It's Official!

I am now a for real resident of Pennsylvania! Friday I had a day off of school and I took full advantage of it by getting my Pennsylvania license and license plate. I finally got a different car and I now am rocking PA plates. Finally!

Lenny rocking the new license plate... I'm still trying out names. 

It was a strange feeling, changing in my license and plate. I have been living here for 8 months and feel like this is now home. However, Wisconsin has been and always will be home-home. Not familiar with the term home-home? That's because I just sort of made it up. I do that sometimes, just ask my students! Anyways, I consider Wisconsin my home-home, which is the place I grew up, where I will go back to for holidays, where my family lives, the place I can always go to and feel familiar, cozy, and all warm and fuzzy.

With that said, my home is now Pittsburgh. It is still strange to say that, but it really does feel like it. I am establishing a life here, making great friends, loving my job, and really feeling like I have a place where I belong. It is amazing to see how much life has changed since August, when I was still hesitant if moving someplace new was the right choice.

It was definitely the right choice and after making it "official" with my license and license plate, I feel so...at peace. God chose to place me here and now I definitely know why. He knew the people I needed in my life and knew the place where I was needed. It feels so wonderful to have life somewhat figured out, at least for the moment! These past few weeks I have made myself pause to take time to look back and see how faithful God has been. When I am feeling worried or anxious about something, I simply look back to see how God has carried me through time and time again.

Now I know I have said this several times before, but I have to constantly remind myself and those who may be in need of reminding as well. Times may get tough and the waters may be rough, but God WILL get us through it. It is astounding to me just how amazing our God truly is, how patient He is with us, and how much He loves us.

So, Pittsburgh, I hope you are ready for me to stay for a little while! Although I must admit, I like the Wisconsin plates better! No offense PA! :)

Family, Farming, and Food

Multiple choice/fill in the blank question for you.

Life has been rather ________ lately.

a.) busy  b.) crazy  c.) awesome  or d.) all of the above

For me, I would choose option d. While it has been crazy and busy, life has also been really awesome. For the past few weeks, I have been helping out with my school's spring production/musical. They put on "101 Dalmatians, in which students kindergarten through 6th grade were involved and a few upper school students were as well. I did what I could, rather odd jobs and helping where needed. I even sewed a few things too! It was super fun, albeit exhausting as well, but the performance was this past Friday night and it was WONDERFUL! I was so proud of them all. They were all such cute puppies! It was also really rewarding to get to know students in the other grades as well and establish a relationship with them. All in all, it was great. Really, really great!

What made this past weekend even better was a visit from my family! Not only did my parents visit, but 2 of my aunts, Beth and Barb came along, as well as a surprise addition of my sister! They got to see my students perform "101 Dalmatians" too and enjoy the weekend here in Pittsburgh. While it was a beautiful weekend, it also happened to be St. Patrick's Day and we figured out that Pittsburgh has one of the biggest parades in the country. We didn't partake in the festivities, but did hit up some hot spots including Mount Washington and Primanti's.

My sister, my mom, and I at Mount Washington.

If you have never been to Primanti's, you have to go. It is a Pittsburgh area restaurant, so you would have to visit! Check it out, because it is an unique and delicious place to eat. Most of my family was a fan. I love it. If you go, get the black angus sirloin steak sandwich. Do it, you won't regret it.

My sister is going to kill me, but here she is trying a Primanti's sandwich. She had ham on her selection.

The final highlight to the weekend was a game. Not just any game, "Life on the Farm" game. This is the game I played throughout my childhood. My Grandma Ongna owned the game and my Jensema family played it every year at Christmas Mountain in Wisconsin Dells. It is basically Monopoly, but with farming. It is awesome. Perhaps I am biased, being a farm kid and all. We played it Saturday night after frying out at my cousin Ryan's place and enjoying the beautiful weather. We were all falling over from laughter...all in all it was the best time.

The Farm Game!

Basically it was an amazing, fantastic, wonderful weekend that went by all too fast. I am so grateful they all got to visit and see a bit more of my life around here. I love my family, so so much, and for them to see the area and people I have grown to love means the world!

