Life's Moments

life keeps going and going and I keep forgetting to share and write down the little moments.  So, this is my attempt to jot down some of the little things that have happened in the past few months.

The last few weeks of school, it was 90-100 degrees.  And Ella would wear these boots (with her ruffle socks) to school everyday.  I told her it was 100 degrees and she didn't need to wear boots, but i couldn't convince her otherwise, so I just went with it.  Love those summer boots!

Hannah gave a great FHE lesson one week and Ella decided she wanted to do the same.  So, the next week, she gave the FHE lesson.  She did a fantastic job.  Her lesson was on "how to be respectful to your parents".  She came up with it all on her own.  We talked about the bad ways we behave when we don't respect our parents and the good things we should do to respect our parents.  Pretty good lesson and it is always better when presented in a Belle dress.

Graham got his first haircut.  It took us 18 months.  But he was starting to look like a little shabby, so it had to be done.  I was scared to do it for fear, we would lose with cute little curls, but have no fear, they stayed and he looked cuter and more presentable.  Love my little curly, dash of red-headed boy!

For mother's day, my kids showered me with written love (real, physical love too). But here is the collection of letters, poems, drawings and notes from my creative and lovable kids.

Ella lost her first tooth (thanks to the prying of legos apart).  So, she was super excited (with the help of her sister) to ask the tooth fairy some questions.  Here is what she left under her pillow.  I don't even know where the tooth is?

I just posted this picture, because she is so darm cute!

Girl's Trip

I can't believe I didn't post about our big Girl's trip.  I took my two girls (and my mom met up with us) to Los Angeles for the weekend to go to the American Girl Store.   It was for Hannah's birthday, but it happened to be on Mother's day weekend, so it was kinda for me too.

It was truly a wonderful trip.  We picked my mom up at LAX and headed to Beverly Hills.  And before we went to the hotel, we stopped at the new Sprinkles Ice cream store there.  We indulged on Sprinkles cupcakes with our ice cream.. so yummy!

The next day we went to the American Girl Store.  It was like a dream come true for Hannah.  She was in heaven.  We had lunch there (notice the dolls at the table with us).  

Then we got the dolls hair done in the beauty salon.  The girls loved picking out the hair-dos they wanted for their dolls. 

Then we spent hours (and I mean hours) looking at all the historical dolls and their different rooms.  And they had a craft hour where the girls were able to make Mother's Day cards for me!

Throughout the day, we ventured out of the store and enjoyed The Grove with all its stores, treats and pretty sights.  Some of the treats might have included Dylan's Candy shop, Sprinkles, cupcakes again and yummy smoothies!  We were on vacation, so we ate like it :-)

Then we headed home.  It was so fun to take my two girls (and be with my mom).  It was the perfect girls weekend.  Here's to more of them in the future!

Teach Last Day of School Gifts

 Here are the teacher's gifts we gave this year.

A cute, but simple insulated cup full of dark chocolates (the teacher's favorite) and a Jamba Juice gift card.

I did this last year, but it is worth repeating.  I got the mugs from Anthrpologie (for $6).  You can't see the initial, but it has the teacher's first initial on the front and again filled it with Lindt Chocolates.  I feel like it is such a cute, classy gift, but not too expensive.

The tag says "you have been a "letter" perfect teacher.  thanks for everything!"

The last gift was my favorite.  The teacher had three different bags she sent home with the kids throughout the year.  The bags she was using were random "marketing" bags she had gotten from various conventions and such.  So, I decided she needed "real" tote bags that were labeled appropriately.  So, I stenciled the three bags for her to use next year.  And of course added a tag.

End of School

Man, what a busy few weeks.  School got out and it has been non-stop until this week.  I have a lot to share from these last few weeks, but let's start with the last week of school.

I was in charge of the end of school party for my daughter's classroom and it was so much fun.  The older these school kids get, the more fun they have at parties like this.

We started with a pizza/fruit/veggies for lunch.  After the kids were done eating, we passed out beach balls for the kids to sign.  I had parents supply the beach balls and I wrote each kids name on their ball.  We passed out sharpie pens and the kids got to sign their names on all the balls.  It was fun.  The kids had fun signing and then they had more fun playing with the balls.

Next, we had a Candy Bar Award ceremony.  Each kid got a candy bar award.  We had them walk down a red carpet to get their award.  The kids had a blast with the red carpet (strutting their stuff) and loved finding out who got what candy bar.  I got the award design from this awesome site and altered it a bit to include our candy bar and reason for the award.

Also, I got the individual candy bar awards from this site... how great are all these awards.  So, nice that i didn't have to come up with all 27 awards on my own :-)   I had the teacher and principal sign the award and then we laminated them.

I made a fun "end of school" banner with flashcard garland to be the backdrop for the pictures of the awards, but their was no where to put it outside, so I will save it for next year.  I will definitely be doing this again :-)

Here are a few snapshots of the kids getting their awards and walking down the red carpet!  Like i said, they loved this!

Then we had an ice cream sundae bar and finally we ended with a pinata.  It was a fun party and the kids deserved it after a job well done this year!