Break!

It is so nice to have a break! I always thought teachers lived the good life...work 9 months out of the year and they got frequent breaks...must be nice. Well let me just say, we have to work HARD to get our breaks. I have never been more exhausted after a day's work until I started teaching. I definitely have a new respect for everything teachers do. Even though break has started, I feel like I have hardly gotten any time to truly enjoy a break. Yesterday we had a School of Faith meeting for half the day, and then I spent the rest of the afternoon organizing things around the house. Today, I spent most of the morning finishing up my Christmas shopping...so now I finally have some time to update the ole blog. I did a project with my class before break started. My intention was for the whole class to do their own project, but once I priced canvas I realized I didnt get paid enough to do that. So we did the project together. I got the idea from Pintrest. I saw this project ALL over the craft, DIY website and it seemed like everyone was doing it so I had no desire to try it myself. Once I thought through it some more, I decided...why not. First thing I had each student do was give me a crayon. I asked for everyone to give me their favorite color but I think a few of them saw that almost everyone was donating either blue or pink...so they started giving more of a variety. When a student brought his/her crayon up, I had them write their name on the crayon. Now I will have a little memory of my first class!

I also included a crayon for myself as well as a crayon that said "2011-2012 7th Grade" so I could especially remember. After I had all the crayons, I used a hot glue gun and attached all of the crayons.

The last full day before break started, I took the hair dryer to school and we melted the crayons. Below is the finished product! There was a little bit of crayon splatter, but as soon as it hit the table, it dried. It was easy to peel off after that. The crayons were well melted and running down the canvas within the first couple of minutes. (I took this picture with my camera phone so the quality isnt the best)

Secret Santa Update

I have attached a picture of the mason jar gift completed! I gave Marcy her first gift and from the reaction of the other teachers, it sounds like I was on the right track!

A much needed BREAK!

Well I made it!!! Made it through my FIRST semester as a teacher. I cant even believe I am at this point. This has been the best, worst, relaxing, and stressful semester of my life. Some days were good...some days were terrible but I have no regrets making this career change. It has been such a great experience and I really cannot wait until I can say "I have one year of teaching under my belt!" We will have a little more than two weeks for Christmas break. Since this is the last week of class before that break, there are a lot of things going on around the school. Tomorrow starts the first day of Spirit week. We all get to wear Pajamas tomorrow, Crazy socks on Tuesday, something green on Wednesday, something red on Thursday...and a free dress down on Friday! The teachers traditionally do a Secret Santa exchange the last week of school. The total spent throughout the whole week is $15 and they usually give a small gift every day of the week...saving the most "expensive" gift for the last day. The teacher I picked out of the Santa hat, will only be at school Monday through Wednesday, so I can spread the $15 over 3 days, instead of all 5. Below is a picture of the items I will be giving her.

Tomorrow I will be giving Marcy the little zipper bag with a Diet Coke and a bag of Pistachios. Her favorite beverage, and her favorite salty treat. Tuesday, I will give her the mason jar filled with dry ingredients to make Chocolate-Macadamia Nut Bars. Macadamia is her other favorite salty snack...along with chocolate...her favorite sweet snack. I made a gift tag for both of those gifts. I will also add a piece of Christmas fabric to the top of the mason jar to dress it up a bit. It was my first time mixing ingredients for a mason jar gift like this. Some of the flour fell through the chocolate chips more than I anticipated, but if I do this project again, I will know how to make it better. Finally, for the last day, I have made a card with a slot to put a gift card in it. The inside of the card says "Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year -From your secret santa, Mary Beth." I was really at a loss as to what I could give as gifts for this secret santa business (I lack in creativity) but my mom really helped me decide on the zipper bag as well as the mason jar gift. What would I do without her?! I CANT WAIT for this week to be over and the break to start. Im nervous to begin next semester not only because I will be back to planning lesson plans, but I am also the new assistant soccer coach for the girls team at Harmon high school. Am I spreading myself too thin?! Maybe...but I figured I might as well dive in head first and see how it goes. MB

