A Gift For The Perfect Teacher

What do you give the perfect teacher? 

Okay—this is my first year at home.  Prior to the glorious (and don’t forget glamorous) stay at home gig ,I was an art teacher at the local middle school.  I received my share of gifts(thank you parents and students! *hugs*) some of which were great and others…

Ha ha ha!  Just kiddin’.

But-- I find that this is a conundrum a lot of parents/kids face---What do I get my teacher? 

Well,you really don’t have to get us anything.  We do, what we do, cause we really love it.  Honestly.  Buuuuuuuuuuuut if I had to pick out my favorite teacher gifts (cause who doesn’t like a present?) —I have narrowed it down to two things.

1. The Starbucks gift card.  So simple and so easy.  $5 on a card and you have purchased a drink for your favorite teacher and honestly probably made his/her morning.  With a classroom full of 8th graders… before 8am—coffee is a must.
2. The gift of time.  When a parent can come in and be an extra pair of hands-wow!  What a treat.  Even parents who feel shy about helping in the room would still do great things by helping with  a spreadsheet on the computer or cutting out laminate.  All wonderful, cause the gift of time really is priceless.

Lillie’s preschool teacher is just so amazing and I feel blessed that Lil got to have her as part of her school experience.  So I thought what could I do that would be “a good” teacher gift. 

How ‘bout another Pink and Green Mama idea?  Yes.  That is what I will do.

Lil and her classmates start every morning with centers.  The centers change and rotate throughout the year and I thought—why not make a new center to add to the mix? 

The Goose and I got busy making a sensory box—we did a little each night and I am really proud of our first time results.

First we made some rainbow rice.  I highly recommend that you get your rice at Costco as this will probably be the most pricy part of your box.

A little food coloring and a little rubbing alcohol and shake up in a zip lock—voila some amazing results.

Miss MaryLea said she once used hand sanitizer in a pinch—wouldn’t it be great to use some vanilla or lavender scented sanitizer?  The alcohol smell took some time to evaporate but we just let the rice dry outside on cookie sheets and it was humid…

      Glass Globs for our Glass Glob Lake

 Fairies –another ideas from P and G Mama.  I have also made these for a playdate and it was well received by all the little ones.

12 little polymer clay ladybugs to represent the kids in the class and 3 to represent the teachers.

   

    A unicorn (okay really it is just a horse spray painted from the dollar store) and a Styrofoam dot pathway.

    The dinosaurs were guarding the evil rat king—rocks,beans and dinosaurs all from the $ store. 

The kids will have playing with this—rice will get mixed up and they will have fun making the box their own.  And Lil’s teacher was tickled pink with her new center for next school year.  xoxo

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How to make the Perfect Chocolate Muffin

Okay, so we can call it a muffin but we all really know what it is—a  cupcake in wolf’s clothing.  I know what you are… *muffin* trying to disguise yourself as health food!—and yet I fall for you every time!

So go ahead and alter the recipe.  Add in some flaxseed and some wheat germ.  Substitute applesauce for sugar but I would stick to this recipe I found online.  (I would include link—I always like to site my source  but I can’t find the link anymore-eep.) 

On a random side note—the actual site was laden with ads from Jillian Michaels.  I found that very amusing.

Ingredients you need…

2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract                                                                                 

2/3 cup  milk
2/3 cup  butter
4 oz semisweet chocolate chips (optional)

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Grease 6 extra large muffin tins or cups (I use cupcake liners) or 12-15 medium cups.
• Beat the eggs with sugar, mix with flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, vanilla and milk.
• Fold in the melted butter.
• Add chocolate chips; coat them with flour( I use unsweetened cocoa powder) before mixing into the batter.

Bake at 350 degrees until a until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, about 30 minutes for XL muffins, about 20 minutes for medium size muffins.

I would alternate  folding in the wet and dry ingredients—and remember not to over stir.  You want your muffins fluffy.

This face says – Are you really letting me eat this *before* dinner?

Hoorah!  Yes I get to eat this before dinner and I will get every last crumb.

