Christmas Partying & Performing

Banks had his class Christmas party the Monday before Christmas.  Mrs. Morris let me and the other homeroom mother have free rein of the classroom for 1 hour.  They started off with a little game of unscrambling Christmas time words with candy for the prizes.

Then they made a salt dough ornament...



Then they decorated a Christmas tree brownie with icing and candy...



Can you tell Mrs. Morris gave them all reindeer antlers for Christmas?



I am just glad they haven't gotten too grown for a good old fashion Christmas party.  They were so excited!  She also gave them a $5.00 Books-a-Million gift certificate in their goodie bag.  Wow!  We can't wait to go pick out a new book!

Some of the class girls...



Savannah, Carlie and Emily

Mary Reese had her Christmas party on Tuesday morning.  She had to take a "stocking stuffer" for everyone in her class.  She took peppermint erasers.  Waiting to stuff the stockings...



Emma, Towns, Mary Reese & Eliza

The whole class with their stockings...



What a cute group of kiddos!  She ended up with some really cute things...pencils, crafty items, ornaments, a certificate for a scoop of ice cream at the local parlor...

[I stole these two pictures from Tara...hope you don't mind?  We loved our salt dough peace sign ornament.  I made it home in one piece and quickly went on the tree in MR's room.]

After lunch it was time for the big Christmas Extravaganza muscial performance...



Fabulous Christmas classics with a twist...sure to get even the Grinch in the Christmas Spirit!

Mary Reese is on the top row...the second from the right side.  She has been practicing the songs, the moves and her lines for weeks.  She definitely had all the words and moves down!  One of her favorite songs...



Frosty Boy aka Frosty the Snowman

Then it came time for her lines [the line she rehearsed a few hundred times, so many times that even Owen had them down pat]...



Then for the finale [part of it anyway]...



Too bad my camera was full and I didn't even realize it!  I did find some really interesting videos shot by my children.  Guess I need to hide the video camera better.  Oh well, I got her during her lines which was the most important part!

I am always amazed at what the music, drama and art teacher can accomplish with that many kids and only a few practices.

The last two days of school before Christmas Vacation were jam packed...and then fun was only beginning!

B I N G O

This past Saturday we did our annual Christmas Bingo at my dad and Jane’s. My sister will be in Natchez with her husband and his family, so we bingoed a week early.

We started out the morning with a cousin coloring session…



…and a delicious brunch…



…with all our traditional Christmas Morning foods.

Then made our wish list from the bingo table…



Instead of buying each other gifts, we buy bingo prizes. Popsy and Gigi fill in with some big prizes. Originally I had my eye on a ladder that got away from me last year, but when I got there I spotted a Keurig. I have wanted one for a while now. So did my sister and Tina. I knew I would have to bingo first score it.

After brunch, we each made up our bingo card…



I picked my numbers hoping for a winning card! All I needed was I 23 and the Keurig was mine…

Yes! I 23 was called and I quickly claimed my prize.

After all the Bingo prizes were claimed…



…we dug into our stockings…



Always a fun time, and always a pair of socks…



The kids had some additional loot…



…which they had a great time sharing and fighting over!

We forgot to get our annual family photo, but did manage to get one of all the siblings…



…before everyone headed home for a long winter’s nap…

The Deadly Dungeon Cereal Box

Banks had 2 chapter book projects this 9 weeks. The first one was the Book in the Bag due right before Thanksgiving. The other one was a Cereal Box one due right before Christmas Break.

He read The Deadly Dungeon [a book from the A to Z Mystery series] by Ron Roy. Then they had to decorate a cereal box based on the book and do an oral report.

The front had to be decorated to represent the book complete with a catchy slogan…



The back had to have a summary of the book…



The top had to list the main characters…



The bottom had to have the plot and setting…



One side had have the climax…



…and the other side had to have the main problem and solution…



Another creative twist on the standard book report, and a great way to fill up the two days before Christmas vacation!

basketball

Banks is playing basketball for the first time this year. He is on the Celtics with only 1 other person we know. He is having a ball…



Saturday was our second game and he got to do the jump shot.

Ready to rebound…



Rebounding…



We have all gotten a kick out of their pants. The store ordered youth sizes in the jerseys but adult sizes in the shorts. So Banks is wearing an adult large short!

He has scored 3 points and 4 points during the first 2 games and gotten a ton of rebounds. We are off for 2 weeks and then pick it back up after the first of the year.

becoming a man :: first deer

Monday Jody checked Banks out of school after lunch to go on his first deer hunt. Tony Chachere was in town and offered to help him kill his first deer. They headed to Elkmont and got situated in a deer stand. Around 3:00 I get a text…



He shot a buck. But it ran off and they never could find it. The story is it was a big one, at least a 6 point.

He got situated back in the stand with Tony…



…and Daddy.

Around 5:00 I get another text…



He shot another one.

Here he is…



…with the deer.

Then they painted him up…



Now I have a freezer full of deer meat!

A deer rifle is on the top of his Christmas Wish List...I am not convinced.

turning nine

Do I seriously have a 9 year old? Next year he hits the double digits but it seems like just yesterday my water broke late on a Friday night and we headed to the hospital to have him. He didn’t make his entrance until right before lunch on Saturday, December 9th…the anniversary of Pearl Harbor.

His birthday hit on a school day this year. He wasn’t impressed with the options in the lunchroom, so I packed him a special lunch…


He requested a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Since it was his birthday, I had to make it special.

For breakfast, I treated him to a Panera bagel…



Chocolate Chip is his favorite.

Before hitting the road for school, we did a quick measurement…



2 inches since last year.

I made him some cupcakes to share with his classmates…



His birthday fell on a Wednesday night. We told him he could pick anywhere for dinner. His pick…



5 Guys Burgers and Fries. He really wanted to go to church and since that starts at 5:45 we knew it would have to be quick.

This place happened to open on the same day directly across from 5 Guys…



…so it was the perfect ending to his day…



However, I think little brother enjoyed them the most…



The next night, Nanny Nan and John B treated him to a steak dinner at a local steak place and a Judi Moore cake…



This is the last year he gets is own cake. Judi only makes them up to the number 9!

dasher minty returns

Friday night after Thanksgiving, the kids and I piled in the bed and watched the Elf on the Shelf special on tv. The kids went to bed wondering when our elf [Dasher Minty] would return.

They got up Saturday morning and thought it was just a typical morning. Banks decided to play something on the iPad when he got a clue that there might be an extra person in our house...



He looked at the picture and tried to figure out where Dasher Minty was hiding. It didn't take long before they found him...



...taking a marshmallow bubble bath in Mary Reese's Barbie doll bathtub.

Sunday morning he had rolled the tv...



...and had written them a note about keeping their rooms clean, not fighting and using the potty. Mary Reese said he needed to work on his handwriting. We'll see if the note actually works!

Monday morning, we found him in the hall...



He had written notes all over their pictures.

When we got home from school, he had moved...



...and got the Christmas tree out. [Only about 1/3 of the lights worked when he plugged it in, which put me in the worse mood all week long! I am happy to report after adding 750 lights, our tree is lit and decorated. Hopefully it will stay that way until December 26th.]

Tuesday morning, he was having fun with Barbie, Ken, Stacie, Papa Surf and Steve Irwin...



Wednesday morning, he made waffles for breakfast...



Delicious & Delightful...and they tasted just like mine!

Thursday morning was December 1st. He got our advent calendar ready for the hanging of the first ornament...



Friday morning we found him acting like a mummy...



Today he brought back a whole bowl of candy canes...


We are glad he is back. Not sure how much is has actually help out with our behavior. We are still working on some things.