We now have to add on THREE days because we have gone over our snow day limit :(
We were supposed have Monday and Tuesday of President's Weekend off, but now we have to come in on Tuesday. I know I am going to be exhausted, because I am coming back late Monday night from what should be a GREAT hiking/spa trip to Utah with my mom and sister for their February birthdays.
We also lost a day at the end of our Spring break. Since I am coming back again late from another awesome trip to Austin for my BACHELORETTE PARTY (Yee-haw!!!) the night before we need to be back at school, I decided I needed to take a personal day the next day :)
We are off again today, no thanks to this stinky nor'easter, so they are taking away a professional development day in April that the kids originally had off.
The wind outside my window is CRAZY SCARY! But at least I get to watch Olympic figure skating live! I even made myself a delicious pancake breakfast!
Speaking of cake, I have had the best time teaching my "Cupcake Mini Course"! At my school, students can sign up for mini-courses. Mini-courses are teacher-led classes that meet every Friday for an 8 week session. We have three mini-courses a year. It is a great way for kids from different grade levels to mix together and learn something they find interesting (some other mini-courses that teachers are leading include card games, cartooning, soccer, Italian, and sewing). I decided to introduce my love for baking/cake decorating in my mini-course!
The first thing I did was teach the kids how to use frosting bags/tips:
I bake the cupcakes beforehand, so the kids have plenty of time to decorate! We also practiced rolling out fondant and making shapes.
Since I am from the DC area originally, I had to pay homage to Georgetown Cupcakes in my mini-course. When I first graduated from college in 2008, I worked in a small bakery during the start of the "Cupcake Craze". That was the same summer that the ladies from Georgetown Cupcake opened their first small shop on a side street in Georgetown. I remember stopping by the shop one stifling summer day after a coworker and I made a cake delivery in the neighborhood. We wanted to be so sneaky "checking out the competition", but we kind of blew our cover because we forgot to take off our chef's coats that had our bakery logo on it! Still, everyone in the store was super nice to us. Obviously, these ladies of GC really knew their stuff, with shops all over the country and lines lines lines galore! And of course, a reality show on TLC. I played an episode for the kids in my mini course to get inspired to create a cupcake scene. The "decorators" sketched out a few ideas and voted on their favorite.
Not surprising, a character from a popular cartoon movie was the winner:
Can you guess who this is? If you are not familiar, this is a minion, from the hilarious movie Dispicable Me, starring Steve Carell, who plays Gru, a super-villian turned loving dad :)
The kids learned how to mix colors and plan out which cupcake needed what color in order to make the minion.
We only have a few sessions left, so we are going to vote on an "original flavor" to bake together, and then decorate it on the last session! I am sad to end this mini-course, but excited for the next session, where I will be teaching TAP DANCING!!!
With that, I am going to get packing for my trip out west! I am ready to leave this cold, snowy east coast for a warmer, drier climate!
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