December

Bruce and I made the trip out to Colorado for Thanksgiving and the trip was GREAT!!!! Bruce got to spend a week there and I flew out a few days after Bruce made the drive. It was so nice to have a vacation away from teaching and away from KC. It was truly relaxing. Ah! Back to reality...blah! Bruce and I have been hard at work for the last week and we are both ready for Christmas break! I am working almost every night to prepare the condo for listing on the market. The date is set and we are listing on January 2nd. I am very anxious to get it listed and hopefully it can sell within a few months...but I am not holding my breath. Please hit the prayers hard for us. I tried making the snickerdoodle cupcakes a few weeks ago...epic failure. It was terrible. I mean I guess they were edible...but definitely not something I would put in the teachers lounge... I plan on trying another new recipe...maybe red velvet cupcakes?! Yum!

Look ma, no prepackaged mix!

In my mind, there is nothing better than a nice, fluffy cupcake. It is always easy to use a cake mix and just whip up some cupcakes, but I have been on the hunt to find a made-from-scratch cupcake that would knock my socks off. Lucky for me, I was introduced to this website. My next decision...which one of these cupcakes would I make... FIRST. Because at this point, I feel like I want to try every single cake she has posted. I scrolled through the last few months of posts and found a recipe I knew I would try first. Pumpkin cupcakes made my mouth instantly start watering...and the BEST part...I had almost ALL of the ingredients for the recipe minus the pumpkin puree. There is nothing worse than reading the title of some recipe and then I see what ingredients it calls for...and half of the items I have NEVER heard of. Lucky for me, I have heard of everything on this recipe. Thank goodness. Since Bruce was on his way to Colorado today, I had a lot of down time. The first batch I made was destined for the Queen of the Holy Rosary Queen's Ladies bake sale. I made the cupcakes, tried one, LOVED it, so I knew donating them for a good cause would be my best decision. I also love any excuse to bust out the BEST wedding gift ever...my Kitchen Aid mixer. Woot! Here is the cupcake batter getting mixed. Yum!

I am TERRIBLE at filling cupcake cups so today I decided to use a mixing cup to help pour the batter. Made my life so much easier. The recipe called to fill cups about 3/4 full...hell if I know exactly what 3/4 full is...so I made my best guess.

Not only does this recipe spell out the steps for the batter but also for a tasty eggnog buttercream frosting. Yea baby yea! Here are some of the cakes cooled and iced! Nothing fancy...but that is my next project...become a professional cupcake decorator.

I have my eye on snickerdoodle cupcakes to try next. To be continued... MB

Champagne cork monogram

Well I told you I would post on a champagne cork monogram...Im just surprised that I was motivated enough to get it all done in one evening. After a long day of teaching, I have next-to-no energy to do anything but lay on the couch. Not tonight! I started the monogram before my soccer game and polished it off after the game. Bruce's sister and husband are on a huge champagne kick lately. They have saved a lot of their corks and the last time we saw them, they handed us a plastic bag full of corks. I guess Bruce had a craft project of his own in mind?! Who knows. I was shocked when we brought this bag home. Anyway, about a month ago I saw this post from a friend and really liked the idea! The monogram was made with wine corks, but I figured it would be just as easy to substitute champagne corks as well. With the corks ready to go, and my hot glue gun close by, all I needed was a large wooden letter. I stopped by Michael's after work today and with a trusty 50% off coupon, I spent next to nothing on this project. Woot! I did a "dry run" with the corks and placed them on the wooden letter in the positions I wanted.

Once I had everything where I wanted it, I started gluing. This was a super easy project and I think it turned out pretty cool.

