A Librarian Life For Me : -)

Peace Out, 2011

2011-12-31T14:28:00.001-08:00

I am usually into typical blog posts like this, but I saw several friends doing it, and I thought I would give it a try this year.

**disclaimer- I am attaching pictures from my phone, so they will not be in the order j want them to be. Just a warning.

January
The start of the year was all about little man, brenden. My how he has grown in a year. He talks, and talks a lot! At school, we were hoping for snow.

February
Normally, I'd be gearing up for Mardi Gras during this month, but mardi Gras was late this year. At school, I decorated for Mardi Gras to get ready for March. I also had a birthday during this month! I got a pretty special present. My grandmother passed away last August, and I got her engagement ring. I just love it! I started a train ride in February that continuously gained speed until 2 weeks ago. I missed a week of school with the Flu- worst experience of my life. The next week, I had jury duty for the first time. I was chosen to be on the grand jury or the next year. I learned a lot through this experience, and overall, I am glad I was chosen.

March
March brought Mardi Gras, 9 weeks exams, and Spring break! This year, we went to Disney World for the break! Words do not express how much I enjoyed the week!

April
April was super busy as well! At school, it was MCT2 crunch time. At church, I had something every week as we prepared for the end of AWANA and the beginning of summer.

May
Yay May! May was my last month at WCES. During this month, I started a new, exciting, scary journey to beginning a new job! I accepted a library media specialist position at Bolton- Edwards Elem/ Mid School. also, my sweet cousin Sarah graduated from high school!

June
You would think that summer would mean lazy days, but that was not the case for me. At the church, we were busy with day trips, Narnia bible study, and my very first VBS experience! Wow! That was the craziest, most stressfully, wonderful thing ever! The same week of VBS, I attended new teacher orientation in Byram, and I bought a house! Yes, I said I BOUGHT A HOUSE! What a week/month?!

July
Hello craziest month ever. Wrapping things up at the church, packing, prepping my house, cleaning out the library, setting up the library, CENTRIKID, day trips, and MOVING! Did I mention I was also in grad school this whole year and I had the most terrible class ever during July?!

August

I was relieved , nervous, and excited to see August. I moved into my house, started my new job, had a month off of school, and met some pretty great friends in Clinton. Also, my little brother was baptized.

September

Brenden turned 2, so we had a Mickey themed birthday! Football season started- hallelujah! LSU started their dominating season by killing Oregon at Cowboys' Stadium. :-) I traveled to Starkville to watch LSU beat my alma mater :-)

October

Fall break, State Fair, 2 flat tires, Brad Wing get penalized for taunting after scoring a TD against Florida, friends, jury duty.

November
Grad school misery, Family Literacy night, my first book fair :/, stomach virus, thanksgiving with the Jones', found out my BFF is pregnant, Mickey on Ice. Oh, and there was this little thing called LSU beat bama in t-town in OT :-)

December
Finished coursework for grad school, went through an audit at work, had oral surgery, decorated everything for Christmas, LSU won SEC championship after their first undefeated season (geaux tigers), LSU and bama were selected for national championship game, drew Bree's beat marino's record in the dome against the dirty birds and clinched the NFC west, Christmas :-) Topping the year off with a trip to Newks and Yog N Frut with the fam.

What a year it's been! Looking forward to 2012! Graduation from UTA is first on the list!

Magic Cookies :-)

2011-10-22T13:43:00.001-07:00

I posted magic muffins a few weeks ago, and they were a hit, so I am now posting magic cookies!

These are easy peasy!

1 cake mix (I prefer lemon)
1 container of cool- whip
1 cup of powdered sugar

Mix cake and cool- whip. Dough will be very sticky. To shape cookies, I wore a latex glove. Scoop 1 spoonful of cookie dough into a bowl o powdered sugar. Coat dough and place on cookie sheet. Allow room around each cookie because the dough will spread.

Bake at 350 for 7-9 min. Allow to sit on warm pan to cool.

Enjoy these magical, chewy treats :-)

Fall magic muffins :-)

2011-09-24T10:31:00.001-07:00

I may have already posted this recipe, but it's too good not to post again :-)

1 box of spice cake mix ( or carrot cake).

1 can of pumpkin

Mix, mix, mix.

Pour into 12 muffin tins.

Bake at 350 for 20 or so minutes.

Now for the extra special part :-)

Cream one package of cream cheese and 1/4 cup of brown sugar. Add one egg. Squeeze yumminess into the center of each muffin prior to baking :-)

Cream one stick of butter and a pinch of sea salt with 1 tsp of vanilla.
In a saucepan, melt 1 cup of powdered sugar until it's a caramel color. Add a tbls or two of cream. Combine and cool. Add caramel sauce to butter and whip. Add powdered sugar until you get a frosting consistency.

Frost muffins :-)

Turtle Cheesecake :)

2011-09-11T08:59:00.001-07:00

This was a super easy cheesecake recipe. It is also pretty tasty!

Crust
1. Graham cracker crumbs
2. Butter

Filling
1. 3 packages of cream cheese
2. 1 can of sweetened condensed milk
3. 3 eggs
4. 1 tbs vanilla
5. 1 tbs lemon juice
6. 1/2 cup of sugar
7. 3/4 cup of dark chocolate chips

Topping
1. Caramel sauce
2. Hot fudge sauce
3. Walnuts

Mix melted butter and Graham cracker crumbs together and press into a spring form pan.

In a mixer, combine cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk, sugar, eggs, lemon juice, and vanilla until creamy.

In a separate bowl, partially melt chocolate chips. Add one cup of filling mixture, and combine thoroughly.

Pour half of white mixture in pan, then the chocolate mixture, then the second half of the white mixture.

Bake at 300 degrees for one hour with a pan of water on the bottom rack.

After one hour, turn off oven and leave for 2 hours.

Chill cheesecake for one hour then drizzle caramel and fudge on top. Sprinkle with walnuts.

Enjoy.

Homemade Butterfingers

2011-09-11T08:46:00.001-07:00

Seriously, it doesn't get easier than this.

3 ingredients= wonderfulness.

1. 1 bag of candy corn
2. 1 jar of peanut butter
3. 1 package of chocolate candy quick

Melt candy corn for one minute then 15 second intervals.

Add peanut butter to melted candy corn.

Stir, stir, stir.

Spread on cookie sheet as thin as you like.

Let sit overnight.

Melt candiquick.

Cut pb mixture in pieces.

Dip in chocolate and place on parchment paper to dry (I dipped bottom and drizzles top).

Enjoy.

Pinterest= Crack

2011-09-10T11:16:00.001-07:00

Lately, I've become addicted to a site called pinterest. It's like crack to a cooking, do-it-yourself, teaching gal. If you're not a member, let me know, and I will invite you!!

I've spent the last two weeks making a few projects. Here are some of the finished deals. Now that I can blog from my phone, I will start blogging while I am making these projects, so I can give more pictures.

I've been working on some recipes, but no pictures :( homemade butterfingers! So easy, and so yummy. Olive garden salad dressing- very, very close! Candied jalapeños :-)

A Librarian Life For Me?!

2011-09-10T11:05:00.001-07:00

Why not?! It makes perfect sense. I love books, I love reading, I love teaching, I love technology. It's a perfect fit, or so I hope :-)

This journey started in November. I decided to register for the library media specialist praxis, and I had no idea less than a year later, I would be a librarian, but I am!

Don't let anyone fool you. This is not an easy job. In fact, I think being a classroom teacher was easier. Instead of learning 60 names, I have to learn 600. Instead of dealing with kids all day, I deal with teachers, district personnel, principals, parents, community members, and kids. There is lots of paperwork, but I love it.

Here are a few pictures of my little piece of heaven.

Mi Casa

2011-08-05T18:23:00.001-07:00

I haven't blogged in what seems like forever, so here goes. I downloaded the blogger app, so I am blogging from my phone. I cannot figure out how to put pictures in order, so thy may be all messed up.

In May, I accepted a job as Library Media Specialist as Bolton- Edwards Elementary Middle School in Bolton, MS! I am super excited about this position and the entire experience! However, I am not going to go into much detail about that becuase that will come in a different blog!

Having a new job in Hinds County meant I had to find some type of living arrangement in the area. After looking at every apartment in the Jackson Metro area, I was unable to find somewhere I could afford. Therefore, I started playing with the idea of buying a house- 24 days later, I became a homeowner at the age of 24. I am still a little overwhelmed, but I love it!

Now, I will give you a tour of my little casa. Enjoy!

Door Decor - Dr. Seuss Style

2011-04-12T10:58:00.000-07:00

I love decorating my door, as you already know, and I also LOVE Dr. Seuss! Because I already has a newly decorated door for his birthday, I knew I needed to find a time that was appropriate to Dr. Seuss my door! April is the perfect month! For Earth Day, I like to use Lorax by Dr. Seuss as a guide, so I went ahead and used that as the theme of my door! Here are a few pictures!

Here is a shot of the entire door!!

There are a lot of great quotes in this book, but this is my favorite.

