People Pleasing and Breakfast Pizza

2014 has become the year of self awareness in my world. 2013 was full of so many amazing, wonderful, incredible events (became a Mrs., bought a house, went on a honeymoon, etc.) but somehow, amongst all the wonderful, I lost myself. In a time when I should have been focusing on myself, I poured myself into making everyone else happy. It just seemed easier to agree than to fight for what I wanted. All of this people pleasing caught up to me late in the year, so when it came time to make resolutions, I knew exactly what needed to be done.

2014 would be the year of self awareness! I love making other people happy, so I will always have a people pleasing side, but I also vowed to remember that my feelings and opinions were important too. 

Steps I've taken for me:

1. Join a workout group: I needed to make some friends in our new town, and this has been a perfect plan.
2. Remember that asking for help around the house is ok: Adam isn't going to love me less if the laundry doesn't get done. We are a team, and he is more than willing to help me out! 
3. Go to Des Moines/Iowa City/Chariton to hang out with my old friends when the opportunity arises. 
4. Be creative in the kitchen.
5. Attend church regularly: For the first five years of my adult life, church was my job! I worked at a Catholic school and loved teaching about God. When we moved, I got lazy and cut out organized religion completely.

The last one has been huge for me. When I ignored my faith, I didn't feel as strong and independent. But now that I'm back on track, I love starting my week at mass. It gets my head and heart ready to tackle whatever the week throws at me. 

Alright, now that I've been emotionally reflective and sappy, it is time to get to the meat of things...literally! For Adam, the best part of my new found church going ways has been the resulting Sunday brunch each week! 

This week was breakfast pizza, and it will be a repeat for sure! The gooey cheese, the crispy bacon...the easy prep! Oh breakfast pizza heaven, here I come!

I really need to invest in a good camera, but I'll have to save up for that! 

I had attempted breakfast pizza in the past, but had never quite understood how Casey's Pizza was so much better! This time I decided not to pre-bake my crust or eggs, and it made a world of difference! The eggy mixture ended up making a slight mess due to the holes in my crust, but a cleverly placed cookie sheet took care of that problem. Plus, any amount of mess would have been fine by me once I bit into this Sunday brunch delight. 

Heavenly Breakfast Pizza

• Pillsbury Classic Pizza Crust
• 3/4 c shredded mozzarella cheese
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 c milk
• shredded cheddar cheese
• 8 precooked bacon strips, chopped 

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. 
2. Spread pizza crust on a pan. Make sure there are no holes in the dough! It also helps if you keep a lip around the edge to catch your eggy mixture. 
3. Evenly sprinkle mozzarella cheese on the crust. 
4. Whisk eggs and milk together in a small bowl. Pour over mozzarella covered crust. 
5. Sprinkle half of the bacon on the egg. Cover evenly with cheddar cheese. Top off with the remainder of the bacon. 
6. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the egg is firm and crust is slightly browned. 
7. Take a bite and pat yourself on the back for being such an awesome cook :-)

What are some of your favorite quick and delicious brunch recipes? 

Sisters Plus 1

During Ashlynn's birthday last weekend, her sisters decided we should all find a time to get pedicures together. Ash and I thought it was a great idea, but coordinating a college student, a pharmacy student, full time construction engineer/mom, and a teacher's schedules seemed like a daunting task. For months, the four of us had been talking about an IKEA trip, but every time we got close...something got in our way. So when only one week passed from idea to pedi fruition, I was thrilled!

Toe Makeovers! Photo credit to Ailey

A little background: I didn't grow up with sisters. What I did grow up with was my older brother Christopher and a giant imagination. My imagination entertained me for quite a few years (thank you farm life where you have to make your own entertainment), but there comes a time when a girl needs something a bit more real. In high school, Ashlynn became that sister I wished for and has never wavered from the position. One of the best parts of adopting Ash into my family, was being adopted into hers!  Ash is the oldest of four; three girls and one boy. They were all pretty young when I came along, so I quickly became Aunt Molly. I loved having a place in a bigger family, but I love it even more now that we're older.

