'Tis the Season!

     Okay so get ready for a whole bunch of posts about my favorite time of year.  I love, love, LOVE Christmas!!  We always have so many events each year to attend, and typically I capture all of those on camera, but my camera has been really weird lately.  I'll take a few pictures and then it will tell me some kind of error and tell me to turn my camera off, remove the battery, and turn it back on.  It always works after that, but only for a few shots, then it starts right back again.  It's driving me crazy!  Because of this, I didn't get to take as many pictures as I wanted to! Grr...anyways...I got some good stuff, though!
     These pictures are from the first event of the Christmas season, Charli's first grade Christmas party.  I should tell you that the week before the party, I emailed her teacher and told her I would be happy to help in any way.  Two days later, I got a phone call at 9:00 at night (which if you know me you know that's WAY past my bedtime!) from the classroom party mom.  She was way to excited for it to be 9:00, and she was even more excited about this party.  She told me I could either bring drinks or make a snack and if I was going to buy a snack, I should probably just bring drinks. Ha!  So, I happily volunteered to make a "super cute and super fun" (in her words) snack for the class.  So, the night before the party, Charli and I made these cute little "super fun" snacks.  (Thanks pinterest!)

We had a good time, Charli's job was to insert all the noses and I did the rest. You would be surprised at how difficult it is to break pretzels to look like antlers.  It definitely was!  Cooper enjoyed them though!  ;)  Anyways...here are a few shots from the day of her party!

 This is Charli and her teacher, Mrs. Scott!  Her teacher is so sweet and absolutely awesome for Charli!  We gave her this sign for Christmas.  I had Aunt Ruth make it for her.  She loved it!  Charli was so excited to give it to her!

Making her craft

Enjoying her snack

Her best friend, Mary Mac

Another friend, Denisha

Mommy & Daddy with their girl

Christmas Card "Photo Shoot"

So, I typically take our Christmas cards every year.  This is probably not a great idea, but since I wait until the last possible minute to do them, I really don't have a choice! So, here ya go!!

Yeah, so, I almost used this picture, and if you know us, you know why!

"Run to Mommy!"  Too bad Charli decided to drag Emmie Kate along the way! She was okay...just got grass stains on her tights!

This one is just too cute!



Just not working...



You guys like how Weesa just sat up there, perfectly where she would have been if she were another one of the kids?

"Smile Cooper!"

And here's the winner!

 I should really get our pictures made next year, but then again, this is WAY more fun!! :)

Cheese!

Look at these three!  Aren't they just precious?!

Wizard of Oz Birthday Part Two

So, I have to admit.  The night before the party, I panicked a little bit!  I took the day off to get a lot of the stuff done, but 5:00 rolled around and I had to pick up the kids from school!  AHHH! Ben was gone to his football game, and so it was up to me to keep the kids out of the glitter, balloon, & snack filled dining room!  Nearly impossible!!   Thank goodness for the help of my friends, without them, I'm not sure anything would have gotten done!! 


Make a wish!




The inside of the cake!  I'm definitely not capable of doing this, so I delegated!  Thanks Aunt Ruth!!




Bella, excited to dig in!



Love these girls! :)

Tons of gifts!

Mommy & Daddy's sweet girl!

My little "Dorothy" with her Toto (A.K.A. Weesa!)

The party turned out great!  We had a wonderful time with lots of family and friends!  Most importantly, Bella LOVED it! :)

Bella's Wizard of Oz Party Part One

So, I am WAY behind on these posts.  And by way behind, I mean her birthday was in September!  Whew!  Anyways, Bella wanted a little mermaid party, a ballerina party, and then three weeks before the big day, she changed her mind and wanted Wizard of Oz.  This being my favorite movie, I got really excited! :)

These were the invitations.  I typically try to make them cuter, but since she changed her mind three weeks before...this is the best I could do!

I love how this party turned out, but my one regret is not hiring a photographer!  (Becky, you will be called for the next Ensor party! Ha!)  I had one of the girls at the party take pictures, and she did a great job, but I would like to have had lots of professional shots that I just didn't have time to do! 


Our little "Doroty" standing on the "yellow brick road"! 



The front entryway had a place for guests to write little we love you messages and it also had the party favors.  The favors were "apples" from the haunted forest.  Inside was courage, heart, a diploma, glenda's bubbles, & toto treats!



The food table





The somewhere over the rainbow cake...you know, where blue birds fly!



We painted frames as the craft...



Then we took pictures of the kids in the "hot air balloon" to put in the frames!

 Okay!  I'll try to do more later!

FIVE!!

On this day, five years ago, my Isabella Claire was born.  It is so hard to believe that she is FIVE!  Five just seems like such a big number.  She should still be my little thing!  *tear*  I am so proud of the sweet, loving child she is and how much she is growing.

Your five years in pictures....

So sweet! I love this baby picture.

