Friday Favorites.. aka Thanksgiving Week

Man, Thanksgiving Week is a blur! I love the crazy!!

First off, here's the project I did with my 8th graders this year. We took three wire hangers, taped them together (hook side to the middle), and wrapped them in garland. The kids got to pick their own garlands, and some of them found the coolest stuff! The toppers are just monograms that I printed and they cut- made life a lot easier and will be better to figure out which one goes home with each kiddo.

Also, I know that a lot of kiddos don't always go home to the easiest life.. and that I have high expectations for my students, so sometimes I can come across harsh. Tuesday morning, I left this note on the board for my classes. 

Someone has decided that "dan, dan, dan!" is his favorite thing ever! (Dancing. So cute)

Also. I apparently have two little construction workers in the making.

Break has meant that I get lots of snuggles. The best.

OMG. If you don't know what pepperoni rolls are, you're seriously missing out. Like 15 years ago or something crazy, my aunt started bringing these to Christmas, and we loved them. Mom asked for the recipe (frozen rolls, let them rise, wrap them around pepperoni - and cheese if you feel adventurous, and bake!) and they became a staple for every holiday, birthday, after-dance party... everything. My high school friends still get jealous whenever we have them! AKA I posted this picture on FB and people wanted them! :)

Before Thanksgiving, I got all of our Christmas books wrapped and ready.  We did the 25 days of Christmas books last year, so I just saved all of them in a tote and brought them back out this year! I love this tradition, and it helps keep the boys out of the real gifts until Christmas.

I made this recipe last year, and my in-laws loved it. I had to make sure to whip up a batch again this year! Also, it's the easiest thing ever. Throw it all together and then stick it in the fridge!

Wednesday night, we had music practice at church (we are taking a group of high school/college kids to the Passion Conference in January, so we are leading worship this weekend to make some extra dough for the trip). I took the boys to the nursery, where Monster and I practiced eating lots of food at once. ;)

Happy Thanksgiving from my little turkeys!

My sister's birthday was on Thanksgiving this year, so we made sure to snap a few extra pics. That's our Papa Fred, aka the goofiest guy we know! <3

This guy. It literally took like three minutes worth of pictures to get him to smile like a regular person!

On Black Friday, we didn't fight the crowds. First, our Elf arrived for breakfast! We had Elf Toast (cinnamon toast) and bananas, and the boys thought it was the coolest ever!

This was on my FB memories that day. That was literally years before I finally decided I was ready to stop being a kid and grow up. I'm so thankful he put up with me for that long.

These two. <3

Here's some of the crafts we did at my mom's house on Black Friday. I sort of love footprint things! My boys were really easy to work with on this- they both have ticklish feet, and loved having their feet painted!

Handprint elves!

Monster's very own Ninja Turtle drawing! (and a random rhino)

 Mom's got four grandsons, so we made the eight reindeer from their feet! I know we forgot Rudolph, but it'll be okay.

Brother Snuggles

Here's what Ralph is up to today...

Hop you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving and are ready for all the festiveness to come! <3

I'm the biggest slacker.

Officially. I'm sorry that I've been missing! I've literally got like 4 posts that I just haven't hit publish on. Oops.

Here's a rundown of what I've slacked on telling y'all:

1. I love my Bible Study girls. So much. And I get to see them this weekend (minus one- lame). We're making Christmas cookies and drinking coffee and who knows what else, but I am terribly excited!!

2. My children are a mess. Right now, all three of the boys have colds (aka sore throats, runny noses, slight fevers, and the yucks all around). Send some tissues, Vicks, and Lysol my way, kay? [I've also started taking vitamin c every morning to help me from getting the gross. Between school and home, I just know it's going to happen. Ugh.]

3. We had convo, and it was a blast! The youth kids had a good time, I got to have Starbucks... so it was lovely. Also, as far as my opinion on #redcup ... This sums it up pretty well. (Apologies that I don't know where it came from originally, but props to whoever made it!)

4. Our Christmas tree is up! And I love it! Getting up a little early just to enjoy some quiet and coffee with the lights on is my favorite.

5. I've read three books in the last four days. I always forget how much I love to read, and then I remember with each great book. I read The Tales of Beedle the Bard by JK Rowling (because duh), The Finisher by David Baldacci (a student of mine had just finished it and reccommended I read it- sort of like The Hunger Games plus magic), and am nearly finished with The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson (a parent bought it for my classroom from the Book Fair, and I wanted to read it before I put it in my library). If you're into fiction, I suggest all three!

