School House Rock

I currently teach 5th grade at an amazing school that I am so blessed to be a part of.

Teaching is without  a doubt my calling.

I could list many reasons as to why I love teaching but at the end of the day

it is all about seeing the kiddos learn and grow everyday.

Kids are hilarious and enjoyable to be around and make

everyday so fun and never, ever do we have a dull moment in 5th grade.

A fun part of teaching is bulletin boards.

Here are a few of my favorite over the past 3 years.

I will create another post with this years board goodness!

 This was such a fun little craft. 

On the "party hat" (which I eventually put a fuzzy ball on) students

wrote his/her New Years resolution. 

We then connected this craft and resolution to a short writing passage

of how we can make these goals become reality. 

This fun board got covered with glitter snow fakes.

My Mom made all of this and even came and put it up!

The lights at the top blinked and I still use the snowman and banner each year.

 This is one of my all time favorites!

On the outside pieces of popcorn were tricky state assessment questions 

that we had used to review.

 Another fun and 3D board by my Mom!

Yes, the pinwheels were real.

Yes, they spinned.

So adorable and fun for Spring Break!

 This was a great writing activity for the last weeks of school.

We mad a simple acrostic using a summer noun.

 I had seen this on Pintrest somewhere and had to use it

when we were practicing writing sequential order and time order events.

Finally, a simple fall board with fall sensory poems around it.

Weekly Menu

{What's For Dinner}

As much as I truly enjoy cooking and sitting down with Drew each night,

planning a menu can get old. 

I try to keep a variety of dinners and keep it as healthy as possible during the week

while staying within a reasonable budget.

So after every Saturday I sit down with my computer and check the local grocery ads.

This is by no means a fun task, but I do get some nerdy thrill out of saving

some $$ on goodies that we normally use.

I do clip coupons but by no means take it seriously.

I clip only the items we use, nothing new.

For awhile now I've notice that I save more following store sales than trying to buy 

the brand that my coupon would use.

And every now and then the stars a line in my favor and something that

is on sale in the store also has a coupon in my messy stash in my purse.

Based off of what is already in our pantry, what was on sale, and week plans here is the menu:

~Sunday, left over taco soup (amazing) with grilled cheese

http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/taco-soup-111547.aspx

~Monday, a new taco bake that I found on Pintrest- will post soon

~ Tuesday, chicken lasagna roll-ups that I just had to try after seeing them on a great blog

http://hellonewlywedlife.blogspot.com/

~Wednesday, fresh loaded salads and sweet potatoes

~Thursday, we are hosting small group and feeding 8 people can be tricky

 and I try to still be mindful of my budget, sales, planning, etc.

I will be making a big batch of spaghetti

 and making chicken pesto shells.

Others will bring salad and bread, should be yummy fellowship!

~Friday, possible family dinner with Drew's family

~Saturday, eat or grill out (kitchen's closed!)

~Sunday, making a birthday feast for my Mamma~

more to come...

{S'More Cookies Please...} Chocolate chip, s'more cookies

On the weekends 80% of our weekend pretty much reVOLS around Tennessee football and other SEC games that we don't want to miss. 

Watching the game TN at Alabama was a bit hard on a Vols fan.

But we love our Vols and needed something sweet!

I used my usual chocolate chip cookie recipe and simply placed them on graham crackers, added some mini marshmallows, and a slice of Hershey's. 

Super simple choclate chip cookes go like this:

*I toss it all into my Kitchen Aid mixer just because it is so easy, but this can be done by hand too!

1 melted stick of butter, 1 egg, 1 tsp of vanilla, 1 cup of packed brown sugar,

about 3 cups of Bisquick.

Mix it all together then add the chips. 

Once I got them stirred in I added the mini marshmellows.

Rolled them up and put them on a graham cracker.

Added the Hershey piece on top.

Baked at 375 for about 13 minutes.

yummy, gooey, chocolate perfection!

The cookie baked into the graham cracker and the wax paper on the cookie sheet made for easy clean up.

My kind of cookie!

{foolproof} chicken fajitas in the crockpot

I really enjoy cooking and I love that Drew and I can sit down together every almost every evening together and have dinner while catching up on each other's day. 

I make an effort to cook at least four somewhat healthy/clean dinner meals a week. 

We usually eat out some on the weekends so I really try to make our home meals good for us. A plus side to good dinners = good lunches. 

I'm also human and generally Mondays are a bit tiring at school and not every night do I feel like coming home walking the dog, cleaning up the house, grading papers, AND cooking a big dinner.

 So crock pot to the rescue! 

Another advantage to cooking with the crock pot is that I can "throw" a lot of stuff into including can goods that I can usually get on sale and that's a plus with my weekly budget.  This recipe is amazing and so insanely easy that I can truly throw together on my way out in the mornings. 

 Here is what you will need: 

I used 1.25 pounds of thin boneless, skinless chicken breast so I could have plenty of left overs.

1 pack of fajita spice mix or taco mix would work

2-3 bell peppers cut into chunks (color and amount depends on what you like)

1 onion also cut into chunks

After cutting up the veggies, I toss them into the crock pot.

The veggies are on the bottom then add the chicken on top of them.

On top of the chicken, pour your entire pack of fajita spice mix. 

I knew I was going to be gone from 6:45 AM and not get back till at least 4:15 or so. 

I was concerned that my chicken may dry out by 4:00 so I used my spice envelop and filled it twice with water to ensure my chicken would still be juicy.

It was a bit OVER juicy, so if you feel you need to add water I would just do 1  filled envelop.

And that's it....truly.

(definitely needed a slatted spoon ha) 

Seriously, even if "over juiced" they were amazing. 

I topped mine with fresh guacamole, a bit of cheese, and salsa!

The Hubs loves them too and they are even better the next day. 

Enjoy!

Mr. & Mrs. Irons

Meet the Newlyweds

My husband Drew and I met on our very first day of high school. We instantly became friends and stayed friends for many years. (obviously)

Teachers,friends, and family members would often say, "You and Drew would be such a great couple." We were such great friends that I couldn't imagine it.

Well fast forward to our second year in college.

For the first time in a long time we both found ourselves single and we were talking more than ever. 

After a long evening of talking, Drew finally asked me out to dinner the next night. We went to Olive Garden and then to a yogurt place where it was very obvious that we had something special and that this was the start of something great #love 

On March 29th, 2012 Drew purposed on the beach at sunset which will be one of the most special and heartfelt moments of my life

On June 1st 2013 we became Mr. & Mrs. Irons in our hometown of Clinton, Tennessee. 

We had our dream wedding (big thanks to my mom!) and the ceremony and  reception were something out of my dreams.

This is where the blog "Sugar,Spice, & Newlywed Life" begins.

More details on the rustic,shabby chic wedding to come!

So I've decided to start a blog...

I love cooking, crafting, and teaching and often gather my inspiration from either Pintrest (oh how I love Pintrest) or other blogs. With that being said, I'm often told, "Michelle you should share that idea on a blog!" Well I've decided to give it a whirl and I'm kind of excited about it! 

My favorite blogs feature daily life post about family, cooking, and other daily things that are fun to read and a great break from our busy lives and generally are pretty relate able. The more I get into reading blogs the more I enjoy them and feel like I know the "authors" to these blogs. 

On this blog I hope to share cooking ideas, especially on preparing meal on a budget and generally a meal for two. (Irons Party of 2) Also, crafts and fun ideas that all girlies of all ages enjoy.

So lets see where this goes!