Merry Christmas Eve Eve!

  I can't even believe tomorrow is Christmas Eve! Where does the time go? I meant to blog alot over my Christmas vacation... but, I've been sick. So, I've been napping and spending a lot of quality time with this:

His name is McSteamy and he's my BFF.

And, when I wasn't coughing or sneezing or running a fever, I had to wrap all of this:

Fun times!

Today, I felt a lot better so I packed up my stuff and headed home. You know, to Franklin. From Antioch. Looong trip :)

Tonight, Blakely brought Hampton over in her new festive tutu!

She was very excited to show off her new look...

but, she got a little embarrased by all the attention.

After we had some dinner, we headed to downtown Franklin. Our church was participating in a Nativity Scene Flash Mob. My mom reallly wanted to go so we all bundled up and went with her.

Downtown is sooo pretty at Christmas. There are lights everywhere!

Miss Hampy got a lot of attention in her new outfit.

And, she LOVED Mr. Pat from church, ha!

We took some pictures before the nativity started:

Here is a picture of the nativity. I took several, but Blogger is realllly slow at uploading pictures tonight. So, this will do :)

When we left, we took Hampton with us because Matt and Blakely had to do some Christmas shopping. We stopped at the grocery store to get a couple of things and I stayed in the car with the puppy. We passed the time by:

taking self portraits,

barking at people who walked by,

admiring our new red rainboots,

and just being cute.

We're home now and all snuggled up on the couch watching this:

My ABSOLUTE favorite Christmas movie of all time. I think it's so funny!

 Although, when I watch it, I can't stop thinking about how little Taylor Momsen went from this:

to this:

Classy, huh?

 I hope you had a great Christmas Eve Eve!

My First Award...

Well, I've gotten two of these awards in the last week, so I guess I better play along! A special thanks to Peterson's Pad and First Graders and Cupcakes  for reading and enjoying my little ole' blog.

Here are the rules:

This award is for new bloggers and its goal is to spotlight up-and-coming blogs with less than 200 followers. If awarded you must:

1. Copy & paste the award on your blog.

2. Thank the giver & link back to them.

3. Reveal YOUR top five picks & leave a comment letting them know.

4. Hope your followers will share the love.

 

So, here are my picks for some great new(ish) blogs you should check out!

 

1. http://www.bozemanbungalow.com/ - This blog belongs to my friend Meghan. She has GREAT taste and an adorable new house you should go check out ASAP. Trust me.

 

2. http://danielandmelissamilam.blogspot.com/ - This blog is my friend  Melissa's. She has the cutest little boy ever! He's just a cuddly little ball of adorableness. She's a great decorator, too!

 

3. http://thecoletrain5060.blogspot.com/ - This is a blog that some girls from my school and I started this year. About 6 of us contribute to it. There are tons of good ideas and cute classrooms to check out over there.

 

4. http://booky4first.blogspot.com/ - This is a super cute blog with lots of good ideas!

 

5. http://onlyinfirstgrade.blogspot.com/ - You gotta love a good first grade blog :)

 

SO, go check out these great blogs!

 

Oh, and look for a new blog design over here at The Good Life. It should be ready in the next few days. Can't wait to see it!

 

 

 

Santa and Reindeer Crafts

My little elves have been HARD AT WORK! I posted yesterday about our Grinch activities on Monday. Yesterday and today we focused on Santa and his reindeer. And, I'm pretty sure we're done. I don't think I can handle another "craftivity" right now. But, all their stuff turned out great and they are so proud of it all... so, I guess that's all that counts!

Tuesday afternoon, my kids made these adorable Christmas trees that have been sweeping blogland lately. I know a lot of classes at our school did this project this week. But, they all turned out so good and so different!

They were really easy! I just gave them green paper and some "inchworms" to measure. I had them cut 6 strips: one 1 inch strip, one 2 inch strip, one 3 inch strip, etc... Then, they had to put them in order and label them. I gave them a big stack of old scrapbook paper to decorate them. I'm not even kidding: they worked on these for an hour!

Here's a close-up of a particularly good one :)

In Reading, we focused on reindeer. We started off with a T-Chart.

We used the charts we made to write sentences about reindeer. And, by the way, these charts are THE BOMB for getting first graders to write sentences. Just sayin!

After we wrote about reindeer, I let the kids make one. I think they turned out so cute! They are all different, which is kind of great. I gave them a little button to use as the reindeer's nose and let them use their finger prints to make snow. We tore green scrapbook paper to make the ground.

We also did a little reindeer mad libs activity with the Rudolph song. I didn't take any pictures because they didn't look all that cute. But, believe me when I say that I have NEVER seen my kiddos laugh harder. EVER.

Today was all about the big man in the red suit. We had made these tear-paper Santas last Friday. I think they're fun :)

The kids thought it was so fun that they couldn't use their scissors! Some of them were a little stressed... just a tad. But, they turned out great!

Today, they worked with a partner to fill in a bubble map about Santa Claus.

Let's take a closer look, shall we?

Yeah, that says "Santa has a beer." I'm thinking it was probably supposed to be "beard".... but, you never know. Life is never dull in first grade, that's for sure!