MB

Button monogram

Alright, so I have started "following" the Archivers blog. I enjoy looking for new ideas on what I can do to take my scrapbooking to the next level. The lady who writes the blogs recently talked about this website called Pintrest. I have heard about it from a few friends but I never gave it a second thought. After reading the latest Archivers post, I HAD to check out Pintrest for myself. O.M.G. This website is AUH-mazing. It has made me feel like I can be creative even with my basic knowledge of gluing and sewing. I have a few projects lined up but the button monogram was the first one I wanted to try. As soon as I saw this post I immediately thought of my niece, Simone. She doesnt have too much hanging on her walls and I know when I was her age, I LOVED having my name all over my room. Her favorite color is pink (and has been for a few years now) so I knew I needed to make this button monogram out of nothing but shades of pink. I went to Joann's one weekend and purchased all of the necessary materials.

The post where I got this idea used a fabric wrapped canvas but I wanted something a little cheaper. I went back to the wood craft department and picked a decent sized wood plaque. I knew I wanted to give this monogram a "soft" look so I wanted some batting to use between the wood and the fabric wrap. My biggest issue was going to be the fabric. Ugh. I HATE shopping for fabric. My mom has always talked about the remnants area of the fabric department so I went straight there. Sure enough...I spotted some fabric that I KNEW I wanted...without having a clue as to what I really wanted. Perfect. Pink satin fabric. SOLD! I picked up a few packs of buttons and I was on my way. I got home and got started right away. I simply glued the batting to the wood board and then did the same with the pink fabric. Piece of cake.

I knew the hardest step of this whole process would be button placement. I had to have done a dry run with the buttons at least 10 times before I finally got a result that I found acceptable...and then I started over and did it again. FINALLY! Done! I busted out the hot glue gun, stuck those puppies to the fabric, and attached a pink ribbon so the monogram could hang from the wall. DONE! I will wrap this and give it to the little lady for Christmas. Of course I got a Barbie toy as a back up...just in case.

My next project...a monogram made out of Champagne corks... MB

MNF

Well after the MNF game, it was a loooooong week. I am so glad I made it to the weekend without any kids being harmed. ;) Those Chiefs always know how to keep their fans on the edge of their seats. After a long game, they decided to tie the score and send the game into overtime. What an intense game! Bruce and I headed out to Arrowhead with Jim and my cousin, Jake.

We were out in the parking lot as the gates opened and had a good time tailgating. We played washers and cooked some brats on the Weber grill. Once we headed in, all the fans were handed white rally towels. It was such a sight to see all those towels waving in the air. The pictures do not do it justice.

The Chiefs ended up pulling out the victory!!! It was such a great game and even though we got home late (midnight), it was well worth it! Thank goodness for the weekend and sleeping in! And it was daylight savings time! Woot!

Wedding weekend

Well this wedding has been 2 years in the making! Some close friends of ours got engaged around the same time Bruce and I did (they were engaged a few weeks earlier) but they decided on a 2 year engagement. Kinsley was the one who introduced me and Bruce to each other out on the softball field back in June 2009. Kinsley went to college with Bruce and I knew her from Miege. It has been so great to reconnect with Kinsley and she and Dan have become close friends of ours. They got married at Queen of the Holy Rosary and it was a beautiful day for a wedding! They had their rehearsal and dinner on Friday night and the dinner was out at Kauffman Stadium at Rivals sports bar.

The following pictures are from the day of the wedding. Kinsley looked so pretty and Dan was handsome in his tux! Congrats guys!

Fall Race

The weekend of October 8-9 was an exciting one in the Summers household. We went to the race out at the Kansas Speedway!! This was the second race I had been to and I am really starting to enjoy myself out there. Bruce obviously enjoys the races so I am happy to go with him. Erin and Justin came in town to attend with us, so it was nice to spend some time with out of town friends. This was the first time I had spent a good few hours walking around the Kansas Speedway before the race started. We got inside about 2 hours before the race so I got to see all of the people that had access to the infield. I was completely jealous they had tickets to the infield, but it was fun to do some people watching. This following picture is all the people heading back to their seats after the driver introductions were complete.

