It's the Little Things, gifts kids give to make your heart smile xo

Its the little things each days that make your heart soar.. I have been truly blessed with an adorable little man who loves to leave me little handmade surprises of cuteness, he has always done this and although my storage box of all of his necklaces, paintings, drawings, craft ventures and gifts is HUGE, I love that he is so giving and thoughtful, it really does make my heart smile..

He has also constructed this wall of his own artwork, drawing and handwriting that he is proud of and I was happy to let him pop it outside his door. Im not usually one for attaching things to walls, but seeing his pride in creating and presenting his work, how could I say no? Im not too sure what we'll do when we paint the walls of the dining room, I guess Ill find a cute little cork board for him to display things on outside his walls. They also have one in their room, but it's much nicer im sure to have it all out on display! :)

The other day before I returned to work, he created this gorgeous little sticker holder for me to take along to school for my student's rewards. After a tough first day back, it was so lovely to sit and stare at this very thoughtful gift he had made me during my lunchbreak and smile.. smile for all of his thoughtfulness and care.. He even filled it up with his own stickers and prizes from his room.  When I got home that afternoon he wanted to know how many stickers I gave out.. he was so proud 

 And I always am!

Back to School..

The majority of my week has been spent preparing for 'Back to School'  week.  And there has been quite a lot to do with 4 children to prepare! This is the first year that I have had a book list for each of them, so I'm finding covering 60+ books quite daunting!   I ordered the text books and books through the recommended newsagent via the school book list, but wanted to purchase items such as pencil cases, stationary etc at other outlets so everything was more personalised for them (plus, who wants a tartan pencil case in this day and age!).  I was also able to start collecting these supplies earlier in the holidays this way, rather than leave it all to the end, so when I saw something I liked (such as these adorable lead pencils at Smiggle) I was able to buy them. 

 

Book covering this year, as I mentioned earlier has been quite daunting with over 60 books that need covering.  I had intended on buying book covers or contact but after looking into the associated costs, I opted for the method my Mum used for many, many years.. good old brown paper!  5 rolls later, with some additional stickers (Ben 10, Toy Story, Winnie the Pooh) and decorative pictures, posters etc ( for the older kids) the books were covered and the kids were impressed with their personalised books.  I did purchase some clear book sleeves to place over the brown paper (as I'm terrible with a roll of contact!) and some pretty gift wrap for the larger scrapbooks (as I couldn't help myself) but overall, using the brown paper cut the covering costs by ALOT! 

My favourite book covering, which I will stick to largely next year has been the gift wrap, you can get it at an affordable price 50c-$1 a sheet (or a roll if need be) and it comes in so many designs.  I also used a section of it in conjunction with clear contact to jazz up plain folders and pouches etc for a more personalised touch.

As far as labelling goes, this year I decided to mix it up a little.  Last year I predominantly used pre-purchased personalised labels from Moo for my Son's prep things, but as I have a lot more to label this year I have utilised my permanent Sharpie Laundry Marker (for pencils, felt pens, crayons etc..), my Dymo labeller (for labels on glues, markers, rulers, textbooks etc..) and personalised name labels for things such as lunchboxes, drink bottles etc. 

As far as labelling clothing goes, I still have plenty of surplus iron on labels from last years Moo order, so I will continue to use those and with an $80 pair of school shoes added into the mix this year, I bought some shoe dots.. just in case the shoes go wandering.. Which strangely (I say strangely as my stepdaughter loses her drink bottle daily) we have never had a shoe go missing before, but I guess there is always a first time for everything.

So with the uniforms and clothes ironed to cover us til Friday, I'm off to make lunch for the first day back!

Gifts for Teachers..

It is well and truly the silly season and with the school year coming to a close, I had 4 teachers to buy for to thank them for looking after my kidlets over the past year - and what an ask that can be at times!

I like to purchase an ornament for the Teachers, last year I bought gorgeous silver angels as the kids all had female teachers. This year, I had 2 male teachers to buy for and didn't think pretty silver angels were going to be all that suitable! I did still buy pretty glittery ornaments for the 2 female teachers, pictured is Indigo's teachers gift, the word WISH, I thought this a pretty gift that could be used all year round.

I managed to pick up the gift bags in Kmart for $3 for a pack of 4 and made the tags up myself, I also added a metal gift tag that read 'Merry Christmas' also from Kmart (pack of 6 - only $2!). The other female teacher had the word 'Joy', and the two male teachers a clear glass ornament, nutcracker figure - all teamed with chocolate. 

I was watching on parade this morning and noticed the teachers arms laden with gifts from so many grateful boys and girls in their classes, it is good to see their hard work being appreciated! 

Advent calendars and putting the Christmas Tree up tomorrow! Can't wait..