Lots of piping.
Such potential…so many possibilities…
“Hey! Stop pushing!”
“YOU stop pushing!”
”Stop or I’ll eat your arm!”
“Now, boys and girls. Can’t we all get along? We’re all made from the same dough.”
WHOA! These presents are HUGE!
He looks so happy…if only he knew his fate…
I love decorating for the holidays. And since I don’t have my own house, I might get a little carried away with my own classroom!
The oh-so-cute cats, candy corn and jack-o-lanterns hanging from the ceiling were an idea I saw on One Pretty Thing. A lady made these with her kids and I just HAD to make them with mine. (ikat bag)
An easy way to decorate the room is to hang up pictures the kids have painted about the theme.
I love my classroom…so cozy…
The past few weeks, my preschoolers have been “Down on the Farm.”
We started off our unit making “What We Think We know” charts.
During our unit, we talked about one animal each day. After talking about the featured animal and reading through some picture books, we would make a craft. Check out these cute pig faces!
We would also create a book page about that animal. I found this idea in a file from another teacher. I love sharing!
Graphing our favorite farm animal was a great way to practice pre-math skills.
In our rice table, I placed tons of small animals for the students to pick out with tongs. Fine motor skills practice at its finest!
A couple weekends ago, Andy and I participated in the necessary fall event of Apple Picking.
Yes, maybe we had too much fun. We gathered apples left and right only to discover an hour later that we had collected $36 worth of apples…That’s a lot. Apples filled the bottom of the fridge and sat there for quite a few days. Even eating a few every day just wasn’t getting the job done. Mom finally came to me and posed the question, “What are you going to do with all those apples?” “Well, Mom,” I stated. “I will make an apple pie, apple sauce, and apple cider.”
Why not?
My “little bit from lots of recipes” recipe:
1. Cut up thin slices from about 6 apples. (That’s mom showing me how to use a knife correctly. Unfortunately I have never been trusted with a knife in 23 years…Another story for another time.)
2. Place the slices in a large bowl and add 2/3 cup sugar, 1/3 cup four and cinnamon to taste. Toss. (This reminds me of Amelia Bedelia… “Oh! I suppose this means toss the bowl across the room…”) (It doesn’t actually.)
3. Put the mixture in a pie crust (we just used a store-bought kind). Mom had me “flute” the edges, although this picture only has one fluted edge. (See bottom left side of pie crust.) Make sure the apple wedges are as flat as possible “so you don’t wind up with big pockets of nothing while they’re cooking.” -mom
4. Make an apple crisp topping. Again, we used a store-bought kind and followed the directions on the box. (We only needed a stick of butter and some milk to make this.) Next add the topping to the pie and place in the oven on 425 for the first 15 minutes. Then turn the oven down to 375 “till the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbly.” -mom.
Apple Sauce and Apple Cider
Easy. Cut lots of apples into tiny pieces. You can choose to leave the skin on or slice it off, depending on the kind of texture you want your sauce to have. Put some water in a pan until the apples are half way covered. The water only serves as a way of keeping the apples from scorching. Cook on low for hours, until the apples are mushy. However, half way through your cooking, pour out a bit of the water and you’ll get a nice apple cider treat! Add sugar and cinnamon to taste.
Before
After
Get drivers license – check
Graduate high school – check
Go to college – check
Attend frat party – check
Never attend another ridiculous frat party – check
Graduate college – check
Get a job – check
Start a family – CHECK!
A family of two.
Mollie and Me.
I’m proud to say my 5 month old pup is a graduate of the prestigious Petsmart Puppy School – Class of ‘09. She sits on command. She waits to eat until I give her permission. She doesn’t jump up on people. She’s perfect. The perfect puppy.
And I love her very much. Thanks Mom and Dad!
This is me, Lyndsay, in Hawaii…on a trip I took last summer BY MYSELF…I flew by myself, went on a LOST tour by myself…
Don’t I seem so adventurous? So independent? Don’t I seem like such a perfect example of a young girl out of college ready to see the world???
Actually, these words do not describe me at all. If I learned one thing in Hawaii, it was this: I’m in love with the Midwest. I love living where the trees change in the fall, where it snows, where it gets super hot in the summer and makes my curly hair huge with humidity…I actually enjoy living at home with my parents - Mom’s home-cooked meals each night, my own big bed to sleep in, my puppy Mollie to play and run with, my piles of unfinished afghans and embroidery samples just waiting to be worked on, my best friend Andy to spend time with…
(That’s Mollie, not Andy)
Yes, life sure is lovely…
However, I do miss one thing terribly! The amazingly scrumptious avocados that fell fresh from the trees in the yard, just waiting to make the perfect guacamole…
