simple teacher gift idea

At the beginning of the school year, the teachers at our school were asked a few questions about their "favorite things".
Favorite drink, color, candy, etc . . .
I saved the answers and I gathered a few of those things and put them in a brown paper bag, tied it up with string, and gave it to a very wonderful teacher.
She loved it.
So simple.

This year, our school's musical was The Sound of Music . . . so I thought it was very appropriate.
Thanks for stopping by.
~cheryl

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Thanksgiving

I decided to take a little break from posting Florida pictures and show you a little of what went on around here for Thanksgiving.

My goal this year was to decorate cheap (as in free).
For name cards, I cut up a Trader Joe's bag into the shapes of little leaves, wrote everyone's names on them, and tied them onto the napkins with twine.

My mom brought a bunch of Indian corn, so I made a corn garland using twine and hung it on our dining room mirror.

John's mom brought flowers for the table.

My sweet friend, Megan, quilted me a runner for my birthday. 
It looked great on our table!

John's mom brought a cute turkey to put flowers in for the food table.

Oh, the food was pretty good, too! :)

My dad made sugar free/gluten free desserts that were DELICIOUS!!
He made a pumpkin pie . . .

 . . . and a cheesecake (low carb, too!!).

If you would like the recipes for these, just e-mail me at FiveKoz@sbcglobal.net .

Priorities

I have been feeling a little "down" lately because I just can't seem to keep "up" with everything. 

I think that I need to re-think my priorities and try to leave out some of the "not-so-necessary" things and focus on the really, truly important things.

And eat some of these.
:)

Our days on this earth are so very short and I want to live them being happy. . . not rushed, frustrated, and stressed. 

Today, Jake had a 3-on-3 basketball tournament.  I was going to send him off with John and the kids so I could get some of my "work" (painting Luke's room) done.  Just as they were leaving, I grabbed my purse and hopped in the car to go with them. 
Jake was so pleased. 
I'm glad I went . . . painting Luke's room was definitely not as important as watching Jake play basketball with his buddies.

I am going to try to get the things that I "must" get done, done. (like the bills)  But I am going to be very flexible with a lot of the "other" things. (like painting every room in the house three times before I like the color) 

I am going to read my Bible more, ride my bike with my kids more, talk with my husband more, take long walks in the woods more, and really bend down to look at my kids in the eyes and have a heart to heart conversation with them more. 

I am going to keep my house neat and organized (ummm . . . for the most part), but I am not going to worry so much about having it exactly the way I want it to.

Psalm 90:12 says, "Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." 

I really like this verse because I really do think that when we realize how short of a time we have here in this world, we become wiser with how we spend that time.

Lord, help me to be wise with the minutes and the days you have given me. 

p.s. . .  John painted Luke's room tonight anyway :) So now I am really glad I went to Jake's tournament. 
:)

Typical Saturday

John's mom is here to visit.

I had been trying to think of things we could do while she is here, (downtown Chicago, the Arboretum, etc.)but we decided to just "be" while she is here.  You know, just live out a typical Saturday with her.

Our "typical" Saturday starts with some sort of sporting event, usually baseball.

Jake did a great job pitching and hitting today!  He was pleased that Grandma was there to witness it. :)

(Words cannot express how beautiful this day was. . . so I won't even try. 
Look at this tree.
Gorgeousness.)

Another typical thing we do on Saturdays is try to actually get something accomplished since it is our only day when we are all home. 
Today, John wanted to finally say "good-bye" to the rest of the run-down playhouse that he has been tearing down bit by bit ever since we moved here.

While we were waiting for the fire to go out, the kids measured up against Grandma . . . they are always excited to see how close they are to passing her up in height.

almost!!

Just a few more years, Luke.

Of course, a typical day any day for Caroline is catching something in the grass. 

Today it was a moth.

Typical Saturdays are the best. 

Some other "typical" things we did today were:
playing in the sprinkler (in our clothes?)
eating orange chicken outside
playing four square
taking a tour of our new school
playing mancala
making homemade popcorn
watching a movie in our jammies

Pumpkin Bread and Pancakes . . . the Easy Way

Trader Joe's has the best pumpkin bread and pumpkin pancakes mixes.  They seriously taste like homemade and they are just so easy to make.  I like to add chocolate chips to the bread mix and make muffins out of them. I also sprinkle a little cinnamon and sugar mixture on the tops before I put them in the oven. Oh yum.