6. TOMORROW IS MY LAST DAY OF WORK BEFORE THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!!! Can you tell that I am excited?! Because I am. Very.

7. I've made both of these recipes in the last weekend, and both were big hits! Also- when a recipe says that it makes 36, don't try to make 18! :)

8. My students always put together Christmas ornaments ... here's what my 5th graders did today! It's just egg carts that they decorated, but I love them! I'll hopefully help my 8th graders finish up theirs tomorrow & show them off!! :)

9. Andrea shared this a day or two ago, and it 100% sums up everything. I generally feel overwhelmed, but trying to think about things like this really helps! 

10. I'm not sure who I stole this from, but I love it. Honey Holden (on insta) is one of my favorites.

Hopefully I'll be back tomorrow with some more for you! :)

Hello, Monday!

Day 7:

I'm thankful for photos. For real. I love being able to look back at old pictures of my boys or my friends and seeing what things used to be like. Also, getting old videos slay me.

Day 8:

I'm thankful for crafty kiddos. My boys love coloring and painting, so here's some of what we whipped up this weekend. Also, I drew these because I was too lazy to make sure the printer was ready to go. Oops.

Day 9:

I'm thankful for our neighbors. Remember how not that long ago I posted about not knowing them very well and how things were... strained... to say the least? Well, in the last week, we've had hugs from one set, a good conversation from another, and the third mowed our yard while I was at work and Tim was home with the boys (you try mowing while you are also watching two toddlers. Just kidding. Don't.).

Here's how we put together for our November neighbor gifts!

Supplies: (total cost of under $10 - divided by five gifts = Under $2 each!)

Then all we did was handprints of Monster & a footprint of Monkey...

And Mommy added a scripture to call it a day!

Hope you're all having a great Thanksgiving month!

Friday Favorites... and being thankful!

Friday! Hooray!

Today I get to spend the day with one of my favorite groups of people- my Student Council! Every year, we take a few trips to Ronald McDonald House & cook them a meal, donate pop tabs that the school has collected, and have a great time doing it! This year my StuCo is all girls, so that's probably going to turn our annual Target trip into an epic one! ;) Today's Target plans are to find some crafty things to turn into teacher Christmas gifts. [This was the girls' idea- totally after my own heart! :)]

Thankful Day 4: My boys

They always keep life interesting, and even though I know I'm far from the perfect Mommy, their little smiles and kisses are the absolute best reminders of why I do the things I do. <3

Thankful Day 5: My job

Stressful? Yes. Hectic? Yes. Worth it in the end? Yep.

Also. My computers class just started a Pinterest Project (which they looooooooooove. Best idea ever!), and here are some of the pins that the kiddos have sent me this week. I can't even handle some of them! The number of HP pins I've been sent.. I love it!

Thankful Day 6: Youth Group

I've learned so much from this group of kiddos, and I'm thankful that we've gotten the chance to work with them and build these relationships. (Speaking of- we've got a lot of youth stuff this month! Tomorrow is game night, next weekend is convo... whoop!)

I know- short and sweet post, but hey-- Monkey is awake already, and I'm going for those extra snuggles!! :)

Thankful

1 million sorries for the fact that I have been a super slacker. Wedding week kicked my booty, but I'm hopefully back again for the month of thanks!

Okay, plan: 1 post for each day... or maybe still 3 posts per week with one thanks for each day. Either way, I'll be here!

Day 1 of Thanks:

Salvation. Because for real, where would we be without that and grace? Exactly. (Also, here's the current way Monster tells us his Bible verses. Ha!)

Day 2:

The hubs. Without him, I would never ever be able to do any of the things that I do. He's my backbone (and muscle, because I'm WEAK), my love, my best friend, my hero, my heater... so much. I'll try not to get too sappy, but for real- I pray that when my kiddos get married, that they marry someone that cares about them as much as Tim does me. God absolutely knew what he was doing when I couldn't get him out of my head. 

Day 3: 

My students. Listen. This year has been a struggle. I've been feeling the pains of being overwhelmed and under-appreciated, and it was killing me. I felt terrible all of the time and like I couldn't make a difference. Things have started getting better (post coming soon- think a day of thanks for His word), and today was another reminder that there is hope! Every year, I have the kids write out things that they are thankful for- one thing each day. Today, I had a lot of kids (more than just these- this was just from one class!) write some legit stuff. A lot of times, middle schoolers only care about material possessions- today though, my teacher heart and my momma heart were so, so happy and proud.

 "I am thankful for school." "I am thankful for my teachers." "cool teachers" "school"

"God" "for God"

See you all tomorrow! :)