Teachers are one of the most influential people in our children's lives. The right ones will help your children to bloom into something amazing. We have been very blessed over the years. In fact, 3 of my 4 have all had the SAME teachers in preschool. They go to a private Christian school and I LOVE it! When they tell my child that they love them, they actually mean it! They have watched 2 of my babes grow from the moment my belly started to show. This has been incredibly special. We love them and we are thankful for them!



I had NO idea what I wanted to do this year for the teachers, until. We were playing around in Michael's! We were grabbing random art supplies here and there...took them home and we were SO happy with what we put together! I LOVE letting my babes get involved! I think it makes it 10x sweeter!


{not pictured - coffee gift cards} We found these amazing signs at Kohl's and I bought all that was left!! When Valentines is over I always stock up on the Dove hearts as I think they are so sweet and a great touch to almost any gift. Fill a mason jar with hearts perhaps?! Give a jar of luuuuurve!

The earrings are from my shop and will be relisted soon! I have a ton in the works to post so check back! I also enlisted the help of my best gillie! She wrote out the names of the teachers in her beautimus handwriting! She has an amazing Etsy shop as well!


I added basket filled to each berry basket (found at Michael's!) and then my baby filled the inside with all of our goodies (earrings, candles, coffee cards and chocolates!). Be sure you stick a glue dot to the back of the doily before attaching to the berry basket. The large clip helped to hold the fun twine in place as well as the tag (also found at Michael's in one of the seasonal sections.)


Simple, yet made a very big impression! There was lots of oooooh's and aaaaaah's and I had a few messages asking where I found xy or z! Don't forget to seal the deal by including a hug! Have a blessed day!

I really don't think its possible for a recipe to get simpler than this one! One of my friends had an entire bag of apples that she decided she didn't like. It was a mixture of Fuji and Pink Ladies and she said she knew I could use them. I made the Apple Coffee Cake Recipe, some yummy apple crisp and then let the Middles help me turn the rest into Applesauce. Which was devoured within 2 days! You can use any kind of apple for this recipe. I like to mix a few types to give it more flavor.

Middle #2 went to work washing the apples in a sink of water! She LOVED her job and took it very seriously! She was then in charge of drying them and bringing them over for Middle #1!

Middle #1 very carefully and veeeeeeeeeeeery slowly. Let me reiterate that again...veeeeeeeeeery slowly, used the peeler and peeled the apples. He then placed them on the cutting board and used the apple slicer to cut the apples. I showed him how to make sure there were no core or seeds in the apple slices and he tossed them in the pot until it was full!

Insert the mom job! Take apple juice and fill about 2 inches deep (with apples in pot!). Then take cinnamon (you can omit this if you like but we like it in ours!) and sprinkle in about 2 Tbsp. More if you want a more cinnamon flavor. On Medium-Low, bring to a boil with a lid on the pot. I check mine about every 5 minutes and stir it up a bit. You want to make sure the apples do not go "dry" by keeping liquid in the pot! Depending on your pot (I have 1 that is WAY slower than the other...very odd if you ask me!) it should take about 20 minutes for your apples to become soft. Like a checking a potato for making mashed taters! When apples are finished I use a slotted spoon and drop them into a large mixing bowl. I use my hand blender to emulsify and turn it into creamy delicious applesauce. I get asked why I don't use sugar. To be honest the sweetness from the apples and the apple juice is all you need. Going back to basics here! I let cool in bowl on the counter to room temperature and then stick in the fridge.

My kids devour it so the only way I am able to do big batches to can is when they are asleep! But then I am also fighting off the hubby! I hope you enjoy it as much as we do! Have a blessed day!

Today I turn into a sappy mush! I LOVE Valentine's Day! Yes...I know what most people say "Hallmark Holiday". But you know what? I don't care!! I hope today you are having a marvelous day! We will be celebrating with our heart shaped Papa Murphy's pizza and a movie at home! No better way to spend this day! BUT...I needed to share the Valentine's my kids took to school!


