And so the school year ends...

My oldest daughter started kindergarten last year and just graduated this year. I cannot believe that the school year is over and has gone by so quickly. I am officially he mother of a first grader now. WEIRD. And yes, I cried. She's my first baby to be away from home and in a few short months she will be in school ALL DAY. When did this happen, her growing up? Oh yeah, yesterday :(

Anywho, she attends a charter school that we have just loved and plan on attending again next year. They do the end of the year a little differently than most schools that have some sort of graduation or right of passage to the next year ceremony. They put on an End-of-the-Year Program with singing, dancing, and that tells a story about the things that the children have learned that year. 

I was only able to take a few pictures because Bree's tooth fell out right as she came off the stage and sat next to me when she was done performing. She was so excited and proud! Now she really was a "Big Girl First Grader"

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They called up the morning kindergarten first to do a dance about the different types of shapes, the afternoon kindergarten was called up to show another thing they had learned through a dance, and so on until all the elementary grades had performed and shown all the parents what they would take with them into the summer and next year of schooling.

At the end all the children come up on stage and sing a song and do motions together as a farewell to friends for the summer and a thank you to their teachers. It was so sweet.

And here she is after she lost her tooth! She was grinning at me from where she was standing with the rest of her class so I couldn't help but get a cute grinning close up of the girl who had literally JUST lost her tooth 10 minutes before she went on stage again.

Teacher Appreciation Gifts

My oldest daughter (age 6) has been attending a charter school that we just love. She has great teachers, a great learning environment, and other great kids to study and learn with. She has made incredible leaps academically and we are so pleased with our choice to send her here. 

Some charter school do things a bit differently, so unlike most schools that had teacher appreciation at the beginning of this month, ours is this week, the last full week of school.


I've been keeping an eye on Pinterest for a while now looking out for a great low-cost (but not sacrificing cuteness) way to make a fun teacher appreciation gift that my daughter could participate in. So I took a couple ideas from Pinterest, and added our own little flare and came up with this. Bree was SO happy with the way it came out and is sure her teachers will love them, so all in all, I think it's a success.

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So here is the basket a little closer up.

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Happy Teacher Appreciation Week and the "From/Love" teddy bears.
You can't go wrong giving a notebook and pencils to a teacher!

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I was thinking insulated coffee cup, you know those cool new ones? But since it's summer I though cute water bottles would be a better idea.

They have a fun drink mix inside. See?

And the one in the pic below has lemon"ade" in it. Cute, huh?

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A highlighter. Bree said that one of her teachers loves markers so we had to put it in there. I've been debating on wether or not I have the energy to make cute tags for these that say something along the lines of "thanks for being the highlight of my kindergarten year"...

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Chocolate. Didn't need a reason to put that in there! lol I just found out what kinds of chocolate candies each of the three teacher's liked and put them in their individual baskets.

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Final product. Turned out pretty cute, right?

For all the tags and the name signs I just used scrap book paper, a pen/permanent marker, scrap book sticky tabs, tape, and a teddy punch. All of which I already had. Grand total cost for each basket? A whopping $6.00. Can't beat that! I love Dollar Tree :)


Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!!!

13.1 Miles of Hard Work

A week ago this past Saturday I completed my first Half Marathon! That's 13.1 miles of hard work and it felt SO GOOD to cross that finish line! 

I completed the Salt Lake 10 Miler last month in 1 hour and 45 minutes, so my goal for this marathon was to finish in under 2.5 hours. I finished this half in 2 hours and 22 minutes and I was ecstatic!

I am stil recovering from the runner's knee I got from it, but I'm working very hard to heal my bad knees so I can get started on training for my next one.

My mother in law wrote a great post on what you can do with the oils and supplements for tendon and ligament injuries from strenuous workouts. Check it out by clicking here.

By the way, that sexy, big-muscled guy in those pictures on her blog post, is my husband ;-)

Food for Thought

Food for Thought

(Fitness and Wellness came to mind when I read this)

"A chief cause of failure in this life is trading what we want most, for what we want at the moment."

~Unknown

Remember this today and the rest of your journey as you strive to commit to your fitness and healthy living goals. Happy Tuesday!!

Birthdays

As a mom I have never been more amazed by anything in life more than I am amazed at how incredible my children are and how fast they grow.

Every year they have a birthday and every year I look at them and wonder where the heck their baby fat went and where those extra inches went.

So as I took this year's birthday photos I just kept marveling in how big they've gotten over the course of a year.

I wanted to share a photo of what they looked like this time last year, and then some of my favorites of their birthday photos this year.

Enjoy :)

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Easter 2011

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Birthdays - April 2012

See how much they've changed! Right before my eyes! It's so fun to watch the grow.
Ah, I just love my beautiful babes :)

Apple Cider Vinegar

Just hearing the title makes my nose crinkle. I HATE the smell of vinegar, but seriously, it's part of one of the best cleaning tips I've ever gotten! And for a clean bathroom, I will take the smell for a few minutes ;-)

I have glass doors on my shower that are covered in hard water. I have a yucky build up ring around the drain in my bathroom sink. GROSS.

Vinegar trick #1

Plug your sink and pour strait vinegar into it, enough to cover the top of whatever gross ring is there. Leave for 10 minutes. Unplug your drain, rinse your sink with water, and if needs be use a cloth to gently wipe the grime. Piece of cake! Ring gone :)

Vinegar Trick #2

Spray bottle, 1/2 cup vinegar, 1/2 cup water, shake it up, spray it on your doors and let sit for a minute, wipe clean. MIRACLE.

You may need to spray some air freshener in there after you're done, but still. Totally worth it!!

Good luck with your Spring Cleaning!

Reunited

I lost my grandma last Summer to Dementia. It was the first death of a close family member that I've ever had to go through in my life. I am 24, so I am grateful.

Two weeks ago my grandpa followed in her footsteps and was finally reunited with his eternal sweetheart, my grandma.

I was unable to attend his funeral, and was very sad about it, so I wrote his obituary. It was hard to process that he was gone, I kept wrestling with the picture of him I had in my head of my grandpa: dressing himself in those same blue and white bib overalls, tying his own shoes, walking down the stairs and making toast with jam, then sitting down in the same chair at the table that he's been sitting in since I can remember to read the paper with his magnifying glass.

My grandpa was in the military when he was a young man so he got military honors at his funeral. I wish I could have been there.

My girls were of course devastated, as their GG (great grandma) was their first real loss and was really hard on them. We are waiting for the head stone to be returned so we can go and visit Poppy and so they can say their good byes.

We love you and will never forget you.