Goodies and Pinterest

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is cooking and baking Christmas goodies with my mom.  It's a LOT of fun. We turn on Christmas music, giggle, do a lot of taste testing and enjoy each others company.

This year, we decided to try a Pinterest idea.  Here's what happened.
We decided to try this pretzel Hershey Kiss thing...looked easy enough right?

At the grocery store we couldn't find the striped kisses. I think they're called Hugs.  We finally found one bag. Then we just decided to get a bag of the regular kisses and another of the yummy caramel.  We found the red and green M&M's easily.

On our way back to my house, we took a little detour and drove by some houses decked out with some pretty fantastic lights in my neighborhood.

Back to the chocolate.....The directions were fairly easy. Place a Kiss on the pretzel then melt in the oven. For the final touch, press an M&M on top.

For some reason, I thought using this pizza pan would be a good idea.  We discovered some kisses melted better than others.  The Hugs did better and the milk chocolate pretty much kept their shape until you pressed the m&m into it.  As did the caramel ones.  But those cracked and were not pretty at all.  I like the way the Hugs look with the stripes best.

 

Here's why the pizza pan with HOLES wasn't a good idea! The chocolate melted through the holes and made the pretzels stick to the pan. Scraping them off wasn't fun and it broke them.  In my defense, I think we were just trying to be efficient and get a pan ready while another was already in the oven.  I finally got smart and used a cake pan with aluminum foil.  The foil also came in handy when we decided to put them in the fridge to cool and and allowed us to sort of peel them off.

 

Here's a batch of the caramel kisses.  They didn't turn out very pretty, but man! They sure did taste GOOD!

FINALLY!  We mastered it..sort of...and got a decent batch.  Good grief Charlie Brown! Who thought something so simple could cause so much problems!!  Mom and I just laughed and ate the ones that didn't turn out.  And let me tell you, they tasted every bit as good as the ones that did.

The finished product.  They were so yummy. But dangerous!  Small little, tasty goodies like this always are.

 

This is an easy one mom  taught me.  She just poured out a bag of chocolate chips, melted them in

the oven, the sprinkled chopped pecans over it. 

After you cool it in the fridge, just break it up into pieces.

Mom even got jazzy and used mint chips. The possibilities are pretty endless, it's super easy, goof proof and delicious!

Happiness and Wanting

Lately, I find myself living somewhere between being content and finding all kinds of happiness in what I have in my life and longing with my heart of my hearts for it to be different. I wish for something more.

My teaching career is on and popping.
Except for all the education reform attempting to take place and for all the stress that brings.
 I love the kids and I love teaching them new things.  I love seeing their light of understanding suddenly TURN ON. I love seeing them beginning to take charge of their own thinking and taking their own learning to a new level. 
I love teaching and I love watching and helping them learn.

My husband just finished his first semester of art school and I couldn't be prouder of him! He is on his way to achieving something he has wanted for quite some time.  We are POOR and are scraping by.  But we are also learning some big lessons about living on less that I hope we can continue poor or not poor.

Maude and Wyatt are the most wonderful fur babies anyone could ask for.  I love them to pieces.  They make me so happy.  Wyatt always runs up to me and is overjoyed when I come home.  Maude quietly snuggles up to me on the couch and while I'm sleeping.  She is my little heater. And I suspect I am hers as well.  She is getting old.  Probably about 13 or 14.  She is our little grey lady and I want her to be with us forever.

With every Christmas card we get with our friends and families children on them, Stewart and I can't help but feel that pang of sadness pulling on our hearts.

We are in a bit of a conundrum.  Stewart went back to school.  To be an artist.  We are poor.  This is no time to be getting knocked up. But we're old.  Maybe our time is even past.  We're afraid to even try because that's when you always get what you've been wanting.  When you're not trying or when you think it's not the right time.

Then I read this blog.  http://stepintosecondgrade.blogspot.com/2013/12/christmas-with-lemons.html
I have loved following their adoption story. I love seeing this happy little family that was just meant to be.  I think how that could be me and Stewart.
I love how she wrapped 25 books and numbered each one.  Each night their little girl gets to open the next one and they read it together.  That is something I would SO do if we had a child.
So, I just exhale, file that idea away in my head. Maybe I'll get to use it one day.

Yet, I'm happy.
As a single girl, I was really beginning to think I might never get married.   So meeting, dating, falling in love with and marrying Stewart is such a wonderful blessing.  I love him with all my heart and sometimes I still can't believe I finally found someone who loves and puts up with me.

I don't know the end of the story. Shoot, right now, Stewart and I are just trying to survive on smaller income.  Right now, I'm happy...but I'm also wanting more....

Loss and Love

Ten years ago tonight, my dad unexpectedly died and went to Heaven.

Wow.  Ten years.  It doesn't seem possible.

