Happy Mother's Day!

Each year, I try to think of something different and special for the Mothers in my life. This year I went with the outdoors to create these cute arrangements: For my Mother-in-law, I found the cutest watermelon "welcome" container and filled it with outdoor decorative supplies such as: a pitcher, plastic cups, egg tray, spreaders, dip bowl with spoon, plates, napkins-all with a watermelon theme! For my Mom, I went with more of a flower theme. Their backyard furniture decor is brown and orange, so she got this cute orange container filled with a salad bowl, a large spoon and fork, cups, plates, napkins, candle votives, etc. Last but not least, our mothers always receive some type of floral arrangement on their special day. This year I even had time to make them both peach pies. They are both very deserving and worth so much more! Hope all of you had an enjoyable Mother's Day weekend!

What's For Dinner? Chicken Enchiladas!

Wow! I am loving every minute of a much needed Spring Break! The weather is a little drizzly today-perfect for staying indoors, cleaning, and making a yummy dinner! So, there are many recipes out there for Chicken Enchiladas, but this is my favorite. This colorful dish is a nice change from beef enchiladas! You will need: 5-10 flour tortillas (8 inches), 1 can (10 3/4 ounces) cream of chicken soup,1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream, 3-4 cups of cubed cooked chicken, 3 cups (12 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese, 1 can (15 ounces) enchilada sauce, 1/4 cup green onions, 1/4 cup sliced ripe olives, shredded lettuce optional (I highly recommend adding this!) First, combine the sour cream and cream of chicken soup in a bowl. Mix well. Spread over one side of tortillas as shown below. Next, sprinkle with chicken pieces and lil bit of cheddar cheese. Roll up tortillas and put in greased pan with seam side down. Then, pour enchilada sauce over the tortillas. Sprinkle with remaining cheese, olives, and green onions. Finally, bake in a 350 degree oven for 35-40 minutes. Sprinkle lettuce around enchiladas just before serving. Grab some nachos and salsa and call it a meal! Enjoy!

Scrapbook Room Spring Cleaning

Spring Break is finally here! I started Spring Cleaning a couple of weeks ago in my Scrapbook Room. These white cubes are so flexible! I decided to add another row of the cubes on the back wall to free up the wall behind my table work area. What a difference it made! The top shelf showcases some of the chipboard and paper bag mini albums that I have created. How cute is the glass dome showcasing one of the pocket baby albums! That's all for now...more Spring Cleaning to do!

Fact and Opinion Journal Jot

NEW! Fact and Opinion Journal Jot on Teachers Pay Teachers! We are just finishing our ELA Unit 5: American Contributions activities which are part of the Common Core Standards. Our students studied Famous Americans such as: George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, The Wright Brothers, Amelia Earhart, Neil Armstrong, and Sally Ride to name a few. With this Journal Jot, the students participate in activities where they must write facts about these people. Moreover, students must also state their opinions on given topics, supply reasons to support their opinions, and add closure to end their opinion writing. Here are some pictures of activities on display! Students had to choose a Famous American and complete a quilt square for "Our Famous American Quilt." We lined the wall with a "Future Presidents" display! What fun! Look at some of the writing taking place! Here is an example of an opinion booklet with the topic, "Would you rather live in a log cabin or live in a mansion? First Grade is so much fun! ~Teacher Tava

Date Night Jar

Ever need some assistance in deciding what to do for a date night? Well, this is such a cute and easy idea! The Date Night Jar! I went to Hobby Lobby and purchased a glass jar, adhesive "R" letter, paints, foam brush, and wooden sticks. I chose to color the sticks to match the color scheme in our bedroom: blue, green, brown, and orange. I painted nine sticks of each color. I added a metal scrapbooking embellishment ring, "love," and decorative ribbons. I wrote ideas for different types of date nights on the sticks: Brown: Vacation ideas that need time for planning; I thought it might be fun to draw one of these brown sticks out on New Year's Day and plan this main vacation for the year. Orange: Some expense required for date Green: Minimal expense needed for date Blue: No money required for date This would be a fun gift for a new bride or Mom-to-be, too! The best part is that you and your significant other can write the dates that interest you! Date night will never be a dilemma again! What are some of your favorite date night places to go/ things to do?

Mom's 60th St. Patrick's Day Birthday!

My mom was born on this special day, and she is by far the luckiest person I know! We took her out for an afternoon movie to see "The Great and Powerful Oz." We ordered food in, had cake, and shamrock shakes! She said "60" isn't so bad after all. Here are pictures of the place settings/ table decor-all for Mom which I bought for her! This dish set is so cute and looks great with gold and green linens. I found gold napkin rings, which I wrapped with ribbons, bottle cap scrapbook embellishments, and St. Patrick's Day stickers. Of course the Birthday Girl gets a special place setting, with dinner gift box to open. Then onto the cake. I am not an expert at cakes, but am slowly teaching myself. I used two boxes of white cake and 1 box of yellow cake to make 6 cakes, each layer colored. Baked the cakes, stacked them in rainbow order (I combined the Indigo and purple to only have 6 layers-easier for me :) I dirty-iced the layers with homeade buttercream frosting. Next, I covered the cake in green fondant. I then used the leftover fondant pieces to cut out shamrock shapes, and used the remainder of the buttercream frosting to add other details to the cake. It was very delicious! Of course, the inside when cut is the real surprise! How pretty! Hope you had an enjoyable St. Patrick's Day 2013, too!

TPT SALE!