Unfortunately...

Unfortunately, I really do LOVE...

A perfectly tidy house before I go to bed.

Any HARIBO gummy candy.

Cute office supplies.

Picking a book or a bottle of wine by the pretty cover/label.

Watching football.

A calendar with lots of flexibility.

Staying up late and sleeping in.

Texting vs calling.

Grocery delivery.

Kittens.

Cooking dinner for my family every night.

A perfectly accessorized outfit.

A chocolate chip cookie.

Finding a favorite menu item and ordering it every time I go.

Dinner with friends on a week night.

Iced coffee year round.

Being called Mama.

Teaching kindergarten.

Receiving handwritten cards in the mail.

Road trips.

Taking pictures.

Using a paper planner, a phone calendar and a school calendar to keep life straight.

What about you?

Inexpensive Teacher Gift Ideas

I have a fun round up of teacher gift ideas for you today!  I've been given some cute gifts lately and we have gifted the boy's teachers gifts.  I like to spend $15 or less on a gift because we have 4 elementary teachers to give gifts to and I try to send them in a gift each month.

1. I grabbed these pumpkin notepads at TJ Maxx a few weeks ago.  They were $3.99 each and made the cutest happy first day of fall gifts.  I made a little note on Canva, printed it in color and had the boys sign their names on them.  The teachers started using them right away.

2. Cookies from a local shop!  A student brought me a six pack of the yummiest Donut Bank cookies for a fun treat.

3. Fuzzy blankets from Sams.  They are around $15 and they come in several patterns this time of year.  Fletcher picked out one for each of his teachers, I added a handwritten thank you note and he was so excited to give them to his teachers.  It'll be the perfect gift now that the temps are cooling down.

4. Ask your teacher their favorite drink order and deliver it to them on a Friday.  This parent asked for my order and my assistant's order and then added in a cake pop.  She said you deserve a treat at the end of the week!

And my favorite, free teacher gift idea... write them an encouraging email or note.  Bonus point if you cc their principal on it so they get to hear great things about their teacher.

Field Trip Friday

Happy Friday!  It's been a busy week so I'm recapping one fun thing from our week.  The kindergarten headed to Kentucky for a trip to Cate's Farm.  Leo and I got to ride the bus together - his class and my class and we got to see each other as we went from station to station.  And we wore matching shirts.

The kids got to pick out their own pumpkins from the patch.  The only rule was they had to be able to carry it back to the bus.  I was a little sad to miss doing this with Leo (our classes were at different stations at different times), but he assured me that "Mrs. Hughes can be my mom for a little bit!"

He loves his teacher so much and so do I!  We hit the jackpot with Mrs. Hughes.

The playground was so much fun.

A humid lunch on the farm.  I got to eat with Leo after I got my class settled.

Giant farm slide with a bumpy landing.

Flying with your bestie.

Climbing on hay bales.

So much corn.

He could have stayed at this station all day.

I'm so thankful I got to spend my field trip day with Leo and that I was able to be a teacher and a mom just fine today.  Some days it's a tricky balance, but this was FUN.

Nacho Bar

We had the yummiest nacho bar for dinner last weekend!  It was the perfect game day meal.  We all built our plates of nachos to perfection.  I picked up all of our favorite toppings.  This meal ended up being enough for two dinners for us.

Let me talk you through the ingredients.

Chop onions and sweet peppers up small and saute them.

Make your favorite taco meat combo.

We love Chihuahua cheese and Mateo's salsa from Costco.  My brother introduced me to this delicious cheese and it makes every kind of taco better.

Queso fresco cheese, Pablano street corn dip and we grabbed the Short Cuts pico from Schnucks.

Two kinds of chips and a few taquitos for Leo.

The very best queso is this Rancho's queso from Sams.  It tastes like restaurant queso and is so good!

A variety of taco sauces.

Yum!!  This was one of our favorite dinners!  Every plate looked different and every person was so happy.

You'll have to put a nacho bar on your menu soon!

Welcome to the Family, Pumpkin!

We added someone new to the family!  Say hello to Pumpkin.

