chocolate and strawberries....need I say more?

Yesterday my friend Amanda who works at a chocolate shop showed me how to make chocolate dipped strawberries. My favorite were topped with cinnamon covered almonds. I will not admit on this blog how many I ate but they were delicious!

"If you build it, they will come"

This week in my first grade class we have been learning about insects. We have made spider webs, listened to "Flight of the Bumblebee," put together ladybugs and other insects, and read lots of books. Because I am a big proponent of hands-on learning I took a little inspiration from "Field of Dreams." The line, "If you build it, they will come" has never been so true! I got out the old bug cage (yes, I made it myself) and the kids have been adding all manner of bugs to it the last couple of days. The cage is pictured below. It doesn't look too full of bugs in the picture, but believe me they are there.



Today was especially comical because we already had several potato bugs, a beetle, and some ladybugs in the cage. When a cricket was added, some of the kids went into hysterics that it would eat the other bugs. Things were going pretty well until the beetle escaped during math later in the day. Luckily, we were able to catch it in time and return it to its cage.

Not to outdo the bug cage, I also decided to bring out the ant farm. Who would have thought a $5.49 tube of ants could bring so much entertainment? The kids are so enthralled by it, it's hard to keep them focused on their work. They would watch the ants all day if they could. Some of their questions about ants were pretty hilarious today. Some of the best were: Do ants eat? If they bite you, will you start bleeding? and Why do ants have to work so hard? This is how much work these little fire ants have accomplished in the last 24 hours!

Spring Break!

This last week was Spring Break so I decided to go home for a few days to see the family. Believe it or not it snowed on Wednesday before I left. Who would have thought in April?



It was deja vu the next few days in Colorado with the same storm. This is what our street looked like.



Despite my being very sick of the snow and very disappointed at missing some great tennis playing, we had fun at home being nearly snowed in. My mom and I went to get manicures (my first ever) and then went to lunch along with my dad. My little sister Whitney and I spent the afternoon putting together this puzzle. We had to take a picture to make all that work worth it! With a little snowshoeing, some snowball fights, a few movies, and some of Dad's famous popcorn, it was a great weekend!



My little brother Nathan introduced me to the world of tech deck. The video shows his homemade skate park and incredible skill at this little known sport. Who would have thought you could have so much fun with old cereal boxes?

It's All In the Shoes

I am not a big t.v. watcher. Actually, I rarely watch t.v. I just don't have the time or interest. However, I did watch What Not To Wear the other night for the first time. This one line from the show inspired this blog post: "The shoe sets the tone for the outfit." So true. So I feel I must confess now- I love shoes! In light of the above quote I thought I would post a picture of my latest shoe purchase. I can hardly wait to wear them!