It can be used for more than just Earth Day!

The Lorax!

MCT2 Madness

2011-04-12T10:38:00.000-07:00

If you are working in or around a public school in Mississippi, you know as well as I do that it's crunch. Between mock test, sample test items, missed skills, more sample test items, and more crunching, it's evident that the state test, the mct2, it quickly approaching.

Here are a few motivational signs that I've created to hopefully motivate and encourage our kids!

This first picture is something I threw together on Friday. The school has taken a "western" theme this year, so the principal wanted to follow that idea with some our test taking motivational signs. We are having shirts made by Southern Designs in Vidalia, LA, and they will be similar to this.

This idea came from some pencils I purchased from Positive Promotions.

This is also an idea I used from some bookmarks I purchased from Positive Promotions.

I cannot really remember where I got this idea, but I kind of like it!

Lock- In Fun!!

2011-03-11T21:14:00.000-08:00

This year, I decided to do something crazy! My favorite thing about AWANA when I was in AWANA was our annual lock-in. We could stay up all night, and we got to say a bunch of sections. So, this year, I planned a lock-in for our AWANA kids!

We had some awesome worship services, handbook time, a mega relay, lots of snacks, game room time, manis and pedis, and a special visit from Mr. Budgy and Mrs. Judy. Their daughter and son-in-law are missionaries in Indonesia, so they presented a video to our kids about what it's like in Indonesia. They also gave each child a coin from Indonesia and a peice of durian candy. Now, i will say durian is a flavor that I feel everyone should experience at some point in their life. I've yet to sample it because I cannot get past the smell of natural gas.... I hear it tastes about the same... GROSS! Mr. Budgy even taught us a few Indonesian words!

The night was a lot of fun, but I was ready to see 8 a.m.!! I only managed to snap a few pictures of the evening, so here they are...

Our preacher's wife, Dawn, painting nails!

The boys playing a little basketball....

Mrs. Bradi painting more nails...

And now it's Mrs.Sarah's turn...

This was the only segment of the evening that I remembered to take pictures... hopefully I can gather a few more pictures of the night from some of the other adults!

Moor Door Decor- Spring Break Edition

2011-03-11T20:33:00.000-08:00

I do actually have other things to blog about, but this is more fun... After spring break, I will blog about Disney!! For March, I wanted something springy, and I wanted to incorperate a little Disney into the door since I will be making magic at Disney World over spring break : )

I am in love with quotes these days... I find that most of the time other people can state think 10 times better than I can, so i have decided to just let them say it best. With that said, I try to let quotes inspire my door themes. For March, I found that easy. Walt Disney once said, "There is more treasure in a book than in all the pirate's loot on treasure island." I used this quote to inspire this little mural....

***i will be the first to admit that these ideas are much better in my head. i am inpatient, so i work quickly. this creates numerous flaws in the design compared to the image i pictured.....

This is a view of the entire door... Treasure Island

The inspiration...

Mickey in our ship... the kids named is U.S.S. Rice, but you can barely see that.

The tree on the island... poor tree. let's just say palm trees are not my specialty.

The treasure chest..... since Walt Disney says there is more treasure in books, the kids made jewels with their favorite book titles on them. So here you have a treasure chest of awesome books. They had a lot of fun doing this.

A close up of the jewels.

Have a great spring break! I will make a little magic for everyone out there!!

More Door Decor - Mardi Gras Style :)

2011-03-09T20:02:00.000-08:00

I think my favorite thing is decorating my door each month. For February, I left up my "Be Cool- Read" design until mid month. Somewhere between the flu and jury duty, I found time to get into the Mardi Gras spirit. Here are a few pictures of the "Lassiz le Bon Temps Rouler with a good book" door.

This is a view of the entire door -- masks, beads, festive colors, boa looking border.

A close up of the sign.... in case you do not know,

"laissez le bon temps rouler" means "let the good times roll."

A close up of the border... I thought the polka dot resembled Mardi Gras beads.

I also had a banner in the hall from Oriental Trading that said, "Happy Mardi Gras: WCES 5th Grade."

After enjoying a parade at school, a month of King Cake, and a two day vacation from school, it's back to the real world. Mardi Gras holiday is officially over. Today is Ash Wednesday. Lent starts today, which is a time of sacrifice. Even though I am not Catholic, I think I will be taking part in Lent. Giving up something you really want for 40 days seems like it could lead to a lot of good. Now I need to quickly decide what I will be sacrificing during Lent.

5th Grade

2011-02-01T16:36:00.000-08:00

It's been so long since I have blogged on 5th grade life.... That's probably because 5th grade life keeps me pretty busy.

Each month, I try to have a theme on my door... Yes, I do teach 5th grade and not kindergarten, but I promise that the kids like the door being decorated just as much in 5th grade as they do in kindergarten.... and, it's therapy for me.

Here are the themes I have used thus far this year.

August - I chose a theme that was store bought... it was a cutesy social network type of theme. I bought it from reallygoodstuff.com. If you're a teacher, and you haven't heard of that website, you should make yourself familiar with it!!

September means the start of football, so of course I had a football themed door. Unfortunately, I cannot find the picture I took of that door. The theme was "kicking a touchdown for reading," since I teach reading. It was adorned with sample reading questions on the skills we were covering in September.

During October, I had fun!!! I found some super cute ideas online, and I made them my own. The door theme was "We are Batty About Books." For an art project, the kids made bats out of coffee filters and they were attached to the door below....

If a door was not enough, I also decorated the hallway... we do not have any bulletin boards that I can use, so I use my door, the hallway, and the extra white board as bulletin boards.

This is our bulletin board for October--- "Witch books have you read?" The kids wrote book reviews on the stories they were reading during October.

October is also Red Ribbon Week, so I decorated the hallways with Drug Free posters for the occasion.

Because I was sooooo busy during October, I failed to get a new bulletin board up during November :(

However, I made the time during December!! The #1 thing I was taught in education school was the power of being able to beg, borrow, and steal.... For December, I used that knowledge and stole a super cute Christmas door from Emily Babb at louisianabrideblog.com (if you do not follow her blog, you should)

The kids traced and cut out their hands, and I glued them to the predecorated door. It was really fun, and the kids liked seeing their hands on the board.

This year, I have become obsessed with window clings... how silly...

January!! "Be Cool- Read" I love my snowmen and snowflakes-- perfect for January's wintery conditions!

February also has a lot going on!! This month, my door will be decorated in Mardi Gras (Laizzes le Bon Temp Roulez), the math teacher is decorating in Valentine's, and the Social Studies/Science teacher will do Black History. March is a secret :)

April will have something to do with MCT2 and Spring, and May will be MCT2!!

Other than door decorating, we have been doing a lot of reading in 5th grade! We read Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry last semester along with smaller things in between. It was a tough read for us, with a lot of interruptions. We are in the middle of reading The Watsons Go to Birmingham right now, and it is their most favorite book ever!! After we finish the Watsons, we will read Locomotion (my favorite)!!

Well, that is all I have right now! It you are interested in donating money to a great website that benefits students, check out donorschoose.org.

Peace, Love, and Geaux Tigers : )

It goes without saying...

2011-01-27T20:47:00.001-08:00

I've been busy, and I have neglected my poor blog.

A (or a few) new blog post will be delivered this weekend, I promise!

Peace, Love, and Geaux Tigers :)

AWANA- August and September

2010-10-03T14:08:00.000-07:00

We have had an unbelievably amazing year thus far in AWANA!! God has truly blessed us with an amazing staff and an awesome group of kids! Here are a few pictures of what AWANA has looked like this year! We are looking forward to GREAT rest of the year!! Do you know a 2 yr. old- 6th Grade aged child? We would love to have them join us in AWANA! It takes place on Wednesday evenings from 5:45- 7:30. The OASIS opens at 5:15 on Wednesdays!!

This year, we added a corporate worship service for all of the groups. This is a picture taken in August during the worship service portion.

In August, we were pleased to have The Leckie Family come and speak about their journey as foreign missionaries.

Dr. Leckie showing some pictures.

The Sparks won the award for bringing the most visitors. They received a pizza party. Here are a few shots from that party.

In September, Jason Russell told us about Salvation by cutting a piece of paper. After worship, he went around to each group to allow the kids to cut their paper to make a cross. Here he is working with the Sparks.

This is a picture taken from T&T game time!!

Now I have two videos to share.

This is a video that was taken in the Puggles Room.... They have a lot of fun, and the Puggles know their songs!!

This video was taken during Cubbies game time--- this goes to show that AWANA is not only for kids, adults like it too : )

AWANA Girly Day

2010-10-03T12:54:00.000-07:00

Once each semester we try to have a day just for the boys to hang out, and one day just for the girls to hang out. This semester, I decided to have full girly day for the girls! The girls enjoyed girly time at camp, so I thought it would go over well for AWANA too. It did! We had a super fun day, full of manicures, facials, make-up, and hair doing. It was so much fun! We ended the event by talking about the things that make you a beautiful person on the inside! If you want a play-by-play of the devotion, see Rileigh Walters. She was all ears and can tell you all about being modest!! Here are a few pictures from all of the girly fun (Thank you, Brandi for taking the pictures for me)!!

