Tag Archives: graduation

Children’s Garden

The title of this post was going to be “We Have Ourselves A Kindergartner!” and as I was typing the word “kindergartner” I thought, “That’s a weird word…I wonder where it came from and what it means.”

Thanks, Wikipedia for clearing that up. You can learn more about kindergarten than you ever needed to know here if you are totally bored and have NOTHING to do one day!

Nevertheless, we do have a kindergartner in the house.

She chose one of her fave restaurants for her special dinner:

…and opened a few gifts which included this:

{Somehow I think this lunch box is going to win out over the cute polka dot one I got her!}

The cherry on top wasn’t the one that sat upon the hot fudge sundae, but the JOY & HAPPINESS we all felt as we watched Elliott march out onto that parking lot in front of the crowd with grace and determination (after telling me, “I promise I won’t make silly faces like I did last time”), perform her songs, wear her cap and display her diploma, present us with her yearbook and wish all her little friends a “Happy Graduation” while handing them their leis.

Yes, she is ready for Children’s Garden and we can’t wait to see what’s waiting there for her to explore.

We love you, Miss Elliott. You make us SO very proud!

XOXO

Leis For The Graduating Keikis

I wanted to come up with a simple little gesture to present Elliott’s graduating preschool class with this evening at the big commencement ceremony.

What better way than with…..candy!

Parents, you can thank me later.

I remembered back 10 years ago when two friends and co-workers of mine, Kim & Deb, would make candy leis for special celebrations in her kids’ lives.

I think it’s the perfect thing for Miss Linda and all her Tuesday/Thursday friends!

1 adult-sized & 10 pint-sized candy leis, comin’ up.

I got this brainy idea late last night so off I was to Wal-mart at the crack of dawn (so happy they open at 6am!) to gather some confections and more ribbon (along with a bathing suit top, lighters for the grill and some organic potting soil).

Time to get started…

I had NO idea what I was doing, but figured it’s wasn’t rocket science.

You will need the following:

Plastic wrap, scissors, some candy and fun ribbon.

I found that the ironing board makes a great work space! Since I don’t use it to iron, why not make some candy leis on it.

1. Roll out about 4 feet of plastic wrap and cut.

2. Place about 6 candies or groups of smaller candies about 2 inches apart from each other down the middle of the plastic wrap.

3. Fold the bottom edge of the wrap to meet the top edge.

4. Roll the candies until you have a “rope” and all plastic wrap is rolled into itself (does that make sense?)

5. Tie off in between each candy with about 4 inches (totally estimating) of ribbon.

(You can use curly ribbon and curl with scissors after you tie your double knot, but I used some leftover zebra ribbon and picked up a roll of cheetah to keep with the fun animal print theme for the kids. I ran out and had to use some striped, wired ribbon for Miss Linda’s…didn’t want to use it for the little ones in case anyone got scratched or poked, but hers turned out cute as well.)

6. Take the 2 ends and join them together overlapping a bit and then tie off with another piece of your cute ribbon.

You’re done!

Super quick & easy ~ I was done by 8:30am.

Next time I will select some different, more diverse candies. Perhaps some Laffy Taffy, Air Heads, sugar-free gum & Dum Dums. In the interest of time, I just grabbed a big bag of Tootsie Roll candies.

We’re not supposed to send candy to school, but she can’t get in trouble or kicked out, she’s graduating!

YAY!

Tuesday Tidbits

Happy June 1st!

In just 9 days Elliott will “graduate” from preschool.

Onto bigger and better things…

Kindergarten.

What a special day that will be.

Carrying her new fancy polka dot lunch bag probably containing a little first-day-of-school surprise from Mama.

Dressed in some new school duds.

And new shoes on her little size 11 tootsies.

{Tear.}

They had cap and gown pics taken at school:

The first of many graduations to come in her life…

*****

I’ve been blogging for exactly 7 months today.

What I love about blogging is that I have “met” some other Blogger Mamas who are super duper creative, fabulous in the kitchen and party planning fanatics ~ one of them being Erin over at Bringing Up Burns!

I am excited and honored to have contributed a recipe for Espresso Cupcakes on her foodie blog, Haute Plates today!

Please click over and check out her oodles of tried and true eats! There is everything from A-V (appetizers to vegan!). I have tried a few of her recipes and can’t wait to sample a few more. They’re absolutely delish. I love that, in Blog Land, you never have to worry about eating the same thing twice if you don’t want to. There are tons of easy, family oriented ideas for cooking, baking, crafts, gift ideas, home decor, etc. out there so when you have a minute check out some of my favorites on the right side bar. They will suck you in and you will be forever inspired!

Thanks again, Erin! Hoping to meet you IRL real soon!

*****