Back in action

With third grade over and a week off before summer camp commences, I have finallllly found a few minutes to sit (!) and type.

Let's do a quick baking recap from April, May, and June.

Marathon Monday brought chocolate-frosted cupcakes topped with fresh strawberries. (Note to baker:: decorate and allow ample time to harden before rushing on the road to take train to Beacon Street.)





April vacation brought marshmallow daisies to Lahey Clinic.



May brought baby blue cupcakes--no particular event or theme...



June brought sunshine and sunflower cupcakes.




And Field Day brought chocolate cupcakes, vanilla frosting and fresh strawberries.



A June book sale also had "sweet" results--103 books for $51!




The end of third grade went pretty smoothly.

After April vacation, a second grade student joined my class full-time on a trial period. Her writing and reading is quite advanced and there was discussion of having her skip a grade and enter fourth grade in the fall. Unfortunately, after several parent meetings, phone calls and discussions, it was decided that given the changes in her prescribed medication, attentional and behavioral issues, the large chunk of third grade instruction she had missed as well as the changing dynamics at her two homes, it was decided that she will enter the third grade in the fall, having had a jump start with my class with the possibility for an accelerated grade 3/4 curriculum.

The dynamics of the class definitely changed when she joined us. But, all in all, I had a great bunch of students and we had a lot of fun. As always, I look back at the year as a whole and consider what I might have done differently and where I can improve for next year.

In past few weeks, I attended my very first retirement party for a colleague of mine on our third grade team. While I have been very close to her and she has helped me a tremendous amount over the past few years, I feel as though she hoisted me up and has stood alongside me the past few years and has now retired, knowing I'll be all right on my own. :)

There will be many changes in our school and in our grade next fall but I am excited for all that these changes will provide us.

In wedding news...

The bachelorette party invites should arrive today--so excited!



Found, purchased and received my bachelorette party dress....ooo la la!


I am currently working on my lengthy to-do list which includes favors, escort cards, table tents, dancing shoes bins, sweet table, programs, guest book, menu and song list....oy vey!


A few weekends ago, Justin took me to the shooting range, and it was fun! I definitely prefer the inside shooting as opposed to the outside range, with the smaller weaponry and an easier opportunity to gauge how well, or not so well, my accuracy is. I excitedly and appropriately handled a nine millimeter and a revolver in addition to a few other hefty pieces.


This past weekend was a little bit of everything all jumbled into a few days!

Friday night I ventured to beautiful town of Amherst and spent a jam-packed day with Leah and her boytoy Matt. Friday night we hit up the Taste of Amherst which was delicious....followed by Toy Story 3 in 3D--a bit scary if you ask me.

Saturday morning we hit the kitchen and baked very yummy maple chocolate chip muffins. After breakfast we did a bit of shopping, and went to Captain Candy for pink and blue jelly beans for the wedding's sweet table--quite delectable!



Lunch was held at a quaint deli in Hadley followed by a trip to the museum! We enjoyed the Dr. Seuss sculpture garden like any children would.











Then we saw the Brick Artist exhibit! The sculptures were made entirely of Legoes--how creative!








For Father's Day, Justin, Ellie, and I went to Meme's for a very nice family and fun-filled bbq. My contribution: lawnmower cupcakes.






We ventured to Randolph for dessert to finish off Father's Day.

My week off between now and camp is going to be filled with cleaning, organizing, lunch dates, shopping, dinner dates and wedding fun! :)

I promise to update much more often given the third grade hiatus. :)

Sweet treats

Easter and this week's festivities has brought a number of reasons to bake.

Last week I baked a batch of cupcakes for the Memorial Park staff--Easter themed. I used marshmallow bunnies and Easter m&ms as decorative treats.







For Easter dinner in Freetown, I chose to adopt a cupcake decorating idea found at Disney on to a cake instead--knowing the crowd of hungry guests would not be large. The end result "carrot" cake (using the new checkerboard cake pans) as an ode to Peter Rabbit.




A late in the day request for a dessert for Erica's bbq at her new home in Northborough led me to whip up a batch of peanut butter cup brownie cupcakes. In part because they were quickly shuffled from the cupcake pan to a serving platter to the car, an opportunity for a photo was unlikely. Not to worry though, they went over veryy well--more so than some of my other brownies--so they will reappear in the near future.

As a means to garner Walk for Hunger pledges, Thursday night I whipped up a batch of peas and carrot cupcakes. Unfortunately, it was a teacher's 50th birthday and a cake was ordered for her. My timing wasn't ideal as many cupcakes remained at the end of the day given that a cake was also available to the hungry staff, yet I did earn several generous pledges.