My wonderful aunts, Barb and Beth.

Fruity Fractions

Math was a subject that I did not like at all throughout my school days. Whether it be grade school all the way through college, I never ever liked math. I actually somewhat upset a professor once with my dislike for math. On the first day of our teaching math course in college, he asked us to honestly tell him how we feel about math. I told him I did not like it all, not one bit. He mumbled something, gave me a weird look and moved on quickly.

With that being said, I have worked hard this year to make math as enjoyable to my students as I can, seeing how much I disliked it. I've actually found I really love teaching math! There are concrete answers, with concrete methods to come up with those answers. Plus you can use a ton of manipulatives to aid in your teaching.

Well we have just been studying a chapter in math on geometry type content, 2 and 3 dimensional shapes, vertices, angles, etc. Our last few lessons we have been dipping into fractions. When you study fractions OF COURSE you have to have pizza of some sort to help you get the picture. So I brought in the ingredients for fruit pizza. Yum! We talked about how many lines of symmetry a circle has, how we could split up this pizza into equal parts for each person in our class, and how much each person would get. It was a delicious and fun lesson! Plus fruit = healthy. Win/win.

Here is the super easy recipe for those of you who would like to make your own fruity fraction pizza!

1 roll of sugar cookie dough (I buy this pre-made at the store, for convenience)
1 8 oz. container of cool whip
1 3 oz. package of cream cheese
Various fruit cut up into bite size pieces

Simply spread out the cookie dough on a pizza pan sheet and back at the temperature given on the package. Bake until slightly golden brown.
Mix the cream cheese and cool whip together, then spread on cooled cookie dough crust. Then top with your favorite fruit in whatever pattern you so choose! For our fruit pizza, I used pineapple, kiwi, and blue berries. Its fun, delicious, and somewhat nutritious! Enjoy!

Yum!

What Friends...er Cars...Are For!

As you may have learned by now, I am not a fan of goodbyes. This past weekend I had a particularly rough goodbye. I had to say goodbye to my dear and wonderful car, Franklin. Yes, my car is/was named Franklin and yes, I am dedicating an entire post to my car. 

Franklin was a 1993 Mazda Protege, automatic seat belts and all. I'm sure that back in the day it was a pretty sweet ride. It got me where I needed to go including a ton of trips between Iowa and Wisconsin, down to Georgia (including up a mountain, yikes!), across the lake to Michigan, and around the hills of Pennsylvania. Sure, it had its quirks, including a recent incident when it choked my roommate with the automatic seat belt. She's fine, no worries! One of my friends who rode home with me in college told me he felt like he was riding in a clown car. All quirks aside, it was a very reliable car and I loved it.

The trusty ole guy.

Well, the time finally came for me to replace him. More like the time came when the car started smoking while sitting just outside of the Squirrel Hill tunnel. That terrible panicked feeling was enough to get me car shopping. I was very wary of being a young girl looking for a new car in a bigger city, so I did what many girls would do in my situation. I called my dad!

My dad found a car for me back in Oostburg thanks to our neighbor Tony who helps run the local car dealership/repair shop. Julia and I were crazy enough to drive home over the weekend and go pick up the car. Besides running into some of the craziest weather ever, it was an awesome trip! We got to spend a day with family and friends and I traded Franklin in for a new-to-me car.

The new acquisition? A 2001 Mazda 626 LX. When I tell people what kind of car it is, I feel all cool being able to rattle off the numbers and letters, like I know what I am talking about. I don't, but still, I can sound pretty convincing. It is an awesome car with lots of room, plus it hasn't starting smoking yet which I take as a good sign.

The new guy!

I have just taken yet another step into adulthood with buying my first car. It feels...strange. But I am loving my new ride! I am still searching for that perfect name. If you have any opinions or suggestions, I am most definitely open to them. In the mean time, I'll be cruising the streets of Pittsburgh, soaking up my new-ish car smell.