Very Hungry Caterpillar

Halloween is quickly approaching, that means it is costume time! The last 2 years, I have made costumes for my friends kiddos.  This year #3 is on the way and will only be a few weeks old.  We looked at buying a knitted version of the Very Hungry Caterpillar, but could not justify the $40 price tag! 

So it was time to get crafty! 

I bought long sleeved onesies at Marshall's and RIT dye at Walmart! I filled my sink up with HOT water and added about a half of bottle of the liquid RIT dye.  I stirred it around for about 5 minutes, then rinsed it out and washed it. Perfect caterpillar green color! 

I also bought this red hat at Marshall's. It saved me a few steps, and for a few dollars, it was worth it.  All of the other fabric, I already had in my scrap pile. I added Wonder Under to the fabric.  I cut out circles using a paper punch. It wasn't as sharp as I would have liked it to be, but it was at least the circle shape, and I could cut the rest out by hand.  Next, I cut out felt antennas. Then I turned the hat inside out and ironed on the circles, nose, and sewed on the antennas!

This whole project cost less than $10, and took about 30 minutes! 

I can't wait to see baby J in it! 

Tuesday -Not So Funny- on Friday

Tuesday was a rough day. Here is a recap of what happened BEFORE 10:40!

My morning started with a practice lockdown.  During the lock down a kid got kicked, which prompted an evacuation of my room. We had class in the hall for a bit, but were distracted by another class having an A+PAAC lesson (Active learning).  At this point my practicum student shows up to observe, he found out what the real world was like.

We moved to the courtyard where we scrunched 8 kids around each of the 3 tables.  We were squished, so I told them they could spread out. Once the lesson was finished, they had a workbook page to finish. I told them they could spread out.  One of the students sat down in the dirt and upset a bee hive. At this point the principal walked to the courtyard to tell me I could go back into my room. The kid came up to me casually, and said, "Miss C, I got stung." I sent him to the nurse, lined up the rest of the class and headed back to the classroom.

Right when we got to the classroom, the announcements called us for bus safety.  We went to the bus, and as we were evacuating the bus, the kids found a skull and a rotting dead animal! We headed back to our room, where we were observed by another person!!!!

Not included in the story, what happened after 10:40...
- lesson taught by practicum student with his professor observing him
- A+PAAC lesson in my room
- Fighting over bracelets
- 3 think sheets
- glow sticks for a birthday
- school psych having to play mediator between 2 students

YES, ALL OF THIS HAPPENED IN ONE DAY! Not sure if my practicum student still wants to be a teacher! :)

E is for Ellis

I made this blanket and onesie for one of my friends baby girl a few months ago. She wanted to have a blankie for the hospital. She also asked if I had time, if I would make an "E" onesie. She wanted to keep the name a secret and I had fun guessing. 

She almost slipped by wearing a ring with her name on it and had her name up in the nursery too. She had to take it down to show it off! 

These were my guesses:

Ellie

Emily

Evelyn

I was one letter off! Ellis Grace came into the world early this morning! 

This blanket is jersey knit one one side and cotton on the other. Super soft!!

iPad, iWonder and Limeades for Learning

Donors Choose and Sonic Limeades for Learning are working together to fund school projects across the country.  You can help by voting for my project, iPad, iWonder.  This is a great way to help, if you can't afford to donate.  

I know that an iPad in our classroom would not only help the students learn, but will also motivate them to read! 

Vote for iPad, iWonder

	SONIC and DonorsChoose.org work together once a year to support public school classrooms. Starting Sept. 23, you can find your favorite teacher's project and vote for SONIC to fund it. It could be a teacher in your community or just a project that really speaks to you. You can vote once daily, and are encouraged to come back again and again.
	Sonic has donated over $3,000,000 to projects across the country. Choose a project that speaks to you and help get it funded.

http://www.donorschoose.org/we-teach/684967.-383114978

www.limeadesforlearning.com

Thank You for your help! 

Before and After

More details to come later, but I had to share these trash to treasure finds. My neighbor moved out (Booo) and left these on the curb (yay!) My friend Megan and I re-did them!

Annie Sloan Chalk Paint is the best!!

Tagxedo- Word Cloud Creator

I'm taking an online research class. In this class we explore different ways to share information. I made this fun little Tagxedo with words from my blog!

tagxedo.com go try it out! 

