A Bubble Bath

Valentine's Day is exhausting for a second grade teacher...or any teacher really. It is a very fun and exciting day, but we basically hold on tight until the 3:00 bell. If Valentine's Day isn't exhausting enough, today also happened to be Hundred's Day! For those of you familiar with any child under the age of 8, Hundred's Day should probably be declared a national holiday. We have FINALLY been in school for a hundred days and it is time to celebrate. These days usually fall within a few days of each other, but rarely on the SAME day. Talk about crazy. My second graders came into school today crawling on the ceilings. You can only imagine how the rest of the day went.

We had a great time doing 100 exercises outside (in 30 degree weather), counting 100 steps around the school, listing 100 healthy foods, reading Valentine's Day stories, frosting sugar cookies, and reading Valentine's, but when that 3:00 bell rang I could have curled up in my read aloud chair and fallen asleep. I dragged my feet to my car and yawned as a drove home. I wasn't all that delightful to my handsome Valentine when I walked in the door. So, what did he do? His patient being poured me a glass of really delicious red wine and started a bubble bath for me. Really? A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. With Lady Antebellum playing in the background I sunk into a warm bubble bath and a glass of wine while clearing my mind of the past few weeks. Note to self: remember this next time I am feeling stressed.

Sunday's sermon online and home made shrimp scampi followed. Seeing as it was Valentine's Day I felt it appropriate to help myself to seconds. Now it's time to relax and just be together with no agenda. Well...except for pink and red peanut m&ms. A whole bag. Our diet starts after vacation...bear with me for two more weeks.

Hebrews 11:1

Ugh...it's been a long week and it is only Wednesday. I started out strong praying for patience knowing that the week that lay before was filled with places to be, meetings, appointments, and basketball games all on top of teaching seventeen sweet little minds starting to get antsy for February vacation (not mentioning their teacher is too). There are times when I feel so on top of life. Lesson plans written for weeks ahead, dinners prepped, house cleaned, meetings organized...and then weeks like this just hit me in the face--hard. Yes, I have times at night where I am sitting down and "relaxing", but for the most part I feel like I am moving from one thing to the next to the next to the next without really giving everything to one thing. Does that even make sense? All in all, there is just a lot going on. Anxiety struck all day at school today when I was not able to complete one task before moving on to another--each half completed task leading to another soon to be half completed task, essentially walking circles around my classroom. I can't exactly pin point the cause, but I can confidently say today was just NOT my day.

However, there is always a silver lining--coming home to my precious pup and understanding husband. Matt was at practice when I got home so I threw myself into finding something new and delicious to make for dinner. Eat Yourself Skinny's Skinny Chicken Divan has been on my list for quite sometime now and I just so happened to have all the ingredients on hand--including a brand new bottle of white wine. After pouring myself a giant glass of wine, I set to creating this new recipe. The yummy aroma quickly filled my kitchen. The end result was a warm (skinny) comfort food enjoyed by both Matt and myself. Paired with a salad and bread it was a perfect dinner for a cold winter day (if you consider 40 degrees cold). Check out the recipe here.

Although I am counting down the hours until tomorrow, I am comforted by Him who is in control of it all. While doing some research today online, Hebrews 11:1 came up on a post I was reading. Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance for what we do not see. I am so thankful for my faith. I would be lost with out it. Here's to a better day tomorrow.

Cupcakes?

Tonight my baking partner and I took a break from the weekly grind to bake some cupcakes. I am a bit embarrassed to say, but we have not baked together...for a job...since DECEMBER! After the overwhelming amount of holiday orders, we took some time off to regroup and remember why we loved baking. Tonight brought us right back into it. Second grade breakfast duty and the upcoming Superbowl brought us to Superbowl Breakfast Cupcakes. We decided on Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes with a Coffee Glaze and Cream Cheese Frosting. TO-DIE-FOR. Recipe and photos coming soon.

Have you tried this? So perfect on a Wednesday night. On sale to beat that! Bottle...gone. I highly recommend it and I am not much of white wine kinda gal.

Highlight of the night however was our two year old mascot finding good use in the cover of our cupcake carrier. Who ever said it was designated simply for cupcakes? Makes a great place to sit if you ask me. Happy Wednesday!