happenings on the homefront

For FHE last night we had the other W family over to

sing Christmas carols and practice a song to sing in sacrament meeting

in two weeks.

I forgot how much little people love Christmas trees!

We rearranged the furniture to help us sing together but also to help keep little hands off!

N is chewing on one of the Wise Men from our favorite nativity set.

We have had this set since M was small and all of the pieces have been well drooled on!

C is in the room but was being camera shy, among other things!

We got the tree mostly decorated and once again I am reminded of all of the amazing memories we have shared around it over the years.

It is a special tree because we saved money that my Grandma L gave me for Christmas years ago. She gave all 11 grandkids $100 every Christmas.

What a gift.

We saved her money for a few years and finally

when we moved into this house

we splurged and bought this amazing tree!

Every year when we put it up (which is very time consuming),

I marvel at how beautiful it looks.

Also last night another special friend came for a too short visit.

O had an owie on his nose, poor little guy.

C got this great noodle set for his birthday from my Mom and Dad.

They also gave him a box of chopsticks. He loves them!

C and his Dad have been filling the feeder as previously blogged.

The birds have been busy at the feeder everyday.

They are fun to watch but super messy!

We love that we can see nature from our kitchen windows!

In my class at school, all of the students are reading Geronimo Stilton Christmas novels.

He is a mouse and has many adventures.

For our class party before the Christmas break, we want to have a 'Juice and Cheese' Party.

Today I went around to mooch for cheese!

The first store I went into gave me 2 big blocks of cheese, havarti and swiss.

Thank you to Blackmans.

My school has a lot of low income families in its community.

Pricier cheese would not be a priority.

The party idea is that the kids I teach have not been exposed to a lot of different cheeses...

mostly cheez whiz

(does that even count as cheese?)

So, at our party they will get a chance to try some more exotic fare.

I'm thankful for good people who are willing to help a poor teacher out with a crazy idea!

If you haven't read a Geronimo Stilton book check it out!