The view from the front door.

One of the little princesses....

The girls all getting seated for devotion time...

Devotion time...

Facial time!!

A boys only day is in the planning stage!!

Order of Importance

2010-08-22T21:07:00.000-07:00

This year, I have a smart board in my classroom!!!! I am SOOOOOO EXCITED!! Currently, the only computer I have in the classroom is not compatible with the smart board software, so it will only act a projector and screen. I am not complaining though because I love powerpoints! However, I will be super excited when it's all up and running!! I am going to try to post some of the powerpoints I create for class, and put them on here, in case there is anyone who would like to use them. Right now the powerpoints are just plain powerpoints. However, you can take them and make them your own, and make them smart board friendly (and maybe you could give me tips on how to make them smart board friendly)!!

Please let me know if there are any typos! I am trying to get them, but I keep catching new ones! Also, I am new to the smart board era, so any resources you can share, I am all ears :)

This week, we are studying Order of Importance. This powerpoint is on that, and it a good opener to text structure! Enjoy!!

In order to view this weeks' powepoint, you will have the click here.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/53228736@N05/sets/72157624662101231/with/4918948560/

Sorry guys, this was the best I could do.. I'm sleepy!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/53228736@N05/sets/72157624662101231/with/4918948560/

Youth Missions Week

2010-07-28T12:15:00.000-07:00

Each year, our youth group participates in a week of missions projects around Natchez. This year, they visited Adams County Nursing Home on Monday. At the nursing home, they painted fingernails, played bingo, and talked with the residents. On Tuesday, the youth went to Kyle's house. At Kyle's House, they played games with kids, made several crafts, and painted a Parkway Student Ministry Sign on a section of their fence. This is the only day I have pictures from. On Wednesday, the youth went back to the area nursing homes to visit Parkway church members. It really meant a lot to the Parkway members to have 15 people (especially youth) show up and spend time with them. On Thursday, they helped with odd jobs around the church. Some of the boys fixed up the Rec Center, which houses the the children's room and the workout room. The girls helped the secretaries send out letters to the church members about our new paster, Jeff Brewer. Then they all went and helped a church member do a few things in her yard. It was an awesome week for everyone involved, and I look forward to next year's youth mission week!!

The youth that got to paint the sign... Kent was also there, but had to leave early!

Their painting on the fence!

The bottom two pictures are of the youth making crafts with the kids.

BYBC 2010

2010-07-28T09:41:00.000-07:00

All I can say is WOW. I was talking to one of my parents/volunteers this weekend, and we both completely agree that this past week was the best week we've had. It was a wonderful experience for the kids, youth, and the adults that helped out. Here are a few pictures, so you can what a typical day at BYBC looks like! We had the BYBC in the church's backyard. We did this, so that we could have a few things inside to get the kids out of the heat for a little while.

Each morning the girls started us off with a puppet show that displayed the theme of the way - Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.

After the puppet show, Steve went through the wordless book with the kids. At the end of the week, the kids made a colors of faith bracelet, and were all given a wordless book to take home. This was by far, the most learned thing we did. At the end of the week, all of the kids could tell you about the colors, and what they meant. This is something we will continue to use to share the Gospel with kids. It's awesome! I recommend the wordless book resources for anyone and everyone!!!

After our "morning meeting," we started rotations. We had bible study, games, crafts, and snacks. Here are a few pictures from that!!

The older boys acting out part of the Bible Study- Jesus temped three times in the desert.

Mrs. Suzy came to my rescue and lead Bible Study for the rest of the week. She is a wonderful teacher!! The kids all love her, and she can keep them all in line... as you can see!!

Craft time... Mrs. Danielle is just wonderful all around. We had a lot of extra craft stuff from years past, and she took all of that and allowed the kids to make stuff from it! They loved it, it saved us money, and the kids thought is was all AWESOME!!

On Monday, the kids told Mrs. Danielle they wanted to build a house......so on Thursday, Mrs. Danielle brought big boxes, and let them paint them. These boxes will be turned into a village in an unused Sunday School room in the preschool area. We will have several houses, a church, a school, stop signs, roads, ect.

The youth boys are awesome! They showed up and did anything and everything we asked them to do. The hardest part of their was leading game time. They showed up early everyday and put together a game plan. ALLLLLLLL of the kids loved them- and so do I!!

Snack time!! Always a good part of the day!!

My personal favorite part of the day was music time. The youth did an amazing job teaching the songs and motions, and getting the kids engaged in worship. I look forward to worship time at AWANA!!!

Overall, it was WONDERFUL!! I look forward to AWANA starting next Wednesday. On SUnday, we will have our Back- to- AWANA celebration at the church. It starts at 5:30!1 We look forward to seeing everyone there!!!!

Cheese Ravioli with Crawfish Cream Sauce

2010-07-10T11:33:00.001-07:00

I decided to experiment a little more... Sorry no pictures, I forgot!!

Ingredients:

1 bag of cheese filled ravioli (unless you have a lot more time than I do, and you make yours homemade)

2-3 tbls of butter

2-3 tbls of garlic

1/2 lb of bacon (diced)

1/4 cup of chicken stock

1 cup of heavy cream

8 oz. cream cheese

8 oz. parmesan cheese

1 lb. peeled crawfish tail meat

1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

salt and pepper to taste

parsley for garnish

1. In a large pot, boil ravioli until pasta is al dente.

2. In a medium saucepan, saute garlic and bacon in butter until tender.

3. Add chicken stock to deglaze the pan.

4. Add cream and bring to a low boil, then add cream cheese and stir until all of the cream cheese has melted. (keep heat at medium)

5. Add 6 oz. of Parmesan cheese and stir until blended.

6. Fold in crawfish tails and red pepper. Add salt and pepper to taste.

7. In a small serving dish, lay ravioli out and pour sauce on top. Add parmesan cheese and parsley on top to garnish.

Serve with garlic bread and salad!

New Orleans Trip

2010-07-10T11:01:00.000-07:00

This past week, a few brave adults and myself, brought 18 kids to NOLA. After playing around with a few things, I decided we would just go to the Aquarium. I had never gone to the Aquarium, so I was a little excited about it! It was a good trip and I would like to go back without 18 kids, so that I can actually see all of the exhibits!

Here are a few pictures I took from my iPhone (why yes, I did get rid of the crapberry (as I so affectionately called it, and moved up into the world and bought and iPhone : )) - because once again, I left my camera in my car, and drove to NOLA in my mother's van.... One day I will learn to keep the camera with me.

My group of girls in front of the fountain.

Some of the group looking at the fountain.

My group posing for a picture. Poor Brandon joined another group,

so that he wouldn't be the only boy.

Brandon and Taneal each looking at some of the fish in the aquarium.

Corryn and Anna posing for a picture.

The girls looking at the fish.

The girls posing again- in front of one of the Amazon exhibits.

Cole and Austin playing in the shark's mouth.

The girls posing inside of the shark's mouth.

Steve, Owen, and David checking out some fish.

Part of the group posing on some rocks in the MS River Exhibit.

Love and Josh posing in front of one of the large aquariums.

Block Party

2010-07-10T10:02:00.000-07:00

Once again, this is a little late, and my camera was MIA. *note to self- assign my camera to someone who remembers to use it on major event days*

A few summers ago, we decided to opt out of VBS. It was becoming a lot harder to recruit volunteers to make VBS work as it should, so we decided to go to other events. For a few years, we did a sports camp, and then two years ago, we went with Evangelistic Block Parties. About this time, we had a group go to New York on a mission trip. On that mission trip, the group did these types of Evangelist Block Parties in a park in Brooklyn. They worked well there, so we decided to try them out in Natchez. The idea of an Evangelistic Block Party is basically a portable one day VBS. The first year we tried this, we went to 2 different communities. Last year, we tried three. Two at two apartment complexes in our town, and one in the backyard of our church. They were all a huge success. One of the apartment complexes we went to was the same complex we went to the first year. A lot of the kids and parents we talked with were very excited to see us back and all asked if we would come back again next year (which was this year). So, we did. This year, I really wanted to focus on sharing the Gospel with the kids. So many times, it's easy to get caught up in the games, food, and crafts, and forget the real reason that we are doing the block party- to share the Gospel. For Bible Study, I looked a several different VBS themes and found GCF's The Race Is On.

I always like to do a craft that has something tangeble for the kids to bring home to remember the Bible Story. This year, one of our Sunday School teachers and WMU ladies, brought me an idea called Witnessing Dolls. Basically the dolls share the story of Salvation, using CEF's Wordless Book. For the block party, we decided there wasn't a way to have each child a doll, so I created a handout that worked as a doll on one side and had the colors of faith on the other. For the actual craft part, the kids made colors of faith bracelets using the different color beads. You can click on witnessing dolls above for a link to witnessing dolls guide.