Ashlynn's whole family at our wedding

On Saturday night, Ashlynn, Ailey, Mariah, and I started our evening at Venetian Nails and followed it up with a night of tapas at Trostel's Dish. The restaurant has a high class atmosphere with a laid back bar undertone. There was even a two man acoustic band playing, which added a jovial vibe. Have you ever been to a tapas place? Basically you order several small dishes to share with the group. Yum!  We went through four rounds of delicious world wide foods, topped off with a dessert sampler. Double yum! I wish I would have thought to take some pictures this weekend, but I was so wrapped up in the conversations and fun, it didn't even cross my mind.

When Ashlynn dropped me at home Saturday night, I wasn't ready for the night to end. Hanging out with those girls is good for my soul, and hopefully we get to do it more often.

March Date Night

I'm not always sure it is okay to publicly pat myself on the back, but when it comes to the 12 Dates for Christmas, that is exactly what I'm about to do... Making the 12 Dates of Christmas was one of my best ideas decisions ever!! I honestly cannot think of a more amazing present I could have given Adam/our marriage! It is so gratifying to know that at least once a month, we get to spend a prepaid, preplanned, stress free night together. No worrying about schedules, jobs, or money. With life's crazy demands, any time with my husband is a blessing, so a full night is just what the doctor ordered.

When Adam opened his envelope this month, he found a $50 Visa gift card, a Panera Bread card, and the following note.

March
Let’s take this date night to new heights!

 You and I have a date with a rock wall. 

I’ll spot you if you spot me! 

Climbing = no makeup date! 

This month I planned a physical date at Climb Iowa in Grimes, followed by a "we have chalk all over our body so let's not go someplace nice" dinner at Panera Bread. We both climbed a bit back in college, so I thought it would be a perfect date for us. Adam was working on a case, so the date started later than planned, but it still worked out perfectly. Thankfully, the gym was pretty empty when we arrived, so we were able to auto belay the whole time. 

Blurry cell phone pic, but look how high I am!

I mentioned we had both climbed in college, right? Well it turns out college was a long time ago, and we were out of practice! The gym staff was awesome and gave us a great rundown of the belays and rules. Rule number one: the auto belay must be clipped to something at all times. Apparently it is fairly difficult to retrieve the belay if it snaps up to the ceiling. We kept joking and laughing that we didn't want to be that guy. The walls are marked with different routes and we tried our best not to cheat, but I only made route once or twice. The rest of the time, I used whatever rock pleased me to reach the top! In the beginning, I  thought we could climb for a couple of hours, but my hands were sore after about 45 minutes. I felt like such a wimp! After a few more runs, Adam mentioned his fingers were also feeling less than awesome, so we called it. I'm still not sure if he was actually feeling it, or if he was just trying to be nice to me.  

It was pretty obvious that we didn't want the night to end so soon, so we went to Dick's Sporting Goods to kills some time. It turns out Dick's has a mini putting green, so we pretended we were interested in buying some new clubs and played around a bit. Even though it was, yet again, off of the original plan, I think that may have been my favorite part of the date! A smile was permanently on my face. That smile lasted through dinner at Panera and the drive home.

P.P. was pretty happy to see us when we got home, and the three of us cuddled for a bit before I needed to head to bed. Happy family time! 

Looking forward to next month!

P.P. is always glad to see us :-)

Our little family

BFFs and Oreo Cakes

Ashlynn and I have been best friends forever since we were fourteen years old, and we have known each other since we could dance. She is one of my favorite people in the world, and my life wouldn't be near as much fun without her! Do you want to know the best part of the whole relationship? Seven years ago, she married my brother...so she is also my sister! Can you take a moment to imagine this situation? Ever holiday, I get to hang out with my best friend. And, I am literally her son's aunt. I love it! So when her birthday came this year, I knew I needed to make a fun cake in celebration. 

