Pin-spired Teacher Gifts

With the last day of school upon us before Winter Break, I have spent the week putting together little gifts to let the people in my kids school life know how much we appreciate them. All of these ideas where pinned to my Random Acts of Kindness board on Pinterest, so make sure to come follow along if you want to see what other gift ideas catch my eye!

Samuel has been seeing a physical therapist for a few months now and she makes the trek out to our house every week to do his therapy and is so good with not only him but our other kids, so we wanted to give her a little Christmas gift to thank her for all she does. This gift idea came from Taylored Expressions (where you can find the free printable tag to go with it) and includes some cozy socks and a bottle of nail polish. I put it in this cute Christmas tin I got for $0.99 at Walgreens:

The only people who spend anywhere near as much time with Nathan and Jordan as I do, are their teachers. We so appreciate the hard work they put in each and every day to teach and care for our boys so it was the least we could do to send along this small token of thanks. These tins full of Snickers and Almond Joy along with the tag that says To A Year Full Of Snickers and Joy is from Lil' Luna, head over there to get the free printable.

Finally, we wanted to pass along some Christmas wishes to the man who has the big task of picking up and dropping off our boys each and every day. This printable is actually a postcard meant for a mailman, but I cut off just the main message and crossed out mail to replace it with kids. Some M&M treats for the bus driver, as inspired by Who Arted?:

While none of these gifts were over the top or about to break the bank, I think it is the thought that counts. Taking a moment to thank someone important in your life, even in a small way, is the least we can do to show our gratitude. Hope you have been Pin-spired to do the same for those special people that surround you and your love ones!

Friday Flair - October Edition {#1}

Does anybody else LOVE October? To me it is the kick off of all of the upcoming holiday festivities that I love so much, so I just can't help but get excited. Not to mention pumpkin patches, apple cider, scarves, falling leaves....really, what isn't to love? 

With so may fun things to look forward to this month I wanted my Friday Flair lunches to focus on all October has to offer as well. For my kids, that pretty much means all things Halloween. So be prepared for a few weeks of lunches that I hope will get my little trick-or-treaters in the mood for the holiday.

The theme of this week was basically orange (how easy is that?!?!) and I threw in a slimy surprise just to make it a little more fun. Can you say WORMS?  Gross, I know. And my boys will LOVE it for sure. What you are seeing is oranges, carrot sticks, cheese slices, DIY Bisquick drop biscuits, and {slimy worms} also known as hot dog slices tossed in homemade BBQ sauce.

Please do not get thrown off by the DIY and the homemade labels. I know for busy moms that can be enough to make you look the other way but I am only adding that in there to show options and to prove that it really is that easy. Awhile back I stopped buying some of the boxed mixes when I realized just how easy and economical it was to make your own. But by all means, use the pre-boxed stuff....heck, use the biscuits in a pop can if that is what you have! And the BBQ sauce came about when we ran out one day and my hubby volunteered to whip some up from a recipe I had found. It turned out that it was a version that all my kiddos could agree on, even those who swore they didn't like BBQ sauce, so we keep that in a mason jar in the fridge now. But squeeze bottle away! Try them with ketchup if your kids prefer. Or leave them dry. Hot dogs are hot dogs any way you dress them, right?

This week I used free printable lunch box notes from Kiki & Company that have Halloween jokes on them. My boys are always looking for a new joke to tell.

That wraps up another week! Until next Friday.....

Friday Flair - Birthday Edition

Welcome! This week's edition of Friday Flair is extra special because it falls on my son's 6th birthday. Let's all say a loud, "Happy Birthday" to Jordan, shall we?

I tried to find some free printable lunchbox notes with a birthday theme but didn't have any luck. If you know of any, feel free to share a link with me. Since I couldn't go that route, I just decided to make a quick little note myself.

I saw a cute sandwich idea a few weeks back that involved sprinkles so I knew this would be the perfect occasion to try that. So I punched out the top slice of bread with a 6 and filled in the hole with sprinkles. Super cute, right? For fun I put the punched out 6 in a mini-muffin liner and put a blue M&M in the center to match the blue on the sandwich. The bigger muffin liner has a little Birthday trail mix of M&M's, white chocolate chips and broken up graham crackers. Some veggies and cheese and olive skewers rounded out the meal.

Happy Birthday my big 6 year old!

Friday Flair - Week 3

I probably should have titled this week's post Friday {Un}Flair since it really is just a typical lunch. In fact, I woke up this morning having totally forgot that it was Friday. So regular old lunch it is. BUT I did get to join the boys for the Moms R Marvelous breakfast at their school this morning so I am counting that as the flair for the day. Hey, it's my blog, I can do what I want! Right? Right!

Yogurt, cheese crackers/pretzels, carrots, celery, apple wedge, peanut butter and honey tortilla roll up

On our way to breakfast at the school. My handsome big boys :)

Until next Friday!

