oh hello blog...

Well it certainly appears that student teaching took up a good bit of my time this semester. Seeing as how my blog seems to have been a bit abandoned.
But, as of yesterday I am a college graduate and perhaps that will mean I have more time for the blogging world.  Speaking of graduation, I cannot believe that the semester has already come and gone.  It went by far too quickly for my liking.  I have been on the hunt for a job since about mid October, so please keep your fingers crossed.  Until I find that perfect job I get the pleasure of continuing to work at Einsteins and substituting.  Not the ideal situation, but it will keep the bills paid and kittens fed.  I am excited about the possibility of having some more free time in the future, more time for cuddles, cooking, and perhaps some blogging :)

My life for the past few months has pretty much consisted of school, school work, work, and a little bit of Ben time.  Here are the highlights:

They wait for me daily in the window. Sweet boys.

Blu loved our scarecrow!

Our Halloween decorations.

Statesboro Fair

We ate a LOT of junk food!

I made an awesome resume!

We cuddled.

Crosswords at work. 

We went to the Atlanta Zoo for Ben's birthday! 23!!

First full family road trip. 

Will Henry's on Thanksgiving night. 

We decorated for Christmas!

We dressed fancy!

I graduated!!!!!!

It has been a fun few months even if I thought I was going to die of sleep deprivation at times.  I am ready to take on the world now!

I am a slacker

So school started, and so did my new 65 hour work week schedule.  Whew, I have been worn out this entire week.  It's been hard to stay awake to finish my work, but it has to be done.  So far this week, I have written 3 1/2 lesson plans.  I'm pretty proud of myself.  I'm definitely not really used to this amount of work, but like I said, it has to be done.  I actually start teaching tomorrow.  I'm pretty excited about it, I will be teaching my homeroom about the properties of multiplication, which shouldn't be too tough since they literally just learned about the properties of addition.

Other than school, I've been working... way too much, but that's ok because my check in a couple of weeks is going to be amazing.  I've had little time for new recipes which is no bueno, but the gentleman and I plan to fix that problem this upcoming week.  I'm doing my best to keep up with all of my work and even get a little bit ahead so hopefully that will allow a bit more free time in the near future.

other tan all these bits and pieces here is what my week has looked like according to my iPhone, unfortunately I'm slacking on picture taking as well, so please don't be too upset at me!

How was your week?

-- Lizzie

So here's the deal about 6am...

When you wake up then and spend 8 hours with 5th graders and then go home to work, you end up becoming a sucky blogger.  You have high hopes at 7 am when you're making your to-do list for the day, but when 3:15 rolls around and it's time to go home, all you want to do is snack and sleep.

Well at least that's my experience with 6 am.
Honestly, it isn't as awful as it sounds.  I enjoy my day and it goes by pretty quickly, I just have to get used to waking up early and not having time to just be lazy.   So really what are the perks of being in student teaching:

5th graders love my fashion style! I received compliments on my dress, shoes, and necklace today.  Super ego boost!

The necklace was made by my awesome seester beeteedubs!

My sweet boy makes me dinner and lets me eat all the pie I want! 

Also a perk of working directly next to Coldstone - delicious peanut butter pie!

Getting to go back to school shopping! This is by far my favorite.  I can justify buying whatever I want when I relate it back to school.  New tote bag - totally necessary for my binder. New shoes - well I need them for school of course! New clothes - I need those compliments to keep coming from my friendly 10 year olds!

So student teaching isn't all bad, just tiring.  I start teaching next week - the properties of multiplication! Please hold in your screams of excitement.  It's not a super exciting topic, but I'm excited to get back into the swing of things.  What I'm most excited about however, is my unit topic - Physical and Chemical changes! AHHHH <--- serious scream of excitement.  I love teaching science, and there's so much you can do with this topic.  I really can't wait to start planning it all our.  However first I have to finish my lesson plans for next week as I take on those properties.

If you have any ideas on either of these topics, send them my way!!

Wish me luck!

-Lizzie

Taking on student teaching...