Decorating cakes has sort of become my joy. A few weeks ago, I made a bulldog cake for my old roommate, Emily. A few months before that, Adam celebrated with a Superman cake. At our age, we all have enough stuff, so creative cakes are a way for me to show how much I love my people without adding to anyone's hoarding problem. 

But the cakes have to be special to the person. Emily and Adam's cake ideas came to me right away, but Ashlynn stumped me. While several ideas bounced around my head, none seemed right...until I found the Oreo cake! Ashlynn is this tiny, athletic human being...who loves her Oreos! I couldn't tell you the last time I bought Oreos for my own house, because I know I can get my fix if I go visit her. Thus, it only seemed right to make her a big, fat, giant Oreo cake! 

Did I mention I gave up chocolate for Lent? This was going to be a challenge!

The big birthday celebration was scheduled for Saturday evening, so when the idea struck late Friday night, I ran to the store to gather my ingredients. I found a yummy filling recipe here (they have great ideas!), and adapted the rest for my own needs. 

Without further adieu...

THE OREO CAKE

1 package (2-layer size) devil’s food cake mix

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup sugar

2 cups thawed frozen whipped topping (I used the fat free kind)

12 OREO cookies, coarsely crushed (I just grabbed one of those small packages they sell by the checkout counter and called it good.)

1. Bake the devil's food cake according to the directions on the box. If you want to get fancy, you can always make this from scratch, but who doesn't love the ease of a mix! Completely cool before adding any fillings or frosting. 
2. Once the cake is cooled, beat sugar and softened cream cheese together until smooth. Gently fold in whipped topping and crushed Oreos. Set aside. 
3. Using a long knife, level off the top of both layers of cake. You want them to be flat, so they look like the cookie part of the Oreo!
4. Place one cake layer on a plate and top with the filling. Place in the freezer for 30 minutes or until it has firmed up a bit. 
5. On a separate plate, frost the top of the second layer with chocolate frosting. Carefully use a toothpick to draw out the Oreo design. Then pipe the black on with a round tip. This can become time consuming, but remember, it doesn't have to be perfect! 
6. Finally, place the decorated layer on the filling layer. Use a knife to smooth out the sides. Refrigerate until serving. 

I wasn't able to taste test while I was baking because of Lent, but the rest of the group said it was pretty darn yummy! If you decide to try it out, please let me know what you think! I am living vicariously through all the chocolate eaters out there!  

Yum, yum yum! 

The Year of Creative Cakes: A Small Sample

Fourth of July 

A superhero cake for my Superman

Easter 2013

Tater Miska for Emily!

The Batman Workout

Our house is a superhero house. We both go nerdy for all things superhero related, and I'm ok with that! So when Adam came to me with a Batman workout, you'd better believe I was on board!

Back story: Batman is my favorite superhero because he isn't actually a superhero at all; no toxic sludge, alien parents, or poisonous spiders. He is simply this rich dude, with a tortured past, who has a lot of fun gadgets and a vigilante attitude.  In contrast, Adam's favorite superhero is the Man of Steel himself. For the last four years, we have had several discussions about which superhero is the best (wow, we really are nerds), so the fact that he suggested a Batman workout was a very sweet gesture.

Did I mention spring has sprung in Iowa? People are coming out of hibernation, enjoying the sun, and smiling more than they have in months, which is why we decided to enjoy the weather while it lasted and bring this workout out to our front yard. The nice thing about the Batman workout, or any bodyweight workout, is that you don't need a gym. As long as you have enough room to do squats and planks, you are good to go.

Who wouldn't want to work out to this view?

The Batman consists of nine exercises, ten reps each, ten rounds. Did you do the math? That is 900 exercises by the time you are done! I only made it through seven rounds before I needed a break, but I blame that on the hill sprints (yuck!) and tire flips we added after each round. If you're an occasional fitness fanatic like me, this is a great workout... if you push yourself. If you are like Adam, an always fitness fanatic, you might need a little more.

