teacher love

Kate turned 23 last Friday (the 13th) and we all went out to PF Changs with some of Kate’s closest friends. Oh, how I love that place. The twins came in along with Val's sweet new boyfriend, Tyler. I love when one of the girls has a birthday because buying gifts that you think she will like is just so fun...there's no other way to describe it. It's gotten harder over the years, but somehow we always manage to pull it off in a group of best friend procastinators--with the exception of Kate "On-Schedule" Hays of course. :)

Me and Val brainstormed on what we could get her before Nat and her newly aquired listening skills piped in to let us know that Kate mentioned buying for her is so easy these days because she needs teacher stuff. I was at a conference for work most of last week and got my friend and label maker partner, John (a former teacher) to give me the basic teacher staples. He was a wealth of knowledge on the subject, and Val got to work doing most of the legwork. I had already started on some personalized note cards for Kate (teacher themed of course), so I got to work finishing up those. I didn’t want the normal cheesy teacher cards, so I tried my best to incorporate teacher stuff but just in a cooler way. Overall, I like how they came out, and Kate loved them.







She loved the whole basket actually. It included small wooden sheets/planks(?) so Kate can make her own hallpasses, teacher stamps and ink, dry erase markers with cleaning spray included, a nice ruler for entering grades, an "H" on a ribbon for her door or wherever she so chooses to put it, etc. I can't remember everything, and WISH I had gotten a picture, but our grand plans of having it at the table for her when she arrived and snapping pics was ruined bc PF Changs is just so dang popular, and we had to wait 45 minutes even after having a reservation. Bummer. :( I got such as kick out of watching her open the present because nothing in that basket would have been of any use to me, but Kate’s eyes just lit up. It was awesome. She's truly going to be an amazing teacher. Those kids don't even know what's in store for them. :) We even got her this cute Amy Butler lanyard from a great little etsy shop. They are so cute and inexpensive if you need a better lanyard than the one assigned to you. Overall, the night was fun. We hung out, got free appetizers for having to wait, ate dinner, and then played a game of the new Cranium. Girls lost...again. But, it was good times all around. :)