Teacher Gifts

Ridiculous that we are reaching the end of the school year already! What?!? Where did that school year go?!? My kids have had so much fun this year, I think they're both going to be sad they are on break. I have been investigating some stay-cation things for us to do, and I am getting a bit of a travel bug so maybe I can take their minds off things. I love that my kids love school so much!

In preparation for the end of the year, I have been working on some projects to give the teachers. I found a picture on pinterest, but the link wasn't working. That's fine, I usually prefer to 'wing it' anyway.

I made these cutie little bags out of some vintage large print fabric I had in my stash. It was supposed to be a backing but I didn't like how it looked with the quilt, so now I have 2 yards to work with.

I accidentally lined up the flower print on the front so nicely that I'm going to say I did it on purpose. I still have a couple to make and the pressure will be on to line them up so well.

I lined the bag with a navy fabric. I tried to match up some lighter colors so it was easier to see in the bag, but they were just washing into the floral print and I wanted more contrast.

The handles are mismatched on purpose. I promise. My husband didn't believe me. I made them so you can put items inside, like a lunch or snacks or books, and then weave one handle into the other so it closes a bit securing the items.

I still need to find some things to put into them, but this was the start. I got distracted by teacher appreciation week. Breakfasts at 2 different schools, and small somethings for the teachers for that, too. Meanwhile, I can sit back knowing I have a plan, I love how they turned out, and I am using fabric from my stash. Wins all around!

I'm linking up with Finish parties on Confessions of a Fabric Addict and Crazy Mom Quilts. Come check out the parties.

Weekly Menu, May 1

Once again, the week went way too fast and I didn't get half of what I wanted to finished. The menu was only a little altered as the week progressed, most notedly Saturday night. It was supposed to be roast, but I didn't even look at it and pull out ground beef to make burgers. I was putting dinner on the table and my husband observed that his favorite meal EVER was not happening like it was supposed to. Consequently, you will notice it reappears in the menu this week. We'll see if it happens this time.

A couple new meal attempts this week, but nothing much. Things are getting really crazy as we approach the end of the school year (we only have 3 more weeks of school before summer starts here). This weekend I have been working on foods to serve my daughters school teachers for Teacher Appreciation Week. We are doing that tomorrow morning, phew, and then my son's school has a breakfast on Wednesday that I'm helping with. I keep crossing my fingers that things will calm down "after that" but we'll see.

	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
Sunday	biscuits & jam sausage patty	grilled cheese carrots	Pizza Salad
Monday	pancakes eggs	CC & jam sandwich chips fruit cup	roast potatoes peas
Tuesday	banana muffins	PBJ pretzels apple slices	Dinner with Grandpa
Wednesday	bfast burrito	PBN graham crackers cheesy goldfish strawberries	cheesy chicken rice broccoli
Thursday	pancakes sausage links	Cheese & Ham skewers grapes crackers	mac n cheese fish carrots
Friday	biscuit sandwiches	PBJ sandwich cantelope chips	beef taquitos corn beans
Saturday	welsh bfast cakes strawberries	PB cracker rounds apple slices goldfish	Salisbury steak meatballs mashed potatoes green beans

Should be a nice, easy week. I'm particularly looking forward to the taquitos. My absolute favorite tortilleria had small corn tortillas recently and I wanted to try them out. Can't wait to see how they turn out. Have a great week everyone!

Weekly Menu, 4/24

Wow, I almost didn't make it! It's been a rough few weeks with illness around here, which has kept me from getting much of anything done. My dishes and laundry are almost caught up though, so there's that. My daughter was hit last week. I thought she was on the mend, and then she crashed again at the end of the week. My son also crashed at the end of the week and is still struggling to get healthy. It's made it a little challenging to stick to the menu, although I'm doing better than I thought with some small adjustments along the way.

The Chicken Lazone we tried last week was a bust. The chicken was too salty, the sauce too thin and bland. Maybe if I liked it overall, I'd try to improve my technique on it, but it's not worth it for us. My family gave me the thumbs down so we're moving on.

This week I want to try a Mongolian beef recipe from Favorite Family Recipes. I love chinese food and have become increasingly disappointed with take-out. I hope this recipe works out. Otherwise I'm sticking to the basics so I can focus on getting everyone healthy and happy.

	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
Sunday	bagel with sausage and egg	pizza and ice cream at the fair	Saute Chicken butter pasta broccoli
Monday	honey cheerios scrambled eggs	crackers apple juice	Ravioli and meat sauce green beans
Tuesday	biscuits and jam sausage patty	Grahams & PB apple slices goldfish crackers	Tacos/quesadillas corn refried beans
Wednesday	pancakes blueberries	PBJ applesauce chips	Mongolian beef (recipe trial) rice broccoli
Thursday	banana muffins HB eggs	CC & jam bagel yogurt graham sticks	calzones w/frozen dough salad
Friday	breakfast burritos strawberries	PBN sandwich watermelon saltines	Date Night
Saturday	French toast bacon eggs	grilled cheese chips apple slices	roast mashed potatoes peas

Because of my late post, I haven't linked any of the recipes. If I get some time this week, and that might just happen, I will come back and link up the recipes where possible. Hope everyone had a great start to the week!