Friday Favorites: Goodbye 2017

This is my last post of 2017! How can that be!? 2017 was my first full year blogging and I am still loving every minute of it! I would like to start this post by thanking each and every one of you who have been apart of my blogging journey - thank you for reading! It is so exciting to see how my blog has grown! I cannot wait to find out what 2018 will bring!

What I Got I Christmas 2017

Christmas morning is something I look forward to all year. There is so much magic and love wrapped up into one day - I just love it! I know that this holiday is about so much more than gifts and I love relishing in all the non gift related festivities but I do love the gifts! This year, Christmas morning was full of such fun surprises! Here is a little look into my favorite Christmas gifts.

This is a little cube that I can plant to grow my own Christmas tree! I'm assuming it takes a couple of years to grow a Christmas tree, but maybe one day my family can decorate a tree that I grew!

Quinoa & Feta Stuffed Roma Tomatoes

I planned to make this recipe a couple of weekend and I went looking for the recipe on my blog. I was beyond shocked to discover that the recipe was no where to be found on my blog! This is one of my favorites, I can't believe it has taken me this long to post this! Let's get started!

Start by cooking 1/2 cup of quinoa in 1 cup of chicken broth or vegetable broth (I use veggie broth). Follow the directions on the package of the quinoa you are using. Once the quinoa is cooked set it aside.

Top 5: Christmas Funnies

Christmas has come and gone in a whirlwind of fun and such joy! I hope you all got to celebrate with your favorite people. I am still clutching on to the festivities that will last through this week and the rest that will come before I go back to school! I know that there is still so much fun in store for this holiday break! I have a little bit of Christmas and some delicious recipes to share with you this week, but today, I'm sharing my favorite funny pins from this Christmas!

Friday Favorites: Merry Christmas

Happy Friday! I am so excited for all of the Christmas festivities to come this weekend! Last year, I did a wrap up of all of our Christmas fun and I can't wait to share again this year! I will be sure to take lots and lots of pictures! I will be taking Monday (Christmas day) off to celebrate with my family but I will be back Tuesday.

Gingerbread Biscotti

Today is the first official day of winter. It has been quite snowy for a couple of weeks, I am so excited for all the winter activities! Especially skiing! I can't wait to go skiing! Today, I'm sharing a recipe for gingerbread biscotti! I mentioned these biscotti last week in my favorites, and said that when they were baking, it smelled like I was living in a gingerbread house! Totally strange description, I know! But believe me, once you put these in the oven, you will be thinking the exact same thing!

This recipe is from She Wears Many Hats, you can find it HERE. I stuck to the recipe pretty closely but I eliminated some of the spices. The original recipe calls for cinnamon, ginger, allspice, ground cloves and black pepper. I only used cinnamon and ginger - I wanted to keep the spices a little more simple. Let's get started...

Jammy Cocoa Christmas Party 2017

This past Saturday was my family's Jammy Cocoa Christmas Party. It was a quieter party this year, but it was still so much fun! I love gathering with my favorite people to celebrate Christmas! I blogged about our Jammy Cocoa Christmas Party last year. You can find that post HERE. We didn't do anything crazy different this year but I thought I would share it again!

For starters, we ask everyone to come in their Christmas jammies. When we hosted this party a few years ago, people were super skeptical. The kids all came in PJ's but the adults came is regular clothing. I am so proud to say that we have converted them all! Everyone comes in PJ's and I love it! We start the party every year at 6:30pm, so people eat dinner before they come then at the party we only serve dessert (hot chocolate and doughnuts). This feels like a major win in many ways - prepping a meal for a large number of people is hard and with Christmas quickly approaching, that is exactly what I wanted to avoid! Yes, making the doughnuts and hot chocolate requires time, but I think it's easier for my family to prepare than making a full meal.

Countdown to Christmas Signs

I started these signs in June. Yes, you read that right - June! I saw something similar on Pinterest and was inspired! I made 10 Christmas Countdown signs in total and I am so happy with the turn out! I have one hanging on our kitchen, but the rest are being given as Christmas gifts.

These signs were actually not that hard to make. Especially because once I did one, it was easy to do nine more! I got all of the wooden signs at the Dollar Store for $2 each and I stained them with a dark stain I had on hand.

Music for Monday: James Taylor

Happy Monday! This past weekend was full of festive Holiday fun! I got through some Christmas baking and wrapping and my family had our Jammy Cocoa Christmas Party on Saturday night! I can't wait to share some of the Christmas fun with you this week (like gingerbread biscotti!) But, today, we're talking music and I'm sharing another one of my favorite Christmas carols!

