Classroom Website: A Must for Room Mom's and Teachers

So this year, fate chose me out of a hat to be the room mom.  I was super excited and also a little nervous.  I've never been a class room mom before and I didn't even know where to start.  This is her last year in preschool, so I am so thankful to have this opportunity.  If you are wondering, what in the world is a room mom?  I would say the link between parents and teachers.

I attended a room mom meeting and a veteran shared her secrets.  Mind blowing for those of us who love virtual access.  Did you know you can create a website for your classroom online?!  Say what?!  It's free, private and pretty amazing.  I'm a fan of Shutterfly again because in no time I was able to create our Brown Bear Classroom Website. 

It's private so you can't actually visit it, but let me show you some of the tools that are offered.  You can see all the tabs above the bear. 

1. Calendar, you can see all the important events for the month as well as who is bringing snack each week.  
2. Volunteers is a way to virtually get parents to sign up to volunteer in the classroom or bring something for a class party.
3. Parents can share photos and videos of kids taken from field trips and important times like the Christmas show.
4. A class list of everyone's phone number, email addresses is listed.  Useful for birthday party invites!  To the right is the teacher's information.
5. There's even a message board. 

Can I just say...Thanks Shutterfly Share Site, I'm in love. 

Scroll down and you'll see a pretty image of all the important dates of the month and to the right some links parents can share.  

And probably my favorite part.  The upcoming events and files tab.  As parents we lose papers and forget dates.  Am I wrong?!  Not anymore folks.  For every event entered, I was able to have the option to send out an email reminder for the upcoming event.  YUP two days advance notice for picture day, field trip, chapel.  How awesome!?  The files section has all those important papers we tend to lose.  The list of preferred snacks, the list of each teacher's favorite things, permission slip for field trips, and whatever else.

This site is so awesome I just had to take the time to share it with you all.  What a great tool for parents and teachers to stay organized and informed throughout the year!  NOT to mention who wouldn't want a virtual way to access those important dates and papers we forget and lose.  

It's amazing people.  If you're a room mom, I highly recommend it and it's super easy to set up. 

Until next time.  Toodles! 

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FLASH BACK: Our First Halloween Party

Halloween is a family fave!  I thought I would bring you back to one of my favorite posts to give you some new inspiration.  Enjoy my flashback to our first Halloween party!

Wow Halloween went by in a blink of an eye!  We had a blast hosting a costume party with some of the little ladies friends.  There are four things I always looked forward to in the fall and one of them is dressing up and eating goodies for Halloween.  It's these little memories that I want to pass on to my little ones. 

Germany doesn't do Halloween.  No trick or treating or costumes.  So, we created our own little celebration.  A little snip and snap from a stash of scrap book paper and a white sheet of cardboard and we had some adorable party decorations. 

                                                                         

The circle banner was so simple to make.  Just punched circles and sewed them together. 

And what's a party without some spooky treats.  Popcorn bubbling in the witches cauldron sitting right next to the witches brooms.

T Creepy olive eggs crawling on moms deviled eggs.  Not to mention some blood and bones.  

A flock of bats came and joined in on the celebration as well. 

Bloody strawberry lemonade for the mummys to enjoy and the kiddos had juice boxes.

It was a house full of little monsters all ready to play! The kids played, the mom's talked about potty training.  

For a craft we made some ooey gooey slime!

My favorite part was of course seeing the kiddos in their costumes.  I would have to say my dear friend is the winner!  She is preggo, so for Halloween she is a road with a bump and her son, the cutest bum I have ever seen!  Love it!

Happy Halloween everyone! 

Featuring Unafrayed Sewing

I am super duper excited to share the work of a dear friend of mine.  Kathryn and I met college.  We lived on the same floor.  We bonded over late night study sessions, Gilmore Girls marathons while vegging out, concerts, chapels.  So fun!  Our friendship has passed the test of time and have been able to stay in touch over the years, being there for each other at our weddings and having the kiddos.  She has a beautiful heart and now a passion to sew. 

This year she opened shop Unafrayed Sewing.  I absolutely love the name.  It's a reference to fabric and thread coming unraveled or "frayed".  Fear is one her biggest struggles.  What happens to us when we have fear is very similar to what happens with fabric when it's frayed.  It prevents us from living the fullest life God has intended for us.  

Her vision is to make and sell quality, hand-made, useful items for families to enjoy for years to come.  She's currently making and selling bandannas for babies and dogs, but hope to expand in the future to sell quilts, burp rags, and bean bag toys.  How adorable does little man look in this bandanna?!  And he is a major drooler with all those teeth coming in.  

How adorable is this set?!  Perfect for the Fall or Christmas.  A great personal gift for a baby shower or birthday.  Head over to her Etsy shop and check them all out! 

Right now, if you spend $30 at her shop then get 15% off.  You can follow her sewing journey on Instagram and Facebook and be sure to tell her I sent ya! 

Have a blessed day everyone!

Our Fall Bucket List

I've gone back to work [from home but it still counts] and as a working mom, I realize that I have to be way more intentional about spending quality time.  I know a lot of working mom's can relate to that.  But God shared this with me and I hope it encourages you, it's not necessarily the quantity of time you spend with your kids but the quality.  I spend all day with her and we do stuff together but I'm a memory builder.  I live for those moments that the kiddos will remember and cherish.  The times we camped out in the living room, raised butterflies, and did crafts. 

You all know I'm a sucker for traditions and this is a way for me to make sure we have those speacial moments, those memories, and that quality time.  It ended up being a bigger hit than I expected, the hubby even got involved and she has really taken ownership of her little list.  We went on pinterest and she picked out crafts, we talked about what we want to do this season, and THIS list has some awesome ideas!   I love her idea of a balloon day, she wants to blow up a bunch of balloons to play with.  

I'm a list maker too so I love this even more because it's teaching her to be a list maker.  Ha!  Each week we have been going over it and she picks what it is she wants to do for the week.  Last week we painted a planter and planted plants.  To my surprise they are still alive and thanks to having fresh basil we have been having caprese salads all the time.

We also made slime.  This is a tradition for us each Halloweenie time.

You can find the recipe here and I actually made a video this year on how to do it.  

             

This bucket list is for sure one that we will make every season.  What would you put on your list?

Until next time.  Toodles! 

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