Teacher Appreciation 2014

Teacher Appreciation week is so fun!  I think we have the best teachers in our little town and I love letting them know how much they're appreciated!  I enjoy being a part of the PTO teacher appreciation committee, but I also send a small gift for my kid's teachers every day.

Coming up with ideas is super easy thanks to pinterest!  I have a Teacher Gifts board so that I can always refer to it when I want to send a quick gift.  The day after Halloween, after a snow day, after Christmas break and other random times in between I also like to send a little something.

Monday, I sent M&Ms.  There were so many ideas to use M&Ms, but I had made my own printable a couple years ago, so I just used it again with some cute chevron cardstock.  I also made sure find out their favorite M&M flavor!

Tuesday, I sent B12 gummies for Katie's teacher and bacon jerky for Kelton's.  These two were my ideas!

Wednesday was hand soap.  I like having the kids trace and cut out their hands to go with this one.  The printable is great and one I will continue using for years, I'm sure!

Thursday was mountain dew for Kelton's teacher and gum for Katie's teacher.  I believe this was the 3rd time I'd sent soda for him, but hey you do what works!  There's a great printable pack that I used for the gum.

Friday, Katie's teacher got a candle and Kelton's teacher got deer sticks.  I found the candle saying on pinterest with no link, so I created my own printable.  Obviously Kelton and I came up with the deer printable as deer sticks probably aren't a common teacher gift.  The kids liked signing their names on these ones.

Katie insisted all the kindergarten teachers needed a treat from her.  I found this cute saying on pinterest also, but again no link so I created my own printable.  Kelton gave out some to other teachers he liked also.

We also had payday candy bars and 100 grand candy bars for the nurses, secretaries and principals.

The secretaries at Katie's school got these cookies.

One of my friends is a para at Katie's school,
so we couldn't leave her out!

Last but not least, I had to make sure Learn and Grow knows how much we appreciate them.  I saw this little saying on pinterest but the link was to etsy.  I'm certainly not paying for a printable when I can make one myself!

Whew!  It was a busy week but our teachers are worth it!

Katie's EXCITING Kindergarten field trip

This year for the Kindergarten field trip, the kids got to go to Botanica.  The gardens are beautiful and the children's play area is amazing!  Our little group had a great time with the scavenger hunt, finding specific flowers and bugs.

Just shortly before we were supposed to leave, Katie tripped coming off one of the toys in the children's area and landed flat on her face.  It was bleeding quite a bit and I could tell it was going to need stitches.  Thankfully one of our friends was able to drive us to immediate care to get sewn back up.

We got done quick enough to grab a milk shake for being so brave and get to the park to finish out the field trip.

Thank evening, she had fun showing off her stitches for some pictures.

She became infamous among her friends pretty quickly.  The next day at soccer, her coach already knew about it when we arrived at her game!  She was pretty worn out from all the excitement and had a long nap that afternoon.

Needless to say, I bet this is a field trip she will never forget!

Soccer times two!

Katie signed up for soccer again this year, but unlike last year actually played!  She said she really wanted to try again and at the first practice waved to me from the field, shouting, "Look mom, I'm not crying!"  I feel like it was the right decision not to push her to continue last year when she decided she didn't like it, otherwise she might not have decided to try again this year.  She had a great season and is excited to play again next year.  Not to mention, preK/K girls soccer might be one of the cutest things there is to watch.  They are all adorable!

As always, Kelton had a great season.  There was only one game he played that he didn't score a goal.  He even scored 2 during one game and the last game scored the only goal of the game!  I can't say it enough, but I love watching him play.  I could seriously watch him play soccer all. day. long.

Now for pictures!

I'm always thankful for the coaches.  They volunteer their time so our kids can enjoy playing soccer, so we make sure to give them a treat at the end of the season.

I do have to admit, we've enjoyed the less hectic evenings now that soccer has ended.  We're excited for Konnor to start blastball next week!

BACON Teacher Appreciation Gift

This being the first year we've had a male teacher, I've had to be a little more creative coming up with ways to spoil him.  My normal go-to's like nails polish and lotions just don't quite work out.  

I had gotten Eric some bacon jerky awhile back and he raved about it!  I couldn't help but think, how perfect is that!?  Bacon is awesome and so are teachers!  

This turned out to be a great little gift for a guy teacher!  

Not to discriminate...this would be fun for a lady also.

After all, who doesn't love bacon!?!

 

Easter Weekend

Easter Weekend was super busy this year!

The fun started on Friday.   Unbeknownst to Eric, I had arranged for him to be off work because his friend, Jolly was coming in for a surprise visit on his way home from tech school.  This is the 4th time we've been able to surprise him and it's so fun!  When they arrived Friday morning, I opened the door to see his wife, Dorothy, standing there with him!  She'd surprised him and then they surprised me!  It was a triple surprise and such a fun visit!

The girls did a little shopping that afternoon and found Remington a new outfit.  How cute is he!?

The next day was a wedding reception for our friends, Bobby and Kati.  Kati is such a great friend and was present for both Katie and Konnor's births!

Thankfully we made it home in time for the Easter bunny to come!

An empty egg to symbolize Jesus' empty tomb, for HE IS RISEN!

The kids really liked their speciality sodas that the Easter bunny found at World Market.  ;-)  I got to make some animal balloons with the kit he left.

We didn't get our eggs dyed until that afternoon, but the kids were glad we managed to squeeze it in!  We basically dye them just to eat them, but it's fun!

I was glad the kids Easter outfits fit them from last year because I didn't buy any new ones this year!  I suppose it's too much to hope for a 3rd year out of them!?

2013

2014

They weren't quite a cooperative this year, but were more than happy to take a silly picture!