Happy December

Today is Polar Express & Pajama Day at preschool. There is nothing cuter than a bunch of 5 yr olds in their jammies. Unless it's their teacher in her jammies. It is a comfy, cozy day!  Too bad it is 25 degrees outside right now. Brrrrrr. It will certainly feel like the Polar Express.

Polar Express Day also means our winter break is right around the corner! We are busy elves in the classroom making parent presents and lots of Christmas art. Glitter everywhere! Apparently, my tolerance for glitter art is very high, and when a parent present plan fell through yesterday I stopped at Michael's to see what we could do to salvage Christmas for that class. I have such a great job! Who doesn't love snow confetti glitter ornaments?!  I came home and came up with a cute idea to decorate both sides of a paper mache snowman ornament. The front will be all snowy with a cute face and square sequins for buttons, and the other side will have the kids photo and this poem I found on the internet modge podged on:

The funniest face
looked out at me
From an ornament on
the Christmas Tree!
At first I thought it was Santa's elf,
But I looked again and
it was just myself!

Our Christmas program is on Tuesday, followed by a short class party, a longer staff lunch and gift exchange, and then we are off until January 8th!

Mid-terms are next week for Gib and Mariah. Indie comes home on Monday the 17th, and we will see Taryn on the 20th (she is flying in from Kansas City after visiting a friend's family). Sadly, Indie has to have gum surgery on the 18th but we will be ready with tons of yummy smoothies and drinks for the liquid diet that follows. We are praying she will sail through the recovery! Good thing Smoothie King is on our corner!

And on a completely different topic: We have all new windows. Yay! The ones in the back have no panes, so we can really enjoy the view. The dining room now has one giant picture window instead of the grouping of 3 that was there before. The best part is no more draftiness! I hope the heating and AC bills reflect the improvement. Maybe, just maybe, I will venture beyond the radius of my heater.

It's the hap-happiest season of all!!!

NEW Christmas List

Some of our teachers got to leave for a lunch presentation which counts towards our service hours we need each year. I can't wait for my turn! It was one of those out of control afternoons. I knew it was going to be ugly when a kid on my left made a mountain of glitter instead of shaking it lightly as I turned for a split second to check the kid on my right. I look over just as some puffed up cheeks blew it across the table. Another helpful child came over and immersed both hands and spread it far and wide. Okie Dokie. At lunch, I thought we could talk about what they wanted on their Christmas wish list because I was hoping to be all super knowledgeable about Doc McStuffins this time around. Not a single kid mentioned her.

There is such a HUGE difference between our younger class and the older ones. It still amazes me sometimes. Our list had heelies, 2 angel costumes, 4 green ninja costumes, dream light, and a castle that lights up. I had absolutely no problem understanding any of that.

Since the list making didn't take long enough, I asked them what should be on my list. It made my day :) Note: the answers above correspond to the answers that child provided for me:

1. Princess costume (given with a "how would I know?!" face)
2. A diamond necklace (love that girl)
3. A rope to lasso cows - it has a star and sparkles on it. And you have to have a horse too.
4. Ninja costume  (so I can play along I think)
5. Candy
6. A beautiful dress
7. PEACE sign necklace that lights up and changes colors
8. A Flashlight

It's My Birthday!

At preschool we have staff meeting every Thursday before the start of the school day. We have 8 classroom teachers and 5 "others" - teacher assistants, music teacher, asst. director and director. So to make our meetings extra happy we pretty much have a birthday once a month, whether or not it is your actual birthday. For us summer people, it's a chance to experience what life is like to have a birthday during the school year.

Today is MY DAY!!  We will have bfast goodies and funny cards. I think we all must stalk on card displays all over town looking for the funniest and best cards out there. We are all really good at it. It's a rare day that a birthday card is repeated during the year. I saw a great birthday card stand at a boutique that I will have to check out another time. The only problem is it's right next to the preschool and I think the chances are pretty high that one of my coworkers would stop in there too.  Oh, the horror if we gave the same card!!!

I got another early birthday present yesterday - Mike was at a business lunch thing with about 130 people and his name was pulled in a drawing for a $50 restaurant gift card!! We will be going out for a special night to celebrate OUR birthdays next weekend. 

I subbed on Tuesday for one of the Pre-K teachers - both were out because one gave a stomach bug to the other! so we had nothing but subs in Pre-K that day! anyways, the journal prompt was What is on Your Christmas Wish List?  Kid after kid kept saying the same thing. They are at the point where they will draw something and attempt to spell a word but like to have help sounding it out.  I could not for the life of me figure out what they were saying. I thought maybe it was Ninjago, but no... disgusted looks from the girls ruled that out.  I asked just about every kid in the class to say it, hoping somebody had better pronunciation so I could spell it.  

Me: Dog Mix Stuffing????!!

Kid 1: Yes - Dox Mix Stuffin

ask around the table - listening intently to every syllable

Me: Okaaaay. D--O-G.....M-I-X 

Kid 2: Docmixstuffins

Me: (oh geez not again) ask a couple different kids. Still hearing the same thing but I KNOW it can't be right.  I decide they are saying Mc, not MIX... D-O-G.....Mc-S-T-U-F-F-I-N-S

Kid 3: Dogmixstuffins

Me: (seriously?! what is this thing?!)  Spying a kid under a blanket and the backpacks waiting to surprise Santa  Hey - do you know DOG MC STUFFINS?  

