I told my dad that if he had a blog, this story should be in it! But since he doesn't, I felt it still to be blog-worthy...
On Tuesday, a little girl went into the school office where he works. She proceeded to tell the secretaries that she knew Jesus' last name..."Amen."
As in, "In Jesus' name, Amen."
I had to chuckle at the originality of her little mind!
Thursday, September 29, 2005
Saturday, September 24, 2005
For My Sister
Sacha went apple picking today in New England. If I had've been with her, my apples would have been used in this recipe:
Jewish Apple Cake
Ingredients
4 lg Apples--Granny Smith or Red Delicious are my favorites-you can use more apples if you'd like
2 tsp. Cinnamon
5 T. Sugar
3 c. Flour
3/4 tsp. Salt
2 1/2 c. Sugar
1 c. Oil
4 Eggs
3 tsp. Baking Powder
2 1/2 tsp. Vanilla
1/3 c. Orange Juice (the secret ingredient!!)
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Peel, core and slice apples. I like mine sliced thinly and cut into one inch pieces.
Combine first three ingredients in a medium sized bowl.
Let sit while combining remaining ingredients in another bowl.
Pour about a one inch layer of the batter into a tube pan.
Place the cinnamon sugar apples in a thin layer over the batter. Make sure the batter is covered, but not too thickly or the cake will stay raw.
Continue to alternate layers until all of the apples and batter are gone. If you end with apples, they may brown or even burn. Be careful!
Bake for 1 3/4 hours. At times, I've needed to add another 20 or so minutes to bake time.
***Sacha, let me know how it turns out! =)
Jewish Apple Cake
Ingredients
4 lg Apples--Granny Smith or Red Delicious are my favorites-you can use more apples if you'd like
2 tsp. Cinnamon
5 T. Sugar
3 c. Flour
3/4 tsp. Salt
2 1/2 c. Sugar
1 c. Oil
4 Eggs
3 tsp. Baking Powder
2 1/2 tsp. Vanilla
1/3 c. Orange Juice (the secret ingredient!!)
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Peel, core and slice apples. I like mine sliced thinly and cut into one inch pieces.
Combine first three ingredients in a medium sized bowl.
Let sit while combining remaining ingredients in another bowl.
Pour about a one inch layer of the batter into a tube pan.
Place the cinnamon sugar apples in a thin layer over the batter. Make sure the batter is covered, but not too thickly or the cake will stay raw.
Continue to alternate layers until all of the apples and batter are gone. If you end with apples, they may brown or even burn. Be careful!
Bake for 1 3/4 hours. At times, I've needed to add another 20 or so minutes to bake time.
***Sacha, let me know how it turns out! =)
Friday, September 16, 2005
Escalators
I don't remember my first outing to the mall. But I wish I did. I am sure it was with my mom. Perhaps it was to look for new shoes for my ever growing feet, or maybe to buy her favorite Lilly of the Valley perfume from Crabtree and Evelyn. I don't remember. But I wish I did.
Simple firsts, like the mall, grocery store, and Target are memories that I've long forgotten. I take for granted my ability to quickly and regularly venture into the community and purchase items on my first fancy or whim. This past Tuesday, I realized that the simple pleasures in life, like visiting the mall, aren't so simple to some. The Pink and Yellow rooms ventured out on a big yellow bus to White Marsh Mall. We left promptly at 9:45, just in time to meet all of the elderly mall walkers and moms out for an early morning trip.
Our adventures began in the pet store. The workers were kind enough to bring out dogs, cats and bunnies. The kids loved it. Then on to new adventures. Two of my students discovered the escalators. Up, they begged. So up we went. Down, they giggled, so down we went. Lo and behold, a candy store at the bottom of the escalator. In we went. In went candy into their tiny mouths. The sign clearly read, "NO taste testing." Hmmm, my students can't read! I giggled, the store manager smiled. Out we went. No more candy store for us.
They sighted it. The escalator. Up, they frantically pointed. So up we went. Down, they pleaded. So down we went. Three more times, up and down, up and down, up and down. I have never heard my students laugh like that before. All I could do was smile and laugh with them. The simple joys of childhood are all too easily overlooked and too quickly forgotten.
I am not sure if my students will remember their trip to the mall that Tuesday morning. But I hope they do. I hope they remember the mounds of candy in the new candy store. The princesses in the Disney Store. And most importantly, the ten rides up and ten rides down the escalators. I am not sure if they will, or even can remember. But I hope they do.
Simple firsts, like the mall, grocery store, and Target are memories that I've long forgotten. I take for granted my ability to quickly and regularly venture into the community and purchase items on my first fancy or whim. This past Tuesday, I realized that the simple pleasures in life, like visiting the mall, aren't so simple to some. The Pink and Yellow rooms ventured out on a big yellow bus to White Marsh Mall. We left promptly at 9:45, just in time to meet all of the elderly mall walkers and moms out for an early morning trip.
