Whatever Friday

TGIF people. It's Friday, yay!

Do you have any fun plans this weekend? We have our last (regular season) softball game. And Mel's truck is making a "funny noise" so I'll be spending Jordan's summer camp money at an auto shop, I'm sure. Aren't cars fun??

1. I had fun this week, did you? I made you lots of goodies.

I made you think about what you can do with all your spare time.

I made you a new version of one of my favorite brownies.

And I even made you a new version of one of my favorite cupcakes. Aren't I super nice?

2. Read Crank by Ellen Hopkins. It's unbelievably good. I read over 300 pages in one day. (I mean, sure, it's written in verse so it's a quick read, but still.) Read it, you won't be sorry. And you'll never be tempted to take meth, if you were ever tempted in the first place.

3. Summer is fast approaching. As happy as I am that school is almost out and there will be no more homework fights, I know that I need to keep up the reading and math practice over the summer. Jordan's a good student, but she struggles a lot with reading and math. Last summer was a huge blow to her progress and we've come so far this year that I don't want to lose the momentum. I can't really afford to send her to a tutoring center, so I'm going to attempt to do it at home (no small feat since she refuses to be helped by anyone but her teacher). I need advice on workbooks or apps that would be a great bridge to 2nd grade. Especially apps (or even websites). There are so many out there it's hard to weed through the good and bad. So if you have any ideas for me, please leave a comment or email me!

4. Speaking of homework, I posted this photo last week and got lots of tweets and comments about it, so I thought I'd share it here.

Jordan's normally really good at practicing her spelling words verbally. She usually does it while swinging on the pull-up bar she got for her birthday (because my child cannot sit still even for one second). But sometimes, if the words are hard or if she's having trouble focusing, she gets frustrated. So last week I pulled out an idea I remembered from a long-ago issue of (I think) Family Fun magazine. I put all the letters on post-its and had her spell them on the back door. Totally worked like a charm; she practiced her words, then wrote sentences for another half hour (on her own, no prodding from me). AND she got a perfect score on her test. So, score one for me.

5. It's Flashback Friday, y'all! This weeks flashback is from last Spring.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Oreo Cupcakes. A chocolate cupcake with Peanut Butter Oreos inside, a peanut butter frosting, and chocolate drizzle. These are stick-to-your-ribs milk-is-a-must cupcakes. Sooo good. (What's funny? Same liner packet for these and those Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes. I'm a hoarder.)

Thanks for always reading, I love you guys. :) Next week I'm doing a theme week. The ingredient is one of my absolute favorites, and it's not peanut butter. I hope you'll stop by to drool with me.

Have a wonderful weekend!

xo,