I (heart) school, version 2

I don't even know where to start with this post.
Other than to say---I LOVE SCHOOL!
((With all the exclamation point!!))

I mean, do you ever drop your kids off in the morning and wish you could stay there and be a kid again?

A kid with so many adventures ahead, and so many less cares in the world? ....other than learning about math, and science, and how the Universe works, and how to write a paper, and how to get along with others....

and how to do a push up or two.

Honestly.
There are many mornings that I want to plop down (in a chair too small for my butt) and work on art projects all day with those kids.  Yes!

Of course being a kid again means I'd have to relive all the awkward years, and that time I said the wrong thing in class, and the silly crushes I had on boys, and that day the bird pooped on my jacket and I had no idea.....for 3 hours.  But those are the moments that make us stronger, right?

And I'm so thankful every day that my kids get to go to a great school, with fantastic teachers who really love what they do.

And when I think back to my own school days, I can think of at least four teachers who were super influential with my learning and have helped me become who I am today.
And no, none of them taught me where to get the best Cherry Limeade in town (which is at Sonic Drive-in...and which is my favorite place to get drinks.....cause there are about a thousand different choices....and the local Sonic workers know me as "half Diet-Coke, half Dr. Pepper" because that's my favorite mix.... )

But Sonic Drive-in asked me to share about teachers that have impacted my life, and the teachers that impact my kids today....because they have an awesome program called Limeades for Learning, where Sonic gives money to schools each time you tag #ThanksTeach on social media during the month of May.  This money is donated to teachers to help pay for all the out-of-pocket stuff that they do on their own, to make their classroom projects happen.

I think about that all the time. 
...about how much money and energy each teacher puts into their class, simply for the love of the kids.

I wish I had some old pics with all my favorite teachers.   But this little gem from the first day of 6th grade will give you a visual of me walking across campus with the tall hair....and bird stuff on my jacket (I'm the short one on the right, with the black Forenza sweater vest).

When I think back on my own teachers, here's what stands out:

• Mrs. Castillo, 4th grade.
Every year she organized a school musical that all the grades got to be a part of.  She and the music teacher created arrangements on the synthesizer (it was the 80s), and she had costumes sewn for all the kids!  In all the classes!  I'm pretty sure her entire paycheck went toward new fabric for new costumes each year.

• Mr. Eddy, 8th grade Algebra
Mr. Eddy loved math, and he wanted us to love math.  He gave us a funny look on his face if he noticed we were making an error on a test, so we would go back and double check our work.  He even gave us his home number to call if we needed help on a homework problem. "Bob's your uncle!" he would say every time you figured out a problem.  Mr. Eddy was one of the best.

And 1 month before Owen was born (which explains my puffy face. Holy cow bad picture) I got to see Mr. Eddy for the 20 year school anniversary.  He looks exactly the same.

• Mr. Spurgeon, 8th grade Communications
Back before every kid had a camera on their phone.....Mr. Spurgeon (who looked liked he went surfing every morning) organized a news show for our little campus.  We shot video on clunky cameras, we documented the dances and jog-a-thons, and created background sets for our show.  I have to believe that this class inspired my future film career path.

(Here's an old photo from the yearbook .  I'm not sure what I'm doing in the middle there...but I'm glad not much has changed with my love for pink coral clothing)...

And here I am with Mr. Spurgeon and some friends at the Anniversary get-together.
Mr. Surfer.

• Mrs.Chamberlain, 12th grade English.
To be honest, I don't remember much about Mrs. Chamberlain.  But she was pivotal in my love for writing.  She taught me how to craft a paper, with an opening thesis statement, an opening paragraph, and then well-thought out paragraphs to support the thesis.  And then she flipped that all around and taught us to think outside of the box with creative writing.  I was humbled and surprised when she nominated me for a writing award that year.  Seeing what she saw in me, gave me confidence to become the writer I am today.

Oh I could go on and on.
And I know you guys can do the same.
We all have teachers that we love.

I'm getting choked up just writing about it all.

And when I look at my kids' current school, I just want to say #ThanksTeach to all of them!

Like Agnes, the art teacher.

