the school year purge ...

I have a love/hate relationship with the end of the school year ... I love the new-found freedom from schedules - but what I dread about it is the tidal wave of papers and projects that get sent home each June ... folders upon folders FULL of school work. Not to mention the piles of silly desk knick knacks. Times 2. Any moms of young school age kids recognize these school desk treasures? We seem to have thousands of them - I'm sure you do too ...

We zip these little desk treasures into a pencil case or two for neat and tidy storage at home - otherwise, they'd be everywhere. But as far as the flood of schoolwork? ... sigh ... facing the schoolwork purge process each June is always a tough sell for me - not my favorite way to spend a summer day! So when a rainy day arrives, I go through everything they brought home, looking for a handful of special treasures to set aside and tossing out the rest. After I plow through it all and sort out the fun stuff, I have a huge pile that's ready for the recycling bin:

And what remains should theoretically be a handful of great 'keepers' from the school year. For my 5th grader, it's a total of about 10-12 things - some art projects and a few special writing assignments. For my 3rd grader, it's more like 15-20 keepers - at her age, the assignments still have a decent 'cute' factor. The very best one or two of their things get framed and hung (these are self portraits done on each girl's first day of 2nd grade):

... and the rest goes into their 'forever file':

Okay, so clearly we've grown from a 'file' to a 'bin' over the years, but this is where we are after several years of school! The above bin belongs to my 5th grader. The black bound collections at the bottom reflect everything from her preschool and kindergarten years - as you can see, it takes up half the bin since those earliest drawings and writing samples are irresistibly cute. The paper sizes at that age were generally huge and difficult to keep together, so I had my favorites (about 30-50 papers saved each school year) bound together each summer using a spiral to hold it all together.

Since 1st grade, most of her work has been on your basic 8.5x11 paper, so now I just put each year's 'keepers' into a separate colored folder (see middle of bin), marked with the school year, teacher, and grade. The yellow folder is the one I just put in for her 5th grade work. On top of that, the red box and the white one behind it contain some small memorabilia items from throughout the years (karate belts, swim test patches, etc). As you can see, the bin is now full and we'll need to start fresh next year (very fitting, since this is the end of elementary school for her). I'm pretty psyched that I have 8 years of her school work (grades 1-5, plus KG and PS) all sorted and organized, safe and sound in that one bin! Now I'll do it all over again for my third grader ... How much do you moms out there tend to keep after a school year? Anyone have any other storage solutions for your kids schoolwork?

and for dinner tonite ...

About a month ago, Kim over at what am I going to be when I grow up? posted this delicious pennette recipe that called for fresh swiss chard. Her photos looked so delicious I swear I could smell the flavor from that delicious bowl in her last photo - I was dying to try it! About a week later, Kimberly at yep, they are all mine posted about the same recipe, but she exchanged the chard for fresh asparagus (you can find that post right here) ... now I was reeeeally dying to try it, but which way?! - they both sounded so good!! Since I'm not a gardener, I decided to wait until our local Farmer's Market finally opened for the season ... and whichever I could find fresh, the swiss chard or the asparagus, that's the one I would try first. Ta-da ...

Swiss chard it is! So I gave Kim's recipe a test drive tonight while hubby is out of town and reduced the portions for a party of one (but made enough pasta for my girls to have for dinner - plain of course, heaven forbid we mix greens into it!). Here's all that I needed - I love easy!

I won't walk you through it step by step - use the link above for that, Kim did a great job ... I will say that timing was a minor pitfall for me. I started the chard and onion combo too early, so it was quite well done by the time the pasta was ready (I hadn't anticipated how long it would take for the water to boil for the pasta - and in the meantime, the chard and onions were sizzling away). It all turned out just fine, though ... here's the evolution from pan to plate ...

See?! ... easy as 1-2-3 - and delicious, too! Thank you so much, Kim - this recipe's a keeper for sure! And, Kimberly, I'm definitely trying your asparagus version soon ... thanks, ladies!

teeny tiny s'mores ...

One of my little ladybug's favorite treats is her subscription to American Girl magazine. Though it only comes 6 times a year, it's always filled with good ole' wholesome fun and she can't wait to dive right into all of the articles and projects. So guess what arrived in today's mail?

In this issue, there was a cute piece on making 'tiny treats' and, having a passion for all things miniature, my little ladybug was instantly smitten. After scooping the 'recipe' for miniature ice cream servings by using a melon baller, she set her sights on the miniature s'mores. Since big ladybug had her first day of sailing camp, off we went to collect our 3 ingredients:

Golden Grahams cereal pieces instead of the graham cracker, a single chocolate chip instead of the Hershey bar, and a single mini marshmallow. Just lay the cereal out on a microwave safe plate, half the pieces get a mini marshmallow on top and the other half get a chocolate chip:

Microwave for about 10-12 seconds and then squish the warmed halves together to make your teeny tiny s'mores!

