Darr Family Blog – Page 15 – The place to follow the Darr Family

Pre-Christmas Break

It’s been a bit since I’ve made a post. As soon as school hit Christmas Break, we left town to go to California. Consequently, I have a few pictures from before the trip that I’m posting here. I’m going to do a few different posts about the different things we did in California (just as an easier way to separate out the pictures). These are pictures from the last week leading up to break. 🙂

Snuggling with “bubba” (an old nickname leftover from when she couldn’t say “brother”) right before bedtime. I sure love these two!!

Joseph’s Christmas concert. The drawback of having a kid doing percussion is that they’re always in the back! Of the three kids standing in the back, Joseph is in the center.

Remember that awesome grant I got? I used it to help purchase these wobble stools for my classroom. The kids love them!

I still don’t know who left this bag for me, but I’m ever so grateful. It had dark chocolate and a Dr Pepper in there. Just what I needed to get through that last week before break!!

A gift from one of my students. Super-cute!!

Handmade gifts are awesome. This is from another student. He included a phrase that he and I toss back and forth to each other as an inside joke. It warms my heart to think of how much thought was put into it as he made it.

One More Week!

We’ve made it one more week! I think the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks is kinda hard to slog through. I’ve had a challenge at school because my students are all excited for Christmas, so it’s hard to get them to focus. I think we’re all feeling it, though. One more week (during which I need to get report cards done and make sure everything is ready for when we come back) and then we get a blissful 2.5 weeks off. I can hardly wait!

An awesome friend got this ornament for me. I looks just like that VHS version of Nightmare Before Christmas (Joseph called it a record and Abigail called it a DVD…oh, young people, haha).

The detail on the inside is pretty impressive. I felt the need to zoom in real close so it was easier to see.

One week day it was “Whoville Hair” day, so Abigail had me do her hair like a Who from How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

I did understated Whoville hair…I had a math training after lunch to attend, so I kept it pretty tame.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that I was chosen as a winner for the grant I filled out an application for at the beginning of the year (and promptly forgot about after I applied). They awarded me with funds to purchase supplies for my classroom. It was nice to be recognized!

This is probably one of my favorite sights. I love the warm glow of the trees!

She wanted to be cozy while watching shows.

Joseph was on her bed and she came in and promptly pounced on him…and then gave me a sweet, unassuming smile as she had him pinned.

Church Christmas breakfast. I got a good shot of this kid.

This kid liked making ornaments for her tree.

I sure love this man. He does so much for me and our family.

The party was PJ/Polar Express-themed. Abigail was impressed by the train decorations.

Our cute kiddos (even if Joseph was getting slightly annoyed that Abigail was bouncing around literally until I snapped this picture and got her right as she smiled ).

2.5 seconds after I released them from having to have their pictures taken.

A great friend of ours dropped by with Christmas gifts. One of them was this owl bear (it’s a creature in Dungeons & Dragons). It came with a fancy bow tie and Abigail made it even snazzier with some sunglasses. The owl mask was also in the package.

It has been quite some time since I last got a haircut. I also went through a few months where I was losing quite a bit of it. Thankfully, I got that issue fixed. It’s starting to fill in again (slowly, yet surely), but at the length it was, it didn’t have much volume and a lot of the time, I was pulling it back into a ponytail or braid anyway. When I was booking an appointment for Joseph to get a haircut, I noticed a “mother and son haircut” option. I decided to go for it! I really love the layers that the stylist gave me. She left it long enough for me to still pull back if I need to, but the layers make it so that the slight wave I have in my hair does just that…go all wavy. This is with no blow-drying, styling, or product in my hair. It’s awesome!!

The Beginning of the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

This past week we said goodbye to November and hello to December. It’s hard to believe that we’re already at the last month of the year. At this point, we have two weeks of school left until we get to start Christmas break. Report cards are due right before the break (so they can go out to the kids right after the break) and we have all the fun festivities that come with this time of year. This past week ushered all of that in with dress-up days (for the elementary kids, at least), cooler weather (finally), and just an excitement in the air as we all count down to Christmas. I love this time of year. I love the lights, especially. I love seeing the decorations and all the reminders of our Savior. It really is the most wonderful time of year.