For recreation this year, I decided to use Centri- Kids' OMC!! It's really hard to explain. To see pictures of OMC in action, click on this OMC!!

We do these block parties on Sunday evenings. We basically move church to a different location for the evening. We had a good group show up to help. At the block party, we meet for 2 hours. In that 2 hours, the kids go to Bible Study, Crafts, Rec, and they are fed. I try to have people to not only teach kids, but also teenagers and adults because you usually have a big number of those come, as well. For food, we usually do hot dogs, chips, lemondade, and popcorn- if I have someone to bring the popcorn popper. Even though we had a terrible rain storm come 10 minute before we were set to begin, we still had 50 kids come. It was a huge success, and we look forward to heading back there sometime soon!!

here are a few pictures I captured from my blackberry during dinner time.

Bro. Wayne holding a witnessing doll that his wife, Mrs. Cheryl,

made to use as the example.

Some of the crew gathered around the food table.

Some of the kiddos enjoying their hot dogs!

Our SUPER DUPER, WONDERFUL youth that came out to help (and volunteer to be creamed with shaving cream) with OMC!!

Some more of the kids enjoying their dinner in the bleachers.

Natural Science Museum

2010-07-10T07:48:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know this is a month late, but we had a lot of fun and I want to share!

In June, I took a group of 15 to the Natural Science Museum in Jackson, MS. It was so much fun!! The one thing I didn't really prepare for was the trails that you can walk behind the museum. I didn't really know they were there, so I didn't wear appropriate shoes to hike in. However, we still hiked through all of the trails, and had a great time! Hear are a few pictures from our little day trip! I took a lot more pictures, but they are on Danesha's camera because I left my camera on the van. These are not of the best quality because I took them on my blackberry.

Andrew, Gabe, and Love entertaining themselves on the van!

My group of boys, Colby, Nak, and Love, in front of the alligators.

A group picture- not the best, but the closest we got!

Centri - Kid Blog

2010-06-25T08:08:00.000-07:00

We made the official Centri- Kid blog!!! You can visit http://www.centrikidblog.com/blog/photo-friday-1.html to a picture of our girls!!!!!

Last Pictures from Centri- Kid 2010

2010-06-18T08:57:00.000-07:00

These are the last of the pictures I took at Centri-Kid, but first, a few words about the week.

It was a bittersweet ending! I LOVED LOVED LOVED camp! More so than I ever remembering liking camp as a youth! For me, this was the best week of camp I have ever experienced! I sure hope the kids feel the same way I do. With that said, I am tired! The kids were tired. It was time to come back to reality- and squeeze in a little sleep! I will miss camp this week, and miss the staffers that our kids really got attached to!

I thought about camp today as I drove from Clinton to Natchez to Baton Rouge to Natchez to Woodville. This camp awed me. I have been apart of Junior Camp (a camp we used to put on for our kids at Parkway, but put a pause on it a few years ago) since I was in first grade, either as a camper, a visitor, or a leader. I love junior camp. It was a sad day for me when the decision was made to put a pause on camp, but I knew it was absolutely the best decision for many reasons. I was very sceptable about going to another camp. I didn't want to send our kids to a camp where the focus was going to be on track times and recreation. I wanted our kids to go to a camp where the Gospel was the focus. Our kids went to Centri- Kid last year, but I was unable to attend,so I still did not have a good picture of Centri- Kid. I will say, after going this year, and being apart of camp, I was awed every day. The camp pastor has talents for teaching the Gospel that are unexplainable. He crunched toes, had them laughing, and had them begging for more of the word in every service. He was not afraid to approach topics with the kids that are rarely discussed with adults. He was able to take these topics, Spiritual Gifts for example, and convey them on child's level without sacrificing any depth. It was truly an awesome experience to be apart of. The worship leader's main focus was worship- not rock band like you tend to see at some camps. He took time to explain the lyrics of the songs to the kids and then explained how they related to the message. He used the worship services as a classroom to teach the campers what worship was, how to be reverant during worship, how to worship,etc. That was also an awesome experience. By the end of the day, the kids had no doubts about what the message of the day was. It was conveyed to them in everything they did - bible study, rec, track times, worship, morning meeting, and the late night party. I give props to the CK3 staff and leaders for a job well done. It was truly a life changing week for everyone in attendance.

This week also gave me a lot of ideas. I have been struggling with several things and trying to figure out how to get different ideas to work and several ideas and plans were developed this week--these things will be discussed later.

Now on to the group... We took 18 AWESOME kids to camp! They were wonderful!! I am so excited to have been able to spend a week with them! I also had 3 WONDERFULLY AMAZING adults with me! Without the three of them, we would have all been in trouble this week. They held us together and really helped out!

Now onto the pictures!!

Well after all of that, the computer will not allow me to upload the pictures today... here is a link to my facebook album that has all of the picures from camp... the news one are towards the end. Here is a group picture!!

***facebook isn't cooperating either- here is the video i made that contains all of the pictures from camp. the songs are songs we sang at camp!!

Please click on the link below and it will take you to the video!

http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=b2bef99d5f45a195967767&skin_id=701&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url

We have signed up for Centri- Kid 2011!!! It will be July 18-22 at Milsaps College in Jackson, MS!! We are very excited about this!! We have be having informational meeting in August to sign- up and get deposits! You will not want to miss Centri- Kid 2011! The theme will be God Provides! We will be doing fundraisers again, so be on the look out for information for Centri- Kid 2011

OMC!!!!!!!!

2010-06-16T10:39:00.000-07:00

Today was OMC!! It is extremely complicated to explain, so I am not going to try to put it into words. Here are a few pictures I was able to capture!

The calm before the storm!!! - with yellow in the back!

Green Team!

Red Team!!

Blue Team!!

Natalie and Allyson completing a task!!

Dillon and Daniel completing a task!

Mrs. Danielle helping Hannah and Erin complete a task!

Corryn and her yellow leader!

Allyson getting help on a task!

Mrs. Danielle trading shoes with Allison for a task!

Mattie Paige pausing for a picture!

Andrew Cole darting across the field trying to beat the clock!

Sammy reading her next task!

Owen and Daniel working together on a task!

Anna getting her next task!

ORGANIZED MASS CHAOS

The "No Fly Zone"

Allison and Erin working together!

Natalie completing a task for Mrs. Danielle!

Allyson and Natalie trading shoes for their last task!!

This was my first OMC, and it was soooooo much fun!! We bought the game, so we will be figuring out how to use it soon!!!

Centri- Kid Day 3

2010-06-16T10:24:00.000-07:00

Tuesday was all about the girls, so if you're a mother of a boy- sorry. All I have is girly pictures today!!

Some of the girls gave their babies back today- they decided mothering was NOT for them. Others are still sticking it out. Some, like Allyson Cole, decided she didn't like her baby, so she got a new one : ) These babies have been a trip!!

Here are a few pictures from our free time. We went to girly time, where they braid hair, paint faces, and paint nails. The girls really like this! Then we went to the coffee shop and played a few lawn games!!

Natalie getting a web put into her hair!!

Some of the Parkway girls at girly time.

Erin getting her nails painted!

Natalie getting her face painted!

Playing the karate chop game in front of Jazzmine's.

Hanging out during "hang time."

Erin enjoying a smoothie!

I am going to post a separate blog for OMC in a little while!

Bon Appetit!

Centri- Kid Day 2

2010-06-14T21:18:00.000-07:00

We have had a day of funnies!!!

For starters, we have 3 Allison's (spelled in different ways) and 1 Allye. Things can get a little confusing fast!!

Allison Hendry is my cousin and she has 2 older sisters. Her oldest is at Governor's School in Columbus for the month, and the middle sister is at Centri- fuge in North Carolina this week. So, I asked her today what does she think her mother is doing without her, Jess and Sarah, and she replied, "I don't know, but I am having fun. She has Ace (their 1 yr. old dog) and she likes him more than us, so she is fine." You can tell she isn't getting homesick!!!

Some of the funnies will be explained in some of our pictures!!

Morning Celebration!!

You can barely tell they only had 2 hours of sleep last night...

The Party day 2- Anna and Natalie!

The boys having a blast!

New best friends- Allison H and Hannah!!!

Dillon and Daniel or Deodorant and Donut

Andrew Cole being "gangster" as he says.

Corryn and Allyson Cole at the Party

Tonight Owen was picked to play a game on stage!

and so did Erin!!

They had to compete against each other- I think the girls won!!

Congrats moms- you are now grandmothers!!!

All of the girls that chose babysitting 101 has a babydoll they get to carry around all week and take care of. These two will be reported to child abuse before then, though! Caylee decided she was going to teach her child to walk today--- by dragging him on the ground. Allye misplaced her child, then found him when she sat on him. Poor kids. I have heard them all say that being a mother was HARD work- and these babies do not even use the bathroom and cry!

Corryn also has a baby, but she takes better care of hers-

well at least what i have witnessed.

Allyson and Allye after tonight's events

Corryn and Sami after worship this evening.