This endeavor was way too sweet and simple to let go undocumented ... thought I'd pass it along to anyone whose little ladybugs adore miniatures as much much as mine do!

Bon Appetit!

how to spend the perfect father's day ...

Through hubby's eyes, there's no better place to be than on the water. He was raised right here in this seaside town since he was ten years old, right down the street in fact. So, like the local kids have done for generations, he sailed all summer long ... and he took to it like a fish to water. By high school he was captain of the sailing team - which led to becoming captain of his college team - which led to a lifelong passion for sailing, he's still racing at the front of the pack all these years later. He is as comfortable on a boat as a monkey in a banana tree.

As you can imagine, he is hopeful that some of this same passion will rub off on his two little ladybugs, both of whom have already been through beginner classes ... this summer is a big one because it's the first one where each girl has reached a level where they are expected to be able to skipper their own boat - as in solo. Previously, the girls shared their little sailboat. But now that they're entering intermediate sailing, they each need their own boat. Hubby has been excited for this day since they could walk - the day where he would watch both of his kids sailing side by side in his hometown harbor. How very fitting that it would happen on Father's Day! Coincidentally, we needed to get the girls' boats down to the floats where they are stored for class (camp starts later this week) ... so we launched the first one ...

Followed by the second one ...

Followed by the test run ...

And if you're my hubby, that's how to spend the perfect Father's Day ...

Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to the only boy bug in our house ...

How I wish I could say that my talents extended this far in the baking department - but no, I lifted these amazing cake pictures from a link I found on Kimberly's Korner ... just perfect for today! Even though I'm really more of a boxed cake mix kind of mom (and was just talking to Kristin about this!), I do bake a wonderful 'from-scratch' banana cake with cream cheese frosting each year for the hubby's birthday (delicious, but 3/4 pound of butter and nearly as much sugar - at least it's just once/year, right?!). More on that another time ... but for now ...

Happy Father's Day to one terrific Dad - what Lucky Ladybugs indeed!!

do. da. dippity.

Right after the New Year, on January 4th to be exact, the girls' beloved hamster "Nibbles" moved on to that great hamster wheel in the sky ...

There is an amusing backstory on little Nibbles. Both girls had prior caged rodent pets about 3 years ago - one 'fancy mouse' and one 'dwarf hamster' - I was not a fan. I made it clear each and every day that once their special pets had moved on to hamster heaven, there would be no. more. rodents. in the house. Within a year, both rodents did indeed expire (yes, natural causes) and I was home free - the rodent phase was over! Sadly, I didn't anticipate the curveball news from a local girlfriend that her kids' brand new Syrian hamster (literally just days home from the pet shop) had given birth. To ten tiny baby hamsters. Once the word got out at school, we were done ... adorable playful free fluffball hamster babies in need of a home? But mom, we have all the stuff a hamster needs! So we, along with quite a few other local friends, became adoptive parents of one of the hammie babies. The fluffball we chose was our little Nibbles, who, even I must admit, quickly endeared herself to everyone in the family - she truly was engaging, playful, cuddly, and downright adorable. Who knew?!

So you can imagine how we felt about this hilarious Kia Soul commercial that came out last year featuring identical hamsters that may as well have been Nibbles herself behind the wheel ...

Well, at last, here's the impetus of my post (long story, right?) ... recently Kia's talented advertising team released this even more hilarious hamster commercial that, needless to say, has us all spellbound and practically crying with laughter as we imagine our Nibbles in any of these roles ... perhaps this is what she's up to in hamster heaven ...

DO. DA. DIPPITY. WORD.

finish line crossed!

The school year is officially over for my little ladybugs. We all let out a huge sigh of relief over the weekend, it's been a big year filled with a lot of hard work and so many accomplishments - I couldn't be more proud of them! For my big ladybug, Friday marked the end of her elementary school days ... next year will be a huge transition as she learns to navigate 6th grade and life in middle school. And for my little ladybug, her entrance into 4th grade in the Fall will likewise be a big step up in expectations and workload ... I know that come Fall I won't have quite the same 'little girls' anymore, so I plan to enjoy every blissful minute of summer vacation with them!! Here's the recipe I'll follow ...

A healthy dose of sailing camp:

A handful of campfires:

And a heaping bushel of nighttime get-togethers under the stars:

(ladybug prints courtesy of Barbara Norris)

an epic birthday week ...

