I’m back real quick with the second installment of EOY gift ideas.
Today we’re recognizing the hard working ladies in the office. They field and treat NUMEROUS daily health related & accident cases, track attendance, disperse forgotten items that are dropped off late, supervise students during recess and lunch who aren’t able to play out on the yard, etc, etc. Lord only knows what other behind-the-scenes situations they are faced with throughout the school year, but what I witness them doing on a daily basis is enough for me to deem them saints. Annnd, they always have a smile on their face.
See…smiles all around. Aren’t they such a cute trio?
If you’d like to recognize your kind office staff on the last day of school, but aren’t sure what to do, here are a few ideas…
These fun little office supplies were found recently at Target {file folders} & JoAnns {ecard notebook} in the dollar bins!
Fancy folders make filing more fun, right?
Jotting down zillions of notes and messages is always more interesting in an silly ecard notepad, correct?
I must confess that the perfect typewriter thank you card is from several months back at Trader Joe’s. My OCD gift giving self grabbed a few and filed them away for the end of the year.
I’m also making these sweet ladies and equally sweet treat in the form of these sugar cookie bars.
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I hope you’re as lucky as we are with awesome people watching over and caring for our kids during school hours and I hope you’ll bless them as you say goodbye to another academic year.
Every holiday my kids bring home goodie bags and treats from their classmates…Halloween, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Easter, birthdays, etc. Usually I feel terrible and tell myself that I will get my act together on the next holiday!
This year I promised that I would do a end-of-the-year class treat since I haven’t really done anything all year…or last year for that matter.
Pinterest is full of all sorts of cute ideas and a couple had caught my eye, but I hadn’t settled on anything and we only had a week left ’til SUMMER. {yay!}
I was trolling the aisles of 99¢ Only last week and came across some fun composition books. I immediately e-mailed Elliott’s teacher to get the girl/boy breakdown to gather the corresponding comp books. To my dismay, I could only find half the number of {boy} books at the two stores here in the area.
They DID have plenty of girlie versions in three different styles so I just wrapped a little yarn around them and attached a note to each one for her to pass out on the last day of school. After the fact, I thought the girls could exchange phone numbers and record them in these little books for play dates over the summer, too.
I decided on the collapsible water bottles for the boys in her class since they were such a hit at her birthday party…again from 99¢ Only and BPA-free!
{the tag reads, “Stay hydrated and have a great summer…see you in 3rd grade!”}
For Holden’s kindergarten class, I went with the “bookworm” idea that I’d seen on Pinterest awhile back. I did these for holiday treats in Elliott’s first grade class…
Individual bags of sour gummy worms, die cut worms, personalized labels and some washi tape later…
{gummy worms ~ Smart & Final, die cut worms ~ Dollar Tree, washi tape ~ Target}
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I always like to acknowledge the rest of the staff at the holidays and end-of-the-year. I usually deliver baked goods to the office, yard duties, custodian and aides, but this year I decided to go with paper products!
{typewriter notecards for the ladies in the office and mini purse-sized magnetic closure notebooks for the librarian, cafeteria staff and campus supervisors ~ all from Target clearance}
For our nice custodian who does SO much, I picked up a couple Monster energy drinks and CLIF bars to help get him through the day.
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Our principal is retiring and although our awesome PTA organized and put together an amazing gift basket for her, I wanted to give her something special from our family. I made her a nest pendant…she doesn’t have any children of her own, but has been a role model and friend to MANY children through her years as a teacher and principal.
The nest represents our school, the pearl represents our dear principal and the blue and pink beads represent all the boys and girls that are going to miss her so.
Going to get teary eyed delivering this one for sure…..
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Trader Joe’s has had so many cute greeting cards lately. If you haven’t checked them out when you run in there for groceries, you simply must…
Both the kids’ teachers are moving to different schools this Fall. I handpicked the perfect cards and wrote them a note from the heart letting them know how much we appreciate them and will miss seeing them on campus next year and included a gift card for summer treats.
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I’m emotional just thinking about delivering all these goodies in the next few days.
However, I am looking forward to slower mornings and filling our days with trips to the pool, beach, frozen yogurt or whatever comes our way. Having a virtually commitment-free summer ahead of us is so refreshing.
