It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

I know it's not Thanksgiving yet, but I have Decked our Halls anyway. Normally I've never done it this early, but I just felt the urge to get ready for Christmas and I decided to go with it. (Besides, by the day after Christmas, I'm ready to put it all away, so I might as well get as much time as I can with it!)

Sometimes it seems like a lot of work to decorate all over, but this morning Emma looked around and said something that stuck with me. She said, "I bet it makes Jesus happy when he sees how much we decorated for his birthday." I love that she said that. Simply put. And just a reminder to me that despite the commercialism that surrounds us at Christmas, her young heart has not been mislead.

So take a look at how we've decorated for Jesus' birthday this year!

This last one is my very favorite. It's a plush Christmas tree, but the ornaments tell the story of Jesus' birth. The kids love to take them off and tell the story as they put them all back on. Such a great reminder for us all!

We all had to do it

Do you remember Thanksgiving in elementary school? It hasn't changed much at all. Today Caleb's first grade class celebrated the annual Thanksgiving Feast and everyone was dressed as either a pilgrim or an Indian. I'm sure it's probably not politically correct, but it's tradition nonetheless!

Most of our nights look....

like this.

Now that the time has changed and it's dark by 5:00, we've fallen into a new routine. When Chase and I get home the kids are begging to go outside, so usually they head over to a friend's house or we all go out to play. But before you know it, it's getting dark, so we come inside, work on homework as I cook dinner, then settle in to play dollhouse, read books, or video games (mostly for Caleb and Daddy). By 7:00 it's bathtime, teeth time, and bedtime at 8:00. (And then I collapse on the couch and doze off, pretending to watch TV!)

Tonight Chase was at a baseball game and the kids were all in the same room playing dollhouse. This dollhouse was a Christmas gift for Emma last year and has been played with every day since last Christmas. She loves it so much! And Sarah has become quite fascinated with it now, too, watching Emma play and learning how to make the people interact. I love watching how she makes the people move and play, carefully maneuvering each one into the correct spot and getting so frustrated when her little hands just can't make the doll do what she wants it to do.

As we were all playing, Caleb wanted me to read the Jingle Bells book, and before I knew it, an impromptu round of Christmas caroling ensued!

As we were singing, I just knew I had to catch it, because I know how fast these days go by, and I'm trying my hardest to savor them.

Yes on 8

Since tomorrow is the big day, and my friend Julie's blog inspired me to vent a bit, there's just something I've got to get out there. It is driving me crazy hearing those commercials out there by CTA that say "California teachers are for equal rights...that's why they say vote no on prop 8." Well I am a member of that union. I am a California teacher. I do support equal rights. But I think the definition of marriage is a man and a woman. I don't think that denies anyone rights. I think it simply keeps marriage as what it was intended to be. But that's not my point.

My point is, why is my union, whose dues I pay into, promoting a proposition that has nothing to do with education. True, if it does go down, there may be some stories in books that talk about a dad and a dad, and that's not what I want my kids exposed to. Nor is that what I want to share with my students. In fact, chances are, if that story were in my text book, I'd skip it. Simple.
But still, I digress.

Why is my union using my money to promote something that not only do I full NOT support, but that they have no business being in anyways? They tell us that our dues only go to political support if we request them to go that way. But then they blanket all teachers under their campaign.

So I just had to get that off my chest. And I want to let you know that when the next school year comes around, I am leaving my union. If they're not representing my point of view, then I don't need them!