She puts on an art club twice a week, which my kids are lucky to attend.She taught the third graders to draw self portraits.

And guys....this paper quilt???
She taught the 4th grade classes about Adinkra cloth from Africa, and they each hand-stamped a section to make this giant piece of art.

Wow.

And yes, I realize this is becoming a journal entry.
I should have titled it "Ode to teachers"
But really, how great are they?!
#ThanksTeach

I'll end with one of my favorite moments from this school year.  The fourth grade teachers organized on a wax museum, where each child researched an important person from Texas history, wrote a short speech, and came up with a costume to go along.  

Here's Lucy as the artist Elizabet Ney.  And a sweet looking Buddy Holly:

These teachers put so much work into the event.  And to top it off, they asked the county if we could have an extra showing of the museum at the county courthouse.  It was awesome!  All these cool costumes in this cool location was magical!
I mean, look at this dress!
 Can you handle??

The moment that made me teary eyed was watching these kids huddle around their teacher with hugs, right after they all sang Deep in the Heart of Texas together.

I'm cataloguing that in my brain among "favorite Texas moments".

Seriously.
I could go on and on.  But I think I've rambled enough.
#ThanksTeach for all the amazing things you guys do inside the classroom and at home, and on the weekends, and over the summers for our kids.  And thank you to all the teachers everywhere, for making the world a better place!

If you want to learn more about the Limeades for Learning program with Sonic Drive-in, check out the official site here.  And during the month May, tag your photos with #ThanksTeach to instagram and other social media.  Sonic will donate up to $1million dollars for all the tags, to help fund public school teachers across the country.

And I'll drink to that!

I (heart) School

I don't even know where to start with this post.
Other than to say---I LOVE SCHOOL!
((With all the exclamation point!!))

I mean, do you ever drop your kids off in the morning and wish you could stay there and be a kid again?

A kid with so many adventures ahead, and so many less cares in the world? ....other than learning about math, and science, and how the Universe works, and how to write a paper, and how to get along with others....

and how to do a push up or two.

Honestly.
There are many mornings that I want to plop down (in a chair too small for my butt) and work on art projects all day with those kids.  Yes!

Of course being a kid again means I'd have to relive all the awkward years, and that time I said the wrong thing in class, and the silly crushes I had on boys, and that day the bird pooped on my jacket and I had no idea.....for 3 hours.  But those are the moments that make us stronger, right?

And I'm so thankful every day that my kids get to go to a great school, with fantastic teachers who really love what they do and love the kids they work with. 

And when I think back to my own school days, I can think of at least four teachers who were super influential with my learning and have helped me become who I am today.
And no, none of them taught me where to get the best Cherry Limeade in town (which is at Sonic Drive-in...and which is my favorite place to get drinks.....cause there are about a thousand different choices....and the local Sonic workers know me as "half Diet-Coke, half Dr. Pepper" because that's my favorite mix.... )

But Sonic Drive-in asked me to share about teachers that have impacted my life, and the teachers that impact my kids today...because they have an awesome program called Limeades for Learning, where Sonic gives money to schools each time you tag #ThanksTeach on social media during the month of May, to help teachers pay for all the out-of-pocket stuff that they do on their own, to make their classroom projects happen.

I think about that all the time. 
...about how much money and energy each teacher puts into their class, simply for the love of the kids.

I wish I had some old pics with all my favorite teachers.   But this little gem from the first day of 6th grade will give you a visual of me walking across campus with the tall hair....and bird stuff on my jacket (I'm the short one on the right, with the black Forenza sweater vest).

When I think back on my own teachers, here's what stands out:

• Mrs. Castillo, 4th grade.
Every year she organized a school musical that all the grades got to be a part of.  She held auditions for the lead parts, she and the music teacher created new music and arrangements on the synthesizer (it was the 80s), and she had costumes sewn for all the kids!  In all the classes!  And then she stored them at her house year after year, because she loved kids.  And we loved her.  I'm pretty sure her entire paycheck went toward new fabric for new costumes.

