"Proud"

My 4th graders are amazing.....They were all in agreement that it would be better for them to partake in service projects for our community this year for Christmas instead of having classroom gift exchanges. Awesome. We have had a really mild start to our winter....and all of that changed....today. The day that our first service project took place. Naturally.

So, we bundled everyone up, headed out with our handmade Christmas ornaments and chain links, and walked downtown from school to decorate the tree. **sidenote...we were told that we "may" want to have a ladder if we wanted to put a star on top...."may" being the key word. So, we got there (oh, just as another sidenote....it was a whopping 20 degrees out....and major winds) and saw how big the tree really was. We needed a ladder just to decorate to the top....which we didn't bring. So, to make a long story short, we borrowed one from the local bank (along with one of the male bank workers...whose wife works at school with us) and we got this thing going. The kids were so excited....it was really a lot of fun. I am really proud to see the spirit of Christmas flowing freely within my kids. It seems to make the season even brighter yet.

The proud sign hanging near the Christmas tree that was made by our kids.

Starting to decorate......look how BIG that tree is! We couldn't come close to getting the star on top!

Brrrrrrrrr!

Then, to make the day even more fun, Ellie and my mom came to school this afternoon to hear the primary grades give their Christmas concert. Ellie loves to come visit, and I was lucky enough that Mom could bring her down this afternoon. Here she is showing off her drawing she made on my whiteboard. This girl loves to draw! I hope it continues! She takes after Uncle Kevin's art ability.

A close up look. Notice Santa???? : )

What a fun day for us all. I feel lucky today.....and even a little more blessed than yesterday!

And as we drew closer to the sitter's house to pick up Reid, I looked backwards, and found Ellie like this. Poor thing! She was so out of it....she didn't even mind being uncomfortable! It was a very Merry day!!!