Friday Favorites

Happy Friday!  I hope you've had a great week.  The week felt l-o-n-g, but there were lots of good moments.  We're ready for the weekend over here.  Let's get to our Friday favorite moments from the week:

1.School Routine

We're back to school.  Two weeks down and we're all feeling pretty good about it.  We are all exhausted and going to bed earlier than usual. 

Monday we had our saddest drop off with me leaving Fletcher going into the school sobbing.  I felt terrible.  I'm sure he felt terrible and it was so sad.  Then Tuesday after some pep talks, a chat with his teacher and Olive escorting him to his class he just shouted I'm feeling sad as we waved goodbye.  That was sad, but a big improvement from Monday.  

I told him every day would get a little easier.  We love him and are proud of him.  After that he's been great at drop off.  He's had great school days.  He told me - You're right, Mom!  It does get easier every day.  and I'm so excited to go to school today!  Hooray!  Both kids have had a little homework and loving kindergarten and 3rd grade.  Thank the Lord!  The week started out stressful and ended up with smiles all around.  Hugs to you if you're in the same boat!

2. Sweet Big Sister

Olive earns tickets in her class and gets to cash them in for various prizes.  This week she cashed in tickets and volunteered to read to her favorite 1st grade teacher's class and then she cashed in another set of tickets to surprise Fletcher and read to his class.  She was SO EXCITED.  She picked out a book that he loves, snuck it to school in her backpack and read to his class.  I was so proud of her.  She's also set some fun goals for herself this year and each day gives me an update on how they're going.

3. Air Show

We've had tons of military planes in town for the month of August doing training and it's been amazing!  They're flying right over our house and our side of town.  We picked up Culvers and had some picnics near the airport.  The kids loved pointing out the jets as they flew through the sky.

4. Life Hack

Save all those Culvers ice cream coupons - one free scoop per kids meal - and keep them with you at all times.  I leave mine in my wallet.  Then when you get the urge for ice cream, you can swing through the drive thru and get FREE ice cream for everyone.

5. Hobby Lobby

It feels nothing like Fall yet in the Midwest, but that didn't stop me from picking up some pretty fall florals at Hobby Lobby this week.  They're 40% off this week and there are so many lovely options.  Those mustard puff balls are AMAZING.  Stay tuned for a DIY Fall Wreath project.

6. Snow Cones with Friends

We've moved most of our meetings outdoors for my mom's group - board meetings, dinner meetings and now snow cone meetings.  It's so fun to find a way to meet with friends where we can all get together, spread out and enjoy the time together.  I tried a new snow cone flavor - peach - and it was amazing!  I've been dreaming about it all week long.  And then we had a gorgeous sunset to wrap up the meeting!

7. Jordan Bakery Box

I added something new to my menu this week - individual charcuterie boxes!  I love these new containers with a snap on lid.  These were for a fun luncheon at a local winery.  Wouldn't these be great for date night or lunch on the go or a work meeting!?  I can't wait to make more.  Follow me on instagram @jordanbakerybox or on Facebook at Jordan Bakery Box

8. Garden Fresh Produce

Our garden + our neighbor's garden has kept us very well stocked with tomatoes and peppers.  I made this yummy pico to go with tacos all week and the sweet corn has been amazing.  Keep all this fresh produce coming!

9. Toddler Chores

Leo watches us very closely.  He imitates what we do.  He noticed that we're always picking up sticks and adding them to our burn pile.  This week he started doing this job all on his own.  Anytime we are outside he looks for sticks and adds them to the pile.  It's so cute!

10. Topher

He's a sweet old man.  He was grateful to get to take a stress free nap when the big kids were at school and the baby was napping.  No one to bug him :)

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!  See you back here on Monday.

Linking up with Momfessionals

2 Ways to Make Taco Night Feel Fancy

We are lucky to have neighbors who are eager to share their harvests with us!  We've gotten tons of tomatoes, sweet peppers and jalapenos.  I'm determined to not let a single thing go to waste so my menu has been heavily influenced by all this yummy produce.

We did Taco Tuesday this week and I did two really easy things that made our tacos feel so fancy.

1. Make a fresh pico to top the tacos

2. Slice fresh jalapenos to add to your tacos

This pico was SO GOOD!

I had some fresh corn leftover from the night before so I added in and it was the star!