Geeks of Doom

The Batman Workout: 10 reps each, 10 rounds

1. Squats - Adam is always on me about my form: hinge your hips, lift your toes... Even during this workout, I really have to focus on pulling up my toes so my bodyweight is on my heels. Form is important to avoid injury. Check this video out if you need some more pointers. 
2. Pushups - What a difference a few months can make! Before the wedding, I was pushing out pushups like it was my job. Ten months later, my arms are not quite as ripped as before, so this was a challenge for me after round four. 
3. Mountain Climbers 
4. Triceps Dips - We used our front porch as the ledge, but you could also use a chair, bench, whatever you have around. 
5. Cross Punch Sit Ups - Adam had the brilliant idea to bring our punching bag out on the font lawn. You could just punch the air, but I sure do love hitting a bag. I feel so tough! 
6. Jumping Lunges - This became my nemesis, but mostly because my legs were torn up from the hill sprints and tire flips. 
7. Side Plank Crunches - I hadn't done these before, but I sure could feel then come round seven. 
8. Leg Raises
9. Bicycle Crunches - slow and steady
10. *BONUS* - Between each round we did hill sprints and tire flips. I'm not quite strong enough to flip the tractor tire alone yet, but it is all about knowing where you are and then pushing yourself! 

Like I said, I only made it through seven rounds, but next time I'm going for all ten rounds! It took us around 50 minutes, but if you did a 30 second rest between sets and cut out the bonus, I think it could be done in around 30 minutes.  

The most hilarious part of this workout was not workout related at all. Since spring has sprung, so have the kids in our neighborhood. During round two of seven, a few of my students came outside and started riding their bikes in our driveway. For a few minutes, I had the panicked feeling that my students were seeing me out of the teaching element, but that quickly went away when I started punching the bag. It is good for my kids to see me working out and taking care of myself! Hopefully it will inspire them to get more minutes for our classroom Live Healthy Iowa Kids challenge!

Do you have any fun bodyweight workouts that would be great for this time of year? I'm guessing Adam will find a Superman fitness session soon, and I'm looking forward to it. 2014 is the year of fitness and self improvement! Watch out Iowa: soon there's a new superhero in town! 

This workout was found on Geeks of Doom.

Notes

In the last 24 hours, I have been on the receiving end of five handwritten notes. I'm not sure about you, but handwritten notes always fill my love bucket in this age of texts, tweets, and emails. Please do not misunderstand; I love how amazing modern technology is. I am, after all, writing this on a blog instead of a diary. Plus, without the previous mentioned technology, I would miss my best friends terribly! Daily emails and multiple texts are how I stay connected! However, there is something amazing about a physically written note in today's technology driven world.

The first note of the day came at 6:15 a.m and stretched about four foot by three foot, covering my bathroom mirror. Adam made sure I knew he was thinking about me even though we didn't get to see much of each other yesterday.

You do so much to keep this house looking great! 

More work than I have time to even give! 

You're awesome! 

Thank you! 

Have a great Friday!

 ps. Use my side of the mirror and I will clean this up :-)

What an amazing way to start my day! Mood booster! Plus, it meant so much more to me in huge print than it would have via text message or email.

The following three notes were from students. One young lady let me know that she thinks I am "the best teacher!"and she was very sorry for her attitude over the last couple of days. The next note came with a Hello Kitty drawing and a message to let me know she would keep drawing for me until she went to middle school because I was the best. Finally, I had an anonymous note...

You teach math so I can understand. Nobody had done that before. Thank you!

I think the last one struck my heart the most. Going into this school year, I was most concerned with how I was going to teach 5th grade math. It had been years since I had used an exponent or did long division with decimals, so I have focused hard on teaching to the ten year old brain. It is nice to know it is paying off.

The final note of the day might be my overall favorite. Adam came home for a late dinner, and just before he left, silliness ensued. Somehow we go into a mock case interview about and "incident" I had "encountered". He took out his notepad and started jotting down notes. I was laughing because he was being so serious in such a funny moment. When the interview was over (AKA, dispatch called him back out) he ripped out his notes and handed them to me. Here is what they said...

Life was good today.

