School parties

The kids had their FUN class parties yesterday! I was only able to attend Ashley's party & help out with one of their crafts. Then she came home with me when it was over (she wasn't feeling well and there was only like 40 minutes left of school).

Ashley eating a donut

(I know she doesn't look that ill, she had fun but was getting a fever)

Ashley & her Teacher
Here's the Christmas tree ornament Ashley made for us!
Here's the candycane ornament she made at her party! (Do you like our Star of David made w/ popsicle sticks? Nathaniel or Felicia made that in Kindergarten at a big school party.)

Felicia had a fun gift exchange at school (the limit was $5-10). She had a little bit of a hard time getting excited about her $10 gift card to Target. She's never had a gift card before, so I had to explain how cool it is. She was just a little sad that everyone else had toys & candy, but all she got was a card. I told her that means that we get to go shopping & pick out whatever she wants (within the card limit). Now I think she's excited because she LOVES to shop!
Here's the beautiful ornaments that Felicia made for us!
She also worked very hard making this card last night.
(Her cursive is getting better everyday!)
Nathaniel had lots of food at his party (I sent the big can of 3 different kinds of popcorn - found at Wal-Mart for $5 - but someone else brought one too so they didn't open ours...bonus for us)!Here's the lovely ornament he made us!
Here's what the kids each gave to their teachers:

Sachet (from Kirkland's), pretzel turtles, & our Christmas card.
Here they are all tied w/ a ribbon & I put them in cute gift bags.
Now the kids are out of school for 2 weeks and we get to CLEAN the house today!! Woohoo! Yep, the kids are thrilled that's what they get to help do on their first day of vacation...NOT! Oh well, they made most of the mess, so they can clean it up. I told them that Santa won't come to our house if it's messy! That's a little bit of motivation for them. They're working on their chores right now (kind of). I get to go do laundry & finish cleaning the kitchen & then do some more baking! I'm looking forward to the baking part!