Fa la la la laaaaaaa!!!

I happen to live with a person who ADORES Christmas. I mean seriously comes out of her skin in anticipation. It has been so hard for Kendra to wait until Thanksgiving weekend to get out the decorations! I'll admit---I love it almost as much as she does! Our house is now all filled up with the red and green and sparkly stuff that shouts the holidays! Yay! Not too much is different from year to year, except the glaring difference in Kendra as she gets older. She should stop that, I think. I also messed around with my camera and tried some new stuff. I have absolutely no inkling of how to work the thing except in point-and-shoot mode. Someday, when I have time, I really must figure out how to use those manual modes so I can take neato pictures. I did mess around a bit and got a couple of (what I think are) cool looking pics.

This is my fave.  I have no idea what I did, but I like the lighting on this one.

 I just love laying on the ground looking up at the tree, don't you?

I know her face is shadowed a bit, but I love it anyway.  She's so stinkin' cute.

 My simple table. I got those three awesome Wise Men forever ago when I sold Southern Living at Home stuff for about five minutes.  These guys were worth that five minutes, I think.

I think this year I will splurge after the holidays for new, matching stockings.  Mine is pitifully old and SO boring (doesn't even have my name on the right side!).  And there is something wrong when the dog's stocking is cuter than yours.  Seriously.

Field Trip!

I haven't been able to go on one of Kendra's field trips since she was in kindergarten, so it was particularly fun when my class took our first field trip this year!  We went to the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History on the Tuesday right before the Thanksgiving break.  The museum also has an Omni theater and we went to see a movie called Under the Sea first.  Kendra was a little nervous...

 They had a really neat Egyptian exhibit with mummies, ancient pottery, and of course the camel photo-op.

 The kids really enjoyed the dino exhibit area, too.  Kendra is measuring a "fossil" here, although I'm thinking she's not too accurate considering she folded the measuring tape in half first.  Just sayin'.

 Good thing there are giant dino prints around for when you get tired and need to relax a bit.

 Look closely at this one.  I took it while Kendra was hula-hooping. You can see the hoop spinning!  Cool!

 Kendra and her pals M and K on the bus ride back to school.  Such cute girlies. 

I think my team is the smartest bunch of teachers around.  Taking a field trip the day before a holiday break is exactly the thing to do!  MUCH better than trying to wrangle squirrelly kiddos in a 20' x 20' classroom all day long, that's for sure!  Made the day go quickly and we all had a lot of fun.  And bonus!  I got to go with Kendra on a field trip again!  Yay!

Some final Halloween pics...

Forgive another Halloween post, but since I publish my blog into a book each year I wanted to have these in there!  A guy from the Saginaw ward took pictures at our combined Trunk or Treat and these were too good not to include in the blog book!

 The villians of the evening...Gaston, Snow White's Evil Queen, Cruella, Malificent, and Hades (Scott had his iPad showing a flame over his head, but apparently the flash killed it.  Bummer.)

Warms a mom's heart...and turns her a little green, maybe...

Comfy, cozy by the fire with a good book.  Ahhhhhh..

Full disclosure:  Kendra still doesn't LOVE reading.  She reads only the requisite amount each night to please her teacher (a.k.a. me!).  She never chooses reading over other things.  But she sure does look cozy here, doesn't she?  That's where the green part comes in for me...MAN, I wish I could cozy up to a good book!  JEALOUS!!!  She doesn't even know what a precious thing she has going there.  I can't allow myself to read during the school year.  I know.  It sounds so BACKWARD for a teacher to say that.  But if I get into a good book, I won't do the work I always have to do every night.  And I'll get behind, big time.  So no books for me, at least until Thanksgiving break, and then Christmas, and then spring break...and then (insert angelic chorus here) SUMMER.  Oh yeah.

Side note:  When we moved into our house almost 3 years ago, the contract dude I had do all my fixer-uppers, painting, flooring, etc. told me that he couldn't get the fireplace to light.  Being raised in an all electric home I admit that gas intimidates me.  I worry about blowing us up.  Rational fear, right?  Anyway, I assumed it was a thing that needed a repair dude, which I really didn't want to pay for.  Finally this fall I decided to buck up and pay.  I asked around and someone suggested it was simply that my pilot light needed to be lit.  I was still a bit unsure so I borrowed my neighbor and he lit the pilot and voila!  We have a fireplace that works!  Dang it for losing the last two winters without the ambiance of a fireplace, but I'm sure glad it works now.  It really isn't cold enough to use it yet, but Kendra just LOVED the idea of reading next to it tonight.  Far be it for me to deny her the pleasure....  anything to encourage the reading!