Twas the Last Week of School Before Christmas Break...

...And our schedules were so busy we had no time to spare. 

Every day & every night there were things to do & places to be,

It was crazy & fun & hectic, so of course we have to share: 

 

TUESDAY, DEC. 17

Middle school basketball sign-ups were at 5:00, so when school was over I sent the younger boys home on the bus, and took Ammon to go shopping for his brother's Christmas gift before taking him to the parent's meeting.  When the meeting was over after 5:30, we drove home, made dinner, ate dinner, changed our clothes, and headed back to town at 6:30 for the school Christmas Concert at 7:00. We arrived early so that I could take attendance; I co-teach the 5th graders with Mr. Anderson this year, and they were the first performers. 



In between the 5th grade's musical numbers, Mr. Anderson publicly recognized me and my efforts in teaching the elementary music program and for helping him out with this year's 5th grade band class which has 65 students. The whole audience clapped for me as I stood, and I felt so loved and appreciated. It really made my night and I am so grateful to him for saying such kind words publicly about me--especially after I've had such a rough time at school this year. It was a really nice concert with junior high bands and choirs. Ammon is in the High School band, and they were last on the program. They did something new which I just loved: they dressed up alike, and stood on platforms, and played jazz songs. It was awesome!!

Ammon plays the trumpet, which was on the top row, and they even did some synchronized movements during parts of the song! It was a highlight for me to watch!

Mr. Anderson and Ammon

As soon as the concert was over, we all helped clean up the gym (taking down chairs and stands and returning things to the music room). Then I picked up all the leftover 5th grade's instruments, and we dropped them off at my building on the way home. When we got home, I started making frosting for the twins' class party the following day. In my entire married life, I've never made regular vanilla frosting: only chocolate frosting and cream cheese frosting. I was using a recipe my mom gave me over 15 years ago, and the recipe called for 1/2 cup of salt. I thought it was weird, but it was late, I was tired and not thinking clearly, and I always follow recipes, so I just put in 1/4 cup instead. It was still too much, and the huge frosting batch I made was ruined. So I made a batch of chocolate frosting, then called my mom, and asked her to give me a new recipe for vanilla frosting (it was only supposed to be a 1/2 teaspoon of salt, not 1/2 cup!), then I made another batch of frosting. I got done making them all before 11:00 that night. Whew...we made it through our first busy night of the crazy week!

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 18

After lunch recess on Wednesday, Jonah and Micah's class made their edible winter village creations. They'd previously made molds out of white form board so that they could adhere the graham crackers, frosting, and decorations and the buildings would be more solid.

Jonah's drawing of his blueprint, and the frame for his house.

Mrs. Baker explained how the process would work, then the kids all started using frosting as their glue to place graham crackers on their framework.

 

Jonah working on his house

Micah working on his sleigh

Lots of choices in candy decorations!!

 I thought their creations turned out so well! I was glad that my prep hour on Wednesday was the same time as their edible art project so I could watch them for a little while. It was really enjoyable for me to see their creations come to life!

Jonah's completed house and walkway.

Micah's completed sleigh! So colorful!

On Wednesday night, I took the 3 younger boys to the Library's Christmas Pajama Party. They sang Christmas songs with Ms Jane and listened to the storytelling of Mrs. Casterson before Santa arrived.

 Santa took turns giving goody bags to each child, and I made my boys take a picture with Santa when it was their turn, which none of them were happy about...

As soon as we got home from that, I began making a giant batch of Taco Soup for the twins' class Christmas feast the following day, and putting a tray of sugar cookies together for Kanyon's class program the next day, too. And this time, I didn't make mistakes in the amounts of ingredients!

THURSDAY, DEC. 19

Thursday was the busiest day all week. Jonah and Micah had their class feast at lunch, and I brought the soup and joined them for it. Right after that, the 4th graders all went ice-skating up at the pond by the hockey rink. Josh drove the bus for it. I only went up for a few minutes during recess time to see them and take a few pictures of them. Jonah and Micah both got ice skates for Christmas last year, but they hadn't used them since January. They did pretty good remembering how to skate!

Micah

Jonah

Of course, they still fell a lot in the process of trying to remember...

 

...and Micah had one bad fall at first. He landed on his face and the crash caused a giant goose egg to grow on his forehead. 

it was huge!!!

As soon as I got back to the school from the ice skating rink, it was time for Kanyon's class Christmas play called ABC Gingerbread. He'd been looking forward to it for weeks. It was so adorable and he just loved singing the songs in it!

He had three parts: for each letter of the alphabet, there was an action done to the gingerbread. He had three letters and three coordinating acting parts.

 

It was so wonderful to watch him act out his parts and be so proud of himself. I totally loved every moment of his play; watching him was just priceless! I'm so grateful for his teacher for putting the program on!

After school, we went home, made and ate dinner, then headed back to town for my zumba class, Ammon's Jamboree basketball practice, and Jonah & Micah's last Jamboree basketball scrimmage. It was the last crazy day/ night before our long-awaited, 17-day Christmas Break began!