Our adventures began in the pet store. The workers were kind enough to bring out dogs, cats and bunnies. The kids loved it. Then on to new adventures. Two of my students discovered the escalators. Up, they begged. So up we went. Down, they giggled, so down we went. Lo and behold, a candy store at the bottom of the escalator. In we went. In went candy into their tiny mouths. The sign clearly read, "NO taste testing." Hmmm, my students can't read! I giggled, the store manager smiled. Out we went. No more candy store for us.
They sighted it. The escalator. Up, they frantically pointed. So up we went. Down, they pleaded. So down we went. Three more times, up and down, up and down, up and down. I have never heard my students laugh like that before. All I could do was smile and laugh with them. The simple joys of childhood are all too easily overlooked and too quickly forgotten.
I am not sure if my students will remember their trip to the mall that Tuesday morning. But I hope they do. I hope they remember the mounds of candy in the new candy store. The princesses in the Disney Store. And most importantly, the ten rides up and ten rides down the escalators. I am not sure if they will, or even can remember. But I hope they do.
Saturday, September 10, 2005
Retraction
Ooops. My dad faithfully reminded me yesterday that we (as educators and service providers) fall under some strict confidentiality guidelines. SO that means all pictures of my kids will be removed from my blog, and I will not be able to continue posting the pictures. Stories, however, are a completely different story! There will surely be more stories throughout the year!
Hope no one out there decided to make money off of selling my pictures. Or went to the parents of my kids and said nasty things about me! hehe.
Hope no one out there decided to make money off of selling my pictures. Or went to the parents of my kids and said nasty things about me! hehe.
Thursday, September 08, 2005
Quiet Voice
I have never said, "Shhh, quiet voice," as many times as I did today! Adelaida, one of my youngest and smallest students, has a tendency to use her inside voice when she's outside and her outside voice when she's inside! The majority of our day today was spent by raising our index finger to our lips and shooshing her. It ended up being a game. Not really a fun game, but a game none the less! She would scream. We would shhh...she would scream louder...we would shooosh. After a while, I broke down laughing. She had to know it was a game. And she played it well! I think Adelaida just wanted to see me looking silly with my "quiet voice" stern face and my shooshing finger at my lips! During OT, the game continued. All the OT could say was, "Libby, You're going to make a great mother!" (Secretly, I think she feels sorry for me and all the shooshing I have to do!)
Besides her rather loud voice, Adelaida is a magnificent signer. She can ask, in a full sentence, for cookies, pretzels and anything else her little heart desires. She is beginning to use sign language to interact with her peers and people in the community! This is my baby who comes from a Spanish speaking home and had NO language when she came to me last year! Amazing! I love my kids.
Besides her rather loud voice, Adelaida is a magnificent signer. She can ask, in a full sentence, for cookies, pretzels and anything else her little heart desires. She is beginning to use sign language to interact with her peers and people in the community! This is my baby who comes from a Spanish speaking home and had NO language when she came to me last year! Amazing! I love my kids.
Monday, September 05, 2005
five down...
175 left to go! For those of you who are teachers, or were teachers, or will be teachers someday, 180 is the magical number. 180 days from the first day of school until the last. 180 days of teaching AND learning. 180 days of joys and pains. (180 days until I back on the white sandy beaches in the Carribean for my first anniversary!) 180 days full of hugs, kisses, laughs, and giddy screams. 180 days with children who need more love and care than I could ever possibly provide outside of God's grace and strength. It seems completely overwhelming. I have been given 180 days to significantly impact the lives of 7 children. 180 days to meet nationally regulated standards for achievement and learning. 180 days to love on my kids like they've never been loved on before! 180 days to ensure they leave the school building better off than they were the moment they walked into my room.
I've talked about my kids so much that I thought I would post their pictures here over the next week or so! I love to brag about them and tell everyone that I really do have the cutest class! So over the next 180 days I am sure that you will hear (and see) stories of our eventful lives in the "Pink" room. WELL...here we go...
The first day of school MIkel drank strawberry milk and had a severe allergic reaction. Think "Hitch" if you've ever seen it! She was rushed to the nurses' office and then wisked away to the hospital by her parents! Never a dull moment in the life of a special educator!
I've talked about my kids so much that I thought I would post their pictures here over the next week or so! I love to brag about them and tell everyone that I really do have the cutest class! So over the next 180 days I am sure that you will hear (and see) stories of our eventful lives in the "Pink" room. WELL...here we go...
The first day of school MIkel drank strawberry milk and had a severe allergic reaction. Think "Hitch" if you've ever seen it! She was rushed to the nurses' office and then wisked away to the hospital by her parents! Never a dull moment in the life of a special educator!
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