Friday Funny

I ran into one of my favorite middle schoolers today. I asked her how everyone was doing, and if they were all staying out of truoble.  She told me, "Well, ____  got suspended for SITTING on someone!" 

This kid is a big kid, line backer, kind of big. 

Happy Friday! 

Pottery Barn Inspired Fall Wreath

My friend Megan came into town and we spent a little less than 24 hours together and she went home with 3 crafts from Camp Craft at April's. One of them was a wreath. She came with a picture of a Pottery Barn wreath, that was $99.  She really liked it, but did not like the price tag. So we headed to my favorite store, Hobby Lobby.  All of their fall stuff was 40% off.  We spent about 30 minutes trying to decide what to buy, but came out with all of this, for under $30.

We went with a grape vine wreath, and wrapped it in a leaf garland. 

 Next, we stuck flower picks into the pumpkins and shoved them into the wreath. 

 Megan, had 1 poke through, that we fixed with orange paint.  Buying the picks and box of pumpkins and gourds was cheaper than buying the pre-picked pumpkins. 

 We did glue a little bit just to make sure some of the stuff stayed on. 

 Here it is on my door. 

And here it is on her beautiful wood door. 

                            

 I was jealous and at the store, I bought a few things. 

 Mine took all of "27 seconds" as Megan said. 

 Simple, but cute. 

Pleased as Punch

Every year in science, I start out with a measurement unit.  I have been doing the same thing for 3 years, and wanted to mix it up. So I headed over to the AIMS website to find something new.  I found this Pleased as Punch activity. THE KIDS LOVED IT! It gave them great practice measuring.

Here are some notes and points for management:

• I bought 6 flavors of 100% juice for them to mix.  Kiwi Strawberry, Mango, Pineapple, Strawberry Banana, Fruit Punch, and White Grape. The kids and I do not recommend the white grape! 
• They first had to create a recipe to make.  Then they had to measure each ingredient, practicing measuring mL.  
• The AIMS activity comes with handy dandy measuring strips you can put run off on transparency paper, and tape them to clear cups.  This way you are not using your dirty graduated cylinders. 
• I had each of them have a tasting cup, mixing cup, and measuring cup. 
• Do this outside or in the cafeteria.  They will spill! 
• They had to rate each one, and vote on their favorite. They also had to write descriptive words to describe what it tasted like. They could not write good.
• Just a little warning, some of them did cheers, say bottoms up, and take it like shots... which gave me a good laugh! 

                     

                                

                                  

Go download it now! It is well worth the $2! 

Cucumber Vodka

This is the last of the cucumber posts... my garden is almost done/dead. We had some really hot days this past week, and I have decided to just let it go!

One of my friends said to try cucumber vodka when I sent out the SOS for cucumber recipes.  I love the cucumber vodka you can buy at the liquor store, so I thought, why not!

Ingredients: 
vodka
cucumber

Directions: 
Slice cucumbers and remove some of the seeds.  Add cucumbers to a quart sized mason jar.  Pour vodka over the cucumbers, until jar is almost full, and put on the lid.

Every day, give the jar a light shake, or just turn it upside down and back. Let it sit for a week or 2.

When you are ready, strain the vodka. I don't have a mesh strainer, so I had to get creative.  I used tulle that I held on with a rubber band around the neck of the jar.  I funneled it back into the vodka bottle.

Now that you have cucumber vodka, you can make a few drinks! Here are 2 of my favorite mixtures:

• cucumber vodka and lemonade
• cucumber vodka, tonic, lime, and mint

Friday Funnies- Cologne

Yesterday morning, I was greeted by a 5th grade boy covered in cologne.  It started with a report: 

"Miss Cremer, her nose is burning, because it smells so bad. Its making her have asthma!"

So I had a little talk about smelling good and wearing deodorant, but not smelling too good and spraying the whole bottle of cologne.  The comments I got back were pretty good. 

"It smells like the perfume isle at Hy-Vee in here!"

"I've been wearing deodorant since I was 7, so I have experience with that kind of stuff!"

Feta & Dill Cucumbers

Cucumbers, Cucumbers, Cucumbers! My cucumbers are going crazy! Here is another way I made them.

Ingredients: 
1 English cucumber, cut into quarters lengthwise and then crosswise
2 T red wine vinegar
2 t. extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 t sugar
1/4 t kosher salt
1/4 t black pepper
1 ounce feta cheese, crumbled (about 1/4 cup)
1 tablespoon dill

Directions: 
Place cucumber in a shallow dish. Combine vinegar and next 4 ingredients in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Drizzle vinegar mixture over cucumbers; sprinkle with cheese and dill.