We have another BUSY day tomorrow. I will try to post more pictures then, but I have a major assignment due every night this week starting tomorrow, so I will have to wait until after I submit my homework!!

Enjoy!

Centri- Kid Day 1

2010-06-14T11:56:00.000-07:00

We arrived all safe and sound at MC yesterday!! The kids were all pumped up until they saw the hill they had to carry their luggage up : )

We have had so much fun so far and look forward to a wonderful rest of the week!!

Here are the girls ready for dinner and opening celebration!!

Some of the girls pumped up during opening celebration!

The boys pumped up during opening celebration!!

Having fun at "The Party"

More fun at "The Party"

Andrew, Owen, and Dillon at "The Party"

Andrew Cole was chosen to go on stage and play a game.

I think he may have won!!

Andrew playing the game at "The Party"

Playing a name game at church group devotion!

More name game..... His name is Clint, and he is going on a trip.

On that trip, he is going to bring a Chesnut, cessnut, cesly, but not a Cessna....

His name is Andrew, and he is going on a trip.

On that trip, he is going to bring the alphabet.

The kids are at track times right now. I think they all got what they wanted, and they are super excited! We have hang time at 3:45, and I think they decided they wanted to hit the pool! Then we will go to dinner, OMC, The Party, Worship, and Church Devotion!

I am personally hoping some of the girls decide to sleep tonight!! They were all tooooooo excited about today to sleep last night!! I will try to post pictures from today sometime tonight after lights out!!

Bowling Fun : )

2010-06-09T04:50:00.000-07:00

Summertime is officially here, and to celebrate that, we went bowling! This was Parkway's first children's event of the summer. We had a lot of fun! On Wednesday, the younger kids went bowling. They really surprised me with their bowling talents. On Thursday, the older kids went. We had 18 kids show up Thursday, so I was really excited. I was able to capture a few pictures from Wednesday, but my camera died after one picture on Thursday.

This Thursday, we are going to the Museum of Natural Science in Jackson. I am really excited.

Next week will be a busy one! I am leaving on Sunday with the 3rd through 6th graders to go to Centri- Kid at Mississippi College in Clinton. We are very ready to go!!! The same week, the pre-K through 2nd graders will have Day Camp at the church. We have a lot of fun planned for Day Camp, so if you have a preker through 2nd grade student, sign them up! It only cost $25!!! It's a Monday through Thursday camp and it's from 9-12 in the youth center!!You can call the Parkway office to register for camp!

I think that is all of the updates I have for now, so here are a few pictures from our bowling trip! Enjoy!

Some of the bowling observing their friends bowling on Wednesday!

Landon picking out his bowling ball!!

Marlee posing for a picture in between bowls!

The sole picture from Thursday.. Too bad my boys were trying to be cool and not look at the camera.

A General Update and LSU

2010-05-27T15:46:00.000-07:00

I haven't had much time lately to blog, so I am going to give everyone a general update.

School... I have one more day at WCES until August!! This is bittersweet. The kids last day was last Friday, so it has been a peaceful week. However, I miss some of them so much! Luckily, Woodville isn't so big, so I have seen almost all of them since last Friday. I will be going to watch my boys play a little basketball tomorrow, so I will get to see a lot of them then!! This week has been a little slow... we get the week to pack up, fill out papers, etc. Since I already had most of that done, I have been using my time to get a jump start on homework... which brings me to .....

Grad School.... I officially started Monday, and I already have the "i am sick of school" attitude. I sure hope that changed soon, because I have 18 more months of school!
I take the GRE on Tuesday, and I am a lot nervous!

Church.... We are all set for Centri- Kid, and I am super excited to get there! I have a lot of work to do next week to nail things down for the summer, so I will be busy, busy, busy!!

American Idol - My pick won!! I have loved LEE since day one, and was super excited that he is this year's idol!!!

LSU......... Well if you follow LSU baseball, you will know that this hasn't been all we wanted it to be... They barely, and I mean BARELY, got into the SEC tourney (thank you Kentucky for losing that game, btw.). When I saw the announcement of who we would be playing first, I will admit, I became a little saddened. I think LSU is ranked last in the SEC tourney and we were going to have to play the #1 ranked team - Florida... Yesterday, I had a good feeling all day about the game. I got home, turned the radio to 98.1, and got myself ready to hear Jim Hawthorn announce the game. LSU was guest, and their first at bat flew by. Then Ranaudo took the mound and sat down the first three. It was then that I knew we would win! Our next at bat set the pace for the game.. We scored 5, and gained the momentum needed to win the game. The game was still going on when idol started, so I was running back and forth to the radio during commercials listening, watching 360 on my computer, and checking twitter on my phone every couple of seconds. It came down to a nail bitter, but LSU pulled it out and put Florida is the losers bracket!! I hope this LSU team is here to stay, and claim the SEC championship for the 3rd time in a row!!!

Jalapeno Cheese Dip

2010-05-14T21:23:00.000-07:00

This is my new favorite dip! I think you should try it, too!!

Ingredients

2 fresh jalapenos, diced

1 cup of pickled jalapenos, roughly chopped

2 cups of cheddar cheese, shredded

1 cup of parmesan cheese, shredded

1 package of cream cheese, softened

8 oz. of sour cream

1/2 cup of parmesan cheese, powder kind

1/2 panko bread crumbs

In a mixing bowl, combine jalapenos, cheddar cheese, parmesan cheese, cream cheese, and sour cream. Spoon into a small baking dish. Mix together powdered parmesan cheese and panko. Sprinkle on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 15- 20 or until bubbly and golden brown. Serve with your favorite crackers or toast.

** will try to post a picture on Sunday

French Toast Casserole

2010-05-07T21:23:00.000-07:00

This is a quick and easy (and really really good) breakfast casserole (there is just something about the word casserole that I do not like... not sure what, but I just do not like it).

Ingredients

Casserole
1 loaf of french bread, cut into slices
3 cups of mixed berries, fresh or frozen
1 box of cream cheese
12 eggs, beat
1 1/2 cups of milk
2 tablespoons of cinnamon
2 tablespoons of vanilla extract
Powder Sugar, for decoration

Syrup
1 bag of frozen berries
the juice of one lemon
the zest of one lemon
1/2 cup of sugar

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a casserole dish with non-stick spray.
Stager slices of french bread into the casserole dish at an angle.
Scatter mixed berries on top of the bread, and in between the layers of bread.
Place dollops of cream cheese in between the layers of bread, as well.
In a mixing bowl, combine eggs, milk, cinnamon, and vanilla.
Pour liquid mixture evenly over bread.
Bake for 30 minutes, or until the middle of the casserole isn't real jiggly.

*This picture was taken before it went into the oven.
In a medium saucepan, add mixed berries, lemon, and sugar.
Bring to a boil, stirring often.
Lower heat to low (1-2).
Let the sauce simmer for 5 minutes or so, until the mixture has formed a syrup.

Serve a piece of french toast with a little syrup on top, dusted with powdered sugar.

***will try to remember to post a picture as soon as I take one of the finished plate.

Little Brenden Man

2010-05-06T19:27:00.000-07:00

Brenden got something new... go figure : - )

It's a swing!!!!

He loves it!!

Here is a video, so that you can see how much he loves it!!

Brenden and His Swing

Enjoy!

Panther Basketball part 2

2010-05-03T18:31:00.000-07:00

The Panthers went on to win the tournament Saturday. They are so excited and I am super proud.

It's a little scary how attached you can become to a group of kids.

Here are a few more pictures from the weekend! I thought I took equal amounts of pictures of each player, but apparently I didn't. I will try harder at the next game!

Congrats to the Panthers and their coaches!!

Shooting some free-throws!

An action shot.

More free throws.

June and his poster...

Nak and Coo- Coo with Nak's poster.

All of the boys will have posters for the next game!!

What would the Panthers do without their support team??

I think this was taken when Shelby was fussing at Mo for not being on beat with her clapping. This group is hilarious!!

Peace and Geaux Panthers!

Panther Basketball

2010-05-01T21:01:00.000-07:00

I have spent several Saturdays this semester in St. Francisville and Baton Rouge watching a special group of boys play basketball. I'll have to admit, at first I was like ugh, I really do not want to drive to St. Fran.... but then after the first game, I was hooked. These boys are so competitive. They are also hilarious, smart, and so sweet (just do not tell them I used that adjective to describe them). I got to know these fellas in the classroom but became attached to them after watching them play basketball. I have parents asking me at all of the games how I let the boys talk me into coming to see them, and the truth is, it doesn't take much begging.

They have moved on from the st. fran league and are now playing AAU. They haven't won an AAU game until today. I finally was able to make it to one of these games bright and early this morning and had the privilege of seeing them win the first one. They went on to win the rest of their games today and will play for the championship tomorrow. I took a few pictures today and played with them on picnik. Here are my results.

The team and coaches!

The team right after they won their first game of the day.

Peace and Geaux Panthers.

