thanks a melon

Last night I had my last board meeting for my son's preschool.  I was co-president this year and wanted to do a little something to thank everyone for all of their efforts to volunteer for the school.  As I have mentioned before I love to make sugar cookies.  I already had some dough in the freezer so I quickly rolled it and cut it into the shapes of watermelons.  I frosted them with two colors and popped a round black sprinkle into the holes for "seeds."  I packaged them in white glassine bags which I stamped with "thanks a melon." These would also make darling end of year teacher gifts too.
I am finally feeling like my school year commitments are over and I am ready to start enjoying the summer.  We are leaving on Saturday for a week at the Cape. Besides celebrating the 4th of July with lobsters and fireworks, the next day my husband and I will be celebrating our ninth wedding anniversary!  You guys helped me pick a great movie for our seventh anniversary "Seven Year Itch" and last year I got "Dinner at Eight." Any good suggestions for our ninth?!

that's a wrap

 Two major themes that my daughter's class studied this year were trees and family.  Her teacher also loves to garden, so I tried to think of a nice class gift that would incorporate all of these things.  I asked each of the students to decorate a puzzle piece to look like themselves and attached clothespins to the back which I used to hang on the branches of a hibiscus tree.  I also collected a monetary donation which went towards the purchase of the tree, pot, supplies and a generous gift certificate to the local garden center, which is hanging on the back of the tree in a red envelope.  A friend made the "rm 17 family tree" banner and I think it was the perfect final touch!  This would also be a fun project to do this summer for a family reunion.

c is for chocolate

I was looking for a relatively inexpensive gift for the special teachers and secretaries at my daughter's school when I remembered that Munson's chocolate shop makes all of the letters of the alphabet in chocolate.  At $2.25 a piece the price was right.  So, I bought each of the teachers a chocolate initial using the first letter of their last name.  I wrapped them in some adorable paper bags that I found on etsy which resemble notebook paper.  I tied some twine around each one and my daughter wrote her name on them in pencil.  I think they were sweet and definitely cost effective and a sweet token of our appreciation for a great school year.  These would also make adorable back to school or teacher appreciation gifts too.  On Wednesday,  I will post a picture of the class gift that we are giving the teacher on my "that's a wrap" series.

first day of summer

Today is the first day of summer!  To celebrate I took the boys to pick strawberries, which is one of my favorite summer activities.  Tonight we are having our traditional ice cream for dinner to celebrate too!  I would love to hear how you celebrate the longest day of the year.  Please share in the comments.

summer food fun

Sometimes it feels like I am always making food for others!  There was an end of the year luncheon for the teachers at my daughters school and I signed up to bring salad.  It was supposed to be a beach theme so when I was trying to think of a cute presentation I came up with a sand bucket!  I ran it right through the dishwasher and used two shovels as the salad servers.  I attached the recipe to the handle so that people would know what was in it.
The sugar cookies were the dessert part of a meal train. I included some nail polish to go with it.  I actually got this idea to just frost the "toes" with icing from my dear friend and mentor, Barb! She made them for me once and I loved them! I thought they might bring some joy to a family that is going through a very difficult time.
Also, just wanted to thank Tracy for sending me the loveliest email this morning telling me how much she enjoys my blog. It brought a smile to my face.  I always think the best compliment come from strangers, they are always so sincere.

that's a wrap

Today was the last day of school for my son.  I can't believe he is going to be in Kindergarten next year!  Sniff, sniff.  After two children and four straight years at this school it is hard to leave.  Luckily my youngest will be back in another year.  We decided to give the teachers a gift certificate for pizza.  I thought it would be nice to add some plate and napkins so that they wouldn't have to do any dishes, a gift unto itself.  I packaged it all inside of a pizza box.  The heart tag read "We love you to pizzas!"  I love how it turned out and it would really make a great gift for any occasion.  I have lots more to share this week, so please come back and visit soon!

watch out kindergarten

This morning was my son's preschool graduation! I can't believe he will be going into Kindergarten in the fall.  I am busy with typical year end events, but will be next week with a cute gift idea for teachers.

a pirate party

My son's fifth birthday was on Monday!  I can't believe he is already 5....  To celebrate we invited his whole class over for a pirate party.  It was a wonderful morning spent with friends.  Here are some of the details from the party.  I used a red and black color scheme and since the party was the morning I served healthy pirate snacks like bananas dressed up as pirates and cheese pirate ships! I had lots of activities for the children that included searching for treasure in the sand box, walking the plank, pirate sidewalk chalk, dressing like a pirate, and a bouncy house! There was a little something for everyone.

                                       The favors were pirate ship bubble bath and rubber duckies!

It was challenging to take pictures of everything while trying to set up and be the hostess!  It was a fun party to put together.  But, I hope you enjoyed all of the details.Now it's back to the craziness of the end of the school year.  At least I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.