Merry Christmas!

Just like that it's Christmas Day! I had work until Thursday which was pretty brutal. Luckily the last two days were half days but still...brutal! I made all of my classes deep clean a section of each kitchen. They were such babies about it! But they did it and I did it. Ha. Making students do things they don't want to do, it's like constantly pulling teeth. I was sapped on Friday. I did nothing between a couple of social gatherings that happened that day. A friend breakfast gift exchange and later that night dinner and a movie. In between those events there were naps and sitting followed by more sitting and naps. I couldn't wrap my brain around Christmas food but my kids really wanted our traditional dinner. I told them they had to help and they did! I went grocery shopping on Christmas Eve and spent most of the day cooking. The kids cleaned the house and helped me cook. My rest day helped a ton and I felt fine and it was kind of fun and festive to make the dinner. After dinner we sang some songs, played some games, saw some Christmas lights, watched Klaus and went to bed! 

The kids had a good Christmas. Ryan's favorite gift was a fort tent, Piper's were her squishmallows, Gabby liked her frog and cow stuffed animals, and Corbin got some new video games. Scott got some electronic photo frames that he is very excited about. I went on a shopping spree last week and I bought a bunch of stuff for a combined birthday Christmas gift. I want a new van, we will see if we can find one that works for us.

Christmas breakfast is super fast and easy to make and Scott is making stir fry for dinner today so I get another rest day! We are just lounging and loving it over here. I love that we have snow this Christmas and that we've had snow for a few weeks now. It feels more Christmassy with snow. I plan on trying to do as little as possible this week. We will head to Utah on Thursday to visit Scott's family. When we get back I will need to start planning and getting ready for next semester. Until then, I will enjoy doing whatever I want. I really could stand to deep clean my own kitchen but I doubt I will do it. Ha. Cheers!

Cute cuddled kids.

So many squishmallows, and more were added today. Oy!

Cute!

Anne, (top left) turned 40 on Wednesday. We  went to a dinner celebration for her.

The girls decorated gingerbread houses. 

Puppy love.

We've had heating issues this Christmas. Recently we had issues and had to wait a few days and they fixed it ($200) and 10 days later it stopped working again. Luckily on Friday due to cancelations they were able to come and fix it for ($700) and it only worked for a few hours. On Christmas Eve they came and fixed it and it only worked for a few hours again. It's Sunday and it's Christmas and we have no heat but luckily it hasn't been too bad. We have a few space heaters, an oven, and blankets. It sure makes it easier to just cuddle up to a movie when there's no heat! We got this furnace brand new 4 years ago. What the crap! I'm hoping someone can come by tomorrow and that it will stay working for longer than a few hours. 

One of many Charly naps last Friday.

Ryan had to break up all of the bread pieces for the dressing.

Piper helped with the rolls and chopping up veggies for the dressing.

Gabby helped with the rolls, peeled the yams, and chopped veggies for the dressing.

Corbin peeled the potatoes and helped me make the yams.

Scott made a Cannon dessert "zebra dessert." The Cannons do not make this at Christmas but the Boise Cannons do. This is our Christmas Eve dessert. 

The rolls are a favorite part of dinner. 

Christmas Eve dinner!

I make it ALMOST as good as my mom.

Playing games.

Cute puppy on Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve

Santa bought gifts that were too big to put in the stockings.

Christmas cuddled Charly.

Cute Charly Christmas sweater! 

Corbin's only physical gifts were a hat and a China Buffet gift card. He doesn't really like stuff and everything else we bought for his computer.

Stocking Stuffers.

Stocking Stuffers

Stocking Stuffers

Snow Day!

There isn't a phrase that elicits more excitement for teachers and students than the two simple words...SNOW DAY! I woke up to my alarm on Monday morning and I saw a text from West Ada School District that it was a snow day. I immediately went to the computer to make sure that it was a snow day for Boise School District as well and it was! I woke up Corbin and Gabby and told them to turn off their alarms because it was a snow day. They were so excited. Huzzah!  I got another day to relax and recover. It was amazing! 

Piper had a dance recital on Tuesday night. She did a great job. It's been awhile since she's performed because she quit dance a few years ago. She decided she wanted to give it another try. Piper is very determined and she stretched a lot for a long time to get more flexible and she learned how to do two cartwheels in a row. She is loving dance this year.

