thank you teachers!

My boys have two days of school left until summer break!  Yaaahhhhooooo!  Although I've loved every minute of waking up at 5:45 to get #1 off to zero hour (stupid idea) and then waiting a full hour and forty minutes to send off #2, I'm OVER it.  I'm over our 20 minute morning game of 'shoe-hide and-seek', finding day old spaghetti in the Nino's thermos, and I'm over giving pre-tests for words  I don't even know how to spell. 

Here's the reality.  I wish I was organized enough and smart enough to teach my children everything they need to know.  But I'm not.  So I'll continue sending them into the wide world to learn from brave people who really know what they're talking about.

Luckily this year #2 had an amazing teacher.  He had her for first grade too and I almost considered holding him back so he could have her again for 'third'.  She's like a little piece of fairy Godmother heaven and the second graders think she's Santa's angel.  I've been in her classroom almost every Wednesday for the past two years and not once have I seen her raise her voice, get flustered, loose her cool, or her smile.  She's amazing.

One thing I realize is that raising children takes a village.  It's a partnership. Joint custody if you will.  The nino has a special speech teacher and a special reading teacher too. I've come to realize that  extraordinary teachers can move mountains. 

It's for this reason I needed to make a few "thank-you's" for the people that made their mark this year.  Something simple but something to let them know how much I appreciate them.

I was reading {The Vintage Mother } and found the cutest teacher appreciation idea.  So I headed straight to my local World Market, found these Italian Sodas, and paired them with my favorite praline chocolate and a thank you note.

I made a quick tag with Photoshop. Click {here} to download.

I even made one for our Principal, and the three ladies that run the front office.  They know everyone, their grandparents, and their dogs by name, and they run the school like a well primed paint sprayer.

I just got home from Nino's last 2nd grade assembly where he accepted the award for student of the month and sit and reach school champion!  Who knew the kid was so stretchy?  

It's not too late to send a quick thank you to the people who make your kids better.

Happy Summer from one mother to another!
 

happy anniversary No.2!

Two years ago today, I was laying in bed recovering from intense and painful knee surgery.  Waaah.

After napping like a newborn, watching round the clock episodes of Divine Design, Little Miss Perfect Pageant, and America's Next Top Model, I thought I was going to SNAP.  I turned the TV off and opened my lap top. 

I had thought about starting a blog. Mostly to document parties and events, noteworthy home improvements, recipes that had to be shared, and gatherings with family and friends.  I thought....how hard could it be?

Hours of blog drama later, lets just say getting this baby up and running was NOT easy.  Thanks to Google and some helpful bloggers, plus oh, 100 hours of my life forever lost, it was too late to turn back.

I started throwing some blog names around and time after time, one thing was missing. 

JILLY. 

I called her up and told her the exciting news....We started a blog!  How could she say no?  After all, we do everything together. 

Now our baby girl is 2! 

So......Me and Jilly want to THANK YOU for humoring us over the last few years.  We originally thought our moms would be the only ones interested in what we had to say, but turns out we have a few other fans too!  We read every comment, obsess over every feature, and jump for joy every time we inspire you to do something great. 

To celebrate, we're sending some freebies and giveaways YOUR way until the end of the month. Starting. Right. Now.

GIVEAWAY #1
This set of four "thank you" tags is yours for the printing. 


                                                                              {click on image above to download}

We traced over the words with the {Quickie Glue Pen by Sakura}, then showered them with fine, black glitter.  The hole reinforcement was made with black and white striped paper, a 3/4" circle punch, and a hole punch. Just a quick idea to fancy them up.

We also designed five other tags and are offering them to our followers for the excellent price of .99 each through the end of August. After that they can be purchased for $1.99 each.

                                               

                                      {paper bow tutorial here}                              

{accordion pinwheel tutorial coming soon}

 

We hope these simple, easy tags and gift wrap solutions will help you save time and money while celebrating special moments.

A list of gift wrapping items we always have on hand.
-An assortment of tags for every occasion, cut and embellished
-Roll of brown Kraft paper
-Roll of white Kraft paper
-10 yds 1.5" black ribbon
-10 yds black & white bakers twine
-10 yds off white lace
-assortment of printed, black and white 12x12 papers
-take out boxes {restaurant supply}
-misc sized white boxes

GIVEAWAY #2
Three lucky followers will receive four of each embellished tag, ten yards of off white lace, five yards of black ribbon, and five yards of black and white bakers twine. 

ENTER THIS GIVEAWAY!

-Follow our blog
-Subscribe to our blog
-Leave a really sweet comment about how much you love our blog (humor us, OK?)

Please enter a separate comment for each entry to increase your chance of hitting the jackpot.
Winners will be announced via random.org on Aug 27th.

Love, Love, Love,  Mia & Jilly

printable thank you's

Me and Jilly gave ourselves a week long hiatus from blogging, in honor of spring break, but we're back....with a vengeance.

The last few days of our break, were spent up north in the cool pines of AZ. It was a great little get away, free from the distractions of home. A chance to unwind, play games, eat great food, and well, be lazy. First stop was my cousin's wedding in Taylor. She comes from a family of 12 and all of her siblings were there, which meant there was a lot of chatting and catching up to do. The next day we hooked up with Jilly's family and played at a cabin in Pinetop, riding horses and quads, eating junk food to our hearts content, and solving the world's problems until the wee hours of the morning.

Next stop on our road trip was Mommy's house in Snowflake. Jill's family of 5, my family of 3, Jill's sis Erica and her husband Brett, along with her 4 sweetest nieces were there, which made for one gigantic party. Daddy lit the wood burning stove, Mommy fired up the oven, and we sunk ourselves deep into utopia for the next 24 hours. After church and a big pan of homemade lasagna, we all headed back down the mountain, to reality.....

Now we're back at home with a lot of good memories, a lot of laundry, and a few thank you notes to send. I thought I would add a personal touch by creating the cards, and I thought maybe you could use them too.

{click on the image to download and print}