Summer Fun Buckets

I have started giving the kids "Summer Fun Buckets" at the end of the school year. They are just filled with fun things for the summer. This year, I decided that I would get buckets, bags, etc. filled with things that are their favorite color. They all got some of the same things, but a lot of things are different. I got all of the stuff at Dollar Tree, so it doesn't have to be expensive to do this. :0)

Here is Riley's basket:
 

All of his stuff is mainly blue. Here is what he got:
silly string
butterfly net
grow & glow blue snake
blueberry scented pen
blue bouncy ball
blue glow stick
slinkies
tikki cup
goggles
modeling clay
Berry Mike & Ike's
Nestle Crunch bits

Here is Lily's bag:

All of her stuff has pink on it. Here is what she got:
strawberry scented pink pen
flamingo glass
goggles
grow & glow fairy
Hello Kitty cotton candy
Princess glow stick
Pink yo-yo
lifesavers gummies
cupcake bubbles
silly string
color yourself princess bag
pink bouncy ball

Here is Zach's bucket:

His bucket theme was purple. Here is what he got:
glow stick
purple yo-yo
disc flinger
goggles
modeling clay
tikki cup
Nik L Nip candy
Trolli gummies
grape scented pen
silly string
purple crystal growing kit
slinky

They will get these on Thursday after they get out of school!

My Little Baker

Last week, Lily brought cookies that spelled out Happy Birthday to school since her birthday is in the summer. I had a ton of pink frosting leftover, so I thought Lily would like to make cupcakes with her Babycakes maker.
She wanted to do everything by herself, so I told her what to get out, and what to measure to. She did a great job!

It would be so much easier to use my stand mixer, but Lily likes to use the hand one, so she got that out and mixed away!

Then she decided they needed to be pink cupcakes, so she added food coloring:

A good baker always tastes their batter to make sure it's good! ;0)

She put the cupcake liners in the maker, but then decided it would be easier to fill them, then place them in the maker.

First batch is ready!!

Then it was time to decorate!!

Pretty and PINK!

And tasty too!

Summer Fun List 2014

School is out for the kids this Thursday!! I am always so excited for school to be out. In all honesty, by the end of May I am completely over meetings, homework, signing folders, and rigid schedules. I am always looking forward to sleeping in, fun activities, vacations, lazy afternoons, and spending time together. (Ask me around August 1st how I feel about summer, and you will get a completely different answer though!) ;0)

Since school will be out this week, the kids and I made our annual Summer Fun List! It's a list of all of the fun things we want to squeeze into our summer. Some things we will do lots of times and some only once. This list helps me be more intentional about our time and the things we do during the summer so we don't end up with a lot of "I'm bored!!" if I already have things planned out ahead of time. (I still get the "I'm bored" stuff, but it's not as bad.)  So here it is, Summer Fun List 2014:

• Art Projects
• Science Experiments
• Cooking
• Drive-In Movie
• Water Park
• Sprinkler
• Swimming
• Sprinkler Park
• Play at the Park
• Picnic
• Water Balloon Fight
• Branson & Silver Dollar City Vacation
• Fireworks
• S'mores & Bonfire
• Summer Reading Program
• Botanica
• Palace Movie
• Glow in the Dark Night
• Star Gazing
• Sponge Bombs
• Scavenger Hunt
• Egg Shell Painting
• Make Popsicles
• Outdoor Projector Movie
• Play with Shaving Cream
• Farmer's Market
• Exploration Place
• Bowling
• Family Game Night
• Family Movie Night
• Science Day
• Summer Snow Day

The kids are excited to start our Summer Adventures!!!

Teacher Appreciation Week Ideas

This week is National Teacher Appreciation Week! Being a former teacher myself, I like to let my kids' teachers know how much I appreciate all of the hard work I know they do throughout the whole year. While I love to do this, I'm also on a bit of a budget. I've got three kids, so that means three teachers....and that starts to add up fast! The things I do for all the teachers are pretty cheap.
I am also a room parent in Riley's room, so I have a little more money for the gifts that are from the whole class. This money comes from our PTO, but I usually supplement a little. ;0)
Here are some of the things my kids' teachers are getting this week:

Today, the kids brought chocolate chip cookies to each of their teachers with this cute note saying, "Thank you for making me one smart cookie!"

I usually send at least two things from the entire class when I'm the room parent, so the first one for Riley's teacher is a basket full of some of her favorite things!
Sweet tea, Orbit bubblegum, Almond Joys, Burt's Bees lip balm, and she likes the color green, so I threw some green nail polish in there.
I also included some school supplies, because what teacher doesn't like new school supplies? 
Mini highlighters, stickers, colorful paperclips, sticky notes, a notepad, magnetic dry erasers, and a cute notebook.

I added this cute little note to the basket:

 

On Wednesday this week, all three teachers are getting this note along with their favorite drink:

 

Riley's teacher's second gift from the class is this popcorn bowl. I saw the idea on Pinterest. I had each of the students paint their thumbprint on the bowl, then made them look like popcorn kernels with a sharpie & added their names and the words, "Mrs. Matechik's thirds grade. Thanks for helping us "POP" with knowledge!"