On Wednesday night I had my work party. Scott and I ate some appetizers and chatted with a few people and bailed. Those social interactions are not my favorite. We got invited to a progressive dinner with my friend Roxanne and that was not my favorite either. We didn't know most of the people there and people just chatted all evening. BORING. Let's play some games people!    

I'm jealous of people who are out on Christmas break already. Boise School District lets us out late and then we go back late. I would much rather get out earlier BEFORE Christmas and go back right after New Year's. I have to work until Thursday. It's going to be a BRUTAL week. I think the students will be like caged wild animals. Wish me luck! 

Recital Dance

Ryan's snowman, "Samuel the snowman."

Ryan's second snowman "Phil."

I'm so happy my kids are old enough to play outside by themselves. My favorite! I'll be indoors with my dog and blanket. 

After being gone for 3 school days I got to go back to work in my pajamas for spirit week. Woot! 

Cute Piper in her cute costume. 

This picture KILLS me! Hahaha!

Scott has been working on a project for about 4 years. He's sifted through a collection of over 7,000 quotes from ancient Greece to today. He narrowed it down to his favorite 71 quotes and made them into cards. The picture on the cover is his. He's put SO many hours into this project and it's been very meaningful for him. He likes to read and discuss them at family dinner time. 

Sick Town

December is crazy. I love it and I hate it. Any time I have extra obligations outside of school it makes things more challenging and there's a lot going on in December. I had different after-school commitments last week and I could feel myself getting sick and I didn't have time to try to rest and keep it at bay. By Wednesday night it started to get worse. I got up in the middle of the night and wrote some sub plans. Meanwhile, Scott had already been hit with it and had already spent a day in bed. I took 2 days off of work and I wasn't that bad but I was bad enough that I just didn't feel like I had the energy to be at school. The good news with that was I had a lot of time on the couch with my computer and I could grade, lesson plan, and Christmas shop online. It was kind of a nice forced break. Today I did a ton of meal prepping and various other things to get ready for another crazy December work week. 

Piper and Ryan were gone from school for a week with a cold/flu combo. Scott got hit with it on Tuesday or Wednesday. He was in bed for at least 3 days straight. He has been up for a couple of days now. We both have some symptoms but we are in functioning land. Gabby was already sick a few weeks ago so maybe that's how she lucked out on being hit worse. Corbin has managed to avoid it so far, but maybe not..he just told me he has a sore throat.

All Charly pics because we love her so much!

Back to Reality

All good things must come to an end. After an amazing Thanksgiving break it was time to go back to workie. This past week my Teen Living students did a food truck project. I've never done it before so I was a little anxious on how my planning and timing would pan out. My budget isn't going as far this year with the prices of groceries so I had the groups bring their own supplies and I wasn't sure how that was going to work out either. Everything worked out great! The students planned their own food truck menu items and brought the supplies. A few kids didn't follow through but for the most part everyone did their part and it was actually very encouraging to see all of these 8th grade students be responsible enough to plan a food item, bring in the supplies, and then execute it! 

On Wednesday I took my AVID class on a field trip to the Idaho Humane Society Center. I wasn't sure how that was going to work out but that also turned great. We learned a lot and we got to do some service for the center as well. I think the kids really enjoyed it. This past weekend has also been amazing. The right amount of downtime, social time, and get stuff done time. AMAZING! On Saturday morning I hosted a brunch and craft with some of my old book club friends. It was really fun. Today we woke up to a little snow and we just lounged all day and watched Christmas movies. I was able to grade, plan, and veg, it was awesome! I also got a new iPhone upgrade. Huzzah! Now Piper can have my old phone and Ryan can have hers. SWEET! 

Christmas time is fun but stressful as well. Anytime I have anything extra after school it makes it harder and this time of year there's always so much going on. Luckily I was able to make two dinners today for later in the week and plan all of my lessons so that should help! Okay, that's all. 

Washing and drying some dishes.

Folding some laundry.

Cute matching with Charly. I love her so much!

We made gnomes! 

Charly and Christmas tree. My favs! 

Nana always buys my kids cute holiday jammies! Corbin is SO tall!

Cute snuggles.

This was a group of boys, they even made homemade whipping cream! Delicious! 

Cutest puppy comforting Pipes. Ryan and Piper were both sicky bears last week. They still are!

Scott likes this excerpt and is framing it and putting it somewhere.

Scott wrote this poem and put it on a picture he took! It's good!