Sport Themed Teacher Appreciation Week Part 1 (Theme and Decor)

For the 6th year in a row I was over Teacher Appreciation Week at my daughters school. For Teacher Appreciation Week we really try to make the teachers and staff feel appreciated. At her particular school, George Washington Academy, there are approximately 94 staff members, which we serve during this week. Luckily I had an awesome co-chair and lots of parent volunteers who made it possible to pull it off.

To start with we came up with a theme. Our theme this year was "Sports". We first sent out letters to all the room Mom's asking them to get the teachers doors decorated and also send lists of the teachers favorite things home with students, so they could bring a treat or supply in for their teacher during the week. The PTO decorated all of the other staff members doors, who didn't have a room parent, so that every door in the school was decorated. There were so many awesome ones. I wish I would have taken time to go around and snap pictures of them all, but sadly I didn't. We had Motocross, golf, baseball, all-star, basketball, and so many other great ones that went along with our theme-it was great!

The next thing we plan out is the food-this is a big thing. We have snacks and treats in the lounge for the staff all week and then on Friday we do a lunch for them. The parents pitch in and donate and bring stuff in and then the PTO supplements and does the lunch on Friday. I am always awed with the amount of food on the counter each morning.

Here is the invite we sent out to the teachers...

Monday-Breakfast of Champions-we had crock pot breakfasts, cinnamon rolls, muffins, bagels, breads, juice, fruit, etc.

Tuesday-Concession Stand Snacks-we had nuts, popcorn, chips and dips, crackers with meat and cheese, and stuff like that.

Wednesday-Time out for Treats-anything and everything in the dessert category

Thursday-7th Inning Smorgasbord-this was our fruit and veggie day-fruits, veggies, dips, fruit pizza, anything made with fruit and veggies (this is actually one of the teachers favorite days)

Friday-Tailgate Party. The staff all wore jerseys and so did those of us hosting the BBQ. We grilled up Honey Lime Chicken Skewers, Burgers, and Hotdogs. We also served a variety of side dishes and salads. For dessert we served Cherry Delight.

Involving the Students. We like to try and involve the students during this week. We sent out notes with a list of their teachers favorite things, so they could bring something in for them. We also hosted and essay contest "Why I think my Teacher is the MVP". If they wanted to participate they could. We chose several essays each day as winners. The student who wrote the essay as well as their teacher both received something. We read one grand prize essay over the intercom each morning. It was a hit. The essays were well thought out and written and the students were excited to help their teacher win a prize. Since we have students from K-8 at our school, we had two different forms for the essay.

We always make sure the Teachers Lounge is decked out for the occasion. We chose a baseball theme for the teachers lounge.

This year my awesome husband did the bulletin board. He made jersey or baseball for every single person employed at the school. It looked really nice.

Parents would bring in their food donations each morning and set them up under the concession banner. (they would literally take up the entire counter from end to end).

We also kept drinks stocked in the fridge and anything else that needed to be refrigerated.

On the tables we had white table clothes, and some mitts, bats, peanuts, and baseballs. It was simple but looked really nice. The staff and teachers were all impressed with how nice it looked.

See part two of this post HERE it talks about daily handouts.

More Wins and Hair Bows

This week the Flames were able to bring in two more wins. They are on FIRE!!! (pun intended) This week Chloe played a little third base, but she mostly caught and pitched. Oh yeah and she got two doubles. Go Flames!!! One of the Mom's found these cute hairbows online that match the girls uniforms perfectly and ordered them for the whole team. The girls love them, and I have to admit I'm not a big hair bow person, but they are pretty cute!

 Look how dirty this girl is after she has spent the night catching. #catcherproblems

Bryce is seriously such a trooper, and honestly for as many ball games he gets dragged around to I would have to say he is pretty dang well behaved. We decided he definitely deserves a snow cone. In fact one at every game we go to if he wants one-lol. It's kind of become a tradition for him. Baseball/Softball game = Snow Cone.

His favorite flavor is coconut. He also likes pina colada and tigers blood.

#purpleflames

Flames with Another Win (back to back soccer and softball games)

Since Chloe plays year-round soccer, there is always the chance of their being some conflict once softball season rolls around. Usually we are pretty lucky in it all working out, but every now and then we have games or practices on the same day. This time Chloe had a soccer game in Hurricane and then a Softball Game in Bloomington. She went to her soccer game and played and then we rushed to the softball game. She got there just as the last inning was starting. Landon had her play outfield. Then luckily she got a turn to hit and was able score a run for her team.