• Mr. Eddy, 8th grade Algebra
Mr. Eddy loved math, and he wanted us to love math.  He had excitement when he taught.  And he gave us a funny look on his face if he noticed we were making a silly error on a test, so we would go back and double check our work.  He even gave us his home number to call if we couldn't figure out a problem on our homework (which was before cell phones and email and all that stuff)  "And there you go! Bob's your uncle!" he would say every time you figured out a problem.  Mr. Eddy was one of the best.
And 1 month before Owen was born (which explains my puffy face. Holy cow bad picture) I got to see Mr. Eddy for the 20 year school anniversary.  He looks exactly the same, and has never had a puffy face.

• Mr. Spurgeon, 8th grade Communications
Back before every kid had a camera on their phone.....Mr. Spurgeon (who looked liked he went surfing every morning) organized a news show for our little campus.  We learned to shoot videos on big clunky cameras, we documented all the dances, and jog-a-thons.  We created background sets for our show, and he even created a cool psuedo teleprompter using another camera off-screen, and a scroll of hand-written paper, and a tv monitor in front of the news anchors.  It was genius.  And I have to believe that this class inspired my future film career path.
(Here's an old photo from the yearbook .  I'm not sure what I'm doing in the middle there...but I'm glad not much has changed with my love for pink coral clothing)...

And here I am with Mr. Spurgeon and some friends at the Anniversary get-together.
Mr. Surfer.

• Mrs.Chamberlain, 12th grade English.
To be honest, I don't remember much about Mrs. Chamberlain.  But she was pivotal in my love for writing.  She taught me how to craft a paper, with an opening thesis statement, an opening paragraph, and then well-thought out paragraphs to support the thesis.  And then she flipped that all around and taught us to think outside of the box with creative writing.  I was humbled and surprised when she nominated me for a writing award that year.  Seeing what she saw in me, gave me confidence to become the writer I am today.

Oh I could go on and on.
And I know you guys can do the same.
We all have teachers that we love.

I'm getting choked up just writing about it all.

And when I look at my kids' current school, I just want to say #ThanksTeach to all of them!
But let me highlight a few.

This is Agnes the art teacher.
She stays up till 2am piecing together art displays for the kids art shows, and glue-gunning ceramics.  And I know this because she and I created the school yearbook together (which comes out in a month!  I can't wait to see it!) and we've often texted at 1am with photo questions.

Her room is always full of glitter and things that would give me a heart attack to have around my house.

She puts on an art club twice a week, which my kids are lucky to attend.
She taught the third graders to draw self portraits.

And guys....this paper quilt???
She taught the 4th grade classes about Adinkra cloth from Africa, and they each hand-stamped a section to make this giant piece of art.

Wow.

And yes, I realize this is becoming a journal entry.
I should have titled it "Ode to teachers"
But really, how great are they?!
#ThanksTeach

Okay, one more set of pics.
One of my favorite moments from this school year was attending the Wax Museum that the fourth grade teachers organized.  Each child researched an important person from Texas history, wrote a short speech, and came up with a costume to go along.   Then they set up a museum throughout the school and all the families and students went from class to class pressing the "button", while the wax figure came to life. 

Here's Lucy as the artist Elizabet Ney.  And a sweet looking Buddy Holly:

These teachers put so much work into the event.  And to top it off, they asked the county if we could have an extra showing of the museum at the county courthouse.  It was awesome!  All these cool costumes in this cool location was magical!
I mean, look at this dress!
 Can you handle??

The moment that made me teary eyed was watching these kids huddle around their teacher with hugs, right after they all sang Deep in the Heart of Texas together.

I'm cataloguing that in my brain among "favorite Texas moments".

Seriously.
I could go on and on.  But I think I've rambled enough.
#ThanksTeach for all the amazing things you guys do inside the classroom and at home, and on the weekends, and over the summers for our kids.  And for all the teachers everywhere, making this world a better place!

If you want to learn more about the Limeades for Learning program with Sonic Drive-in, check out the official site here.  And throughout the month of May share your photos on Instagram and other social media, with the hashtag #ThanksTeach.  Sonic will donate up to $1million dollars to the fund, to help public school teachers across the country.

Cheers to that!

New VIDEO: How to make a floppy Fabric Bow

Ahhh! This might be one of my favorite video intros to-date!
The dancing bows!

