Friday Faves

Happy Friday, friends!  I hope you've had a good week.  I'm ready for the weekend.  Our week in one list.

Springing forward felt 90% awful and 10% lovely.

Spring Break (for Kevin).

Stomach bug.

Sick Days.

Half Day.

Backyard swinging, soccer, golf and seeing neighbors again.

My favorite moments of the week were:

1. We went to see our high school's spring musical Cinderella and it was great.  Of course these two talked me into running some fun errands afterwards - Bath and Body Works, 5 Below & Sams.

2. Our first cookout of the season!  We headed over to a friend's house for burgers & cookies.

3. Soaking up the sunshine.  Mr. Mittens can be found moving from one sunny spot to another all day long.  None of us are happy about leaving home in the dark in the morning, but the sunshine in the evenings has been nice.

4. Stuffed animal day in PreK!  Leo brought his moose to school and did some book reading by flashlight.

5. We picked up some new things for the kids for Spring sports.

6. This s'mores mix from Sams is sooooo good!  I gifted it to a friend and I put it in my kid's lunch boxes this week.

7. Sweet coworkers are the very best.

8. Fletcher had a few sick days at home this week.  We Facetimed at lunch where he was so excited to show me his heart potato chip.

9. Late night art project prepping for my kindergarteners.  I try to have them do as much as possible, but sometimes I help.  They traced and colored and I cut out their cute little hand prints.

10. We met Kevin's mom at Barnes and Noble so the kids could pick out a few new books for Spring.  I even found a few things for my classroom.  My kids are really into puppets so this Mr. Mittens look alike puppet was a must.  The kids each found several new books to enjoy.  Leo also found a few things to put on his birthday wish list.

11. Funny cat.  We find him in the strangest places.

Have the best weekend!

I'll see you back here on Monday :)

Bring Your Own Board Party

I got invited to a really fun neighborhood party the other night - Bring your own board to share!  We texted our board menus in advance to make sure there was a variety of boards.  It was such a yummy night with friends.

I picked a dessert board - 3 kinds of cookies, chocolate dipped berries & pretzels.

I had never dipped blackberries before - they were a big hit.

We were all so proud of our boards and had the best time chatting & grazing on the boards.

I'd 10/10 recommend this for a fun girl's night.

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday, friends!  I hope you've had a good week.  Lots of happy things to report here.

The best parts of our week were:

1. Sweet notes from my kindergarteners are my favorite.  They are starting to feel sentimental about the year coming to an end.  Several of my students said they'd like to stay in kindergarten forever.  I'll be sad to send this class on to first grade.   But, if I'm being honest, I'm excited for year two when I don't feel quite so new and I have a year of teaching kindergarten under my belt.

2. Guest reader!  I loved having Fletcher come down to my class and be a guest reader.  He did a great job.  My students think he's the coolest and get so excited to see him around school.

3. This made me LOL.  It's true.  Kindergarteners tell me everything.

4. Late night Mr. Mittens is so cute.

5. We had a delicious teacher luncheon this week.  One of our admins grilled for us and then everyone brought in sides to share.  Best lunch of the week.

6. Olive has been making tons of bracelets!  We stocked up at a recent 50% off Hobby Lobby bead sale and she's been crafting like crazy.  Mr Mittens loves to be nearby to attack her string and mix up her beads.  I love her creations and have a few nice stacks from her.

7. These boys love to play video games.  And they love when I sit and watch them play.  I have no idea what's going on in their games, but they appreciate having me nearby.

8. Sams has the prettiest bouquets of tiny roses for only $9.99!  They are called spray roses and look how goregous they are!  They came in several colors, made a huge bouquet and were such a deal.  I grabbed this bouquet and s'mores snack mix of a colleague that had been sick.  The perfect treat combo!

9. I love a week night road trip to meet up with my friends.  They drive an hour south and I drive an hour north and we meet for one of my favorite nights of the quarter.  We do a little shopping, eating, catching up, ice cream eating and laughing.  I love these besties.

Pepperoni rolls are my favorite thing to get at Old Chicago.

And they know that I love lemons!

We planned our dinner close to Valentine's Day so I brought them a little gift of my favorite things - hair clip from Dollar Tree & a canvas bag from TJ.  