It's 6:30 in the morning and I've already worked out and had breakfast. This is ridiculous! I didn't know I could really function at this hour, but I'm definitely not complaining! If I keep up with this I'll be a happy camper. Now to get dressed and hit the road!

Friday's Letters

I'm jumping on board the Friday's Letters train!

Dear Friday, I wish you felt more like Friday rather than Monday.  Dear Student Teaching Orientation, Why is it that I left feeling more confused than I went in? I thought it was supposed to clear things up, I am disappointed in you!  Dear Pizza, We've been together a long time, and while I adore you, I think we need some space.  You're too delicious and I can't resist you even though I know I should. Dear Kittens, You have been incredibly cute these past two days, keep it up, I'm going to need it next week! Dear Operation Move In, You suck, Statesboro is in total chaos thanks to all of the new freshmen.  I will not miss you when I am gone.  Dear Ben, I love you tons, even though you forget about the laundry. 

- Lizzie

(Later I'll share my recipe for delicious mini pizzas that you can't resist!)

A week of firsts

So, as the actual beginning of student teaching draws closer, my Pinterest boards have been filling up with sandwichless lunch ideas.  Since I'm working all this week through lunch time, I figured it would be a great time to test out some new lunch recipes.  My next few blog posts are going to be centered around my new lunch recipes and whether or not I think they would actually be good for taking to school!

I decided I would start off with some easy snack ideas.  My first recipe to conquer was baked apple chips.

Ingredients:
4 fresh apples, sliced to about a 1/4 inch thick
Parchment paper
A mixture of sugar and cinnamon

Directions:
So, first things first, you need to slice the apples pretty thin.  If you have a mandoline, this is the perfect time to break it out! While you're slicing, let your oven preheat to 225.

How cute is my new paring knife???

Lay out your parchment paper on a a few baking sheets - I used three total.  Lay the apple slices down.  Do not let them overlap!

Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture on top of each slice.

Bake in the oven for one hour.  Take the slices out, and flip them over.  Again sprinkle some cinnamon sugar on them.  They should be starting to curl at the edges.  Bake for one more hour.

Last step is to let them cool, and then dig in!

My rating:
I would give these apple chips a 4/5.  They are super delicious, but I wish they took a little bit less time and got a bit crispier.  I think next time, I may turn the heat up just a little bit, to see if that might make them crispier.  I really enjoy the flavor and the fact that they're pretty healthy for you.  These are definitely a snack I would take to school, and we have plans to make some every week.

My next adventure is with homemade potato chips!


What snacks do you take to school or work?

- Lizzie

so that's fifth grade...

Well, I had my first day of school!

It was pretty awesome.  Got to school around 7:00, which in order to do so meant I had to leave my house at about 6:45.  That is the best part about this semester, no more long drives out to who knows where!  The school where I am placed, is fabulous and all of the teachers are energetic and just fun.  It was a really different experience being there on the first day of school rather than just showing up a few weeks into the semester.  I was able to be there for all of the introductions and structure oriented aspects of teaching - rules, expectations, conduct codes, etc. I think this is definitely going to give me an advantage when I do start going everyday.  Speaking of that, I had somewhat planned to just start going already daily, but my teacher basically told me to enjoy summer while I could.  While I will enjoy this time off, I really can't wait to get started student teaching now.  I'm tired of being bored during the day.  Student teaching will give me more that enough stuff to do without a doubt.  All I can say is that I hope the rest of the school year goes just as smoothly as today!

Did you start school today?

- Lizzie

First day of school nerves!

So I start 5th grade tomorrow... Ok well I start teaching 5th grade tomorrow, to-may-toe, to-mah-to.  The nerves are all the same.  What if the popular kids don't like me? What if the principal thinks I'm a trouble maker? and so on and so forth.

Me!

Honestly I'm not too terribly nervous for the first day of school, I'm sure it will be hectic and fun.  What I am nervous about is student teaching and my time management skills.  This semester I'll be at my school from 7 am till 3 pm every day.  That's a 40 hour job that I'm not getting paid for! While I would love to just do student teaching, there are two furry mouths that I have to feed, rent to pay, and sometimes I like to eat.  Which is why I work at the lovely Einsteins.  I may also have a secondary job if they feel like working with my schedule, but I won't know that until later tonight.  All I do know is that I am going to have to stay so organized with my lessons and work or else I won't be graduating in December.

