something sweet adds up to a lot of hairspray

Spice cake with cream cheese frosting is one of Greg's favorites! On Valentine's Day I tried a from-scratch recipe. Fail. The taste was good, but the cake was crumbly and stuck to the paper. He did praise the frosting over and over and asked what else we could put the frosting on.

This was on the heels of an even bigger fail from a from-scratch cupcake recipe that I tried to make for my class. Those went in the trash unfrosted! I bought Little Debbies instead.

I gave in and used a mix for the cake with the original cream cheese frosting. Success.

I am keeping up with my 6th grade math skills by helping Stephanie with her homework. I wonder when she will reach the point where I can no longer be helpful. I took Algebra II/Trig in high school and did well...but now?

This reminds me of a funny story. Last year a substitute didn't show up for one of the 5th grade teachers. So I sold my prep time to take over the class for an hour. It happened to be math. I came in and told the kids to hold on a minute while I took a glance at their math lesson for the day. One of the kids raised his hand and asked if I was going to be able to teach them the math because I was, after all, only a 2nd grade teacher.

He got the classic raised eyebrow from me as I told him that I am more than capable of teaching 5th grade math.

Hoodlum.

Here's a look at the electronics that I have been wearing on a daily basis at school. On the right is the new microphone we got this year. It's works wonders, I tell you.

On the left is a timer that vibrates. I have been wearing it to monitor the behavior of my new student. It vibrates at the interval whatever interval you set it. I was monitoring him every.ten.minutes. After two weeks of this, I decided this was not the answer. I was being held hostage every ten minutes. Every ten minutes I was getting resentful all over again of him coming to our class. I was starting to go nuts! {Ask Greg & the kids!} Thursday I decided that I was going to another monitoring system ~ every hour. Much more manageable and no more nutso...much.

Wendy took the kids and me to dinner and a production of Hairspray put on by the arts high school. It was amazing! I was so impressed by the talent and caliber of production. Wendy knows one of the girls in the musical. When she met the kids after the show, she invited them to come to her senior dance choreography show. The girls are excited about that.

We had a great time. Thanks, Wendy!