Tic-Tac- Toe

2010-04-29T18:42:00.000-07:00

Due to the fact that we are in crunch time for the MCT2, we are only using sample test items to prepare the students for the MCT2. Well, if you know anything about 10-11 year olds, you know that going through test items for 3- 4 weeks, all day, is not an option if you care to keep their attention. This little issue has caused me to get creative. Since the kids do not want to work on sample test items, they are constantly asking to play a game. Today, they wanted to play tic-tac-toe. I immediately said, "not a chance." Then I retracted that statement. Here is a run down on how you can use something simple, like tic-tac-toe, to teach skills.

Materials:
1 poster board with a tic-tac-toe board drawn on it and then laminated (or made dry-erase)

2 dry- erase markers

sample test items

eggspert (or some other type of game show buzzer)

bracket for a double-elimination tournament

Rules:

The teacher divides the class into small groups (i divided mine into 4 groups).

The first two groups step up and are each given an egg from the eggspert and a marker.

Each group is assigned to be an X or an O.

The teacher reads the question and the first one to buzz in gets to answer the question.

Upon giving a correct answer, the team is allowed to play their X or their O (until today, I never knew how intense a game of tic- tac- toe could get).

The first team to get 3 in a row wins the round and plays the next team.

In my class, the tournament champions either get points to the store or a popcycle.

The other teams all sit around and listen to the questions and answers while the other teams play because occasionally a question will repeat itself.

I used this with reading questions, but it can be used with any subject. This has been the most engaging game (for all 53 students) that I have come up with, thus far. They love it! Who'd a thunk tic-tac-toe would be so engaging?!

Peace and Geaux Tigers : )

MCT2

2010-04-27T19:06:00.000-07:00

If you live in Mississippi, you know what the MCT2 is (well, i guess you don't if you do not have kids in public school). For those of you who are not aware, MCT2 (Mississippi Curriculum Test, second edition) is the state test for third through eighth grades. For teachers, it can be a pain in the rear-end. By this part of the school year, you are entirely over the letters M, C, and T. That is how I feel now. I am very tired of the state test, tired of looking at sample test items, tired of anything relating to the test. However, this is not the attitude I can show in class because I have to pump up the kids and get them ready to do their best on the test! After all, their scores reflect my teaching. Therefore, we are trying to put up posters, door decor, and order some fun t-shirts to get them motivated!

Here are a few of our efforts to motivate the students.

This is my coworker's, Mrs. Woodside, door.

This is part of the mural that is outside of my door. There is also a basketball goal to the right. A similar drawing will be on the their May Day t-shirts!!

Grill Night : - )

2010-04-22T18:44:00.000-07:00

With summertime quickly approaching, and 80 degree, sunny days in full force, I felt the need to have a grill night at my house. My dad doesn't really like chicken, which is what I tend to cook, so tonight I decided to mix it up a little and cook (well, have him grill) steak (is it bad that in my brain i am saying complex, compound, or simple sentence, then labeling the conjuction, type of conjuction, and the clauses - anyways, i will get back to grill night now).

I am a little obsessed with Bobby Flay and his style of cooking. It is definitely my inspiration in the kitchen. I love how he grills everything and it is all tex- mex, which happens to contain all of my favorite flavors! With that said, he was my inspiration for tonight's meal - Grilled steak on a bed of grilled salad with the most wonderful vinegarette, courtesey of Emily Babb, grilled bread, roasted corn (yes, again... I LOVE it), sweet potato fries, hand- squeezed lemonade, and a peaches and cream pie for dessert. Can you feel summertime yet?

Grilled Steak Salad with Ranch Vinegarette

1 flat iron steak seasoned or marinated to your likings - i just salt, pepper, and tony's it up!
1 head of romaine lettuce
olive oil
your favorite salad toppings
vinegarette of your choice, i recomend you make this one (click on the one!)
1 loaf of french bread
melted butter

Cook steak to desired temperature, let rest, then cut into thin slices.
Cut lettuce into 1/8 longwise, brush with olive oil , place on grill for about 45 second on each side, take off grill and chop into bite-size pieces.
Butter both sides of bread and place on grill for about 45 seconds on each side, remove from grill.
Layer romaine, steak, and salad toppings on a plate, top with vinegarette and serve with a slice of bread.

Peaches and Cream Pie

1 can of peach daquirre frozen concentrate
1 pack of cream cheese
1 bag of frozen sliced peaches
1/2 diced
1/2 in slices
2 containers of cool- whip
2 pie crusts - i prefer dutch ann because they are a local company

Place pie crust in oven and bake on 350 degrees for about 10 minutes.
In a bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth.
Add peach daquire and diced peaches, and mix until all is combined.
Fold in cool whip, do not over mix.
Pour 1/2 of the mixture in each crust. Top with sliced peaches and decorate with ready- whip.
Place in freezer for several hours to harden. Store any that may be left in freezer.

*you can replace peach with any fruit or flavor!

I must get back to the NFL draft now. I am waiting to see who picks up Tim Tebow and Colt McCoy. Also waiting to see who the Saints pick up. Who Dat?!

Mother- Daughter Brunch

2010-04-19T17:03:00.000-07:00

Saturday was our AWANA mother- daughter brunch. We had a lot of fun! We kind of went with a princess theme. We had food, entertainment, and a make and take session on edible arrangements.

For the brunch portion, I made several things. The list will follow.

Grits Casserole
Mixed Berry French Toast Casserole
Fruit Salad
Blueberry Muffin Cake
Pigs- in- a- Blanket
Powdered Donuts
Brownies - in the shape of a flower
Pink Milk
Fruit Punch
Coffee Punch
Lemon Water

Here are a few pictures of the food.

This was the little Princess' table. They had a separate menu.

Punch Table

Please do not laugh too hard- this is my attempt at carving a peacock out of a watermelon....

The food line.

For the entertainment, some of our girls and leaders shared poems and scripture. They did a wonderful job.

This was the performers table. Here, Natalie is reading her poem, "Mother's Day."

For our special entertainment, we had a make and take edible arrangement session. I will start the same way as I did Saturday at the brunch.... I am not in any way a master of the edible arrangements. I gave everyone the same direction that i had. It was a lot of fun making the arrangements and seeing everyone's creative side!!

Natalie and Allyson carving bowls from cantaloupe!

Mrs. Jolyne, Bethany, and their creations!

(sorry about the sidewaysness.) Adrianne making her super cool fruit arrangement!

A few of the little one's creations.

Mattie Paige hard at work!!

As you can see, we had a lot of fun!!

Classroom TV Game Shows

2010-04-19T15:49:00.000-07:00

Question? What do you do when you have your class and part of another class for a day. Keep in mind that you do not have enough desks, no air conditioner, and it's Friday.

Answer? You create TV game shows that include some type of test prep.

Here are a few things I came up with on Friday.

Game #1: Wheel of Fortune

Now the pictures I have show my not so creative first edition. I haven't taken a picture of the newer one. This is just what I threw together Friday morning to give myself something to do.

I played using words like conjunctions, adverbs, and other parts of speech so that could be my category and we could tie in language arts. We also did a few spelling words from their 5th grade list. You can do really whatever words you want.

Game #2 : Jeopardy

I am sure many of you have seen similar games to this. The main difference here is, I used MCT2 levels instead of money so it is more related to their test. The questions we select for each category are the levels on the outside of the envelope. I attached clips so the categories are detachable so you can use different ones for all subjects.

Game #3 : Who Wants to be a Millionaire

I changed this one significantly, but the idea of the game is still the same. I renamed the game, "who wants to become a star student," since they will not be competing for one million dollars. On one side, you will see life lines. I went with 2 life lines- 50/50 and ask the audience. On the opposite side, you will see the winning levels. Once again, I used MCT2 levels to mark their winnings. The more questions they answer, the more difficult they become based on the difficulty of questions the MCT2 offers. I placed a "bank" option after they complete each level. For the questions, I am using MCT2 sample test items that will be blown up and placed in the middle section of the board.

The kids are dying to try out the last two, and we will probably do so this week!

Fiesta Chicken

2010-04-15T18:47:00.000-07:00

What a week?! Started off sick on Monday and have been suffering from insomnia since. The effects of insomnia have officially sunken in today, however. By 9 a.m. this morning, I thought 3:30 would never come. It was the longest, sleepiest day that I can remember having at school. This may have been caused from my marathon shopping trip to Walmart last night for the mother- daughter brunch on Saturday. Imagine buying 15 pineapples, tons of grapes, 10 cartons of strawberries, watermelons, melons, and 8 cantaloups, amongst other groceries for the brunch portion of the morning. I had a good helper with me,though, so I didn't have to do the loading and unloading all by myself. I will blog more about that after Saturday.

Tonight was my night to cook and I found several recipes this week that I wanted to try, so I managed to pick just one. I decided on Fiesta Chicken with a pepperjack dipping sauce. It was sooooo yummy. The link you may have just noticed is the basic recipe, however, i managed to change it to my likings-which you will see below. With the chicken, I paired loaded mashed potatoes, roasted corn on the cob, and blueberry lime-aid. YUMMO : - )

Fiesta Chicken and Dipping Sauce

1 pack of boneless chicken strips

1 packet of taco seasoning

1/4 cup of flour

1 stick of butter

1 bag of crushed tortilla chips

2 tbs of butter

1 shallot, minced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

3 tbs. of flour

12 oz. of heavy cream

1 block of shredded pepper jack cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line baking sheet with foil.