Other than being a bit scared of what is to come this semester, I am super excited to meet all of my students and get back into the swing of teaching.  Once I finish up browsing the good ol' interwebz and eat a delicious dinner, I plan on packing my bag, my lunchbox, and getting all of pens and pencils in order.  I have to be prepared for the first day, I mean I am the teacher!!

Any tips on how to cure first day of school nerves?

- Elizabeth

and so it goes...

I'm down to my last week of summer! A week from today I will be preparing for the first day of school. (eeeek!)  In my last few days of freedom I'm trying to pack in as much fun as possible.  Today's fun started with a 6 hour work day :( but since I am now free of work I have planted some catnip for the babies! It doesn't sound like much fun, but it's something I've been meaning to do for weeks.

Isn't my little pot precious?? 

Another bit of fun has been completely reorganizing my photos on the computer.  Ok, so it's not really that fun, but it makes me feel accomplished!  Speaking of accomplished, I really need to work on my resume for student teaching!  I need to finish it so it can be critiqued prior to orientation.  Which will then lead to me applying for jobs! (again eek!!)   For actual fun, the gentleman and I are planning a beach trip for this weekend and planning an elaborate fort/movie night.  And, as always, my two main furry men, are still as lazy as ever, spending their summer days lounging around. 

Aren't they just so handsome!?

Hoping everyone is filling their last days of summer with some sunshine!

project organization

So since we've made a big move to the new place, I have been trying desperately to clean out all of the junk we've acquired in the past few years.  I can't say it's totally gone but, we've made a little dent.  Also with Student teaching just a week and a half a way I had to get my act together and start organizing my school stuff as well.  I'm not sure the specifics of other student teaching programs but mine requires me to have three specific binders, 31 dividers, and 24 sub dividers.  I ended up spending $30 just on school supplies.

After making my purchases, I headed home to begin organizing and labeling all of my new binders.  I have to say I felt very accomplished after labeling each divider... and my binders are kind of pretty.  

Other than organizing we've had a pretty relaxing week filled with friends, drinks, and delicious food.  I'm incredibly sad to see the summer come to an end.  Looking back, this has been such a fun filled summer.  Even though I worked probably 95% of the summer I really wouldn't change it for anything.  I can only hope that my school year will go just as well.  

 Had to end the post with some precious pictures of my boys who are definitely enjoying their summer!

resurrection

To resurrect this long lost blog I felt I should start off with a little craft I completed today.

Since the new school year and student teaching (eek!) are just around the corner I decided I needed a new camera.  This way I'll be able to beef up my portfolio with pictures.  On top of that, this is my last semester, I want to capture every moment possible.  (I also want to take pictures of the kitten babies!)
So last week I got on the good ol' interwebs and found myself a nice camera for a pretty good price.  It's a Nikon L26 and for what I payed and what I'll be using it for it's perfect!

I was very excited when it arrived yesterday and started taking pictures right away.  Now, I don't have the best history with electronics and not breaking them, so I decided right away that I needed to make a case for my brand new baby.

First things first, I gathered all of my materials:
- needle
- thread
- various bits of fabric
- buttons
- hemp

I recently picked up some beautiful fabric from a local thrift store for super cheap, but I hadn't decided what I wanted to actually use it for.  I decided that this fabric was destined for the camera case!  Using my new fabric and some old canvas I made two pouches that my camera would fit.  I then sewed the canvas pouch inside of the printed fabric.  I sewed the two pouches together and then added a little drawstring.  I'm very proud of myself, considering it is all hand sewn.  It's not the most protective case ever, but It will keep my new baby safe in my purse, which is where it will spend most of it's life.

Isn't this print precious?

Again I'm pretty proud of myself, but the actual case hasn't really been put to use yet, so we'll see how it holds up over time! Definitely looking forward to taking advantage of the new camera in the very near future, so be prepared to have a photo overload!

I'll leave you with a photo from my kitten photo shoot yesterday!

Miles and his rather large rear end.