Christmas Art

Working in an Elementary School is so fun at Christmas time.

I'm not saying the kids are good this time of year.

I'm saying it is fun to walk the halls and see what they have made.

Stockings are big around the school.

Almost every class makes some kind of stocking.

I found these super cool.

You paint on the plastic and then put on the pie pan.

Very cute.

This little writing project made me smile every time I walked by.

This is a corner.

Turned out cute.

First grade Santas.

These little dears are cute too.

Another writing project.

Santa's Stuck.

Kindergarten made these.

What a mess,

but so adorable.

Love the glitter on a coloring page.

More first grade Santas.

They make me smile.

Joy and Peace

It was a good week to catch up.

Finished the Christmas decorations.

I was having a hard time deciding where to put this nativity.

At one point, I thought I wouldn't put it out,

but it is the first one we ever had.

I'm not sure why, but putting out these things

that have been with us for years, is very fulfilling.

Is this because they actually made it through 5 kids?

Or is it because they bring back the memories of the kids when they were little?

Not sure, but I enjoy the 'antique' Christmas stuff.

Please take a minute to watch this.  

It reminds me of peace and joy.

 

New Tree

I always tell people that I'm not crafty,

because I am not!

But I needed table decorations for a Christmas party.

I have been so busy this week,

 I didn't even have time to find something on Pinterest.

So, Wes and I threw 42 of these together late Friday afternoon.

They were on the tables a good half hour before the dinner started.

It seems that if there is no glue involved, I can do something crafty.

I really wanted a new tree.

You know, smaller and pre-lit.

So I have one and it works.

A Visitor

We enjoyed a weekend of our grandson.

He kept us all busy.

 The weather was nice.

So we Christmas'ed the house.

We were happy to have a little helper.

Although, not a lot of help here.

 Enjoying some movie time.

Ready to go home.

And for the record, he was not the only one to come home for a turkey dinner,

just the cutest.

What a Difference a Week Makes

I have two words for the weather this week.

Cold    Windy

A week ago, I thought these little flowers would make it to Thanksgiving.

I guess Mother Nature had a different idea.

We did get a snowday out of it.

Thanks to the freezing rain.

I can't believe I just said that.

Question

We are having a beautiful fall.

I am enjoying it very much.

I have a question.

I am working with a 5 year old who is writing

writing up-side-down and backwards.

I know that backwards is totally age appropriate, 

however, the up-side-down thing????

It is fascinating.

If you have ever worked with any one with this issue, 

would you please contact me.

I ask everyone I know that works with children.

Thanks. 

Thinking about another Life

So my life the last couple of weeks has been overflowing with people dying.

We had a co-worker, who has struggled with depression for many years,

take her own life.

We had a child at the middle school take his own life.

Then we had a 9 year old girl die from being kicked in the head by a horse.

Then, to my greatest surprise, 

a very dear friend of mine, lost her daughter.

I have prepared food,

Sent cards,

Held hands and cried with people,

Covered for people so they could attend funerals,

and

Attended a funeral.

This is what I know.

God lives and he loves us.
And that when our hearts get so heavy
that it hurts to breath,
That Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World,
will carry our sorrows.

We do not know how long we get to live on this earth,

but I like to think we will be happy when we leave it...

and that there will be a beach there.

Love you All

Loving those fall colors

I love coming home to this every day.

I know, I should have Wes clean it up, but it is so pretty

and easy to step over.

So I say, Welcome Fall.

I was lucky enough so spend some time with my mom.

She brought me photos.

Some of them really old.

I asked her if there was another picture of her great grandmother,

that didn't look like this.

(If you know what I mean?)

Her reply was, "No, that's what she looked like."

It made me smile.

Utah Weekend

We went to Utah last weekend.

Callie went to the temple,

she is not going on a mission or getting married,

she just went.

We enjoyed the beautiful weather.

We hung out with this guy.

He loves having everyone around.

and reading books.

We went to Soda-lishious  in Provo.

It was good.

We enjoyed conference.

There has been some debate about this picture.

You decide  --- napping or praying?

And one last picnic,

in the parking lot,

with my favorite people.

Journal's

We started journals this week.

I can't help but post these,

they truly warm my heart.

the zig zag in the center of their bodies, is their stomachs.

This child understand the digestive system.

This is my only girl, with her dog.

Kinda reminds me of cloths pins.

This child is new to our school.

Long story, but he is new to school at 7 years old.

I asked what were the names of his cats,

he said he didn't have any cats. 

I haven't met his family, maybe they look like cats.

Love these happy faces.

We will do the writing next.  

It's always sweet to hear how much they love their families.

My Summer Family History

Family History......

I have really been trying to do something on my family history.

The truth is, there is a lot done already.

But I have been making  baby steps to try and do something productive.

This summer, I decided I would try and post the pictures that I had on familysearch.org.

As it turned out, we had some computer issues, which lead to putting it off.

It didn't really take much to side track me.

As the summer rolled along and I was still procrastinating  

I came to a conclusion.

I decided that instead of worrying about my family history, 

I needed to acknowledge my family history.

Please meet my mothers Aunt Doris, and her mother.

I am sure my quilting gene came directly from them.

I had been thinking of Aunt Doris since last summer,

when we drove past a sign in Wyoming posting the name of the town she had lived in her adult life.

She loved to quilt and give them away.

She sent me a graduation quilt, and also quilts for my babies.

Her mother, also loved to quilt.

So I can blame them for my quilting  obsession.  

For the record, I did post my pictures.

I am looking forward to spending some time with my mother,

and stealing getting some more pictures to post.

Not to mention, some more information about these people,

who are my family.

Serenity

We had a big rain in August and this poor flower suffered to near death.

I just couldn't give up on it, even though it was flowerless, and turning brown.

So I transplanted it and put the rock in with it.

It is a lucky rock, every flower I put it in with, thrives.

So last week it was brown, this week with a little serenity,

it blooms.

I think it's a life lesson.

End of a Season

I had a wonderful end of summer.

I picked blackberries and made jam.

Scott wanted to go to Redfish Lake.

I told him, 'if you come home, we'll drive up.'

He came home.

We drove up on a beautiful day.

I can't tell you how much I love my weeds.

I love looking out he window and seeing the pop of yellow.

Then I went back to school and found all my students.

My new knee was awesome!.

We should have a great year. 

We start journals this week.

I love my students.

Hope you wrap up your summer with a touch of joy.