Then I filled it with microwave popcorn, "theatre" candy (dollar boxes at Wal-Mart), and a gift card to our local movie theatre.

For the last day of Teacher Appreciation Week, I always have the kids bring fresh flowers that have a note saying, "Thanks for helping me bloom this year!" I haven't gotten the flowers yet though. :0)

This next project isn't for any teachers, but it could be! I'm the room parent that gets to be in charge of the Muffins for Moms that our school does at the end of the year. (There's also a Donuts for Dads!) I'm in charge of getting the muffins, setting up, and making decorations. Since I love to get decorations from Dollar Tree, I headed there first, where I found these cute flower balloons! I got pink cups, "grass", yellow ribbon, and Styrofoam. I found the stickers at Wal-Mart.

I hot glued the ribbon around the cups, then glued one of the stickers on the seam of the ribbon to hide it. I glued the stickers because they were not staying put on their own.

I stuck a small piece of Styrofoam in the bottom of each cup and covered it with grass after poking a hole into it for with the balloon stem.

Then I put some hot glue on the end of the stem and stuck it in the styrafoam and held it a bit to keep it in place.
Aren't these cute?

These would be cute for teachers too! (Or for mom's out there!)

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week to all of you teachers out there!

Under The Big Top

After taking a year off from ballet, Lily decided she wanted to go back to it. We changed from going to the YMCA to Wichita Children's Theatre & she has been loving it! For the past several months, they have been working on the dance for their show, "Under The Big Top". This past weekend, they put it on four different times. While I was excited after the fourth show (and two rehearsals) were over, Lily was glad that she still has two more dance classes left for this year & that we are signing her up for Stage Dance for the summer. :0)

Here is Lily & her friend Abbie in their costumes:

They are the only two in their class who are in one class. Lily takes Primary Ballet, so they only have one dance. A lot of the other kids take Stage Dance as well, which is tap & jazz, so they get to do two dances for that class plus their ballet dance. They also get another costume. So, guess what we are doing next year? Yep, both ballet & stage dance. :0)

While I am sure that Lily will tell you her least favorite part about all of this is me pulling her gelled & hair sprayed hair into a bun, she does love to have me put make-up on, bring extra lipstick (just in case it needs to be reapplied....and according to her, it always does...), and wearing her costume. And dancing on stage of course!

Lily's class's dance was the Circus Polka. It was not actually a polka though. (Much to my sister Amy's relief.) ;0)

She did SUCH a GREAT job & you can tell she has worked very hard!

The final curtain call:

On the way home, she told me that she can't wait for next year's show!

Kathleen's 50th Birthday Party!

On Sunday, we celebrated my oldest sister turning 50!! We made cupcakes instead of a cake and put them into shapes for the party. Since Kathleen loves Ireland and she is going there in June (so are Jeff & I!!) we did chocolate cupcakes with mint green frosting in the shape of a shamrock:

We of course had to do a "50" too. Kathleen likes strawberry cake, so these were strawberry with chocolate frosting. We went with chocolate instead of black frosting. I think if you put too much coloring in frosting it tastes yucky, so chocolate still gave us the "black" we wanted, but without all of the coloring!

And what's a 50th party without a graveyard? ;0) These were cheesecakes with chocolate cookies crumbs on top for the "dirt". The gravestones are Milano cookies with chocolate almond bark piped on them. They have skull & bones, 50, RIP, and 1964, the year Kathleen was born.

Kathleen's daughter, Rachel, made this cute rag banner and Happy Birthday banner:

Kathleen's grandoughters; Ceridwen & Brigid:

Kathleen's grandson, Ares & Lily:

For one of the decorations, we had an adult diaper cake for Kathleen with funny "old people" things:

There was also a guest book!

Then Kathleen got there!!
Kathleen & her youngest, Lindsey:

Nana & her girls:

Mr. Ares really loves his Nana!

Kathleen & her oldest, Rachel:

Her middle daughter, Karen was missing. :0(
She lives in Germany though & is 8 months pregnant, so she had a pretty good excuse for not being there. ;0)

Kathleen looking at the beautiful scrapbook Rachel made her:

Our mommy, Jan, and Kathleen:

Kathleen & Amy:

Kathleen & I:

All the girls! Amy, Mary, Kathleen, me, Dianna, & mom:

Kathleen & the boys. (You can really see how short she is here. Hee Hee)
Tom, Bill, Kathleen, and Pat.
(Joe is missing, he was in Texas.)

Kathleen loves margaritas, so we had margarita punch. It was alcohol free so everyone could drink it, but we made sure Kathleen had something a little extra in her special cup:

 

 

Kathleen & Dad:

 

 
 Kathleen & Mary: 

 
Kathleen & Dianna:

 

 

Then people started showing up for the party!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Lindsey enjoying the party. ;)

 

 

 

 
The highlight for Kathleen?
Watching Rachel do dishes!! lol!

Happy Birthday to my sister, second mommy, and friend. We love you! :0)