Christmas Loot

Thought i would spend a little time sharing what Santa brought me this year....

Well, let's be honest, Santa was busy packing boxes in our home, so hubs and i took advantage of after Christmas sales! That's right we shopped for ourselves! 

So on the day after Christmas we braved the stores! 

Here's what i found at Old Navy:

Sorry for the horrible shot on this one... its a black long sleeved boat neck shirt. 


@Jami - yep i saw this shirt, tried it on and bought it. If you would like to borrow the green version of your pink one, just call me! 

And then two trips to Target got me all this loot too:

These two shirts were dubbed "Fancy T-shirts" and i can always pair them with my new cardigan (below)

Lovin this chiffon shirt! If you can't tell it has a bunch of anchors all over it!

I have a whopping 10 new tops and 2 new sweaters! Wow! And did i mention i still have gift cards to spend? 

Ann Taylor Loft here i come! 

I think i did pretty well! 
Did you do any after Christmas shopping? 

The surprise i promised in yesterdays post will close tonight at midnight! 
The winner will be announced on Friday's blog post! So far there are only a few comments so, you pretty much have a good chance of winning, just leave a comment!
Oh and you can also find out what the winner gets!
BTW You must be a US resident to win!  

Random Thursday: Christmas Wishes

Wow! I am so off this week! 

My hubs was out of town early monday morning until late on Tuesday night. I took advantage of the alone time and tried to get a bunch of stuff done. Yep, that's right i did not really relax. I did an insane amount of laundry, prepard meals for the week and packed a few boxes while also getting donations ready (again)! Needless to say, my mind has not been on Christmas AT. ALL. 

I even got an email from my sister asking what we wanted for Christmas... i quickly gave standard answers like clothes and gift cards .... but here are some more specifics. Thank goodness for Random Thursday! 

Here's this weeks topic:

|one|

Gift Cards

For the future home....

And for the wardrobe...

A Hulu and/or a a Netflix gift card wouldnt be that bad either! 

(When we move to this next apartment, we will be ditching Direct TV! Hello Roku!)

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A New Fabric Shower Cap

source

I love the one i have and can't find one here in the US that i have to have. Maybe my sister will read my blog and maybe purchase a cool/cute one for me again! 

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Size 7.5 please! 

Any color, but i sure do love these beauties! 

And some more wardrobe ideas on my Christmas wish list! 

Source: cindycook10.polyvore.com via Simone on Pinterest

Love this sweater and the bag isnt bad either! 

Source: polyvore.com via Simone on Pinterest

I love the sweater and the belt combo! Must do this! 

I am sure i could add to this list, but that's enough for now.... 

Oh and did i mention that a moving fairy would be nice too! 

Evie's Adventures

Our classroom elf has done great! 

I am still not completely sold on the fact that the kids have changed their behavior, but nonetheless, it is worth it to see their faces each morning when they find this curious little elf! 

I have a lot more ideas to do and I can't wait to share them with you! 

Here are some of Evie's adventures from the last week! 

She pulled out the Christmas tree and left the decorating up to us! 

Began our count down to Christmas! 

Pulled out all of our Christmas story books and displayed them nicely and then read a book! 

Took a rocket ship to visit Santa and then lounged in it all day! 

We did have one curious little kiddo who touched our Evie and she rested for an ENTIRE day until she could get her magic back! That student got to write an apology letter to the whole class! 

Today we wrote about our elf and i will share those journals next week! 

Hope you've enjoyed Evie's adventures this week! 

A Little Cheer

It's been way more about packing and boxes lately than it has been about Christmas,

but tonight, i changed that a bit by finishing up our Christmas card on Shutterfly! 

I have always loved their cards and I cannot wait to receive these! 

Photo Card

View the entire collection of cards.

Hope you enjoy your holiday season! Consider this your Christmas card from this blog too! 

Just a Little Elf

I am trying something new in my classroom this year. 

Yep, that's right, that little elf we have seen all over Pinterest, Instagram, and heard people chatting about around the water cooler, has made its way into my classroom! 

Today we read the book and I was SHOCKED! I did not have a single child who said "I don't believe in Santa!" This has me thinking that this curious little elf just might work. 

source

Our little elf's name is Evie and today we welcomed her into our classroom. I am not sure how it went over because i had to step out for an IEP, but i am hoping it went well! Either way I am hoping to update yo all every week about Evie and her whereabouts in my classroom. It should be fun! I have a few non-mess making  less mischievous ideas for her location! 

For those that don't know: There are hundreds of elves that make their way into the homes of children to help Santa check his list. The elves report back nightly and before the children wake up the elf finds a new spot. Half the fun is finding the elf in a new spot every day. The trick is that the elf cannot be touched! Or else it will loose all its magic! 

So in the coming 2+ weeks you will see an update of all of Evie's adventures! Let's hope my kiddos believe and that they have a little bit of Christmas cheer! 

Have you tried the Elf on the Shelf with your kids? 

Have you ever used it in a classroom setting? 

PS. I know many people are anti-elf! I see their point, however this is one way that i am hoping may coax excellent behavior out of the kiddos! I may even spread a little Christmas cheer! 

Holiday Cheer... or not!

The weekend is over and my husband and I officially will have a roof over our heads come January! We are relieved to find a place that is cheaper that what we have now and also that is still in the same area. Which if you know Irvine, CA, you know that the words "cheaper" and "rent" don't go hand in hand! Either way we are moving!

So that means instead of a beautiful picture of a Christmas tree on this here bloggy blog, there will be none of the sort! Yep, that's right, no Christmas decorations here!

Only these sights:

I am grateful for a place but I do have to say I miss the holiday cheer spreading to my home! 

Ornaments all packed away!

So today my husband and I spent the day relaxing and doing nothing .... ha ha! That's a joke, we did a bunch to clean up CHRISTMAS! I know so many people reluctantly put away Christmas decorations, but today I only reluctantly cleaned. Some may feel sad when the decorations disappear and get packed away for another year, but not me. I dreaded putting in the work because i knew the garage could have used some organizing before everything was all put away. So anyway, we began when I returned from my normal Saturday morning kickboxing class and breakfast! I am completely off track ... this post is not all about cleaning.... it is more about one of the traditions we have as a married couple. 

Last night, knowing we were putting the Christmas stuff away, I thought I would share about the ornaments we buy each year and how we store our ornaments each time we get new ones. So, there is a great nursery that always decorates and has plenty of BEAUTIFUL ornaments for sale here in Orange County. Each year my husband and I make a visit and pick out a couple ornaments. We usually wait until later in the season so that the ornaments go on sale, but here are the ones we picked out this year! 

This one was my favorite this year. I love the contrast of the white and the beautiful poinsettia leaves. 

 I know this one is a bit blurry, but we had it on a rotating thing that made just a few select ornaments spin when the lights were on! That added a nice touch this year. 

This was my husband's choice this year. He wanted a snowman, and a snowman he got! He also got a great Christmas village that we added to the decorations this year. It looked great! 

Anyway, so when it comes time to pack everything up, each year i write a description on the individual boxes for each ornament. Here are the examples for the ornaments i showed you. I also am sue to include the year the ornament was purchased. Oh and I get the boxes from that great nursery where we purchase them. They are free at the gift wrapping station and they will give you ribbon and the whole bit if you buy them as gifts. 

So, that's our tradition and how we store those beautiful ornaments! 

K, my husband is starving and we still have yet to figure out where to eat... gotta go! Have a great weekend!