Ho, Ho, Ho!

I foresee several Christmas blogs coming up in the near future, so please, bear with me with the cheesy titles.  They will only get better.

Today was our first day back from Thanksgiving break and it was nutso!  My second graders and I went on a field trip to see our local dance troupe's adaptation of The Nutcracker and I have to tell you, it was really, really good.  My favorite scene was when the nutcracker and Clara were given a larger than life present and when the dancers opened the box, out popped about 10 little children dressed in very festive tutus (and one baby blue overall jumper outfit)!  It was precious!  I loved it!

We came back and my second graders were squirrely, but my firsties had just come back from recess.  So we ate some snack and then, much to my second grader's great fortune, went back outside for more recess!  And good thing too, they needed it!

We then went to lunch!  And then more recess!  And then my firsties went to English (I teach dual immersion, remember?) while my second graders stayed with me and wrote about their favorite part from the ballet.  We came back and I had the kids help me decorate for Christmas.

"Why would you do that?" you may be asking yourself.  Well, the answer is really quite simple.  I try very hard to make sure the kids feel at home in our classroom, and they all love and cherish Christmas and Mr. Santa Claus, so I thought it very fitting for them to help me decorate for Christmas.  I also have a couple of students who don't have much at home and I figured that that lack of stuff probably extends to Christmas cheer, so I wanted to make sure they had a place where they could find as much cheer as they wanted.

We did a lot of decorating, but I was especially proud of the Christmas tree they put together!  I have one of those fake Target tabletop Christmas trees (the $8 one) and all I did was put the pegs on the bottom so it would stand by itself.  Look at how well decorated it is!

Isn't that just amazingly good?!  

So then when the kids left, I had a SmartBoard training (blog posts tracking my adventures in touch board land coming soon!) but after that, I decorated our classroom door.  As I have mentioned several times, we have a Dr. Seuss theme going on, so the Cat in the Hat is a permanent resident on our door.  But this time, the sneaky fellow disguised himself as a snowman!  The only reason you know it's him is because he's still wearing his hat!  

Sneaky fellow!

And of course, I couldn't leave out our house....

Just a sneak peak!  Hobby Lobby is my new best friend :)

Gobble till you wobble!

Hi everyone!

I know, I know, I haven't been very good about keeping up with this blog.  So that'll be my Thanksgiving resolution (who says it has to be New Years?) .  Blog.  More.  Often.

So let's start with, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!  My husband and I unfortunately spent the, well week, at home with the stomach flu.  So Thanksgiving for us was very relaxed, laid back and un-Thanksgiving-esque.  We are thankful, however, that not only did we get to spend it together, but it was our first day stomach sick free!  Yay!  It's all recovery from here!

I wanted to take a moment to share some thoughts about marriage (and then I'll get to some teaching stuff).  Here are some things I would want every newlywed and/or newly engaged couple to know and to cherish.

1.  You have, or are about to, promise to love your other half through sickness and health.  And let me tell you, there is no better way to test that than when you BOTH have the stomach flu AT THE SAME TIME.  I don't know how to describe that love, honestly, but it's very deep and you will be amazed how far you are willing to go to help him regardless of how sick you feel.  It's amazing.

2. He wants a wife and a best friend.  Not a mom or a servant.  Stop nagging and cherish him.

3. I know it sounds silly, but even the little things like packing him a lunch will mean the world to you and to him.  It might take an extra 5 or 10 minutes, but it is so worth it.

4.  When you move into your first place together, if you haven't already, some of the best memories you will have will be made when you have no furniture.  Use moving boxes as tables and spend the night eating pizza and watching movies on your laptop.  Oh, and camping out in the place with sleeping bags.  You won't get the opportunity to camp indoors with him very often.

5. I cried the hardest at our wedding when I first saw him at the altar.  My brothers had to hold me up walking down the aisle and I could not look at my husband while we walked down.  I knew that if I stopped to look up at him, I was going to start crying harder.  But when I finally did look up at him, I was so full of love for him, and he was so full of love for me, that I was speechless.  That moment was priceless.

6.  Ok, last one.  6 is a weird number, but I HAVE to share this.  Our pastor, as well as some friends of ours, told us that the most important thing to do on your wedding day is take a minute or two where you isolate yourselves from everyone and just reflect on the ceremony and what you just did.  Our pastor told us to take 3 minutes in a room right after the ceremony to catch up.  We had our maid of honor and best man guard the door and set a timer.  Best advice ever.  Those three minutes lasted an eternity and no time at all.  And it was the last time we had any time to ourselves until after the ceremony.

Ok, school stuff.

We're doing the writing process and to make it even easier for the kids to follow along, my colleague/frieenddddd  and I made these pencils to track their progress.  She got the idea from a former colleague, I saw it on pinterest, we collaborated and voila!  Beautiful!

Mine is on my whiteboard and the kids move their magnets with their numbers to the correct step in the process.  Their writing, is awesome.  I am so proud of them!

Other than that, I got the coolest gift EVER from one of my kiddos!  Check out these AWESOME coupons made just for me! (I sense a theme, do you?)

Well, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!  And please remember that it doesn't have to be Thanksgiving in order for you to be thankful.

:)