It’s a cold, rainy day here today ~ much like Ireland, so it’s perfect.
The kiddos started out the morning in their Old Navy {lucky charm} jammies from last year and had Lucky Charms and green milk for breakfast…a must for leprechauns!
I braved the storm and went to gather ingredients for this evenings dinner with neighbors ~ Steak & Guinness Pie
Spotted this on Pinterest and thought it’d be fun to do a little something different than the usual corned beef and cabbage.
We’ll have it with a little {green salad} and Jalapeño Popper Dip as an appetizer.
The beer glasses are in the freezer and the food coloring is ready and waiting to tint our pale ale a festive shade of green.
For dessert, I’m going to make some Lucky Charms marshmallow treats…
Just prepare as you would regular Rice Krispie Treats, but sub Lucky Charms for the rice krispies and add a couple drops of green food coloring to the marshmallow and butter mixture!
Done.
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Off to do some food prep and take a look in my closet for a green somethin’ to wear.
It’s been 5 days since I’ve posted! Every day I plan on sitting down and doing so, but it just hasn’t happened.
My days have been filled with the following…
driving around to four stores looking for gingerbread syrup for some martinis…then it dawned on me that I could have just walked into Starbucks and possibly begged them to buy a {tall} gingerbread syrup. Then I visited every CVS in town tracking down some calendars. I tell you, once I get something in my head, there’s no stopping me.
making more of these with Caramel Kisses {delicious, but don’t press the m&m down too hard or you will have oozing caramel which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, just not as tidy for packaging them up nice and neat} and the Hugs {milk chocolate inside white chocolate with stripes ~ those turned out super cute! {you can see the salted caramel ones to the right ——-> under my Instagrams}
Our little ballerina partook in her fourth recital and Gramma and I had the {pleasure} of working backstage. Keeping track of a dozen tutu’d 4-6 year olds is no joke. This paranoid mom was doing a head count every 10 seconds when I wasn’t filling cups with goldfish or providing water refills, that is. I {think} I may prefer sitting in the audience cheering on my girl rather than stressing backstage and applying lipstick touch ups at the last minute, but she’d been wanting me to be a stage mom for some time and I most certainly didn’t want to let my little lady down. Thanks again, Gramma, for being on potty duty!
Also, thank you to Gramma for starting a beautiful new holiday tradition and treating to front row seats at our local production of The Nutcracker. I was amazed at all the beautiful young dancers….my goodness. My girl decided to wear her costume straight from her recital to the ballet ~ swapping her ballet slippers for some boots and adding in one {Fancy Nancy} coat…
Holden sang a very simplified version of {Soon And Very Soon} in church on Sunday ~ You Tube to come!
I hosted a little Merry Mama gift wrapping to-do where several gals came over armed with rolls of paper, rolls of tape, bags of gifts and lots of chit chat. This was where my gingerbread martinis were supposed to make an appearance, but honestly my girls were so busy wrapping they didn’t even notice! I served the Winter White Wine sangria, artichoke dip, cranberry meatballs and Christmas pasta salad {2 packages Buitoni spinach tortellini, one box small shells, 4 small tomatoes [chopped] and a whole bottle of Bernstein’s Light Fantastic Cheese Fantastico ~ cook both pastas [separately] according to package directions, add chopped tomatoes and then stir in the bottle of dressing…can be made the night before} along with my beloved Hershey pretzel snaps and See’s molasses chips for a little sweet somethin’.
My little Pinterest find came together for treats for Elliott’s classmates:
{I picked up a bulk bag at CVS and divided them up into cello bags, but later found them prepackaged in a box of 24 at Smart And Final which is the route that I will go for Holden next year}
I also literally threw together a frame and some glitter clothespins to hold thoughtful gift cards from the kids to E’s teacher ~ one Goodwill frame, a can of black gloss Rustoleum, some twine, a glue gun, some clothespins {thanks for lookin’ out, Lisa!} and a rainbow of glitter…
These frames are also perfect for displaying Christmas cards during the holidays or birthday invitations throughout the year. Just get yourself a frame and discard the graphic and glass, spray paint it if need-be, use your glue gun to string twine across the frame every 4 inches or so by pulling it tight and securing it with hot glue onto the back of the frame. Easy. For the clothespins, just brush some Elmer’s glue onto the pin with a foam brush, sprinkle on your glitter over a bowl, shake off excess and let dry. Easy.