Friday Faves: 9 days until Christmas!

This week was so good - it was my first official week of Christmas break! I'm done student teaching and I've submitted all of my assignments so it is all Christmas around here! I am working on some Christmas baking for my family to gift and I need to get our Christmas cards put together! I am stalling like you couldn't believe, but I need to bite the bullet and get it done!

Picking our tree 2017

Every year, my family loads up in the car and heads off to our favorite tree farm. We try to go the first weekend of December, but the first weekend of December this year was wild. So, we went last weekend instead! The tree farm is always cold but full of Christmas magic! Here are a few pictures from our trip -

This is the house on the property of the tree farm. Every year, I look forward to seeing this house because it is so Christmas-y! There are rocking chairs on the front porch with Christmas quilts hung over them. it is all so quaint!

Peppermint Macarons

These peppermint macarons are holiday perfection and guess what!? They are easy as can be! I have always been so intimidated by macarons, but there is no need to be intimidated! This recipe is so manageable and the end result is so worth it! I know I will be making these over and over again!

I found this recipe on Savory Experiments - you can find it HERE. I was most excited to discover that these macarons are gluten free! I love discovering new gluten free treats!

Arty the Elf

Our elf on the shelf, Arty arrived on December 1st and has been up to no good ever since! Arty is a girl elf - I don't remember how she got the name Arty but the Bean used to like to refer to her as 'Arty the Party.' She totally brings our Christmas party! Here are some of the pranks our elf has been pulling this year!

I kept it simple with Arty's arrival this year. I put her in a little Christmas tin and stuck a little sign over her head that said 'Surprise! I'm Back!' Arty typically shows up with our advent calendars so I added those in even though the Bean already new about them.

Music for Monday: Love Came down at Christmas

There are 13 more days until Christmas and only 2 more Mondays until Christmas! These next two weeks are my favorite time of the whole year! I love the anticipation leading up to Christmas. Today, I'm sharing a song that I have been listening to forever! And it never gets old!

Friday Favorites: In Christmas Mode!

Happy Friday! I am officially on Christmas break and it feels fabulous! I submitted my last assignment last night and so the fun begins! I can't wait for the baking, the Christmas card labeling, the Christmas movie watching and the gift wrapping!

Frangipane Buns

This is one of my all time favorite treats - frangipane is kind of like a cinnamon bun but it has a delicious almond filling instead of cinnamon. I love having frangipane for breakfast but it also makes the most perfect afternoon snack! This recipe comes from a variety of places - I make the dough in our bread machine and use a simple white bread recipe. The frangipane filling comes from a holiday Canadian Living magazine. Here is how to make it...

Gluten Free Naan Bread

Today, I'm talking about gluten free naan bread. And I should start by saying that while this recipe worked, it was not the best. In no way was it comparable to real naan bread, but if you are gluten free this is a solid option. I took a regular naan bread recipe and subbed the regular flour for GF flour - did it work? Yes. Am I head over heels in love with this recipe? No. But it tasted good and it worked well with my favorite butter chickpeas! So, just keep all of this in mind should you choose to make this recipe!

The Goodbye Gifts

Last week, I showed you this picture and told you that I was finishing my internship by spreading delivering some fun gifts around the school! Today, I am telling you what is hidden in those fun packages!

Music for Monday: Holly Cole

I am so excited about this post because I am finally talking about Christmas music!! I have been waiting to share Christmas music with you for what feels like forever! I had the hardest time choosing which Christmas song to begin with because there are so many that I love. But I decided to start with Holly Cole! I remember listening to these Christmas songs when I was very little and I still listen to her Christmas album every year!

Friday Favorites: My Last Day

Happy Friday & Happy December! I am so excited to finally be writing December! It's December! Wahoo! That means we are even closer to Christmas! While I am excited for all of the holiday things to come I am so not excited about today! Today is my last day student teaching :( And I was already feeling it yesterday! During any quiet time yesterday, I would look around the room and do my best to soak it all in, then do my best not to cry! I am really going to miss these kids! I know there will be parts of today that are sad, but just like any day there will be parts that are oh so sweet! I'm going to bask in all of the sweetness today!

Lemon Blueberry Muffins

How is today the last day of November!? Crazy! Bring on December! This recipe is from Glorious Treats and it's actually supposed to be a loaf. I'm sure it would make the most delicious loaf but I was really wanting muffins. So, I took this loaf recipe and I turned it into muffins! And let me tell you, it makes pretty darn good muffins as well! You can find the original HERE, but here is how I did muffins...