Recipe:

Fresh tomatoes - I used a mix some golden tomatoes, grape tomatoes and then bigger ones.

Fresh corn

Diced onion - I used yellow and would have added in purple if I had it.

1 green bell pepper

juice of half a lemon

salt and pepper to taste

There's no way to mess up this combo of these ingredients.  Just use what you have and chop everything up into bite sized pieces.  It's best served fresh, but it also keeps for a day or two in the fridge.

We enjoyed this pico on soft tacos, nachos and little taco pizzas all week long.

For the fresh jalapenos, I love the crunch of them and Kevin loves the heat.  I remove the seeds from my half and leave the seeds in for him.  It's super easy.  Cut the stem off and then slice about half the jalapeno as is, deseed the remaining half and slice it up.  Best of both worlds!

 

It's a delicious time of year!

Beginning of the Year Teacher Gifts for Under $10

We're only on week 2 of school, but between the heat, the stress of a new year and the chaos of figuring out all the new routines and expectations, I think we all need a little pick me up!  Being a former teacher, I know that teachers never get tired of feeling loved and appreciated.  You don't have to spend much to make someone feel special.  I've got several ideas for you today that are super affordable - from free to $10.

1. Sip, Sip, Hooray!  We made it to Friday!

I made this cute tag, had the kids personalize it for their teachers and tied it to these cute water bottles!  They come in a two pack at Sams right now for $19.98.  Each water bottle comes with two straws, two types of lids and a straw cleaner.  That's a lot of parts for just $10.  I let the kids pick them out and then decide which one their teacher would love.  Olive's teacher has been using it every day.

Fletcher has been sad to head to school in the mornings because he says his days are so long and he misses mom.  Poor guy!  Having a little surprise to give his teacher has brought a smile to both of the kid's faces in the morning.

Here are the three different sets of water bottles my Sams stores has.  I love that there are great options for men and women!  I loved them so much that I bought another set for myself. Can you guess which one?  They aren't listed as an option for grocery pick up, but they seem to have plenty of them in stores right now.

Up close - water bottle, personalized gift tag, ribbon and all the extra parts fit perfectly down inside a gift bag.

2. Baked treats!

These 12 packs of cookies that I've been making would be the perfect git for a favorite teacher.  If you're not feeling comfortable baking for your child's teacher, stop by a local bakery and pick up a yummy baked treat for them.  Include a nice note sharing any compliments from the start of the school year - they'd love to hear great feedback!

3. Favorite Things List

Print out a favorite things survey and give it to your child's teacher to fill out.  I used this one from Room Mom Rescue  - it was free if you signed up for the newsletter.  I love knowing each teacher's favorite things for little surprises for them throughout the year.

4. Email Gift Card

Send your child's teacher an email gift card for $10 to Starbucks, Amazon or pick up a little local gift card for them.  It would be a great way to introduce yourself and get the year started on a friendly foot.

5. Personalized bracelets

My kids love making these pony bead bracelets.  Both kids made some for themselves, I made some for them and then they made some for their teachers.  It made their day to share something that they made with their teacher right away.  It cost us less than $1 per bracelet.

Which idea would work best for you?

Favorite After School Snack

Hey, friends!  We're ready for week #2 of school after a really relaxing and restful weekend at home.  I'm praying my kids and your kids have great weeks at school.  

I surprised the kids with their favorite after school snack - lots of little bites in a mini muffin tin.

It's super easy - just grab whatever you have on hand - I've been making some back to school snack boxes so my mix was very ABC back to school themed.  You can add anything your kids like - fruits, veggies, salty and sweet.  Add Nutella for dipping and your snack is complete.

I like to build this after lunch and pop it in the fridge.  That way I'm not assembling it when the kids get home.  It's waiting on the counter for them when they walk in.  They put away their school stuff, wash their hands really well and dig in.  They can eat whatever they like.  They've learned charcuterie/snack board etiquette so they know to eat a variety of things and not wipe out one single category by themselves.

Would your kids be excited about this afternoon snack?

I tried to do two muffin cups for each type of food item.  I love the big mini muffin pans since you end up with 24 different cups for snacks.  I also included two star food picks for my super star students (and also to minimize arguing :)

Hot & tired from school and extra thankful for a fun snack.  They ate a lot of it since they come home from school starving.

