Portable Cupcakes

In addition to a very long week of daily pampering and gifts for Chloe's teacher we sent in some cupcakes for her this morning. For these portable cupcakes you just need a package of Wilton clear party bags, size 4 x 9.5 inches and a package of 9 oz. clear plastic cups. The 'Thank You' tags are the same ones I used last year. They were made by Skip To My Lou. You can find them on Tidy Mom's blog. Just bake your cupcakes in liners as usual. Then you can experiment. You can remove the cupcake from the liner and add  it to the cup and frost it or you can keep it in the liner and add it to the cup.  I added either tissue paper, decorative liners, or a regular liner to the outside of the cup and placed it in the bag. Tie the spoon on with a ribbon, add your tag with a bit of hot glue and your set!

 

Teacher Appreciation Cards

Believe it or not, I do not consider myself crafty or creative. I think I get by, but sometimes I get lucky and I turn out something wonderful. I share room mom duties and it was my turn to take the lead for Teacher Appreciation Week. We decided to do pretty much the same thing as I did last year. Instead of having the kids write a card, we decided on a fill in the blank card. Then I took it one step further and decided to make unique handmade cards. 27 of them. All different. I'm not a scrapbooker. I don't own a scrapbook. BUT, I do own buttons, paperclips, cardstock, ribbon and Swarovski crystals. I bought some paper flowers, apple stickers, and teacher motif cardstock at Michaels. Here's a sample of what we ended up with.

Popovers

Pop on over to your neighbor's house with these Popovers or Yorkshire Pudding known by some. Doing something nice for someone without any particular reason will not only make them feel special, it will make you feel good too. While I used a Popover Pan to make these, you could also make them in a large 6 cup muffin tin. I adapted this recipe slightly from Williams-Sonoma. I only changed the way I baked them. So I will give you the original recipe and my changes.

Popovers
From: Williams-Sonoma
Makes 12 Popovers

Ingredients:
4 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted
6 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups milk
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
Butter and Jam for serving (optional) Harry and David Blackberry Preserves

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spray cups of a 6-cup popover pan with nonstick cooking spray. Pour 1/2 tsp. of the melted butter into each cup. In a bowl, whisk together eggs and milk, then whisk in the remaining 2 TBS. of butter. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour and salt, then whisk into egg mixture. Whisk vigorously until smooth, about 2 minutes. Divide batter among prepared cups and bake for 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 325 degrees and bake for 15 minutes more. Remove from oven and invert the pan onto a wire rack. Let the pan cool, then spray with nonstick cooking spray, pour 1/2 teaspoon of the melted butter into each cup and bake the remaining batter. Serve immediately with butter and jam.

My notes:
First, I always half the recipe and only make 6 popovers. I allow the melted butter to cool slightly so that it doesn't curdle the eggs. I DO NOT pre-heat the oven. I put my pan filled with the batter into a cold oven. Then, I turn it on to 450 degrees and allow them to bake for about 15-20 minutes, watch them. Finally, reduce the heat to 325 and bake them for another 10-15 minutes,  until they are the desired color. I have served these at dinner with butter and for breakfast with jam.

Days 9-3 of The 12 Days Of Christmas For Teacher Gift

On the 9th day, my student gave to me...Granola!

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Shortbread Cookies

On the 7th day, my student gave to me...A giftcard of music money! ($10 Itunes giftcard)

On the 6th day, my student gave to me...Pistachios!

On the 5th day, my student gave to me...A Notebook!

On the 4th day, my student gave to me...Many, many cups of tea!

10th Day of Christmas Gift For Teacher

This is a cute little wooden tree, about 6" tall adorned with glitter and sparkles. These pictures are about all I have time for except to tell you that I made an amazing braised beef stew (ish) tonight. Unfortunately, I was too busy eating it to snap a picture, but I may post the recipe later. It was loved by all and as usual, the hubby complained, "Mom is such a good cook, only she never makes enough!" I heard a whole show on braising this week on Martha Stewart XM Radio. So, I didn't have a recipe, I just went off their general instructions. They mentioned you could go to MarthaStewart.com and type in the keyword "Braising" for more information. There was lots of information there and a helpful video, but it was not the same info from the radio show. Good luck!

11th Day of Christmas For Teacher and A Gift For Lil

Well, well, well. Santa sent Lil a sweet bundle of gifts today. I was expecting, perfectly content, and overjoyed even, after opening that first box of cookie day cookies. As I carefully unpacked them I imagined all the kids back home at my aunts making the cookies, each with their own specific task. I could only hope that BioSus made them all keep washing their hands. The picture in my head is telling me she definitely did. A rush of sadness swept through me for missing that day.

