Let's just start off by talking about Nic's teachers' Christmas presents. It seems like that is all I have been doing/thinking of for the last week. I started by "thinking" of buying the both teachers a cute decorative box and having Nic put a personal note in each... which is what I should have stuck with. I was talking to my cousin, and we came up with this idea about going to Michaels and buying a wood box of some sort and having Nic paint it. Great idea right? Well, I took Nic to Michaels and let him pick two "cigar" boxes. Then, I had to track down an employee to ask a dozen questions about what to do next. I should have known to end it right then. I bought the supplies, and the next day we started. Nic wanted to color each side a solid color (I thought he would do something a little more fancy) so he did. At one point I went to open the box and it was painted(dried) shut. When I pulled hard enough, it broke into pieces...Jack is gone all week....so here I am with a glue gun and Nic saying "it will be fine". I didnt know you had to do layer after layer of paint. The glue job was not good at all. The project started Saturday and we finished it on Thursday. I took him to school this morning with the boxes tucked nicely in gift bags. They were finally out of the house. I feel like I can relax now, and its nice seeing my counters without paint, newspaper, brushes, and rags. I attached a picture to show the final master piece. I always say, if we all could just attach a note to each present telling of the journey of how the gift came to be.