Happy Holidays, "Deer" Friends!

(Left - Alexander and his pre-school group doing the 'Reindeer Pokey'. Link to the video further down below...)
 

















Wow...it's been over a month since I updated. If there is a theme for the last 5-6 weeks or so, it would certainly be BUSY. Thankfully, tomorrow kicks off the final work week before Christmas Break. Last week was especially crazy, but I'm thinking it'll settle down more this week. 

The crazy "deer" theme in our lives has continued. When I was taking Mikelle to seminary early on the Friday morning of November 20th, there was a deer on the sidewalk that lost a battle with a vehicle. It was lying right at the turn from the main drag to go into the church parking lot. 

An hour later as I was headed to work (with the boys in tow...as on Fridays, Alexander is with me until about 8am when I drop him off at the sitter), I figured paying my respects to the poor deer was a great way to usher in the weekend. Hey, it's stress relief! If there's no humor in our lives, then what's the point?  The deer didn't mind. He was already in a better place. Plus, there's been a lot of stress. Part of it comes with the time of year. Part of it comes with the job. And the rest of it comes with life in general and curve balls that come with it.  Also, I'm still struggling with our big move to Wickenburg 17 months ago. You'd think with the new house, settling in the last five months, and also being back in the classroom, some of the adjustments would have been easier by now. Sadly, that hasn't been the case. I know as time goes on, it'll get easier. I just wish we had more family around. I also wish we could see more of the little family that we do have around. Yes, there's loneliness there. 

Anyway, to continue the deer fun, here is Alexander doing the Reindeer Pokey at his school's Christmas program on December 3rd. There is no need to point out which one of those adorable little reindeer is him. It's not too difficult to figure out. 

And this past Friday (December 11th) at the district Christmas party, I sported Chris's deer antlers from Halloween. I wish I had time to make a little balloon or hang little ornaments, but it was rush rush rush that day. I'm just glad I made it to the party within ten minutes of when it began, as I teach a Young Rembrandts drawing class at the elementary school every Friday around lunchtime. However, I did make it to the party and I won a cozy red blanket in a raffle! 

Of course, every November I insist we keep up our tradition of family photos. It goes along with our wedding anniversary (21 years now! Wow!) and works to have the pictures for Christmas cards.  This year was no exception. To help a little with the stress, I found a local photographer and had the pictures taken outside at the house. Of course that didn't eliminate all the issues that could arise (I can do a separate entry alone on what it's like getting our three kids to cooperate for pictures), but it helped.  When it all was said and done, here is the shot used for our Christmas cards. You almost can't tell that two of our three precious children complained about having to take another family picture. You'd think they were in the Witness Protection Program or something!

I want to devote a separate entry for the amazing artwork my students have done in the last month! I know I won't skip out on that. Their masterpieces are so important to me. I take way too many pictures, so that creates more work for me to arrange them all. However, another entry is coming in just a couple days. I promise! In the meantime, here is the door of the art room! Kudos to the many students who helped with the door whether they were the tutu makers, snowflake cutters, ribbon cutters, shoemakers, letter cutter-out-ers.... And somewhere in there we managed to finish fleur de lis ornaments and begin learning about Picasso and Cubism!

 

Next entry very soon!