Missed some posts? Here are the last two Friday Flair posts:
Week 1
Week 2

Friday Flair - Week 2

This week's Friday Flair makes me laugh a little bit. It looks more like something that should be appearing in 2 months, don't you think? I happened to have a very large turkey taking up space that I wanted freed up in my extra freezer so last night I cooked up a turkey dinner with all the fixings that much resembled a November holiday we all love. The boys gobbled it up (get it, gobbled? Ha! I crack myself up) and were begging for pieces of it in their lunch so I put together these little mini-Thanksgiving looking lunches for this Friday Flair.

 I once again used THESE free printable lunchbox notes from Skip to My Lou, mostly because I had the leftovers from last week still on hand and it was the easy thing to do! Once again, used a little tape and a toothpick to make them into mini-signs and called it good.

I almost feel guilty classifying a lunch that took almost no effort as a Friday Flair post. But then I realized how stupid that was! Why do we moms always do that to ourselves? Pile on the guilt for the little, often meaningless things. So silly! Besides, that is the whole point of these posts. To prove that it doesn't take a lot of extra effort and time to do something special. It's all about the little things. I am going to keep saying that until it sinks in and the guilt no longer creeps in. IT'S.ALL.ABOUT.THE.LITTLE.THINGS!! Phew, that feels better.

 Let's break it down:

Nathan's Lunch: Crock pot bread with pesto, turkey, candy corn treat, cucumbers, stuffing

Jordan's Lunch: Mashed potatoes, corn, crock pot bread, turkey, candy corn treat

Here's a link to the crock pot bread by The Quiet that I tried out this week that tasted just like rolls (but so much easier!): http://inquietmemory.blogspot.ca/2012/01/crock-pot-bread.html

Until next week! If you missed last week's post, you can check it out HERE.

Friday Flair - Week 1

This year I have decided to forgo my lunchbox roundup posts for something that fits a little better into this new chaotic season of my life. Since having the twins and now having two kiddos in school, I find it pretty impossible to try to put together thoughtful, creative lunches everyday. Heck, it's hard to get past the basic survival stuff most days. But there is still somewhere in me a drive to make school lunch a special thing for my boys as a reminder that I am thinking of them, so I have come up with something that reconciles my desire with my reality. I am going to start something called Friday Flair which will basically be a commitment to let my self off the hook the rest of the week and let Friday be a day for special lunches. I am not talking anything over the top, just lunch box notes and/or special treats and/or theme lunches to give Nathan and Jordan something to look forward to each week. I think of flair as something that dresses up something plain and just gives it that little something to make you take notice. That's what I am going for here!

Since I am not alone in this busy mommy gig, I want to try to share some of my ideas each week to make it that much easier for you. So I will link to any free lunch box notes I am printing and I will share recipes and lunch themes as I use them. Sound good? Hoping you all will share some of your creative ideas with me as well. Nothing beats a give and take relationship!

I have been pinning free printable lunchbox notes all summer so it was hard to chose which ones to use first. I settled on these fun, bright sayings from Skip to My Lou. The best part about these are that one page has multiple notes on it so once I print them, I have extras on hand that I can use for future Fridays or to throw in during the week with no extra hassle. Score! Here are the two I chose this week for my dinosaur loving 7 year old and my banana crazy 5 year old. I simply taped a toothpick to the back so that I could stick it into their food and wrote their names to make them personalized:

Let's take a look at these lunches, shall we? They are only slightly different from each other to adjust for personal taste (if only all of my kids liked and disliked the same things!):

Jordan - Apple slice sandwiches with peanut butter and syrup (I was out of honey), zucchini bread, olive and cheese skewers, carrots, celery and cucumber

Nathan - Apple slice sandwiches with peanut butter and syrup, zucchini bread, cheese skewers, carrots, starfish crackers

Nothing too fancy, right? Just a tad more effort than spreading some peanut butter and jelly between two pieces of bread. But maybe you are in an even more chaotic season than me and all you have time for is that pb&j everyday....that's okay too. It's just lunch. You decide where you want to add your flair to the ordinary in your life! I would love to hear how you are taking something simple and making it just a little special for your loved ones so feel free to share those non-lunch related ideas as well.

See you next week!

Jordan's in Kindergarten!

I can't believe my second born is officially a kindergartner now. He has been talking about this day since Nathan started school 2 years ago and it felt like it would never come. To say he was excited is a huge understatement. He was waiting by the door dressed with his backpack on WAY before it was time to go. I hope that a fraction of that excitement will stay with him throughout the year.

Here are some pictures from his first day. Congratulations my new Kindergartner!

First Day of Kindergarten printable from Oh So Printable

My big 2nd grader and Kindergartner

Go Vikings!

Homemade Lunchable for his lunch

Happy Birthday Second Grader!!

How is it already school time again? Where in the world did summer go? I suppose it could be that having twins has made the time fly by even more than normal. Either way, I cannot believe it is that time of year already.

This year I am going to have two kiddos in school but the Kindergartner doesn't start until next week so Nathan gets his own post. Fitting since the first day of school was also his birthday. He has never had a birthday that fell during the school year before so that made the day even more exciting in his eyes. Are we ready for the obligatory first day of school picture? It must be done! I made his sign using a free printable from Oh So Printable.

