Teacher Appreciation week is already here!
May 6^th- 10^th

I wanted to come up with something quick and easy for the boy’s teachers.

I have seen some different versions of “teacher’s survival kits” and loved the idea.

I decided this would be the perfect gifts for some awesome teachers that have been so wonderful to my boys this year.

I purchased a plastic organizer from Joann’s
(don’t forget to use your 40% off coupon)
and filled it with some basics:

Band-Aids
Paper Clips
Push Pins
Sewing Kit
Rubber Bands
Staples
Hand Sanitizer
Super Glue
and of course I couldn’t forget the
CHOCOLATE

Next, I needed something snazzy for the tops of my kits.
I found an adorable digital scrapbook kit from
“Just So Scrappy“.

I made covers for each of the boxes (filling in the teacher’s name),
laminated them and attached them to the lid with tape.

Katie from Just So Scrappy was gracious enough to let me
share a free printable with you!

Thank you Katie!

Click here to get your “Teacher’s Survival Kit” printable.

Thanks Mandy for having me,
thanks again to Katie
and
THANK YOU
to all of the wonderful teachers out there!!!

My children hate it.

Did I mention the fact that they have to do what I WANT to do?

Did I mention that sometimes I make them work?

Like plant flowers and stuff?

Yup, I’m a mean motha’ on Mother’s Day .

There are some great gift ideas on Etsy.
Man, oh man I love that website.
Almost as much as Pinterest.

SkyeArt
These would be so cute sitting in a kitchen window.

Menuete Designs
Each little bird has an initial on it.
Too cute.  These just make me smile .

Joy Edwards
What a sweet necklace to give to a mother-in-law.

Buttonit
This personalized chevron charm necklace or key chain is
so darn cute!  I’d like one of these myself…hint, hint, hint
(in case my family actually reads my post).

Courtney
This would be an awesome gift for the daughter
who lives far away from her mother.

aandkaccents
These are adorable for an herb garden in Mom’s kitchen.

ToGildTheLily
What Mom wouldn’t love a picture of her child(ren) on her iphone???

TheSewingCroft
This pillow says it like it is… SO TRUE!

JnPol
Is your Mom a photographer?
This Etsy shop has a ton of different cameras you can choose from.
These little camera’s blow my mind!

Did I get your Mom’s Gift juices flowing?
Etsy has some great stuff.

Have a wonderful week.

PS I really am a nice Mom

First off , I owe everyone a big apology!!

I have been MIA for a while now and I am just going to be truthful… I have been
UNINSPIRED.

Winter does that to me. I hate winter!!
I just want to curl up and do nothing, which is not good when you have
a house full of boys!

Remind me next winter to plan lots of projects at the beginning of winter to help me survive the January- March blues.

Now that the sun is back out, I am coming out of my cocoon
and looking around.
Boy, how could I let everything get so unorganized??
Everything is a mess!

Mission for spring:
clean and clean,
organize, and organize!

The boys have really been enjoying the Bucket Lists that I have been making for each season, so I decided to make a fun, little Spring Bucket.   I got the pail at the Dollar Spot and just used my clothes pins. On one side of the clothespin I wrote what we wanted to accomplish, and on the other side I wrote, “We did it.”

Here are some of the ideas that we are going to be doing this Spring:

Go on a picnic
Plant flowers
Ride on a bike trail
Berry picking
Spring scavenger hunt
Make a kite
Fly a kite
Feed the ducks
Beach day
Make a bird feeder
Bubble fun
Make pinwheels

What are you doing for the remainder of Spring?

If you have any fun ideas I would love to hear them!

Thanks Mandy for having me!

I’ve been so busy the last month working on two different projects!

I went straight from the Evangel House Office Project
into re-decorating a master bedroom/bathroom and a baby nursery.

I finished up  Ethan’s Nursery (just in time for a much-needed
vacation far, far away).
I’m thinking it might be one of those vacations when you need
a vacation after you come home .

Ethan is due in May.  His Mom (Shannon) contacted me in February
and asked if I had ever painted horizontal stripes.

