An Apple for the Teacher

It's the start of a new school year for me and for my 27 new students. Tomorrow is the first day of the 2010-2011 school year, and I'm starting my 7th year with the largest class I've ever had. It wouldn't be the start of the year without excitement mixed with nerves. I can't help but wonder what challenges are ahead of me, and I'm excited to meet those challenges with energy and knowledge. It's always a little bit sad when I delete the names of last year's kids from my computerized class list to replace them with this year's list. But the chance for a fresh start and the hope of bonding with a new group makes it worth the new start each August. I made these "back to school" cupcakes for our teacher meetings at the beginning of the week. I promised a co-worker some cupcakes for doing a favor for me, and she was nice enough to share these "apples" with other teachers. The cupcakes are neatly displayed on my new cupcake stand from my future mother-in-law. What a nice way to show off my creations. Hopefully I can make some time to keep up the cupcake hobby throughout this school year!

S'more Cupcakes Please!

Over the past two weeks my fiancé and I traveled throughout the northwestern United States and through Canada by motorcycle. We began the journey in Missouri and drove north until we reached North Dakota. After two days of driving west across North Dakota and Montana, we arrived at Glacier National Park where crystal clear waters reflected towering mountains. It was beautiful! After traveling across the Canadian border, we spent our first night camping instead of continuing our formerly established pattern of crashing in small town motels. I have to admit, I was less than excited about camping. The last time I went camping was in early college, and it was only for one night. I knew this could be multiple nights, and we were limited on supplies we could bring due to the lack of motorcycle trunk space. (Well, we might have had a trailer, but I still had to bring fewer pairs of shoes than desired). Much to my surprise, I had a fantastic time camping. My fiancé and I enjoyed the challenges of putting up a tent together for the first time, and I especially enjoyed making S'mores over the campfire. I managed to survive camping for three nights in a row. These cupcakes are in honor of my new found joy for camping. I was able to find campfire cupcake “aprons” to put around the liners. Another great part of these treats is they are filled with marshmallow creme with the help of an amazing contraption that allows you to fill cupcakes with just about anything. Yes, below you will see pictures of a recent gift from my future mother-in-law. It’s easy to use and makes filling cupcakes a simple process. I received another great cupcake gift, and I have plans to use it in my next post. Thanks, mom-in-law! I am obviously joining the right family!