The next couple of pictures are shots of our favorite drivers cars. 24 is Jeff Gordon and 29 is Kevin Harvick. Bruce doesnt like the idea of me cheering for Harvick...but I hope the more I talk about it...the more he will warm up to the idea! :)

And finally, here is a shot of the cars actually driving around the track. There were a few wrecks so it was a little more interesting than the June race. Jimmie Johnson was the winner!

MB

Bruce's Bday

Today is Bruce's birthday!!!! He is 28! He has been such a blessing to my life and such a wonderful husband. I couldnt have asked for a better partner in life. We decided to go to PF Chang's for dinner last night, in celebration of his birthday. Prior to dinner, we had a few drinks at M&S Grill. It was a nice evening spent on the Plaza...and the weather was perfect!

Today, we spent most of the day relaxing and watching football. I made some cupcakes for Bruce's birthday so of course I made his take a picture with some cakes and once of his gifts. It has been such a nice day!

Off to another week of solving insurance complaints, and teaching the youth of America! MB

One month down

Well I am one month in to the school year. I have already experienced so many different emotions...one of which being "what did I get myself in to?!" Yes...about a week into it, I thought "This is crazy. I cant believe I signed up for this." but now, I am so thrilled I am apart of this. I have started all three grades on basic inquiry skills for science class. They all learned the 6 steps to the Scientific Method and got to see some of the lab supplies they will be working with. I love their enthusiasm to get started on the new content. We will officially start working in the textbooks this week. I have tried to plan a start off experiment for all three classes. It sure will be a lot of prep for me, but I know the kids will appreciate it. They are still learning how to work well in groups, so all experiments at this point are small and short...hopefully I can get to the point where they do well working together and we can get into more in depth experiments. 8th grade is starting off learning about atoms. In 7th we will start on force in motion and in fluids. 6th will take another week to build inquiry skills and then we will start on bacteria. For math, we are opening up the textbooks as well this week. I have spent the first month reviewing with all three levels. I have also been buying myself some time because the SPED pull out will begin this week. Most of the other students are at the average level to actively participate in class. It's already crossed my mind that I am still at a loss as to what I SHOULD be doing. Am I planning everything correctly? I find math and science easy...so how can I think like a middle school student to make it as easy as possible for them to learn?! Ill be shocked if I make it through this school year and the kids learning ANYTHING. Bruce is doing well with his not-so-new position at Farmers. He has been SO busy since they are started giving him the full daily complaint load. The complains have actually been coming in more than usual so he is spending a lot of time trying to keep up...as is everyone in the department. Insurance claims never rest... We had a great visit last weekend with Bruce's parents. They made the trip to KC and although it was a very quick weekend, it was so great seeing them. Traveling on September 11th definitely caused them a bigger headache than we could have imagined (all flights out of the Southwest gates were cancelled due to a crazy traveler) but they made it home after the long drive across Kansas. Bruce and I have a few lazy weekends coming up, and then we are headed back out to the Kansas Speedway for the race followed by a few wedding weekends. OH and also...our 1 year anniversary is coming up!!!! Seriously?! Where has the last year gone!? MB

First week

Well the first week with students is almost done! I cant believe it. I am completely exhausted. It is totally crazy how every day is totally different. Yesterday was a hard day with the kids because they started feeling a little more comfortable with things, so they were way too chatty. Today...it was great. They listened...paid attention...and didnt need to be told to be quiet...too much. :) Im really looking forward to next week because I am going to start enforcing our discipline procedure more seriously. There is already a list of kids I can come up with in my head who are going to be serving detentions because they dont get parent signatures on things, or they cant STOP TALKING! Ugh KIDS!

Final update

Alright well I spent a good four days up at school this past week getting as much ready as I could. We have been given the class lists so I have started preparing seating charts and discipline forms. I am sure once meetings start next week, I will be reminded of things I have currently forgot to do. We will see. Here are two final pictures. I have moved some things around but mainly just added a bit more to the walls.

Hopefully everything on the walls have remained there...as Im sure the heat will test the stickiness of my tape!

