Sleep? ...

Sleep in the third trimester? ...

• You flip over like a pancake every hour at night because your hips hurt
• You wake up every 2 hours to pee and because your hips hurt you have reposition
• You are hungry for a snack at 1 am after waking up to pee
• You then have indigestion at 1 am because you had a snack 
• You sit in your baby's rocking chair in the middle of the night making a to do list, because of your indigestion
• You finally go to sleep at 4:30 am and then your husband's alarm goes off at 5:30 am and you are wide awake again..

Here is the funny thing, I am exhausted right now (and probably a little more snappy at moments than I realize, so sorry to my friends, students, family, and colleagues now and for the next 18 years), but I don't really mind (the being tired part- maybe I will be nicer as I get used to it). Don't get me wrong, I would love to sleep through the night without getting up to pee, without having the dog wake me up, and without a to do list running through my mind. I also know my body is just preparing me for when my little man arrives. When I think about the short 7 weeks (or less) I have left before I get to hold him in the middle of the night, I no longer care.

Now, I am sure someone will have to remind me of this when I am crying on the floor, without shower, or sleep when he is here. Just remind me to read this post. :)

Reading Logs

I love using my monthly reading logs because...

• They are simple
• They hold my 5th graders accountable
• Parents are involved in reading at home
• Students use math skills to calculate minutes read
• They are cute (yes this is a reason)

Do you like the samples? Find the whole school year pack here: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Monthly-Reading-Log-Pack-900350

 Everything in my Teachers Pay Teachers store is 10% for a limited time!

Baby Beckett is growing!

12 Weeks

15 weeks

17 Weeks

18 Weeks

20 Weeks

23 Weeks

Fall baking has begun!

It is that time of year... cooler weather, pumpkin everything, apple everything, desserts to serve with warm drinks, muffins for breakfast. I L.O.V.E. fall.

So, I've started to pick up my fall recipes again . . here are a few recent ones!

 Pumpkin Spice Cake Muffins! This is Jeff's favorite fall breakfast and it is EASY BREEZY to make.

Ingredients for muffin mix:

• 1 box of Spice Cake Mix
• 1 1/2 cans of pureed pumpkin

 Ingredients for topping:

• 1/4 cup of brown sugar
• 1 - 2 tablespoons of ground cinnamon (depends on how much cinnamon you like)

Directions:

1. Mix spice cake and pureed pumpkin and there are very few lumps in the dough 
2.  Spray muffin cups with nonstick baking spray
3. I use a cookie scoop to fill muffin cups about 2/3 of the way (note that the muffins do not fluff much)
4. Mix brown sugar and cinnamon with fork and sprinkle on each muffin
5. Bake at 350 for 18 - 22 minutes

Makes about 18 - 20 muffins

S'mores Cookie Bars

This recipe came from the Hershey website, but I doubled all ingredients, baked it in a 9x9 pan instead of 8x8, and it turned out much better! They were gone in a flash!

https://www.hersheys.com/recipes/recipe-details.aspx?id=3834

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine , softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1  egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4  (1.55 oz. each) HERSHEY'S Milk Chocolate Bars
• 1 cup marshmallow creme

Directions

1. 1 Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 8-inch square baking pan.
   
2. 2 Beat butter and sugar in large bowl until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; beat well. Stir together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt; add to butter mixture, beating until blended. Press half of dough into prepared pan.
   
3. 3 Arrange chocolate bars over dough, breaking as needed to fit. Spread with marshmallow creme. Scatter bits of remaining dough over marshmallow; carefully press to form a layer.
   
4. 4 Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars. 16 bars.

No-Bake Oatmeal Cookies

This is currently the best dessert I can possibly make while pregnant! I could eat them all in a minute! YUM!

 
 I just use melted semi-sweet chocolate chips instead of cocoa (about 1/2 cup). I also add about 1/2 cup of extra peanut butter and 1/2 cup LESS sugar.


http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/cooking-live/chocolate-peanut-butter-no-bake-cookies-recipe/index.html

 

How I told my husband I was pregnant

I haven't had time to sit down and share the story of our little baby who is on the way!

It all began on Mother's Day, May 12th, 2013. I thought there was a little chance I could be pregnant and decided to take a test at 6 am. Guess what? It was positive. I couldn't believe it! I spent most of the morning walking in circles waiting for Jeff to wake up. I wanted to talk to someone so badly. I forgot it was Sunday and a holiday, so who on earth was I going to talk to? And by the way, the only reason I didn't wake Jeff up immediately was because he had worked a 12 hour night shift, stayed up the next day, and went to our friend's wedding. Poor guy hadn't slept in about 36 hours.