It's still strange.  He was here. He lived. Now he's gone.  Sometimes it just rattles my head too much and I have to think about something else.

He was young.  Just 57.  He and my mom had just celebrated their 34th wedding anniversary on December 12.  When we came back to my mom's house from the hospital that night, the beautiful bouquet of flowers he had sent her at school was still on the table.  The card simply said, "I will love you forever".

I miss him a lot these days.  We butted heads when I was younger and often had a rough relationship.  As he realized I was actually a young woman out on my own I think he started to understand me a little better. We were both making better efforts. But I ALWAYS knew he loved me. Maybe sometimes it was a bit suffocating, but now I'm so glad.  I also realize that the butting of heads was because we were EXACTLY alike.  Hardheaded, independent, and determined WE were right and everyone else was wrong!  :)

I hate he is missing so much. My marriage, meeting Stewart, buying our house, playing with Maude and Wyatt, growing old with my mom and aggravating those he loved.  I hate he missed the Johnny Cash movie, Walk the Line, a few years back.  I hate he's missing deer season.  But then there are things I'm glad he never had to see or deal with.

My little brother Will walked me down the aisle.  This tiny picture frame was so special on that day.

I have no idea how he would react or how he would feel about my infertility.
But I DO know his legacy has helped me deal with it.
His Faith and love for the Lord was important to him and he wasn't afraid to tell anyone about it.
Growing up in what I call the "Baptist Bubble", I watched he and my mom make commitments to God and our church and our upbringing that simply cannot be denied.  It was real and he was serious about it.  My dad was far from perfect but he accepted the Forgiveness that was offered and tried his best to live out his life in that manner.

So because of that, I have my own Faith, Forgiveness and Grace.  And because of that, I am able to attempt to live my life in the same fashion.  Because of God, I am able to live with infertility. I give it to Him (most days) and try my best to leave it there and just trust and have faith.

Dad taught me many things. I learned to drive in a horse pasture in a baby blue beat up Ford truck. He taught me to drive defensively in this crazy Memphis traffic (and I am forever thankful). He taught me to read people.  His sense about people was uncanny.  He taught me to laugh at a lot of inappropriate things and to be silly.  He taught me about dogs and horses.  He even taught me about deer hunting and I went out in the woods and climbed into a deer stand him a few times.  But it just didn't take.  I'm NOT a morning person and I can't stand the cold.  He taught me how to stand up for myself, to be independent...but above all of this, he taught me to love.  My family and God.

One of our many trail rides.

May 2003. My college graduation.

Dolphins, and Whales, and Sea Turtles, oh my!

I don't know about other 2nd grade teachers, but I'm so busy trying to teach Math and Reading skills, I often find myself struggling to fit in Science and Social Studies.  (which I LOVE teaching by the way)

Recently, I found this wonderful freebie on Teachers Pay Teachers.  It's an ocean animal fact book.  This 9 weeks, one of the skills we are supposed to be working on is habitats.  So I downloaded this, printed it off, had the students color it and got them stapled together.  Right before our Snow (ice) day last Thursday, we started watching videos on you tube about dolphins.  I  wrote down their favorite facts on the board, then let them choose 3 to write on their dolphin page.

 Here's the link:
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Ocean-Animal-Fact-Book-Blank-735958

Then, I did a Google image search and found a picture of a dolphin with its parts labeled and had the students draw it in their journal.  I have some really great little artists this year.

 Next was sea turtles.  I also found a Google image of a sea turtle life cycle.  Guess we'll have to go back and find one for the dolphin.
The shark is next.  They are really excited about that one!

This turtle was not traced.  I think I have an artist on my hands. 

I am really getting into using Journals in my classroom.  I have always used a Writing Journal but over the last few years, I've begun to expand.  This year, my students have a Writing, Reading Skills, Math,  and Science/Social Studies Journal.  My students are LOVING their journals.  One day, after gluing a completed Math poster/activity, one of my students said, "Mrs. Thompson, I love our Math Journals. It's like a learning tool. And I'm learning a lot!"  HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY!!!

And I'm LOVING the teachers pay teachers site.  There are so many free items available.  (the ocean fact book is FREE)  One of my 2nd grade coworkers and I seem to share a brain when it comes to ideas and often anytime we do buy something on TPT, we share it with each other.  Earlier this year, she bought and shared an interactive Reading Notebook. Here's the link.
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/2nd-Grade-Reading-Interactive-Notebook-aligned-with-the-Common-Core-765272

Ice and Sound of Music

SNOW DAY!!!

Well, actually, nasty weather, sleet and ice day, but we got the same result...NO SCHOOL! Yippee!

I went to the grocery store this morning, not becaue of the storm, but because we were completly out of groceries.  At first, I thought maybe we could chance it in case we did get iced in, but then I realized we were out of dog food and toliet paper. Those 2 items were enough to get me moving!

