Back to School and all the trimmings...

Last week I was super busy getting the kids ready for back to school.

Now, some of this stuff wasn't exactly "necessary" I know I know, but in true Welsh fashion we like to celebrate even the littlest things (and people) around here.

Pre-K and the first day of preschool are both big milestones so it was fun to start a few "back to school" traditions, and get the kids participation in making teacher gifts.

Now I realize teacher gifts are totally unnecessary, but I LOVE giving gifts and I want to teach my kids that one way to show love is to do nice things for others.

So this curtailed into a fun morning activity with some friends.

Making Magic Cookie Bars

... or "christmas crack" as some affectionately have nicknamed it. ha!

This is one of my "go-to" treats for several reasons...

1. its like 4 steps. so easy=I'm doing it

2. because they're so easy that makes getting the kids involved a little more realistic for me

3. they're highly addictive delicious little magical chocolate buttery graham cracker goodness. 

My kinda "crack"

My recipe?

It's not exactly some super secret, there are many variations out there, but here goes...

melt one stick of butter in a regular sheet cake pan

(I just throw my pan in the oven until its melted)

then spread about 3/4 box of graham cracker crumbs over the bottom of the pan making a crust

spread one bag of chocolate chips evenly over the crust

Here's the kicker: 

now evenly spread one can of sweetened condensed milk (the other "liquid gold") 

over the chocolate chip layer

sprinkle chopped walnuts

Pop it in the oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes

Let cool and voila!

Anna.... you're welcome.

I have just changed your life.

Now for some kiddie pic(k)s:

these kids have to take ownership over these presents!
now that they're old enough they had better have some kind of participation in this,
 or I'm telling their teachers its just from me! shoot!

and here are the lovelies
It was late when I cut these so yeah the pics aren't the best (no natural light here!)
I have to do things on "mom time" right now
found these adorable printable gift tags here:
thirtyhandmadedays.com/2014/08/teacher-back-to-school-printable/
I always keep an assortment of sizes of brown paper bags on hand
so in this case all I had to do was wrap a few cookies in parchment paper
put them in the bags and attach the printable with a cute mini clothespin...
(which I already had too!)
No trips to Michaels=a happy momma
weeeeeee!

gettin' her hair did, it will be a back to school tradition since we do this like twice a year
gives me the motivation to take her
Violet will start when
a. her hair is long enough
and
 b. she doesn't adamantly say "no" to the idea

Penelope is a girly girl who also loves playing in the dirt and is fascinated with bugs
So she can pretty much make a friend anywhere
She's been begging to get her nails done, but hey these kinds of splurges are for mommas
So I like to wait for a special occasion to treat her so this stays a super fun splurgy kind of thing
I was fully expecting Violet Mae to hop on a chair too and she did... until the lady came over and her "stranger danger" kicked in
She decided to kick it on the couch with me and baby E instead
Good call, saved me like thirty bucks right there

There was also new shoe shopping but that was the craziest mad dash you've ever seen.
Three little kids in a shoe store- or any store for that matter?
Bad bad idea
;)