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Cake Catalogue #5

Autumn Spice Cake with cream cheese icing.
Taking this one to my “other school” since my friends there have not had one yet.

My Top 10 List

I am happy to report that so far this has been my best year of teaching (or at least my favorite).  And I have to admit that towards the end of last year, spring semester, I was not feeling that way at all.  Certain classes and different things about the job really stressed me out.  There were definitely times when I would question “why am I doing this?”

So what is it that makes this year better?  Maybe it’s just having more experience ‘under my belt’.  Maybe it’s a fresh set of kids.  I know a big part of it is better preparation with my planning and feeling a lot more comfortable throughout the week.  Whatever the reason, I love the fact that now I truly look forward to showing up at school every morning and sharing music with my kids!  (Fighting traffic at 6:40 a.m…..not so much.)

I thought I would share my Top 10 List of things I love about this school year:

10.  The kindergartners still don’t know my name so they just call me “Mrs. Music.”  Ehh, close enough.
9.  Even though I don’t enjoy traveling room-to-room it is so satisfying to open the door to a classroom and hear the squeals from the kids when they realize it’s time for music.
8.  The fact that even 5th graders, the Big Kids, still get excited about having their name written on a piece of paper saying they did a good job.
7.  Kids stopping me in the hallway to ask “Are we having music today?” even when they already know the answer.
6.  Getting hugs from students on their way into the room, especially when they’re a foot taller than me.
5.  How kids think that getting foam hand sanitizer on the way out the door is such a big deal (and good for me to stop the spread of germs!)
4.  How I’m able to sneak concepts into our lesson and call it a ‘game’ so the kids think they’re just having fun but they’re secretly learning something too (hehe).
3.  That I had 137 kids try out for choir this year, and how even though I said over and over I would only accept 40- I ended up with 55 because their behavior was just that awesome.
2.  Choir has to be on here twice!  I thought it would be so hard trying to manage that many kids in my tiny space.  But they are such hard workers, with positive attitudes, and they pull out their music and just start practicing before I even give them any directions.  And they sound wonderful!
1.  The fact that each day is a new adventure.  It’s not always easy and I still have lots of challenges.  But God has blessed me so greatly with this job and thanks be to Him who has helped me to persevere.  I am finally seeing the good rewards. =)

Cake Catalogue #4

Here is a cake I did for our counselor at school.  Her mother-in-law’s birthday is this week, so she wanted something pretty.

Got to practice with my new embossing tools so that was fun.  My new favorite thing is having Kevin in the kitchen with me when I’m decorating and listening to him “ooh and ahh.”  There’s nothing like having the approval of your spouse =)

Cake Catalogue #3

Today Kevin’s office had a “food day” in order to kick off the new football season.  I wanted to make a Tennessee cake but I figured no one would eat it; so to be fair I did an all SEC cake that everyone would support.

The result:

Top of cake- West and East conference

Alabama, Auburn, TENNESSEE, Vandy

Florida, Georgia

South Carolina, Kentucky, Ole Miss, Mississippi State

Arkansas, LSU