Pictures of the muffin—taken outdoors for better light—I know I know.  No comments necessary on that factoid.  
 





A few pictures of my little man—working in the kitchen.  He wants to help.  A little blurry but such a cutie pie.

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I SEE A DOUBLE RAINBOW

Lately Lil seems to be zooming through her clothing.  She looks too tall for about every pair of pants in her drawer.  I keep trying to stretch the wardrobe till summertime.  She could be looking like this entry…

Oh well.

Pants aside -- Lil has been wanting to wear her dress shoes with all outfit selections and everyday to school.  I know her sneakers offer more room—so what gives?

Oh… the shoes look dirty.  Not like a princess.  Now I understand.  Well, cheap me does not want to buy some new sneakers right before summertime.  She will be barefoot or in flip-flops soon enough and if I can hold off till fall—that would be wonderful.

My little light bulb goes off… I remember this blog entry from the wonderful Pink and Green Mama.  This will do the trick.

I grab my sharpies and get to work right away.  I can crank this  out before preschool right?  It took a bit longer and I didn’t go in with a plan but my little princess was pleased with the end result. These rainbow kicks are her version of glass slippers!

 

 

 

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It’s B-A-N-A-N-A-S

Lillie saw this video tonight.  At the end of the routine she said… “I need a banana.”  I about died.  Enjoy the clip.

Bird Nests

I am ready for spring—cold weather I am done with you!  Sadly, I think we might get one more dusting of snow this week—guess I can postpone shaving my legs and bustin’ out my sunless tanner for a bit longer.  Ha—okay kidding aside… I have seen so many cute crafts out for spring!  Zoinks!! I am on overload and I want to try them all! 

The lovely blogger of Bugs and Fishes has made a new slew of birds and has a book coming out soon.  I find her work so inspiring along with her idea sharing!  You should check it out! 

Are you ready to have the cuteness meter shoot through the roof? Check out this blogpost by Pink and Green Mama.  This girl is Aaaaamazing!  Whenever I am going to host a play date I make sure to checkout MaryLea’s latest ideas.  They are great and so kid friendly!

Finally, my friend Janet from The Empty Nest sent something through my facebook feed about bird nest cookies.  That version looked fancy but it reminded me of a quick version I had not enjoyed since Kindergarten.  I thought it would be the perfect project for Lil one day after preschool.  These are so simple you can easily crank out your own before Easter.

Here is what you will need:

chocolate chips

butterscotch chips

Chinese noodles (I used about 3 tins worth)

and “eggs”  (we used Whopper eggs cause I liked all the speckles on the candy shell—more life like right?

Heat chips over double boiler and slowly melt down.  Stir in Chinese noodles.  My little one loved helping with this part but be careful—super hot still!  Spoon onto wax paper and make nest indentation with the back of the spoon.  Quickly add in the eggs and then they will stick to the nest as it cools.  So easy and fun!  Plus we shipped these nests off to preschool the next day and they were a huge hit with the kids.  Awesome!  My question for you is what do you like better… the chocolate nest or the butterscotch?  Enjoy!!

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Jewelry Tree

I wanted and needed a way to display all of my earrings and I wanted it to be pretty.  Time to call on Mr. Magillie.  Jake really is such a good sport about all of my projects.  I had admired some metal trees by this etsy seller but being a frugal I wanted to do it  on the cheap.  A little bit of a different look but still pleasing… I got my idea here.

You can make one too—it is easy! 

1. Locate a good tree branch on the ground or prune your trees a little. :)
2. Get a piece of scrap wood for the base and make it a pretty shape.  Sand and smooth as necessary.
3. Drill a hole-roughly the size of the tree branch.
4. Fit tree in the drilled hole.  If you have extra space you can secure with wood glue or putty.
5. Spray paint with color of your choice.  ( I used with and then coated with a glitter layer of spray paint.  I thought it had a nice winter (ie) feel.)
6. Arrange earrings on your new display piece!  So easy and pretty!!

  

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Before and After…

Caleb got his first big boy haircut.  I can’t believe how much he looks like a little man—Jake in particular.  Love – Love- Love!