From scratch Gingerbread House!!

I did it- i finally did! I made my very own Gingerbread House from scratch! This is the steps. I guess it's best to wait a week. My lovely neighbor gave me the recipe and said to let the pieces dry for a week or so before putting them together. So above and below: day 1

Below: day 5- I couldn't wait any longer! She also suggested using melted sugar to glue the pieces together. This isn't for the inexperienced (that's why I had such a hard time!) it makes a mess and eventually burns even off the heat. But it really does stick well! My other addition would be to use a knife or other straight cutting tool when cutting the pieces from dough, then straightening them once they are cooked and before they are dried out. My house was so lumpy!
Day 6- Gave up on the melted sugar and put the roof on with Royal frosting once the sides had dried. Dont try to put the roof on before the sides dry! What a mess! :) it doesn't take a day, i was just lazy~
Now the decorating! I made this a family event. Much more fun that way! Baby wasn't much help, but did enjoy the candy! Hmmm, we are bad parents! :)

The finished product! Yay! See our family in cookies? We had a lot of fun!

Umm, the background needs to be changed so you can see the words! If you are looking before it's changed try highlighting them to see! :)

Update on life... :)

Hello ladies! I thought I'd update since I'm feeling so inclined! :) This is our sweet baby- he's quite the character already! look at that face! He makes so many faces!

This is us celebrating the 4th of July

Here's our sweetie in this great angle we caught of him. So funny and cute! We love him!

I hope you all are doing well!
The End :)

End of School Year and New BABY!

Hey girls!


I just thought I'd give you all a quick update...


I had my little baby girl on Feb. 4! She got sick with RSV and had to go to the hospital for 2 weeks when she was 8 days old. I took an extended maternity leave and came back to school after spring break. For those of you who didn't know...I taught K-6 music full time at Amelia Earhart Elementary in Provo this last year. I LOVED IT! Anyways, I had a great year teaching, but I'm going to take the next few years off to take care of my little one! :) Here's some pictures of my "Pirate" classroom and of my little Merrilee Anne Brewer! Enjoy!

I need your addresses!

Hey girls! For those of you who didn't know, I am getting married June 12th. I am sending out announcements in the next week, so if you'd like an announcement please send me or post your address. I will try to find my cohort e-mail list and just send the announcement in an e-mail just in case. Love you girls and hope that you are doing well.
Love, Jen Elison

New hair!

Hi Girlies!! It was so , much fun to all get together at Chilies! We definitely have to do it again!

Since this was such a huge change for me I just thought I'd show you all my new haircut! My sister cut it then did a little photo shoot. She's amazing!

More Changes!

Per Jessica's request, we will now get together at 12:30pm... still at Chili's... still on March 13th. Can't wait to see you all!

TIme Change for March 13th

The time for our get together has been changed to 1pm. Still on March 13th @ Chili's.

March 13th!

Here are the details for our get together. Please pass on the word!

Date: Saturday, March 13th.
Time: 11:00am
Place: Chili's in Orem (on University Pkwy)

Come for a chance to visit and catch up. I was thinking we could share appetizers 0r get a light lunch. I can't wait to see all of you!

Love, Meg

Get Together

I'm thinking it's about time that we get together again. What are your preferences in getting together? Weekends? Weekdays? February? March? Let me know what you think and I'll let everyone know the time and place.

I Have This WONDERFUL Rug In My Classroom...

...there's just one problem:

What do I do with student number
31?

Houston-- we've got a problem...

Loving Third Grade

I am loving my third graders. I feel like we have developed our own little world and we feed off of each other all day long. My students' latest is to comment about my "waiting face." They'll start whispering to each other, "Miss Larsen has her waiting face on, be quiet." Sometimes, however, their whispering makes me laugh and then they'll start to argue about whether or not I have my "waiting face" on because I am smiling. They also enjoy giving me a hard time about my Diet Coke addiction. I told them that I have to drink it because I'm allergic to third graders and Diet Coke is my medicine. I love my 23 kids and look forward to each day I get to spend with them.