Party, Party Party!!!

WoW, I can't believe it has been nine whole days since I blogged last. Where in the world has the time gone? Seriously. Christmas will be here before we know it and then it will be gone. Boo hoo. I think it is so depressing when Christmas has passed. We anticipate the day so much and then it is gone in the blink of an eye. Of all days, I wish I can prolong Christmas day so we can really enjoy it.

Anyhoo, I have been so busy getting ready for the kids' parties at the schools. I made each one of their teachers a fancy clipboard with tons on ribbons. I received one from Ms. Ripley as a thank you gift and just loved it. So I totally copied her and made some for gifts myself. Hopefully they will enjoy them as much as I have mine.

Nolan's party was a ton of fun. I am a co-room mom, thankfully. It is a lot of work being the only room mom. Don't get me wrong, though, I love being active in the classroom. So, this year for the BIG class party we decided to decorate gingerbread cookies. Yep, you guessed it! I volunteered to make 20 gingerbread man cookies and the icing for each student. Yikes. I really wandered what in the world I got myself into once I started cutting the little suckers out. Then kept breaking and getting out of shape. But once I got the hang of it, I had 20 before I knew it. They turned out so cute! I also made 3 batches of the Royal Icing and put some in baggies for each kid to have their own. Once I got to the school the students were just coming in from recess and the teacher had them sit down on the carpet. I proceeded to read Gingerbread Friends by Jan Brett. Just an FYI, I love love love Jan Brett books. There are so many "teachable" moments in her books. Not to mention, the illustrations are so beautiful. I actually bought this book with part of my "birthday money". How crazy is that? Children's books are my ultimate weakness. Sorry for that detour. I read the book about the gingerbread man that was looking for friends to play with, so we decided to make him some playmates. The kids had a ball. Afterwards, the other room mom made the cutest Rudolph cut out for the kids to play "Pin the Nose on Rudolph". Oh, it was an absolute hoot! The party was a huge success and the teacher even commented that it was one of the smoothest run parties she has ever had. Woo hoo!

Leslie's party was completely different. Each parent signed up to bring something to eat and the kids sat around a table and ate. Then Santa made a surprise entrance. He called up each kid and gave them a gift. Leslie was just itching to get up to talk to Santa. She said she wanted to ask for a pink Green Machine for her and a green Green Machine for Bubba. How sweet is that? So once Santa called her name, she ran up to him and hopped up on his knee. She wispered in his ear and he laughed. He probably had no clue what so ever what she was talking about. But she was proud of herself for actually talking to a stranger! Santa gave her the gift and she be-bopped down out of his lap. It was quite a sight. Here are the pics.