Five for Fraturday

Hello Weekend.

I love you.

You may remember that last week was Teacher Appreciation Week.  Or you may have thought it was EAT AS MUCH FOOD AS YOU CAN Week for the way I carried on about all of our breakfasts and lunches and snacks and so on.

Well.

Thursday was Bring Your Teacher a Treat Day and I got all sorts of candy and yummy goodness, including a Nothing Bundt Cake.  Which I’ve never had.  Ever.  I’ve heard a lot about them, but I’ve never had one.

So I brought that cake home.

And I put it in my pantry.

And I forgot about it.

I didn’t think a thing of it until Sunday night.

In fact, it was probably around 9pm when Steve said something along the lines of what’s up with this cake?

And I answered, all nonchalantly and whatever . . .  oh, so-and-so gave that to me for Teacher Appreciation.  I hear they’re pretty good.

And then I took a bite.

FOUR DAYS AFTER BEING GIVEN THAT CAKE, I *FINALLY* TOOK A BITE.

I TOOK A BITE OF A CHOCOLATE CHOCOLATE-CHIP NOTHING BUNDT CAKE and it was as if the baker had just taken it out of the oven, let it cool, and said tell me what you think.

FOUR DAYS LATER, I SAID.

Which means, in all actuality, it was probably FIVE DAYS LATER because I received the gift on Thursday MORNING so they probably purchased it on Wednesday.

And I am here to say JUST WHO DO I THINK I AM?  WHO DO I THINK I AM THAT I WOULD JUST STICK THIS CAKE IN THE PANTRY WITH NO INTENTION WHATSOEVER OF EATING IT?

You guys.

It had cream cheese frosting which is the only way to have frosting, if you ask me.  STICK SOME CREAM CHEESE IN IT, PLEASE.

And it was so moist and light and just delicious which made me so mad at myself because Steve saw it, and then I HAD TO SHARE IT.

And it was just a teensy little cake AND I HAD TO SHARE IT.

Normally, and this is why I put it in the pantry to begin with, cake doesn’t do a whole lot for me.  I can pass right by a cake in the teacher’s lounge, I can say no thanks when cake is being passed around at a bridal shower or a going away party or what-have-you, I just don’t think CAKE:  I HAVE TO HAVE IT.

Give me all the candy, give me ice cream, give me some french fries, some popcorn, but cake?  Eh.  Shoulder shrug.

Kerry, on the other hand, will buy a birthday cake in the bakery of a grocery store WHEN IT ISN’T EVEN SOMEONE’S BIRTHDAY.  When she told my mom, sister, and I this last summer, WE FELL DOWN LAUGHING.

You must really love cake if you’re buying birthday cake FOR NO ONE’S BIRTHDAY.  And she does.  She loves cake.

All of that is to say that I love cake now.

I have to go buy myself a Nothing Bundt Cake RIGHT AWAY.

I am salivating.

The picture above is the damage our cake suffered.

This year, I bought a long arm stapler.

If you do not have one of these, GET ONE.  The one I purchased on Amazon is only $10 and some change!

Do you know the time I am saving with this bad boy?!  When I’m repairing well loved/falling apart books?!  It’s like . . . it’s like . . .

YOU GUYS!

I used to use book tape (packaging tape) and it took a long time, probably not a super long time, but time that I really did not have!  Who has time to fix books?  Like, really?  And when I did take the time, I didn’t take the right amount of time because I was always in a hurry and I wouldn’t do that good of a job because I’m a teacher, not a Book Fixer Upper Repair Lady!  So then I would send the books home in a bag for a parent volunteer to take care of, but I didn’t stay on top of it.  I mean, who has time to stay on top of stuff like this?  Not me.  I’m too busy driving to a Nothing Bundt Cake store.  Priorities, people.

NOW.

My kids bring me a book that is falling apart, and I say let’s take care of this right now, or put it on my teacher table, and before the end of the day, the book is fixed because it is literally TAP TAP TAP, DONE.

And it WORKS!

I am seriously going to have a Nothing Bundt Cake Party where all we do is eat cake and use my long arm stapler to staple stuff.

We’ll be on the news, I’m sure.

