Mini Early Christmas :)

We had planned on doing gingerbread houses with Aunt Dall this weekend but that's really the only plans we had. Well our Saturday ended up being SO fun!

Aunt Dall came over and declared she was staying all day and night!! WHOOP! :) And then not long after she came over G and Pa called and said they were missing the babies so they wanted to come up for dinner! Okay!! Yay! 

M and J were leaving for FL on Sunday, so we knew we wanted to see them and exchange gifts before they left and we did that too!

But first M treated me to a fun pedi for my birthday! We got a super cute design too! It was super relaxing and it's always so nice to get out with just her! We are always with kiddos and husbands when we are together(which is great) but it was nice to have some girl time!

The Mr. cooked a super yummy rib roast and while it cooked we did gingerbread houses!

My sweet MIL got me a #selfiestick...it's SOO cool! 

Uncle Joey feeding the girls! :) 

Dall was great...she is such a great artist and she was sweet and let TJH help her with her house! :) 

And we finished the evening with a YUMMY Blizzard cake from DQ for a late birthday for me! :) 

I love how our Saturday all played out and it and almost none of it was planned! :) 

Merry Mini Christmas! 

Christmas in the Classroom

This time of year is always fun in my classroom! Thankfully I work at a school with Christian principals who allow us to have Christmas trees and do plenty of holiday fun! :)

I did Elf on the Shelf again, but didn't take my daily pictures this year! But the kids really enjoyed it!

The doors at ours school were all really cute this year! I did the same door I did last year because I tie it to a cute book, "Santa's Stuck" and we do some writing too. :) 

Then we added their writing!

My school does a fun 12 days of Christmas with something different each day...gotta love Tacky Sweater Day!

And Holiday Headgear! 

I made a snow globe when I was a student in school that I'll NEVER forget making, so every year I've been teaching I've done with with my kiddos. Each year, the kids just LOVE them! And I also always do an ornament with the kids pictures for the parents. 

We had gotten a similar gift like this in our mailboxes at school, so I copied them and made them to go with TJH, EKH, and OCH's teachers gifts. :) I love the HUGE noses!

Up close of the snow globe! 

And of course we always have PJ day on the last day for Polar Express Day! 

One of my most FAVORITE things we do at our school is a school-wide Christmas Sing-Along! It's SO much fun!

I didn't do a big party with my class this year...this group can't really handle that very well. But we did do something fun for the last day. We had read 8 different gingerbread men books over the past 2 weeks, so we decorated gingerbread cookies! The kids really enjoyed it and it was the perfect little celebration! 

It was a fun December in my classroom! Now, for some much needed rest with my sweet family! 

30th!

So, I turned 30 this week! What? I'm not in my twenty's anymore?!?! That's crazy talk!

Well, I've started to come to grips with it. But my 30th birthday was wonderful!

Everyone spoiled me at work! 

My favorite coffee and donuts! Some of my students made me cards and brought me small gifts. 

A sweet coworker/friend of mine gave me these awesome sunglasses! I LOVE my monogram on them! 

When I got home with the kiddos, the Mr. took TJH on a secret errand...and they came back with my VERY favorite Mexican food and yummy GiGi's cupcakes! 

M came over to hang out with us while we ate. 

Then on Friday night, M and J babysat the kiddos so we could go on a birthday date! 

We went to 5 and 10...a  local place. Our friends A and R gave us a very generous gift card to use for our date. 

With my handsome date! 

My birthday was great! Lots of phone calls, texts and love on my special day! 

Sister Love

I captured this moment the other morning before school and it's probably my most favorite picture ever now. These two girls are so precious and I just LOVE the relationship these two have with each other. They sometimes act like they don't need each other but truth is they can't live without each other. :) I'm so blessed to be their mommy. 

Santa Visit 2014

We went to see Santa and boy was it fun! 

Tucker jumped right up into his lap and just talked and talked to him! He asked for a red scooter when Santa asked him what he wanted!  

The girls weren't brave enough to see Santa alone this year, so we got in the picture with them. :)

G and Pa sat with Santa too! 

Here is our 9th year of seeing Santa as the FOUR! Now, we have 10!!! 

EK's face is so funny here!

Some window shopping!

So the FOUR decided to do theme shirts for each family using our kids hands and feet. I wasn't too excited about it but it turned out pretty cute. 

Yummy lunch afterwards at Cheesecake factory to visit and exchange presents! 

The kiddos were worn out from such a fun morning and slept most of the way home! 

Until next year! :) We love Santa!

Elf on the Shelf_TJH

I've done Elf on the Shelf for 5 years now with my students. But this year, I'm even more excited because we are doing it at home with TJH! :)

Last year we bought him the stuffed Elf on the Shelf but he wasn't too interested in at all. But this year, we thought we would do it again! 

December 1st is always a good time to start. I know some families start it the day after Thanksgiving but I think it's fun to wait until December 1st. 

I wasn't home with TJH came down for breakfast when Mr. Elf made his appearance but the Mr. said he was SO excited and kept telling Mr. Elf thank you for the donuts!

Can't wait to watch TJH's excitement for the next 23 days with Mr. Elf!