Love and Lures

The sun is shining, the day is warm, and I have iced tea in front of me. It is a good day. It is a good day. It is a good day! I am so tired today that I'm having a hard time focusing on anything but staying awake, but I really can't complain. Afterall, this sleepy feeling is my own fault...

Over the past few weeks, I have been working with a student on a behavior plan. He earns points for good behavior, and at the end of the week, if he reaches his goal, he receives one of his favorite things: fishing lures! The only problem with this genius plan is that I know next to nothing about fishing, and as of last night, I still didn't have any lures for the week. Thankfully, Adam does know quite a bit about fishing. Some might even classify him as a lover of the sport. When I realized that Friday was coming fast, I asked Adam to help me out with my lure-less dilemma. He was on board, but mentioned that the only congruent time off we would have in the next two days would be after his 10pm shift. He offered to go it alone so that I could sleep, but we haven't seen much of one another this week, so I was determined to wake up and head out. Crazy? Absolutely, but I'm so glad I made the time to spend with him. 

Over the last few months, we have learned a lot about each other's love languages. While mine are acts of service and physical touch, we were surprised to find out his is quality time. I say we were surprised because Adam has always needed time to himself. What guy out there doesn't?  But apparently he quite likes spending time with me too; probably a good thing since we're linked for life. Since learning more about his love language, I've been actively looking for ways to spend quality time with him, which has proven to be tough with our schedules.

The point is, last night we went to Walmart at 10:50 p.m., a time that is normally reserved for pillows and pj's in my weekday life. We spent almost an hour buying fishing gear, toilet paper, and making fun of my people of Walmart outfit: XL red long sleeved T-shirt, Adam's long shorts, black furry snow boots, and a white jacket. Hey, I can't always be a fashion icon! We laughed, we spent way more money than we had intended, and in my eyes, that hour with my husband was well worth today's sleepy feeling. 

Leader in ME

When I first took this job, I had never heard of the Leader in Me program. I was informed that it was our behavior plan, and the school had seen many benefits from its rollout. That was about it. As a new teacher to this school, I didn't want to fall short so I did some research. Come to find out, it is a student based program based on Stephen Covey's 7 Habit of Highly Effective People.

Fast forward seven months, I'm on board with the idea!  I even serve on our Lighthouse team. We meet twice a month to implement and discuss Leader in Me in our school, but we had a tough time getting traction at the start of this school year. When you read the list of "new" that we faced, you will understand why! In the months of August and September, we were hit with a new literacy series, new principal, new superintendent, new 1:1 technology rollout, and new math standards. See what I mean? By the time we got to Lighthouse, we were all so exhausted, it was hard to even think straight! But I'm happy to announce that in our last few meetings, we are finally getting some impressive traction. Yea! It feels so good to be focusing on this program and implementing the ideas we have been talking about all year.

All the "new" at the start of the year  =  circle of no control
Learning to focus on my circle of control

One of the things we had been throwing around was the idea of school wide leadership roles. While there were tons of different role possibilities, it boiled down to these five. We chose them to highlight the habits, give a variety of choices for all ages, and to simply help our school run smoothly! Applications are due on Friday, but I already have a huge stack on my desk! I'm pretty excited to go through them and choose our new leaders.

So many applications! 

1. Greeter - students will be expected to speak clearly to people as they enter the school and direct them to the office to sign in and get a visitor pass.
2. Shutterbug - student will help to showcase all the great things that are being done around out building! They will need to use a camera/iPad/phone to take pictures
3. Tour Guide - student will need to have basic knowledge of our building and operations of the school. Applicants should be positive, have the ability to communicate well with visitors, and showcase our great school!
4. Habit Announcement Leader - student will need to speak clearly over the school intercom system. Student will be giving a brief 7 Habits reminder once a week. 
5. Weather Specialist - Student will need to be able to use technology to acquire weather data. During the afternoon announcements, each student will share the weather report for the following day. 

Is there something you have been mulling over for months (maybe years), but just haven't quite pulled the trigger? Do it! It feels so wonderful to see these changes in our school, and I can't wait to see what else we come up with now that we're on a roll! 