This gathering of groceries had me giggling.
 I don't know what it is about snow days or holidays,
 one should always have cinnamon rolls on hand.

All the trees are icy and up until a little while ago, the rain and sleet was coming down continually.  But I think it's stopped now.  The streets even look fairly dry. It's supposed to get even colder tonight and then start all over again this weekend.  Our power blinked once earlier today but so far so good.  On facebook, a couple of friends have reported their power is out.  I already texted my mom and told her if ours goes out, we're packing up and heading her way with some firewood.  She has a nice, brick, REAL fireplace.  All we have is a gas fireplace that has never worked and we've never had anyone try to repair it.

After my grocery run, putting food away, semi-organizing the pantry and coking up some ground beef to freeze, I've been useless.  I've been bundled up on the couch playing on facebook, texting with my mom and watching The Sound of Music with Carrie Underwood and Steven Moyer.  I've been loving seeing vampire Bill sing and dance!

Carrie and Steven in Sound of Music

Steven and Anna as Bill and Sookie in True Blood.
They're married in real life.

I think it stinks that they're giving Carrie all these bad reviews.  I mean, come on people!  She's not an actress!  I think she did pretty well. Yeah, she was a little wooden at times and her chemistry with the Captain was, well, not there, but it was live tv and I guess this was her first time doing something like this.  I watched and was entertained.  I especially loved seeing Audra McDonald play the Abbess.  Her rendition of Climb Every Mountain had me in tears!  I also like the guy that was in Smash.  And the Von Trapp children were oh so talented!  When I told my mom who Steven Moyer was, she said, "Well, the vampire can sing and dance!" haha (and fyi, my maiden name is Compton)

So there you have it...my very own review of the Sound of Music. 

Bundled up on the couch with my book
and a cozy, sweet Maude. We kept one another warm.

We still haven't put up our Christmas tree or any decorations.  Poor Stewart is frantically working, trying to finish the last of his assignments for this semester.  For his 3D Design class, he had to build a glider.  It has to fly a certain distance.  We just practiced with it and it worked alright.  Then he strapped a Star Wars action figure to the front and it did even better!

The ice is supposed to come back this weekend...I SO wouldn't mind if we were out Monday too! Guess we'll have to wait and see.

Thanks and Giving

I love Thanksgiving.  It's my favorite holiday.  Don't get me wrong...I adore Christmas, but there's just something about Thanksgiving.  It's peaceful and relaxing.  The calm before the storm I suppose. For me, it's sweet time with family.  Of course, GOOD food. I LOOOOVE pecan pie.  It's not Thanksgiving without pecan pie. Thanksgiving is a time of thoughtful reflection.  It's giving thanks for blessings.  It's thinking about the year before and having another with friends and family.  It's embracing the past and looking forward to our future.

 

It's also all about homemade dressing, honey ham, turkey, hash brown casserole and whatever other delicious goodies family makes.  Did I mention my mom's speciality?   PUMPKIN ROLL!!!!!  Oh. My. GOODNESS.  I basically eat myself silly with that stuff.   

I'm also one of those people who shun everything Christmas until Thanksgiving is over. I just feel as though I need to protect Thanksgiivng.  It seems to get looked over with all of Christmas' glory.

But holidays lately are difficult for Stewart and I.  Even though we may be making progress in dealing with it all, pretty much any holiday digs into our infertility scars and hurts us.  It's yet another reminder that we haven't been successful in starting a family.  

It's cruel and it's unfair. 

It's hard.

It's hard being around your relatives and their small children watching them enjoy all the fun.  

It's hard being on the outside looking in.  Feeling like you're not really a part of things.  Like you're living on the fringes.

It's hard watching the kids being counted so they can draw names to exchange Christmas gifts for one another.

It's hard seeing CUTE little holiday outfits on the girls knowing I may never get to order something like that with a name embroidered on it.

So, I just watch.  Mostly try to turn away.  I try not to seem rude, but I just don't play with the kids. I watch them run around with all their cousins. And I'm sad because it's just one more year we're childless. One more year with all the other kids growing and getting older and we just continue to stay in the same place.

This year, as we do most years, we spend the actual day with Stewart's parents, his brother Jason and his family.  It's always a good time with good food and visiting and getting caught up.

Mary's famous (& delicious cheese-ball), my Buffalo Chicken Dip,
& Carrie made Crap Dip in the crock-pot.  Yes, We enjoy our food!

Stewart's mom, Mary, made delicious ham, chicken, dressing,
homemade rolls and several other goodies.