Gluten Free Chocolate Glitter Cookies

I've shared a couple gluten free recipes within the last year, but I am not always adventurous when it comes to trying new gluten free recipes. While I am not very consistent about posting gluten free recipes, I am constantly searching for good gluten free recipes. As I was looking through some old magazines, I found a recipe for these gluten free chocolate glitter cookies in a Canadian Living magazine from 2007! In 2007, I was 11 and I was so not looking for gluten free recipes! I was so excited to find this recipe in an old magazine and even more excite to discover that these cookies are good - so good! They are more on the butter side than sweet (you can definitely taste the unsweetened chocolate) but they make the most perfect gluten free dessert!

Maple Holistics: Tea Tree Oil Shampoo

Today, I'm talking Maple Holistics. Back in October, they reached out and asked me if I would try their tea tree oil shampoo and talk about it on my blog. I said yes because I love what they stand for but also because I have been using tea tree oil in my hair often! I have been in an elementary school since August and the number of times I heard the work lice makes me want to crawl out of my skin! I had put a few drops of tea tree essential oil in my detangler, but I was really excited to have the tea tree oil infused right into my shampoo!

Music for Monday: Kelsea Ballerini (again!)

This is the last Monday of November, so this is my last time sharing a 'not holiday song' until after Christmas! I have been waiting weeks and weeks to share Christmas music with all of you, I have some great ones lined up! It will be a very festive few weeks! I thought I should go out with bang before the holidays. So I'm sharing an entire album that I cannot get enough of!

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday, everyone! The holidays are fast approaching and I am so excited! I can't wait for the full weekends that come with Christmas! I have my calendar all filled up with going to get our tree, Christmas dinners and parties and baking - lots and lots of baking!

The Children's Day Journals

Through this student teaching internship, I've realized how much I love the students' journals. I don't know if this applies to other grades but I love first grade journals! My students write in their journals about once a week and they are always their best writing samples! I get to see such wonderful glimmers of the writers they will grow into and I get to see the very best of them as little people - their heart, their imagination, their sense of humor... their journals are always the highlight of my week!

On Tuesday, I put this prompt up on the board-

Apple Hand Pies

I have not been great at getting new recipes up lately and I feel so bad! I really do try to get at least recipe up a week, but it's a struggle - my weekends are full of lesson planning and other course work. I am really hanging onto to this being my last week and a half of students teaching. Once I'm done, I will have much more time to spend in the kitchen and I am so excited to get some new recipes up!

Last weekend, I made these fabulous hand pies and today, I'm sharing the recipe with you! I'm typically pretty transparent about how difficult recipes are and I love sharing quick & easy recipes with you. This recipe, is not one of those recipes. The hand pies are not difficult to make but they are long to put together. That being said - the end product is so worth it! The little pies were so delicious and they were so impressive to serve to guests! I found this recipe on Oh Sweet Basil you can find the original recipe HERE.

Top 5: My Crazy Habits

Today, I'm sharing five of my crazy habits. Let's be real, there are probably way more than five crazy things that I do! A friend suggested a post like this after noticing some of my crazy habits and I thought it was a great idea! Here is a little bit of my crazy...

Music for Monday: Fire Away

As I sit down to write this post, all I can think is when can I share Christmas music? I've been listening to Christmas music since early November - maybe even the end of October! And I am so ready to share all of favorite with you! I think I'll wait for December before I break out the Christmas music though! For today, I'm going to talk about my favorite Chris Stapleton songs!

Friday Favorites: Short & Sweet

Yesterday, I had a 14 hour day at school (a regular teaching day + parent-teacher interviews) so I don't have much to say, other than - I am so glad it's Friday! I have a couple quick favorites for you today...

Quilting with Quiltologie Mini Mania

I've talked about sewing woes before (maybe I should not call them woes and just call them challenges). I've always loved the idea of sewing, I've just never been able to 'get it.' That is, until very recently when I picked up a little quilting kit to help me get started! When I was in the States most recently, I was at Joann's Fabrics and found a little quilting set called Quiltologie by Mini Mania.

I started working on a mini quilt and I was impressed to discover how much support Quiltologie offers. (I realize that this sounds like a brand deal, but I promise, it isn't! I just really love them that much!). The instructional manual is so easy to understand and really walks you through every step of the process. If at any point I get stuck or confused, there are YouTube videos that accompany each project that I can rely on - so helpful!

Orange & Blueberry Loaf

I'm back! I still feel a little foggy, but I think I'm on the mend! I am so excited to be sharing a delicious loaf recipe with you today. This loaf is so easy to put together but so delicious! It's the kind of thing you could whip up before some guests arrive - it comes together so quickly. The longest part is waiting for it to come out of the oven!