Then, I opened the second box. I was expecting to find the ingredients to make a pumpkin pie, but it was so much better. To me anyway. It was beautiful, the most beautiful I have seen in quite some time. Home grown California produce. There were just picked avocados, lemons, peppers, and gigantic beautiful pomegranates. I pulled out the lemons and avocados and literally hugged them. I pulled them in right to my heart then right up to my nose. It was the best present, the best surprise. It was a little piece of home, I once took for granted. The sight of them left me feeling connected and happy. Thank you Santa :).

As promised here is the 11th day gift. Nothing fancy, just some extra cute gift tags...

 

12 Days of Christmas For Teacher

Christmas shopping is pretty much done, house is decorated, and presents are wrapped and under the tree. Of course the list never ends and even when I think I'm ahead of the game...I remember I still need to ship out gifts and cards. A while ago Chloe and I decided we would do 12 days of gifts for her teacher. They are just little tokens, some better than others. I only have about 6 of the 12 in mind. I did see a lady on Pinterest who did this, but she wrote cute little poems for each gift. You can check out her ideas here. I didn't use her gift ideas and I definitely don't have the time to be that creative. So I went with this simple theme of just writing the number and the name of the gift. We are going with her idea of "secretly" giving the gifts. Then Chloe can reveal herself on the last day. Here's is today's...

Hostess Gift

The first one in NC was a genuine success. Of course, we missed the fam and normal 80 degree temperatures in SD, but it was special nonetheless. Thanksgiving has come and gone along with Black Friday. Now as I wait for Cyber Monday, I'm putting away all things fall and hopefully by Monday the house will look like...as cousin Ian says, "Santa threw up in it." Thanksgiving was a great success and just in case I lose my directions for my superbly moist turkey that was perfectly cooked in my counter top roaster, I'm including a link here. That, my friends, is the solution to only having one oven when you are hosting the Thanksgiving dinner. BTW, the way you get dinner on the table at 4:58 when dinner is scheduled at 5:00, is to have a list...and follow it!

Segura Viudas Reserva Heredad

I also wanted to share with you the most wonderful hostess gift. It's so good in fact, you'll need to buy two. One for her and one for you. No one brought me this gift, but I did serve it yesterday. I found it on my own many years ago. However, I haven't had much luck seeing it around until now. It's Champagne...well not really. It's Cava. Cava is the term for sparkling wine in Spain. We can technically only call Champagne, Champagne. Champagne is the region in France that it comes from. It also refers to the method that is used to make it, méthode champenoise. In this method, the best method, the wine is fermented in the bottle,  the actual bottle that you purchase it in. Now, back to Cava and what makes this Cava so special is that it is made using the Champagne method. So you will get this beautiful bottle of sparkling wine that tastes great and is a great value. Your hostess will think you spent a fortune, and she will have the beautiful bottle to keep long after the wine is gone. She can use it for olive oil or dish soap if she gets one of those little pourer thingies, or she can make a bottle lamp like I did, if she's crafty.

Segura Viudas Reserva Heredad is a sparkling wine that always gets rave reviews. It is one of my personal favorites. Especially the price point. I got mine at Lowe's Foods for $21. Once upon a time they sold it at Trader Joe's. I would highly suggest putting in the effort to find some, you won't be dissapointed. Imagine what a great Christmas gift it would make!

Dad's Favorite Chex Mix

This Father's Day the kids whipped up some of their Dad's favorite homemade Chex Mix. This recipe came from his grandmother and he asks for it often. I used my Father's Day Printables to make the labels and picked up the jars from Cost Plus World Market.

Chex Mix Recipe

Ingredients:

1 Box Rice Chex

1 Box Corn Chex

1 Large Bag of Pretzel Sticks

2 Cans Cashews

1 Bag Pecans

3 Small Bags of Sliced Almonds

Sauce Ingredients:

4 Sticks Butter

4 TBS. Worcestershire Sauce

3 Tsp. Tabasco Sauce

1 TBLS. Lawry's Seasoning Salt

Directions:

Melt all sauce ingredients in a small sauce pot. Divide dry ingredients into two large roasting pans. Divide sauce ingredients among the two pans. Fold the sauce gently throughout the cereal and nut mixture, being careful not to crush the cereal. Bake in a 250 degree oven for 15-30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Allow to cool and enjoy. Will keep for a couple weeks stored in an airtight container or ziplock bag.

