This was our first year with a real Christmas tree and it was so beautiful! James was still sick while we decorated it, but Rett was able to help put ornaments on.
A photo from last month when the boys were helping load mulch:
A couple from church hatched some chickens with their children and loved having them as pets...until their neighbors complained and reported them to their HOA. So they gave them to us! They are the friendliest chickens, completely unafraid of people and will climb all over you and let you pick them up.
Rett enjoyed being an only kid for the week it was just him and me going to school every day. One morning we were rushing around and I forgot to give him breakfast, so he begged me for school breakfast. I have cafeteria duty in the mornings so he is always asking me for school breakfast while I am in there :) He was extra excited this particular morning because it was chicken and waffles for breakfast. I mean who doesn't want chicken nuggets for breakfast??
Kindergarten had different community helpers visit and the firefighter was everyone's favorite. They loved watching him gear up and explain what every part does.
I thought I avoided it, but unfortunately I caught the sickness the boys had :( One morning I woke up with a fever and felt really terrible, but I went to work anyway because I was scheduled to substitute for the music teacher in the morning. It was the last practice before the Christmas performance that evening. I had three music classes, two of them just watched movies but one of them was 3rd grade practicing their recorders. Imagine you have the flu and a 102 degree fever and then you do 45 minutes of practicing recorders with 8 year olds. It was a struggle! I debated going home early after lunch, but I powered through and went straight to bed after we got home from school. Anthony took James and Rett later that night for the Christmas concert (it was K-2nd grade so only Rett was singing). Rett had a blast, but Anthony said it was really hard to hear and it was so dang crowded. The school really needs larger facilities!
I stayed home from work and slept in bed all day the next day. I was well enough to go back the next day, but wasn't feeling totally better for another week. When we all were finally healthy again after so much sickness, we decided to celebrate with a trip to Texas Roadhouse!
We had to ban Rett from putting his peanut shells on the floor because he kept flinging them at people walking by. Little stinker!
We decided to watch the Christmas parade this year instead of walking in it like last year. Rett was very concerned about when the firetrucks and sirens would be coming by. He had his fingers in his ears for 15 minutes, just waiting!
When James's cub scout float came by, he wanted to join them and walk the rest of the parade. One of the other parents said he could hang with him, so we let him go. It was perfect, we didn't have to get there early, we got to enjoy the parade, and he got to walk in it like he wanted to!
This was the school's float. The theme this year was "Gingerbread Christmas", so in order to get the float decorated the principal created a contest between all the teams of teachers. Each team got a plain wooden house to decorate as a gingerbread house and on the last day of school all the students voted for their favorite. The team that won is getting a long lunch at a restaurant away from school while the office staff watches their classes. It was definitely a good motivator!
The last week of the school, the entire school staff participates in secret Santa. Everyone draws a name and then gives their person secret gifts each day for the last three days of school and then one large gift at the staff Christmas party on the teacher work day before the break. This was my very first secret Santa gift I received. When I walked in, I was shocked at how big it was! They are supposed to be small, $5ish gifts.
The next day I got a feed scoop with an animal brush and some candy for me inside of it. The next day I got a candle and some more animal grooming tools. I must have talked to at least 5 different teachers about my gifts, trying to figure out who had me!
At our staff breakfast/Christmas party on our teacher work day, I got my final gift: A feed pail full of animal treats, a salt lick, and a tractor supply gift card. It turns out my secret Santa was the head of the aftercare program at the school. She also has tons of animals and she had been talking to James after school and getting information from him about all the animals we have :)
We decided to take a night and go bowling together. It was so much fun!! Having bumpers up helped :)
Coming home one night we spotted an owl hanging out on a low tree branch in our yard. It let us get so close to him!
Our first turkey egg hatched!! Anthony has been very nervous about these eggs and has done all of the effort in taking care of them while they were in the incubator. I was happy for him that a good amount hatched. Now we have turkey and chicken chicks back in the house :/
1 comment:
The secret santa presents were awesome!!! So thoughtful! I especially loved the bale of hay, that was so cute! The gingerbread houses in the parade were really cute too, that was smart to make it a competition.
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