Crock Pot Hash Brown Breakfast Casserole

This recipe is one that I recently pulled back out because it's SO EASY and so so so good! I love that I can prep it the night before and wake up to my house smelling delish and it's the perfect thing to put in the crockpot before an early morning because you wake up and it's ready! 

Teacher Tuesday: New Role

I mentioned on instagram a couple of times that last Spring and earlier on in the summer that I stepped into a new role on campus for this school year and have had THE HARDEST time writing this post! 

I think it's because I have absolutely LOVED teaching math for the past 20 years (yes... 20 years!) and so stepping out of that and into something new (technically new-ish), while exciting, has had me a little bit nervous and in my feels. It's not that I was burnt out and DYING to get out of the classroom - I absolutely loved teaching Math - so this is all feeling new and completely different so I've been busy kind of figuring things out and finding my groove a bit ;) 

So here's the deal - when I started teaching 20 years ago I was also tasked with running our "Upper School" student government. The school was MUCH smaller than it is now and this included student activities (homecoming, dances, etc.) for grades 7-12. About 15 years ago our school split from "lower" and "upper" to lower, middle and upper and I was put in charge of middle school and then did the "social/student life" portion of high school while another teacher took over the chapel program. Fast forward a few more years and I had three babies and opted to give up the high school portion of my position and focus just on middle school. 

Then, about 3 years ago my principal asked me to start a House system in the middle school with about 2 weeks notice. Apparently he had a lot of faith in me ;) and I've spent the last 3 years building that program while continuing to plan our regular middle school dances and doing this all alongside teaching 6 math classes. 

As our campus grew even more I was approached about the possibility of stepping into a leadership role that would encompass Student Life for both our middle and high school campuses. Allowing me to continue to build the House program and middle school culture to more of it's potential and then breathing some new life into our high school through enhancing our current programming and bringing in some new events, traditions, and fun things.... while not teaching 6 classes. 

I prayed about it A LOT and really felt like God was calling me to step a bit out of my comfort zone and into this new position as Luke wraps up his time at MCA and I'm about to have two kids in high school. So I'm now the Director of Student Life (and am teaching one elective class that's a half block - but more on that later! hahaha).

 I'm not going to lie... I miss the stickers ;) and I miss the structure of having my day focused around a class schedule but overall I am SO EXCITED to use my experience to create a vibrant student life culture and have so many fun things up my sleeve for the year. 

THANK YOU so much for all of the kind messages over the summer as I casually mentioned the job change - they were super encouraging and meant a lot to me!

HAPPY Tuesday, y'all!

First week of school in 2006 and yesterday ;) 

Friday Favorites

 

Happy Friday, friends! Erika and I are so excited that lots of y'all are linking up with us every week.  Make sure that you're grabbing our graphic, linking back to us and sharing your own Friday Favorites post ;)

This week has FLOWN by and I have been awful at taking pics! Thankfully the church posted these of some of my FAVORITE girls ;) 

Spirit Jeans

When G was in 5th grade we decided to make a pair of "spirit overalls" for Homecoming and a tradition was born ;) 

What's Up Wednesday

    Today I'm linking up with  Shay and  Sheaffer to talk a little bit about what's been going on around here! I started this post Tuesday afternoon and then was IN BED AND ASLEEP by 8:30 Tuesday night and never finished! So here we are ;)

I have been on a MAJOR salad kick recently! I'm loving the mediterranean crunch kit from Costco with grilled chicken.

Five Follows

 

It's been a minute since I've shared Five Follows but I have some fun ones for you today ;) 

Morgan's account is SO MUCH FUN and I adore how she documents the renovation of her chateau. Yes../ she's renovating an actual chateau. SO COOL!

Homemade Sandwich Bread

I've had a recipe for homemade sandwich bread screenshotted and saved on my phone for probably over a year and last weekend decided it was time. WHAT WAS I EVEN WAITING FOR!!! Using yeast intimidated me for years but it honestly couldn't be easier so if you've been on the fence or think bread is hard to make PLEASE JUST TRY! If I can do it so can you! And look at this GORGEOUS sandwich bread! This recipe makes three loaves and we gobbled up all three in a week. 

 

What you'll Need...

2½ tbsp active dry yeast

3 cups warm water (a little warmer than a baby bottle)

1 tbsp sugar 

⅔ cup honey

6 cups bread flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

4 tbsp melted salted butter

1 tbsp salt

What You'll Do...

• In a bowl, add in your warm water, dry yeast and sugar. Stir well. Let it sit for a few minutes or until there is a foam on top. If you don’t have a foam, start this process over. You HAVE to have the foam because that means your yeast is active.
• Stir in your honey, melted salted butter and salt. Mix well. (I use the dough hook on my stand mixer)
• Add in 6 cups of bread flour and mix until incorporated. 
• Add in the cup of whole wheat flour. Mix well until everything is incorporated. If the dough is still pretty sticky, add in another 1/4 cup of flour. Keep adding flour until the dough doesn’t stick to your finger when you poke it.
•  If you’re using a mixer, use the dough hook and mix for 2-3 minutes. 
• Place a dish towel over the dough in a bowl. Set it aside and let it double in size (mine takes about 45 minutes)
• Put the dough onto a floured surface and divide it into 3 parts. Form it into loaves and place then into greased bread pans. 
• Cover again with a towel and let them rise again. They should almost double in size (mine takes about an hour).
• Bake the bread in a 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes or until the top is golden brown.

I typically slice up one loaf and leave it in a ziplock in our pantry and then leave the other two in ziplock bags in the fridge. It's MUCH easaier to slice when it's cool adn it's delicious for sandwiches, toast, or just on it's own.

If you try this out I'd love to hear what you think!

HAPPY Monday, friends!

Friday Favorites

 Happy Friday, friends! Erika and I are so excited that lots of y'all are linking up with us every week.  Make sure that you're grabbing our graphic, linking back to us and sharing your own Friday Favorites post ;)

First up on my list of FAVORITES is this cutie sunflower dress I wore last Sunday! It's old Anthro anad I forgot how much I love it!

Reading Recap

 I haven't had as much time to read as I would like BUT I have read a few keepers in the past few weeks that are worth sharing!

 The Husbands

Cards for Hospitalized Kids

 You can tell that this week has been a busy one because I'm resharing a few things BUT I promise I'll be back with new in the next few days!

In the meantime - I'll never miss an opportunity to talk about Cards for Hospitalized Kids because it's one of my FAVORITE organizations ever.  Today I'm sharing some Fall/Halloween ideas in case you need something fun to do with you and your kids/class/etc. this week/weekend to get you in a pre-Fall mood. We live on the surface of the sun and I am currently taking any opportunity I can to pretend that it's cool weather and coloring a few Halloween/Fall themed cards while eating something cozy may be just the ticket!

Attendance Questions

   I've mentioned before that my teacher achilles heel was ALWAYS attendance.  I was bad at recording it, bad at remembering it, just BAD at it.  Which isn't ideal since it's kind of a big deal when I'm grading, sorting out makeup work, etc. 

Two years ago, instead of just taking roll at the beginning of class and having kids say "here" I started asking a random question and then their response is their "here".  It's great because the kids don't let me forget! ;) hahaha

They look forward to the questions and it doubles as a fun little ice breaker as well.  

Blue-spiration

 I posted a few pics of Griffin on IG all dressed up in her house color on Friday and immediately got a TON of requests for links to her spirit items and lots of questions about her star want ;) SO HERE WE GO!