Free Baseball Thank You Printable

I searched all day to find some free printables I needed for Chloe's end of the season gifts. I finally found a blog that shows you how to make your own using Picnik. I used it and made some adorable and easy printables. I inserted them into a Word document as Jill suggested. I made them into two sizes in Word. I used my 3.5" punch and taped those onto the large coaches gift and I used a smaller 2" punch for the white lollipops shown below {purchased from Oriental Trading Co.}:

Feel free to use this image below

to make any size printables you need.

How I Taught My Child Multiplication

Chloe entered third grade this last fall and I knew this was the year they would start learning multiplication. I wanted her to know her multiplication tables before they started learning them in class for a couple of reasons. One, I wanted whatever she learned at school to be extra practice and two, I thought if the tricks I taught her didn't work, she would surely learn different ones at school. When Nash was in third grade he attended an amazing charter school. I remember that his teacher used stories and pictures to help the kids remember the facts. I had no idea what lesson she used, so I began Googling.

I found Multiplication.com 

I purchased the book, Multiplication In A Flash.

It's actually on sale right now for $21.95.  

The book starts with several schedules. You can choose one to fit your needs and desired pace. I picked the 3 day schedule. When it was time, Chloe and I would sit down at the table with a white board, our printouts, and some m&m's for motivation! I would talk her through the short lesson and whatever else.  I used the whiteboard during the lesson, then she got to use it, to show me what I just explained. The book walks you through everything and it is VERY EASY to follow.

The best part about the book is that it has different teaching approaches for each kind of learner. It teaches with funny stories that are easy to remember, pictures that tell the story, games, and cookie graphs.

Here are a few snapshots from the book:

Teacher Gift Idea

See the eight and skate picture below? I printed that and all the others like it off onto white cardstock. I printed the story that goes with it on the back. Then, I had Chloe color the photo. We did this on a few cards each week. When they were all done and we completed the book, I had them lamenated. We gave the cards and the book to Chloe's teacher.

At times, we struggled to start the lessons, but we got through it. The m&m's helped. So did the bribe. I promised Chloe that after she was done with the lessons, I would get her the Marbleworks toy from Discovery Toys. I'm so happy I took the time to do this with her. It definitely gave her an edge. She never had any trouble when she did multiplication in class. In fact, she was the best in the class, scoring 100% on every timed test before any of the other children. Aren't those bragging mom's so annoying?

*I was not asked to write a review for this product, nor did I receive any compensation.

I'm just sharing something with you that I really loved!

Teacher Appreciation Week Schedule of Events

If you have kids in school you will be celebrating their teachers sometime this month for {TAW} Teacher Appreciation Week. I adore Chloe's teacher and she has had such a difficult year I really want to make next week special for her. In my opinion she deserves so much more than anything I can prepare, but I hope the children's effort will have an impact. I'm the room mom, so the responsibility falls on me.

I have been working all day on planning out each day for her next week. Monday, I'll decorate her door with cute notes from her students. I will pre-print some cardstock that I will cut with a large scallop punch, with something like "Mrs. Jacob's is special because....". I'll be sending them home later this week for the kids to fill in the blank and return Monday morning. Tuesday each student brings in a single flower to form a bouquet, Wednesday they will each bring in a piece of candy, Thursday a piece of fruit and Friday a picture or hand-written letter. In addition to coordinating gift giving for the whole class, Chloe and I have a few special gifts to give her as well, like bringing her lunch, a Barnes and Noble giftcard, and the note card holder below.

There are so many fabulous gift ideas floating around Blog Land. I've picked two that suit my needs. I was asked to make cupcakes for the teacher luncheon and I have decided on these from Apple Caramel  Cupcakes with Cinnamon Buttercream from Tidy Mom.



I also chose this super simple and cute handmade note holder from Domesticated Lady. She has lots of great ideas for TAW, so I would encourage you to stop by her blog if you need some inspiration.

Giverslog is also a great blog to visit anytime you are in need of gift ideas. That's what her blog is all about, after all!

As if TAW didn't keep me busy enough, I also have FOUR custom baking orders this week. That would be a record for me. Maybe next time I learn how to say NO, there's a thought. But, I do like a challenge and I will get some good photos for the portfolio. I'm sure I'll be posting the photos next week.

Separately, I have to mention that Chloe got the game ball at one of her games last week. It's pretty cool that not only is she the only girl on the team, but she plays really important positions like first base and pitcher. Oh, and she's a power hitter too! Her game ball was well deserved, but she also had a really incredible game this Saturday, maybe her best ever. I'm so proud of her. I'm always hearing other parents talk about what a great player she is. On Saturday even parents and kids from the opposing team were complimenting her play. Parents always ask me where she gets her talent, she gets it from me of course! That might be a stretch. Either way, it's a real thrill to watch her!