Manic Monday!

Have I had that title before?  I feel like I have........?

Either way, today is definitely a manic Monday!  At school I have totally new groups again.  I feel bad for the kiddos because we just changed groups 2 weeks ago!  However, after a meeting with the 3rd grade team, we re-grouped and I got 4 new kids.  My new kids won't start for a few days (paperwork needs to be processed) but it should be fun!  I think I have everything organized for the week, which feels nice.  Once those new students come I have a lot of work to do getting all of their necessary things together ........reading long, writing book, folder, etc.  Hopefully that doesn't take too long since I only have 4 newbies!

I'm home now for lunch and then I'm off to my new job.  Yes, I'm crazy and got another job.  I should have taken advantage of working PT this year and enjoyed some "me time".  I sub now and then but it's nice to have flexible afternoons.....or should I say it was nice!  Today I'm starting work at my uncle's real estate company.  It's a super small office and they needed some extra help so I agreed to help the fam.  I'll be making good $ and only working 10 hours a week......not too shabby.  I'm looking forward to having some extra $ for Christmas shopping!

Speaking of shopping, did anyone brave the Black Friday crowds?!  I was planning on going but I overslept...boo!  I went around 9:30a instead and it was great!  Not too crowded and still a ton of great deals.  I got a lot at Bath & Body Works...some for me, some for gifts. :)  I also got a few gifts at Target.  Bed Bath & Beyond didn't have good deals at all!  Nothing was on sale, they just handed me a coupon...lame!  Kohls seemed to have great deals but the line was literally wrapped around the store.  No thanks!

I had a busy Thanksgiving weekend....I'll post more about that later.  Now it's time for lunch then work!

Happy (almost) Thanksgiving!

Today is our first Thanksgiving of this week.  Last week we went to the nursing home to have Thanksgiving with Nick's grandparents.  I was pleasantly surprised with how it turned out.  The nursing home had white tablecloths, lit candles, artificial flowers, wine, etc.  They even printed little menu cards so everyone could make their choices.  It was cute and I enjoyed spending time with the family.  They made a depressing place a little less depressing for a day.

Today we have Thanksgiving at my mom's and Nick's mom is coming as well.  I need to get to work on cooking/baking.  I'm making one side and one dessert...pretty simple hopefully!  I'm doing a broccoli cheese rice casserole for my side.  It's Nick's grandma's recipe. :)  For the dessert I'm doing S'mores bars again.  When I asked opinions on a few options, everyone voted on the S'mores bars!  Tomorrow we have 3 Thanksgivings.  Yes, THREE.  Stop 1: father-in-laws (Nick's grandpa will also be there).  Stop 2: My dad's where I will see my grandma and a few aunts/uncles.  Stop 3: Nick's uncle's where we will see my mother-in-law again.  I'm going to be exhausted but it will be nice to visit with family.  Oh, did I mention we have another gathering Friday?!  So much for time "off", haha!  I'm looking forward to visiting but not traveling all around Columbus.  Saturday we're going to the OSU/Michigan game!  I can't wait :)  I hope the temperature isn't sub-zero....

Speaking of Thanksgiving.  I am thankful for so many things.  I'm thankful for my wonderful husband.  I don't know where I'd be without him. <3  I'm thankful for my family..especially those I'm closest with.  I'm thankful for my doggies....they bring me happiness every day!  I'm thankful for our house which we have made into a home together.  I'm thankful for all of my friends.  I'm thankful to have a job that I absolutely love.  My job is so rewarding.  I'm thankful for so much more but I need to start cooking/baking/cleaning....not enough time to blog today :)

Slacker!

I haven't posted in 10 days.  I'm sorry!  I feel like every post must include pictures so if I sit down to post and I don't have any new pictures, I feel bad.  With that in mind, prepare yourself for a few pictures in this post! :)

I've been trying to bake different things that I've found on various food blogs.  My favorite is definitely The Girl Who Ate Everything.  I recently last posted about some "Buckeye"/Reese Bars that I made.  They turned out delicious!  My hubby is obsessed.  here is a picture of a cut bar.  (I'm still working on making my layers neat...it's hard!)

Today I made S'mores Bars.  I haven't tried them yet but they smell amazing!  They weren't too difficult to make but again - I need to work on my layering skills!  Step 1: one layer of homemade graham cracker cookies.  Step 2: one layer of HUGE Hershey bars!

