I Am Thankful

A book made my Sophie at school

I am thankful for thanksgiving, by Sophie

I am thankful for many things. Swings.

I am thankful for the chips that I eat.

I am thankful for the dress that I wear.

I am thankful for the house that I live in.

I am thankful for the Hannah that I play with.

I am thankful for the Mommy that I love.

I am thankful for the birds that I see outside.

I am thankful for cats.

Decorating for Christmas (and other random weekend activities)

Today we did this:

Yes, I know it's not Thanksgiving yet, but I was ready.  Yesterday the girls spent the day at the cabin with Grandma and Grandpa.  While they were gone Charles got out the tree and the decorations.  When Hannah returned home last evening and saw the decorations, she said, "Oh no, you're not one of those people who decorates for Christmas before Thanksgiving, are you??"

We did the decorating today, and as you can see, she was quite happily engaged in the process despite her initial skepticism.  On Thursday we've having the Hendricks side of the family to our house for Thanksgiving dinner, so it will be nice to enjoy our Christmas decorations with them while they're here.

While we were decorating and listening to Christmas music, I developed a strong urge for some cookies.  Charles suggested Monster Cookies, which sounded good to me.

I ate so many of these while they were warm out of the oven that they became my dinner.  Healthy, yes?

Other random photos from the weekend:

My frosty early morning run on Saturday

My first sourdough loaves, delicious!

Attempting to trace patterns for a sewing project

Bolivian cheese pastry for International Lunch at EMES on Tuesday.  Quite tasty!

Finished tree lit up at night

Book Club with Apple Cake

For the last several years now, I've been involved in a book club that meets once a month.  A group of colleagues and I read an education-related book each semester and take turns meeting at each others' houses for dinner and discussion.  It's a wonderful time to connect outside the school day and grow ourselves professionally as well.

Last weekend I hosted.  I served a simple meal of sandwiches and salad, though I had made the sandwich buns from scratch the day before, which was fun to do.  Here's the table waiting for its inhabitants:

I was most excited about dessert though.  I had found a recipe for an apple cake online, only to realize that it actually comes from Simply in Season.  I waited all week long to make this delicious-sounding cake with lots of fresh apple chunks and a caramel glaze drizzled over the top.

Doesn't it look delicious?  It tasted great too.  I also made homemade vanilla ice cream.  The ice cream with the warm cake a cup of fresh decaf coffee was a fantastic combination.  I'll be making this cake again sooner rather than later, probably for my neighbor group this coming week.

Social Studies Conference

I spent the past few days in Williamsburg for the state social studies conference for K-12 educators.  Three colleagues and I attended together and found it to be informative AND a fun time away together.  I chose to attend sessions that focused on assessment, teaching methods that include differentiation strategies, and ways to incorporate the use of technology into the classroom.  I'll need to find time to process the vast amounts of information that came my way during those sessions.

Friday evening we went out to eat at a Thai restaurant near the hotel and conference center.  I chose to have one of their specials for the evening, red curry with pumpkin.  Sounded good to me!  Here's what I got:

An actual pumpkin!

Photo by Susan M.

I was able to eat only about half of this, as we had enjoyed a few appetizers before the huge pumpkin arrived.  It was good though!

But even better was this:

Photo from http://www.berrybody.com/

We wanted some ice cream or frozen yogurt after our Thai dinner, so we drove into downtown Williamsburg and happened upon this locally owned yogurt shop.  The yogurt was delicious, and the owner is passionate about what she does.  I had blackberry yogurt swirled with original tart flavor, topped with strawberries, pineapple, and pomegranate seeds that were extracted from the pomegranate on site.  Delicious, stupendous, out-of-this-world yogurt!  Go there if you're ever in Williamsburg or nearby.

Fall Cleanup

While Mom was out of town we worked hard to cleanup the leaves in the yard.

Sometimes you need to make up a song to stay motivated!

Halloween 2012

For the past number of years, our little town of Broadway has had trick or treating on Main Street on Halloween.  This year they postponed the event until the Monday after Halloween, supposedly because of Hurricane Sandy.  Since today was perfectly clear (though quite cool), I'm not quite sure I understand this decision.  I know we won't be venturing back out on Monday, so I wonder how many folks feel the same way we do.

So, we did trick or treating the old fashioned way this year.

Super Girl and her trusty sidekick Betsy Ross

We first walked up to Grandma's house, where we found this:

A crazy witch that kept cackling really loudly, which made Hannah cover her ears in fear.  The witch then accompanied us to neighbor Donna's house and then around her neighborhood.  Quite a few people were out and about trick or treating, which was nice to see since we didn't have many kids come to our house last year.

Since it was chilly, we only stayed out for less than an hour, seeing neighbors and friends and hearing Grandma cackle every so often.  When we returned home the girls checked out their loot and enjoyed a few treats before heading to bed.

A good Halloween all around!

Witches Hat Cupcakes

Tuesday the girls and I were off school for a second day because of Hurricane Sandy.  We could have been in school since the weather wasn't too bad, but it was very nice to be home and have some down time.  We decided to do this in anticipation of Halloween the next day:

Aren't they cute? (the cupcakes and the girls)

First the girls looked through some of my cookbooks to decide what they wanted to make.

So many choices!

They couldn't decide on just one idea but had it narrowed down to either witches hat cookies or frog cupcakes.  We wanted something Halloween-y, so we merged the two recipes to create... witches hat cupcakes!

Mmmm, cake batter.

Sophie piping the ribbon around the witches hat (Hershey's kiss)

The finished product

Enjoying the fruits of their labors ...

One ate her hat first ...

... and one saved the hat for last.