Little sister tends to have more of a birthday week than just a single day ... and being a 'center stage' sort of gal, that works out just fine with her. We usually start at least a week ahead of time with a family grill-out and cake at my father-in-law's house. He and all 3 of his sons live here in town and on my husband's side, there is a cluster of 4 birthdays in a 10-day stretch from late May into early June ...

You can see by the candles that our little bug is the '9', one of her cousins is the '16', one of her aunties is the '30', and her Great Aunt is the '61'. This annual gathering is a really fun way to kick off our little bug's birthday week ... then not too long after the family get-together comes the official birthday party. She co-hosts a party each year with a friend from school whose birthday is the same week ... but this year, instead of asking all the girls in their class to paint pottery or tumble at the gymnastics center, they chose to have a slumber party with 3 special friends from school and their dolls:

It was a roaring success of giggles and happy memories - the 5 girls (and the 5 dolls) all had a blast. And all of this before it was actually June 8! I mean, how do you top that?

With 21 gears and hand brakes, that's how! The wide eyes and gaping mouth when she first saw it were wonderful, it was like Christmas morning. She went on to have a great day at school and was picked up in a car decorated like this:

That's the view straight up from the driver's seat - the balloons are popping out of the sunroof in a huge bouquet ... I do it every year in the car line after school - it always causes quite a stir, and I love every minute of seeing her roll her eyes with embarrassment as the car pulls up! To wrap up the day, the birthday person in the house always gets to choose the dinner plan, and this year we had the honor of dining at I-HOP. Nothing beats the sweet victory of chocolate chip pancakes for dinner when you're nine years old! Yup, an epic week indeed ...

the birthday hangover ...

So my baby's turned NINE. I still can't quite get my arms around it - I mean, when was it that she went from this:

To this:

*sigh* .... Just as our littlest ladybug is going through a birthday hangover today (the gifts are unwrapped, the parties are over, the cakes are all gone, the songs have stopped, her big day week in the spotlight is over), so am I ... it's so hard for me to accept this new number ... NINE (gulp!). What I wouldn't give to just bottle her up right here!

baby's birthday!

Nine years ago today, I gave birth to the baby of our family ... my feisty and determined 2nd-born. From the time she was in the womb, little sister has always been the spice to big sister's sugar. She kicked and punched her belly hideaway for nine long months - no doubt she did not appreciate the confining limitations of the womb. This baby was ready to take on the world. Strong-willed and demanding right from the first day, this baby sure was lucky she was born with a double dose of cute ...

Unique, spirited, uber-creative, focused, and determined, this little girl is the apple of our family's eye ... Happy 9th Birthday to our special lil' ladybug girl - we all love you more than words can say!

finish line in sight ...

The homestretch of the school year is such a busy time ... between the classroom projects, field day, special performances, and end-of-year teacher recognition, there is a lot to fit in to those final days! Amazingly, the school year closes just one week from today, so it's time to get the teacher gifts set. Since store-bought gifts are a no-no at school, it can be tough to put together something homemade that will also be clever and useful. This year, I took our gift choice straight from one of my favorite blogs, Simply Seleta. Seleta had the fabulous idea of taking an "Izze" soda carton to use as a gift box, leaving one bottle in and filling the other 3 compartments with other goodies ... here is Seleta's picture-perfect photo of one her finished gifts:

The link to her tutorial can be found right here. To my surprise, ours turned out looking pretty close to this ... my girls chose the pomegranate flavor of Izze and we decided to leave 2 sodas in the back row, filling the extra compartments in the front with a similar shredded paper filler. For the extra goodies, we took a mini bag of Newman's Own microwave popcorn, a drinking straw, and a mini Hershey bar cookie ('wafer bars' from a 100-calorie box) and tied them together with raffia.

We cut down the divider in between the 2 empty front soda spaces and stuffed the goodies into the front compartment. Ours came out looking like this:

Both of my girls have a main classroom teacher and a couple of important 'support' teachers (piano teacher, math tutor, book club, art teacher, etc). For their main homeroom teachers, we will give the gift that is packaged in the Izze carton. And with the extra soda (from the 2 empty slots in the front), we created gift bags for the support teachers. They include the same combination of goodies (one soda instead of two), but they are packaged in a small gift bag rather than the Izze carton ... a little less uniquely packaged, but still a very thoughtful gift:

Not too bad for a mom who was crippled by a cold for the entire week! Seleta's clever post really saved the day on this stressful annual task. This practical, thoughtful, and fun gift fits the bill in every way ... thanks, Seleta!