been good. Our local Food Lion has had the Mrs. Smith's pies on sale for a little over $3 and I've been looking at them all week... trying to decide if I should buy it...

Well, with AJ with me today, we decided to buy it. We just baked for 30 minutes and ate. It was so good. It was my first time trying it... I'm impressed. I love sweet potatoes in anything though ;)

Yummy! Have a wonderful weekend.

Veteran's Day

We had an awesome assembly today at school to honor our veterans. Since we're so close to Quantico, there are a lot of moms and dads in the military. My students also had interviewed veterans in their families and brought in projects. So many of my kids learned new things about their families; it was great to hear.

Anyway- I did zero cooking today... except if oatmeal counts? AND I did help cook an MRE. Yeah, that's right.

One of my student's godparent's came in and brought a few MRE's. The kids had fun eating the cookies and it was cool to learn about chemical reactions (the heating device... I have no idea what it's called). I had a bite of pasta with vegetables... and it was not the best thing I've ever eaten.

Thank you to all  of the veterans who have served our country and continue to serve.

nice surprises.

Last time I cooked spaghetti squash, I felt bad throwing away the seeds. I was wondering if I could roast them just like pumpkin seeds.

Well, last night I tried. It worked! I was excited. Just rinse the seeds, toss with butter and spices, and throw in a preheated oven. (I did 325 because that's what the spaghetti lasagna needed). I tried paprika and sea salt this time... Wasn't my favorite. They seemed a bit more chewy than pumpkin seeds but they were still good!

And then I forgot to put them away when we went to bed so the kitties had some as well. Oh well.

No dinner posting tonight because we had Chick-Fil-A due to having to get to church. Yumm-o.

Did you know if you order a kids meal but return the toy, they'll give you free ice cream? Perfect.




Also, I think I figured out what to do with the rest of the candy chicken. Stay tuned ;)

the simple things.

I had plans to write about our dinner tonight, which was 'Candy Chicken'... found here.

However, after eating 'Candy Chicken,' I do not want to blog about it. I love candy. This chicken did not taste like candy. This chicken did not taste very good at all. LET DOWN.

However, I am choosing to look on the bright side and find joy in the simple little things that make my life pretty awesome. Here is one:

My milk frother. I know it's weird that I really love my milk frother, but I honestly don't care. It is awesome. I got my first milk frother from Sur La Table on clearance; I think it was eight or nine dollars. However, that ended up with battery acid all over it due to it being dropped multiple times. Don't ask.

I got a replacement milk frother at Ikea for two or three dollars over the summer. It works like 100 times better. I am obsessed. Sometimes, if I'm anticipating a really awkward parent conference or rough day at work, I bring it with me to school. It makes my day that much better.  My co-workers just don't understand how awesome it is. Here's the link to the ikea website where you can see/buy it :) And here's some evidence of how great it is: Hello at-home lattes, bye-bye Starbucks!

doesn't this look delicious? Homemade vanilla lattes with cinnamon and nutmeg on top! Yum!

Is there something that you're obsessed with that is kind of silly?