And, then the kids filled out a Santa To-Do List. They were funny to read!

Oh, and while my kiddos were finishing all that up... I was finishing up these.

Those would be shirts that the kids I tutor after school made yesterday. You see, tomorrow is Holiday Spirit day at school And, we're taking the tutoring kids caroling at some houses round school. They will look sooo festive in their cute shirts. I for sure have one, too! Can't wait to wear it :)

My little first graders were SUPREMELY jealous that these shirts were not for them.

Finally, this afternoon, we read Santa's Stuck and wrote about what we would do if Santa was stuck in our chimneys. I got the idea from The First Grade Parade. We made these cute little Santa legs and chimneys.

I hung them out in the hallway with the Santas.

So, yeah. As I said, we're about done. I don't think I have much more cutting and gluing in me. We have some sweet ladies coming tomorrow to help us with our party and we're going to watch The Grinch tomorrow. Friday is just a half day - woo hoo!

I hope everyone has a great last week of school with their kiddos and a great holiday break from school!

Thanks for reading!

A Little Holiday Cheer!

Wow, long time... no blog! Sorry about that. I've been a little busy! School is running me ragged... but, in a good way :) Between Winter Festivals and yearbook meetings and after-school tutoring two days a week and lots and lots of meetings... that doesn't leave a lot of blog time. But, I'm going to try to be better! Promise.

I spent a large chunk of time this weekend cooking. Which, if you know me, is not a regular occurence! I made three HUGE bowls of this:

Heaven. On. Earth... I tell ya!

I found it on Pinterest (of course) and it's called Snowflake Mix. It's the easiest thing ever because all you do is mix up Chex Mix, marshmallows, pretzels and peanuts. Then, you melt white chocolate and stir all it all together. I waited to add the M&M's until the end so they would keep their festive colors. And, I made the executive decision to go with the cinnamon-flavored Chex Mix. I think it was a good choice... because, this stuff is YUM! I seriously have been eating it for three days. Good thing I made it for my sweet teammates... otherwise, it would probably be gone already.

In First Grade, we've been doing all kinds of fun Christmas-y things! We spent most of yesterday talking about my favorite Christmas character... the Grinch! We read the book, then we filled out a chart of adjectives about the cranky green guy.

I've never been more proud of an anchor chart in my life.

That took me a WHILE to draw, ha!

We made Grinch-y similes using our anchor chart. We wrote adjectives on a heart and then we colored a cute little Grinch. The kids wrote three or four similes and then i went around and had them put the best two on index cards. When we put it all together, it looked like this:

They turned out so funny!

We also did two little graphic organizers.

I used lots of activities from here and here. Because, they're the best and they have the most creative ideas!

During Math, we made some sweet little holiday wreaths for the kiddos to take home. I've been making these for the last five years, and I think they are dang cute! The kids have a ball making them.

I usually go with a red and white polka-dot ribbon. But, I randomly chose blue this year and I'm super happy with the choice... they're fun and festive :)

The kids were so excited to take them home today. They all told me where they're going to hang them in their houses!

Today was all about the reindeer! I didn't get pictures yet, but I will show you soon. Stay tuned!

Lot's of Color!

It's no secret that I love Pinterest. I'm pretty much obsessed. And, one thing I've been seeing a TON of lately is colorful rooms. The more color, the better! So, here are some fun rooms that I've found lately. They've really inspired me to be courageous in my own decorating... color is a GOOD THING!

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Don't you want to just have a seat on those cozy armchairs? The awesome fabric, fun orange lamps and bamboo back chairs are incredible.

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I don't know if I would ever have the nerve to paint my walls navy. But, this room certainly goes a long way in convincing me. The starburst mirror, garden stool and rug aren't too bad, either!

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This room looks so relaxing... like it should be on an island. I adore the starburst mirror and the spindle-legged bed. And, what a cool idea to leave the walls white and paint the ceiling!

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I just love everything about this room... especially the colors! The relaxing blue and the mix of white is so calming. And, where can I get that lamp on the nightstand?

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I love everything, I mean EVERYTHING, about this. The fun lamps, the antique buffet, the maps and globes and especially the use of color.

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It's kind of neat to have a white couch, white furniture and white walls and then use all the accessories to bring in color.

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There can never be too many ikat pillows. And, the more colors... the better!

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This room is so funky and fun. And, I love the lamps. In fact, I saw some pretty similar that I adored at TJ Maxx this week.. and, I'm kind of kicking myself for not getting them. Who cares if I don't really have a place to put them, right?

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These are really fun colors. And, I really love the suzani print bench in front of the bed. I'm also a really big fan of white beds.

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This is just a fun do-it-yourself room. And, teal, yellow and chevron? Always a fan. I also like the use of non-mathing pillows on the couch.

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There really aren't even any words to describe how amazing this is.

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Green really isn't used enough in deocrating. It looks so good here with all the crisp white bright yellow.

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I'm seriously contemplating painting my kitchen this color this summer. Somebody, talk me out of it.

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This is a fun color, too. And, again, all the white!