Back to the Grind!

This week and last, most everyone has returned to schedules, alarm clocks, and calendar reminders. I thought it best to summarize the week through humor. 

Laughter is always the best medicine...for alarm clock headaches, right?

Have you found any back to school funnies? Please share!

Happy dancing all alone,

Mrs. S

A RHOK STAR 

enjoying the silence 

What's in the Lunchbox?

School is back in session for most of Oklahoma now. I'm back to teaching for the first time in 8 years. I've taught kindergarten and first grades, but now find myself teaching PreK for Owasso Public Schools. Let me just say, friends, it's rocking my spoiled little world! Don't get me wrong, I'm very thankful for the opportunity and it's making me bring things out from the very old toolbox... my mind! Eight years at home raising kids and then back to the classroom, is not the easiest transition. I'm slowly getting the hang of it. All the little songs and nursery rhymes are coming back. My kiddos are giving me lots of hugs- I'll call that successful so far. 
With us back to school, I find it difficult to come up with lunchbox ideas for my girls and me. My high school daughter is gluten-free and manages her lunches very well. She makes lots of chicken salad with Greek yogurt, pineapple, grapes and nuts. She always has Greek yogurt, gluten-free crackers, and other fruits. She's such a healthy eater. 
My first grader eats pretty much the same thing every day. Blah. Turkey and mustard sandwich, Cheetos and a Roll-up. Whoop-ti-do! 
Sadly, my lunch everyday has been just like my first grader's, minus the Roll-up. I usually add in some fruit or yogurt. 
Our lunches need a little help. My high school daughter loves her Bento Box. She is so creative with her food in her box. I thought it might be helpful to you if I gave you some resources for some Bento Box ideas and other lunch choices. 

Lisa Storms - Lunches with Personality 

The Kitchn - Sandwich Art: A Mom's Awesome School Lunch Project

No one to give credit for this one, but I LOVE it!!! 

Wendolonia: Lunch Box Ideas -

 She has an awesome idea list for free download that gives suggestions for proteins, fruits, veggies, tummy-fillers, etc. 

Again, no one to give credit to for these darling lunchbox ideas. How cute are these?! 

What do you pack in your kids' lunchboxes? Are they picky eaters? I have a hard time with my youngest daughter. She is a picky eater. Blah.  My teen has come up with some creative Bento Box ideas to make for her little sister. I can't wait to see them. I'll be sure to take pictures. 

If you haven't started school yet (or, even if you have) I hope you and your kiddos have a terrific new school year! 

~Mrs. Albright Packin' the box, like.... 

Back to School Checklist for Moms

Kids aren’t the only ones who have to adjust to heading back to school—moms have to adjust too. Check out a "checklist" I compiled from various sources so that you can help your child—and you—have a great school year.
Talk with your child about any anxieties they may have, how to make friends & goals for their school year. Here is some conversation starters for you & your kiddos.

Make a special treat for their lunchbox, after school or after dinner. Celebrate the new beginning. And while celebrating ask them about their day; did they make any new friends, how is their teacher, what was their favorite part of school? My favorite treat is a local cookie shop. They make cookies in the shape of our school mascot & other adorable shapes. So fun AND yummy!

Reach out to your children's teacher. Let them know the best way to reach you & that you are excited about the school year. A little first day treat never hurts either. A little kindness goes a long way.

Stop by 6 Happy Hearts  for a Mom's 1st Day of School Prayer. Here's to a wonderful school year for our children AND moms.
xoxo, Mrs. Montgomery Sending my kids off to school like...

Back-to-School Already?!

Can you believe summer break is almost over? Are you ready? My summer is already over. I'm back in the classroom after 8 years. I've been working around the clock putting together a preK classroom. I'm plumb exhausted. 
I thought I'd share some super cute back-to-school ideas/projects I found on Pinterest. Now, if only I had the time to actually make them.... 
Super cute, easy-peasy gift for the teacher for the first day of school. FREE printable on Simply This and That! 

A-DOR-ABLE door hanger for your new teacher. This looks so do-able! Maybe one of my students will make me one?!? Yeah, I don't think so either. I may just have to give up some more sleep and make one for myself. Thanks for the tutorial, Warm & Fuzzy! 

O-Mmm-Gee! Look at how cute these apple pretzels are?!?! I'm not linking it because the link is showing to not be safe. Sorry about that Bake.Bake.Celebrate. I think this could be recreated fairly easily without having directions. 

I know my kids would LOVE this. What a cute way to gear up for the beginning of a new school year! Check out the directions over at Pen N' Paperflowers. 

LOVE, love this idea of a back-to-school dinner night with the family. The decorations would be easy to put together. Check out the cuteness over at Our Family Blog. 

If you're going to have a Back-to-School dinner, you're going to need a Back-to-School dinner recipe. Here's one of my family favorites - Crockpot Ranch Pork Chops. Thanks to One Day at a Time for having a great picture with the recipe. This is recipe I use and I've shared, I just can't find my picture. Bummer. No worries. You'll find other great recipes over at One Day at a Time as well. 

Have you found some great ideas to kick off back-to-school?! If I had hours to spend, I could find so many things to make.... if I had time. {sigh}

When do your kids start back? Ours actually start on the 15th. I, on the other hand, have been working for a week in my classroom. I report for meetings on Friday. Life for this housewife is drastically changing. 