Adapted from: Laraine Perri, Cooking Light
AUGUST 2013

Everything but the Kitchen Sink Quinoa

Between my garden, the block party, and random food I have cooked in the past few weeks, I had a lot of veggies to use up.  In my quest to find recipes for cucumbers, lots of my friends said to make quinoa.  So I gave it whirl.  The measurements in this really don't matter, whatever you like the most, put more of that in! I think it turned out pretty good!

Ingredients: 
1 cup quinoa- rinsed
cucumber
tomatoes
kalamata olives
yellow pepper
red onion
salt & pepper
feta cheese
lemon juice from 1/2 lemon
2 T olive oil

Directions: 
Cook quinoa according to package.
Chop all veggies (about 1/4 cup of each).
Once quinoa is cooled, add the veggies, olive oil, lemon juice, feta, and salt and pepper. Toss together.


Let marinate for a few hours.  This makes A LOT!

Cucumber Salsa

My garden has exploded with cucumbers.  You can only make vinegar with cucumbers so many times. So I went to Facebook, and asked for new recipes.  My friend Ashley sent me this one! It's a keeper! The cucumbers make the salsa cool, fresh, and refreshing!

                                            

Ingredients: 
2 cucumbers, peeled, sliced into small pieces
1 package ranch seasoning
1 can Rotel
3 T vinegar.

Directions: 
Mix together and let sit over night.  Serve with tortilla chips!

Stay tuned for more cucumber recipes! 

Friday Funny

Miss Cremer, I'm glad I'm in your class. You like crafts and so do I. - 10 year old boy

This same boy asked me where I got my chevron curtains, because he needed some for his room. 

Boy after my own heart! Love him. 

Bacon Green Beans

Bacon. Beans. Butter. Brown Sugar. Who knew those 4 ingredients together could be so yummy!? I wish I didn't make the chicken to go along with these. I could have made this my meal!

Last week, I was at the farmer's market and couldn't pass up fresh green beans for $2.  I have been wanting to make the bacon wrapped green beans again, but then I found a simpler way to make them.


Ingredients:
1-2 pounds fresh green beans
6 pieces bacon
1/4 c. butter
1/4 c. brown sugar
garlic salt, to taste

Directions:
In a large skillet, fry the bacon over medium heat until done. Drain grease, and slice bacon into smaller pieces.  Add butter and brown sugar to pan.  Once the brown sugar has dissolved, add the green beans and bacon to the pan.  Cook for 5-8 minutes.  Enjoy!

Big & Little

In the month of October I have 3 friends that are having little girls! I put my Silhouette to work to make some Big & Little outfits.

My mom bought me a new label maker that can print out iron on labels! 

Aren't these dresses so cute? I thought they were perfect for 2 & 4 year old big sisters!
I found them at Hobby Lobby.

Of course they needed a flower clip too! 

Can't wait to meet the little sisters! 

Freezer Meal Swap

This past weekend we had a freezer meal swap.  2 of my friends are having babies, and 1 is moving, so I thought it would be a good idea for them to have some meals, and hey, the rest of us benefit too! We did a soup swap last winter, and it was a huge hit. I hope we will all enjoy this one as well!

I sent out a short emails with the details:

1. Make 6 meals.  Keep 1 at home, we will not be taste testing this round.
2. Be sure to label them and have them frozen with serving/cooking directions.
3. You can make soup, casserole, marinated chicken, etc.
4. Keep it simple to heat up and prepare- we want the mommas to be able to just throw it in the oven/microwave!
5. Please reply all what you are making, so we don't have duplicates.
6. Bring a cooler/bag to bring your items home in.

My thoughts behind this-- (family that is moving), you can use these as your last few meals, so you can pack away cooking stuff and live off paper plates! Mommas- with 1 or 2 little ones running around after the baby girls arrive, we want you to be able to throw something in the oven and have a good meal! Please send request of things you like/don't like. Everyone else, just gets some bonus meals! :) Participation is optional, but I thought it would be fun!



We ended up with:

• lasagna
• baked pasta
• bean burritos
• turkey pot pies
• healthy chicken Parmesan with quinoa
• breakfast casserole