Parent Observation at Dance.....

Tuesday was parent observation day at dance. Pooh Bear did 3 dances to Christmas songs. She did a ballet, jazz and tap dance. I think she did best the ballet dance.

I have to tell you that I got to thinking about it the other day and Pooh Bear has had to learn and remember a lot of stuff over the last couple of months. Since around October she has had to learn about 6 songs for choir at church, 3 poems and 3 or 4 songs for school Thanksgiving program and 3 dances. All that on top of all the stuff she is learning at school. She has learned a ton of sight words and is reading some pretty hard (for a 6 year old) books. I am amazed at the stuff she has learned and remembered.

My Brothers Band Concert

Last night was his band concert at the Middle School. He is in the 7th grade band and plays the tenor saxophone. I thought the band did a great job.

He SO did not want me to take a picture of him but I am his sister so I made him! I also told him he had many years of wearing a tux in front of him. Granted it may not be a cummerbund and bow tie but a tux non the less.

Girls singing at church....

Again!

The Elves

I made all kinds of new elves this year but I like these the best.

I decided to make elves that looked like the girls.

It's all in the details...

I don't know if you can tell by the pictures but all the walls are covered with brown paper. The paper is 36" wide so we have to tape 3 together. Which works great except that that leaves about a foot at the bottom with no paper. So I came up with the idea to gift wrap poster board. My dad is able to get us poster board for free and we have the congregation donate the paper. This way it cost us nothing and is a big impact. The poster board is stapled to the wall.

These are the peppermint we made from the same free poster board and a red swirl is painted in the middle with paint we already have. The only thing that cost us any money is the glitter we added.

Since the brown paper covers the real windows I decided to add fake windows. Only my windows are bright and fun. It is yellow craft paper with red stripes painted on it. The "curtains" at the top are inexpensive ($.70 per yard) green tulle draped and the bows are red tulle. The middle of the bows are curly ribbon from Nashville Wraps.

Last year I took the clock off the wall and left it off. But after I got fussed at a few times last year because no one knew the time I changed my plans for this year. I decided to leave the clock up and put a wreath around it. The wreath was painted on the brown paper and laminated.

The snowflakes are made out of the same free poster board. But they were glittered for a little extra shine. Also notice the glittery polka dot on the tree. It is something small but but makes a big difference.

Close-up of the Ho Ho Ho sign

All the reindeer and elves are painted on brown paper and laminated. I really like them because they are simple, cute and fun. I tried very hard to keep everything very kid friendly. I could have spent a lot of time on eyes and facial features but it would not have mattered to the children.

Every time the kids walk by the reindeer they hit the jingle bells so I am praying they stay in place for the next 22 days.

More Breakfast with Santa

I am not sure the best way to show you pictures and give you a real perspective.

I guess I will just show you the before and after pictures.

Before

These Ho Ho Ho signs have Christmas lights in them. My Dad took two strands of lights and wired them together and Dougie hot glued them in. They are made out of foam board like you put on the outside of a house. Dougie burned the holes in the foam for me to put the lights in. He also did a REALLY great job hiding all the wires so that you can not see them. They almost look like magic.

Before

After

The Santa Sleigh was a last minute addition. It was not included in my original plan. But when I realized my reindeer were not going to be big enough to cover both walls Lyn suggested the Sleigh. I cut the sleigh out of red paper and me and Mom painted the lights around the top. I think it turned out really cute for a last minute addition.

Notice the Bear, Doll, Ball and Dog my Mom painted those too.

Before

After

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Breakfast with Santa at Our Church

This is a Sneak Peek at the decorations I did at the Church for this years Breakfast with Santa. There is A LOT more to see but I won't have pictures of the rest of it until tomorrow. So for now I hope you like these. If you think this is good wait until you see the rest.

My friend Stacy drew the people and the animals and I painted them. We were going for a simple, serious look in the hall with the manger scene. The rest of the room is fun and flashy. We did not feel like it was appropriate to glitter Baby Jesus. We also decided to leave the animals faceless.

My mom helped me this year with some of the painting. She helped me with the straw they are standing on and she painted the horse. She did a really great job on the horse.

My history with this goes back to 2008. I was newly elected to the children's ministry Preschool committee at the church last year. And during one of the meetings they mentioned Breakfast with Santa needed to be decorated. So I volunteered. I was told I had no budget and that I would have to use what the church had. So that is what I did and they loved it so much they told me I was in charge of it again this year. Only this year I was given a great budget. But I still did a lot of what I did last year to save time. But I also added a lot of new things too. This manger scene is new for this year. I have been working on a lot of this stuff since October and I have had a lot of great help. Anyway it takes many, many hours to do it all but I really do enjoy just about every minute of it!

Another One Gone....

Okay we are now down two teeth. She hung on to this one until the bitter end!!! She would not let me touch it for a long time because she knew it need to come out. But last night I was fussing at her because she said it hurt. I told her if we could just get it out that it would stop hurting. But she was still not buying it! But she made a pinkie promise with her Daddy last night that he could get it out tonight. So before bed time she let him try. He wiggled it some but he did not want to hurt her so he was scared to do it. So finally I told her I was doing it. I got the napkin dried her tooth pushed it forward and it popped. So of course she starts screaming and crying but now the tooth really is hanging. So I pulled one more time and it came out. Whew... I am glad it finally came out. I am not sure I am cut out for this, I know I did not miss my calling to be a dentist.

Our Room

I found this saying on the etsy website. They are just vinyl stickers I stuck to the wall and I will pull off after Christmas.

My hubby and I don't do to much in our room we set out a few things on top of the dresser and we do a small tree on the nightstand. These ornaments are the ones we had on our tree when we first got married. This tree does not really have a theme or color scheme it just bring back a lot of memories for us!

Sunday School Bulletin Board

Oops I forgot to show you the board from November. Well better late than never.

Sometimes...

I get lucky and get a pretty cute picture. I really like this one and I just happened get it at the birthday party.

Birthday Party

The Birthday Boy

The girls went to a birthday party the other day and they had a blast.

It was for my best friends little boy, he turned 2.

My Brother and the Girls

Girls Play Room

I found these cute little Snowmen and Santa heads at Sam's last year. I went week after week last year and every time I went I talked myself out to them until finally one day I just decided to buy them. I can honestly say I have not regretted it for even a moment.

The girls tree is a candy - princess theme tree. I LOVE buying the Dept. 56 goody goody gumdrop collection. I buy all kinds of stuff in that collection for the girls, including the snowmen I showed you in another post.

Here is the mantel which I love just because it is simple and cute. I also love my stockings. I love mine because my mom made it for me when I was little. I love the girls because I spent so many hours working on them when they were still in my tummy. And I love Dougie's stocking because I made it when we were dating.