In school, my second year of teaching is in full swing. I have a wonderful group of firsties who just LOVE to chat. They are good kids though and I strive to make learning fun for them. They are really into "brain breaks" and I often use them as class rewards to get their wiggles out. I created a pin board on Pinterest with lots of fun dances and songs they love. I will admit, even I need a brain break to get through the day. Click here to go to my pin board for fun brain breaks.
I am also excited because my very first Donors Choose project got funded right around the holidays. I really wanted more leveled guided reading books for the students. It really amazes me how generous people can be. Especially random people you may not even know and are willing to donate to support education. I do not know how to thank them enough. After we send our thank you packages out, I plan to organize another classroom project. You can view my Donors Choose page HERE.
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| Our brand new books we received through Donors Choose. |
At home my husband and I are finally in our new townhouse and loving it! We, or should I say my husband, did a lot of work to fix it up to where it is today. One of my favorite projects we worked on, was again, influenced by a find on Pinterest. I wanted a bench that we could also use as storage below and found this idea. We got a bookshelf from Ikea and got to work.
Another project we worked on was fixing up the small pantry in our kitchen. Half of it has the stacking washer and dryer and the other half is for storage. After we got a new washer and dryer, we had to get creative with the doors since louver doors were unable to work with the way our washer opened. Here are some before pics:
So we decided to do one sliding door to keep the washer and dryer enclosed and have the pantry exposed. After my husband removed the old shelving from 1980 something he painted it a light shade of mint I picked out (gotta love him for letting me choose the color and him doing the work). We were originally going to put new, nicer looking shelves and call it a day, but as a homeowner you should be aware that things are not easy. The walls were not even for simple shelves and was becoming a pain to work with. We thought about finding some shelving unit instead. Who knew if we would be able to find something that would even fit. Back to Ikea we went and we actually found something that fit! I wish I had video of us installing this thing in that small space. But here is our final result:
Last, as you may or may not know, I do love to bake. I used to be an avid cake maker. I still like it, but prefer to do it on special occasions for family and friends. Here is a cake I worked on this past weekend for my good friends Svet and Eran. It was their son's 1st birthday.
Caking is my artistic/creative outlet. It is A LOT of hard work and dry hands, but worth it in the end. Hope ya had a great 1st birthday Gefen!
And I guess that sums is up for now. I just found out we have a two hour delay tomorrow and gotta get back in school mode. Yay for a two day work week! Haha... ~Cara Lee