During the Fall, I like to keep a few boxes of each on hand for when company drops in.

Okay . . . maybe more than a few.

:)

Excuse me . . . I have a little "baking" to do.

"Simple" Memo Board

I have been wanting to make a memo board for the wall right next to my laundry room for the longest time.  I've seen numerous tutorials on them and they seem rather simple to make. (unless, of course, you follow Martha Stewart's tutorial . . . ummm, not so simple) But . . . the other day when I was at Hobby Lobby, I saw this board and it was 50% off, which made it only $9.99.  It was the right colors and it was already made.  It would have cost me more than that to make it and a whole lot of my time. 
I decided to put my "Keep It Simple" sign above it to remind me to keep looking for other ways to save time.

 

:)

Eight is Great

On August 15th, our Caroline turned EIGHT! When we got back from our trip out West, we threw her a simple, little party.

(simple is good)

How did she grow up so quickly??
Where has the time gone?? It feels like just yesterday that she was falling asleep in my lap as I gently rocked her. I loved how she would run her little hand up and down my arm as I sang to her.

Those are frogs on the cupcakes . . . she wanted a rain forest theme and the theme of her second grade class is frogs.a little "monkey" in the middle :)

I consider it a pure joy and privilege to watch Caroline grow and change and become the young woman that God wants her to become.

She is so creative and smart . . . her preschool teacher always referred to her as industrious. I think that is a great adjective for Caroline. She definitely never gets bored.

Happy Birthday, Sweet Caroline.

We love you so very much!!!!!

Busy Summer . . . Fun Summer

So far this summer has been packed with fun things for the kids to do.

Last week, Jake was in a football camp at Wheaton Academy . He sure loved it and the coach informed me that Jake was really good at it and he could see football in Jake's future (uh oh! . . . that is what I was afraid of . . . We have too many broken bones in this family!)

Jake is in a baseball camp this week and Caroline is in a sports camp at Wheaton Academy. (which she loves!)

I am teaching swimming lessons to a group of kids in our pool twice a week. (call me crazy . . . but it is super fun!) I am also doing a lot of tutoring during the week.

It's good to keep busy, but it's good to have time to do things like catch frogs . . .

. . . and swim with good friends . . .

. . . and just be together . . .. . . .and do things that you normally don't do when there is snow on the ground . . .. . . and sometimes it is good to just sit and enjoy the scenery . . .

I adore summer.

Paper Clutter

A couple of weeks ago, my mom helped me go through a TON of my paperwork. (thanks, Mom!!)

For some reason, this is one of my biggest areas that I need help with. This morning I read this in one of the blogs I follow (http://www.centsationalgirl.com/) :

“Paper clutter causes stress because our paper represents things we need to do (such as pay the bills) or things we may want to do (use this coupon to get a new pair of shoes) or things we think we should do (donate money to the Heart Association) or things we’d like to do (read about the plight of the honey bee and figure out what we can to help) or things we want to remember (this ticket stub because the circus was so much fun).

Therefore, each piece of paper has a sense of obligation associated with it. A stack of paper nags at you, “You should be doing something about me…” which makes it very difficult to relax or even work in a focused manner when you’re in a room piled high with stacks of paper.”

I agree!!

That's my problem!!

There is an online workshop available to help me solve my constant paperwork problem here.

I'm trying to figure out if I am going to take it!

I'll let you know!!

* * * * *

Aren't these roses pretty? I picked them from my garden.

I just love having free flowers all summer!

:)

Favorites on Fridays

Favorite Easter Candy: Brach's Classic Jelly Beans

I was walking down the seasonal aisle at Target last night (yes, I go there now) and I was overwhelmed at how many kinds of candy there were. I try to stick with the basics at Easter . . . chocolate bunnies, chocolate eggs, Reese's Peanut Butter cups, Robin's Eggs, and good ole' classic Brach's jelly beans.
I guess I like the classic candies because that is what I rememebr finding in my basket as a child. I remember being so thrilled that I was allowed to eat candy in the morning before church. And I remember how I loved digging through that easter grass in my basket for just one more jelly bean and being so excited when I found one, even if it was black. ;)