Literacy Coach...

....yes, that's me.

Starting the end of this month, I will be back in a school district as a 3rd & 4th grade literacy coach. I am really excited about the opportunity. ALL of my teaching experience is in 3rd grade and although I've had my masters degree in reading for 7(!) years, I've not used it yet. I feel like this job is the PERFECT fit.

I will be teaching 2 skills groups 2 hours/day and then the rest of my time will be spent supporting the classroom teachers either through co-teaching, modeling, or professional development. My principal seems like a wonderful person to work alongside and the teachers I met in the interview immediately made me feel comfortable.

Remember this post?

Yeah.....well, God was [IS] in control and had something better planned for me all along.

Let's see.....

this job.....is only 20 minutes away from home.
.....gave me credit for my 9 years of teaching experience
.....allows me to use my degree without the stress of having
my own classroom [no report cards, no grading papers]
.....is a $14,000 raise from the last time I was teaching ~ 4 years ago!!
.....allows me to be home when my own kids are home
.....was offered to me after only 1 (!) interview

I DO have mixed emotions about being away from my boys every day. It will be a huge adjustment for all of us. But, at the same time, I think we'll spend the time we have together much more wisely. I feel that God has blessed me with this opportunity and things will work out for the best. Thank you for your prayers and well-wishes!

Pedal to the Metal

I guess this is what happens when you're child #3....



The other two boys were not proficient pedalers until they were 3 years old.

Nathan, you can never say you weren't ahead of your brothers.

Gotta love the matching Lightning McQueen helmet and [backwards] shoes! :)

M.I.A.

Our lives [well, o.k.....maybe just mine] have been a little crazy these last few weeks. I have missed blogging, but haven't had the time or energy to sit and type anything.

SO, I've compiled a list of "Life By the Numbers" as a brief recap of what's been keeping me away these last 3 weeks...

0 = number of blog entries :(
18 = hours I spent in an "Early Literacy for Struggling Readers" class
3 = attempts we made to take the kids to Knoebel's Amusement Park for the day
11 = the number of times I ate out [kind of tired of pizza....]
5 = mornings spent at Vacation Bible School
25 = family members who came to celebrate Ryan's birthday
3 = friends who came to scrapbook for the day
9.5 = hours spent scrapbooking with said friends
28 = words in the first Bible verse Ryan memorized [Philippians 2:10-11]
2 = days spent at the beach [one as a family and one by myself ~ thank you, Mark]
4 = interviewers at my most recent job interview
24 = hours between interview and job offer! :) :) :)
23 = days left before school starts
57 = miles of gas left in Saab until empty [not so much!]
1 = angry phone call to Mark to tell him there's something wrong with the car
1 = embarassed phone call to Mark to admit I did, in fact, run out of gas
3 = dollars spent by car salesmen for gas to help me get to a gas station [thank you Family Jeep dealer! :)]
6 = average number of hours of sleep I've been getting every night
7 = hours I'll never recover watching the "most dramatic" Bachelorette season EVER!

I hope to "catch-up" with you soon :)

Busy, Busy

Here's a photo recap of our adventures this week...I'll post about them all soon...

Tandy Cake Recipe

If you're from the Philadelphia area, you know Tastykakes

{and their little jingle....Nobody bakes a cake as tasty as a Tastykake...}

They make the best cupcakes:

Butterscotch Krimpets,

Chocolate Cupkakes,

& my favorite, Tandy Kakes: a chocolate & peanut butter covered cake

~ YUM!

I've had this recipe for a long time. My friend, Maureen's mom

gave it to me years ago and I only recently made it for the

first time. These taste exactly like the Tastykake brand

Tandy Kakes ~ hence the name.

Evan, Ryan, and I made them again today for a barbecue we're
going to later this afternoon. I think they'll be a hit!

Here's the recipe:

4 eggs

2 cups sugar

2 cups flour

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup milk

1 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp oil

pinch of salt

1 sm. jar of creamy peanut butter, approx. 2 cups

2 cups Hershey's chocolate chips

1. Beat eggs until lemon in color
2. Combine all ingredients, except peanut butter and chocolate; beat well
3. Grease & flour jellyroll pan
4. Pour batter into pan & bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes
5. While still warm, spread peanut butter on cake
6. Refrigerate about 45 minutes
7. Melt chocolate chips and spread on top of peanut butter
8. Return to refrigerator to set chocolate
9. Cut into squares and enjoy :)
   

* Must be stored in refrigerator *

Toothless Wonder

Evan lost his second tooth in as many weeks on Monday.

Now he can stick his tongue out through the gaping hole in his mouth.

Rock on!

Thursday Tidbits

Hurry...GO NOW.....hop on over to the Cosmo Cricket blog and leave some love. For every comment we make, they'll donate $1 to a local food bank up to $1000! Aren't they generous? While you're at it, I challenge you to gather some non-perishables and donate them to your local food bank. Just be sure to come back here :)

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So, what were you doing on 07 ~ 08 ~ 09 at 10:11:12? I completely forgot to take my photo in the AM and the PM. [Yeah, that's how my brain works....] Couldn't recreate my AM since I took the kids out to Lititz today ~ more on that below.

Then, just as I was ready to fall asleep {at 12:22 AM, mind you}, I remembered that I didn't take my picture. SO, I got up out of bed, went downstairs to find my camera, and "recreated" what I was doing on 7 - 8 - 9 at 10:11:12...

I was scrapbooking and watching tv.

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I've been scrapbooking every night lately. Don't know why. I guess I'm in a creative spurt. :) Here's the page I created last night. I love the clear acrylic letters and buttons, although they're hard to see in my photo. I made the circle tag using a tag from a Life is Good t-shirt and a My Mind's Eye Penny Lane Collection die-cut.

Supplies: solid cardstock, We R Memory Keepers; diecut cardstock, Crate Paper; bingo card & other patterned paper, Jenni Bowlin Studio; acrylic letters, Joann; diecut, MME; buttons, string,other.

And one from the night before:

I got this sketch somewhere [really need to start writing down where I'm picking up these sketches...] and I LOVE the way this turned out. I stitched across the CC Girl Friday paper in the background.

Supplies: blue cardstock, Wasau Paper; lined patterned paper, oh boy, happy day, & number diecuts, Cosmo Cricket; orange & red patterned paper & circle diecut, MME; foam letters, American Crafts.

And the one from the night before that:

This layout was inspired by a sketch over on the write.click.scrapbook. site. I've found that I love using sketches ~ I don't always stick with them completely, but they give me a great jumping off point. Don't you just love this flower embellishment? Thank you, Chrispea! :)

supplies: paisley paper, MME; green dots, We R Memory Keepers; brown flowers, Scenic Route;

daisy embellishment, Creative Charms; blue paper, other.

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Finally, my sister, Megan, and I took the kids on a field trip yesterday to Lititz. We visited Julius Sturgis pretzels, where we took the 1/2 hour tour and the kids got to twist their own pretzels. This was great ~ the kids really enjoyed "making pretzels." Then we went over to the Wilbur Chocolate Company Museum. I do not recommend taking six kids ages 6 and under into what really amounts to a glorified candy store. I had to buy two extra overpriced lollipops because my boys kept dropping them on the hardwood floor and breaking them.


Overall, it was a good trip. It was kind of a trip down memory lane for Megan and me ~ we both remember our parents taking us out there when we were kids.