Had a fantastic New Year's Celebration with our new family at Clearview Church of Christ! There was great fellowship, great fun and of course, great food! I took a new recipe which is now going to become a staple take-along. It was a Peaches & Cream Cake! So easy and so yummy!!! Also a very versatile recipe. you can change the cake mix and pie filling to meet your likes. We chose the peach for something a little lighter.

Peaches & Cream Cake

1 box Butter Flavored Cake mix
3 large eggs
1 can peach pie filling

Mix ingredients well and pour into cake pan. Bake at 350 for 35 min. When cooled, top with cream cheese icing (1 block cream cheese mixed well with about 4 cups powdered sugar or however much is needed to create the desired consistency).

If you change the flavor of cake mix and pie filling you may want to change the type of icing used.

Enjoy!!

The end of a long weekend! Bitter-Sweet. Actually more sweet than bitter as this afternoon and this evening I will have the opportunity to meet with the parents of my students at Parent Teacher Conferences. The face and format of these meetings have changed so much over the many years I have been a part of this process. Tonight I hope to set short term goals in order for my students to end this year on the best possible note and to make the transition into middle school a smooth one. The following is a link to several strategies I hope to implement with my students at school and encourage parents to implement at home. Take a look and provide feed back as well as any other fantastic resources you may have found to achieve this goal.

http://www.greatschools.org/special-education/health/980-smoothing-your-childs-transition-to-middle-school.gs?page=3

Wonderful run this morning! Extremely fitting that Mandisa's Stronger came on as the last song of the run (which is entirely an uphill stretch). Made me reflect on all that we do which makes us stronger. I am 44 years young and I remember as a teenager thinking about how old people in their 40's were. Boy, was I wrong. By pursuing a lifestyle which makes us stronger (stronger in mind and body and also spiritually) we are creating a lifestyle which will create in us a greater ability to endure and therefore a greater ability to encourage others and push them to meet their goals and become stronger as well. Those we encourage could be our own family members, or complete strangers. It is only dependent upon the opportunity. The main point is that we have strive to become the strongest we can be (physically, mentally, and spiritually) in order to build stronger community/families. 

The Beginning

This is the beginning of a work in progress. I have learned so much from the blogs of others that I wanted to try my hand at contributing. 

This blog is a four part blog. "Heart" will have entries which pertain to faith. I am a member of the Fountain Head Church of Christ and believe whole-heartily in the importance of continually strengthening my personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. "Health" is the blog page where I intend on motivating others in their journeys to have healthier bodies. Within the last year and a half I have lost a total of 40 - 50 pounds. I suffer with severe allergies and asthma and was told by my ENT that I needed to lose the weight or I could possibly end up on oxygen at a fairly young age. I have since taken up running and made many changes in my diet which I would love to share and will use this page to do so. "Home" is the page I plan on using to show off our amazing family. My husband and I have 3 fabulous daughters and I wanted a place to show case their talents and adventures and so this is it. "Mind" is the page I hope to use to give back to the teaching community. I have gleaned so many fabulous ideas from other teachers through their blogs and posts on pinterest. Great teachers are always looking for more effective ways to reach their students. Through this page I hope to contribute to the plethora of wonderful teaching ideas already flooding the web. 

If you choose to follow, wonderful. Drop a post and let me know. Share: more of what you would like to see, less of what you would like to see, ideas, suggestions, questions etc.