Gratitude Journals

I had fun making these for my friend who is making Gratitude Journals (designed in Canva).

Pretzel Day

I love being in charge of Teacher Appreciation at my local elementary school.  Next week I am doing a "Pretzel Bar" for the teachers.  We'll have a variety of pretzel mixes for the teachers to munch on and a playful poem to tie it all together.

Here's the poem I wrote to go with the pretzel theme:

Here are the recipes I am using: 

Spicy Pretzels

5 oz (4 cups) mini pretzels

2 tsp melted butter

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp garlic powder w/parsley

1 tsp salt (I will leave it out – too much salt for me)

350 degrees.  Toss pretzels with butter and spread in pan.  Bake for 5 minutes.  Add rest of ingredients and toss.   Bake for 2 more minutes.  Let cool before storing in airtight container.

Cinnamon Super Pretzels

2/3 c. canola oil

½ c. sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

1 lb pretzels

300 degrees.  30 minutes.  Stir twice.  Let cool before storing in airtight container.

Teacher Appreciation - Test Survival Pills

I designed these fun, fake prescription labels to put on real pharmacy bottles that I collected from a friend and then sanitized.  We will fill them with MnM candies and give them to the teachers right before the big standardized testing begins.  I think they'll love them!

Note: Our school nurse was not happy when we passed these out.  She wants to make sure kids don't think pills are candy.  Some of our aides were passing the candy out to the kids on the playground which was totally inappropriate.   So if you pass these out, have the teachers keep them away from the kids to avoid confusion and by all means don't pass them out to kids.  Someone was having a brainless moment when they did that.

Teacher Appreciation - Donut Saying

We served donuts to our teachers on the last day of school before fall break.  They LOVED it!

Here's the saying that I wrote to go with the donuts.

DONUT ever forget

how much we

appreciate you!

Here are the graphics.  I printed them each out on a sheet of cardstock and then attached them and mounted them on colored paper.

You MENTO lot to us!

My teacher friend gave these out to the parents to chaperoned our 6th grade science camp trip.  A fun poem and some Mentos are a fun token of appreciation.

Science Camp was busy

But so much fun!

Without people like you,

It couldn't have been done.

You being a chaperone

"MENTO" lot to us!

Thank you!

Teacher Appreciation - Mounds of Thanks for All You Dew

I attached this fun sign to a large piece of scrapbook paper and put it on an easel.

The teachers were thrilled to have snack size Mounds candy bars displayed in a fun green bucket and a bunch of 2 liters of Mountain Dew (regular and diet).  I also put out plastic cups and then bought an ice chest from Target to use exclusively to store ice.  I kept the ice chest out on the table with the soda and candy and the teachers could scoop their own ice into cups throughout the day.  They LOVED it!

Things Always Work Out

I've been thinking about adversity and challenges lately. While hardships will always be a recurring part of our lives, I think the important thing is how we face them.  Everyone has their own set of problems.  The severity of our adversity tends to ebb and flow.  The truth is, we never really know what another person is struggling with.  But we all are struggling each day with something, rather big or small.  And if we think we have no struggles, then we have the struggle of pride, right?

Here are some of the ways I personally deal with challenges.

Have faith and hope, not fear and worry.  Our natural-man tendencies lead us to fear.  Having faith instead of fear is a choice and must be worked for.  Everyday.  Try to look at things optimistically instead of focusing on the negative.  Think about all the wonderful things in your life and all the wonderful things yet to be.  Don't allow yourself to mope, stay in bed, wallow in self-pity, or embrace depression.

Trust Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.  They love us and wants to help us.  They will never abandon us.  Unfortunately (or fortunately), humility is key to learning to trust Heavenly Father.  I attempt to be one of those people who chooses to be humble, but it is really hard to keep pride out of our lives.  Challenges compel us to be humble and therefore should be valued.  Humility leads to trusting God and increasing faith.

Pray, pray, pray.  Pray for patience and to be faithful.  Pray for the Lord's will to be done.  I have the tendency to be bossy and have to be careful when I am praying that I don't try to tell the Lord exactly how to answer my prayers.  I am constantly facing the battle of "MY will be done" versus "THY will be done."  This concept has changed the way I pray.  Life experience has taught me that I don't have the full picture.  He does.  It seems logically smart to listen and be guided by someone who knows what I need and when and how I need it. 

Teacher Appreciation - Daily Themed Gifts

Here are the gifts I made for my son's elementary school teacher.  We had daily themes at our school which was very fun (see flyer below).

(Monday's theme is a "Flower and/or thoughtful note."  Here's a note from my son and a package of Thin Mint cookies.  My week is going to be too crazy to worry about a real live fresh flower.)