 It won't be long until this little guy is stepping into the batters box. He can't wait. He thinks it is so fun to try on the girls helmets and we already know he loves practicing his hitting. Hopefully he will be a great hitter one day.

#purpleflames

Red and Blues

There is one phone call you never want to get in your life, and that is the phone call that wakes you up early in the morning with a police officer on the other end of the line. We received that phone call a few weeks ago, when you hear the officer say this is Officer Carter and we have your son her for a moment your heart just drops. You think to yourself-Is he okay? What kind of trouble is he in? In this case we were informed that the offense was that of breaking curfew. That's a relief. There was no drugs or alcohol, no vandalizing or mischief. Plain and Simple Tanner and a few friends after having all of their parents think they were each sleeping over at one of the friends house, decided to leave and go drive around for awhile and then possibly go camping instead. A couple of problems once it got past midnight they realized that wasn't the best plan because now they didn't have anywhere to go to sleep, but they couldn't really camp cause it was pouring down rain. So they found a nice park and slept in the car, which is where the officer found them in the early hours of the morning. Now Landon and I weren't necessarily upset about the ticket, which is going to amount to about $25, in fact we were kind of mad the officer didn't give them all a warning cause they weren't really causing any trouble. However, we were mad about the lie. Tanner got grounded for several weeks, and probably won't be sleeping over anywhere for a good long while.

Quilt #7

This one is for my Sister, who just had a baby girl. I absolutely love the owl print and the color scheme. I made this one from a sheet set I snagged on clearance-the best part is that I am going to be able to make 3-4 quilts from that one set of sheets. YEAH!

#52 Quilts

Baseball Sophomore Year

The baseball season has come and gone, and obviously I have gotten super behind on my blogging. Tanner is playing on the Sophomore team this year. He started out the season playing 2nd base and batting second. About halfway through the season he got moved to 1st base and towards the bottom of the batting order.

Tanner has never really played first base before, so one of the first things we had to do was buy a first base mitt. We actually think the move to first might be a really good move for him. He seemed to adjust well and like playing there. He only had one error all year on first. He was involved in several plays and even got quite a few tag outs when the runner was trying to steal and didn't get back quick enough.

He seemed to like his coach and team-mates and so did we. His coach really pushed good attendance and grades and would bench the boys if they have bad grades (Tanner learned that the hard way), or make the team run if there were tardies from any of the boys. He held team night every Thursday and I think team night was great for all of the boys. They did fun activities like bowling and paintball, but also did some service and stuff like that, and overall they came together as teammates.

The team had a pretty good year. They were about 50/50 on the season for wins and losses. Though they had a few losses none of them were ever huge usually just by a point or two. They did have one landslide win where they won the Hurricane team 22-0. It has been a fun season and we have enjoyed the games. We had fun attending as many games as possible together, rain or shine. Bryce was Tanner's number one fan and went to almost every game. For the most part Bryce handled the long games pretty well and was able to keep him self entertained. Every know and then he would have a little bit of an issue-but what can you expect when things happen like other kids stealing your sno cone ;) (Yep that really happened-haha)

The last week they held a Sophomore Team party for the boys and their families. It was at a really cool place called the Roost Reception Area. Each boy received an award. Tanner got the "most talkative award"-go figure.   He has a lot to say at home, but he is still pretty quite around other people. They also gave the coaches each gifts and each boy received a collage of pictures with a nice matte signed by all of their teammates.   I snapped a few pictures of Chloe and Bryce but not of Tanner and his friends, cause I didn't want to embarrass him.

This year I actually got the team picture (posted below). Last year I paid for it but never received it. 

The moment when...

The moment when your husband buys your 3 year old a DeMARINI baseball bat that is rated for little league and tournament play, as well as a mitt that is just his size, and then spends hours working with him on his hitting to get him ready for t-ball next year. #love #baseballproblems

Bryce actually loves it so much that he asks to go and hit. Whenever Landon tells him okay two more. Bryce will say "no I want all of them" meaning he wants to go through another whole bucket of balls. They never end up quitting after just two more-LOL.