Come see what we're making in the latest episode of MADE Everyday:

I'll share all sorts of tips for working with silky fabrics, to give your bows that good "flop" factor.  Cause that's really what makes them so cute.
Then stick one in your hair, on your shirt, on a purse!
There are so many options.

Just hit the play button below and enjoy....

gifts? no gifts? or saving for gifts?

Last week I posted about Owen's GEO party...and I'm so happy to hear there are other geology-loving kids out there too!  Such a great thing to be into.

Some of you left comments about the party invitation I created in Illustrator---specifically the part about "please no gifts, just come play with us".  This is actually a topic that's been on my mind for a while now, so I thought I'd write this follow-up post to see how you guys feel about it too. 

Parties are so much fun.  And I really feel like it's more about having fun with people you love, rather than parents feeling obligated to run to the store 20 minutes before the festivities, to buy a random gift for the birthday kid. 

Now that being said, we've gone both ways with gift-giving at our house.  Some years people have brought gifts; and other years I've written "no gifts please".  And I definitely discussed the topic with Owen first, so he understood that we would still give him a few family gifts on his actual birthday.  But this was more of a celebration for him and his friends.  And he was totally fine with it.  In fact at the end of the party he said "For my whole life, I'm never EVER going to forget that party! And the treasure hunt!" (even though his friend's ended up with most of the treasure) Oh man, heart-bursting.  Those words made it all worth it.



I guess I'm just testing out all the waters; trying to see where we all feel comfortable.  And I'm not sure what the answer is.

But sometimes--and I don't mean to offend here---I think gift-giving at kids' parties is a bit excessive.  It just seems that when I show up to a party and there's a giant mound of gifts piled on the fireplace, which sometimes aren't even opened till after the guests have gone home...well, it just feels unnecessary.  And I don't mean to be a downer about it.  I know giving gifts is fun!  I love finding that perfect gift for someone I care about--something I know they'll love.  But I also know that it can be hard to find a birthday gift, when you feel obligated to bring one, or when you're not really sure what the child's interests are, or when you're trying to stay within a budget.
If I'm going to give a gift, I just want it to be meaningful.  And sometimes that can be hard to figure out.

Do you guys feel that too?
Am I alone here?
You can just call me Scrooge.  It's okay.

But before we go there, let me share a cool idea that really got me thinking, outside of the box....outside of the wrapping paper box?  Eh?  Eh?  Because a company called Sow contacted me and I really like their concept.

You know that I only partner with brands that I feel are worthwhile and clever.
And this is a really great idea---it's such a smarter way to give gifts.  So tell me what you think of this...

Instead of giving traditional gifts to someone, on Sow you give goals.
Meaning, instead of giving a somewhat random gift you can give a monetary donation to help a sower reach all types of goals like a college fund, a special trip to Grandma's house, baseball camp, a new bike....whatever that Sower is working towards.
And anyone can sow, at any age, and for any reason.  Totally awesome.  I'd love to put $10 towards my niece's Sow project, rather than buying some random princess toy that she might not even like (and which will probably end up in the thrift store pile in a few months...cause that's what happens at our house)

The funny thing is, Casey and I have been doing a very similar thing over the years for his parents, with birthday and Christmas gifts.  We just didn't know there was a website for it.  Well, there wasn't. But now there is!  In lieu of gifts for his parents, we've been putting some money in their bank account to be used JUST for fun trips and travel.  But the Sow site makes all of that even easier. 
And it's easy to open an account--it's free. Yay!

So for a child's birthday party, or for grandparents that don't know what to get for the grand kids, or for that special graduation gift, etc. this would be a really fun way to give and support a goal for someone; something that has a really big payoff.
It's pretty genius.  And I love the video explaining how mom Tanya came up with the idea.

What do you guys think?  About gift-giving in general and about Sow?
I'd love to know your honest thoughts....cause I'm still figuring it all out.
But Sow sounds like the new way of giving.  A way to give with a purpose, that is.
I guess I should make my inlaws a sign that says "i sow....for travel...."

"Mom! Her camera prints magic pictures!"

