Cool End of the Year Teacher Gift Ideas

We have seven days of school left and it's time to say thank you to your favorite teachers!  We did a little bit of everything this year.  All of my kids had teachers they LOVED and teachers that they are ready to say goodbye to.  I wanted to make sure to shower the ones they loved with thank yous.

Jr. High // Olive asked for Amazon gift cards for her teachers.  We were going to do bigger gift cards for her favorite teachers, but then she decided she wanted to do gift cards for every teacher plus a handwritten note.  I ordered the gift cards.  She filled out the information, wrote a handwritten note to each teacher and hand delivered them to each teacher throughout her day.  I am going to finish the year by emailing a big thank you note to her favorite teachers.

5th Grade // I picked up cute tote bags for each of Fletcher's teachers.  We wrote a thank you note and I baked some cookies for some of his extra favorite people.

Kindergarten // Whew!  I'm feeling sentimental that Leo is wrapping up our year of kindergarten together.  He has learned so much and finishing the year so strong academically.  He's writing and reading independently.  He's grown a ton.  It's been such a sweet year together so we went all out for his teacher gifts.

I found these darling coolers for Leo's teachers. Aren't they SO COOL!?!  They were about $10 each and I added them to my Wal-Mart grocery delivery order.  I filled them with some of the teacher's favorite drinks, Leo and I worked on handwritten notes and I added a little extra something to their envelopes.

I made these gift tags on Canva.  Free and so cute!

I added a big bow and couldn't wait for Leo to deliver them.

Won't these be so fun for summer lunches or drinks on the go?  I think his teachers who are also moms of littles will use these coolers so much!

What are you giving your teachers for end of the year gifts?

Weekly Recap

I hope you had a great weekend!  We sure did!  There were not enough hours in the week last week to get everything done so my weekly recap is coming on a Monday.  We had a blast celebrating cousins, friends retiring, end of the semester cookouts and more.

The best parts of our week were:

1. One of my students surprised me with some personalized art!  He was so proud of it.  It captured me so well and is hanging by my desk.  This is a really fun, free teacher gift idea :)

2. I baked the cookies for Kevin's big end of the year student cookout.  He grilled all night and we caught up with his students and coworkers.  The weather was perfect.  The kids played on the playground, we ate a delicious dinner and we were just sad we had to zoom home because it was a school night.

I baked a huge tray of cookies for Kevin's cookout and a huge tray of cookies for a retirement party at work.  I haven't baked that much in a long time!

3. We went bowling for the first time in a long time and this is what Leo thinks of bowling: OMG! He loved it!  The boys bowled and I chatted.

My nephew turned 18 last week!  I still can't believe it.  He's such a nice guy.  Leo always says Hayden is my best friend.

4. New lunch box favorites!  I love when I find something new that the kids enjoy.  This week it was a lemon protein bar, pesto pasta and watermelon.  Yum!

5. Bath time supervisor.  Pumpkin is so sweet.  He just likes to see what's going on in every room.

6. It's honey suckle season in the Midwest!  Fletcher brought me a bouquet to sample.

7. Derby Pie for Derby Day!  We loved watching the Derby this year.  What an exciting finish!  Fletcher helped me make his first pie.  Look how pretty it turned out.

8. I LOVED The Bright Years.  I laughed when I looked up from my quiet reading corner.  I was surrounded.  Penny hopped up on my lap.  Leo pulled his pirate ship up right next to me and everyone kept popping in to ask me questions.  I know I'll miss this view one day.

9. Mr. Mittens likes to supervise my planning.

10. I had a great day off with Olive!  Tip: Ask if things are on sale if the signs are unclear.  We were at American Eagle where everything was buy one get one half off.  Our two items didn't ring up on sale so I asked.  The sales guy said - I can make that happen for you.  Yay!

10. Rainbow cloud!?  Olive yelled me for me to come outside ASAP.  She spotted a rainbow cloud that she knew I'd love.  We have never see anything like it.  The whole cloud turned rainbow for about a minute and then it went back to white.

I hope you have an awesome week!

May Coffee Chat

Hello!  Happy May!  Are your calendars filling up with all of the things like ours is?  We've got school events, work events, home things, neighbor things and birthday things in the next few weeks.  It'll be fun, but it'll be busy.

I have a whole list of random things to talk to you about.  Grab a blueberry muffin and an iced coffee and let's chat!

1. My mom got us a veggie chopper and it makes doing an at home salad bar so fun!  Fletcher helped me prep all this stuff.  It was delicious!  I love that salad chopper minus the cleaning.  Somehow I always slice a finger on the very sharp knife plates.

2. A surprise from Walmart delivery.  These Depends showed up on my porch last week with my Walmart order.  I definitely did not order them.  I double checked that.  I brought it inside with the rest of the groceries and was still confused.  About an hour later, the delivery guy knocked on the door and asked for the Depends back.  It was SO STRANGE.  We have received extra items before and never have they ever come back for them.  Has that ever happened to you?

3. MAJOR wardrobe malfunction.  I picked up this cute striped tee at WalMart a few weeks ago.  I loved the color and couldn't wait to wear it.  I wore it to school a few weeks ago and during my planning time I felt a draft on my stomach.  The whole front of the shirt split open in the middle.  It was the middle of my school day and I do not have a change of clothes at school.  I searched my room for safety pins, thread, anything to help my situation.  I ended up STAPLING my shirt back together.  Hiked up my stretchy waisted pants and prayed my shirt that was hanging on by about 10 staples wouldn't rip any new holes.  I made it through the day and then promptly returned this shirt to Walmart.  They were all sold out so BEWARE of this cute Time and Tru tee.