MB

Classroom Prep cont

After 3 days, the classroom is really coming together! After the first day, I walked through the other classrooms on my floor to see what sorts of decorations or ideas or could "steal." I noticed that both of the other classrooms had the school theme on their front wall. Another room also had a place on the back wall where the teacher hung signs to write the daily homework assignments. After this, I decided to come home and put my Cricut to use! As shown in my previous post, I made these various signs to hang around the room. In the pictures below, you can see where the signs have been placed!

Back of the room with the homework signs!

Front of the room!

Another shot of the back of the room by my desk.

I am heading to a school supply store this morning to get some last minute items, and then I will spend a few more hours up at school finishing things up! Finally...Ill take a much needed day off tomorrow!

Last installment of pics to come!

MB

Classroom Prep

Today was day #2 up in the classroom. Things are really starting to come together. After the first day I took a few of these pictures.

This first picture shows the new desk arrangement!! The initial setup of the desks made the room look so small and did not encourage group discussion and interaction.

This is just a different view of the classroom. As you will notice, the cork boards are still bare but after setting up the desks, I cleaned through my desk and threw out a bunch of junk from the previous teacher, and I completely emptied a book shelf and moved it back by my desk as I needed that extra storage. I also cleaned out the closet to make space for those books that I didnt want to give away, but I also didnt have room for them on the current book shelves.

These last two pictures are some signs I made this evening. I will take them to get laminated tomorrow and then hang them up! The first picture of signs represents the school theme for the year and the second picture contains the signs I have made for homework...so the students always know where to look when they have a question about homework.

My friend Angie came up to school today to help me put up bulletin boards. We got ALL of the cork covered and got some trimmers up. I really hope to finish all of this decorating by tomorrow...or at least the end of this week. It is NOT my thing!

More pictures to come!

MB

EMINEM

Lets refer back to this previous blog post. Number 5 on the list was EMINEM!!! I was telling Bruce the other day that Eminem was one of those artists I thought I would never see in concert. He hadnt been on tour in a really long time, and I never thought he would come to KC. I was ok with that. I had accepted that. Good thing he surprised me and signed on to be the main act for the First Annual Kanrocksas music festival out at the KS Speedway. Bruce and I bought tickets as soon as we heard he was on the list!

This is a shot of the main stage. This is where Eminem would be performing later on in the evening. Bruce and I got to the speedway around 330p, so we had about 7.5 hours to kill before Eminem.

Here is a shot of us before we head down to the infield.

Here he is!!! He started off wearing that hoodie but lets be honest...Kansas is HOT...so it didnt last long. It was such a blast to be right in the middle of the crowd but I had to work my way to the outside so I could get a decent shot!

What a great concert!!!

MB

Getting ready

Well I have ONE more week left at Proteon. It has been such a great first job out of school, but I am beyond excited to start this new chapter in my life.

I have been up to the school a few times to look through my room and see what kinds of supplies I will be working with this school year. I initially thought I was coming into a classroom with limited supplies but thanks to the help of the other middle school teachers, I have realized there is a whole closet dedicated to science supplies!! Woot! Prior to realizing there was a science closet, I had asked Proteon if they would be interested in donating some science supplies to the school. They agreed, and I began to collect boxes of items. After about getting 6 boxes together, I made a trip to school this morning to drop it all off. I was so excited to see my classroom again! Finally after being completely emptied out for floor buffering, all of my stuff was back in its place, and there were even NEW desks! Below are some pictures of the room. I havent started decorating or anything. Those pictures will be posted within the next month!

Here is a picture of the front of the school.

Room 103!!! Here she is!

Here is a view from the door. And I have a good teacher podium and stool!My desk is in the back by the black filing cabinet.

The view of the front of the classroom from my desk.

These two pictures below are of the materials in the science closet that is just down the hall from my room.

Over the next few weeks I will be spending a lot of time up at the school to get things organized and set up. I will post pictures of the finished product around the beginning of the school year!

MB