Chocolate Pudding Poke Cake

I'm always on the hunt for yummy treats and here is a recent find!

1 box chocolate cake mix

water, vegetable oil, and eggs called for on cake box

1 box milk chocolate pudding mix

2 cups cold milk

Preheat oven to 350.

Make and cool cake as directed on box for 13x9 pan.

Poke cake every 1/2 inch with wooden spoon handle.

In medium bowl, beat pudding mix and milk with wire wisk for about 2 minutes.

Pour pudding over cake.

Run knife around sides of pan to loosen cake.

Refrigerate about 2 hours or until chilled.

Store loosely covered in fridge.

Enjoy!

(Belated) Thankful Thursday-Timing Is Everything

When the stars line up
and you catch a good break
and people think your lucky
but you know it’s grace
it can happen so fast
or a little bit late
timing is everything

-Garrett Hedlund

This has been a cuckoo week for me as my schedule has been thrown completely out of whack, and I'm the type of person who does not do well with those situations. In fact, look up "Type-A personality" in the dictionary and you will find a blaring picture of yours truly. Yay for being neurotic! The good news is my sweet husband is currently helping me work through this crazy. Here are some things I am thanking our Savior for this week:

*long weekends*

(I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do when I'm expected to actually work a full five day work week again. Trust me, it's going to be a rough transition)

*naps*

(whoever created the concept of children napping in the afternoon was muy muy brilliante!)

*technology for the classroom*

(as I mentioned in a previous post, I am stoked by all that is available to me when it comes to helping my kids learn this year. Hooray for computer nerds!)

*weekends with family and friends*

(we were fortunate enough to spend last weekend with some family, and blessed again to see more family this weekend! I am so grateful for our close proximity to these wonderful people)

*my sweet husband*

(good grief am I blessed by this guy! He shows me more love and grace than I could ever deserve and leads our family with a God-filled heart. I'd say I'm a pretty lucky gal)

What are you thankful for this week?

I Heart Google

Raise your hand if you love and use Google all the time. If you didn't raise your hand, you are lying. I can't tell you how many times a day I "google" something. Or log into my Google email account. Or sign into Google+ to see what every one is up to. Ok, so maybe not so much the last one yet, but all the others are totally true. I mentioned a few days ago in another post how much I adore Google and thanks to our training I now know a gajillion more ways to use it. Ok, ok maybe not a gajillion, but quite a few! Here are some new twists on the old search engine:

• Google Docs: A super awesome way to collaborate with people on a project. There are many different types (listed below), including a basic "doc" similar to a Word Document. You can invite people to edit it, or just view it. Great for people who are working on a project together, but may not be able to meet as often as they want. Can be used in the classroom for group work too!
• Google Forms: Great way to give a survey or to collect information from a group. The information is automatically put into a spreadsheet that you can organize and manipulate as you wish. I used this as a way of collecting information from my students at the beginning of year, and as a tool to collect mid-year information.
• Google Spreadsheets: Just like Excel or Numbers, but on the internet! Graphing options are available. This tool was a lifesaver when planning our wedding. My wonderful hubs put together a spreadsheet that we could all edit with names, addresses, gifts, shower information, etc on it.
• Google Presentation: Another marvy way to collaborate with people when working on a project. So much easier than constantly emailing something or saving it to a flash drive.
• Google Sites: I used this tool to set up my final portfolio for college and couldn't have been happier with the final product. It was very simple to use while also portraying the professional feel I wanted.
• Google Calendar: Can be easily synced with other people's calendars so you can keep up with multiple people's happenings. I also just found out that there is a way to sync it with iCal (Apple's calendar tool)-sweet!
• Google+: I'm still new to this, but what I like what I've seen so far. Kind of like facebook, but without all those silly apps and games. I think this will really take off in a year or so!
• Google Earth: As I mentioned earlier this is the bomb dot com for teachers, but it can be used for much more than just classroom application! Want to see the town you grew up in over the years? Go for it! How about Ground Zero when the World Trade Centers were there? Totally possible! And my favorite, want to follow Kate and William's route after the wedding? You can totally do it!!
• Google URL Shortener: Not a super huge deal, but helpful if you're trying to keep a link short (such as with Twitter's 140 character limit).
• Gmail: Who doesn't love bacoodles of space and folder options? Crazy people that's who! Love this mail option and the chat that accompanies it.