~Mrs. Alright

Wishing I could do it all, like.... 

iPiccy - Say What?!

Hi, friends! 
Over a week ago I shared PicMonkey, a simple editing tutorial with you. I got great feedback from many of you on Facebook. I loved that you tagged me in pictures that you had edited using PicMonkey. Isn't it fun to be creative with your pictures? The more you use the program, the better your pictures with look.
It was a comment that was left by one of our favorite readers, Yogi from Yogi's Den, that prompted me to check out another editing program called iPiccy. This program is very similar to PicMonkey, but you have a few more options. In a nutshell, I LOVE it. I used this program to edit this years' back-to-school photos. 
Here's a few screenshots of some of the edits I made to my daughter's picture. I'll show you the original picture first and then some of the edits. 

SOOC (straight out of camera)

Upload the photo and then hover over picture to see tool to click for editing. 

I cropped my picture down to take out the boarded area above her head.  It was a distraction for me.

I then resized my picture. When I upload pictures SOOC they are very large 

and will slow down the editing process. 

I always adjust my exposure just a little. 

You can play around with the levels and see if some changes are pleasing to your eye. 

I did adjust the levels somewhat. 

Next, I opened up the layers tab. It's under this tab that you can add text.

I added the word Freshman and the year to her picture. 

I also added a watermark at the bottom to copyright my picture. 

On all three texts, I used the fade slider to make the texts not so bold. 

I wanted them to look like they had been chalked on the brick. 

It is here that you'd want to open the "face" tab to do any skin touch-ups. 

For this picture, I did not do any touch-ups. But, had her eyes been open wider, I would have

used the "eye bright" on them. 

The filters tab is a fun tab. This is where you can change so much about your picutre.

I never use just one filter. And I rarely ever just click the filter without also adjusting it with the slider. 

This is my end result. Not too shabby for a quick and easy edit. 

Here are a few of the other pictures I took that day and edited with iPiccy. What do you think? 

This one didn't turn out quite the way I had hoped. That would have required a 

cooperative five year old. Still loved the idea I found on Pinterest for the inspiration. 

Again, I'd like to thank those of you who commented on the last post here and on Facebook. I love seeing your pictures and what you do with them. Please share your pictures with us on Facebook or tag me if we are Facebook friends. Even if you didn't use the above editing programs but got some good back-to-school pictures of your kids, we'd LOVE to see them on our Facebook page - The RHOK. 

Also, if you use a different editing program than PicMonkey or iPiccy and you'd like for me to check it out, please leave that in the comments as well. 

~Mrs. Albright Gettin' fancy with the edits, like... 

Back To School Portfolios

I hate to repeat myself, but... the kids are back in school.   The housewives have been posting about it A LOT here and on their personal Facebook pages.
What you haven't heard yet is how my son, Michael, feels about it.   He is super duper pumped about this school thing. 

Off to school!

Or is he.

Who actually counts school days? This kid does.
Michael has constant thoughts about the free time he loses during the school year. I have constant thoughts about the transition for him and how his teachers will handle him.
There's a whole lotta worrying going on in Prissville.
When you have a child with special needs (Michael has Asperger's Syndrome), you get to meet with the teachers a whole, whole lot.  Teachers love to sit in meetings and do paperwork.  Or not.  As it turns out, teachers are great talkers and not typically great listeners.  I used to teach school and know this to be true.  We tend to be social butterflies.  
About five years ago, I decided to get creative with how I introduced Michael to his teachers.  I make a newsletter portfolio for him!  This provides teachers with a way to save the time they need to set up their classrooms and gives them a visual snapshot of my special kiddo.  It's a win-win.
I'm not going to give you a copy of Michael's portfolio, but I am going to tell you how I make one.
If you don't have a word processing system or something like Publisher, then you need to know that there are resources online.  You don't have to buy anything!  When I searched, I found out that Google Docs has a free newsletter template available here.  There are other options I found here.  Of course you can always email information to the teachers, but I find it better to have something already printed and waiting in their teacher mailbox or handed out by the special education teacher (if this applies).  It will have to go in their file, you see.
The tough part comes next. What to include?
Since your child is the most amazing kid that ever entered the building, you will have a hard time limiting yourself to one page.  Do it anyway.  Would you read a 5 page essay on someone else's child?  I think not. When possible, use direct language and even use bullets.  People like things quick and to the point!
Michael's Portfolio always includes:

• An adorable picture of my handsome son (sized according to whatever space I have)
• Contact information in order of priority (me first, then the Doc since he's at work)
• A little bit about the early years (if needed)
• A few of Michael's strengths (he is kind, he's good at math)
• What we do for him at home (therapy we try, extracurricular activities)
• Areas Michael will need help (organization, communication between parents and teachers)
• Our expectations for him this year & beyond 
• I always, always remind them that they play a significant part in Michael's young life that will help shape who he will be. Show some appreciation in advance!

You don't have a special needs child? So what!  Any child can benefit from a portfolio/newsletter.  Teachers like insight into their students and this is a great way to open up communication between parents and teachers.  You can always add pictures if you don't have a lot of information to share.  Decide what is important to your family and your child and put it on paper.
Even this cute little guy gets a portfolio these days!

Guess his favorite superhero!

Mrs. Priss Helping prepare the teachers for my darlin' like...

I'm also posting this over at the Asperger Mom Network today.  If you know any moms who have a child with Asperger's send them on over!