Mary and I being silly in the kitchen

Our cozy Thanksgiving table

Me and Stewart

We were all so busy eating, laughing and talking about what was going to happen next on The Walking Dead, I forgot to try to get a family picture of all of us.  I was going to say at least I got a picture of everyone on here, but I realized there isn't on of the Patriarch...Joe!  Sorry Papa Joe...I LOVE YOU!!!  We'll do better at Christmas!

Next, is Brewer Thanksgiving in Huntington, Tn with my mom's brothers and sisters(there are 7 of them), all my cousins and our families.  One brother and his family and one cousin and her family were not there.  We still probably had about 40 folks there.  Everyone brings a dish (or 2) and we eat our hearts out.  

This is the dessert table. Notice the TWO pecan pies there?  And yes, I had a piece of each. And yes, they were BOTH delicious.  I have to also mention that chocolate pie....holy cow!!  My Granny would always make one for me when we would visit and none have EVER been able to compare.  But this one, came mighty close!

Here is our Thanksgiving Family picture 2013.  It's a little blurry, but it's the best one we could get.  We had to take a BUNCH. My sweet, little cousin Brady decided he wanted to be in the picture. So we took one with him. But then he decided to show us his awesome photo bomb skills....we were laughing like crazy.

I had to get a picture of Maude and Wyatt in here...can't leave the babies out.  Notice those pretty little pillows they're making themselves comfortable on?  Those pillows were NOT to become dog beds when I bought them. But, I figured since it's Thanksgiving, I'd let them relax just this once.

Oh, who am I kidding?! They have completely taken over those pillows and they did it long before Thanksgiving!

Evaluation and PIE

This blog post is not about infertility. It's about what I do 180 days a year from 8:45-4:30, 5 days a week. (not counting after school hours, faculty meetings, tutoring, working at home, etc)

You may have guessed if this is your first time reading...yep, I'm a teacher!

2nd is the grade and education is the game.

This is the 3rd year of the new Tennessee evaluation system for teachers. It's highly flawed and stressful. And that's all I'm going to say about that here.

My 1st evaluation of this year was last Thursday.  Because of the stress and the ridiculously long and detailed rubric we have to refer to, I become more and more nervous every time.  This is my 11th year of teaching, and while I'm confident in my abilities to teach 2nd graders, this whole process makes me doubt everything I know.

Anyway, I decided to do my evaluation lesson on Author's Purpose.  It's usually a pretty fun lesson to teach and the students always seem to catch on pretty quickly.  Plus I've found (and borrowed) several fun posters and activities from the web and teaching blogs I follow.

Soooo, what IS Author's Purpose you ask? Well, I'll tell you...It's as easy as PIE!

P-Persuade

I-Inform

E-Entertain

Get it?

Cute. Right!?

I LOVE using my SmartBoard to search posters in the web and trace them for my room.

I follow a wonderful 2nd grade blog. Step into 2nd Grade.  Amy Lemons is a fantastic teacher and has THE CUTEST ideas.  I follow her (and often) purchase her ideas, lesson, centers on Teachers Pay Teachers.

At the beginning of the lesson, I had the students sort some classroom library books I had already pulled. They took their book and stood next to the student who was holding the correct poster.  Then they had to tell me why their book fell into that particular category.  To all my Tennessee teachers, I made them give me their "evidence!" I done good, huh?

They did SUCH a good job!  I was really proud of them and the answers they gave me.  I feel like they did well with my higher order thinking questions I asked them.

All the while, my principal was sitting there typing everything we did and said into her iPad.  I have a good relationship with my principal, but when she's in there evaluating me, all my words and my brain turn to mush.  I have to totally ignore her and make a conscious effort to turn my back to her.  Although, she teased me after it was all over for NOT twisting my hair.  Apparently, I do this A LOT.

After our book sorting on our big Reading carpet, we moved to our desks and watched 2 interactive powerpoints I found on www.smartexchange.com.  My students really got into it and made me look really good. At least, I think that was the case.

Then each child individually used their assigned book and worked on this Author's Purpose "book report".  I can't remember if I got this from Amy Lemons' site or just pulled it off the web.

Again, they did great with it!

 

 

Next was a sorting mat using Scholastic book order forms I never passed out.  It turned out to be the best little activity.  Well, pretty much anything they get to cut and paste usually works out pretty well.  They looked through the little magazine, decided which book would match to each author's purpose and glue it in the appropriate column.

  

They were all so precise in completing this.

Each student made their own PIE.  They LOVED it! I told them to copy our posters for the front.

 

Underneath, they chose one book that matched, drew the cover and a sentence explaining why it fell under that category.

Our wall display.  The posters are what we used for our book sort.

I'd give myself a 5! I enjoyed teaching this and I'm pretty sure my students enjoyed learning.  I can guarantee that if you walked in my classroom right now and asked them about Author's Purpose, they would be able to tell you all about it.  Then explain how they know they're right!