Merry Christmas!

Christmas was so much fun this year!  Brandon was so excited to celebrate this year, it made Christmas that much more exciting for us as a family.  We took Brandon and Natalie to visit Santa on Monday at the Prescott mall.  That was quite an experience!  Brandon didn't want to wait in line of course, so daddy and grandma entertained Brandon will Natalie and I waited in line.  Natalie didn't have a problem waiting in line, and even loved having her picture taken with Santa.  She kept looking up at him, trying to get a good look at the game!  She didn't even cry until I went to take her away from Santa.  Then she got upset, and wanted me to put her back on his lap!

On Christmas Eve we talked with Brandon about how he had to go to bed so that way he could get lots of sleep because Santa was going to be coming that night to bring us presents!  He was so excited because all he asked Santa for was a new puzzle!  He couldn't wait, which kept him up past bed time, but that was okay!

Christmas morning Natalie and Brandon were both up around 5, 5:15, but we made them stay in bed until 6!  Finally at 6:00 Natalie wouldn't stay in bed any longer, so we went and got Brandon up.  Much to my surprise grandma was in bed with Brandon when we went in to get him.  (I didn't know at the time that he had been up since 5, and that was the only way grandma could keep him in bed!)

Brandon loved presents!  He loved them so much he helped everyone open their presents!  He got tired of opening his own presents, but as soon as it was time to open someone else's presents he was right there ready to help!

We were very blessed this year and Brandon received many clothes, books and puzzles!  Natalie got some new cups, shoes, and toys from Disneyland!  Tyler got his new video game and some movies.  I got a new computer!  I am so excited for my new laptop, and am so thankful to my parents for always providing so much for us!

We are doing Christmas with Tyler's parents on Saturday, so that will be exciting for Brandon as well!  We can't wait to see his excitement with what they get him!!  I know when we get home it will be time to go through some old toys though and find ones that we can start to give away!

We had a great Christmas up in Prescott, and were blessed to spend the day with my parents, Tyler's parents, and my Grandma Ellen and Mills.

Merry Christmas everyone!  I pray that you all had a blessed Christmas too!!

Daily Five

1.  We have termites . . . again!!  YUCK!!  This is the third time that the have appeared in our bedroom wall, so instead of calling our same warranty company I decided to finally go with Terminix.  I was so happy with their service, and how prompt they were.  Now granted it is going to cost me a lot more than the warranty I was paying for before, at least I know that they will repair something if there is more damage!!  When I told them what our other company did they couldn't believe we waited so long.  If only I knew more about what people should do to treat termites!

2.  Our athletic banquet was last night.  It was fun to go and see everyone, and even more fun that a couple of us went out for a drink afterwards.  I forget by not going to work how much I miss my friends at work.  I love staying home with my kids, and if I could I know that I would stay home in a heartbeat, but I do miss them!

3.  I reread Lord of the Flies this past week.  I read the book while I was in high school, but as part of our bucket list this year we are reading 24 books.  I have almost reached our goal, but part of it was that we had to read some classics.  We agreed that a classic was anything that an English teacher might make you read.  I forgot how disturbing Lord of the Flies is.  It's crazy what would happen to a group of kids if you left them alone without adults, and what they could do.  I would recommend it, it is a great book.

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4.  I have started planning for next year!  I know it seems crazy, but we will be gone for a big chunk of June, and I have a lot to look into for next year.  Plus I will have 26 kids, so I am trying to figure out how I can best accommodate all of them, and still teach everything.  I have started working on my teacher planner first, and have found some that I really like on TPT.  I am too cheap though, and don't want to pay $8 for a document that I'm going to have to edit any ways, so I'm working on creating my own!  Who knows, maybe I'll even set up a TPT store this year!

This looks like a great planner, and where I got a lot of my ideas!

5.  Looking into next year, I have also checked out our new science standards for the state.  They are very different then the ones that we've had for the past five years I've been teaching, so it's time to look for all new material for science too!  It should be a fun year!

Friday Five

What a week it has been!

1.  We are so excited to be home, and that we were all able to spend the week together as a family!

Brandon loves checking on his sissy!

2.  I have been a reading machine!  It is so nice having the Overdrive Ap on my iPhone, and it makes night time reading so easy when I am feeding Princess!  This week I have been reading Insurgent, which is the sequel to Divergent.  If you like dystopias, and young adult fiction, you should check it out!

3.  We are so excited for our newborn photo shoot with Patchwork Photography tomorrow!!

4.  We picked up a set of mini DVD players for the car at Target today!  They were on sale at Target for half the price as what they were at Best Buy.  Excited to be able to use these this summer for our crazy road trip to Nebraska and Indiana!

5.  Best Buy has their $5 coupon deal right now.  So, you take in any DVD you have, and they give you a coupon for $5 towards a Blu-Ray that costs $9.99 or more.  We have now traded in 15 DVDs, and were able to upgrade them to Blu-Ray.  The only down part is that you can only do 5 DVDs a day.  Our collection continues to grow!

Friday Five

1.  Thank goodness for Good Friday and all that Jesus has done for us!!

2.  So thankful for a four day weekend, it couldn't have come at a better time.  Excited to spend the day weekend with my family celebrating the greatness of the cross!

3.  Thankful for my wonderful bible study ladies!!  We are working on The Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster.  I would recommend it for any bible study to read.  We love it, and I look forward to those Monday nights!

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4.  My class is starting The BFG this next week, so I am excited to jump onto teacherspayteachers and pinterest to see what fantastic ideas I can find for my kiddos!

5.  Tyler and I are loving this new CD that he had to download on Thursday after he discovered on Wednesday that it came out a little bit ago.  He was very sad that he was behind in the times, but Rend Collective is a great band!!

You can order this awesome CD at amazon or iTunes!