There is always a first time for everything and I was up for the challenge!
(Tutorial will be coming later).

Ethan’s nursery was simple.
Shannon knew what she wanted, all I did was take her ideas
and make them happen.

Her inspiration was a special quilt that had been made out of Ethan’s
grandfather’s old polo shirts
(unfortunately, he passed away long before Ethan was planned).

Grey, khaki, yellow and navy blue, with wood accents
was what Shannon chose to use in Ethan’s room.

This is what Ethan’s room looked like before I got started.
(Okay, I had actually gotten started and almost forgot to take a before picture.)

You can see the quilt hanging on the crib.  So cute and original.
Love the white furniture Shannon chose.

Shannon and I worked on a gallery wall above the changing table.
Pictures will be inserted later.

Gallery wall close-up. Love the prints she had made by Jennifer Anderson-Bier.
She has a Facebook page called Designed by Aiden’s Mom.

The giant ruler was a gift that Shannon received.
ADORABLE.

Shannon found this “Latchy Catchy” on Etsy.
All you do is attach it to the door knob
and it’s quiet when you open and shut the door.
GENIUS IDEA!

Why didn’t I have one of these?
Better yet, why didn’t I think of this??

More prints made by Designed by Aiden’s Mom
that were  hung above Ethan’s crib.

This is JAXON.
He is working on his barking manners so baby Ethan gets to sleep.
He is doing a good job.

Now we just need baby Ethan to get here….

I had been whining about not seeing two of our grandchildren
who live in Long Beach (the other 4 live in town).

Guess what???

They surprised me by showing up for my birthday!
It was the best birthday present ever .

FYI… I turned the big 5-0.
Might I add I’ve never had a pain in my knee and woke up with pain in my knee!
What’s with that???

The one thing that we wanted to do was get a picture of the boys all together.
Easier said than done.

Here they are.  All 6 of them!
Connor decided he didn’t want to be in the picture.
Dad took him in the house for a short time out
and a good talkin’ to.

I think Tyler was shocked that someone was acting up
and it wasn’t him.

Poor Connor .

Connor is out of his time out, but decided
he still didn’t want to be in the picture.

Connor gets interested in something crawling
behind the pillar.

In the mean time, Tyler decides to be a reindeer.

Now look at my Logi Bear.  He is being the best little guy he can be.
I seriously want to eat that child up.

Alex sits quietly (this is what Alex does pretty much all of the time)
and enjoys his “baby moment” with Owen who pretty much sits quiet all
of the time too (that baby is the BEST and easiest I have ever seen).

Did I tell you I want to eat him up too?
Especially when he smiles.
You could get lost in his dimples.

Alex is the oldest and Owen is the youngest.

Dominic decides there is something under
his fingernail that needs to be
attended to.

Dominic is the “Chatty Cathy” of the bunch.
Lord that child can talk an ear off.
Someday I’m going to miss it when he’s
too cool to talk to his Nana.

Tyler puts on his, “I never do anything wrong” face.
This is the face that does me in.
Seriously, I believe in him.
I know he does no wrong.

T-R-O-U-B-L-E

Connor is back in the game…

I’m so blessed.

I hope you all enjoyed your Easter.
Ours was wonderful and the weather was perfect for our Easter egg hunt.

We had a crazy weekend (Saturday I turned the BIG 5-0) so Easter was very low-key.
So, I decided to have brunch.

The challenge was to find a menu
(besides pancake and waffles) that everyone – young and old would like.

We kept our menu simple:

Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake
Cheesy Amish Breakfast Casserole
Fruit Salad

I’m sharing the Cheesy Amish Breakfast Casserole recipe.

IT WAS DELICIOUS
and everybody liked it.
Definitely “Pin” worthy!

Enjoy!

Hello Everyone!
Spring is here and I am ready for it!
I’m ready for the sun to shine, for the  birds to chirp and the flowers to bloom.

The other day the boys and I stumbled upon an empty bird’s nest.  My 3 year old got the biggest kick out of it and was so sad that there were no eggs in it.

