~how to feed 19 fish in the sea~

Gift giving is one of my favorite times to be creative.  It seems as though we have numerous birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, teachers gifts, and coaches to appreciate through the year. 

The end of this past school year I wanted to make something extra special for Derek's teacher.   His teacher has been absolutely awesome and has made learning more fun than any other teacher either of my kids have ever had.  To say she is amazing is an understatement.  We felt so blessed that each day Derek wanted to go to school because he was excited for the next day or project or lesson.  

After putting some thought into what we wanted to make, we headed for the store to pick up a frame (2 opening 5x7 frame, mat removed, turned horizontal) and some stickers.  That's the fun part... picking up inexpensive supplies ($5.00 total!!) that you turn into something beautiful, unique and personal. We went with a fish theme because Mrs. Carpenter loved fishing and I knew we could play on the "school" theme.   

Derek picked out each fish for every kid and placed them right where he wanted them to "swim".  Mrs. Carpenter was the biggest fish and he put her right up top in the middle with all of her "school" around her. (Notice how Derek put himself right next to her... loved it!!) Then we added bubbles, pearls, waves, shells, and starfish. I wanted to have him write all the names, but he wanted me to because the names had to be so small to fit. 

My favorite part was adding the "School" Year 2011-2012 to the bottom left corner. 

We made sure to include the students that "swam" away through the year and the new students that joined the "school" mid-year.

Wrapping the gift and the presentation is just as much fun as making the gift itself.  We added a fish to the envelope and some bubbles going upward.

Derek added his message to the inside of the handmade card and I left a note on the right side.   Again, we added a fish and played on her name, Mrs. "Carp"enter, and told her, "You are 'O-Fish-ally' the best teacher!" Then we wrapped everything up in lots of bubble-wrap and brown craft paper with twine.  There was also a Snickers bar taped on top. Derek had to add her favorite candy bar.

Derek was so excited to take the package to his teacher the next day.  All of her "school" came "swimming" over to watch her open her gift.  She loved it!  The kids enjoyed seeing their own fish/name and remembering the few who "swam" away through the year.  Lots of tears and hugs and thank yous and laughs were shared. 

Thank you, Mrs. "Carp"enter, for feeding our little fish and encouraging him to flap his fins daily.  You've taught him so much, made learning fun, and he truly knows that there is no limit to how far he can swim in life.
Oceans of love to you,
Mama Fish

~Linking up with:
Todays Creative Blog 
Hope Studios
Craft O Maniac
Funky Polkadot Giraffe

~page 191~

Being a parent can be really hard sometimes.

We teach and guide and pray that when our children are away from the home that they make good choices.

But we never know what choices they'll be confronted with or what they'll be exposed to once they step out that front door.

That is what scares me most.



Our oldest came home from school one day last week and started telling me about a book that a female classmate was reading.

This book was on the shelf in their classroom, available for anyone to read.  As much as we encourage literacy in our own home, there are some books that are just meant for adult eyes only.

You would never find such a book offered in a school book order or even in the Young Adult section of the library.

I own a copy of the book.  (This particular author is great, but geared toward an adult audience.) 

I ran and got the book and turned to "page 191" and read the four very *descriptive* pages, just like he had at school. 

It was the longest four pages I've ever read in my life.

His wheels were turning. 

Then the questions started.

And kept pouring in...

and going on...

and on.

Don't get me wrong, I didn't mind him asking.

I WANT him to come to us with questions.

I WANT to be the one to tell him the answers.

The correct answers.

Not the "school bus version". 

What gets me was that we even had to have the conversation in the first place.

I was ready to talk, but wasn't ready for him to hear what I had to say.  We've talked before about the same things, but not to this extent.



The conversation went as well as it could have.

I stressed some important things and kept some items for a later discussion or for him to discover on his own.



Sometimes I wish I could keep them young and innocent forever.

To be able to hold their hands and give them security.

But then I remind myself that we are giving them the proper tools to make their own decisions in life.

We have to slowly let go more and more each day, trust them, and watch them grow before our eyes.

It's awesome and scary at the time.

More than anything, I'm glad we've taught them to feel comfortable enough to come to us with any questions.

 That door will always be open.

~Easter treats for kids~

Tomorrow will be the last day of school for the kids before Spring Break.  Derek's class will be having a little celebration at school and the teacher asked if I'd send in some treats for the kids.

