It's beginning to look a lot like...

CHRISTMAS!


School is out!

*Our last day of school was on Friday. After Christmas carols, swimming lessons, secret friend exchanges, a Christmas lunch, a movie and a party, the day was done and I was officially on Christmas break! WooHoo!

The presents are all wrapped!

* I really love wrapping presents and having them all ready under the tree. Therefore it makes me sad that Winston eats EVERYTHING in sight and I have to have them hidden in our front closet. But, they are all ready to go!

And the Christmas cards are all in the mail!

* Next year, maybe, I'll send them out before the week of Christmas, maybe. :)

A Whirlwind Washington (DC) Weekend

This past weekend, Dan and I traveled to Washington DC for our friend, Ben’s wedding.  Ben, Dan and I all went on interim to Europe together my sophomore year.  Ben has this wonderful sense of adventure about him and someone that you could always count on to give you sensible advice.

After college, Ben moved to Chicago to work and we were able to see him quite often.  However, after a while he decided to quit his job and move to DC to pursue a relationship with Jenny.  We do miss seeing him, but are glad to see him happy and in love with Jenny.

We woke up soooo early.  I don’t really do well with early mornings, but seeing how I was able to miss a day of school, I guess it was okay.  We caught our plane and landed in DC around 8am.  Our hotel room wasn’t ready, so we dropped off our bags and headed out to do some sightseeing.

First we walked around on the National Mall…

saw the National Christmas Tree…

grabbed some white chocolate peppermint mocha…

mmmmm…

visited a few monuments…

went to a few of the museums (I love how they are both free and fabulous!)

and finally went back and checked into our hotel room. 

Dan had to head out with the guys to try on their tuxes and then we both went the the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.

The next day, we had a bit of time before Dan had to be ready for pictures.  One of the other groomsmen works at the Capitol Building so he volunteered to give us a tour.  It was awesome- he pointed out all of the interesting facts and things to see.  One of the best parts of the tour was being able to see his office.  His office has a balcony off of it that is at the front of the Capitol Building.  I didn’t even know that you could go out on those!

Here we are on the balcony…it was an awesome view of the city!

The wedding was amazing!  I loved the songs they used in their wedding ceremony and the reception was beautiful!

The happy couple…

Allyson and I hung out most of the weekend together since both of  our husbands were in the wedding…

Dan and I with the groom…

Craft Night!

This weekend, we had a little craft night…

We started with a lot of this:

Mixed it with a bit of concentration:

And some time: (let’s be honest- some time = 7 hours, but who was counting?)

Until it started to look like this:

We also made another craft that I LOVE, but with Christmas coming, some people might find it wrapped up for them…so until Dec. 26, it will have to be a secret. :)

Chi Town

A few weekends ago I went to visit my friend, Lisa with my other friend Kate.

Lisa and I met on my first day of college.  Kate and I met on my first day of first grade.  Both are still dear friends.

Kate and I drove down to see Lisa’s apartment in downtown Chicago.  It made me want to live in Chicago…the shopping, the food, the energy…I love Chicago!

We first decided to visit the famous Sprinkles Cupcake shop for a delicious treat.

YUM!  Yes, it was as good as it looks. 

Next, we went shopping.  You don’t have to ask me twice to go shopping. :)

I got an awesome shower gift for my sister that I know she is going to love.  I’ll share once the gift is given this weekend.

We then went out for dinner at a Mexican restaurant that we went to solely because they have the “World’s Greatest Margaritas!”  which proved to be true.

After visiting some other college friends, catching up on our gossip magazines, and a good night’s sleep, it was time to head home.

We kept meaning to take a picture together all weekend…however, having Lisa’s doorman take it on the way out was the best we did.

Which by the way, I decided that being a doorman would be a great job.  I feel like it would be a very intriguing job watching people come and go, imagining stories about each person…anyways… here’s the picture…

Thoughtfulness…

One of my students came in this morning with a gift bag… for mwah (if that how you even spell it?  I’ve spent way too much time thinking about it!)

