A Daddy Gift

Like most kids, Reese and Graham LOVE to draw and color pictures.

The only requirement is that you keep EVERYTHING they give you.

I thought this photo was funny....

Not entirely true, but it emphasizes the fact of how wrong it is to throw away ANYTHING (in the eyes of children.)

My kids learn quick that Mommy throws out stuff.

When crafting with their friends, they even talk about how guests need to not leave the newly crafted junk treasures on the floor. "My Mom will throw it out" is what they say.

Guilty.

I'm sorry... Mommy can't handle papers just lying around. If I did, I would have died years ago from paper strangulation.

Anyway.... with that said, they give Daddy TONS of pretty artwork. And Daddy takes it to work.

In an attempt to keep those papers organized and help them remain a keepsake, enter the organizer we got him for his birthday.

It's a plastic box that holds file folders perfectly.

And each file folder is now labeled with a year. I started with 2005, the year our oldest was born, and ended with 2029. That's a lot of keepsakes!

So this plastic file box doesn't get confused with 'work' stuff, I added this poem to the front:

"Paint me a picture,
Both happy and bright;
That will light up my face
Both day and night!
Paint me a world of make believe...
Of princesses, dragons, and knights on steed!
And when you are finished,
I know just what to do!
I'll save those precious pictures,
And one day, show them all to you!"

It is already holding precious gifts of paper from our kids to Daddy.
It will be fun to see them go through the files, piece by piece, when they're older and see what they drew from years past.

I'm thinking of making one for me. I find myself getting jealous that Daddy is getting all of the artwork.  The purger in me does love those precious drawings and pictures when they have a place!

Graduation Gift

I know it's a little early to be thinking Graduation gifts... and it's REALLY early for the Graduation gift I'm starting!

Since tomorrow is Dr. Seuss's birthday, I thought I'd share one gift I know my daughter will receive at her High School Graduation.
(And yes, she's only in 1st grade!)

"Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You're off to Great Places!
You're off and away!"
-Dr. Seuss

"Just a book?" You might possibly say....

You should know that's not the game I would play.

Every school year, all the way through,

Her teacher will sign and write a note too!

{Sorry, I couldn't help but rhyme!
I don't think Dr. Seuss would consider it a crime!}




So here's my plan, and as you can see, I'm just beginning! After every school year, I will have Reese's teacher write a note about her. A memory, a funny story, etc.
That way, on her High School Graduation Day, Reese will have notes to read and keep from all of her past teachers!

You can read one daughters reaction to her Father giving her the same gift {HERE}.
Precious! I hope Reese bursts into tears too. 11 more years and we'll see!

Under Our Christmas Tree {2012}

Some nifty-gifty ideas that were found under our tree this Christmas:

In addition to Reese's school classroom gift exchange, each student was asked to bring a small stocking stuffer gift. 

Reese made these CUTE snowman candy bars for her friends at school.

(This was, of course, a Pinterest find! See my inspiration HERE.)

We bought packs of Hershey's Chocolate Candy bars. 

I cut and taped white card stock around each candy bar. 

Reese then added her artistic touches by drawing the faces before I hot glued on the ear muffs and buttons. We finished them with a Christmas ribbon scarf.

______________________________

This was the first year that I have ever given our mail person and the garbage company Christmas gifts.
I thought a plate of homemade cookies sounded just right!

I wrapped each plate in red cellophane and tied it with ribbon. I also found a free "Merry Christmas" printable. (There are MILLIONS of free printable tags out there!)

The mail truck and the garbage truck come around the same time every Friday. It just happened to be VERY windy and snowy that particular Friday. My plan to set a plate of cookies in a box for the garbage company was a no-go. It also didn't occur to me that my plate of cookies for the mail carrier was too big for our mailbox.
So, you can imagine the time I spent that day waiting and watching! As soon as I saw them drive up, I had to throw on my snow boots and coat and run out to catch them!
All in the name of homemade cookies!!!!!
(I'll think smaller next year!)

_________________________

I love including my kids in gift giving.
Everything from picking out the gift, to wrapping the gift. I love how excited they get!
These print and color gift tags were the PERFECT way to add the child's touch to gifts this year!

All I had to do was print the tags onto card stock and cut them out. The kids colored them how they wanted and then they were gift-ready!
So cute and easy!
{Print yours HERE!}

On the 12 Days of Christmas....

You know how the song goes...

On the 12 days of Christmas, my true LOVE gave to me...

These 12 Gifts are for my True Love. He gets to open one a day, for the 12 Days leading up to Christmas.


Each numbered bag has a gift that has significance for us according to the number or has that number of an item in the gift.

(Joel, if you're reading this, stop here or your gifts won't be a surprise!)

Here is what these gifts contain:

1- One bottle of cologne.

2- A 'pair' of jeans.

3- A set of socks. They come in sets of 3 HERE. This is one gift Reese picked!

4- A 4 pack of razors.

5- A short sleeve shirt, representing warm weather in 5 months.

6- A 6-pack of bottled Coke.

7- A calendar to represent the 7 days that are in each week.

8-  A box of 8 o'clock coffee cups for his Keurig.

9- A jacket to remind him of the (almost) 9 cozy years we have spent married!

