Back to School - Post #3 School Lunches

So my dear friend Sue and I had many obsessions together but one that stands out is our love for cute lunches. Sue and I spent countless hours reading blogs, buying supplies, hunting down just the right type of food items and chatting about it.  And I'll have to say, I just swoon when I make a lunch that is cheery and cute! Here are some things that I try to do with every lunch:

1. Write a sweet lunch note. Just another opportunity to tell our kids that they are special and mean the world to us. My older daughter likes to collect the notes, that is why you see 2 in the picture below. We have many plastered on her box by the end of the week.
2. A balanced meal. I try to give a vegetable, protein and a fruit in every meal. As my 8 year old becomes more and more picky with how she will eat vegetables, I have to become more and more creative. Lately, I've been doing vegetables in the form of a V8 Fusion Drink. She thinks it's a treat!
3. Organize the lunch in a fun way. I add stickers and you'll see with other posts, sometimes I organize by color or by theme like a holiday.

Lately, my BFF convinced me into making the lunches at night. This is working out well as I have more time to "embellish" the lunch!  I hope you enjoy making lunches for the kids a little more.
If you have a neat tip, comment and let me know!

Until Later.... !

Practical Halloween Teacher Gift

So, I'm sorta of an addict when it comes to giving gifts for the holidays. And for teachers, it's no different. I love giving the kid's teachers gifts for the holidays... I'm ever so grateful to teachers for taking on my crazy kids and teaching them, day in day out.

I'm perusing "Tarjay" on a Sunday night with my BFF (my favorite time to shop there) and we ran across these awesome tissue boxes on an end cap.  Could they be any cuter? I love this little owl, he looks like he is sneezing when the holographic picture changes! I couldn't resist. I came home and added a tag with some Halloween Twine and a glue dot to attach it... and there you go! A practical teacher gift to get in the Halloween Spirit!

Until Later....

Back To School - Post #2

Are you going just as crazy as I am trying to keep track of all the dates (Back to School, Teacher Conferences, Holidays), it's just maddening! At the beginning of the year, you are bombarded in all directions with dates to put on your calendar. And, most of it is still be distributed in paper form (my huge pet peeve, not only is not "green" but I don't need more clutter or a paper to lose!)

So, does this happen to anyone, you get the paper from your child's school,  you read it, you're like, yes, I need to keep this in a safe place. You put it in a safe place, then you can't find it and can't remember the safe place, you run through  your  email inbox, you text and call a couple of other frazzled mommies, and still can't find your info...??? Ding, Ding Ding!!! That's me!!!  .... last year... This year, I'm trying a different approach.

I've been reading a lot of articles lately on using technology to simplify... and so, here is how I am taking that approach to help me with my lost papers/ need dates issue.

Take a picture and file it!  Camera phones have come a long way and you can now use them to "scan" papers. Gone are the day you need to go through a million steps to scan a piece of paper. Now, all you do is  set the paper on a flat surface, point and shoot! That's it!

Now, I like to use the camera capability through a little program called Evernote. It allows you to take notes and catalog your pictures too. It also syncs up with an online account so you can access your files from your desktop or laptop, this is great for redundancy.  It also... wait for it... let's you share! Yes!!!  You can share all your notes and pictures with your hubby. For me, that doesn't matter, he rarely helps manage the family calendar, but if you have a hubby that does, it's a great feature!

So, as I sat in the multipurpose room of my daughter's school for Kindergarten Orientation thrown with 4 different drop-off / pick up schedules and hundreds of other dates to remember... I snapped away.

Here's what Evernote looks like:

http://evernote.com/


Let me know if you use this system or something else.  I'd love to hear your feedback!

Until Later.... !

Back to School - Post #1 - Back to School Gift for the Teachers

Ok, so I'm going to make a series of posts on how to make your life easier and better now that school is back in session! My first post, it's really about brown nosing. This is usually not how I roll, but I really like to to start out the school year being crafty. It makes me feel good, let's my daughters know I value their teachers and gives the teachers a little goody.

My first tip in doing these is to find a friend to do them with. It's always easier and more fun to craft with friends. I do many of my holiday crafts with my BFF. Only one of us has to shop for the items and then we get together for wine and assemble... sounds like a good deal right? Then, put a price tag to your craft or gift. This ensures you don't spend too much.  This gift probably cost less then $5 per box.

Here's the details on the craft:

Back to School Survival Kit items:
Tackle Box
Gum
Hand Sanitizer
Paper Clips
Advil
True Lemon
Twine
A Cute Sign

The Girls over at Eighteen 25 gave me inspiration.  Have you seen their blog? Check it out... I'm a true addict!

http://www.eighteen25.blogspot.com/