Mela Kamin – 4:10 Ministries

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Oh my – kindergarten, 2nd grade and 6th grade for my sweet, sassy three. This is the first time we have a child in full-day kindergarten, so it’s a new one for me. I’m holding steady right now, but we’ll see how this week goes without my Gus.
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Greg took back-to-school photos of them yesterday – HE. IS. MY. HERO. The pictures are always WAY beyond what I expect (and I have high expectations because I know what he can do). I’ll share the best shots in another post a little later.
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Here’s a picture we took last night right before bedtime – our last night of Summer. Yes, my boys go to bed shirtless.
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In anticipation of their big first day, I put together these gifts to give to their teachers. I always like to have my kids bring a little something the first day – I think it shows respect and appreciation. And, a couple brownie points never hurt a kid either.
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In the past, we’ve done school supplies, flowers or treats. We like to give a few surprises throughout the school year (homemade treats, usually) and a gift on the last day (we did framed word clouds last year).
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These were really simple to whip up and inexpensive too. The teachers liked them and it was something a little different to show them how special they are.
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They turned out adorable {if I do say so, myself}. I especially love the ruler ribbon I found at Michael’s. It was the perfect finishing touch for my “Measure of a Teacher” poem, I think.
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I had seen these water bottle hangers that hold a drink mix pack, like Crystal Light. I thought it would be perfect to hold the measuring spoons. I used this tutorial from Heidi of Blue Eyed Blessings.
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I purchased the spoons from the Pampered Chef outlet a couple years ago. Yes, I bought them in bulk – they were $1 or $2 each. We used them for a Mother’s Day gift for the Moms of my Sunday School class, using a “Measure of a Mother” poem I wrote for my Mom.
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{hey – when you find something that works, stick with it!}
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Here’s what I used:

• a pretty embossed, school bus yellow cardstock (each strip cut to 2 1/2 in. wide by 9 3/4 in. long)
• a pretty coordinating print of cardstock (used for the little detail on the pouch using a 1 1/2 in. scalloped punch)
• glue dots
• poems printed out
• ruler ribbon
• bottles of water

Here’s a closeup of the poem I wrote:
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Oh and this is a closeup of the pretty patterned paper – I bought an extra piece, thinking I might just frame it – it’s beautiful. I happened to be wearing an outfit that coordinated, so maybe I was drawn to it, because of that. But that would be very narcissistic, wouldn’t it?
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Note: I made my hangers a couple inches longer than Heidi’s, because I didn’t want to cover the poem when I folded the bottom flap up. If you’re using this to do the drink holders and don’t have a message inside, stick with her dimensions.
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We so appreciate our teachers and those who will interact with our children each day. We feel very blessed to be able to have our boys at our church school, only about a mile away. Our daughter is at our other location for middle school, just across the river – about 5 miles from our home. This allows me to be close for volunteering in their classrooms, for recess duty and lunch help. The kids love it too!
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God Bless Teachers!