When it comes to “Hallmark Holidays,” I am not the best at remembering to send cards or gifts. Even if I really, really believe in the sentiment behind the day and really, really love the intended person(s) of honor, I just flat-out forget these things. Honestly? I don’t even get birthday cards sent to people, or I might to say one parent and then, months later, find myself wondering what if I did the same for the other. [So a note to my family and friends: if I forget your birthday or another day of the year in which you are meant to feel special and I drop the ball, I apologize. It does not mean I don’t love you or wish you all the best, always. And if I send your spouse something and then not you, again – this is not a reflection of affection – just an overly tired and maxed-out mama brain, which was prior-to-having-children a tired teacher/student brain!]

As a result of this scattered tendency of mine, I miss a lot of Appreciation Days/Weeks in which we could easily share some joy and love through the mail or in our community. I promise – the good vibes and appreciation and always there – visible/tangible signs of such, though? Ummmmmm, not so much.

However, since HD started preschool three years ago (how is my baby already been through three years of preschool?! how is he going to be a Kindergartener next year already?!), one week I really do like to acknowledge is Teacher Appreciation Week. Somehow I have managed to stay on top of this for two years running and Harrison gets a kick out of delivering the presents to his teachers, so the Welschies are pretty much winning over here for remembering to say “thanks” and “you’re the best” to someone at least once every year.

This year, however, I thought I had failed. I remember TAW being more of an April thing in the past, and April this year flew by me so fast and ended in a fevered-flush, so I figured my streak was over (just went back to find the links for above and realized it has totally been May the last two years; actually, last year’s post was exactly one year ago, so yea for my subconscious for taking care of this for me; also, see above about the frazzled brain cells!).

However, just because I assumed I had missed the official week did not mean I had given up hope on our cause entirely. I decided I would still scour Pinterest for some cute ideas/printables and would give an end-of-year gift instead.

Then I thought Google could probably enlighten me pretty quickly as to just how belated these gifts would actually be and to my delight, I am spot on! THIS is Teacher Appreciation Week! I haven’t missed it at all!!! As my dear hubs often says, sometimes it is better to be lucky than good.

With renewed enthusiasm, I took the littlest Littles to the store to get supplies and then while they napped and after HD had his lunch, we worked together to make some super adorable little gifts for his two classroom teachers and his one primary pre-care provider. 

Unlike years past, I totally went with what I could find on the interwebs. Both the printable and the idea for the gift, “Thanks for Bee-lieving in Me” came from this site: Detail-Oriented Diva! Cute stuff; check it out! And really, it was so simple.

After a little thumb and finger-print stamping practice to make our bees,  Harrison helped sort out the goodies (Burt’s Bees – gotta love a good theme – stuff, a super cute little Honey Bear for the two primary teachers, and a handful of chocolate for everybody – because, why not?! – and there ya go: a nice little bag of treats and thanks!) and then he signed all of the printables.

Please allow me to take a moment here to brag on my boy who at the start of Year Two of PreK had me concerned and pinning all kinds of fine motor skill activities to help improve hand strength and writing ability, and is now writing itty-bitty little letters, including lower-case! GO, HD! Even extra more-awesome? He messed up one of his “H”s a bit and instead of doing a classic first-born freak out (trust me, I would know and double trust me, we have been down that road with him in the past), he just noticed and acknowledged it and then added the extra height to the two lines to fix it. A.MAZ.ING!

After I assembled and tied each shut, I asked Harrison to add some golden stickers as a finishing touch to decorate the outside of each paper bag. Well, Mr. Man surprised me again because he decided to make custom ribbon instead (which will have to be ruined to open, but I was not going to rain on his artistic parade by mentioning that). Also, please note the tongue-stuck-in-the-cheek-concentration-face. I love him, so!

And so, TaDa! Another small token of much love and BIG thanks to the people who have been so, so good to our sweet boy this year (and the last three years in a row). While we are most excited for HD’s new ventures into the land of elementary school, we are all going to have withdrawals of him no longer being at the YMCA preschool. Good news is, Baby Girl got her letter just today about being in the three-day class for the fall, so as everything changes, so it stays the same!