Sad to See the Weekend Go

There are people in this world who you can just be silly with, and it is with those people that I want to surround myself. One of the reasons I fell for Adam was because we had such a blast together, and he never judged my kitchen dancing, shower singing, or random urges to speak in an accent. So, being silly is important. This silly concept is also a reason why I am such peas in a pod with Mrs. Emily. This weekend we went Iowa City in celebration of her birthday, and it was just about perfect. We ate yummy food, did some shopping, and got our nails done.

However, my absolute favorite moment of the weekend came from the above mentioned silliness. When Emily and I lived together right out of college, we used to get home from work on Friday nights, pop a bottle of Andre, and blast music while we got ready for an night out. A typical early 20's weekend! On every one of these evenings, there was dancing. It didn't really matter where, though it usually culminated in the kitchen.

Over the last few years, we have both calmed down quite a bit; adult responsibilities and husbands will do that. Friday evenings are no longer about going out, but more about recovery from a long work week. And most of the time, I love the evenings spend with the hubs or Netflix...but this Friday, we brought back dancing! After an incredibly fun dinner at Konomi, we all headed back to the Miska's for drinks. Drinks turned into the boys relaxing while the girls danced like nobody was watching, for hours, to our favorites: Whitney, Celine, Idina, and more. Our friend Mere has quite the way with a playlist! My heart was overflowing with happiness. I am so thankful for those moments!

We ate at a delicious Argentinean restaurant Saturday night, and later on, Emily's face lit up when she found out we were playing Catch Phrase. That girl is a competitor in all she does, so I was quite pleased to be on her team. We ate bulldog birthday cake, and slept in on Sunday morning.

At some point in the weekend Adam pulled me over, kissed me on the forehead and said, "I've missed that smile." I realized I had too. It has been a long time since I've had that much carefree, silly fun, and I'm so glad it happened this weekend.

Even cake can be eaten with chopsticks! #lentenpromise

Coaxed, Cakes, and Chopsticks

I am officially pulling my hair out. Okay, not really, but there were a few moments today that I had the thought, "What am I going to do for the next month?" As I talked about earlier in the week, my student teacher has officially taken over teaching responsibilities...for the next month. Monday was hard for me to give up control. Tuesday and Wednesday brought a strange freedom and surge of energy, but today I was bored out of my mind. I am completely caught up on grading, so I ask, what is a teacher to do who can't teach? Well, I'll tell you.

1. I pulled small groups when the chance arose. 
2. I planned an entire geometry unit that I'll never get the chance to teach.
3. I searched endlessly for some ideas for Emily's birthday cake.
4. I talked about our vocabulary word this week, urged, and how it means coaxed. 
5. I ate with chopsticks for the first of 40 days. Wish me Lenten luck!

I'm thinking this list needs to expand quite a bit in the next few weeks, so hopefully there are some brilliant ideas out there for me. 

Moving on, this weekend Adam and I are going to visit Emily (and Paul!) for her birthday. Her birthday is on Tuesday, but we make due with weekend time. Plus, every year we are both in the same state is a win in my book. Can I just mention that I am SO excited to try out my cake decorating skills tonight? I have decided to go with a theme that Emily loves, but will hold off on sharing until this weekend. Stay tuned :-) 

Emily and I being silly: June 8, 2013

New Friends

Before our big move to a little town, I had my friend circle pretty much made. I had the friends that I could always count on to have a glass of wine with after work on Fridays, a solid base of work friends, and the friends who would wear sweats over and gab while marathoning something on Netflix. Adam and I also had the most perfect couples friends for double dates, road trips, and random laughs. While we still have all of those friends in Des Moines and around Iowa, they no longer live just down the street.

Thus my 2014 goal: make new friends. We have been living in our new town for seven months now, and I am finally achieving this goal. However...making friends is down right hard for me! Speaking to people in a professional situation? Great. Being kind to people in the grocery store? Count me in. Actually open up and ask a brand new person to "hang out sometime"? Awkward.

