Peanut Butter/Chocolate Deliciousness

So I was thinking... anytime chocolate and peanut butter are combined you can count me in! My latest creation Chocolate Peanut Butter Parfait, I made for, what else, a wedding shower! This dish seems to never end, so I also took the leftovers to school for a special Monday treat for the teachers. It was a HUGE hit, here's how you do it!

Thanks to Paula Dean for the deliciousness!

 Ingredients 

 First cut up the bananas.

 Peanut Butter, C. Sugar, and Cream Cheese Mixture. Delicious!

 Start layering: Chocolate pudding, bananas, peanut butter layer, crushed peanut butter cookies.

 Decorate as you may!

Ready to serve!

~Rachel 

Well its another week down and boy was it a busy one! We are currently in a farm unit and my class studied horses this week. Our principal is a horse person and actually brought a horse to school on Friday for my kids to pet and see. Funny side story: the lady who brought Graham(the horse) to school is the same lady who turned my resume in to our principal(small world!). Anyway the kids loved meeting Graham and learning about what he eats. Mrs. Carol(Graham's owner) let each of my students take a picture with the horse, she will be bringing us each a horseshoe to decorate as well as to frame our picture!

I have noticed that my kids love to sing to themselves lately. Whether it is during small group, or just sitting by themselves, we are always singing a little tune. Here are the ones I have found most funny.

It was the end of the day and I was passing out the children's take-home folders, I called C up to get his folder. In his own little world, he walked up and what do I hear: "Who Let the Dogs Out". Let me tell you I would have been perfectly fine without ever hearing that song after my middle school days, but it was a hilarious way to end the day.

Second chance encounter with my song birds. I was at my desk testing my kids on their weekly sight words. While I was working one on one with the students, the rest of the class was completing their "Three Little Pigs" Story mapping plots. Suddenly out of no where I heard a familiar tune. CS was at his desk singing in a sweet little voice "You Got a Friend in Me", not noticing anything going on around him, it was so funny.

Besides the singing, I would like to mention a happy from my week. We were testing on realism and fantasy and our story picture was "Jack in the Bean Stock."

The question: Which one could really happen?

A. A boy can climb to the sky.

B. A goose can lay an egg? (the correct answer)

C. A man living in the sky.

CS was across the room working quietly (which is a big accomplishment for us!). I was asking my small group now which one of these could really happen, when he shouted from his seat across the room. "But God lives in the sky!" While we are still working on shouting out, it was such a great reminder for me that God is working in my life as well as my kids life this year! Hope your school year is being filled with blessings as well!

~Miss Anderson

Weddings and Tutorials

So I was thinking... that burlap makes a mess! This is the mess I had as I was making my friend KDill a wreath for her wedding shower! My life lately, has been consumed with four things: 1. wedding showers,parties, and everything bridal for friends; 2. teaching/work, all the time, home and school; 3. crafting-I have to relax somehow 4. reading His word.(read my post about finding my group, I'm still excited and cannot wait till tomorrow to discuss Daniel 1)

Weddings have been consuming my life for the past year, being in three weddings for three of your close friends is very busy work! I have been blessed with great friends who have found their match that God has chosen for them. It has been so great getting to see each of their relationships grow into long lasting commitment. For their wedding gifts, I tried to make something for each of them. I thought it was a great way to take the time to create something for them to show my love of our friendship. This past weekend I hosted a shower for my bestie KDill and had the opportunity to make her a wreath and set up the sign in table. I hope she enjoys the wreath and it brings her joy as it hangs on her new door in Slidel, LA!

First here are some pictures of how it turned at the shower, followed by the tutorial. 

B for the Soon to be Mrs. B!

 The sign in table, all ideas thanks to Pinterest!

 Love is patient, love is kind... 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

The bride and me with her wreath! Enjoy!

So many rosettes, So little time

Tutorial: 

(warning: many rosettes = lots of time, make sure you start early!)

1. Wrap burlap around the wreath, hot gluing at the beginning and end.

2. Add the ruffle to the front of the wreath. (Sorry I should have documented more) This is taken with the wreath turned over. To make the ruffle, simply thread a piece of string or yarn back and forth through a strip of burlap. Tighten the string to create your desired ruffle and hot glue to your wreath.

3. Add your rosettes. You will need around 30, depending on the size of your rosesttes. Mine were the size of a half dollar. Rosettes are made by twisting strips of fabric(2 inches wide) and then wrapping the fabric around itself and hot gluing to secure along the way. 

4. Keep working! Don't give up!

5. Attach ribbon to the back of a store bought letter(Hobby Lobby, where else!) I slid the ribbon under the ruffles to give the wreath more stability when hanging. 

6. Give away to a friend or keep for yourself and enjoy!

~Rachel 

Reason to blog:

I was given a journal to record the events of my first year teaching and I was excited to use it when I first got my job; however, everyone asks me how my year is going, so I thought a blog my be a fun way to let everyone in for the daily adventures of life in FIRST GRADE!