As I was cleaning out my car a few days later (swearing that the kids were never going to be allowed to eat in my car again) I found my 7 year old’s stash of sticks and left over pretzel sticks strewn across the backseat.  Looking at the combo gave me a great idea! A PRETZEL NEST!!!  I know what you’re thinking… this lady gets her inspiration from some pretty crazy places!

My first thought was, “How am I going to get the pretzels to stick together?”  I am a pro at Rice Krispy Treats.. what choice do I have when my kids sign me up for bake sales at school and don’t tell me until the morning of?!  So butter and marshmallows it was.

I began by heating up the butter and melting the marshmallows.

But instead of Rice Krispies, I added a bag of pretzel sticks.

I lined a cereal bowl with wax paper, sprayed the wax paper with non-stick spray and spooned in my mixture.  I sprayed a spoon with nonstick spray and made a little nest shape.  Then, I let it cool.

If you want to make a chocolate nest, melt some baking chocolate and dip the whole nest into it and set it on wax paper until it sets.  They aren’t as pretty as the plain nests, but boy do they taste good!

I added some chocolate candy eggs and a little chocolate duck.   My three year old loved it.  He said, “Mommy, my chocolate duck laid chocolate eggs!’

I think it turned out pretty cute and the boys loved them!

Pretzel Nests

Melt:
3 Tablespoon butter
1 bag of large marshmallows

Mix with:
1 bag pretzel sticks

Makes 4 large nests.

Thanks Mandy for having me!! Hope everyone has a great week!!

Tracie

Two weeks ago my husband broke down at the grocery store and bought a box of Samoa cookies from the darling Girl Scouts, in which 3 of us devoured in 5 minutes flat!  Last weekend I started thinking about the stinkin’ sweet Somoa cookies from the weekend before (are you following me?).   I decided I needed to make something like them for Sunday night family dinner.

These did not disappoint any of us!  They were BETTER than the Girl Scout Samoa’s, especially when they were cold – right out of the refrigerator.  Worth every single BIG OL’ FAT calorie!

Enjoy!

Remodeling Joyce’s office and spending time at the
Evangel Home was a HUGE blessing for Carrie and I.

Joyce’s office looks VERY different from what it used to look like.

Let me give you a quick peek:

And this is what it looks like now…

TA-DA!!!

The gray baskets turned out really cute.
The black strips of wood on the edge of the shelves are chalkboards!

We also put in an accordian vinyl door.
It takes up so much less room than a swinging door.

 

Joyce wanted a place that she could meet with a new volunteer.
She also wanted an area for a volunteer to work.
Because there wasn’t much room in the office, we installed
a 4 ft. shelf under the window and out of the way where someone
could sit and work.

Here’s a close up of the picture that is hung between the two chairs
in the picture before this one.
One of Joyce’s volunteers made it for her.
It means alot to Joyce, so we wanted to make sure we framed it and
hung it in a prominent place.
Every woman needs a nice pop of pink in her office!
Don’t you agree?

Joyce is thrilled.
She said, “I know I’m supposed to be humble… but how can I be humble with an office like this?”

What do you think?

 

Evangel Home Office Project!

If you haven’t been following along, you can read about Joyce’s office here.

New baseboards were installed and paint went on the walls.

A cool thrift store table started being transformed into a beautiful, modern desk.

Floral fabric for some pillows.

Plaid fabric for more pillows!

A thrift store 4 drawer file cabinet got painted.

A new chandelier was hung.
A thrift store silver platter as a medallion was added.

We made a picture board for Joyce out of chicken wire
and a thrift store frame.

We found the perfect chairs  at TJ Maxx!
(love the nailheads on the back)

Picture of the front of the chair… sorry, it’s blurry.

And a gorgeous rug for that ugly floor.

Floors were mopped.
Is there any other way to mop a floor than on your hands and knees?

Carrie and I made Joyce a fabulous subway sign out of old siding
from a house we refurbished a few years ago.
We think the siding is from the early 1900′s.

I will have tutorials on the subway sign and the picture board
posted in a few weeks.

Early next week we will reveal Joyce’s office!

It’s pretty fabulous if I do say so myself .

Have a wonderful weekend.