Teacher Appreciation Week

We celebrated and appreciated our teachers this week. The PTA announced that our Teacher Appreciation Week would be Dr. Seuss themed. They thought it would be fun if we decorated our teachers door. I am the Room Mom for Garrett's classroom this year. I knew I needed some help/ideas...Pinterest to the rescue. This is what I came up with! I had taken individual photos of each child, wearing a Cat In the Hat, hat. Each child signed their name on a hat and I adhered their photo. I made a sign that read "Hats off to you! Thank you for all you do."

We did something fun for Mrs. De Cuir each day! The first day we decorated her door. On the 2nd day, we brought her a vase of flowers, red carnations...her favorite!

On the 3rd day, we provided a sack lunch for her! Turkey sandwich, cookies, Sun Chips and a banana. She even had a Dr. Seuss themed water bottle.  We couldn't just give it to her in a brown bag. I decorated her lunch bag to carry on our theme. For the remaining days, we gave her a basket with some of her favorite treats: a new coffee mug, dark chocolate, protein bars and a gift card to Starbucks. On Friday, we gave her a gift card to her favorite restaurant. We sure hope she knew/knows how much we appreciate her! Garrett has loved being in her classroom this year.

The older boys wanted to let some of their teachers know how much they appreciated them. Between Tanner and Carter, they have 12 teachers. Yikes. I told them to pick a couple of their teachers and we made them cookies/gave them Bath & Body soap. This is what we came up with(Thank you Eighteen25 girls and another Pinterest find(the cookie tag)!

We had fun spoiling our teachers this week. We feel really blessed to live in such a great community, filled with awesome teachers. We have had wonderful teachers this year. Teachers who give their all to their jobs. Our boys are so lucky to spend time in their classrooms!

crafting

I enjoyed a super fun craft night with the girls this weekend. Camie and I decided that we needed to get together and craft. When we saw these darling heart wreaths on the eighteen25 blog, we knew what we'd be making. It was fun to sit and cut circles (and more circles) while visiting with fun friends.






{thanks to Camie for this photo. We are missing Jan in this one. She was so speedy that she had already headed out to Wal*Mart to get her shopping done)

Some of us also made cute Valentine banners. I will post mine when it is completed. It involves some sewing so it may take me a while(wink-wink)to finish. What are you busy creating right now?

made with love

December was filled with awesome handmade goodness. I love thoughtful, personal gifts that were made and given with oooodles of love.

My friend, Brandi was busy making these cute camera straps. I was the lucky recipient of this one. What do you think? Does it scream, "Raimi"? I thought so :-). Thank you, Brandi!

















When we were opening gifts at my Mom and Dad's house on Christmas, I opened this beautiful quilt. My Mom had attached a note telling me that this was the first quilt that she had started/finished that wasn't a baby blanket or one of the grand kid's denim quilts. Thank you, Mom! I love it!
















My Mom was BUSY. She made the triplets (the 6 year old cousins) their denim quilts this year. She started a few years back, making the older grandkids theirs first. Their quilts have squares of denim from their Great Grandpa Shores old jeans. She even stitched Grandpa Shore on one of the squares. These quilts are something they will treasure forever!















John's sister decided that we would have what she called a frugal Christmas. Names were drawn and the rule was that your gift had to be homemade. You could spend up to $10.00 to buy your supplies. We found this super fun idea over on the eighteen25 blog...love those fun sisters. Those cute little snowmen are Garrett's fingers. He loved making his gift and was very excited to give it.






















Did you make or receive anything handmade in December? If so, please share!

off to a great start

The boys went back to school today! They were ready and so was I...or so I thought I was. Tanner starts school at 7:50 and wanted to get there early. He didn't want to be walked into school...he wanted to be dropped off at the curb. Must be the middle school-er in him :-). I had John take him this morning so I could avoid the tears. I lost it when I dropped him off last week for orientation so I knew that I would be a mess today. He is so grown up and I am having a hard time with that :-).

Instead of a fashion show at our house, the boys like to lay out their entire 1st day of school ensemble. Here are this years outfits...complete with underwear, socks, and backpacks. Oh, and don't forget the Axe body spray :-). Trust me, it is way better smelling than stinky middle school boy smell.


We spent some time shopping and organizing our school supplies. This is my favorite part of the the whole back to school hype...I am kind of nerdy like that. I love the colorful, sharp crayons, packages of binder paper and new yellow pencils.


Another fun, yearly tradition is a note from Mom{Me}in their lunch box/bag on the first day of school. My sister found these cute lunch box notes and mailed them to me last year. Thanks, Am.


We wrapped up this cute little gift to take to the teachers this year {idea found here}. Love the darling ideas from these cute sisters.


The yearly photos of the boys on the 1st day of school.








I loved seeing the boys enjoy their first day of school with their favorite friends.





The boys are all home now & have been happily chattering about their day. Everyone is happy and content with their new schedule/routine. It is going to be another fantastic year.