Off and Running...

Well...hard to imagine, but the school year has officially started!  Yesterday, we had a New Student Orientation and today is the first day for all students.  It was busy getting out of the house this morning. It's funny the routine you get into when you have a regular schedule.  We have a student, Bob, from China that will be living with us for the school year.  I am so crazy in the morning making sure that we are on some sort of time that I actually knocked on his door at 6am this morning to make sure he was going to get up.  Poor kid, Coach is happy that someone else will be there to feel my morning wrath!

We did make it out the door on time and to school in an orderly manner...it's really fun to see the faces of all the students on the first day.  They all have fresh kicks and the latest styles.  I'm wearing a dress that I probably bought 7 years ago at Old Navy.  The upside to that is that the dress still fits!

In the spirit of getting up early I'm going to share a recipe that I got from Pintrest the other day.  The recipe is for Pumpkin Spice Syrup that you can put in your coffee.  I don't know about you, but I have the tendency to spend a decent amount of money at Dunks when the Pumpkin Spice coffee comes out in the Fall.  I figured I would try to make my own so that I can save a little bit of money!

Pumpkin Spice Syrup

What you need:

1 cup water
2 tablespoons of Pumpkin
3/4 cup dark (I used regular) brown sugar
1 whole nutmeg
1 tablespoon whole cloves
1 tablespoon whole allspice
3 4 inch cinnamon sticks

Here's what you do:

Messy desk and it's only the 1st day!

Place all of the ingredients in a pot and place over medium heat.  Stir everything together well and let it simmer for about 15 minutes.  Do not let it boil.  The smell coming off your stove will be amazing!  The syrup will begin to get thicker...you want to stir occasionally.  Once the 15 minutes is up, take the pot off the heat and let it cool to room temp.  I let it sit for about an hour or so.  Next, using a fine strainer, pour the contents of the pot into a jar or air tight container.  I used a mason jar.  Once you are done straining, place your syrup in the refrigerator!  When you are ready to use it, shake it up and pour in your hot or iced coffee.

A few notes:

I really like the pumpkin flavor so I put more then 2 tablespoons...I used 4!! I am on pumpkin overload...between Pumpkin Spice being out at Dunks and Candy Corn at the grocery store - I am so ready for Fall!!

Also, it is a fairly sweet syrup.  You might want to use less sugar or if you are so inclined, you could use a sweetener product like Splenda.

That's all I have for today.  I also started my first day of classes yesterday.  I am working on a Masters in Curriculum, Assessment, and Instruction.  So far, the class is pretty good!  I will keep you posted.

We have a pretty big home game coming up on Friday against the Hermon Hawks...the kids are looking forward to it and actually, I am too!

Thanks for checking in and checking me out!