Pretty Planners

It's Teacher Appreciation Week and y'all, teachers need some love!  

May Designs is my obsession this week.  They make fabulous completely customizable planners and note cards.  You can customize what it looks like on the outside AND what type of pages you want on the inside.  There are so many patterns and colors to choose from and they're all amazing.  They even have "bump diaries" for all the expectant mommies out there!  The only reason I haven't ordered one yet is because I simply cannot make up my mind on which pattern I want.  

I am one of those people who like to physically write down everything.  I hate my iPhone calendar...it's little and not colorful or pretty.  I am a list maker, to the max.  And my favorite part about having a pretty planner to write in, is color coding everything in my calendar.  Totally normal, I know.

These are a fun, cute, personal gift for anyone (especially teachers!) on any occasion.  And just maybe someone will surprise me with a gift card to get one!

This is an example I made on the May Designs website.

Easter Play Date

B had a play date yesterday and I was asked to plan the activities for him and his 2 little friends.  It's the week before Easter, so naturally that means an Easter themed play date full of Easter crafts and cuteness.  

All of these ideas I found on Pinterest...duh.  Here is the adorable website where I got all the printables from: http://BloomDesignsOnline.com/

ALL of these crafts are SUPER easy and quick...great for short attention spans!

I made these the night before for all of the kids to take home as a little goody bag.  I couldn't help myself...too cute!

The first activity of the playdate: Easter Bunny Food.  The kids loved this and you probably don't even have to go the store for the supplies.  It's along the same line as the Reindeer food that we had as kids (straw & glitter to sprinkle on your lawn Christmas Eve, so the reindeers have a snack just like Santa).  So the idea here is the same...sprinkle on your lawn the night before Easter so the Easter Bunny will come and leave you treats.  

Ingredients/Supplies that we used: Clear treat bags, ribbon, bowls, spoons, uncooked oatmeal, random variety of sprinkles and candy pearls.  (Printable tags from Bloom Designs.)

Of course, we also had an Easter egg hunt outside after a quick snack.  In order to have the least amount of drama and make it fair, each child hunted for eggs of the same color.  We hid 9 yellow, 9 pink, and 9 green eggs and assigned each child a color.  Everyone had the same amount of eggs and the same treats at the end.  It was perfect!

Good alternative treats to put inside of eggs for an Easter hunt: bubbles, stamps, stickers, tiny toys.  Most kids will be so excited to find something new and different in each one that they won't care about not having candy.

The play date was a huge success and a ton of fun for the kids...and me!

A (Man-ly) Valentine's Day

I love holidays.  All holidays.  But I LOVE love Valentine's Day.  I don't know why...I always have and always will.  I think it's all the pink...and hearts...and Target.  Target=Valentine lovers heaven.  

Most of my life, I have not had a "valentine" during the actual holiday...talk about fabulous.  I could be as girly as I wanted and it was wonderful.  However, now that I am married to someone who does not share my LOVE love of hearts and pink things, it has become my mission every Valentine's Day to try and man-up the gift giving.  So, here are a few of the things I came up with this year...

- A solid milk chocolate mounted deer head wrapped in camouflage wrapping paper.
- Camouflage boxers (not pictured - Urban Outfitters) wrapped in heart/moustache bag.
- Mr. Bubble bubble bath (not pictured and not very manly, but SPECIFICALLY requested).

I gave Hubs a few other things too, but these were his favorite.  SUCCESS. 

Not Your Typical Greeting Cards

One day, on Pinterest (shocker, I know!), I ran across these fun cards and I just think they're the best!  She has them for all occasions, but here are a couple of my favorites...

Hahahaha...I just giggle every time.  I wish I would have had the bridesmaid ones for my wedding!  I mean, WHO wouldn't laugh out loud when they opened one of these!  Check out Julie Ann Art on Etsy.