A fun thing happened this week....I finally got a FujiFilm Instax Camera! (amazon link)
Well, I guess "we" got a camera.
It sort of belongs to Lucy, and me.

And we've gone crazy taking pictures.
Cause it's a whole new art, and adventurous way of taking pictures!  INSTANT photos you can actually hold and share with a friend?...like it was in the good old days?? Yes! But improved, with more features, a tripod mount, selfie options, a cute rectangle shape. 
It totally blew my kids' minds.  And I'd forgotten how fun it was to HOLD a real picture. And to have that instant fun. 

You see, Lucy's friend got an Instax Mini 8 Camera (amazon link) for Christmas (which comes in the cutest colors, omg---Yellow, Pink, Raspberry (amazon links) Ahhh!)...and it sort of started the whole conversation.  She hung out at her house one afternoon and they took all sorts of cute pics together and wrote little notes to each other on the bottom.  And when she got in the car, she kept telling me about this cool camera Kaytlin had.   It was a camera that could take pictures and print them RIGHT away!  I had to chuckle.  What a different age she's growing up in.
Then she said, oh Mom, I would totally love one for my birthday!

And then another fun thing happened.
That very week I was contacted by FuijiFilm to see if I'd like to try out their Instax Mini 70 Camera.
Haha. Timing is everything.

Why YES Fujifilm.  In white or yellow please!
A week later this showed up on my door:

....which just made me smile.  A cute little white camera!  Mmmm.  It's so small and lightweight; it's such a great size and fits right in one of my zipper pouches.  Of course we may need to get a cute case (amazon link) for it too.  But I like how this pouch can hold the camera and some packs of film (amazon link)

So the day it arrived I wrapped it up in a box, and Lucy was super surprised on her birthday that I actually remembered our conversation about the camera.  Heh Heh.

And then I informed her that I might need to use the camera at times as well, which she was cool with.  And then we started taking pics and figuring out the settings, and flash vs no flash, AND...taking selfies.
First try, we only got Owen's eye.  Second try, we noticed the "selfie mirror" on the front.  DUH.
And we got both eyes in.

You see, a whole new exciting art to explore: the Instax Selfie.
I mean look at the cute little mirror on the lens!  Brilliant.

I honestly wasn't expecting to have as much with the photos as we've been having.  We all love watching the "magic" happen as the film develops.  And whenever a friend comes over, it's time to take a pic and give them a souvenir when they leave.



There are so many ways you can display the photos:
• on a cute rope with clothespins
• on a magnet board
• taped to the wall
• you can trade them with friends and writes notes on the white space
• mail one to your grandma
• use your Instax for a photobooth!  Instant photos to pass around.

But here's what I'm doing with ours.....

Last year I started a guest book for our new house, and I wanted it to be more than just names.  I thought it would be fun to take a picture of each person that stayed, paste it in the book along with their personal note, and then it would be a Guest scrapbook thing.

But it just wasn't working.
Since I couldn't print the photo right away, I'd ask them to leave room on the page for a photo (which I planned to insert later)...and I never knew exactly what the size of the photo would be.  So instead I have blank pages waiting for photos.  Or pages with photos and no messages.
Bascially---Fail.

So instead I bought a normal Guest Book and we started using that, which has been fine. 

But when the Instax mini showed up, the whole vision came together!
Ahhhh.
INSTANT photos is what I was missing!

I mean, seriously.  How perfect??

Now a guest can take a photo, or two, or three, whenever they want.  They can tape it into the book, write a little message, and the scrapbook will start working!  They can even draw pictures or doodle or whatever sparks their interest.  I can totally picture my Dad getting into this.

I know it sounds silly, but I'm so happy I figured this out.  And how convenient that I left a blank page at the beginning of the book to get the party started.   The kids and I snapped a photo of each person in our family and wrote our own message on the first page:

Now whenever a guest comes....I'll (ask Lucy if we can borrow the camera) and set the supplies and some welcome goodies out in the room.
Instant happiness in the works.
Yay!

Okay. Have you ever wanted an Instax camera?
Now's your chance.  Today FujiFilm is giving away a $100 VISA card that you can use toward the purchase of your own camera and film.....