Teacher Appreciation

Ok so I know it was last week and I know I should have posted this sooner for all of you who needed ideas but guess what?? The school year is coming to an end here soon and I know all of you could use some ideas for teachers gifts for that as well.

A few weeks ago Lippy Lou's teacher asked me to help her with a crafty project because Lippy Lou is always telling her how crafty I am. I of course said YES! We planted sweet potatoes in recycled peach cans from the school cafeteria during earth day and the kids decorated the cans and I came in to take pictures of the kids so that their mom's would also receive a nice picture of them on Mom's Day! Little did Mrs. Hansen know that I also had a trick up my sleeve and the timing was prefect for Teacher Appreciation.

I went in on Wednesday and took pictures of each of the kids in Lippy Lou's class, came home and photoshopped them all and sent them to costco.com to print same day. I picked them up a few hours later and went to work. I used my cricut to cut out the flowers and letters, purchased 11X17 shadowbox frames at Michael's for 40% off, used pop up stickies to attach the "flowers" to the shadowbox and made up my own vase. In case it is hard to see the words say "Thank you for helping us BLOOM and GROW". Oh and yes I know one flower doesn't have a picture, that is because Little Suzy wasn't in class the day I took pictures, I have promised to come in and take her picture and get it ready for the flower before the end of the school year.

I worked until midnight on Wednesday on the first one and then again until 11 pm on Thursday for the second one, it was a lot of work but so well worth it. Lippy Lou has two teachers, Mrs. Hansen and Mrs. Pheiffe. Mrs. Pheiffe is a student teacher who just recently took over the classroom for the remainder of the year for her studies. Mrs. Hansen has been a WONDERFUL teacher, easy to talk to, great to work with and awesome to bounce ideas off of when it comes to Lippy Lou's behavior at home. I couldn't have asked for a better teacher for her this year, we have truly been blessed beyond measure.

Friday morning I walked the girl to school proudly carrying each of the shadowboxes in hand. Lippy Lou was just BEAMING with pride. She showed anyone who would look and we got all sorts of ooohs and ahhs. We found Mrs. Pheiffe first and Lippy Lou prsented her with her box and she was excited to see all the kids shining faces. Then we set off to find Mrs. Hansen and found her walking down the hallway. Lippy Lou slowly walked up to her and turned her shadow box around and tears welled up in Mrs. Hansen's eyes...and yes in mine as well. She was so sweet and proceeded to parade around the school showing anyone who would look. it was so cute to see her so proud of her "kids". So if you get the chance to offer to do pictures for your child's classroom and make a shadowbox for your favorite teacher you should, they will love it!

Here's Little Lippy Lou from Tenbucktwo

Breast Cancer 3-Day Training Log

Yesterday I walked the girls to school and continued on to do a total of 2 miles in the morning and another mile to pick them up in the afternoon.

Today I walked with the 3 younger kiddos to Joann Fabrics to pick up some fun things I will tell you all about tomorrow for a total of 1 mile and then this evening I hopped on the treadmill to do a total of 3.5 miles in 46 minutes because the hubs is out fishing with Ky Guy and taking the 3 younger ones on a long walk just wasn't going to happen.

This weeks total = 16.1

2010's Total = 62.6

Breast Cancer 3-Day Training Log

Now that the wind storms are over and the sun is shining bright I have been able to get out and get walking! Yesterday morning I took The Fish and Bentley on a 2 mile walk which included dropping the girls off at school. It was a beautiful day and a very refreshing way to start the day.

I came home after the walk and finished up some stuff for work and became some maniac cleaning machine. I was having some emotional/PMS/grieving issues yesterday and I turned it into something positive by cleaning the house. House looks great and I am feeling better! After the clean fest, cooking dinner and delivering packages to the post office I set out on another 2 mile walk with the dog.

