~Need a BIG room JUST for costumes~

I jokingly told me boys last night, that by the time they are raised, I'm going to need a BIG room just for costumes.  They have spirit days & pep rallies throughout the school year that require some new and creative costume for me to make for them.  This weeks' theme for the elementary was something to do with Noah's Ark.  Personally, I think my boys are a little big to be dressing up like an animal....soooo.....they are dressed like a hammer and an ark today.  I was very happy that these costumes cost NOTHING to make.  I had the brown fabric leftover from a children's worship theme I did years ago.  (It was actually stored in the attic!)  The silver fabric was scraps leftover from a Mr. Goodbar costume made for Simon last year.  For the animals, we used little people animals and the blue water is a rib knit hand-tacked onto the ark.  I'll take that off when he comes home and store it back with my knit fabrics! :)  It took a couple hours on 3 different evenings this week to make these.  I'm happy they are finished and the boys love them.  Can't wait to see the other costumes when I go to the pep rally later this afternoon!!

Seth wanted water/waves for his ark.  I thought it was a very creative idea!  I love it when the boys get involved in their costume making!

Mr. Hammer, with his sidekick, Mr. Nail

Mr. Nail was Simon's idea! :)

He should've rode the bus!!!

My son, Samuel, should've rode the bus today.  If he had, I wouldn't be writing this.  On a normal Friday, I am up around 6:30AM fixing breakfast.  Samuel is on the bus by 7:07AM, I sit down and eat.  Today was NOT a NORMAL morning.  The phone rings a little after 7:00AM.  I am still in bed, and it's a good thing I was when I heard who was on the other end.  It was one of my nocturnal friends that rarely get up quite that early.  It was a rather unexpected suprise to hear from her so early in the morning.  I laid in bed and chatted for awhile.  After all, I was taking Samuel to school this morning for his Christmas party.  There was really no reason to get up early because he didn't need to be there 'til 8:15AM.  Well......I FINALLY get off the phone.  It's 7:45.  I need to leave by 8:00.  Samuel is dressed.  Callie needs to eat breakfast and get dressed.  I get her dressed.  She eats while I fix breakfast.  I race to my bedroom.  Throw on clothes and slap a headband over my unruly hair.  Add some gel to tame the frizzy mess and we're good to go.  Then....I CAN'T FIND MY KEYS!!  Panic sets in.  I have 3 sets and not one of them are to be found.  They're not in my purse or eithre of my coats.  I don't see them ANYWHERE!!!!  Finally underneath a stack of mail that needs to be sorted, I find them.  Breathe a sigh of relief and pack the kids into the van.  We race across town to Samuel's school.  I pull into the parking lot with a few minutes to spare.  I realize I missed clipping the threads to the sleeves of the shirt I made to wear to the party.  Grab a pair of fingernail clippers and clip the threads!!!  We hurry inside.  I send Samuel to his classroom.  Callie & I follow behind.  I asked the teacher about the party.  She said, "Oh, it doesn't start until 10:00AM!!!!!!!!!  WHAT!!!!!!!!!  She had JUST told me that it would be best to bring him in MYSELF(instead of him riding the bus) and just stay all day!!  I peek into his classroom and discover that just maybe he didn't dress right today.  I see freshly pressed dress pants, shirts, ties, sweater vests.  A little girl is dressed in red velvet with white tights and shoes.  I want to scoop my jean clad child up(that INSISTED upon wearing a faded red shirt), race him home, and re-dress him.  I feel like a BAD parent for not ironing his Sunday best and sending him to school in.  On the other hand,  WHY would you send your cihld to school dressed up sooooo much to eat loads of junk food at a party????  Oh well.....the teacher was in jeans.  Now to get on with my day.....I wonder how much I can accomplish at home before I need to leave at 9:45AM????  The house looks like a bomb exploded!!!  I've sewed FAR TOO MUCH and neglected cleaning in a TERRIBLE WAY!  Now to pack all my sewing stuff away and become a lean, mean cleaning machine!!

~Scrooge & mr. Goodbar~

For the past two days, I have been busy sewing costumes for Seth and Simon. I was very happy to find all the fabric 50-70% off at Jo-Ann Fabrics! Now I can start sewing Callie's Care Bears nightgown (also purchased on clearance)! Samuel found the Care Bear fabric and insisted we buy it for Callie!

Seth is Scrooge for his school spirit day. He is just thrilled to be wearing a nightshirt and nightcap to school tomorrow! :( Poor guy!

Makin' a silly face for the camera! This is one costume that he probably will NOT be wearing again!

Simon's class is dressing like treats. He chose to be a mr. Goodbar. This costume was so much fun to make and Simon was thrilled with it!

I'm sure Simon will be a big hit tomorrow at his class spirit day!

~Regina's first donut eating contest~

This is a clip of adults and kids participating in a donut eating contest at the 4th. grade Christmas party. It was the kids against the adults. The adults won! Yeah!!!!!!!!! It was a lot of fun watching everyone try to catch the donut dangling from the string! Enjoy!

Seth & Simon's Christmas Parties at School

Simon opens up his gift at school.

Simon with a gift from his teacher, Mrs. England.
Seth and Mrs. Jingst, his teacher.

Seth, Andrew, & Joe eating pizza.

Seth, Joe, & Andrew show off their gifts.

My greatest disappointment with the Christmas parties at school was the fact that my camera's batteries died and I didn't get any videos or pictures of the kids participating in their Christmas chapel. Seth and Simon both played their violins for the first time at school and I missed recording it!!!! Boo Hoo...... :( I do have a very interesting video of myself in a donut eating contest that I am uploading to YouTube at this moment that I will be posting!

What does a Christian Soldier & George Washington have in common....?

They're brothers on their way to school!

Seth shows off the chocolate pudding pie he made to take to school
for his Fall Party!

Simon signs his name on a copy of the

Constitution!

Simon won 3rd. place in the costume contest for his grade.

His potato (pictured below) won 2nd. place in the best-dressed potato contest! He decorated the potato all on his own. He wanted to have some eggs for his bird, so mommy boiled them to be on the safe side. :)

Seth mixes up the pudding for his yummy chocolate pudding pie! He did a great job with making his pie. All four of my children love to bake and cook as often as mommy will let them!
I think this sweet potato was absolutely darling. The nest is coconut, tinted brown with chocolate icing. The bird has pineapple leaves for the tail and wings, olives for the eyes, and cinnamon sticks for the fancy spike! Simon did a great job with his creativity on this project!

~HCS Christmas Program~

Seth sings with his classmates. He is the one in the suit!

~3rd. & 4th. grade choir~
Simon made alot of interestig faces as he was singing!

Simon with the 1st. and 2nd. grade choir. He is the one in the suit that has his mouth opened the widest of ALL the kids! :)

The 1st. - 12th. grade singing the final song.

The boys did a great job singing. After it was over, I used a free movie rental coupon to rent WALL.E for us all to watch and picked up pizza from Little Caesars. We let the kids stay up until after 10:00! They were thanking us over and over for letting them stay up and eat pizza and watch the movie they had been wanting to watch for months!

Now today, I have to attack the house with a vengeance. I went shopping twice yesterday, helped decorate 2 more Christmas trees (one of these days I'll have time to take pictures of all 4 of our trees and post them), did some laundry, taught 5 lessons, and attended the kids' program. There was NO time at all to do any kind of cleaning.