WOW!

What a crazy couple weeks I've had! I haven't been home since the 19th and I've been going steady. I think I ready for the relaxing, maybe even bored part of the holiday. So far...not yet!
We have...
3 family Christmas parties
Gone sledding
Played in the snow
Played every new game possible
Got addicted to Wii Guitar Hero (I think I will become a drummer after teaching!)
Shoveled driveways
A little bit of shopping
Watch my nieces/nephews put of several "shows".
And ate steady!

I've loved every minute of it!!! Now we can get ready for the New Years celebration!

Tis The Season!

What a fantastic Christmas week we have had! Last year I started a Polar Express themed Christmas party. This year was even better then the last. The kids got to wear PJ's to school on Wednesday to get in the mood to watch the movie. Then Thursday was the Polar Express Party. We started out with a visit from Frost the Snowman. He comes every year to my class to bring gifts. The kids love it when he visits except he starts to melt and leaves sparkly puddles of water all over the class. This year he brought each child scarves to wear with their names on it. (Yes that is 50 something scarves)

Then the wonderful moms showed up to start the party. We had hot chocolate and cookies in the morning and hot chocolate and doughnuts in the afternoon. The kids also made great crafts and played fun games.

One of the room moms had the genius idea of making snowman hats. She bought white foam visors and then the kids glued a carrot nose, black hat, and eyes. Then the kids put them on top of their heads and it was so cute!!! I will be using this idea again and again!

Thursday was also our Christmas Choir concert for the school. I have had so much fun working with the 4th, 5th, and 6th graders. Can you believe we have over 90 students in the choir!! They are amazing.

Friday we had our school sing-a-long. Each grade picked a favorite song to sing. We picked Up on the Housetop. Of course I couldn't just settle for the original version I had to pick the funky version. We also had to each cute actions and a little bit of dancing. They were so cute and I think we were the only grade level that was asked to do an encore for the principal who missed it the first time. Okay, I know I'm a little biased but...my students are just the best ever! I absolutely adore them!

We ended the day with a visit from the big man himself! What a great day!

We had a busy but fantastic week! Thank you to all the parents, and grandparents that came to help! I'll see you next year! Merry Christmas!

Traditions

Every year my family goes up into the mountains in Idaho to pick out the perfect or as we like to say a Christmas tree with "character". In other words crooked, multiple trunks, and bare spots. But, it is a family tradition and most years the trees are beautiful. I didn't get one for my house this year and I'm a little sad about that. The artificial tree that I put up is just nothing in comparison. Oh well, I guess I'll appreciate a real tree even more next year! It was fun family! Lets do it again in say... 20 days! Next time lets not do multiple trips to the emergency room!

The snow started falling right when we got up the canyon. It was perfect!

Logan and Lauren tried out their new snow suits. We refered to them and the marshmellows!

Don't read this mom!

I know that I have done some crazy things in the past, and you would think I've grown out of it. Well not exactly! Cassidy decided that she needed a Twilight T-shirt. We looked all over the mall and couldn't find anywhere to buy them. She really wanted one to wear to the movie the next day. So being the good aunt that I am, when I got home I googled Twilight T-shirts to see if I could find somewhere to buy one before the next day. I found a blog that had a lady who was trying to sell Twilight T-shirts to take her family to DisneyWorld. She said she would be around Layton Hills Mall selling shirts. On a whim I decided to call and see if she was still in the area. At this point it was 9:00pm ish. She sounded so nice on the phone and said she would come to my house with the shirts. I was a little nervous about that so I said I would just meet her somewhere. She suggested Tai Pan parking lot. Sure I thought, a well lit busy parking lot why not! CRAZY! I dragged Lori with me and met some strange lady in the parking lot at 10:30pm to buy Twilight T-shirts! She was nice as can be and the T-shirts where really cute. Cassidy and her friend Kailey loved them.



Karen's Shirt Cassidy's Shirt My Shirt


Kailey's Shirt The shirt I wanted but she was out!

Early Thanksgiving Dinner

Last Thursday we took the Kindergarten kids into the lunchroom for Thanksgiving lunch. It was so much fun. The kids were so excited to find their placemat that they made. They were even more excited about the yummy food. (yes lunchroom food can be yummy) They all did such a good job getting their food and not making any messes. One of my students said "Teacher, can we do this everyday?" I said "You sure can, everyday in 1st grade!" Good thing kindergarteners don't have a real sense of time yet!

Utah State Hey! Aggies All The Way!