I opened it up and what did I see?

A cowboy boot stocking!!!

The note said that they say this at the store and thought that I just had to have it for my classroom this Christmas season.  (Check out my post on my classroom theme for it to  make more sense)

It’s the little surprises in life that make me happy. :)

Back to school I go to listen to some awesome 4th graders sing their hearts out!

There is no one like our God…

Wednesday Morning Music Devotions are a highlight in my classroom.  I just find a youtube video that someone else has nicely put together and play it for my kids.  They can write, draw, listen or pray during the song.  I love looking at what they draw and write.  Their faith is deep, trusting and pure.

This was last week’s song.  I love it.  What  a great reminder of what God is doing in our world and what he still plans on doing.

There is NO ONE like our God.

He is the God of our school.

He is the God of our homes.

He is the God of our city.

He is our God.

Greater things are yet to be done.

 

God of Our City- Chris Tomlin

Daily Deals

I’ve been looking for a piece of furniture for our sunroom, but just looking around- no special trips to look or anything.  So, today when I was out browsing stores, I found this beauty outside waiting for someone to buy it.  I loved it at first glance, but expected, like most times, the price to be too high for it to move off of my wish list.  However, when I looked at the tag, it was on special for today for…take a guess… 50 dollars!  One of the doors needs a new stop, but other than it is in perfect condition.  I think I may get some baskets to go underneath and maybe, maybe paint it black.

The other deal of day was not quite as good as it sounded.  Our mall periodically sends out e-mails that if you take the e-mail to the customer service desk, they will give you a gift certificate.  I’ve done these before and they really are awesome.  I mean free money- who can beat that!  Well, I don’t know if it is because of the holidays coming up or just more people are on the e-mail list, but whoa!  there was a crazy line to get the gift card.  But, an hour later, I walked away with a $10 gift card in my hand. :)  I guess it’s not bad for an hours “work”.

Shutterfly

Oh, Shutterfly how I love thee…

I have used Shutterfly for pictures before, but they really have a lot of other things to offer…

First of all, I use their website hosting for my classroom website and it is fabulous!  Easy to use, password protected, parents can download pictures right from the website- it really has been an awesome tool for my classroom.

Anyways, this year I am planning to their holiday photo cards to send holiday cheer to all. :)

I think that it is always so fun to receive Christmas cards from friends especially when they have a cute picture on them.

Here are a few of my favorites from Shutterfly:

1) I think this card is an awesome idea for combining the card and the yearly Christmas letter.  We don’t really have much news to write about this year, but if you had kids I think it would be great.

2) I LOVE this card.  I thinks it’s adorable.  Some of you might even see it in your mailboxes…

3) I love that this card as a photo strip like style to it.  Plus it’s only 55 cents a card…what a steal!

4) Also, I think I might pick up some of these labels.  After writing my address over and over again last year, I definitely think that it would worth it…and my envelopes will look cute too!

5)  Their photo books make awesome gifts for Christmas.  I have made a few before for my parents and my sisters.  They are fun to make and are so fun to look at a few years later!

Plus, as a bonus, Shutterfly is offering bloggers 50 free holiday cards- awesome!  Click here for more info!

There are so many options to choose from.  I’m sure that it will take me at least another week to decide!  Hopefully I’ll have them out sooner this year than last as I didn’t start them last year until I was on Christmas vacation!  I’ve told you before- I tend to procrastinate. :)

Enjoy looking at all of the Christmas card options that they have!

Tennis & Showers

The last few weekends have been filled.  Teacher conventions, report cards, showers, tennis, Halloween…finally here is an update on some of the weekend happenings.

My sister had 2 wedding showers- both were delightful!  It made me get excited for her upcoming wedding!

One was at ladies shower and last night it was a couples shower.  It’s always fun to go to a couples shower since the guys have usually never been to a shower. 

