Teacher Gifts

Jim wanted to do something small for the teachers for Christmas, so I went looking for ideas on Pinterest.  We were short on time, since Jim has only been at the school for about a month, and since he has 19 people on his staff, we wanted to try to keep the cost and time involved fairly reasonable.  I found this tutorial for hand warmers (similar to the way I made the rice bags a few Christmases ago).  I made them from flannel, and I added a little nutmeg to the rice so they would smell nice.

I bought some big multi-flavor packs of cocoa mix from Sam's Club.

 We gave each teacher a set of hand warmers and some cocoa mix..

I tied the sets of hand warmers with baker's twine, and attached a little tag with directions for heating up the hand warmers.

 I packaged the hand warmers and cocoa mix packets in brown lunch sacks.  I used a punch to make a scalloped edge along the top of the sacks and then tied it all up with a tag and more twine.

 These ended up taking some time, but they were really quite inexpensive.  I was happy with how they turned out, and I hope that the teachers will enjoy them!

Project Life - Weeks 45 and 46

I am sharing two weeks worth of Project Life again today, in an attempt to be caught up around the end of 2013.

Week 45

Jim's sister and brother-in-law gave Drew and Maddie some money along with their Halloween candy, and we took the kids to Target this week to spend their money.  Drew bought some Ninja turtles, and Maddie got a cat piano that she loves!  

Maddie made us laugh with her doll and her Curious George baseball cap.  She is spunky and girly at the same time, and we love it!

She kept trying to put Drew's turtle mask on George.

Jim and I are working on a vintage wooden play kitchen makeover for Maddie for Christmas.  I am planning to do a whole post about it when it is finished.  We started working on it this week.  Jim took off the doors and hardware, and sanded the whole thing down.

We bought some apple cider this week, and we all enjoyed it!

Maddie loves books!  I caught her reading on the floor with her bonnet on her head.

My parents made a quick trip up this weekend to see my Grandmother, who is under Hospice care in Ohio.  They drove up and spent Friday night and Saturday morning with us.  We enjoyed seeing them, even though it was a very quick trip.

The guys made a little drive to Dutch Girls Donuts in Detroit for our breakfast on Saturday.

Dutch Girl donuts are so good!

We all enjoyed them!

Here is what I did for Project Life for Week 45.

Week 46
I worked in Maddie's Sunday School class this week.  I always enjoy spending time in her class with her.

We got our first dusting of snow this week.

It was funny to see snow on the fall leaves and pumpkins.

Jim and I took advantage of the Starbucks BOGO one afternoon this week.

Jim met with the deacon board of our church this week, and after meeting with them, was offered the job as our school's new principal.  He accepted, and the next day, the deacons sent out an announcement, naming Jim as the new principal.  The night of the announcement, we told Drew that Jim was going to be the new principal at his school.  He was excited.  :)

Maddie had her first speech learning group this week.  She was a bit hesitant about the activities, but she seemed to enjoy it.

Maddie's doctors had mentioned hearing heart murmurs at several different visits, so they suggested having Maddie checked by a pediatric cardiologist to be sure that everything was fine with her heart.  We saw the cardiologist this week.  Everything checked out just perfectly, and we were thankful to hear that she has a healthy heart.  Her cardiologist was an older Jewish man with lots of personality, so it was an interesting visit.

Drew was trying to look tough, with his forks "holstered" in his pants, and I just had to take a picture.

Jim and I are youth sponsors at our church, and the youth group was in charge of setting up and serving a Thanksgiving dinner for the senior citizens at our church.  I spent Friday evening helping set up for the dinner and baking pumpkin bread to give as favors to the people who came for the dinner.

I loved how the tables looked and the way that we packaged the little loaves of bread - wrapped in plastic wrap, placed on a coffee filter, and tied with a piece of black yarn.

This is what I did for Week 46.  Sorry about the glare.  I had to take these pictures in my cold garage, and I was trying to work as quickly as possible.  I thought the little clipboard journaling card was perfect for Maddie's cardiology photo.  It reminded me of a medical chart.

 Here is how Weeks 45 and 46 looked together.

I am linking up again with The Mom Creative.

Spicy Sausage Pasta

Today I am sharing the recipe for one of our new favorite dinners, Spicy Sausage Pasta.  I found it on Pinterest (obviously!), and I've made it a few times in the last month or so.  It only takes about 30 minutes to make, and it all cooks in just one skillet, so it doesn't dirty up a lot of dishes.  Everyone at our house likes it, and that does not happen often!

Here is how I make it.

Spicy Sausage Pasta
1 T olive oil
1 pound smoked sausage
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 cups of chicken broth
1 (10 oz.) can of diced tomatoes with chiles (I use regular, but mild would be good if you don't like things spicy.)
1/2 cup fat free half and half
8 oz. penne pasta
1/2 tsp. each of salt and pepper
1 cup of Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
1/3 cup of green onions, sliced

Add olive oil to a large skillet over medium high heat.  When oil is hot, add onions and sausage and cook until onions are translucent and sausage is browned.  Add garlic and cook for an additional 30 seconds.
Add broth, tomatoes, half and half, pasta, and salt and pepper.  Stir.  Bring to a boil, cover skillet, and reduce heat to medium low.  Simmer for about 15 minutes, until pasta is tender and liquids are mostly cooked out.  Remove from heat.  Top with cheese and green onions.  Allow cheese to melt, and serve.  Delicious!

Project Life - Weeks 43 and 44

I have gotten a little behind in sharing my Project Life pages, so I thought I would share two weeks (and an insert!) today.

Week 43

Maddie has been getting better and better at taking off shoes and clothing, and she can unzip her zippers very well.

 Drew stayed home from school with a fever on Tuesday, and Maddie kept him company on the couch.

Maddie is almost 22 months old, and she is only saying a few words.  Her pediatrician recommended having her ears and speech checked out by the specialists at the county school department.  Maddie had her assessment this week.  Her hearing checked out great, but her speech is behind where it should be for her age (we knew this already), and they suggested enrolling her in a learning group.

 Jim got out some old grad school books to read up for his new job.

 Two sleepy Hawkinses.

 Maddie loves playing with her little George, and this week, she tried to stuff him down the laundry chute.

 Maddie and George tried out the box from a package that came in the mail.

 We bought a bag of Dumdum suckers, and Maddie enjoyed trying a few.

 We have a jar-full in the kitchen now.

 Drew and Maddie are both enjoying the suckers!

Week 44
The leaves really started changing color this week.  Our street looked very pretty.

 We had a little collection of pumpkins on our porch -  a big one to carve, two small ones from Drew's farm field trip, and a tiny one from Maddie's church preschool party.

 We carved our big pumpkin on Tuesday.  Drew did not want to help scoop out the insides!

 He made one attempt, but then he was all done.

We tried to carve a Curious George face in the pumpkin.  I'm not sure we were totally successful, but he turned out pretty cute.

Drew got a ninja turtle mask and weapon set this week, and he was looking quite tough!

Drew's school had a special day called, "American Heritage Day," where the children each picked a character from American history to dress up as and learn a speech about.  The children did a little program with some songs and poems, and some of the students were chosen to present their speeches for the audience.

Drew was Lou Gehrig, and he was chosen to give his speech at the program.  He did a great job!

I took this picture of Drew under the tree in front of his school after the program.  I thought the leaves were so pretty!

Here is what I did for Project Life for these two weeks.  This is a view with the insert face-up.

This is how it looks with the insert flipped.

 The insert is about Halloween, with pictures that I blogged here.  This is the front of the insert,

 and this is the back.

 I am linking up again with The Mom Creative.