Anyone who knows me, know how much I love the Aggies! Okay, I know I didn't graduate from Utah State, and yes I know Aggie football is horrible! And yes! I know Fiesta Bowl bla bla bla! (thats for you Jeramiah) I still love those Aggies! Recently Sharla and Jeramiah went to the USU vs BSU football game. And, well the Aggies got crushed, as expected. Way to go Sharla and Lauren for supporting the team! I love the T-shirts!

Yea! Lauren! You make your Auntie proud!

Don't worry Logan there is still time! Cute! Cute! Even in orange!

Twilight

I joined the masses! Karen, Cassidy and I will be going to see Twilight on opening day. We purchased our tickets today. I hope the movie is as good as the book! The movies never seem to be as good, but I'm holding out hope! I know people have all sorts of opinions about Twilight. All I can say is that my beautiful niece who hasn't read more than Junie B. Jones in her lifetime was drawn into these books. I was thrilled to see her pulling out her book whenever we had a free moment. So, say what you want about the books, but I've enjoyed them and I can't wait to see the movie!

Top 5 reasons I love October

This has been the best month! I have been so busy, but we have had a lot of fun!

I love everything about October! But here are some highlights

#1 Corn Maze

David looks like he had blast!

#2 High School Musical 3

I went with almost all of my nieces and nephews to High School Musical 3. I wasn't that excited to see it, but I have to admit that I liked it!

#3 Crazy Costumes

This is Jaxson, one of my students from last year. This was at a horse costume contest. He was a battery and the horse was the Energizer Bunny. It was so cute and he WON!

#4 Birthday Fun

My parents and sisters came to school on my birthday. It was so fun for them to meet all of my students that they hear so much about. They brought cupcakes for the kids and they LOVED the ones with black frosting!

#5 Class Parties!

This has been the first year that the students have been able to wear costumes to school and have a costume parade. It was so much fun. Thank goodness for great room parents who took on the challenge and created a really fun day!

Fun Weekend Part 2

On Saturday my family went to the North Logan Pumpkin Walk. If you have never been to the pumpkin walk you have to go! My family made a pumpkin scene at the very first pumpkin walk and we have been going ever since. I love family traditions. This years theme was being a Hero.

This was my favorite one! I loved the elephant bums!

When I saw this one it made me sad! I wish the twins lived closer! I can't wait to see them this weekend!

It is hard to see but Rachel, Taelor, Rebecca, and Lexi are in this one. I think?!

Great Weekend Part 1

Wow! What a fun weekend! I went to Wyatt's rodeo on Friday and I really think I might be a jinx. Every time I go watch something bad happens. He either gets bucked off, or doesn't mark out, or gets a really low score. Maybe I better stop going!

Lexie and Regan future rodeo queens!

Haden love his Garrett! He want to grow up to be just like him. Hopefully not a bull rider like Garrett! I don't think my nerves could take that!

Randy Munns has been a rodeo clown forever!

Pumpkin Week

The tallest, widest, and smallest pumpkins!

Morning class

This week we have been working on measurement. We measured the height and weight of our pumpkins. The kids made pumpkin "belts" to measure the circumference of the pumpkin and made "towers" to measure the height. The kids loved it and it was so cute to watch them learn something new. We also talked about estimation. They estimated how many cubes high their pumpkins would be. I think we might need to work on that a little bit! :) Tomorrow we will try pumpkin seed and graph our favorite jack-o-lantern faces. The winning face will be carved in a gigantic pumpkin I bought this past weekend. That should be interesting. Did I mention that I love Halloween?!

Measuring with cubes

Making pumpkin belts

Measuring the circumference

A little off on our estimating!

Pain!

You truly don't know pain until you try to teach 50 kindergarten kids with the flu! I feel like a sledge hammer is pounding away in my head. The kids are being so good. It is like they know something is not quite right. I am trying to be excited because we started our pumpkin unit today, but I just can't do it. Let’s all pray that tomorrow will be better!Thank goodness for good students!

Freezing!

It is a perfect day to be cuddled up in a blanket and staying inside! It is freezing outside and snowing really hard. When I left Vegas I was so excited to have snow and the cold again. Now, I'm not so sure. But everything is beautiful after the first snow of the year. It was fun to see Karen's kids run outside at the first sight of snow! According to the kids they were dressed in "snow clothes". But when I went outside they didn't have socks on! So much for snow clothes! I laughed when Haden came in and asked "When are we getting our Christmas tree?"

Logan and Lauren are ready for the snow!