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And that is where I’ve been, friends! I’ve missed you and hope to post more regularly now that the kids are both out of school and we’ll be having some LAZY mornings days while they’re on break.
This year I joined a group of ladies and started playing “Bitch Bingo” once a month.
{virtualbingo.org}
I actually enjoy it a little more than Bunco…
Someone different hosts it each month and chooses a theme.
{my friend, Vicki, is the “keeper” of the little cage, balls and cards}
Here’s how it works:
1. Purchase a gift valued at $20 that fits with the theme.
2. Put it in a brown paper shopping bag.
3. Bring $5 for the pot.
4. Whip up an appetizer or dessert to share.
5. BYOB
The host supplies a main dish and a hostess gift, again based on the theme.
The first 45 minutes or so is spent filling up on the smorgasbord of dishes and chatting over a drink or two.
Then everyone chooses two cards to play and the first game prize is the hostess’ gift. This gift is “safe” and cannot be stolen from the winner.
After that you start playing for one of the gifts in the paper bags. Whoever wins picks a bag and shows their goodies. The next game’s winner can either steal the other person’s goodie or pick a new bag and reveal their gift. This goes on for as many bags as there are.
Once all the bags are opened, we play a couple rounds of “stealing”. This is where the real bitchiness comes in…..
Then the last game is blackout bingo and the one who fills the whole card first, gets all the cash in the pot.
It’s a lot of fun.
Sometimes you come home with a boatload of stuff.
Other times, nothing.
But it’s always a good time. A girl’s night out of sorts. Time to chat, gossip, vent with other mommies.
Last night I sent the rice krispie crack home with everyone. They could not leave unless they had their little saran wrapped dessert plate with their crack treats!
I wanted them OUT OF THE HOUSE!
The treats that is…not the ladies!
We had a great time. This months theme was “Adios Summer, Hello Fall!” You could either bring a gift that celebrates the last month of Summer or welcomes upcoming Fall.
I was happy to see that everyone went for the Fall feel!
I won some cute autumnal goodness for my kitchen.
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May I suggest starting something like this in your neighborhood?
Something fun to start in twenty-eleven….or next month even.
It’s fun with a handful of ladies or 20.
I’ve seen BINGO sets at places like Marshall’s and TJ Maxx for under $20. Pick one up next time you see it….how I would love a vintage set like the one pictured above!
So, whether you’re in San Diego, Nor Cal, Colorado, Texas, Pennsylvania, The Carolinas, New England or in-between, get crackin’ and get your bee-otches together!
Lately Elliott wants to “help” me in the kitchen…all.the.time.
I hate telling her, “Maybe tomorrow, honey.”, “Not right now.” or “Just let Mommy do it real quick.”
It makes me feel like such a crappy Mom.
So, while I was doing my grocery shopping this weekend, I decided to pick up some rice crispies and marshmallows and enlist her help with making some good old-fashioned rice crispy treats. After all, marshmallows are so Springy to me.
Pouring in the ‘mallows:
And some more…
Holden sneaking crispies:
Waiting:
Ready for an after lunch treat:
In case you forgot (like me!) or never knew just how easy these are to make, here is what you need:
1 stick butter
1 16 oz. bag mini marshmallows
6 cups rice crispy cereal
Here’s what you do:
Melt butter on stovetop over low heat. In the meantime measure out 6 cups of cereal into a large bowl. When the butter is melted, add half the bag of marshmallows and heat slowy, stirring frequently. Add the rest of the ‘mallows and continue stirring until they are melted and combined with butter. Pour mixture over the cereal and stir to combine. Pour into a greased 9″X13″ pan and let cool before cutting.
I wanted to color the marshmallows pink, but Elliott wanted to “keep them white at Easter”. OK. Will do!
I am committed to being a better “executive chef” in my kitchen and letting my sous chef help more.
