We usually go all out for our teachers at the end of the year. I feel it's
very important to not only show gratitude to our kids' teachers for everything
they have done, but also to show the kids that we are thankful for the wonderful
teachers in their lives. 
 
This year, however, the whole class got together and collected money to buy 
gift cards for the teachers. And so instead of doing what we would normally do, Josh and I decided to do something small for the teachers. We have also always felt that whatever we give the teachers should also include something from the kids. So this year we decided to buy plants for the teachers. And it only three (wait, four!) trips to Home Depot to buy these plants.

The first time I went, I took the girls fifteen minutes before I had to get
the boys from school. I figured it wouldn't take that long. Get the plants, get
the flower pots and get out. But I was wrong. Apparently we came at the worst
possible time - all the sprinklers were on so we couldn't even get close to
plants. And then my fifteen minutes were up and we had to go.

Our second trip to Home Depot occurred while I was obviously delusional
because at some point while I was waiting in the carpool pick-up lane I decided
that it would be a good idea to take all four kids to Home Depot - (right now!) -
and get the plants.

But I was wrong. It was a bad idea, and an hour and a whole box of
Entenmann's Little Bites and a four pack of my emergency juice boxes that I keep
in the trunk later, we were back in the car with flower pots and flowers - not
plants. I really wanted plants, they last longer, but the boys fell in love with these flowers (I'm guessing here, but they look like daisies) and there was nothing I could say to convince them otherwise. We were also all wet because - you got it - the sprinklers were still on.

The flowers the boys picked were lovely  - and, as we learned when we got
home and dragged the plants, the pots and the kids into the porch - bug
infested.

So back out to the front steps went the plants and the pots. The kids? They
got lucky - I let them stay inside.

Later that night Josh went to return the flowers but he was running
somewhere and didn't have time to get new ones. So the next day I went back to
Home Depot, alone, where I was greeted like a long lost friend by the woman
manning the cash register in the plant section. 

I explained what I was looking for and she kindly directed me towards
plants that would not only survive if any of our teachers forget to water them
but that would survive being transplanted into flower pots by four year old
hands. And I was grateful. 

When I got home, the kids and I replanted them in nicer flower pots.  The
kids make little signs for each teacher that we glued to Popsicle sticks that we
then stuck into the soil. Tied a little bow around the Popsicle and, for the
most part, hand delivered them to the teachers' houses.

And the fun part? You're thinking the fun part is that I made a new friend
at Home Depot. That was fun, and might potentially come in handy one day, but not what I was going for here. No, I was thinking that because the teachers were not home when we delivered the flowers - they were all at a teacher meeting in school so we left the plants on their front steps - we got to have the fun of leaving them a surprise for when they got home. 
 
And from the phone calls we've gotten, I'm pretty sure they were a hit.

Oh, and because I always need a catchy little phrase, no matter how corny,
we wrote "Thanks for helping us grow this year." Get it? Grow? Like a flower.
Yeah, I know, I know, but just getting the plants took so long. I ran out of time to think about the rest.  

Today I present the third and final sugar-free cookie that we gave my dad for his birthday. We baked all three recipes in one afternoon, one after the next - and the whole project didn't take that long. These were the last to go into the oven and I think I can say, these were the easiest. The rugelach were the hardest and the peanut butter, while also very easy are slightly more time consuming because each cookie needs to be flattened out on it's own or else you will wind up with peanut butter balls, not an altogether tragedy, just now what we were going for this time.  

For the cookies, you will need:
1 1/2 cups unbleached flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup Smart Beat margarine 3/4 cup Splenda Sugar Blend for Baking
1/4 cup Splenda Brown Sugar Blend
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 1/2 cups uncooked old-fashioned oatmeal
1 cup chocolate chips  

Here's the how to: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and lightly spray two cookies sheets with cooking spray. In the bowl of a standing mixer, mix the margarine, both Splendas, the eggs and vanilla until totally mixed. Slowly add the flour and baking soda and mix well. Add in the chocolate chips and oatmeal and combine by hand, until blended.  

Use heaping tablespoons, drop the batter onto the cookie sheets. Bake for 12 minutes or until lightly brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool before storing in an airtight container. This recipe made 2 dozen pretty big cookies but these can always be made smaller to yield extra cookies.  

Are they good? I don't know. I try not to eat things with sugar substitutes, but my Dad loves them!   

Nothing strikes fear in a mom's heart like that week between school and camp. An entire week looms ahead, empty of routine but full of mommy playing short order cook, wrestling referee and playdate chauffeur. And this is that week, my friends. Let the games begin.  

First things first, we made dessert for tonight's dinner. The first real day of vacation deserves something special, and also, this was a group activity with all the mixing and tasting and stuff.  

So remember how we were drowning in strawberries last week and the best I could do without having to turn on the oven and actually baking something was strawberry preserves? We also made these strawberry frozen yogurt pops. And they were such a hit with the kids, we made them again today.  

Wait, truth is not all the kids loved them, but in this house, 3 out of 4 is the most I can hope for and they did not disappoint. Three kids gobbled the yogurt pops up and one requested that we make them again, but this time leave out the gross strawberries and use chocolate instead. It's not a bad idea, I can see these being excellent with chocolate.    

The original recipe for these pops came from  familyfreshcooking.com, a blog I recently came across and really like. The recipe initially called for watermelon to be used as the fruit, but I while I love frozen fruit bars, I am not a fan of watermelon ones. In case you were wondering, I tend to like the citrusy ones better, like orange or lemon, and sometimes even lime.  

But my kids really like strawberries, so we tried this:
In a bowl, we mixed  
- 6 tablespoons of plain Greek yogurt  
- 3 tablespoons of strawberry preserves or pureed strawberries 
- 1 tablespoon sugar

Then we realized that it wasn't really mixing very well. The yogurt was only turning vaguely pink, but we were looking for something darker. So out came the dairy hand mixer. We didn't used to have a dairy hand mixer, we used to just have a dairy spoon but an unfortunate mistake led to the happiness that is a dairy hand mixer. We mixed, everyone had a turn holding the mixer and finally, the strawberries were incorporated well enough to make the yogurt turn dark pink. Hooray!  

We divided the yogurt mixer into five mini cups - we used the disposable plastic ones that one would find in a bathroom. We filled each cup about halfway and then we inserted a Popsicle stick into each cup. I wasn't at all sure that the sticks would stand straight but this Greek yogurt is pretty thick so it was fine.  

Cover each cup with foil, poking the Popsicle stick through the foil and freeze until they are firm.

Step 3: Staple the smaller triangles on top of the larger ones.

Step 4: Using a thick marker and using your nice handwriting, write Happy Summer on the triangles, one letter per triangle.

Step 5. Staple each triangle onto a length of ribbon or string, making sure to leave some extra string at both ends so you can hang your pennant.