With a jam-packed weekend and house guests arriving in the next few hours, wedding planning will take a temporary back seat until next weekend when we hope to meet with a travel agent, florist and decide on invitations.

weekends that zipppp on by

I always look to the weekends to catch up on work, cleaning, DVR'd episodes, wedding stuff, and...blogging! Yet somehow, Friday night naps on the couch turn in to busy Saturdays streaming into Saturday evening festivities which undoubtedly, in the wee hours, turns into Sunday and with Sunday comes correcting, grading, logging and a well-deserved mid-afternoon lunch date/ grocery trip. And there goes the weekend.

In baking news, for St Patrick's Day I experimented and created a batch of Thin Mint cupcakes. Using a very simble Devil's Food cake mix, I sprinkled in crushed Thin Mints. I tinted the Rich & Creamy cupcakes a light green, topped each cupcake with half a Thin Mint cookie and sprinkled Thin Mint cookie crumbs on top.




For Sarah's 26th birthday, Leah and I teamed up. Leah was behind ALL the inspiration and design. I merely frosted. The final product....




Last weekend, I dined with Katie--one of my best friends/former roommate at BC--in Bellingham. It is always nice to catch up over dinner and drinks. A stop at the outlets on the way home, scored some nice spring clothes.

The next morning the Yoffe girls attended Auburndale's book sale. As in the past, we arrived early, fought the crowds and landed some sweet deals. A few of my favorites were nonfiction titles about Boston's Subway system, animal defenses to go along with our unit on animal adaptations and Shel Silverstein's "Where the Sidewalk Ends."



After a most lovely birthday lunch for Sarah at Vinny Ts, I subsequently napped before attending Zachary's middle school rendition of "Beauty and the Beast." The play was in Freetown and, trying to "do it all," we had hoped to make it into the city for Sarah's birthday celebration. Regretfully, we didn't make it but I am excited to make it up to her this weekend. Sunday Justin and I tackled our wedding registry at Crate and Barrel. What am I most excited about you ask...




He got the scanner and I got to browse and point. :)

Last weekend I also invested in a number of Wilton baking supplies such as. . .








and one more I am quite excited about (courtesy of Amazon Prime and sweet speedy service--thank ya babe)....


In third grade news, MCAS: Reading is over which is a sigh of relief. Day 1 went considerably smoother than Day 2. To start out, I had two students out sick the second day of testing. On top of that, one girl wasn't feeling great and visited the nurse's office before testing began. Approximately 20 minutes in, however, she rushed over to me, lips pursed, confessing she felt as though she were to throw up. And that she did. Thinking on my feet, I sent her to the nurse immediately (making the executive decision that a nurse's pass was unnecessary in this situation) and quietly called the nurse asking her to request that Mr. Smith come down to the room and as discreetly as possible clean up the orange juice puddle by the door--all while a class of 8 year olds are busily taking their first ever standardized test. Oy.


Leading up to the test, we had prepared so much and done so many practice passages. It was nice to see questions the students could be comfortable and confident answering.

Third grade has been considerably smoother compared to last year. Not a day goes by when I do not feel incredibly grateful for the well-behaved, engaged, eager, very smart students I have this year. Activities I only dreamed of doing last year run so smoothly this year.

Friday, also Good Friday, becomes Better Friday, because it is a day off , kicking off a long weekend and I will be spending it in the city--visiting Momma in her new office! That evening, Justin and I will excitedly double-date to celebrate Sarah's birthday.

Sunday we will spend Easter in Freetown and I will politely pass the leavened rolls and merely admire the cookies, cupcakes and leavened goodies, as a good Jew should.

February fun

The past few weeks have been jam-packed with meetings, special programs, and workshops. So vacation came at a perfect time!

With school vacation week comes [attempts at] sleeping in, maximum couch time, oodles of baking, little stress, lunch dates with other MA teachers, doctors' appointments, retail therapy and late nights [read: staying up past 9:30.]

In wedding news, the save the dates are stuffed, sealed and in the mail. I absolutely love them! Cute, clever and a little bit different.

Justin and I went to the cake tasting a few weekends ago and all the flavors we tasted were delectable! The question remains round or square....Hmm...

Sarah and I ventured to David's Bridal last week and she played lovely model trying on a bunch of potential bridesmaid dresses. In 35 minutes we narrowed it down to these three.

Dress A

Dress B

Dress C

I asked all of the girls to check out the dresses and choose their two 2 choices. They all chose A! So, my thought is for the bridesmaids to wear Dress A in marine and my two flower girls to wear Dress B in Watermelon.

Next on the wedding checklist is invitations, followed by flowers, tuxes and centerpieces and a honeymoon!

I have collected some images of centerpieces I like...

For Valentine's Day Justin got me a real red rose dipped in gold. So cool. =) My gift to him (us) is a weekend ski getaway next weekend. So excited. =)

my snowboarding hubby-to-be

It's off to relaxing, baking, snuggling with the pup and cheering on USA in curling. =)