One

Two

Three

Four

Five



Bella

 You love animals, dolls, stuffed animals, and anything you can "mother"

Everytime you get a treat from the treasure chest you get 4.  One for each of your sibilings!

You say your favorite food is brown (baked) beans, macaroni & cheese, and bread.

Your favorite color is purple.

When you grow up, you say you want to be a "doctor for the animals."

You love church and your favorite part of our bedtime routine is our Bible story.

You pray for "everyone in the whole wide world" every night.

You are very clumsy.  We say you trip over every threshold and you say..."I trip over everything that has a line."

One of your teachers said that you are the sweetest child she has ever known.

Bella,

Your daddy and I love you more than you will ever know.  We were truly blessed five years ago when God gave you to us. We are so proud of the sweet girl you are and pray that you continue to be as loving and caring as you are now.  You make us smile all of the time!  We cannot wait to see what God does in your life and what a wonderful young lady you will become. 

Love always,

Mommy & Daddy

Back to School!

So, since I was 5 years old, I knew I wanted to be a teacher.  There was the occasional hope of becoming a "walmart check-out lady" in the elementary school years, but other than that, my goal has not changed.  Anyways, as soon as I graduated high school, I took a job teaching preschool while going to college, and I haven't made a career change since.  In 2008, Rebekah and I decided to open our own preschool.  Since then, I haven't taught my own classroom.  Last year, I took over a classroom for a few months after a teacher resigned, but I haven't had my own room in a very long time.  Well, this year I felt led to get back in the classroom, and since one of our pre-k teachers moved out of town, I decided it was a perfect opportunity!  (We miss you, Kristen! )
We have three preschool (4 year old) classes this year, and I am teaching with some highly talented, very creative, wonderful ladies.  While watching them plan for the new school year, and seeing all the awesome ideas they had come up with, I realized I needed to get cracking on some cute ideas for the class!! 
I decided to go with a hollywood/movie theme in my classroom.  I like it, the kids like it, and hopefully I won't want to change it in a few weeks!  Ha!

My circle time area...My classroom theme each week is a different book.   
August is Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, & Rainbow Fish.
 Any suggestions for next month?

The Backstage Reading Lounge
This is where we will have our reading groups when we start them. 
For now, it is one of our learning center rotations!

My spin on a Pinterest birthday display

My Job Board

My class rules.  We emphasize the Don't Whine rule everyday! Hehe!

And the dreaded time-out spot!

Okay, okay, so I can't take credit for the ideas...it was all pinterest.  (BTW if you don't have a pinterest account, you should get one!)  I just put my hollywood spin on it! 
So, it is a cute classroom, if I do say so myself!  My goal for the year is to...obviously...teach the children the things necessary for survival in kindergarten, but mostly to teach these young minds about the love and mercy of my God.  I will only have them for a short time, but I want to make sure at the end of that time, that I am able to share with them as much as I can about Him.  I pray daily that I will display God's love in my life, and that will shine through to them.  Will you help me in that prayer?

Off to 1st grade she goes!!

Last week, my baby started first grade!  Those of you who know me knew that kindergarten was SUPER HARD for me.  She had been with me everyday since birth, and I suddenly had to take her to an unfamiliar place, drop her off with unfamiliar people, and have zero control over her day to day experiences...not good for this control freak mama!  Ben and I were in the process of selling our house, so we weren't in the school zone we wanted to be in, so we decided to put her in a private christian school for her first year of school.  It was a half day program, and it was a smaller environment.  I cried for weeks...she loved it.

This year should have been easier for me, but it was much, MUCH harder for some reason.  We sold our house this summer and moved into a great school zone.  Charli and I took a tour of the school this summer. The school was terrific!  It had great facilities and a very friendly staff.  We left there registered and ready for first grade!  We waited eagerly on our letter telling us who her teacher would be.  When we finally got it, we found our her teacher would be Mrs. Scott.  We immediately went to the school's website to look for her picture or bio, and found nothing.  She wasn't listed on the first grade page.  In fact, the only Mrs. Scott in the whole school was a 3rd grade teacher and she was not pictured.  Again, the control freak in me freaked out, only a little! ;)

Anyways, we met Mrs. Scott at open house the Sunday before school started and we love her.  I knew immediately she was going to be great for Charli.  I can't wait to get to know her better! 

Okay, so here are the pictures from her first day!



Being a teacher, I love to get gifts...so, we figured her teacher would too!  Thanks pinterest for this super cute idea!
 "Soda" lighted you're my teacher!



She came into the kitchen clapping because she was so excited! :)

Waiting patiently on Mrs. Scott.

Sitting at her desk waiting on me to leave!



 She had a great first week of school, but that doesn't make me worry about her any less.  I pray that she will be a shining light at that school.  That she will share her love for and knowledge of the Lord with all those she comes in contact with!

....man, I love that girl! :)