Teacher Survival Kit

Are you looking for something to give your child's teacher for the first day of school?  After being a Kindergarten teacher for eight years, I know how stressful the first day of school can be for a teacher.   Now that I am a stay-at-home Mom, and have a little extra time on my hands, I wanted to make something special for Lane to give his teacher on the first day of school.  Here's what I came up with!



I have been dying to use chalk-board paint for a project and when I decided to make this gift, I knew it would be perfect!  I simply bought an 8 inch clay pot and painted the bottom of the pot with chalk-board paint.  I painted two coats to really make it look dark.  I decided not to paint the lip of the pot but rather tie a red checked bow around it.  Then, I found these little wooden shapes for 29 cents and painted them too!  I hot glued the mini chalk-boards to small dowel rods and added a bow for some added color.  Then, I used a piece of white chalk and wrote his teacher's name on the pot and the words on the mini chalk-boards.  Lane signed his name on the last one!  Then came the fun part, fillling it with goodies.  We put a bottle of water, a coke, a bag of munchies, a bag of m&m's (stress=chocolate), stickers and a note pad in ours.  Since I know I never wanted to go home and cook after the first day of school, I added a gift card for a local restaurant.  After his teacher is done with her goodies, she can erase her name and label it with whatever she wants.  This would make a great holder for markers, pens, pencils, etc.  I included a few pieces of chalk too!  I hope his teacher enjoys her gift! 

Lane Lost His 1st Tooth!

Last Monday, while eating a grilled cheese sandwich,  Lane felt something strange in his mouth.  He was so excited when he realized it was his tooth!

I asked him if he was ready for the tooth fairy to come and he got sad.  Not what I was expecting.  After talking to him for a while he told me he wasn't ready for the tooth fairy to take his tooth.  He wanted to keep it for a few days.  One of my friends had given him a really cute tooth fairy pillow before he was born but it is packed up somewhere or may still be at our Pearland home?  So, we went to Hobby Lobby and bought some supplies to make our own.  Lane insisted that it hang from his door so the tooth fairy could easily spot it!  He picked out all of the colors and designed it.  I did all of the sewing, etc.  I think it turned out really cute! 

Hopefully, I will get an embroidery maching soon and can start adding monograms.  I would love to add his name or tooth fairy at the top.  The tooth fairy was finally allowed to come to our house on Thursday night.  She left a $2 bill in the pocket of his pillow (hanging from the door) and an electric tooth brush under his pillow (on his bed).

Jenna Turns Two!

While we were back home, in Pearland, our sweet little girl turned two.  I had so much fun planning Jenna's 1st Birthday party last year, that right after her party I started planning this year's theme.  I am crazy, I know!  Ladybugs have always been a favorite of mine.  My students and teacher friends know this is true.  So, I always knew that if I had a girl, I would definitely at some point use this theme.  Over the past year, I collected ideas and items for the theme.  Planning early may seem crazy but it definitely saves you money and allows you to pay attention to the details! 

A picture of the goodies/sweets table.

Love how the cake turned out.  It was made by Missy at SugarBoo Sweets.

I decided to have a smash cake again this year.  I didn't want Jenna to mess up the cake that the guests would be eating.  She actually did, but that's a whole story in itself.  SugarBoo Sweets also made this yummy cake.

I made the cupcakes and then added these cute cupcake toppers from The TomKat Studio.  I became a fan of Kim's work when I was planning Jenna's Sweet Shoppe party last year.  She is so creative and has wonderful products and ideas.  If you are planning a party you should check her website out:  http://www.thetomkatstudio.com/

I made these ladybugs using pretzels and chocolate melts.  They were actually pretty easy to make and tasted super yummy!

A closer view of the happy birthday banner that hung on the sweets table.  I purchased it also from The TomKat Studio.  The products are e-mailed to you, you print as many as you wish, cut out and assemble.  Super fun and easy!

I wanted to add some color above the sweets table.  So, I decided to make a backdrop.  I used tissue paper to make pom-poms and then added a few special details to the one in the middle to turn it into a ladybug.  My Mom and Lane had fun helping me!

This is my favorite craft I made for the party.  It hung on the front door for the guests to see when they arrived!

This was a very last minute addition to the front porch.  I had purchased about eight of these cute pin-wheels at Hobby Lobby for 80% off.  A few hours before the party, I decided to use them by the front door.  The plant that had been in this pot had died.  I simply placed three of the pinwheels in the pot and then added red crinkled paper (that already had) around them to cover the dead leaves and dirt.  I placed the other pin-wheels in the flower bed leading up to the porch.   

Each child received ladybug antennae (left) when they arrived at the party.  The black polka-dot bags were the goody bags for the boys.  Each bag had plastic bugs, a net, tweezers, and bug magnifier.  The bug books were for the babies.

The red and white polka-dot bags in the picnic basket were for the girls.  I purchased these and the cute balloons from Shop Sweet Lulu.  Inside each one was a red and black, fabric hair clip that I made. 

Here's a picture of the hair clips!

I wish I would have snapped a few pictures of the food.  We had a "picnic lunch".  I purchased sandwiches from Subway for the adults and made special cut-out sandwiches for the little ones.  We also served fruit kabobs (strawberries and blueberries placed in a pattern).  These looked really cute standing up in some green grass vases.  The children had fun blowing bubbles, jumping on the moonwalk and making ladybugs out of foam.  I was so busy running around I didn't get any pictures of this.  My goal for my next party is to make sure I assign someone other than me or my husband to take pictures of everything!

Here are some more pictures from the party!

She blew out the candles all by herself!

Me and my little ladybug!



My sweet family!

Uncle Chris and Aunt Amanda wearing their antennae!



Opening her presents

Thanks again to all of our family and friends who came to the party and helped us celebrate!  We had such a good time seeing all of you!  This party was bitter sweet to me because I knew it would be our last birthday party in Pearland and definitely the last party at our house!  This last picture was taken on Jenna's actual birthday.  My parents, Lane, and I went to Sugarbabies for cupcakes!

Exciting News!

We just got back a few days ago from a two week vacation back home.  It was so good to visit with family and friends while we were there.  Now that we are back in town we are getting busy working on our new house!  That's right, Kyle actually closed on our new house while I was in Pearland getting ready for Jenna's birthday party.  Don't worry, I did see the house before we bought it!  We are so excited and relieved to have found a house so quickly.  The supply of homes is here is low and the demand is high (totally different than the rest of the country).  We looked at the house the first morning it came on the market and put an offer on it a few hours later.  I feel like we were really lucky to get it because there were back to back showings that day and others offers coming in. 

Here is a picture of the front of the house.

The garage is on the back of the house.  In Midland, most houses are built this way.  We have an alley behind our house.  Kyle's favorite part is the long drive way and three car garage!

We are all excited about our new pool.  I will have to post a picture of the pool later.  For some reason I can't get it to upload more than one picture right now.  We are going to spend the next few weeks painting the interior and getting new carpet in the bedrooms and family room.  Can't wait to move in a few weeks!   I will share more pic's as we get everything fixed up!