When it boils down to it, making a new friend in adulthood is much like trying to find a date. You have to read the potential friend, make sure you don't come on to strong, and hope they end up liking you back. Once you're feeling pretty confident, you might even ask them out for a friend-drink. Whew, it can be exhausting!

So, how did I end up finally getting the courage to make some friends after five months? I joined a bootcamp. Apparently I am most comfortable when I'm sweating my tush off, bear crawling across a gym floor. Maybe it is because no one looks intimidating when they are shaking in a wall sit. But I really think it is because I finally had a common ground with a good group of people. Since the bootcamp started, I also started walking/running with a few of the women once a week, and it has been great. Beyond that, I found "my group", which is five other athletic ladies who push me and amaze me with their gumption...as well as their ability to go out and have fun.

Have I found a new best friend? No, but I wasn't looking for one. That position was filled years ago! What I have found is a great group of people that help to make our little town feel a little more like home.

Weirdly Great Day

Have you ever had one of those days that just plain brings happiness? There may be no particular reason or contributing factor, other than you woke up on the right side of the bed. Those days that you feel like you could handle whatever gets thrown at you...because surly nothing will get thrown you to today! Today was one of those days for me.

I think it all started last night around 10:45, when Adam came in to check on me when he got off shift. I heard him get home, but wasn't really expecting to see him. He is currently on the swing shift and sleeps during the day. Then, creeeeek, the bedroom door opened, and Adam snuggled into bed with me for a little while. It may sound strange, but it was such a nice treat to see him, especially when I didn't think I would. This one small thing set the happy stage for the next 24 hours.

Needless to say, when my alarm went off this morning, I was in a great mood. I leisurely checked social media, lazily did my hair, made cinnamon raisin oatmeal, and made my way to school. My student teacher was in charge today, so I came prepared. Stacks of grades have been calling my name for the last week, so I got right to work. At 11:00 I went over to the high school to take part in career day and even hastily grabbed coffee at the gas station on my way back to the elementary. Is that how people with non-teaching jobs feel at lunch time? Amazing! Then I spent my afternoon with students who I have been dying to work one-on-one with, but never could find the time before. Did I mention I also input all my grades in the online grade book and put up a Leader in Me bulletin board? Apparently this giving up control of my room thing may be super beneficial for my to-do list.

Tonight was filled with a random meet with Adam that consisted of a hug and a high five, taco salad, and a kick butt workout with some new friends.

It really is staggering how different a day can be when I embrace Queen Elsa's attitude and just "Let it Go"!

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

Giving Up Control

I have been teaching for the last six year. Scratch that, I have been teaching, in some form, for as long as I can remember. When I was nine years old, I had passed out of swimming classes, started being an aid instead, and it didn't take me long to take over my own class. From then on, I was teaching something: swimming, dancing, reading, third grade, and finally fifth grade. While I initially struggled to figure out what my ultimate major would be in college, it wasn't that big of a shock when I landed in elementary education.

This semester, I have been given my first ever cooperating teacher position. I have had a few practicum students in the past, but this is my first full time student teacher. I was am thrilled to have this fresh, new face learning with me. He has, as you would expect, a lot to learn, but I figure that is why he is student teaching. I learned more in that one semester of being in the classroom than I had the rest of the 4 years!

But today...today I had to give up my classroom. Talk about a heartbreak! I had no idea it would be so hard to sit back and let someone else teach my kids! I kept thinking, "But if you say it this way, it is going to click!"

Four weeks to get caught up on paperwork? Great! Four weeks to be able to pull small groups and reteach? Amazing! Four weeks of not being in control? Uh-oh, I might be in trouble.

Listen, logically I get that he doesn't have to teach the way I do, and honestly he shouldn't. What makes a great teaching is figuring out who you are as a teacher and then playing to those strengths while working to improve on your downfalls.

I guess these four weeks will be a test in my self control, and that is Ok. Heck, that is probably good for me! But more than anything, these next four weeks will be a true test of how well I can teach, no matter the student's age.