A Takeover by the Bean

Today, I am not blogging - I just couldn't do it! I got home from my classes yesterday and I really just wanted to lie on the floor, I felt so sick. I am so lucky that the Bean my mom and said they would write a blog for me to post. I have to say, I was thrilled until I found out what the Bean wanted to post about... SLIME! ugh! I am not a fan of slime. And by not a fan, I mean, there is pretty much nothing I dislike more, but the Bean loves it! So, I tucked myself into bed at 7:00 and my mom helped sweet Bean write a blog about slime. Enjoy...

Music for Monday: Guiding Light

Happy Monday everyone! I hate that Monday gets a bad rep! Mondays have the capacity to be good, right!? I hope that this song brings a little happy to the start of your week!

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday, everyone! I'm always tired when Friday rolls around, but I am especially tired this week because of the time change! I have never ever been affected by the time change, but this year, it got me good! I have just not been able to get used to the time difference - I'm crashing earlier than ever and waking up bright and early and exhausted. I cannot wait for my inner clock to reset and get used to this darn time change! Despite being tired and a half, there were still so many good things this week...

What if Kids Were in Charge?

At least once a week, I have my students write in their journals. Usually the journal prompt is subject matter related but because we are between terms, I gave them a fun one on Tuesday! This is what I put up on the SMARTboard...

Top 5: Quotes Edition #8

Every 2 months or so, I share five of my favorite quotes. I love scrolling through quotes on Pinterest and I love compiling my favorite here! You can follow me on Pinterest if you are interested in seeing more of my pins, but here is a quick wrap up of my favorite quotes as of lately...

Party Games: Song Synonyms

Happy Tuesday! I have to admit - I spent way too long looking at the title of this post! And I'm still not sure it's spelled right! The name song synonyms has way too much going on for me to keep up with! It is much easier to say the name of this game than it is to spell it and I promise, you will have a blast playing!!

Music for Monday: This is on me

When I find a song that I love, I typically play it over and over again (and then once more!). I wish I were kidding, but I really do play songs on repeat. Especially if they're soothing! I think I've mentioned this before - I love the lull of soothing songs. This is totally one of those songs. It's so easy to listen to and oh so soothing!

Friday Favorites: Hello November!

Happy Friday, everyone! Typically, I do a pretty go job of keeping track of my favorites during the week. I keep a little post it note in my planner and every time something great happens, I write it down. This makes writing this post on Fridays so much easier! Well guess what!? Yesterday, I checked my planner and my post-it was blank! How do the weeks go by so fast? Here are my favorite things from this week...

Another Teacher Freebie :)

Last week, I shared a worksheet that I used with my first graders during our counting on unit! This week, I'm sharing a worksheet I am using during a little story mapping unit!

Just like the last worksheet that I made, I looked everywhere for a resource that I could use. By everywhere, I mean Teacher Pay Teacher and Pinterest :). I found so many great resources, but I wanted to combine some of the ideas that I saw. So, I made my own! In case you are in a similar situation as I was - here is what I ended up making:

Baking Powder Biscuits

I shared a recipe for biscuits last year (HERE), and I am still a big fan of that recipe but I was looking to make a few changes - 1. I wanted fluffier biscuits in the end and 2. I did not want to use vegetable shortening! I really (really) dislike using vegetable shortening. In fact, this summer, I wrote a post dedicated to things I hate about being in the kitchen (HERE) and at the very top of that list is dealing with vegetable shortening!

Halloween Craft

I did this fun little craft with my first graders on Friday to get our classroom Halloween ready and it worked out so well! There is not much going on in a grade one classroom on Friday afternoons. My kiddos are exhausted from the week, so I typically organize a little craft or game (preferably educationally oriented) for Friday afternoons. This past Friday, the anticipation for Halloween was high and my class was rowdy! It was a loud and busy day but as soon as they got going on this craft, I put some Halloween music on and they were quiet as can be! Here is what we did...

Music for Monday: We Found Love

Happy Monday! It is starting to get chilly around here and I am loving every minute of this Fall weather! As of today, I only have one month left of student teaching. And while I am so looking forward to having a little bit of free time I am also really dreading leaving my students! I am definitely going to soak up every little bit of teaching in the next month!

Friday Favorites: these are a few of my favorite things :)

The weeks are just flying by. It feels like I just sat down to write last week's Friday Favorites! While time is flying, the days are busy and long! I know I've already mentioned how difficult teaching is, but I have serious respect for teachers! Teaching is no joke! It is so enjoyable but it is exhausting! I have five weeks left of my internship, I know the weeks will continue to fly by at lightning speed and before I know it, it will be Christmas!