The Crayon tutorial { HERE } we put 1 crayon into a glassine bag. I let the kids tear off pieces of washi tape and then they added a felt sticky heart! Onto the backs I pre-made labels to attach (so we wouldn't have to write out each one!) We LOVED them! Emily Grace told me she had the most fun ever!!


Then for the teachers we made bird seed heart feeders! They are super easy! You need 3 packet of gelatin (clear gelatin...which might I add as the most horrid smell ever when cooking!) mix together with a 3/4 cup of water. Bring to a simmer in a pot and then remove from heat. We let ours cool a few seconds while we then gather up 3 cups of bird seed and mix together inside the pot of gelatin/water mixture! You shouldn't see any visible liquid. If so add more bird seed till liquid is gone! We then laid heart shaped cookie cutters onto parchment paper. Wax paper or even aluminum foil would work just fine too. Kids filled the cookie cutter 1/2 way with bird seed mixture. Flattening it out (we used a big normal spoon and a plastic baby spoon to help us!) We cut about 3-4" of twine and looped into the cutter. The kids then filled to the top of the cookie cutter with remaining birdseed smashing it down so it was nice and compact! We let dry a few hours and then I removed from the cookie cutters and we let them sit up over night!


I then used plastic bags (you can find at Paper Source or even possibly Michael's) we needed the larger size due to the cookie cutters we used! I then tied a bow with twine and then with red twine I attached a tag that read:


The kids enjoyed making their gifts for their friends and teachers and honestly I had everything but the heart molds for the crayons already at our house! So virtually we spent nothing this year! While we finished Valentine's we had Mushy hang hearts that I had the kids practice cutting out earlier in the day!


Now on Valentine's Day we have enjoyed 2 class parties, lunch at the park with daddy and are going to finish the night with pizza and a new movie! Happy Valentine's Day from my crew to yours!

Saturday was our first day we had NO plans in like ages! As we are about to start a crazy schedule of basketball with 2 kiddos in different games! Very excited but indulging in this moment while it lasts! Might I add...my dear sweet hubby decided to skip out on our morning and helped a friend move. Bummer for him...more for us! I woke up surprised that it was 8:15 and I had no little saying "mommy, I'm hungry" or "Mommy, I need to go potty." one of those moments where you are like...you know where the bathroom is! I got out of bed, put a hat over my bed head and went up to the store where I got a red box movie (the Gruffolo's Child...it was adorable!), a thing of Pillsbury cinnamon rolls and of course...a lovely red cup!

Emily Grace is the ripe ol' age of 5 and is about to graduate from Pre-school! Kinda a big deal in my book! Last year I threw an end of the year party for her class and this year will be no different...except I will do a graduation theme! Lots of games, slip & slide, laughter and hopefully a bail of hay for finding goodies! I saw a quick picture on Pinterest...and am not going to lie...I didn't even click on the picture! BUT it got me thinking...Popsicle invites! I can do this! So I did! They were so easy and really took me no time at all (I spent no more than an hour on them!).



I went to Michael's and found a card stock pack of 100 for like $5! The size was perfect! (3" x5"). I had Popsicle sticks on hand and printed the "labels" up using PicMonkey!



I just used scissors and clipped in the center of top and bottom! I love how they turned out! I am putting them in plain white envelopes and sticking them in my daughters school bag! I can't wait to get our party on! Have a blessed day!

This week is Teacher Appreciation week at Emily Grace's school. I was looking at things I already had and decided for tomorrow we would deliver cake in a jar to her teachers! I love the way they turned out! I told my husband they are like little jars of lovin'! They are super simple to make and I had almost everything here (I let EG pick out a box of cake mix and a tub of frosting from the store! She picked strawberry cause its pink...and I picked white frosting cause I wanted to use sprinkles!)


All you need is mason jars (lids, tops etc), twine (I used red and tan), plastic forks, cake mix, tub of frosting, sprinkles and then I let Emily Grace make the tags (the names of the teachers are on the opposite side shown!)