I told you earlier this year that a group of us are meeting once a week before school to have a life group/bible study.  It has been seriously amazing.  Each week, one of us is sharing our testimony or life verse, and it is really helping us all get to know one another on a deeper level.  Some of us have been teaching together for seventeen years and we are learning things about each other we never knew!

This week, one of my friends shared her testimony and she brought props!  Don’t ya just love those over achiever types?  😉  We all said we were glad she didn’t go first!  Ha!  I just love this girl and she reads my blog every once in awhile so Hi, Jessica!

Jessica brought each of us Princess Crowns.

Because we are daughters of a King.

Isn’t that so so so cool?

Every single one of us wore our crown while she shared about her life, and it was truly special!

If you ever have the chance to do this with the Believers on your staff, I highly recommend it!  Our group has anywhere between 12 and 18 members every week (sometimes someone will have to miss due to SSTs or IEPs or trainings or . . . you get the picture) and we are becoming so close!  Next year, we are planning on doing actual bible studies (She Reads Truth, Jesus Calling, etc), but I am thankful for the way we did things this year.  It has been inspiring and I am so blessed to know these women!

Our last meeting for this year is in a couple of weeks and we are ending with breakfast and fellowship!

There’s such a thing as a Bundt Breakfast cake, right?

We finally started Theme 8 in Benchmark this week, which basically means I have six weeks to fit in the last three themes.  Each theme is three weeks so I’ll probably just have a Bundt cake or two while I figure out that math on that one.

Anywho . . . Theme 8 is all about our Solar System and I’ve really been looking forward to it because I’ve never ever ever taught it! It’s a HUGE thing with our third grade team so we were always just respectful of that, plus it didn’t really come up in Houghton Mifflin or our other Science topics (plants, matter, Five Senses, etc).

I told my kids I’m learning right along with them and they LOVED that, of course.

I bought some Scholastic News books on Amazon which are really good!  The kids cannot get enough of them and are reading them ALL THE TIME.

Choosing to use Jodi’s Solar System Fact Folder was PERFECT!  MY KIDS ARE OBSESSED!  I had planned on using blue construction paper for our folders, but then I found some file folders at school and, bonus, they were already folded so I went that route.

When I told my class that they would each be getting their own file folder, one of my kids gasped, put one hand to her heart, and used the other hand to grab her friend’s arm in a oh em gee, can you believe this?!? sort of way.

It cracked me up and made me feel all sorts of good, in a that’s right, I do anything for my students, I am all about the engagement factor up in here.  Once I pointed out her little “act” to my kids, everyone was gasping, grabbing their hearts, and holding onto their friends, and then I lost control, and then I wondered if I should have just used the darn construction paper like I’d planned!  🙂

We basically “built” the folder over a couple of days, and now we are starting to actually do all of the “learning” part.

We are in heaven!  I’m excited, they’re excited, it’s really cool!

I highly recommend these Fact Folders from Jodi if you’re looking for something a little extra, a little fun, a little rigorous, etc!  She has them for all kinds of subjects!

 

 

WOOHOO!!!!

 

YES!!!!

 

I AM IN LOVE!

 

HOORAY!

 

YES!

I took my newfound Silhouette Cameo knowledge and I put it to good use!  I am so happy with the results!!

I love the messages, I love the teal, I love the pink, I love the hearts!

I love the way it looks!  Although now I’m being hyper critical and thinking I need to adjust a few letters, but that’s just the A type, obsessive compulsive personality disorder that I have, and after having spent way too long in the first place putting these up, I’ll just rest this weekend, and see how I feel on Monday.  Besides all that, I have a crick in my neck from looking up while hanging these while standing on top of a desk . . .

I also have the phrase “YOU ARE LOVED” all ready to go, but it wouldn’t fit above my back window because of our new Eyesore Technology.  The “pole” was in the way.  I hemmed and hawed and cried a tiny bit, and then I realized I can just redo the YOU ARE LOVED letters in a smaller format and then they’ll fit.

Sometimes I am smart.

Just not when it comes to hanging letters perfectly straight the first (or eighth or ninth) time.

🙂

And that wraps up my week!

How was yours?

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