A Teaching Freebie :)

More teacher talk, today! On Tuesday, my cooperating teacher and I were browsing through Teacher Pay Teacher (because neither of us can get enough!) looking for 'counting on resources'. We found some great teaching tools, but there were very few application/reinforcement worksheets - ugh! So we discussed what we needed our students to do and I offered to make a little worksheet! I have had so much fun downloading new fonts and I was so excited to put them to use!

Connected in the Classroom: Apples, Apples, Apples!

Yesterday, I talked about Spatial Relationships in the first grade and today I'm talking about apples! This lesson started as a poem - my cooperating teacher showed me a poem and then all of a sudden we had such a fun lesson about adjectives and graphing!

My focus during this lesson was on the adjectives used in the poem and in the song. And eventually on the adjectives they would come up with on their own. But you could adjust these objectives to fit your students - you could focus more on math than the language arts. There is just so much you could do!

Connected in the Classroom: Spatial Relationships Lesson

This week is all about teaching resources. I have two fun lessons to share with you this week - today, I'm talking about positional relationships and tomorrow, I'll be talking about a fun apple lesson! On Thursday, I have a worksheet to share with you! I'm teaching grade one, so all of these resources are catered to a grade one audience, but I'm sure you could make some little tweaks to change the grade level a little! :)

Also, I should note that this lesson aligns with education standards that are specific to the area of my teaching. If you are teaching elsewhere, you might need to make changes to better align the sontent with your curriculum.

Let's start with the objectives for this lesson. Here is what my students were expected to accomplish by the end of this lesson:
- Students will be able to understand and use positional words appropriately, in various contexts.
- Students will complete the individual cut and paste activity.

Music for Monday: Collide

Growing up, I was a huge Hilary Duff fan and I would be lying if I said I didn't still love her! I don't listen to her music as often as I used to, but I will always love it because it's so familiar to me. I didn't only listen to Hilary Duff music - no! I did it all! I watched her movies, I listened to her music, I watched her Disney Channel show, I even wore clothes from her clothing line! I was Hilary Duff crazy!

Friday Favorites: is it Christmas yet?

This Friday could not come soon enough! I need a little weekend in my life! I only have six weeks left of my teaching internship - how is that possible? It is going by so fast! As much as I am exhausted, I will be so sad to leave my kiddos!

Pumpkin Spice Snickerdoodles

I know I've been a little Pumpkin Spice crazy lately, but 'tis the season, right? I promise I'll lay off the pumpkin spice once Christmas rolls around, but until then it's all pumpkin spice, all the time! I made these pumpkin spice snickerdoodles, thinking they would be good but they were way more than just good! They were so light and fluffy with such a perfect subtle pumpkin spice flavor! I delivered these to a few different people and I got rave reviews all around! Two or three people told me that they don't like pumpkin spice but they loved these cookies!

Sewing Tips?

Yesterday, I talked about sewing eye pillows & today, I'm asking (or maybe begging? 😉) for some sewing help! I am pretty decent crafter, but I just have never been able to get the hang of sewing! I have way more busts than I do successes. But I would like to tip this ratio towards more successes with your help!

DIY Eye Pillows

I mentioned these eye pillows on Friday. Today, I'm sharing the step by step process that went into make these eye pillow. Before we start, I should mention - this is a super easy sewing project! I mean, we are just sewing 2 rectangles together then turning them right side out. I am definitely not a sewer extraordinaire and I am open to any tip you have to share with me!

Music for Monday: Ed Sheeran Covers

I've professed my love for Ed Sheeran before but I particularly love his covers of other artist's songs! I love when he takes a well known song and adds a little Ed Sheeran charm to it!

Friday Favorites: halfway through October

Happy Friday! I can hardly believe how quickly we are cruising through the Fall! My family is starting to talk about Christmas cards, Christmas parties and family photo sessions! It is crazy to think that all of this will be happening in just a little over 2 months!

A Trader Joe's Haul

Haul posts are so outside of my wheelhouse, but I'm going to try today! I will not promise to be any good at this - I am so not a Trader Joe's guru! I'm just going to share what I love to get at Trader Joe's!

I should also preface this post by saying - I know that we bought a ton of cookies and we went a little overboard with pumpkin spice everything! While it is fun to go a little wild sometimes, we do not do this with our weekly groceries! This grocery trip is really just a fun 'in moderation' kind of thing!

Weekend Recap

This weekend, my family went to Vermont to enjoy a little down time, a little shopping and some delicious food! Here is a little look into our weekend!