Gingerbread Week

This week was crazy busy!

 It was gingerbread week in our first grade and it was a lot of fun.

(1)

We read a lot of gingerbread books

and the kids and I compared them:

Here are the books we used:

(2)

We did the Babbling Abby Gingerbread Experiment.

What would have happened if the Gingerbread Man got wet?

The kids loved it!

 The Gingerbread Man before.

 Making predictions

 Getting him wet.

 Uh Oh!

Writing about what happened.

(3)

I changed my weekly literacy stations to

"gingerbread literacy stations".

(4)

We wrote our own gingerbread stories and

decorated paper gingerbread houses.

(5)

We wrote recipes for "smart cookies".

(6)

We made gingerbread man glypths.

(7)

The whole first grade did our

anual gingerbread house making party.

It is a fun, crazy, mess that the kids never stop talking about!

 The set-up

 My wonderful team

 Let the fun begin!

 My class with their masterpieces.

Needless to say , we were all exhausted after this fun week!



My Grown-up Christmas List....

Did you all picture me singing that just like Amy Grant?

 Good.

Because I totally do.

I'm excited to be linking up with one of my fave bloggers, Becky, to share my "dream" Christmas wishlist.  So here goes... enjoy! :)

(1)

Clarisonic Mia

(2)

A white watch

(3)

A Pandora starter bracelet

(4)

Barnes and Noble Gift Cards for my Nook

(5)

A Massage

(6)

A new David Yurman bracelet

(7)

I-Tunes gift card

(8)

White Sanuk Shoes

(9)

Brown Coach Shoes

(10)

New Sunglasses

Okay...have fun shopping kids! ;)

I kid. I kid.





December Weekends are the Busiest!

Saturday

I woke up VERY early on Saturday for one of my favorite things our school does.  The last couple of years we have been chosen by the Tempe Elks to take some of our neediest kids on a shopping spree. This year we met at 7:15am at Walmart. Each child chosen got $80 to spend on clothes and $15 to spend on toys. I shopped with a little boy from my class.  We got him a bunch of new pants, sweatshirts, undies, socks, shoes plus a leggo set and a football.

(Sorry there are no pics from shopping. I was a woman on a mission!)

After shopping we went to the Elks lounge where they had crafts set up, breakfast, and Santa came.

The Santa they had this year was pretty bad. Haha. Oh well. It was the thought that counts. Santa gave each kid a new toy and the kids got to play with them while their parents came. It was a wonderful morning.

Saturday Night

That evening we got all dressed in our holiday-uglies for our friends "Ugly Sweater Party". Nick and I took some creative liberties and didn't exactly wear sweaters.  Nick copied a shirt from one of his favorite shows (It's Always Sunny in Philadephia) and sewed his own version. My man is sure becoming Mr. Martha Stewart.

I couldn't find any ugly sweaters in sizes under XXL, so I went with an ugly shirt.

I also paired it with a rocking headband, candy cane tights, and festive flip flops.

Even Reagan got into the spirit. Nick made him a very ugly sweater as well.

We had a lot of fun with friends as we celebrated the season!

Sunday

Today we went with my parents to the Arizona Cardinals game.
 It was Reagan's first Cards game! Very exciting!!

 Our little football junkie was live at the Cardinal game and watching the Packers on the tv.

It was a busy but fun weekend. XXOO

Christmas advents in our home

If you know me .... you know I'm really big on traditions.

Christmas is a perfect time for traditions.

This year we continued two advent traditions and started a new one.

(1)

Nick's mom passed along an advent calendar she made for her boys when they were small. I think it is so neat that the tradition is now passed on to Reagan.

(Reagan- 6 months old)

Each night in December, Reagan adds an ornament to the tree. The last ornament to the tree is Santa.

(2)

This is our second year doing an advent house and tree.

I absolutely love it.

I got the idea from a blog 3 years ago and got everything put together last year.

I ordered a house from Pottery Barn and filled each door with a Bible verse and an ornament that had something to do with the verse. Each night in December Reagan gets to open the appropriate door.  As a family we read the Bible verse and "talk" (as much as we really can with a 2 year old) about what it means.  Reagan then gets to hang the ornament on the little tree.

December 1st , I picked Isaiah 9:6-7

For to us a child is born, to us a Son is given.

The ornament I bought was a baby Jesus.

I know this is kind of a weird one to start the month off with but I think it's a good opener to remember the reason for the season.

If you are interested, I can do a post about each day's ornament and verse. Just let me know!

(3)

This year we started a tradition that I spotted on Pinterest.

First I wrapped up 25 Christmas books.

Then each night in December Reagan gets to open up and read a Christmas book.

What advent activities do you at your house?