The best part? All of these user-friendly things can easily be found on Google! I'm seriously only skimming the top of the amazingness of Google. I'm sure there are a million more applications that I have no clue about. How do you use Google?

Tech Tools For Teachers

I realized that I have done quite a few picture-heavy posts recently so I thought I'd mix it up with some words. My apologies to all the visual peeps out there. The past two days were spent at an awesome workshop put on by our district to help the teachers learn cool things to do with technology in their classrooms. Now this could go one of two ways: horrible because it's all superfluous information or superb because it's all super helpful stuff. Lucky for us it was the latter!

Our district is fortunate enough to participate in a 1:1 program. For those of you outside of the education world this means that every student has a laptop. Sometimes this can be stressful for those of us who like the "old school" method of pencil and paper, but 99% of the time it is awesome! There is a world of possibility at our fingertips the moment those kids log onto their computers. All types of learners are given an incredible opportunity that would not be available to them the "old school" way. For example, last year my students made their own "choose your own ending" stories in Keynote (powerpoint on Macbooks) with their own pictures and tales to show their knowledge of the elements of literature. How cool is that?!? Pretty freaking cool to this dork!

A downside to all the options out there is that there are so many. It can often be difficult to sift out the good among the bad. Thanks to all of the stellar tech people in our district, most of the work is done for us! Here is a list of some of the new tools I cannot wait to use with this year's kiddos:

• SAS Curriculum Pathways: a totally FREE (a teacher's favorite words) tool covering all the major core classes. It even links up with the Standard Course of Study (now referred to as the Common Core here in NC) and shows lessons under each goal. Does it get much better than that? Nope!
• Google Earth: Seriously awesome tool. I could probably write an entire post about the stellarness of Google (and I probably will one day), but this tool stands out. Want to take your kids to the site of a major battle? How about taking them on the path of a character in novel? Want to show them Japan before and after the tsunami? How about measuring the distance between two locations? You can do all of those things and more!
• Poll Everywhere: Want to take a random poll of your students? Do it here! Could be used as a quick assessment of who is getting the material and who isn't or as an exit pass from class. Super easy to use. They can submit their answers on the website or through text messages. A teacher allowing texting in class? I'm pretty sure every kid would be on board!
• Jeopardy Labs: Who doesn't love reviewing with jeopardy? This can often be a tedious (and not to mention time-consuming) activity for a teacher to create which can be a deter rant to using it in class. Not anymore! Kids can even create their own to quiz each other.
• Xtra Normal: An awesome website that allows kids to create their own cartoons about any topic. Only downside to this is it can be super slow when you try to use it with an entire class at one time.
• Prezi: An alternative the dull powerpoint. 

There were oodles more, but I don't want to bore y'all to death. Hit up Box of Tricks for an A-Z comprehensive list of more activities and websites. Not a teacher? Still lots of cool things you can do with your kids to enhance their learning, or your own school/work activities. Happy tootling around!

Here For A Good Time

I ain’t here for a long time
I’m here for a good time.

-George Strait

Have you ever been to Nashville? If not, it needs to make it to your bucket list! This place is full of sunshine and fun times, at least this past weekend it was! David and I were fortunate enough to tag along with my dad and sisters when they ventured to the Volunteer State for a long weekend of honkey tonkin'. Our days were full of wandering and good food, and our evenings were full of great music and even better drinks. Does life get any better? I think not. Here are a few pictures from our adventure!

 Eating supper at Big River Brewery 

(side note-we ate at this same restaurant on the first night of our honeymoon in Disney!)

Our precious traveling companions

 Trying to cheer up the angry Dick

 A big bearrrrrrr at Whiskey Bend

The lights of Broadway!

 Enjoying a delicious breakfast at Noshville (cute name, huh?!)

 A cutie enjoying her wedding cake cupcake

Another cutie enjoying her midnight chocolate cupcake

 He hated it, can't you tell? Te he he

 A few of the delicious cupcakes at Gigi's!

Hanging out at the famous Tootsie's Orchid Lounge!