I ended up calling my friend Cinnamon because she lives in Germany and would be awake! :) I sent her a picture of my test to make sure I wasn't dreaming or crazy. She confirmed I was neither (at least in this case). It isn't an etch-a-sketch, guess it wasn't going away! This is when I started to freak out and want to wake Jeff up. I decided I better check Pinterest and Google for cute ideas to tell Jeff I was pregnant . . What else was I going to do this early?

I didn't find any ideas that I really liked, but I was starving. Decision made: I'll tell him using doughnuts. Yes, doughnuts.

So, I decided to go get donuts for breakfast (Jeff loves to
eat donuts any day of the week, but especially the
weekend). I wrote in the top of the box and left them on
the counter. It still took Jeff another hour to come
downstairs. As soon as I heard him awake I ran upstairs
to ask if he wanted breakfast. He came downstairs, still
half asleep, and went into the kitchen. He opened the
doughnut box and quietly read the top. It took him a
minute, but then his jaw dropped.

Poor guy had just woken up! We both literally jumped around the kitchen!

Switzerland (summer 2012 - catch up time)

First Stop: Switzerland

Zurich

Zurich

We began our adventure in Zurich Switzerland. It was a
little overwhelming at first. Zurich is a big, busy, and not
so friendly city, but we still decided to explore for the day
before heading to our hotel. The architecture was quaint
and detailed.











The first town we stayed in was
Lauterbrunnen. It was surrounded by
amazing mountains which began with
bright green grass at the base and were
topped with white snow.

I absolutely loved the flower boxes
in Switzerland.  There were many
flowerboxes on houses, as well as
patios, due to the mild
summer weather.

Lauterbrunnen and Surrounding Towns

We went on a 5 hour
hike the first day. At the
beginning of the hike
we saw tons of cows!
They wear cowbells, so
if they are lost you can
find them. It was super
loud, but you get used
to it! We also went by a
cheese/dairy farm (the
smell was quite strong).

The mountains we could view on
our hike were magnificent! They
were bright green at the base and
then snow at the very top!
Gorgeous!

We loved that the signs in Switzerland showed
hiking times. It helped us to determine if we were
on the right track!

Next destination was Luzern! It was a bigger city,
but still had amazing views. It was much more
friendly and slower-paced than Zurich!

France (summer 2012 ...Playing catch up)

Second Stop: France

Our first few stops consisted of the Louvre and Eiffle Tower. We didn't have to pay to enter the Louvre because it was Bastille Day. We didn't have to wait in line either because a friend of Jeff's told him about a side entrance (completely allowed - not really known to most who aren't local). The weather was absolutely gorgeous! In the mid-70's.

The Eiffel Tower was so much fun to visit (but it is
brown- I thought it was black - oh well). Since it
was Bastille Day there was a huge firework show
at 11 pm (which is when it gets dark during the
summer). There were THOUSANDS of people. It
was truly a once in a lifetime experience!

 The next day we continued to explore the city and went to Notre Dame! After breakfast, it
was time to
explore Notre
Dame! We toured
the inside and
then climbed up
one of the towers.
There were 400
steps one way!

Day Three was the most relaxing. We went to Versailles
Palace. The grounds were breathtaking! We spent the day walking the grounds, renting a boat, and eating delicious food! Again, perfect weather! We lucked out!

Germany (last part of our Europe Trip)

Stop Three: Germany

Our main reason for planning this trip was to visit our good friends Cinnamon and Adam. Adam ended up having to go away, so we just got to visit with Cin and the kids, but it was so nice to see them. We hadn't seem them in about 8 months (not that I am counting). Cin and I have been good friends since my first year of teaching (about 8 years ago - wow, where does the time go). I am so glad we were able to spend special time with them while they were living overseas. They should be back this fall! WOO HOO! :) We miss them dearly!


The first day we went to an amazing castle
and then went to
a chocolate factory!

It was such a pretty day! We really lucked out with the
weather! Over the next couple days we explored Cinnamon's
little town of Echterdingen (went to fruit markets, cafe's) and
then we explored Stuttgart. We saw an amazing toy store,
went to a planetarium, and just enjoyed the city (despite the
rain that day). When we were at Cinnamon's we played with
the kids (Jeff played trains a lot) and tried to help her out
since Adam was away. It was nice to have quality time with
them all!