Bus Driver Appreciation

The other day I shared my kids' teacher gifts, and I'm back to share the cute little card we made for our bus driver.  Our bus driver meets my kids with a smile each morning and afternoon.  She has gone out of her way to make sure the kids are safe and the best part is that she picks them up and drops them off right in front of our house.  That is great for the many cold and snowy NY winter mornings.  

To show our appreciation, we made these cute bus cards.

It started with this printable I found HERE.

I took it one step further and made a card out of it with some Extra gum inside.  I love the play on words and it's so appropriate for our bus driver.

Using yellow card stock, I made a pocket to put the gum in.  I taped it in as well so it wouldn't fall out.

I taped the printable onto the front of the yellow card, cutting the bottom of the yellow card so it followed the bus shape.

My daughter wrote a cute note inside and we handed it to the bus driver the other morning.  I could see the smile on her face as she drove away.

Teacher Gifts: Thank you for helping me grow

This school year flew by.  I don't know if that's because everything was new, or because for the first time ever all of my kids were in school.  Even though school here in NY ends later than it did in PA, my kids haven't complained about still being in school the last week of June.  It might help that it's still spring like weather and not the hot and humid 80-90 degree weather we were used to at this time of year in PA.  

As usual, I like to give a little gift of my appreciation to the kids' teachers.  

This year I got my inspiration from THIS post I shared earlier on Facebook.

source

I was going to get some terra cotta pots and paint them, but I found an easier alternative.  These plants were already in some cute pots and only $4 at Walmart so I snagged a few to use as is.

Just needed to add the cute saying.  I printed it out and glued it to some colorful cardstock. 

Then I taped a BBQ skewer onto the back,

And just stuck it right into the pot.

Super cute and super easy.

  

I love how they turned out.

And the saying couldn't be more true.  Especially for my pre-K guy.  He has gone from being a shy guy to such a friendly fella.  I'm so thankful for such good teachers who genuinely care about my kids and not only help them academically but socially as well.  My kids entered an unfamiliar school with zero friends, in a new neighborhood in a new state, and they have just flourished.

 Thank you teachers everywhere!

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Duck Donuts Tour

Now that school has started, I only have one of my kids home with me during the day.  We meet up with a group of moms and their preschoolers from church once a week.  Sometimes we meet at a playground and let the kids play, other times we go on a field trip.  Earlier this week one of the ladies in our group scheduled a tour of Duck Donuts.  They recently came to the area and since I've never heard of them before I wanted to see what they were all about (and eat donuts).

The guy who worked with our group of preschoolers was very nice.  He took up to the semi private room in the back away from the ordering counter.  I'm guessing this room could also be used for parties.  He gave each child a Donut Shoppe hat so they'd feel like official donut makers.  

Then he helped each child dip their donut into the icing, put it on a plate and pour sprinkles on it.

The kids were so proud of their creations.  And they couldn't wait to eat them.

Of course the preschoolers couldn't be the only ones to eat donuts.  Us moms had to order some too.  While waiting for our order, the kids had fun watching the donuts being made.

There are so many combinations to choose from, it took me a while to decide.  Here is what I ultimately ordered, and yes, I had to sample every one to make sure it was delicious.  When the kids came home from school they had a donut waiting for them, and each one was puzzled as to why a slice was cut out of it.

Overall, it was a fun experience for all of us.  The place was clean, friendly and the donuts delicious.  With all of the topping options, ordering them is half the fun.

Anyone else visit a Duck Donuts lately?  What did you think?  Are you planning to schedule a preschool or homeschool tour?

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DIY Pencil Sharpener

Right after school let out, we took a little vacation to Williamsburg, VA.  It was about a 4 hour car ride and my older daughter loves to pass the time reading or drawing.  With hours to doodle in the car, she knew she'd have to sharpen her pencil several times.  We have lots of those cheap pencil sharpeners but no sharpeners that contain the shavings.  So, being the creative genius that she is, she came up with a way to keep all her pencil sharpening shavings from filling up the car.  She thought of this idea and put it together all by herself.  She didn't even search Pinterest, but if you want to see a video of the process, you can check out this Pin.

Supplies used:

Pencil sharpener

Empty tic tac container

Hot glue gun

All she did was hot glue the pencil sharpener into the tic tac container.

That's it.  It only takes a few seconds and now you have a way to contain your pencil shavings. 

You can use this while traveling, for school, or drawing at home in your bed late at night when you should be sleeping (yeah, my daughter does that).

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Last Day of School 2017

Last day of school!  Of course I'm excited to be able to sleep in, but what I'm really looking forward to is having the older kids home so they can watch the younger two and I can finally do some shopping - alone.

To celebrate this momentous occasion, my little helper and I made a banner to place over the front door.  

Then we decorated the bus stop with balloons and bunting.

I wrote things on the balloons like "welcome summer" and "happy last day of school" not knowing it would look upside down.  Next year, I'll do it right.

Here is my youngest daughter who is no longer a kindergartner.  

I didn't make it down to the bus stop in time to see my older daughter.  Good thing my camera has a zoom function.

My daughter and her best friend walking home together.  These girls have known each other since they were two and now they're 7th graders.

They were kind enough to humor me with one more picture before we went in the house to eat ice cream.

I had various toppings set out for them and let them have at it, making whatever kind of ice cream creation they wanted.  

My original idea also included having buckets of water and super soakers at the bus stop so when the girls got off the bus, we'd squirt them.  However, it was a chilly and drizzly day, so I'm going to have to postpone that until next year.  

And in case you're wondering what we've done in previous years, check out this post HERE.

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Personalized Teacher Pencil

The end of the school year also means giving out teacher gifts.  I stop giving teacher gifts once the kids get into middle school and have a different teacher for each subject.  So just as one kid left elementary school last year, another one started, and the way my kids are spaced out, I'll be doing this for another 9 years.  Good thing there are lots of ideas on Pinterest.  Because I like to put some thought into what I get the teachers rather than just buy them a gift card to Target, that "thought" usually requires me to make something and this year is no exception.  With a little help from Pinterest, here's what my kindergartner is giving her teacher this year:

As luck would have it, I just so happened to have a piece of wood laying around.  It was roughly 9 inches long by 3.5 inches wide and an inch thick. 

The next step was to mark how I wanted it cut, cut it and then sand the rough edges.

I painted the middle section yellow.  I also did the sides and back.

Then I added some pink for the eraser and light brown for the sharpened pencil end.

Black paint was used for the tip and silver duct tape was used for the metal eraser holding part.

Using my Silhouette Cameo, I cut some vinyl and applied the teacher's name to the wooden pencil.

It turned out so cute and really didn't take me that long to make.  This was one project that I was able to complete in a day.

In case you are wondering, my inspiration came from the JM Designs Etsy shop.

These pencils are cute and if you don't feel like making your own, you could always buy one.

You can check out previous years teacher gifts below if you are looking for more ideas:

Influence of a Teacher Chalkboard

Orange You Glad It's Summer

Big Cookie plus a bunch more ideas

And if you're looking for ideas on how to celebrate the last day of school, check out MY PREVIOUS POST.

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