I can't wait for her to ask.

I pounce on the opportunity to contribute and go in to volunteer. 

I'm one of *those* moms. 

And I'm proud of it!  

This year, we decided to make Carrots and Bunny Tails.

*Warning... Picture overload below*

Goldfish Carrots

Marshmallow Bunny Tails

All we needed to buy at the grocery was the Goldfish crackers and the Marshmallows.  I had everything else on hand, including the Wilton Carrot Baggies and ties.  I love grabbing things the year before when they are on Clearance... right after the holiday.  It's just a matter of remembering that I have them that next year! 

Wilton Carrot Labels and Ties

It was a perfect opportunity for some Math fun, too.  Since Derek is studying measurements in school, we used the 1/4 cup and he had to scoop out two helpings per bag. 

So, each carrot holds 1/2 cup of crackers.

Next, we moved onto making the Bunny Tails.  I've seen these made with the Large Marshmallows before, but we opted to buy the mini ones for the younger kids.  I didn't have the heart to put "Baby Bunny Tails" on the labels, though.  It just sounded really wrong!!

I made and printed off a sheet of paper to make labels.  We used a scalloped scissor to cut them out. 

Derek picked the bunny image.  It seemed fitting when they were stapled onto the baggies.  It looks like the bunny is spooked a bit! Thinking,"Oh no...... where's my tail?!?" 

He wrote who they were from on the back of each label. It was tricky trying to explain to him how he had to write his name upside-down before we folded and attached them. 

Just glad I printed off extra.....

we had 5 that were "practice" ones. :)

 We dropped them down into some festive Easter bags this morning and he was off for school to deliver the treats!

As the bus pulled away, I couldn't help but wonder how many treats would actually make it to school not smashed...

or uneaten!

Now...Head on over to Creation Corner or Today's Creative Blog or Craft-O-Maniac for some other crafty ideas!

~Pi Day~

Tomorrow is March 14th, otherwise known as "Pi Day" at school.

All the teachers wear the symbol on their shirts.

They have "pizza pie" for lunch.

Kids are encouraged to bring in pie's to share and eat.

There are various games and activities they do all day to celebrate.

My son said my cookies just weren't going to cut it for "Pi Day".  He wanted to know if I could, "whip up a real quick pumpkin or apple pie to share because the people who bring in pie's get to trade and pick first what kind of pie they want to eat."

Then I reminded him that he doesn't even like pie.

"Oh yeah."

So, I think I'll just pack an extra cookie in his lunch instead.

Happy Pi Day! 

(Or cookie day, if you prefer!!)

And if you aren't sure what Pi is you can click here .

~thing 1 and thing 2~

Austin- March 2007 (6 years old)

Can't decide which "Thing" you want to dress as??

Be both!

Austin's Kindergarten class celebrated one day of their "Dr. Seuss Week" at school by dressing as their favorite character.  Austin loved the book THE CAT IN THE HAT and chose from it.  

He knew he wanted to dress as Thing 1 or Thing 2, but couldn't decide which one.

Solution:  A flip sign so he could be both!

To create this costume I used:

Red Sweatshirt

Red Sweatpants

Red Gloves

"Thing" Sign

 Circle Cardboard Cut Out

2 Printouts From Computer

Glue

Red Ribbon

Blue Hair

Winter Hat

Light Blue Napkins

Hot Glue

***Tip for the Hair*** 

Make this as you would like gluing little pieces of tissue paper to a project with the eraser end of a pencil. Wrap the napkin around the pencil end, apply your hot glue to your hat, then attach napkin to hat.  I used a mini basketball as a prop to hold the hat open to make this process easier.   

The whole costume put together looked adoradble, but I must say the hair was a HUGE success!  I had everything on hand except for the napkins, which were only a few dollars and I didn't use the whole pack.

 We can't leave the little brother out, either:

 Derek- March 2007 (3 yrs. old)

   

The more that you read,

the more things you will know.

The more that you learn,

the more places you'll go.

~Dr. Seuss

You can check out Derek's costume, The Lorax, from his week of celebrating Dr. Seuss by clicking here .

For more inspiration, visit obSEUSSed for some awesome ideas!

~coming soon~

Have you heard the news?!?!  One of our favorite stories is making it to the big screen March 2nd! 

Are you as excited as we are to go see The Lorax movie??