Kid 4: Yeah!!!!   Doc Mc Stuffins!  

Me: Wait a minute - did you say DOC with a hard C sound like our letter of the week?

Kid 4: Yeah - Doc!

Me: DOC (cuh-cuh) not DOG (guh guh)????

Kid 4: Yeah - DOC Mc Suffins

Me to Kid 3: So it's Doc Mc Stuffins? Is that it? (thinking Oh, dear....)  So tell me, what does Doc Mc Stuffins do?????

Kid 1, 2, and 3 all start staying stuff like: She fixes things. She fixes things that are alive.  (mind you I have been writing stuff down as fast as I can to capture their words they say they said them - in each child's journal for their "reflection" thoughts)

Me to Kid 4: Time for extreme measures - let's use our technology resource. (iPhone!) Why do you want a Doc Mc Stuffins?

Kid 4: That's her!!! Because she is a doctor like my dad  (total DUH face)

Why didn't I ask that question first?!! Dog Mix Stuffing indeed.  Yum.  I was telling that story yesterday to our teachers and director, and reminded them of my really great idea that we have an in-service day with a bunch of Nick Jr shows on the DVR so we can get a few credit hours and be up on the latest trends.... Blues Clues is becoming a relic, Barney has been out longer than he was in, and Dora is about all I got left.  I need some jaunty new tunes anyway. 

Ready for Santa!

We are ready to celebrate here!  Mariah and I did the Christmas lights while Mike was picking up Taryn. When they arrived, they both exclaimed "that's just WRONG".  However, I'd like to point out doing lights in a balmy 70-something in short sleeves, is soooo much better than in coat, hat and mittens! Mariah was my helper in all things Christmas this year. I think it will be her lot in life - to be my helper - what a lucky gal.  Good thing I'm, I mean SHE, is so talented with decorating, shopping, wrapping, and fun to hang out with!

We are hoping to celebrate soon with Gib choosing a college! I don't know if it will happen before Christmas, but I expect by February we may close to deciding. He has been accepted at all 7 of the colleges we applied to with 5 so far offering basically 1/2 tuition scholarships. Two of our top choice schools award their scholarships later this month. Gib talked to the admissions counselor for our area from BSC last night for an interview. We exchanged emails and met him at the campus visit, but an interview is where you have the chance to get your name closer to the top of the list. He handed Gib his admission acceptance packet and they talked for 45 minutes. Gib had an awesome looking student resume, and we are hoping that this meeting helps Gib secure a leadership scholarship on top of merit award. The admissions guy was impressed with Gib's Eagle project portfolio and said he'd never had someone bring one to him before. He liked that and they discussed a tree fort he was planning on building. Male bonding - gotta love it.

My big adventure for Black Friday this year was to go to the Unclaimed Baggage Center in Scottsboro, Alabama. It was a little farther away than anticipated. I thought it was in Huntsville, which is closer.  By the time I figured out it was farther away I felt committed to going. I have wanted to see what it was like for years after seeing it on TV once, so finally, I decided to humor me and go. Let's just say I was completely underwhelmed. We did find some good deals and in the end we were happy, but in the moment.... well:

"It's Goodwill 2.0" (to Mike on the phone who burst out laughing)

"I found the unclaimed baggage from a Drag Queen"

"$239 dollars!!!!! For an ugly pair of shoes?!"

"If I was a bride and lost that dress, I'd be happy"

Mariah and I shopped together, Taryn flowed between us and Indie, or was off doing her own thing. She wasn't a happy camper - and I didn't blame her. If we liked something, it was ridiculously expensive.  If a place is basically a department sized Goodwill, c'mon, you can't charge $65 for a purse! Indie, meanwhile, unbeknownst to me, was bebopping around finding all sorts of stuff.  I was dreading the moment I saw her face and was anticipating that her expression would be along the lines of appalled and disgusted that we drove 2.5 hrs to get HERE.  So imagine my shock, when she came up with a buggy FULL of stuff and a big smile on her face. She hit a goldmine - finding some very cute clothes and 2 pair of jeans that were like made for her! They are amazing, she looks super in them, and they were only $3 each!  She says when you're a poor college student who hasn't bought new clothes in a year, you develop superior bargain hunting skills.  We did find a few things that made the trip worthwhile, but I wouldn't go again. I googled ebay for the items and costs to see how well we did - and we saved $513 on 6 items.  So in the end, I was pleased. Still not going back. But if I did, seeing the nuclear power reactors off in the distance (who knew?) and hearing Taryn going "aren't they beautiful!" in a voice one would expect to hear when viewing the Grand Canyon would make me smile. It's all in the eye of the beholder!

So to cap off our Black Friday we couldn't get to the outdoor mall on our way home soon enough. There we shopped like mad, making up for lost time, and knocking out our Christmas gifts to everyone in one fell swoop. Well, almost - you know it's always "one or two more presents and them I'm done" with me.

The next weekend, Mariah and I wrapped everything! It took us like 5 hours, but we did. Then the next day we put up the tree, and then put all the presents under it, and then we put on the ornaments. Which we should have done before putting presents under the tree, because we couldn't reach the top from where we were standing. We finished the house decorations, going for super simple.