We have had an orange kitty sized hole in our hearts since Topher died a year ago and have been on the hunt for the perfect orange and white cat.  We had the best experience with an orange tabby - Topher was so lovey and so sweet for 15 years.

I know four cats is a lot, but Penny and Pearl have each other.  They are sisters and buddies.  And Mr. Mittens always gets left out.  We were determined to find him a brother to play with and so far so good.  They're becoming buddies!  There was a lot of hissing at first and now it's just a lot of jumping and chasing.  And so far four cats seems just the same as three.

We visited the local adoption spots and usually came up empty handed.  Until one Sunday, we walked into Petsmart to find a foster kitty that fit our wish list perfectly.  His name was Howl, medium fur and he was about 11 weeks old and he was so sweet.  We put in an application for him as soon as we got home and had to wait to see if we were picked to adopt him.  His foster mom said no one had applied for him yet.  Several days later I got an email saying we'd been approved, but that didn't mean they were holding a pet for us.  It was very confusing.  So I made some phone calls and it looked like they would match us with Howl.  A day or two later they called to confirm and said I could pay over the phone.  Whew!  That was stressful.  We got everything scheduled and got the call to pick him up about 10 days after we met him at our local humane society.

I'm so thankful he was a foster cat so he was very used to being around people and other pets.  We hurried home with him after school and his paws have barely touched the floor since.  Everyone loves him!

Meeting Pumpkin: We were so surprised to get to hold and play with Pumpkin at Petsmart.  When we adopted there before from a different agency, they wouldn't let us hold him.  Howl was so sweet and seemed perfect for our family!  We started brainstorming name ideas for him right away.

Kevin was playing in a golf tournament this day.  I texted him a picture of the kitty and his response made our day!  Get him!  We wished we could have taken him home, but we'd have to wait several days to make it official.

10 days later we got to pick him up from the humane society.  Hooray!

 

The boys passed his carrier around the car and after just a few minutes Pumpkin was purring.

Welcome home, Pumpkin!!  We talked through a list of boy cat names, but the kids were set on Pumpkin since we were adopting him in the Fall.  He gets called a mix of Pumpkin, Pumpkin Spice, Pumpkin Pie and Sweet Pumpkin.

He's already found cozy spots all over the house.

Sit on the couch and Pumpkin will join you.

Leo sings him lullabies.

And we did Pumpkin touch down pushups for the Notre Dame game.

He's the sweetest addition to our family!  If you ever get the chance to adopt a foster cat, do it!

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday, Friends!  I hope you've had a great week.  It's been a good one here and we're ready for a low key weekend.  Enjoy my favorite moments of the week.

1. Sunset bike rides.

2. I get so excited when my house plants bloom!  This was a gift from a student at the end of last year.  It bloomed this week for the first time.

3. Fletcher grabbed cozy blankets for his teachers at Sams this week.  They are about $16 dollars. He picked out a pattern for each of his teachers and delivered them to school.  I added a nice note.  It was an easy teacher gift that we have done for years.

4. Notre Dame is off to a rough start, but we have still loved cheering for every touchdown and making game day food.  We're hoping for a WIN this weekend.  I'm planning to make some epic nachos for the game on Saturday.

5. Spirit week - hat day!  Leo said he was going to wear my dad's hat and arrest all his friends at recess.

6. Mystery Reader.  Fletcher got to surprise my class and be a mystery reader.  He's a celebrity in my room and around the school.  The kisd LOVE to see him.

7. I packed a lot of lunches this week.  Takis, s'mores snack mix, gummy worms and sandwiches are always a favorite.

8. We have had ththe prettiest sunrises this week.

9. Team day!

10. Color wars!  Kindergarten was yellow.  4th grade was blue.

11. My class has loved watching our ant farm change every day.

12. Fresh clean Leo.  He makes up the funniest bath games.

13. Recess with Leo.  He was showing off his frisbee skills.

14. Pajama day!

15. Olive was quiet in my highlights this week, but I promise she's got some good stuff coming for you next week!

I hope you have a great weekend!

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