1. My beloved camera (Nikon D60) finally bit the dust. HARD! It won't even TRY to take another actuation. I put over 100, 000 on that poor thing. YIKES! So we went without a camera during the christmas season & I took a lot of picts on my phone. I borrowed a real camera from Shannon for the cabin & xmas morning. I almost died because it was a Canon & everything was opposite from my old camera. Luckily with my 55 jobs, I was able to buy another Nikon on Craigslist. A little upgrade to a D90. I am still getting used to it but I LOOOOOOVE it!
2. We did some christmas crafting for our favorite staff at the kids school.
Nurse Oldham (who used to babysit Emma when she was a newborn, so I could go long term sub for Shannon. This also happened to be the year that the Oldham triplets were in Shannons class. So I would drop off Emma & put her 3 kindergarteners in the car & take them to school with me! We LOVE Nurse Oldham. Especially Bryce. ;) He's got a little crush on her.
3. My sister came for 2 weeks & it was go great to have her around for the holidays-both Christmas & new years....especially since I came down with Walking Pnumonia the day she arrived and the day I had my biggest PreK function of the year....the Christmas Play (this years theme: Muppets Christmas Carol! Em & B were Marley & Marley-cutest things EVER!) Was SOOOOO grateful for the helping hands in my weakest hours. Not only Hollie's , but the Webers. They picked up the pieces for me and put it all back together beautifully. I never even asked for help. They just showed up, put my play set together for me from the drawing I had sketched, took the kids & Mike for dinner so I could go home & rest afterwards, and then entertained my family on Christmas Eve with activities & food while I felt like death in my bed-my sister by my side giving me water & medicine round the clock, putting on movie after movie. They had us all over for Christmas day dinner and treated our entire family-including Hollie, to see FROZEN at the theater. I am blessed to have these people in my life! Almost 7 days later I finally started feeling like I could function. WOW-never want to experience that again!
The muppet student projects/set decor turned out too darn cute!
4. On Christmas eve Eve, we were scheduled to go to a cozy cabin in Leavenworth with Shannon-for xmas lights, strolling the streets of shops, horse drawn sleigh rides in the snow, etc. It was my christmas wish therefore a Christmas gift paid for by my Mom. Once we were there the cold was SOOOO painful for me. My chest felt like I had eaten porcupines and they were sitting on my lungs. So needless to say, the trip was cut short. I felt so guilty, but it was clear I was in a lot of pain & everyone took it in stride-thank goodness. However, the cabin & grounds were BEAUTIFUL. We will have to try again sometime.
5. Em & B decided they would do RACK (Random Acts of Christmas Kindness) this season. Something they had been focusing on in Bryce's Kindergarten class. I caught them doing this quietly one Saturday afternoon. Warmed my heart. B said he was doing it for his sister because he loved her. Awwwww...
6. We took the kids to Home Depot in Yakima for a special "Santa's Workshop". The craft was building a Despicable Me 2 Tic Tac Toe game.
7. This crazy cute kid said he had a tummy ache one day & decided the way to ease his ailment was covering his mid section with Band Aids of various favorite character prints. Obviously! A great cure! Too funny. Love his creativity.
8. Disney's FROZEN quickly became an obsession around Ellensburg. Not just with my kids, but every kid I know! I've never seen anything like it! Crazy. So I knew I had to create a curriculum based around that theme for PreK in January. It's been pretty fun.
We've: painted OLAF with Epsom Salts....
Built Wandering Oakens Trading post (complete with costumes) for our dramatic play.
Discovered the art of oil pastels & how to make it look like "magical snow"
Made "melted Olaf" Science Discovery Bottles....I put aside 2 kits for Em & B-I knew they would love to make one. They did!
Inside the bottle was: 2 tiny white pom poms, 3 small white pom poms, 3 black buttons, a baked clay carrot nose, 2 small sticks, 2 google eyes and some ultra fine glitter. Looks like a snowstorm when you shake it-or my students think it looks like when Elsa was creating Olaf with her snow magic. :)
9. Bryce had a school assignment to make an ALIEN....he chose to make Yoda (he is totally into Lego Star Wars right now). So he made this for his homework one night. He LOOOOOOVES to create things. LOOOOOOVES it.
10. On Christmas Eve, a package was left at the door from the North
Pole. It was a new book called "Pajama Elves". Auntie Hollie read it
with the kids & then they made reindeer food before bed. It was a
pretty cute story!
11. Our annual Scentsy fundraiser came in the day before Christmas break! It was pandemonium trying to get it all inventoried and organized while feeling like CRAP! We were able to buy 2 more ipads & various math/language games & manips from Lakeshore with the proceeds though-so it was TOTALLY worth it!
12. On Boxing Day, Mike made us a lovely traditional British meal for dinner. Prime Rib, corn, mashed Potatoes and Yorkshire Pudding. We even had some British sweets for dessert! Yum!
13. We spent our New Years Eve in our traditional way.....appetizers all night, games and movies. Shannon came to join us this year. Hollie bought the kids sparklers to enjoy that night too! They had so much fun! We decided our theme for 2014 is YOLO ;)
14. Christmas was a success among all in attendance. Thank goodness for Mike & Hollie pulling it off. SOOOOOOO grateful. The kids personalized school sweatshirts just may be their favorite gift this year. Everyone appreciated the stockings full of sweeties that my Auntie Sue sent from Scotland.
15. Emma was proud to take these snowman donut pops to school for her class christmas party. I told her to relish it because THESE will NEVER happen again. Pain In My Butt!!!! I love the ingenious idea for the hat that Mike thought up: Apple Rings & Rolos! Genius!
16. We are trying out new recipes for Crock Pot freezer meals. I came to realize that I needed to take some things off my plate or find more hours in a day with my new schedule. So.....we came up with this new plan. Mike and I spent 2 hours prepping this one night & so far it is working out beautifully! Whew! He's such a trooper!
17. Teachers Pay Teachers is SAVING MY TAIL right now! So glad there are creative tested resources that other teachers have created & shared when I am under the gun! I swear I am on this website DAILY as of late.
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