Thanksgiving Break

We made it to break...it took some motivation and reminding ourselves that we were so close to seeing family and hanging out with friends to keep us going BUT HERE WE ARE. I love that I was able to run with my girls this morning, come home and take a looooonnnngggg hot shower (of which it took me the whole 20 minutes to get warm) and then actually sit down and eat breakfast....instead of taking it with me to school and eating it as we scatter kids to classes and I answer a plethora of questions for students about hw or art projects due that day :).

We also got out the Christmas decor yesterday. Since we aren't going to be home from Tues-Sunday we thought this weekend would be perfect. Its always fun to see our kids "remember" our decor and talk about it importance and traditions we have. We also got lights on the house and  some presents under the tree.

Later on today we are taking family pictures, which will hopefully lead to a great christmas card...we are also meeting up with friends for lunch and packing to go stay with Aunt Micah and Uncle Chris for a few days in Arkansas.

The kids all had a great last week in school. Baby Boy had a thanksgiving feast where we he recited  a poem about the pilgrims with cute movements and ate turkey roll ups while dressed like a pilgrim. He also DARTED into our room one night and said "I had a bad dream"...I said "go snuggle with sister then"...he immediately responded with "sister was the bad dream"!!!!! Baby Boy also had a field trip to the zoo. He clung to his best friend Collins, a sweet little girl, and her parents. He talked about their magic car and all the animals for the rest of the weekend. I am so blessed to work at such a close knit school too....you see, neither Adam or I could go on this field trip and by the end of the day I had 4 moms texting me pictures and I knew everything that little boy did...including PETTING A SNAKE!!!

Big Girl also had a thanksgiving feast where she sang 5 songs and recited a thanksgiving prayer from the book of Psalms. We sent turkey roll ups for that party but they never made it out of the fridge...oh well, that is all the kids have wanted for meals since Friday..fine with me..they are super healthy as I used greek yogurt cream cheese, turkey and light mozzarella cheese on a whole wheat tortilla!!!

Big Man had a field trip as well to the "Nutcrapper"...as our family adoringly calls it. He liked the part with the wolf but other than that he wasn't impressed..I can't blame the guy, unless you have studied it or are a die hard fan it doesn't appeal to most 11 year old boys :). He also got to visit with some pastors from Uganda and is now stuck on helping people there and watching the Samaritan purse refugees...thus our packing of 5 shoeboxes on Saturday to send off to Operation Christmas Child.

We took this picture after Auburn beat A&M....we are in the middle of Aggies here and we have to celebrate as they torture us all year long!! Yes, we did wear all orange and blue to church.....it was very mild though...pssshh

I am so proud of my students this semester. I took a picture of the upstairs display  cabinet right before I unloaded it to haul a bunch of pieces off to a competition. They are so talented!

I made lamb gyros one night for the family and to make mine lighter I did half lamb, half tilapia ...a whole grain wrap instead of pita and lots of spinach with tzatiki sauce.

Leftover became a salad the next day for lunch!

My 9th graders will never be the same. We just finished two paintings..one using only palette knives and painting outdoor scenes, another using watercolor to paint self portraits. Then we watched Bob Ross....they WERE amazed and glued. We are now planning a Bob Ross night...that should be hilarious!

This was big girl's contribution to her classes discovery list about Thanksgiving...yup, that girl has some redneck blood in her veins!

My favorite "stoup"...stew.soup. I bake butternut squash and carrots. Blend them with ginger and hot and sour broth and add light sour cream. A huge bowl is right around 150 calories and its so stinking good!! Rice cakes dipped in as chips is also really good!

We now have two kiddos who require breathing treatments....it takes about 10-15 minutes every morning and night but boy does it break up a cough and keeps that cold from turning into bronchitis every time!!!
We will do anything to stay healthy of our trip to Uncle Chris and Aunt Micah over the break!!