I'd given Leo a pint sized version of this snack and then things got way too quiet when we'd walked out of the kitchen.  I came in to find Leo on top of the counter finishing off the snack and saying yum.

No such thing as baby proofing for this guy.  He was sampling all that candy I'd left off his plate.

Mom, this stuff is AMAZING!  Quit babying me and give me the big kid snacks.

Why have you been keeping Nutella from me!?!

 I do a fun snack like this about once a week and change it up.  I bake their favorite cookies or treats to come home to, stock the freezer with their favorite popsicles, make a snack muffin tray or we make smoothies.  Then the other days we do easy things like Gardettos and apple slices or skinny pop and strawberries.  It's just the thought that counts - It's a priority to me to serve favorite foods to the people that I love!

10 Friday Favorites

Happy Friday!  This has felt like the longest week ever.  

My kids went back to school on Monday and we are all dragging across the Friday finish line.  They've had a good week at school, but we're all exhausted.  I went to bed before 11pm a few different nights and that isn't like me.  Let's never start back to school on a Monday again!?  I think I'm just exhausted from worrying about all the little things, remembering everything the kids need each day, figuring out our new routines, navigating drop offs and bus routes and packing lunches.  I love it all; my brain is just on overload.

The week has it's highs - both kids like their teachers and their classrooms, we got to go to open houses for both of them and be in their school which didn't happen last year, we got to relax and enjoy time together in the evenings, the kittens turned one and we're ready for a quiet weekend!

And it's lows - tears from everyone - missing mom at lunch, broken down school bus, saying goodbyes at drop off, missing friends from last year, stressing about making new friends and teething troubles.  Thankfully the highs outweighed the lows and we'll get back into the school routine soon enough.

Our favorite moments of the week were:

1. Mimi & Papaw came to town for the day!  We had fun working on projects around the house and hanging out on our last weekend of Summer.  And Mimi showed up with her specialty - homemade caramel corn :)

2. We had a neighborhood snow cone party to celebrate the end of Summer.  The Kona Ice truck was there and everyone got a cup of shaved ice and full access to the flavorwave station.  Leo LOVED it.  I think this was his first snow cone.

3. We made back to school bracelets.  The kids each made their own.  I made some for them and then I ended up with a stack of mine own.  We all wore them this week and said prayers for each other throughout the school days.

4. We met friends at the playground a few times.  Leo got to enjoy being on his own with me and play with some new little buddies.  I guess he won't mind being the boss of our days from 8am-3pm when the big kids are off at school.

5. I introduced a new product in my bakery - After School Snack Boxes!  They turned out great and were a big hit.  Local friends picked them up all week long.

6. We had a smiley face charcuterie dinner one night this week.  It's one of our favorite meals!  I love that there are no dishes and very little clean up.

7. After School Mini Muffin Tin snack tray.  The big kids LOVED coming home to this surprise yesterday.  It's so easy to put together.  I do it at nap time and then we eat it after school.  They loved dipping things in the Nutella.

 

8. We did all the back to school things this week - 2 open houses, play on the playground, tons of paperwork, drop offs, pick ups and more.

 

9. We've been using and loving Yumboxes for YEARS!  They're the best containers for lunches.  You can read all about my favorite Yumbox and lunch packing tips here - Yumbox Favorites

Here's a few of the lunches I packed this week:

10. Penny & Pearl turned ONE!  These pretty kitty sisters turned one.  We spoiled them with new cat toys, some fancy cat food and a song or two.  They're the sweetest golden eyed girls.  They love to be by my side and are so so patient with the kids.  They love each other TONS and if you're looking for them at night, they are probably sleeping with one of the kids.  I'm so glad that they talked me into getting two kittens instead of one.

I hope you've had a great week and have some fun plans for your weekend.

I'm linking up with Momfessionals

Unfinished Bucket List

It's okay to leave your bucket lists unfinished.

We enjoy bucket lists because they're totally different than a to do list.  You don't have to do all the things.  You can just pick and choose the things that you want to do.  It's a list that's just for fun.

We made a giant Summer bucket list and only finished about 75% of it at best.

BUT we had a great time together all Summer long.  We traveled, went on adventures, enjoyed new things, did favorite things and made the most of our Summer days.  We spent time together 24/7 making ton of memories and going on adventures.  I hope our kids remember that we loved being together and doing things as a family.