10- 10 Kisses from Mommy, 10 Reese's Peanut Butter Cups from Reese and 10 Graham Cracker Cookies from Graham.

11- A new travel toiletry case to represent the 11 hour trip we will take for the Holidays.

12- A Notre Dame sweatshirt. (My husband's favorite College football team that went 12-0 this year!)

I'm not sure who is having more fun with this...
I got to plan all the gifts, but the kids have so much fun reminding Joel to open a gift everyday!
(And Graham has been singing 'Happy Birthday to Daddy'!)

What a special way to show the Man in your life how much he means to you!



If you like the cute number tags, you can print yours HERE!

Teacher Survival Kit

Every teacher needs a survival kit to start the year off right!

(And I might be a little too excited to have an excuse to use all these cute teacher gifts I keep coming across!)

Teacher Survival Kit

Here's what I put in mine.....

(Not pictured is a Starbucks gift card. Go HERE to see how I 'wrap' those!)

And here's why....

Animal cookies for when your classroom seems like a zoo. 

Band-Aids for when things get a little rough.

Chewing Gum to help you stick to it.

Crayons to color your day bright and cheerful.

A candle for when you are up late grading papers.

Erasers to remind you everyone makes mistakes.

Lifesavers for when you've had one of those days.

Marbles to replace the ones you've lost.
A Mounds Bar for the mounds of confidence you give your students.

Paperclips to hold it all together.

Pencils to "write your wrongs."

Hand Sanitizer to keep everyone healthy and happy.

A rubber band to remind you to be flexible.

A shiny Penny to remind you that each student will shine in his or her own special way.

Starbursts to give you a "burst" of energy when you need it.

Tissues to wipe away the tears...yours and theirs.

A toothpick to help you "pick" out the good qualities in others and yourself, and a little something extra to help you get back to the daily GRIND!

Find a cute bag or box to load all the school year necessities into....

And finish with tissue (in a bright apple red)!

Happy Giving!

BBQ Lovin'

We had a busy couple of days this past weekend.
One event we WEREN'T going to miss was a
BBQ Couples Shower for my hubby's co-worker.

The soon-to-be sisters of the co-worker did a great job at planning and pulling off the event.

Can I see professional party planning in their future? Yep. And here's why....

 (I'd love to have that Corn, Cheese & Tomato Salad and the Taffy Apple Salad recipes... hint hint)

My favorite part was the S'mores Bar.... I'm not a bar person, but this kind of bar I could definitely visit often. I might have had one too many.
(Or two too many..... okay, really, three too many. And when I say too many, that's on top of the normal two every person is allowed before people think you are a BBQ skewer stealer.)

The gift idea...
The soon-to-be sisters approached me with a cute bag (below)
with the bride-to-be's soon-to-be initials.
"Can you fill it for us?" They asked.

Well, what couple wouldn't want a bag of beach goodies?
It was perfect because this couple happens to be beaching it after the I Do's.

HIS: Manly colored beach towel, black flip flops, sport sunscreen, aloe and a very manly magazine.
HERS: Girly beach towel, silver flip flops, tanning oil, a DIY magazine and a HOT pink floppy beach hat (not pictured).

Stacy has more great pictures and BBQ lovin' over HERE.
(And where she collected all the great ideas!)


And I almost forgot the BEST BEST BEST idea for a couples shower.....

B-A-B-Y-S-I-T-T-E-R-S
We took our two kids and didn't see them much the whole time.
The Sisters got fun Jr. High girls to play with the little ones and keep them busy so the Mom's and Dad's could play couples games, eat in peace,
and cuddle by the fire pit making s'mores.
THANK YOU. It was kinda like a date ;)

(Did I miss the babysitter tip jar???? I felt like I needed to pay someone!) :)

The Gift of Starbucks

One of my favorite gifts to give (and get!) is a Starbucks Gift Card.
Here's a super cute way to give one as a fun gift!

Here's What You'll Need:

 1 Starbucks cup, dome lid, and their signature green straw
Gift Card
Brown paper (I used a bag)
White Tissue
Hot Glue

Here's How:
1. Cut your brown paper to the appropriate size of the cup. Crunch the paper for texture.

2. Fill your cup with the brown paper and stick the gift card in the middle of the cup.

3. Top the brown paper with crunched white tissue.
('cause you can't have a Starbucks drink without their whipped cream!)
I cut the straw in half and hot glued it to the top of the white tissue.

4. Don't forget to add the persons' name and the type of drink they are getting.
Go on, you know you've always envisioned yourself working there...

This particular one was a 'Birthday Frapp' for Joel's dad.

Or as part of a 'End of the Year Gift' for Reese's teacher...

I added a beach towel and magazine to the 'drink' and placed it all in a beach bag!

The perfect ingredients for a great summer!

Happy FIRST Day of SUMMER!!!!!!

I don't know about you, but I'd like to celebrate with 
a tall, decaf, iced, white mocha with whip. 
Or a grande passion tea lemonade, sweetened..... 
or a tall cookie crumble frappuccino .... 
or a tall vanilla bean afrigado.....
Oh, the possibilities are endless. 

What's your favorite drink?