Step 3: one layer of marshmallow "fluff" (this is hard to work with...SO sticky). 

Step 4: one more layer of homemade graham cracker cookies.  For this step, I decided to put the cookie dough on wax paper and then transfer it onto the fluff layer.  Otherwise it would have been a sticky mess!

Finished product:

 

As for school, last week was conference week and progress report week.  Let's just say I'm glad the week is over!  It feels great to have my report cards done.  Conferences went well but a lot of parents didn't choose to conference or didn't show up...what a bummer!  I finally got student pictures on their writing books - they LOVE it!

Every week we read a different read aloud and focus on a comprehension skill.  We read the same author for four weeks and compare his/her stories and discuss the author's writing style.  After the students hear the story, they vote on whether or not they would recommend that book to a friend.  After all of the students have voted, we graph our results and post them in the hallway.  Here are a couple pictures of our Reader Ratings voting bulletin board and the results in the hallway.

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend! 

I win, I win!

I'm not the best blogger so I don't even know if I'm doing this right BUT...my great friend Lindsey from  Waiting for our Miracle  gave me a blog award.  :)  Check out her blog!  I don't really know the point of this award BUT I'm hoping it can get me some more followers?  I follow some blogs but rarely remember to comment so this will let you know that I'm reading religiously :)  FOLLOW ME so I know I'm not a dork ;)

 
For the "Cherry On Top" Award:
1. Link to the person who gave it to you!
2. Pass it on to 5 more people!
3. Leave a comment on their blog telling them about it!


The 5 bloggers that I would like to give this award to are:
1. The Girl Who Ate Everything - I find the best recipes here!  They are always so easy and delicious :)  Not to mention her blog is fun to read!
2. Blushing Basics - I check this blog just about every day and I'm honestly sad when there isn't a new post!  She gives great make-up and fashion advice....even for make-up beginners!
3. Mrs. Wheeler's Tidbits - I'm obsessed with education/teacher blogs and this one is great!  She has tons of good ideas for your primary classroom!
4. First Grader...At Last! - This is another teacher blog!  I love how she posts student work samples and lots of pictures!
5. Dominoes, Diphthongs and Dinosaurs - This is a great place to find literacy ideas!  Of course I love it since I teach reading.  She also includes a lot of good read aloud ideas.

Picture Crazy!

Once again, I'm an awful blogger!  I need to work on posting more.  Either way...this post may be a bit picture crazy but posts with pictures are fun to read, right?!

First I will talk about school since my blog is callled 'Playground Duty' and I rarely end up talking about school!  I made the kiddos little goodie bags for Halloween.  Each bag had a Halloween pencil, eraser, bookmark and candy.  They were SO excited...it's the little stuff :)

I had my evaluation a few weeks ago and it went great!  I was a little nervous since this was my first time being evaluated by this principal.  I got excellent feedback and my kids were little angels during the observation. :)  I made a few changes in my room....added some crates and storage, added a "consonant chunk corner", and a few other small things.  I also have started putting up student work in the hall.  They are so excited to see their work with their photo on it.  Here are some recent pics of my home away from home:

Now for my latest culinary adventures.  I'm trying to learn to become more domestic.  If you know me, you would laugh because you know I am completely UNdomestic!  However, I think I'm becoming quite the baker!  Cooking is another story though.  Last week I made my first ever batch of no-bake cookies.  With all of the cookies I've ever made, I have no idea how I've never made these!  Yum.  They were delicious.

This week I was still on the chocolate/PB kick so I made "Buckeye" Bars aka Reese's Bars.  They are chilling in the fridge right now so I'll have to let you know how they taste later.  For this recipe, I needed a double broiler which I do not have.  After a quick google search (did I mention Google is my BFF?), I found a method to create a make-shift double broiler!  Here are some pics from the Buckeye Bar project:

And lastly, I made some homemade pizza rolls.  Anyone who knows me and my husband knows we LOVE pizza!  These pizza rolls were fairly easy to make (besides the rolling and cutting) and they tasted like heaven!  I need to work on my presentation but like I said....they tasted amazing!

P.S. I have to give credit to this amazing blog where I find a ton of my recipes.  Her blog is fun to read and has a variety of yummy recipes!  If I can make them, anyone can!  Check her out!  http://thegirlwhoateeverything.blogspot.com/