The kids loved crossing things off of our list and keeping tabs on our activities.  We'll probably do another bucket list for Fall - Fall Family Fun - with all the things we HOPE to get to do together.  Apple picking might be the first thing I'd add to that list.

I took the kids on one last Summer adventure to a nearby park.  They brought their fishing nets and we were ready to explore.

1-2-3 all in a row.  Oldest, middle and little :)

Hooray for a great Summer! 

I hope your Summer was filled with lots of fun.  Will you be joining me in making a Fall Family Fun list??

The 1st Day of School Recap

I kept an eye on the clock all day long yesterday.

It felt odd to be in a quiet house without the loudest kid voices following me around all day.

The kids were really brave.  There were some teary eyed moments before school along with some nervous feelings, but they did it!  They got dropped off at school together with smiles on their faces.

I found myself wondering if the kids were enjoying their new teachers, classes, making friends and if they were eating their lunches and how they were navigating a new school year.  I wasn't stressed.  Just curious!  Kevin zoomed home from work early so that we could all meet the big kids at the bus stop.  We were all excited to celebrate their first day.

 

Olive's Review of 3rd Grade:

She likes her teacher, loves lots of things about her class, is excited to learn cursive, didn't end up with any of her buddies in her class so she's eager to make some new girl friends.  She personalizes everything she does - her sign, her backpack and lunch box and loves a good accessory.

Fletcher's Review of Kindergarten:

He really likes his teacher and his class.  He had a great time at recess, asked for help when he needed it and kept an eye out for friends from PreK.  He came home telling me lots of things his teacher said word for word so he's listening.  He told me he's going to work hard to be his teacher's favorite.  She told us at his open house that he was doing exactly what he was supposed to be doing all day long.

And if anyone was worried about Leo... he did great.  We met some friends for a back to school breakfast, ran some errands and he loved having my full attention + doing whatever he wanted.  But you better believe he gave lots of kisses when the big kids got home from school.

We got to head back to school last night for an open house.  We got to see Fletcher's classroom and go inside his school.  This felt so exciting after being kept out of the schools last year because of covid.  I loved getting to see where he learns and spends his days.  It helped us all to feel connected to his teacher, his classroom and his learning this year.  We get to visit Olive's classroom on Wednesday.

It's Back to School Day

Happy Back to School!!  Are your kids back yet?  

Both Olive & Fletcher are headed back to school today.  I don't know how Summer zoomed by so quickly, but it did and here we are packing lunches, backpacks and heading off to school.  We had a great Summer together and I'm excited to see all the new things they get to learn and do this year.

Fletcher is feeling a little nervous to go to a new school.  He's thrilled to join Olive at school.  Olive is nervous to see which friends (particularly girl friends) are in her new class.  It's been sweet to listen to her talk him through the day to day routines of school.  I'm so glad they're going to be at the same school and I really hope they get to see each other throughout the day.

We did some back to school prep over the weekend.  Nothing elaborate.  Just simple and sweet to celebrate a great summer and get excited for a new year.  The weather was so nice.  We read through all of our back to school books a few times and talked through all the questions/concerns the kids had with restarting school after almost 3 months off.  

These three are the best buddies.  Leo is going to miss them when they're at school all day.

I planned a little Back to School balloons & burgers dinner last night.  Kevin helped me with the balloon filling station and grilled the burgers.  We invited the neighbors over and they all had a blast.

We bedazzled the kid's backpacks this year.  Adding key chains, patches, pop its key chains and all the necessities.  They're really happy with how they turned out.

I've prepped everything for breakfasts.  I love these special plates from the Target dollar spot a few years ago.  I'll make them their favorite breakfast - probably toast.

We wrote out our prayer requests for the school year and set some goals together.  It was sweet to hear what they were excited about or nervous about.  We're using Yumboxes again this year!  They make lunch packing so easy.  We've been big fans for almost 5 years now.  Stay tuned for more school lunch inspiration in the coming weeks.  I packed similar lunches for each kid and included a little post it note of love to each of them.  

I'm going to welcome them home from school with their favorite pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.  I cannot wait to hear all about their days!

I'm praying this year is a great year for all of our kids.  I'm eager for them to learn in person with their peers in the most normal environment as possible this year.  Let me know the grades your kids are going into this year in the comments and I'll add them to my back to school prayer list - from first days in preschool or first days of college!  I'd love to pray for all of your kids :)