Halloween House Tour

I intended to get out the pumpkin in September, but I ran out of time.  I put a pumpkin wreath on the door, baked some pumpkin treats and that was the extent of the Fall vibes at our house.  I think I skipped decorating for Halloween all together last year (hello going back to work full time!) so this year I'm proud to have the house decorated for Halloween.  

I put decorate for Halloween on our weekend to do list.  The kids helped.  Leo was the most eager to help.  You might notice some decor in interesting locations, but Leo was sure that was the best spot for everything.  He loved unpacking our totes of decorations and his favorite part is probably the basket of Halloween books in the family room.  He loves to read them all day long.

I didn't buy any new decor this year for inside.  We just used what we had and donated some things that I was tired of using.  Let's go on a Halloween house tour!

I love the kid art, the handmade decorations and everything is cheerful Halloween vibes.  I stamped a lot of hands, feet and framed lots of art that came home from school.

I bought this Hallween candy bucket from a local artist.  It's so darling!  I can't wait to pass out candy with it this year.

Our entryway table is one of my favorite spots to decorate for the holidays.

Leo painted me a beautiful Fall leaf.

Fall porch!

I collected these Pottery Barn Kids Halloween plates for years when the kids were little.  I love pulling them out every year for snacks, lunches and quick meals.

Happy October!

School Lunch Ideas

 I'm still packing lunches every day for myself and all three kids.  Their likes have changed a bit over the years and they have new favorites.  I thought I'd round up some lunches from this year to give you ideas of things your kids might enjoy in their school lunches.

We are still loving our Yumboxes.  Olive changed up her lunch box to something better suited for older kids.  And the boys still enjoy using Yumboxes.

It still brings me great joy to pack "hugs from home" lunches for the kids to enjoy in the middle of their school days.  I know that they feel extra love and care in the middle of their days so it makes the grocery shopping and lunch packing all worth it.

I'll highlight the favorite foods in each photo.

Mini Reeses

Nut Butter Bars

Babybel cheese

Pasta salad

Sharp cheddar cheese cubes

Turkey pepperoni & turkey sausage sticks

Homemade treats- Pumpkin bread

Dried mango

Reese's Pieces

Apple sauce pouches

Nectarines

Gummies

Kiwi

Blackberries

Sweet peppers

S'mores snack mix

gummy worms

cold pasta

Takis

mini muffins

crust free PBJ

Apple cider donuts

Peanut butter crackers

Sunchips

Crunchy veggies

Bobo's strawberry stuffed oat bites - we love the apple pie flavor and the strawberry!

And a stuent gave me these super cute lunch note pads.  The kids have loved them!

What do your kids love to have in their lunches?

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday!  It's been a good week with lots of fun highlights.  My favorite moments were:

1. Work dinners!  We've had fun work dinners two weeks in a row.

2. Special show and tell day!  Leo has been waiting to earn this reward all year.  It's finally his turn and his bringing in his little wolfy to share with the class.

3. We have a new favorite frozen pizza!  It's so good!

4. I found some darling smiley face beads and Olive made me a new stack to wear to school.

5. Fletcher had his half birthday this week!  He's 9 1/2 and we celebrated by letting him pick his favorite dessert.  We made a lemon bundt cake together and squeezed in some of his favorite things.  The kids love having their favorite dessert on their half birthday.  It's just a fun, silly way to make them feel special in the middle of their year.

6. We got invited over to Leo's teacher's house to meet some of her pets.  The boys LOVED her snakes and other critters.  They were so brave.

7. Leo picked me a bouquet of my favorite color flowers.  They were tiny and so sweet.

8. I consider myself a bit of a gummy expert and I found a new favorite - Starmix!  I love everything HARIBO and this mix is superior.  This Starmix is the yummiest mix of several different varieties of gummies.

9. Book club!  We met at a local favorite spot - Pangea and enjoyed pizza and good conversation.  I look forward to hanging out with my favorite neighbors every month.

Our next book is First Lie Wins.  Have you read it??

10. A cat family meeting was happening before the sun came up this week.  It makes me so happy to see our kitty crew bonding.

11. Leo loves numbers.  Loves school and loves learning.  He comes home every day ready to teach us what he's learned in kindergarten.  It's so fun to be in the same grade because I know exactly what he's learning every day.

12. A backyard rainbow at sunset!

13. A perk of your mom being friends with your teacher is that she comes to your house to meet your new kitten.  She's also an amazing teacher that works really hard to connect with kids outside of school.  Leo couldn't wait to have his teacher over.

He didn't want her to leave.

14. Olive had a random day off when the rest of us had to work.  She loved it.  I left her some surprises and she mapped out the rest of her day with virtual work, shows, snacks and kitten time.

15. Fun work dinner #2 where we accidentally matched.

16. Folding laundry and bonding brothers.

17. We met my MIL for donuts and books!  She loves buying the kids books so we planned a little breakfast get together.  I got a blueberry donut and everyone got a stack of new books to enjoy.

18. I'm working hard to be Pumpkin's favorite person.  It gives me great joy to wake up to this purr machine on my pillow at night.

Linking up with Momfessionals.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!  See you back here next week :)

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.