During the many training walks I often reflect on why I am out there, who I am walking for and just how amazing walking 60 mile is. I also think about fund raising and let me tell you one of the ideas I got from a fellow walker is something big and you will soon find out just what it is I have up my sleeve and Jess is game to do the same. I can't wait to share our shenanigans with you, but for now I am keeping quiet on the whole thing. A hint....it's PINK (like you didn't know that already) :P

Yesterday's total = 4 miles

This week's total = 8.6 miles

2010's total = 55.1

Breast Cancer 3-Day Training Log

Yesterday was a huge milestone for me. I needed to go get some paper and other supplies for mailing out my donation letters from Staples and I decided that I would take The Fish for a walk, it was 3 miles round trip and since he wasn't up for anymore walking I brought him home and dropped him off with Ky Guy and took Bentley on a 1.6 mile walk to pick up the girls from school. So yesterday I did a total of 4.6 miles which put me over FIFTY miles training so far! I was exited to hit the first big milestone in training. Here's to another 600 or so!

This week's total = 4.6

2010's total = 51.1

Breast Cancer 3-Day Training Log

Wow it's been awhile since I have updated on this and I am ashamed to say I haven't walked much since updating...

Here's the low down on my walking.

Thursday 3/29 = 2 miles

Sunday 5/1 = 2 miles

Last week's total = 13 miles

2010's total = 46.5 miles

Last weekend was my step dad's funeral service so I was out of town for a few days and yesterday we had a TERRIBLE wind storm that I wasn't about to walk out into. I plan on passing up 50 miles total today so I will be checking in with you soon!

Picture of Motherhood

When I first read Kirsten's post at We are THAT Family about motherhood it brought back so many memories. With The Fish turning 3 this month I am instantly drawn back to the time of his birth and his NICU stay. The picture above was taken by a nurse who fished my camera out of my backpack. At that point in his stay in the NICU we were not allowed to hold him but had finally been given permission to "cradle" him in our arm. I was so comforted by being able to bond with him in this way and so exhausted from the c-section/stress/lack of sleep that I was out in a matter of minutes. I am forever thankful that his nurse caught this moment on film. In all it's imperfections this picture is perfect. I am forever grateful that we made it through that stay and we now have a lively almost 3 year old *tear* running around our house today.

Mother's day is a bitter sweet time for me as I lost my mom 3 years ago after her long battle with many sicknesses. I am blessed to have had her by my side for 29 years, but still miss her tremendously. She was my rock, my best friend, my mommy!

Happy Mother's Day to all those mom's out there.

Kirsten over at We are That Family is hosting a giveaway that is all about motherhood, check it out.

Topped for a Year Raffle + YARN!

This Raffle comes to you from the amazing woman behind the name Tot Toppers, Kate Oates. Kate has graciously offered to donate TWO of her brand new Topped for a Year pattern booklets to be raffled off with a skein of yarn each for two lucky winners. I have purchased a beautiful skein of Manos del Uruguay Wool Clasica in blue for the Master Charles (February's Pattern) for one raffle winner and Cotton Twirl by Crystal Palace Yarns in light blue for the Sunny Textured Cap (June's Pattern). Each raffle entry can be obtained by donating $5 to my Breast Cancer 3 Day Walk. You can donate by going to my personal donate site www.the3day.org/goto/inhonorofcatherine. Once confirmation of the donation is received I will put your name on my excel sheet one time for each $5 donated, so 4 times for $20, 6 times for $30 etc. At the close of the raffle I will choose two random winners using www.random.org. All raffle entries must be received by May 15th at 12 pm EST in order to qualify. The winners will be notified via email and on my blog on May 16th.

Manos del Uruguay Wool Clasica in Blue

Crystal Palace Yarns Cotton Twist in Light Blue

As each week goes by I get closer and closer to day one of the Breast Cancer 3 Day which means I am one day closer to the deadline of having raised $2300. To date I am at $670 which means I still have to raise another $1630 and right now I feel confident with your help I can reach my goal!

A special thank you goes out to Sarah Parker at Wildfibers in Mount Vernon, WA for helping me select the yarns for this raffle. Sarah is truly a special woman who I am grateful to get to see each time I make the trip up to Mount Vernon for yarn!