Summer sundae bar

It is officially summer in the Plemon house!  I don't know if the tears I am crying are tears of joy for having the kids home with me every day, all day - or if the tears are from having the kids home every day, all day ;)

I am kidding!  So far, so good.  We are spending lots of time at the pool, playing with friends and staying up late!

I wanted to start summer in a fun way for the kids.  And, what better way than ice cream on the very last day of school?!

I typed up these cute invitations and we delivered them to the neighbor kids.  

While the kids were still in school, I secretly shopped for the supplies - and then hid them in our closet!

I made the kids play outside while I set everything up.

We called the kids in and let them go crazy, choosing between vanilla or chocolate ice cream and covering it with as many toppings as they wanted!  We crammed 13 kids around our table and stood back while they devoured their creations.

Papa and Gramma came over to experience the craziness with their own eyes.  Papa quickly became the designated ice cream scooper.

After they filled their stomachs, we sent them outside with their second surprise - silly string.  Armed with their string, we lined them up, counted slowly to three... 

... and off they went!

I think it is safe to say that the kids had fun!

I also think this will be a tradition I will keep doing on the last day of school.  Next year, I am thinking snow cones and water balloons... get your snow cone machine ready Papa!

TAW - Day 5

Today is the last day of Teacher Appreciation Week.  We did it!  We showed our appreciation all week long!

My goal was to pick simple, easy items that the teachers could use and appreciate... get it?!  I think the week was a success.  Next year, I hope to not wait until the last minute to put the gifts together/make the tags.  If I took more time I could make them a bit cuter.  And taking pictures in the morning, when it is still a bit dark, with my iphone does not always give you the best pictures.  Lesson learned.  We will see how next year goes...

Back to the last day.  We decided to end the week with bees.

Thank you for

BEE-ing

The best teacher ever!

Love,

Each teacher received a Burt's Bees lip balm.  I think Ella was still tired this morning... we celebrated Papa's birthday last night :)

I am also taking in birthday cupcakes to surprise Olivia's teacher.  Her birthday is in the summer, but I thought this would be a nice way to end TAW.

Update:  She was surprised!  This is the only picture I was able to take.  Second graders don't mess around when it comes to eating cupcakes :)  A few parents joined the celebration and a couple students even hid birthday gifts for Ms. Collins in their backpacks!  No one told her about our little surprise!

Happy Friday!

TAW - Day 4

It is already Day 4 of Teacher Appreciation!  

Today's little treat was a school supply all teachers love - highlighters!  Let's be honest.. who doesn't love highlighters?  Am I right?!

Thank you

for making

my school year

BRIGHT!

Love,

I simply added this little note (that I made using the colors of the highlighters... did you notice that?) with cute ribbon and called it done.  

Simple. Cute. Bright. Appreciated.

Check back tomorrow for the last day of TAW!

TAW - Day 3

The theme for today?  Fish.

The kids chose Goldfish over Swedish Fish... crazy kids!  And, they didn't want the snack size bags of Goldfish either.  Caleb wanted to give his teacher the BIG container of Goldfish - which probably would have been a good idea.  She could have shared with the whole class...

Here is what we came up with:

You are  o-FISH-ally

A great teacher!

Love,

These pictures were taken in the early morning with my phone, so they are not the best quality.  Oh well.  Isn't it better to document the memories?  That is what I keep telling myself.

Day 4 tomorrow!  

TAW - Day 2

Today is Day 2 of Teacher Appreciation Week.  Our treat for the teachers today?

You are "EXTRA" special!

Again, a simple and inexpensive gift that the teachers would enjoy - and fresh breath!

The kids were excited to see what their teachers would say this morning.  From what I was told yesterday, Olivia got a hug from her teacher.  Ella's teacher drank her juice for lunch and Caleb's teacher said, "I love it.  You are the best student ever!"

Check back tomorrow for Day 3!

And, just for fun...  The kids had check ups at the dentist this morning.  Our dentist is amazing!  She is patient, soft spoken (but firm), answers any questions in terms I understand - and her new office has an iPad room!  A room with iPads for the kids to play on!

But, most importantly, we left with NO cavities... and a mustache :)

Apparently, mustaches are serious business.

Teacher Appreciation Week

It has been busy around here.  The new monkey bars are being climbed daily.  Molly has been racing through the evenly raked mulch chasing birds.  Caleb's room is finished.  Olivia's room update is also complete!  We even started Ella's room redo - all because I was shopping for new knobs for Olivia's desk and saw a picture that belonged in Ella's room.  It was on clearance.  I had to get it - and then I hid it in our bonus room so Chad wouldn't yell at me.  And then he found it...

It is also Teacher Appreciation Week at school and out of everything going on, this has thrown me off.  As a homeroom mom I am in charge of decorating our class door.  This door was such a pain.  I stressed and stressed planning this door.  I never want to decorate a door ever again.

In the end, I think it turned out cute and Olivia's class was excited to see their names on the flowers.  The door says - If teachers were flowers, we would "pick" Ms. Collins.  Cute, right?!  Worth getting headaches over?  No.

As the week progresses, students/parents will write notes to Ms. Collins and I will add them to the door.

I also have small little treats for Caleb, Olivia and Ella's teachers for every day this week.

Day 1 - You're SIMPLY the best.

We found small bottles of Simply Raspberry Lemonade at Target for under $2.  I printed a note from this blog on cardstock.  Easy, peasy.

The kids were very excited to carry these juice bottles this morning.  Something as simple as this makes their mornings a little bit more fun!  And hopefully, made their teachers smile too!

While climbing into the car Olivia looked at me and said, "Papa will use this bottle."  I asked her what she meant and reminded her that it was for her teacher and that she needed to hand it to her when she walked into class.  Olivia said, "But Papa will want to put bird seed in it."

A few things have not changed about Papa - even now that he lives in Texas.  He still mows his lawn a lot. And now he helps me mow mine :)  He also stores his bird seed in these Simply bottles.  And Gatorade too. And humming bird food.  You never know if you are about to drink red Gatorade or humming bird food at their house...

Silly Papa.  And Silly Olivia.

Check back tomorrow for Day 2 treats!

Oops, Olivia did it again!

Remember this?  When Olivia "helped" Ella lose her first tooth?

Well, Olivia has struck again!  This time involved a hula hoop, not a stuffed animal.  My kids were playing outside with the neighbors kids when all of a sudden I saw blood in Ella's mouth.  Olivia accidentally hula-ed a little too much and collided with Ella.

This is the result:

Ella is one tough little girl.  She was SO excited to wake up to find the Tooth Fairy left her $6!  She said, "She must REALLY like me because she left me so much money!  Six dollars and I am six!"