Christmas Party

Before the break we had our Christmas Party. It started with a game called, "Who's Santa?" wherein one student played a reindeer and turned their back to the class while I tapped someone else on the shoulder to say "Ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas!" The reindeer then had to guess who was Santa. It was pretty funny to hear the kids try to disguise their voices.

Koston

 Max (a million! as we like to call him)

 Ava, trying to figure out who Santa is.

 Mylie, getting ready.

 Logan, playing Santa, his voice was SO funny.

 James, thinking hard before guessing.

Next we made Gingerbread houses. This was quite the undertaking so a big THANK YOU!!!! to all of our volunteers for helping to set-up, execute, and clean-up this craft.
From left to right: Hannah, Eliza, T.J. (look at that concentration!)

 From Left to Right: Brooklyn K, Connar, Karla

 From Left to Right: Logan, Anna (reach!), Max

 Brooklyn V. helps Koston's little brother with his roof.

 Koston, Haylie, and Matthew hard at work.

Morgan

Mylie, Porter, Brooklyn V. and Haylie's little sister (I think the little kids really liked Brooklyn, cause she helped them all construct their houses.)

 Brooklyn K.

From left to right: T.J. with Ms. Nelson (Speech Pathologist), she didn't have any speech students with the festivities going on, so she decided to come hang out with us down in Kindergarten. We loved having her visit. :) Next is Ava and then Reed.

 Mads and his mom next to Eliza

Reed's icing bag exploded out the top, but he didn't seem to mind. :)
In fact, I don't think he even noticed it all over his hands until I asked to take a picture.

 Hannah (banana)

 Than (the man) and Jaydie (bug)

 Chance (a-roonie)

 Vanessa and James

Madison was very focused the whole time

We ended our party with a pinata. Mr. Beirdneau came in to hold it for us (he volunteered, no coercion ;) ). My photography skills are a little lacking, so I apologize that the action shots aren't more clear. But you get the idea.
 Mads was quite the hard hitter. It's most fun I think to look at the kids expressions in the background.

 Connar with his wide stance, must have practice swinging a bat. :)

 Madison was farely gentle with our poor reindeer. Notice Than in the background cheering her on. :)

 Hannah swung hard, we thought for sure the deer was a gonner.

 Ava really enjoyed herself...she giggled the whole time she was batting.

All of the kids got to hit our reindeer. It was severely maimed (missing a leg courtesy of Koston) by the time we got through everyone, but the candy was still safely inside, so I took a swing to finish the job. The picture below says it all...yes that's the reindeer head on the top of our pinata bat.

The kids went crazy as the candy flew everywhere! :) It was a great way to end the first half of our year. We had a fun day, and everyone left for vacation with a smile. I hope you've all had a wonderful 2 weeks off of school, and that your kids are ready to come back. I'm excited to see them and hear what they've been up to.

*Side note to Chance's mom: I may not have tagged a cougar, but I'll take the reindeer. :)