10. I get so excited every time I spot a rainbow in the sky!

11. I'll be sad when Leo outgrows riding in the shopping cart.  We strolled through the aisles of Target so he could scope out toys he'd like for his birthday.  He found lots of fun options.  I took pictures of all the toys to put on his wish list.  How is my baby turning FIVE this Spring??

12. All my favorite stores have really pretty scarves showing up on their shelves for Spring.  This pretty scarf is from Walmart and I ordered a few new ones from Old Navy.  They will look so pretty on your bags or around your neck this season.

13. Crumbl!  I have Crumbl gift cards saved up from Christmas gifts from my students.  I picked these up for dessert one night to surprise my family.  They were all yummy.

14. Chapel day!  I get so excited to go to chapel and sit by this cutie.  It's fun to see him at school and worship with him.

I hope you have a great weekend!  I'm ready to crash after a busy week.  See you back here on Monday!

2 Tips to Make Any Teen Smile

I have two teen tips that will make any teen smile.  I promise.

1. Surprise them with their favorite things.  

Pay attention to the latest trends, their Amazon with lists and what all the kids are wearing or wanting.  Then surprise them with it.

Olive is very into Vera Bradley + teddy bears.  She got a bag in this pattern for Christmas.  After a stressful week at school, I surprised her with the matching zipper pouch and an encouraging note.  She LOVED it.  And loved that I cared enough to pay attention to know what she's love.

It can also be simple like adding their favorite things to the grocery list each week or restock their favorite beauty items.  Olive knows where I keep my grocery list in the kitchen.  She's always adding items to the list and is so happy when they arrive.  I've also surprise her by making her bed, tidying up her bedroom and doing her laundry without asking her to help.  She always seems to appreciate it.

2. Fix some of the little things for them.

Your teen will have many things that will stress them out or need fixing each week.  Fix some of the little things to make their days less stressful.  Wake up early to do their hair so they don't have to stress about it.  Keep track of their schedule, remember their events and keep track of what they need to know.  Check their grades with them and reach out to teachers with questions.  Sometimes Olive will tell me she will handle the question and other times she will ask me to email her teacher.  Or dumpster dive when one of their favorite things accidentally gets tossed.

I emptied trash cans around the house and - long story short - I threw away an art project that Olive had just made with her friends.  I grabbed a flashlight, headed out to the curb on the eve of trash pick up and did some dumpter diving.  I found her art.  And she was so excited.

I try to do both of these things regularly to connect with my favorite (pre)teen!

Favorite Foods from Sams

Sams has been saving the day for us for meals.  Their produce is always the best I can find.  We make it to Sams almost every weekend to stock up on fruits and veggies + our meal essentials.

Let me tell you about our current favorites.

Going shopping with these two.  They love to try the samples and add things to my cart.

So sweet.

Except for when I let them drive the cart and they run into my heel at full speed.  I don't recommend that at all.  Otherwise they are getting better at driving a cart (I've wised up and walk behind them), being polite and talkative to the sample ladies, helping me scan everything on the app to check out and navigating a crowded store.  All good life skills.

We sampled these Sesame Ginger Chicken Dumplings and they are delicious.

I cook as directed.  Brown them a bit and add the ginger sauce.

I served them with some vegetable lo mein.

And edamame.  It was such a yummy dinner.  It was much cheaper than going out to eat.

These egg bites have been a life saver for me for easy lunches.  I brown them a bit and reheat them for lunch.  Or if I eat them at home I'll make some toast to go with them.  They have a couple of different flavors and they are all good.

The kids sampled these and loved them.  I can't handle the spice so I didn't buy them.

This is the best queso ever.  Trust me.

I'm loving these granola bars for breakfast and a snack during the day.  They are filling, chewy and so yummy.  Another sample that we loved.

This was two dinners for us.  We really enjoyed it.  The chicken was pretty good, but next time I think I'll get the vegetable fried rice and add my own chicken.  I added in a couple of scrambled eggs, more peas and green onions.

Mini tacos.  A staple Sams item.  They are a great appetizer and the perfect dinner item.

I hope you found a new item or two that your family would enjoy from Sams.