Teacher Appreciation Dinner

about two years ago, i felt God nudging me to host some of my fellow homeschool moms monthly in my home.

there is a group of about 15 women from our church who homeschool. we try to get together every month to do field trips.  the field trips are fun but as moms we never had time to connect during the field trips. there is the hi how are you? as someone chases after a toddler or answers a question from their school aged child.  there wasn't time for us to have time to really talk. time to vent if needed, ask questions, and get encouragement and support.

i knew when i felt that nudging that this was something we all needed.

i will admit that some months it's a bit crazy getting ready for our get togethers but it is always worth it. these ladies are all so dear to me.  i gain so much wisdom and encouragement from all of them.

this year for our last get together i wanted to do something a little more special, so i hosted a mini themed dinner.  it just so happened that our dinner fell during teacher appreciation week :o)

it was the end of the school year and kind of crazy so i really didn't do much for decorating but added a few touches to spruce up my kitchen.

 i had some extra green and navy fabric. i cut big sections of the fabric and sewed then together for a table runner. i didn't even hem the fabric.  i picked up a green table cloth at target and added some flowers from costco.

 with the same fabric, i made a quick bunting to hang over our patio doors.

 i used what fabric remnants i had to tie onto mason jars for their drinks. i went through our straw stash and found any green/navy looking straws.

for our main course food, i decided to go with a mexican theme since it was shortly after cinco day mayo.

 i made fruity white sangria to drink. 

it was so yummy!

 i made a fruit salsa

 with cinnamon and sugar chips

 taco bites

 {i normally top with cheese, sour cream, salsa but since we were having so many different mexican themed foods and i had toppings out for the other foods i let everyone top their own taco bites}

 southwest chicken bites

{i tweaked the recipe just a bit to fit our families tastes}

 pork chalupa's for mini chalupas

i had the usual array of toppings: lettuce, tomato, olives, sour cream, salsa, guacamole, refried beans

for our desserts i wanted to carry over our mini theme. 

so we had a variety of mini desserts:

top: mini cupcakes made by morgan

middle: mini chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches

bottom: sugar cookies as the base for mini fruit pizzas

the "frosting" and toppings for mini fruit pizzas

i am so thankful to have a group of women to gather with each month and travel on this journey of parenting and homeschooling with them.

it was so fun to treat them to this fun mini party.

Insta Joys: Photo Dump Edition

i can't believe it's been almost a month since my last post.

the last few weeks of school were crazy.

this was our first week of summer break 

it didn't feel like break

i am waiting for it to feel like a break

this weekend is supposed to be rainy and chilly

perfect for napping, reading, and movie watching

just be warned there are a TON of photos

  the circus came to town
my two littles have never been to a circus
we got some free kid tickets so we decided to go one night
the kids LOVED it
we got to the circus early so the two big kids went on an elephant ride
it's a racket but a month later they are still talking about it

 i've been waiting since i finished divergent at christmas time to read insurgent
i spent almost my entire day the day it came out reading
insurgent did not disappoint
it was as good as divergent
i finished and was ready to read it again
i was also dying to talk to someone about it
thankfully alissa finished shortly after i did so we could have a little text fest about the book

 the aftermath of spending a day reading
a mountain of laundry to fold
totally worth it!

 i walked into the garage the other day and found landon on top of our garage door
seriously? who does this stuff?
this boy makes me crazy
its a good thing he is so cute and has a tender heart

 i may have done a happy dance when i saw these walls going up
we've been hearing about and waiting for a new gym for morgan's gymnastics team for YEARS
it has been a long process
many ups and downs
a ton of extra driving, especially over the last two years
the light is at the end of the tunnel
the new gym is underway and should be open by the end of the summer

 a biscoff butter smoothie
it was yummy!
a little sweet for breakfast but a definite snack option
thanks amy for the heads up!

halfway through the baseball season, landon's league went from a pitching machine to coach pitch
landon's been pitching
he's doing great but i am a basket case
it stresses me out
thankfully he is as cool as a cucumber

awana's awards night....
little miss will be moving up to sparks next year

 and the little man will be in TNT

 stylin' in daddies glasses

we've been having some nice days this spring
our front yard is sunny and warm in the afternoon
perfect for a spring game night outside

landon loves to create all manner of super hero costumes
this was his version of captain america
it's also how he procrastinates doing school
i guess using your imagination counts as school... drama, right??

 we arrived at dance one night to find mauryn's costume had arrived
she was so excited
especially about the maracas

 my friend tania introduced me to these mio drops for my water
i love water
i drink almost a gallon every day but sometimes i need a little flavor
these drops are perfect
zero calories
and yummy!

this is my favorite

i just add some sonic ice {love}, water, and a few mio drops for an afternoon treat.

 my mother's day indulgence: chocolate chip cookies with vanilla ice cream
my absolute favorite dessert hands down
yummy!

 i have been trying to get back on the running wagon... again.
i have been consistently running 2-3 days a week for about 6 weeks
it's still not easy
i am still not loving it
but every few runs i can usually say i've had a good run
that's progress

 on my last longer run i picked up some goat heads
i clicked my way home on the sidewalk
these little things are nasty
they are the cause of many flat tires in our household

 twice a year scholastic holds a warehouse sale in our area
it makes me giddy
i love books and this is a book lovers dream

 a few weeks ago i heard on the radio that our outlet mall got a gymboree outlet
i couldn't believe it
our outlets leave a lot to be desired in terms of shopping
i came home and used my friend google to find out if it was true
it was true
i couldn't wait to go and check it out

 after a full afternoon at the book fair, gymboree outlet, getting landon to baseball, and dance pictures
someone needed a little snack
even though it was windy and cold mauryn sat out on her blanket eating her ice cream while we waited for morgan to get done with gymnastics
this girl loves her ice cream!

 mauryn had a little field trip on saturday for her wednesday night class at church
we took a half mile hike at the wild life refuge by our house
as we started off we spotted an osprey nesting
good morning osprey!

 it was a beautiful day for our hike...
it was sunny and warm
my little hiker was all decked out in her accessories
every hiker needs a matching necklace and bracelet :o)

 i had a little date night with landon last weekend
we went to see the avengers
he loved it!

 we took our first trip of the season to the water park
it was sunny and warm but not too hot
the water park was not crowded
it was perfect!
i rarely ever wear sunglasses
they bother me more than help me
sitting by the wave pool or watching mauryn in the kiddie area i have learned i need to wear some sun glasses or have lots of little wrinkles on the corner of my eyes from squinting

 i have been wanting a little clutch purse
when i saw alissa's new clutches i knew i needed one
it is so cute!
i can't wait to use it!

 when i went to check on the kids the other night after they went to bed this is how i found landon
it cracked me up
asleep in his under*wear but with his baseball socks on

lunch seems to be my nemesis
it might be that there are few things all my kids like for lunch
it might be that i feel like a short order cook at lunch time
lunch time makes me a little crazy
in the summer we tend to do more "snacky" lunches
their favorite way to have lunch is in a muffin tin
we kicked off summer break with muffin tin lunches
it's amazing to me how much more they seem to eat out of a muffin tin than if it was on a plate
i have a feeling we will be doing many muffin tin lunches over the summer

yesterday felt like a LONG day
after taking morgan to gym and running some errands, a stop at sonic happy hour was needed
it seems like everyone else had the same idea
sonic was one busy place yesterday

how was your week?
are you ready for summer??

linking up with jeannett over at life rearranged for insta friday