I really appreciate teachers

Let me just start by saying that is this our forth day in a row of sunshine.

I have the doors open, the windows open and it is feeling good.

After what feels like, and pretty much was, months and months of rain, the blue sky and warm sun are very very welcome.

I've remarked over and over, probably driving my kids mental,  how just like in life, we appreciate the sun so much more after the rain.

The lousy, grey, cloudy times are not fun, but when the sunny, warm, and bright times come, we can enjoy them even more.

The sun always comes after the rain - that is how God is.

Yesterday was Teacher Appreciation Day.

I don't know if it is really celebrated here or not, but I really do appreciate the kids' teachers.

If we didn't have them, I'd have to teach.

That could be detrimental to both my children's futures and quite possibly their very lives.

Being that teaching is not at all my giftedness, I highly respect anyone who is able and heroize homeschooling mothers.  They should be given sainthood before they even die.

Being that I have been pretty crazy busy with wedding stuff (it went very well - pictures and details to come), I had little time to come up with a gift for the teachers. 

And being that I still am not allowed to drive in this fine country and I really like to avoid shopping anyway, I didn't want to bother with buying something.

The only option left in my book: make something with what I already have.

I really quite like that challenge anyway.

Here is what I came up with:

The official title of these little gems is

"Fancy Paper Clip Flower-Looking Thingies"

I took some plain old paper clips and hot glued buttons or flower trim to either side of the tops of the clips - but lined them up so they looked cute (make sure you glue to the side with only one loop of wire, not two).  I figured teachers are often holding things together with paper clips, so why not use cute ones?  Then I cut out circles from bright pink card stock and arranged the clips on those.

On the computer I made little notes that said "Thanks for holding it all together.  We appreciate you!" and made those the flower centers (I used a little circle scallop punch to cut them out).  I hot glued the flower to a wooden skewer, covered the end of the skewer with another little white scalloped center and hunted for something to hold them in.

I found these three little jars that I had leftover from the wedding, so I cut out a piece of craft foam, curled it up inside, hot glued some tissue paper to the bottom of the skewer and then hot glued that into the jar.  The effect of the foam inside the glass looked really pretty.  We tied a little "to:   from:   Happy Teacher Appreciation Day" note on the rim - that the kids signed, and voila: Teacher Appreciation gifts were done.

The kids said that their teachers all liked them a lot.

I'm not really sure what that means - if it was a polite "it's the thought that counts"- I like it, or a "this is the cutest, most ingenious thing I have ever seems - I like it.

I'll just pretend it was the ladder.

Regardless, I do hope they realize that they are most definitely appreciated.

Where would I be without them?