I cannot believe the wedding is less than five months away. It still feels like yesterday that I met Christopher and then eleven months later he proposed. Time flies.
We got our Christmas tree earlier this week and finally have the lights up and the ornaments out. The rest of the house has been decorated since Thanksgiving but with only having one vehicle and completely opposite work schedules, it's hard to arrange things like picking out a tree. Last night I was sitting on the floor unwrapping all the ornaments when I came across the cheap little "Our First Christmas" ornament I bought as a joke last year. Christopher laughed at me when I bought it, but it didn't stop him from hanging my engagement ring off it last December. I have suddenly become extremely protective of my little snowman sled. :)
On the wedding front, we got the updated menu from the caterer (holy cow, it is NOT cheap to feed that many people...) and I think we're almost settled on the food. She did leave out the coffee which is a HUGE no-no with our guest list (Christopher and myself included). We'll be sure to remedy that as soon as possible.
I have five more days of work and then a TWO WEEK BREAK. Boy oh boy do I need it. I love my kids... really I do. But they are exhausting this time of year. They know the holidays are approaching and it's like some type of drug for them. Even my most well-behaved are bouncing off the walls. Last week we did a gingerbread man theme. We had a blast measuring the room with gingerbread men and reading all the different versions of the story and even creating our own! And then I had this wonderful idea to make gingerbread men. Thursday we made the dough, which really wasn't that bad at all. The kids stood around two tables pushed together and I let them help me measure out the ingredients and put them in the bowl etc. They were so excited to smell the vanilla extract and cinnamon, even the ginger and nutmeg. One little girl said, "Oh Miss Minsterman, I do not prefer this smell" when the nutmeg came around. (That's what I make them say instead of "ew, yuck" to foods they don't like). It was the perfect activity because we are working on measurement right now in math.
Now Friday was a different story. Janet (my assistant) and I decided to let them have a free-for-all with dough, flour, rolling pins, and cookie cutters. They had a BLAST but my room was a disaster. It took me my entire lunch break/planning period to clean up. And then we had issues with reserving the oven and were in a MAD rush as the end of the day to get the cookies packaged up to go home. A few kids were complaining that they didn't receive the cookies that they made etc. Next year we will definitely be allowing them to choose ONE cookie to take home, no matter how many they make!
I had the video camera in the room and interviewed them as they were rolling and cutting. Their answers are hysterical - I think they'll be broadcast on the morning news this coming week. We have no HUGE projects planned for the upcoming week - just a Jan Brett author study so hopefully they'll be a little more tame (ha - yeah right). I can't wait to give them their holiday presents; Janet and I bought them each a copy of The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats (God love the $1 books from Scholastic) and snowman pencils and erasers. For kids who don't have a ton of books at home, this is a fantastic addition to their library. Hooray!
And now just a few more days of work to push through and then I get to see my Mama and Daddy and Bubby and Morgan and Seth and...and...and... I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!
We got our Christmas tree earlier this week and finally have the lights up and the ornaments out. The rest of the house has been decorated since Thanksgiving but with only having one vehicle and completely opposite work schedules, it's hard to arrange things like picking out a tree. Last night I was sitting on the floor unwrapping all the ornaments when I came across the cheap little "Our First Christmas" ornament I bought as a joke last year. Christopher laughed at me when I bought it, but it didn't stop him from hanging my engagement ring off it last December. I have suddenly become extremely protective of my little snowman sled. :)
On the wedding front, we got the updated menu from the caterer (holy cow, it is NOT cheap to feed that many people...) and I think we're almost settled on the food. She did leave out the coffee which is a HUGE no-no with our guest list (Christopher and myself included). We'll be sure to remedy that as soon as possible.
I have five more days of work and then a TWO WEEK BREAK. Boy oh boy do I need it. I love my kids... really I do. But they are exhausting this time of year. They know the holidays are approaching and it's like some type of drug for them. Even my most well-behaved are bouncing off the walls. Last week we did a gingerbread man theme. We had a blast measuring the room with gingerbread men and reading all the different versions of the story and even creating our own! And then I had this wonderful idea to make gingerbread men. Thursday we made the dough, which really wasn't that bad at all. The kids stood around two tables pushed together and I let them help me measure out the ingredients and put them in the bowl etc. They were so excited to smell the vanilla extract and cinnamon, even the ginger and nutmeg. One little girl said, "Oh Miss Minsterman, I do not prefer this smell" when the nutmeg came around. (That's what I make them say instead of "ew, yuck" to foods they don't like). It was the perfect activity because we are working on measurement right now in math.
Now Friday was a different story. Janet (my assistant) and I decided to let them have a free-for-all with dough, flour, rolling pins, and cookie cutters. They had a BLAST but my room was a disaster. It took me my entire lunch break/planning period to clean up. And then we had issues with reserving the oven and were in a MAD rush as the end of the day to get the cookies packaged up to go home. A few kids were complaining that they didn't receive the cookies that they made etc. Next year we will definitely be allowing them to choose ONE cookie to take home, no matter how many they make!
I had the video camera in the room and interviewed them as they were rolling and cutting. Their answers are hysterical - I think they'll be broadcast on the morning news this coming week. We have no HUGE projects planned for the upcoming week - just a Jan Brett author study so hopefully they'll be a little more tame (ha - yeah right). I can't wait to give them their holiday presents; Janet and I bought them each a copy of The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats (God love the $1 books from Scholastic) and snowman pencils and erasers. For kids who don't have a ton of books at home, this is a fantastic addition to their library. Hooray!
And now just a few more days of work to push through and then I get to see my Mama and Daddy and Bubby and Morgan and Seth and...and...and... I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!
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