The last few years we have done a fun balloon surprise to start off the kids birthday (you can see the door waterfall from last year HERE) so we knew we wanted to come up with something again this year. My husband had a super fun idea to recreate our family using balloons. We had so much fun after the kids were in bed making a balloon head for each member of the family and staging them around the table. Here is what Nathan saw when he got home in the morning - the kids thought it was hilarious!

It's hard to see from far away but each balloon held a resemblance to someone in our house. My favorite was my husband's. Doesn't it look just like him?

We aren't doing parties for the bigger boys any more (don't worry they are still getting spoiled rotten with dinner at a restaurant of their choice along with other special one-on-one events) so I don't have any over the top themed stuff to share with you but I did make a card for my Angry Bird obsessed 7 year old. I thought it turned out pretty good for being free-hand! I really should see if they have an Angry Bird cartridge for the Cricut though.

I think I will say this for every birthday, but I can't believe we have a 7 year old. Time just seems to be flying by. Especially as I look at these tiny babies next to their big second grade brother....such a reminder of just how fast it goes.

Happy 7th Birthday Nathan and welcome to 2nd grade!

End of School and Orange Themed Teacher Gift

I can't believe another school year has gone by! 9 months ago Nathan was excitedly getting ready for 1st grade - remember this picture?

And now here he is on his last day....he's grown so much!



His thoughts on his last day of school:

Of course he wouldn't have so many great things to say about first grade if he wouldn't have had a wonderful teacher. And a wonderful teacher deserves a special gift for getting us to this point! Last year I used some subway art to make a teacher appreciation gift for his Kindergarten teacher {you can check that out HERE if you are interested}. I have spent the year pinning all kinds of fun gift ideas for this year's teacher gift and finally settled on one when I saw this adorable Orange You Glad It's Almost Summer Gift Basket from Shaken Together. I just thought it was super cute and loved how bright and cheery it was.  I decided to check out the Dollar Store for my supplies and found plenty of fun orange themed stuff. Altogether, less than $10 spent (including the white tub to which I hot glued some orange ribbon). The tag is part of a free printable pdf, from Shaken Together, where you can also find some more fruit inspired tags for future appreciation gifts. I love how it turned out! What do you think?

kitchen towel, flowers, reese's, orange flavored water, an orange shaped popscicle, fan, tumbler, and citrus juicer

Can't wait to see what Second Grade will bring!

Lunch Round Up #4

 It's that time again...lunch round up. Actually, I'm a little overdue so you are going to get your money's worth on this one! Here's what has been showing up in the lunchbox the last few weeks:

Salad, applesauce, turkey sandwich on a homemade roll, tootsie roll treats, ranch

Bratwurst, apples, carrots, homemade roll, marshmallow treat

Homemade fried chicken, applesauce, potato casserole, carrot sticks

Leftover pasta grilled cheese, crackers, carrots

bratwurst with ranch dipper, applesauce, fire beans, carrot sticks

apple slices, fire beans, tortilla chips, enchiladas

waffle sandwich with peanut butter and honey, apple sauce, pretzel rods, carrot sticks

Cowboy spaghetti, starburst treat, apple slices, carrot sticks

apple half with peanut butter, crackers, carrot sticks, shepherds pie

homestyle baked fries with ranch dipper, french onion mushroom swiss burger, grapes, celery sticks

If you like these ideas, you may want to check out my past round ups:
Lunch Round Up #1
Lunch Round Up #2
Lunch Round Up #3

Lunch Round Up #3

I am feeling pretty pleased with the lunch line up so far...while some things show up in the rotation on a more regular basis than others, I feel like I have kept a decent amount of variety in his lunch box. I will admit that part of the reason for that is the accountability of sharing it here. Whatever gets the job done, right?

Apple slices with peanut butter, homemade fries and cucumbers with ranch dipper, popcorn and chocolate

Rice cakes, string cheese, celery sticks with peanut butter, carrots, banana

carrots, lunch meat, cheese cubes, cucumber slices, popcorn, banana

pumpkin cornbread, oranges, applesauce with cinnamon, carrots, rice cakes with crock pot refried beans

Made this lunch special for my visit to his school (all his favorite things!) carrots, cornmeal and cheddar biscuits, homemade mac n cheese, turkey rice meatballs

orange slices, celery, leftover chicken and fries with ketchup dipper from his brother's birthday dinner at Texas Roadhouse

banana, cucumbers, homemade tortillas and crock pot refried beans rolled up and fried with ranch dipper, carrots

Want more ideas? Check out past round ups:
Lunch Round Up #1
Lunch Round Up #2

I also have to be a little bit of a lunch container nerd and share how excited I am about the new dipping cups I got. I love, love, love the EasyLunchBoxes I have been using for 2 years now but couldn't find a dip container that fit inside. Imagine my excitement when they came out with their own perfectly sized dipping cups that have a snug lid and fit right inside the container!! You can find them here or on Amazon. (and no I am not getting reimbursed for this plug...I just truly love the product and wanted to share for any of you looking for the same kind of thing:)