(Tuesday's them is "Favorite Candy" - We weren't sure what her favorites were so we just threw in a couple kinds since we knew she liked chocolate)

(Wednesday's theme is "Favorite Drink."  This is a regular water bottle with decorative duck tape on it.  I added cute ribbon on the top.  We threw in some of those Crystal light flavor packets because they are easy to keep in a drawer at school to be added to water anytime.)

(Thursday's them is "School Supplies."  I decorated these gigantic paperclips so that the teacher could use them to group papers.  The paper clips are about 4 inches tall and an inch wide.... not sure where to buy them since my mom gave these to me.  Then I threw in some thank you cards because teachers go through lots of those!)

(Friday's theme is "Favorite Pampering Item."  These are some cute fluffy socks that I got in the dollar section at Target, well the $2.50 part of that section.  I bought the shower gel on sale at Bath & Body Works.  It helps to plan in advance.  I buy things throughout the year when they are on sale.)

(I got these cute boxes at the dollar section of Target a few months ago.  It doesn't show it, but I added the daily theme signs to each box and attached them with a colored binder clip.  My son will bring one gift each day.  The teacher can also use these containers in her classroom later on if she chooses to.)

(The boxes are cute with little handprints all over them.)

Time Out for Women - The Clicker Experiment

I loved hearing Hilary Weeks at Time Out for Women.  Her music and songs are beautiful and motivational.  Her thoughts and musings were equally wonderful.  I particularly liked her "Clicker Experiment."  Tracking our negative thoughts, complaints and whining brings us down.  Our spirits soar when we focus on the positives in life.  Visit her blog to read about her story in her own words.


Part 1: Click HERE http://hilaryweeks.com/blog/?p=376
Part 2: Click HERE http://hilaryweeks.com/blog/?p=392

To order your own clickers click HERE http://hilaryweeks.com/moreinfo.php?SKU=2099

One Day at a Time

I've been thinking a lot about living one day at a time.  It is so easy to dwell on the past or obsess about the future, neither of which is healthy.

When we dwell on the past, we harm ourselves because it can destroy our hope.  Elder Neal A. Maxwell encouraged us to hold on to hope by "not looking back, and refusing to let yesterday hold tomorrow hostage." 

Think about Lot's wife in the Bible - she was told not to look back when they were fleeing from Sodom.  She did look back and was turned into a pillar of salt.  In furthering this analogy, salt is not a living substance.  It cannot change or grow.  I don't want to be like Lot's wife.  If I look at the past and dwell on regrets, I will be like the salt, unchangeable, stagnant and not thriving, albeit spiritually in my case.

Talk - Being Thankful

This is a talk that was given by one of the Young Women in our ward this past Sunday. She did a great job and we enjoyed her fabulous talk.  I particularly like the "Land of Un" part.

When we pray we have a chance to thank Heavenly Father and to ask him for blessings. Many times we end up asking him for all the things we need and want and we may forget to really thank Heavenly Father for everything we have.

The definition of a blessing is: something promoting or contributing to happiness, wellbeing, or prosperity.

Perhaps this is not the case with you, but at times in my life Heavenly Father has blessed me; He has given me things that contribute to my happiness and wellbeing and I continue to ask for more without taking the time to add up all that I have been given.

The same might be said about our relationship with our earthly parents; our conversations become more about the things we need and want instead of about what we’ve been given. In a word, we usually end up talking to them about all the things we need and want, but not for all the things they have done for us. In a word, we aren’t as Thankful as we perhaps should be.

Talk - Gratitude is a Divine Principle

Thank you to my friend Erin who gave this talk at church a few weeks ago.

In President Monson’s talk “The Divine Gift of Gratitude” from the October 2010 conference he states, “Gratitude is a divine principle.” The Lord declared through a revelation given to the Prophet Joseph Smith: “Thou shalt thank the Lord thy God in all things…And in nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things.” Let me read that last part again… “And in nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things.” That’s a pretty strong statement and one we should truly think about.

I believe that showing gratitude is a choice we make every day. It is an intelligent way to use the gift of agency on this earth that we fought for before this earth existed. When I was a teenager I went to a youth fireside. My Bishop talked about this use of our agency. He said it was not possible for someone to make us angry but that we chose instead to be angry. I really didn’t understand this concept until I realized that someone could choose to act against me but ultimately I chose how I would react. This concept is the same with gratitude. Are we truly remembering the Lord’s hand daily in our lives? Are we aware of the many tender mercies shown to us in our daily life? Are we showing this example to our children despite all of the trials in our lives? Are we showing gratitude in our prayers and in our actions to others?

Talk - Gratitude is the Currency of the Gospel

This talk was given by my friend at church recently. Thanks for sharing it Ethan!