In a bowl, mix taco mix and flour. Melt butter in a separate bowl.

Coat each chicken strip in flour mixture.

Coat flour covered chicken in butter.

Coat butter covered chicken in chips.

Place on baking sheet and bake for 30 -40 minutes. Flip tenders after 15 minutes.

In a small saucepan, cook shallot and garlic in butter until soft.

Add flour and stir until you see a light brown color - a roux.

Add cream and stir until sauce begins to thicken.

Add cheese and stir until you have a bubbly cheese sauce.

Loaded Mashed Potatoes

1 3 lb. bag of red potatoes, chopped in quarters

1 stick of butter

1 8 oz. tub of sour cream

1 bag of shredded cheese

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 packet of ranch mix

bacon bits - real or fake is up to you.

chopped green onion

splash of milk - if needed

Boil potatoes in salted water (i like the skins on, but that is up to you).

Drain and return to pot.

Add garlic and mash potatoes, leaving them a little chunky.

Add butter, sour cream, and ranch packet.

Add a splash of milk if your potatoes are still really thick and hard to stir.

Fold in 2/3 of the cheese, bacon bits, salt, pepper, and green onion.

Serve alongside your favorite dish.

Add remaining cheese, bacon, and onion for garnish.

Roasted Corn on the Cob

This may be one of the easiest, best tasting, summer dishes that I make!! Nothing reminds me more of summer that roasted corn.

Corn on the Cob

3 tbs. of olive oil

a dollop of butter for each ear.

salt

Place corn on a cookie sheet.

Drizzle with oil.

Place a dollop of butter on each ear.

Sprinkle with salt.

Place in oven and bake for 20 -30 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve with butter and a little more salt.

Blueberry Lime- Aid

Another one of my most favorite things in the entire world - lime-aid!! LOVE all sorts of lime-aid!!!! I have made this all sorts of ways, but I will give you the easiest recipe!

1 bag of frozen blueberries

2 containers of frozen lime-aid concentrate

water

1/4 cup of sugar

Mix each can of lime-aid with 2 cans of water ( 4 cans of water total).

Add sugar and mix well.

Add bag of blueberries (including any juice that may have been created). - also i like mine still a little frozen so I can use them as ice.

Mix and serve over ice.

So that was a little long, sorry. I have a bad habit of forgetting about school on Fridays. It would be nice if they would just cancel school on Fridays, but that will never happen so I should just stop wishing.

Grad School!

2010-04-11T20:16:00.000-07:00

So...... I decided on my birthday that I miss school. Now, I know you may be wondering how someone can miss school when they are at school everyday. Well, I miss being the student. I have always loved school. When I got an e-mail about the University of Texas' masters of education in literacy studies, I became really giddy about going back to school. Literacy is what I am currently teaching - reading and English. It's also what I love! Therefore, this degree is something I was very excited about pursuing. The more I looked into it, the better the deal was. Not only was I in love with the courses, they were all geared to middle grades, which is what I also teach.

After about a month of consideration, I applied the week before spring break. Yesterday, I was pleased to check my e-mail and find an acceptance letter from UT saying that I would be starting May 24th!! I am soooooooo excited!!

Upcoming Events for Kids at PBC

2010-04-09T18:52:00.000-07:00

This Saturday, April 10th (tomorrow), we will have Parent's Night Out from 5:30 - 7:30 in the youth center. It is free, but donations are accepted for the youth. Tomorrow's dinner will include chicken tenders, french fries, cookies, and cool aid!

On Saturday, April 17th, our AWANA girls will sponsor a Mother - Daughter brunch at in the church's youth center. The girls will present a short program in honor of their mothers and a brunch will be served. Our special entertainment will be a fruit carving session, where we will learn how to make an edible arrangement.

This summer will be a busy one for me! I have a lot planned for the kids at church.

JUNE
On June 2, I will take the 1-3 grades on a bowling trip to Rivergate Bowl. The 4-6 grades will go on June 3.

On June 10, I will take 1-6 on a day trip to the Museum of Natural Science in Jackson, MS. I really like this museum so I hope that it will be a good trip!!

I am really excited about June 13- 17th because I will get to attend Centri - Kid this year. That same week, the youth will be gone to Student Life Camp and the little kids will be having day camp at the church. It will be busy, but FUN week for everyone!!

On June 26, we will have a BYBC at an apartment complex in Natchez. Last year, we had about 75 kids come to that one so I am excited to see how many come this year! If there is a need, we will plan more events for this complex throughout the summer.

JULY
On July 1, the 1-3 grades will come hang out for lunch and games at (hopefully) the newly renovated Oasis (in the church). The 4-6 grade will do the same on July 6.

On July 8, I will take the 1-6 grades to the Louisiana Children's Museum in New Orleans, LA! I haven't been to this museum before but it looks like a lot of fun!!

Last July, I decided that our youth needed an opportunity to see "the other side" of Natchez so after talking with several people in our church and with the youth minister, I started a Youth Missions Week. Last summer, the youth served lunch at the stewpot, worked at the Natchez Children's Home, and did yard work for some of our shut-ins at our church. The youth really enjoyed the week and so did the community. Therefore, this will be something that I will continue this summer. I haven't planned this summer's week so if you have any ideas, I am all ears! The YMW will be July 12 - 16.

July 19- 23 is my last week of summer since teachers have to go back to school the last week of July. I have a BYBC planned this entire week for the community around our church. This will be our "bible school." I just started looking at some curriculum and I am very excited about the possibilities this week will bring!!!

To wrap up the summer, we will host a back to school swimming party on August 1.

I have a lot planned this summer and I hope I survive!!

Children's Ministry - warning: this is a LONG post. sorry.

2010-04-09T17:54:00.000-07:00

I have had the privilege of being the children's ministry coordinator at Parkway for about a year now. I have done this off and on over the past few years, but started on a part-time, year around basis last May. It has been wonderful. I love planning children's events for the church, especially meaningful events. Here are a few things we have done in my first year at the church.

SUMMER 2009

Last summer, instead of doing Bible School, we went to different communities around town and did block parties on Sunday evenings. They were wonderful! At the block parties, we have a bible study, craft, moon bounces, and food! We had a lot of people come to these events and we all had a good time! Below are some pictures of the kids (and adults) enjoying the block parties!

We also took the kids to the Louisiana Arts and Sciences Museum in Baton Rouge, LA. It was SOOOOOO much fun! I actually got to bring my 5th graders there this year and they had equally as much fun! I recommend everyone go, if they haven't already!

To wrap the summer up, our older kids went to Centri- Kid at Mississippi College in Clinton, MS. They LOVED it! We are going back again this summer. Due to the fact that I am a teacher and we have to go to work the end of July, I wasn't able to attend last summer. Therefore, I have no pictures to share. While the older kids go to Centri- Kid, the younger kids stay at the church for day camp. Each day of day camp, the kids have a worship time, a bible study, make a craft, eat a snack, and go on a field trip. Our favorite field trip spots are the bowling ally, a carriage ride around downtown natchez, a visit to a swimming pool, and The Natchez Indian Village!!

In September, we started a new ministry at the church called Parent's Night Out. We have PNO the first Saturday of each month from 5:30 - 7:30. This is a way for our Sunday School departments to have outreach events and socials without having to worry about getting a baby sitter. The event is free but we do take donations. Our youth work the event and the donations are used as a fundraiser for their summer trip. PNO also provides each child with a bible study, craft, and dinner. The kids seem to have a lot of fun, as do the youth. Here are a few pictures - I apologize for the side ways pictures.

In October, we normally have a fall fest in place of halloween. However, we have hosted a fall fest for so long, it was becoming a bit monotonous so this year we decided to try out Trunk or Treat. In case you are not aware of what Trunk or Treat is, I will briefly explain. You have member of your church decorate their car and themselves in a certain theme. We arranged the cars in one of our parking lots and made a little pathway around them. The kids travel the pathway playing games or hearing stories at each car, and of course receiving candy. We had 30 cars that participated. Along with trunk or treat, we also had a section designated to Slime Time Games. We have 10 slimy, gross games for the kids to play. We also served hot dogs, popcorn, and cotton candy. Below are a few pictures from the event.