I have not played tennis in a looong time.  However, when I received an e-mail asking for players to play in an alumni match, I happily signed up.  I sort of forgot the fact that I would have to play and more focused on the fact that it would be fun to see everyone… oh well…

We had fun reminiscing about our days playing on the team, looked at old team photos and cheered each other on. 

Tennis was one of my favorite things about college and I have continued to be blessed by the girls that I played with.  I hope the current team has just as much fun!

Allyson was the alumni team’s coach since she is preggers and not able to play.  This weekend she had a party to find out if they are having a boy or a girl.  Check out her blog to see the fun way they found out.  (She actually hasn’t posted it yet, but I’m sure that she will soon…it’s worth the wait!)

Procrastination

 

Are you one of those people that has everything done early?  Or are you like me who at 12:16 AM the night- well, I guess morning- her report cards are due, just finished them?  Nothing like procrastination. 

Really, I like to think that I do my best work under pressure.  My best college papers were written at 2 AM.  And getting my house cleaned- always best done when people are coming over in an hour.

I really had the best intentions of getting my report cards done earlier this week.  I knew that I had a busy Wednesday and Thursday night, so my plan was to get them done by Tuesday.  That would have been a record for me and in the back of my head I knew that it would never happen. 

I have a policy that I never ask anyone else how their report cards are coming along.  Because I know that there are actually people who finish theirs on Monday and Tuesday the week they are due.  And that just makes me jealous.  So I never ask.

To bed I go… lots of last minute, important stuffing to do in the morning.  I do my best stuffing under pressure too.

I tried...

Yesterday was sort of one of those "I tried..." days.

It started off on my way to work.
I tried to be on time (on time according to me, since we don't really have to be there until the kids come in, but I like to get to school about an hour before that), but...
half way to school I realized I had forgotten my belt and turned back home to get it.
Which is just crazy- why could I not just go without the belt for a day?

I tried the night before to make cookies for my students, but...
I used whole wheat flour instead of white and they turned out tasting horrible.
Have I mentioned what an excellent cook I am?

I tried to help my students get better grades on their projects, but...
if I hand it back to them and tell them check for capital letters and that they are written in cursive and they hand them back to me after looking at them for 2.8 seconds with nothing changed because they think it is good, well... I tried...

And I tried to fold all of laundry, but it just didn't want to be folded... or wait, maybe this was one of things that I didn't try to do yesterday, but definitely should have! :)

Sarah's Bachelorette Party!!!

Last weekend was my sister's bachelorette party! We had an awesome weekend celebrating! My sister, Trisha and I, hosted the weekend for our little sister, Sarah.

We took the train down to Chicago on Saturday morning!

We grabbed some lunch and then hit Michigan Ave for some shopping!
Some of us had some last minute outfits to find for that night.

Trisha and I went to the hotel a little early to set the rooms up.

Zebra robes! :)



Snacks for the rooms. Complete with martini and ring cookies made by Trisha.



After getting ready for the night out, we walked to the restaurant. On the way, we walked past the place that Trevor proposed to Sarah, so of course we took a picture.
Aren't you jealous of her crown?



We went to an awesome Italian restaurant- ate delicious food, drank the strongest drink ever, and embarrassed Sarah as she opened her gifts!



After dinner we went to The Lion King! I loved the show!



Then we headed back to the hotel for the next part of the evening. First, Trisha and I gave the 2nd part of our gift- a panty line! We found the poem here, made a few changes, and stuffed them in wrapping paper tube for her to pull them out one at a time while we read the poem.



Then for the part of the night that I might have been most excited about.
Trisha and I had this idea to make a scavenger hunt for the night.
We had a lot of fun coming up with clues for the hunt and creating the hunt books.

Each team had a book with clues that had to do with Sarah and Trevor.
Then, each clue had a page with more clues to help them find the place.



It was so much fun running around Chicago searching for the places!

The girls taking a picture for bonus points and a few of the winners with their prizes.



Then out for drinks and some dancing!



We had such a great weekend celebrating Sarah and hanging out in Chicago.
Can't wait for her wedding on New Year's Eve!