I thought I would share with you a few pictures of Derek (from Kindergarten) when he got to dress up for school in his favorite story character.  They celebrated a whole week of Dr. Seuss fun and had activities for each day. 

On this day, Derek was *The Lorax*.

We bought the bright orange fleece at a thrift store and I cut the sleeves. The hunting hat was on clearance at a local store.  We had some thick yellow yarn and felt on hand and we tied them in knots around two K'Nex pieces for him to hold for his mustache. 

It all came together and I thought it was adorable!

In keeping with the story, we decided he should hand out "Truffula Seeds" to all of his classmates to plant at home.  I picked up a variety of flower seed packets and just printed off these new labels. They fit perfect in this little wire basket for him to carry around and pass out!  

Needless to say, the costume and seeds were a huge hit with his friends and teachers.  And we had Truffula plants blooming all along the side of our shed that year!!

Do you have a costume idea to share??

Please feel free to leave a link to your idea in the comments! 

(And now you know where we'll be March 2nd...)

Linking up with obSEUSSed

~Day of Love~

 

I woke up this morning and found a beautiful vase of flowers and a card left on the kitchen table.  Guess our conversation at dinner the other night might have planted a seed.

No complaint's here...  they were lovely!

....................................................................

Derek's party at school on Friday was a blast!  Tons of sugared-up little cupids scattering about delivering lovely notes and playing games.  We picked up those Wooly Willy's for the treat bags and they were a big hit!  Derek's teacher had made these adorable mailboxes from cardboard and let the kids paint and decorate them earlier in the week.  They were SO cute!

A classmate was celebrating her birthday that day, also, so they got EXTRA sweets. Cookies AND cupcakes AND suckers AND conversation hearts AND chocolates.... oh my!!

And then it happened...and we all expected it would....

....my little guy was sick Friday night. 

It's pretty much a routine in our home.

It happens two nights out of the year.. 

Valentine's Day and Halloween.

Derek loves his candy.... but it just doesn't love him back!    

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here's wishing you not only a day of love,

but a lovely year ahead!

XOXO

~bee mine~

Yesterday was Derek's Valentine's Day party at school. (*More pictures to come next week!*)  Today I thought I would share a few ideas that I found and whipped together with him for his teacher and the kid's in his class. They were all a HUGE hit!! I've included the links for you to get the free template's, too.  What I liked most about these crafts were that they were very inexpensive, fun to make together, and it added that personal touch for gift giving.

"Bee Mine" Honey for his teacher from Calli's blog

I had my own bumble-bee stamp to use for this project, so I didn't use the free printout, as cute as it was!!  

Who wouldn't love to get this sweet goodness!?!

The pictures above and below are what we crafted from finding Angie and Kristin's blog.  Check out their blog for the free template!!  We bought the foam at Walmart and I traced and cut them out.  Then Derek punched the hole with a pencil and attached the suckers. We made the mustache ones for the boys and the lips for the girls.  The kids LOVED these!!

Instead of attaching a sticker or tag with the "to" and "from", we opted to use brown paper lunch bags with doilies.  This made it exciting for the kids to open... like a little present.  I wrote the classmates names and Derek just had to sign them.  We used pink for the girls and red for the boys.

And if you look to the right back side of this photo, you can see that there is, in fact, a "To: Derek, From: Derek" treat included. He thought this was the funniest thing ever and had to show all of his friends at school!!  

Happy Crafting!!  Please feel free to leave a link to your post so we can all see what you have been busy making for

 Valentine's Day 2012!! 

 

~Chinese New Year~

Derek's 2nd grade class celebrated the Chinese New Year with a week full of festivities ending with a parade on Friday.  Luckily, I was able to sneak in to celebrate with them, take some photos and videos, and also learn about some traditions and customs. 

Look who is peeking out on the right side!

Derek is 2nd in line with the red pants on.  You can see him peeking out on the side, again, if you look close.

Derek's teacher is the most wonderful, creative teacher I have ever met.  She not only educates, but makes it so exciting and full of adventure that the kids cannot help but learn while they are having fun.  I am pretty positive that when Derek is older, he will have numerous memories from this school year. 

It has been one to remember!

     

All of these Dragon's were in the display case at the front entrance of school.

Derek's symbol is the "MONKEY" for being born in 2004.

"Milk Carton" Dragons

Bookmark Reads:  BOY, GOOD, STRENGTH

~Happy New Year!~