So far teaching has been a blast and... exhausting, but I am enjoying every minute of it and so blessed to have a job in a great system! The first weeks were especially tiring trying to get everyone into the daily routine and used to life in a new school. We had finally gotten into a groove when we had an unexpected visitor in room A9. 

Thursday was running smoothly, 19/21 of us were there and we were all on green!!! We had almost made it to their favorite time of the day (centers) when my intercom phone began ringing. I answered and greeted our secretary, who told me that one of my kids was absent today because the child had gotten little buggies in their hair (aka lice, the -l word). She told us we needed to all come to the office to get checked. She started laughing at my shock and immediate questioning of how can I fix this. 

26 days into my first year teaching and an unexpected visitor gave me the jitters. So I grabbed my Junie B book(to keep them entertained while they were all given head checks) and we headed to the office lobby. We were very blessed and all passed the tests and got to go back to P.E to finish the day. No worries, my room was deep cleaned the next two nights and hopefully we won't have any more buggies in our room! 

Teaching first graders has many unexpected challenges, but I am excited about getting to meet them all with my 21 All-Stars! 

~Miss Anderson 

Found a Group!

So I was thinking...I'm excited about Daniel! When I moved back to "the loveliest village of the plains" I was excited to get more connected in the church I had been attending for the past four years. It was bittersweet leaving my church at home because after years of hoping for a young adult program there, we had finally gotten one, and here I was leaving town and not being able to participate except for the weekends I would be at home. However, I was excited about finding my own small group here to strengthen my walk with the accountability of a group. Much to my dismay, I discovered that finding a small group was going to be harder than I thought. The church that I had attended for the four years I was in college has tons of small groups, so I made sure I was in town on the small group sign up day. While walking around I saw tons of sign up tables but none that were directly aimed toward young single professionals. They had a great college program that they said I could still be a part of if I wanted and the only other group was a singles group but the age range was from around 24-50, so not finding my spot there I began to look around to other churches to see there programs. With many churches in this small town, there were a couple of groups that I could go and discover but I was still a little apprehensive. I went a week or so without making a decision and my waiting paid off when I got a text from a girl from my hometown. I had met her, when her family moved eleven years ago, we became friends because our moms taught together, but had not kept in touch as much as we would have liked during college, but back to the point. She had decided that she wanted to start her own small group and wanted to see if I wanted to join!!! I said of course, and immediately thanked God for helping me find a group and comforting my worry about this situation. We met this Tuesday with one other girl who wanted to join with us and after a delicious meal of Mellow Mushroom, we got to business. We decided that we were going to study the book of Daniel in the Old Testament. I have to say I am so excited that I have found my spot here and cannot wait till next Tuesday when our study begins. I will keep you posted on our progress through this book!

(Here is my black and white photography challenge. Apparently my sister and I are on the same wave length: the theme was black and white, so we took pictures of black and white things and edited them in black and white, ha)

~Rachel

Photography Challenge Time

So in the rush of getting ready this morning, I took the time to complete my photography challenge for the week: What I wore today. So here you go, brown dress, green sweater: the complete teacher look. What I like about this picture though is my vanity. It was my great grandmothers and after traveling around the family I finally ended up with it in my house, thanks to a great graduation gift from my sis!
Well, I'm off to mold young minds, till next time!
~Rachel

Family Memories

So I was thinking...how its the little things that remind me throughout the day how important family is.  I am blessed to have an amazing family, like I have mentioned before. Today, I have been thinking about my Peg Peg alot. Its not her birthday, or her favorite holiday, or the anniversary of her passing but she has been on my mind because of the small things in life that remind me of her everyday. Peg Peg was a passionate woman and a self-less person who taught us how important it is to give to others. I strive to be a giving person just like her everyday. My stroll down memory lane started today with a challenge from my sis's photography challenge. The challenge was to see things from a low angle. I thought I had my picture picked out early, a first for me lately, normally I am taking my camera to school the day of the challenge and snapping something I find there. However, while cleaning my vanity I found something that was a reminder of my Peg Peg's spirit and perfect for a low angle: an angle that looks up to the object just like I looked up to Peg Peg. Peg Peg loved jewelry and my PJ(her husband) loved to give her the things that she loved, so when she asked for something with rubies, emeralds, sapphires, & diamonds she got a ring with matching earrings. The tradition started when LB graduated HS Peg Peg turned one of the earrings into a ring for her, and the other was to be mine when I graduated four years later. However, shortly after Peg Peg was diagnosed with cancer and got to go see her Father in heaven a short six weeks later. I was able to get my special gift early as one of her keepsakes, and I thought it was the perfect object to look up to from a low angle. Hope you think so as well.

This ring is a little reminder of my Peg Peg that brightens my day, but I'm always surprised by the things that remind me of her: 

cooking eggs(always add milk, it makes them better), diet Pepsi, jewelry,  

Christmas time, StienMart, ginrummy, bows on presents 

just to name a few

~Rachel