4. Every Spring I always admire the new flower pots.  I need zero flower pots but the ones in th emiddle caught my eye for this season.  I think I'm going to reuse what I have, but if you need flower pots, Walmart has some really cute ones from the Better Homes and Gardens line.

5. Pizza quesadillas are filling our lunch boxes!  I came up with this combo one evening for myself because I was tired of packing my own lunch.  It's a tortilla, lots of cheese and turkey pepperoni.  They are delicious.  Fletcher loved them so much that he made 6 of them over the weekend to stock our lunch boxes all week long.

6. I'm trying hard to keep up with my bookclub books.  I laughed when I realized I was surrounded during my quiet reading time.  I picked a quiet corner of my room and started reading.  Penny hopped on my lap.  Leo started playing pirates right beside me and everyone else came to visit.  Quiet reading when you are a mom isn't so quiet.

7. Are you a fan of packing cubes?  I always admire them, but I can't decide if they are woth it?  I have lots of little bags to organize things in my suitcase so I'm just not sure if the cubes are worth the investment for the adults or for the kids?  Tell me about them! 

8. As you are wrapping up your school years, be sure to thank a teacher or two.  My kids have all had teachers they have LOVED and teachers that weren't their favorite.  We are writing handwriting notes of appreciation to the ones we loved to go with their end of year gifts.  We are doing a mix of gift cards, cash, personalized gifts and fun summer themed gifts.  If you are on a tight budget this time of year, write them a thank you note or email thanking them for your favorite parts of the year. Add their principal to the email and they will be thrilled.

I hope you have a wonderful week! Thanks for chatting with me :)

Quality Time with Teens

I have some fun ways for you to spend time with your teens today!

Olive is just days away from turning 13 so I'm changing my posts from preteens to teens.  How is it possible??  I know many of you have been here since she was a baby living in Utah or BEFORE.  Thank you for that!

Olive had the day off on Friday and no one else did.  I shifted around some things and was able to take the day off with her.  We had so much fun making a to do list of things for our girl's day.  The boys were a little jealous, but quality time together is important.

I put practical and fun things on our list and she added in lots of fun.

We got the boys off to school and then enjoyed a slow morning at home.  We took inventory of gift cards I had in my wallet from students and from gifts, looked over our list and made a plan.  We grabbed breakfast at Panera and coffee at Honeymoon all thanks to gift cards.

Then we did some practical things - picked up my new contacts, went to Hobby Lobby for craft supplies for her birthday and went to the bookstore for some inspiration.  Everything was overpriced so we prompted placed an Amazon order.

We ended up at the mall to try a few things on at Old Navy and AE.  We found some good sales and grabbed lunch at the mall food court.

She had my undivided attention all day and enjoyed talking to me about all the things.  We reviewed friend situations, talked about how to fix some things and how to back away from some things, talked through Summer stuff and talked about the highlights of 7th grade.  It was wonderful!

So if you get the chance to spend a chunk of time solo with your teenager, do it!  Let them make a list of things you want to do.  Add in some practical stops to their fun stops and enjoy being together.

You'll both have a great day!

What would your teen put on the to do list for a day with you?

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday!  Olive and I are kicking off the weekend a little early with a girl's day!  She had the day off and I decided to join her for a day of fun.

The best parts of our week were:

1. Date night!  We kicked off last weekend with a date night.  We got some things done and ended the evening at our favorite dinner spot - Turonis.  Jalapeno poppers + loaded pepperoni pizza.  Yum.  Olive has been the best babysitter.  She loves it and we're so thankful!

2. We keep catching glimpses of rainbows in the sky!

3. I hit the jackpot at Marshalls!  Look at this darling floral set!  Is it possible to have too many chambray shirts?  Please say no.  The polka-dot dress didn't work, but the rest did.

4. These wildflowers make me so happy.

5.  Are your teens into Fugglers?  My kids have been collecting them for a while.  They released an Alley Cats line and my crew is so excited.  Tip: They are so much cheaper in stores like Walmart vs. online.

6. I love seeing these two learn new things in the kitchen! 

7. The boys found a baby "snappy" turtle and gave him the royal treatment for the day.  He got a spa visit, a bath, a snack and a soak.  Then the boys returned him to the creek.

8. The Bright Years is my bookclub book right now.  Have you read it?  I'm eager to start it.

9. Pumpkin continues to get poofier every week.  His birthday is coming up in June.  We wonder if his poof will calm down when he turns one.

10. Colorful kid lunches are my favorite!  One loved pesto pasta salad and the other loved giant grapes.

11. Salad bar for dinner!  Fletcher helped me chop everything in our chopper.  It was a favorite dinner for sure!

12. Teacher treats always brighten my day.

13. Kindergarten field trip day!  My class + Leo's class headed to a nearby state park to explore for the day.  We loved it!  The weather was beautiful.  We went on a hike, painted, explored and more.

14. Band tryouts.  Fletcher got to test out all the band instruments and I think he found the one for fifth grade band next year.

15. A rainbow cloud!?  Olive yelled for me to come to the backyard quick.  She spotted a rainbow cloud.  No stripe of rainbow or whole rainbow.  A rainbow colored cloud.  It was so cool.

I hope you have a great weekend!

See you back here on Monday.  Linking up with Momfessionals