I grew up in Whittier, CA and was raised by a single mom. My mother was a very hard worker and did everything she could to provide for my older sister and I. She is a very loving woman and she is also very proud and independent. Although she was able to provide for all of our needs, some of our wants had to be forgone as we rarely had the finances for luxuries. I remember in Jr. High School that the fashion trend at the time were these brightly colored patch-work board shorts that were worn by the popular skaters and surfers of the era. Unfortunately for me these shorts were very expensive and due to the fact that ordinary shorts could be purchased for a third of the cost, my mother told me that we just couldn’t afford them.

That’s why I was surprised on my 13th birthday, to open up a present and find a beautiful pair of board shorts inside. I had never seen any that were so cool. Being a 13 year old, I quickly looked at the label to see what brand they were (since branding is very important at that age). I was again confused to find that there were no labels in the shorts. My mom could read the puzzlement in my eyes and went on to explain that she had made them for me from scraps of material she purchased from a fabric store. To save on the cost of the pattern, she had disassembled one of my other pairs of shorts to use as a pattern. Afterwards, she then reassembled the shorts so that I could continue wearing those as well. I was so grateful to her for making me those shorts and immediately put them on and went out on my skateboard to show them off to my friends. I think I wore them 3 days straight before I could bear to take them off for cleaning.

Teacher Thank-you Gifts

I wanted to make something cute and thoughtful for my son's teachers as "end of the school" Thank You gifts. But I am also trying to be budget conscious since I bought a minivan this month and have been freaking out about spending that much cash at once. So here's what I whipped up for the teachers. Pencil jars!

I am in the habit of saving glass jars. They are so practical and I always think I will make something really cute out of them at some point. So luckily I had these jars on hand along with all the crafty supplies. I picked paper to go with each teacher's classroom. One of the teachers is a huge Seattle Seahawks fan so I did her jar with that theme. I cut the paper to fit around the jar and laminated the paper on the outside only so that I could still attach it to the jar easily, but it wouldn't get wrecked quickly in the classroom. I attached it to the jar with that red double-sided sticky tape and then added some ribbon. I filled the jars with pencils, pens and highlighters. The only problem is the smallest jar's lid wouldn't close with the pencils inside so I just filled that jar with candy instead. I printed off some sweet poems to put in the jars and voila! my gifts were ready. I'm sure the teachers will like them.

Here are the poems I used. I didn't write them, I just found them online:

Poem #1:
You are my special teacher
I just want you to know
I always had fun in your class
How the time has flown!
Thank you for helping me
To learn all that I know
I will always remember you
Even when I'm grown!
I'll miss you being my teacher
I know the reason why
I am feeling very sad
Because it's time to say goodbye

Poem #2:
"Whose child is this?" I asked one day
Seeing a little one out at play
"Mine", said the parent with a tender smile
"Mine to keep a little while
To bathe his hands and comb his hair
To tell him what he is to wear
To prepare him that he may always be good
And each day do the things he should"

"Whose child is this?" I asked again
As the door opened and someone came in
"Mine", said the teacher with the same tender smile
"Mine, to keep just for a little while
To teach him how to be gentle and kind
To train and direct his dear little mind
To help him live by every rule
And get the best he can from school"

"Whose child is this?" I ask once more
Just as the little one entered the door
"Ours" said the parent and the teacher as they smiled
And each took the hand of the little child
"Ours to love and train together
Ours this blessed task forever."

Teacher Appreciation Handouts

Here are some cute ideas for teacher appreciation week at school. I saved the graphics as jpg's but if you have trouble printing them, email me at pamthemom@gmail.com and let me know and I can email you the files in pdf format or in Powerpoint.

Attach this "Thanks for going the EXTRA mile" handout to a pack of Extra gum...



Attach this handout to a small bag of M-n-M's...

Green
is for the inspiration you give each day
Blue
is for your patience in showing the way
Orange
is for your warmth and caring
Yellow
is for the way you make students smile
Red
is for the many live you've touched this year

You're a
"Magnificent and Marvelous" teacher.

Thank you for being an M&M teacher!

Attach this handout to a bag of peanuts...

Attach this handout to a flower...

We are also doing a luncheon for our teachers at school... Taco Bar!

Why Me?

I visited my aunt's ward on Sunday in CA and I really liked a thought that one of the gals shared.

She said that if we ask "Why me?" every time something challenging or sad happens in our life, we really need to ask ourselves "Why me?" each time something wonderful happens to us.

Kind of puts things in perspective, huh. And the interesting thing to me is that the challenging situations are the ones that have formed my character and taught me the most. Wouldn't it be a waste of earth life not to have any growing experiences? I didn't come to earth to just dance around and pick daisies :)