For Christmas, we saw the opportunity for us to provide the families in our community with an event to share the Christmas story. We called this The Tour of Bethlehem. As the families entered, they were taken to the census room to register. After a group of 20 or so gathered, a tour guide led the group through a tour of our different rooms. Here is what a tour looked like. Stop 1 : A tour of bethlehem. We had this room set up with different things you would have found in Bethlehem; i.e. a farmer's market, a bakery, and a perfume maker. The kids were able to sample different foods and help make perfume, mosaics, and bread. Stop 2: Game Time. In this room, the kids heard the story of the Candy Cane and played a Christmas version of spin the tale on the donkey- where the kids had to decorate a christmas tree after being spun around 3 times. Stop 3: Crafts. We also order crafts from oriental trading. Stop 4: Bible Study. For this, we had our youth act out the nativity scene. They did a good job. Stop 5: Christmas cookies. In this room, the kids decorated Christmas cookies. Stop 6: Dinner. We usually do hot dogs, chips, popcorn, and cookies for dinners like this. After their tour was complete, the families were able to go home. Sorry I do not have any pictures for this one.

For the spring semester, my focus was on AWANA, our Wednesday evening activity for kids. Awana is a program that allows our kids to learn scripture. You can read their website for more information. We planned several Saturday events throughout this semester. We brought the kids to several nursing homes in February to visit some of our church members and to pass out fruit baskets. We quickly found out how funny some of the kids could be, when they started telling the residents the jokes from the laffy taffy candy wrapper. In March, we took the boys to a fundraiser for St. Catherine's Wildlife Refuge, called Wildthangs. They had an archery exhibit, fun jumps, and other wildlife exhibits. They had a blast. Here are a few pictures.

For more information on children's events at Parkway Baptist Church children's ministry, click on the link below.

www.parkwaybaptistchurch.com/children

Chicken Taco Pizza :)

2010-04-08T12:27:00.000-07:00

I made this a few weeks ago and brought some for lunch the next day. The two boys that sit next to me at lunch ALWAYS try whatever I make. They are in love with this pizza! They ask for it everyday!! They saw me putting recipes up during planning period yesterday and immediatly told me to write out this recipe. sooooo... here I am typing a recipe for chicken taco pizza, for anyone interested.

Pizza Pizza?!

1 pizza crust (you can make your own, or buy a can of dough from the store and roll it out)
1 can of green salsa (or you can make my tomatillo sauce from the Mexican Manicotti blog)
1 rotisserrie chicken, stredded
1 packet of chicken taco seasoning (or the packet of your choice)
1 block of pepperjack cheese, shredded

Special Gadgets
1 pizza tray ( i prefer to use the round ones with holes, because i like a thin and crispy crust - you can also use a pizza stone)

Roll pizza crust into desired shape (for me, a large circle).
Place shaped dough on pizza tray and bake on 350 degrees for 15 minutes.
While your dough is baking, take shredded chicken and mix in seasoning packet with a little bit of water (enough to allow the seasoning to coat all of the chicken).
Remove from oven.
Pour on a light coat of green salsa.
Place seasoned chicken on top of salsa.
Scatter cheese on top and bake for 10-15 minutes or until all cheese is melted and bubbly.

From here on, it's up to your imagination.
You can place lettuce, tomatoe, avocado, sour cream, etc. on top and serve, or just eat it as is (which i prefer!).

Serve with a tossed salad!

I need your help!!!

2010-04-08T07:54:00.000-07:00

We are in the middle of renovating our children's department at church. We are pretty much done and now working on the decorating part. The walls are all painted and they are green, purple, and blue (actually the same colors and shades as the colors of my blog). I am trying to find some fabric to make curtains and maybe a few other things with. I have a large piece of fabric I bought a while back that matches, but I do not have enough to make all of the window treatments. If you know of a fabric that you think would match these colors and look great in a coed children's department, please let me know!!

Below are 2 links to 2 fabrics that I found on Hancocks. Let me know what you think, please!

http://www.hancockfabrics.com/search.htm?numHits=24&query=2992147&path=&x=19&y=10

http://www.hancockfabrics.com/search.htm?numHits=24&query=3111911&path=

A Small Taste.....

2010-04-07T20:33:00.000-07:00

of my classroom. More to come as I remember to upload pictures. I have missed out on a lot this year. Mainly because I did not get a camera until Christmas so these are a few things from after Christmas!

This is my partically finished door from January. We added a "let it snow" along with snowflakes with the kids names on them. The polka dotted border is the same print that you will find on everything in my room. I am a little obsessed with it!

This is my late January, early February door. I am a gold and black blooded member of the Who Dat nation, so I had to represent. I painted the top part and the gold fleur-de-lis. We took the logo from the Drew Brees Foundation. The fleur- de- lis as the border are from the kids. Each student had 2. One had their name, the other was their prediction. We were working on predictions in reading class that week, so it was fitting. Along the outside of the door is a Martin Luther King "I have a dream" project they did as a writing prompt.

My March theme was "Going Green for St. Patrick's Day." The kids wrote how they planned to "Go Green" on their clovers. I found the pictures on edhelper.com (one of my favorite websites!!).

Mango Salsa (for Sarah Wells)

2010-04-07T20:04:00.000-07:00

This has become one of my most favorite condiments!! I like to eat this on top of fish tacos, with cous cous, or as I did last night, on a blackened fish po-boy with a little pepperjack cheese and horseradish sour- cream sauce : )

Mango Salsa

2 mangos, diced
1 shallot (or 1/4 of a red onion), minced
2- 4 cloves of garlic (i like 4), minced
1 jalapeno, minced (with seeds, i like the heat)
a few pinches of cilantro, roughly chopped
1-2 limes (depends on the juciness)
salt and pepper

Combine all ingredients in a bowl.
Add lime juice until all ingredients are evenly coated with juice.
Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.
Serve with your favorite dish; i.e. fish tacos!

I've seen a lot of variations of this. Most people like to add avocado. However, I do not eat avocado so it will not be getting added to mine.

Mexican Manicotti

2010-04-07T11:46:00.000-07:00

I tried out this dish a few weeks ago and it was supurb : ) I found a recipe that hinted at this idea but I didn't like all of the ingrediants. Therefore, I took the idea and created a recipe.

Warning: when i cook, i rarely use measuring utensils so i really have no clue as to the exact amount of anything... sorry. also, i love garlic and spicy so if you do not, you may need to alter the amounts of those ingrediants.

Pasta
12 manicotti noodles
1 pack of cream cheese, softened
1 8 oz. container of sour cream
1 packet of taco seasoning (or fajita, chicken taco, etc.)
1 rotisserie chicken with all of the chicken picked off
1 shallot, diced finely
3 cloves of garlic, dices finely
olive oil
sredded pepper jack cheese (a mexican blend will do)
1 can of rotel tomatoes, strained

Tomatillo Sauce
8 tomatillos, in quarters
8 garlic cloves, smashed
1/2 red onion, in chunks
3 jalapenos, in chunks
olive oil

In a small roasting pan, place all incrediants for tomatillo sauce. Drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper and bake on 350 degrees for about 1 hour (or until all incredianrs are soft to touch). Add everything from roasting pan to a blender and blend until smooth (or chunky, if you like). Add salt and pepper, if needed. Set aside.

Boil manicotti in salted water until pasta is al dente.
Remove from stove and strain.
In a medium sauce pan, coat the bottom with a light layer of olive oil.
Add shallots and cook until translucent.
Add garlic and cook until soft.
Add cream cheese, sour cream, rotel tomatoes, and seasoning pack.
Heat until all ingrediants are happy : )(a little bubbly and all incorperated).
Add chicken and 2/3 of your shredded cheese to the cream sauce mixture.
It should be thick.

Now comes the fun part....
Stuff cream sauce mixture into the manicotti shells : )
Try not to break any of the shells.
Layer the manicotti in a 13 by 9 baking dish.
When all shells have been stuffed, pour your tomatillo sauce on top of the manicotti.
Sprinkle the last 1/3 of your shredded cheese on top.
Bake at 350 degrees for 25 or until bubbly.
Serve with Spanish rice and Mexican cornbread.

In the picture, you will see red sauce. We tried it out with a store bought enchilada sauce. It was equally as good. So, if you do not have time to make the tomatillo sauce, a can of enchilada sauce will do the trick!

Donor's Choose

2010-04-07T11:17:00.000-07:00

Donor's choose has been kind to me this year. Thus far, I have received a class set of dry erase markers, a class set of dictionaries, a class set of The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963, and a laptop computer. Pictures are the dry erase boards and The Watson's Go to Birmingham- 1963.

below is a link to my page and to the other 5th grade teacher's page on donor's choose. there you can see what projects we are currently asking for.

www.donorschoose.org/ashley.rice

www.donorschoose.org/natalie.woodside

Hello World : - )

2010-04-07T08:49:00.000-07:00

After a little thinking, I decided I would start blogging again. Lately, I have been experimenting in the kitchen with some of my own recipes and I decide I needed someone to share my experiments with. I also wanted to start blogging again because I am a teacher and a children's minister and I have a lot going on that I would like to share (and then have something to look back on to remember what I did for what lesson). For example, my door decorations, bulletin board ideas, lesson ideas, and ideas for events at church that are, for example, more meaningful to kids than an Easter Egg. It may be a little boring really until next school year starts, but I will need time to practice blogging again.

Warning: I am an English teacher but I overuse commas, never remember to use capitalization, and I am a terrible speller (good thing spell check is my best friend!!).