{Gift Idea} Berry Baskets+Strawberry Shortcake Cookies

I have been in love with these berry baskets from the moment I saw them. I got these from Bake it Pretty with no purpose beforehand--they are just adorable, aren't they? Of course you could fill them with your basic berry, but I thought I'd search for a little creative pairing that still went with the whole berry theme. 

I found this DELICIOUS recipe for Strawberry Shortcake Cookies from Martha Stewart, and if you head over to the site now you will see it officially proclaimed "Strawberry Season." Yesss. Don't you just think these little cookies make the baskets even cuter??

Pick up some berry baskets, add your cookies and a little ribbon, and go wish your neighbors a happy strawberry season.

Happy Mother's Day!

I'm so thankful for my wonderful mother, all the other mothers in my life, and my GREATEST blessing-- to be a mother.

{Sneak Peak} Grant's Room

The beachy, big-boy room is starting to come together. 

Stay tuned next week for the final reveal (I hope!).

{Gift Idea} MTC Survival Kit

Two of my siblings are on missions for our church right now. Even though I was a missionary also, and know what an AMAZING experience they are having and how important the work they're doing is, I can't help but miss them like crazy. 

If you have any soon-to-be missionaries in your life, may I suggest a gift option?? An MTC Survival Kit--filled with study items like flash cards, pencils, highlighters, and treats, obviously. Of course, you could think of a million reasons for a survival kit and customize yours for the occasion--New Mom Survival Kit, Wedding or Honeymoon Survival Kit for a bride, Teacher Survival Kit, College Survival Kit for a freshman leaving home for the first time. Do you need more ideas? I can keep going.

The one pictured here is the one I gave my sister--just in case you didn't know that "hermana" means sister, or that pink and ribbons are usually for girls. I cut out the big letters with my Cricut, as well as the scallop shapes, and used stickers for the little letters. I mod podged it all on to a tin lunch box I purchased at the local craft store, and tied ribbons and a tag to the handle. 

So proud of my Kayla and Maxi! Thanks for reading!

Teacher

This week is Teacher Appreciation Week. And if you didn't know that before, you'll probably have a bajillion blogs to remind you with their cute ideas and projects to honor teachers. I have to admit, I haven't done any of those projects yet, but I sure have been doing a lot of teacher appreciating lately. I've especially been appreciating the teachers who helped me become a teacher. (Because did you know that I was one once? Yeah, for a whole entire, single year before my son was born.)

This was my classroom--half torn down after the school year ended. Notice my baby's car seat?

During my teaching program in college, I would sometimes (lots of times) walk from class to class on campus and wonder what the heck I was doing. It took a lot of praying and pondering to finally arrive at that choice of profession, but I definitely wasn't the most talented, I didn't know the subject matter as much as many of the other students, and I didn't feel as enthusiastic about it as other students seemed to. But somehow, in the classes of my FAVORITE professors, that feeling was so different, and like magic I felt like the best student in the whole class (I'm sure everyone felt that way). Somehow, in their classes, I felt like I was MADE to be a teacher. I felt smarter, more talented, more confident, more excited. In my mind, my best teachers were the ones who made me feel like the best student. I'm so grateful for these few, specific, GREAT teachers--these were the teachers I tried to copy and be like when I had my own students.

I LOVED being a teacher. It was so hard every single day I did it, but I saw the faces of those squirmy little 8th graders every night in my mind when I was planning for the next day. I would think about them the whole drive to school in the morning, and about how I could make 8th grade English change their lives. I loved those students even though they made me crazy, and made me think true evil at times. They made me laugh, and taught me patience, and creativity, and patience. And, I wasn't always the most patient teacher, so they tried to teach me patience. It was such a great adventure, and I knew I was going to miss it when my Granty was born and I would leave it for a time. But you know, sometimes I miss it more than I thought. I think I have my GREAT teachers to thank in part for that.

I'm so grateful that I still have the opportunity to be a teacher every day. I knew that I wanted to be his main teacher--even if that meant dramatically decreasing my class size. It's so hard every single day that I do it, but I know it's a privilege to watch him learn and grow. At SNAP, one of my favorite presenters, Brittany aka Pretty Handy Girl said something that I absolutely loved. The class was about power tools, but of all the things to stick out in my mind, I most remember what she said about teaching her sons. She simply said she wanted to teach her kids everything she knew how to do. How to use power tools, how to cook, how to clean, everything.

Don't you think to be taught and to get to teach is one of life's greatest exchanges? I'm so thankful for my GREAT teachers, and for all of my little teaching moments.

Somebody had to teach Grant how to eat a donut from a string, and I'm so glad it was me.

Bubble Garlands

We just celebrated my nephew's 1st birthday last weekend, and my sister did a FABULOUS job on her little guy's party. It was an Under the Sea theme and there were just so many adorable details you you need to head over to her photography site to check some of them out. Of course, the birthday boy was the cutest thing about the party by a long shot, but I tried to help my sister out where I could. She asked me to whip up a few garlands for the party, so I thought I'd share a little how-to. These look like bubbles because of the colors we used, but they would work for any party if you changed the colors. 

1. Use different sized circle punches, your Cricut, Silhouette, or just trace different sized circle objects and cut them out. Use as many colors as you like, and as many sizes. I think the variety really makes it.

2. Once you have a stack of circles, lay them out to the desired length on the floor. I just order them randomly--but of course adjust if I don't like what I'm seeing. Once I get them all laid out, I stack them up in order and take them to my sewing machine.

3. This is not a very good picture, but you are smart people and can figure this out. You just feed the circles one by one as you sew a straight line down the middle. I leave a little thread at each end so you can hang them easily. You can use clear thread, but sometimes I find that a little hard to work with, so I've just been using regular white. 

I used the same garland in different colors for my baby's first birthday, but draped them horizontally. They can be hung horizontal or vertical, you can make them any length, and make as many as you want. So versatile and easy. Gotta love that.