merry christmas baking!

tonight i used this guy again:
to make delicious sugar cookies for the hooligans to decorate tomorrow. it's our activity with their kindergarten buddies & it's gonna be SO so cute to watch them all work together!

i used this amazing recipe (SO easy, so yummy!!):(apparently my oven takes a little longer than others. not sure if that's because it's gas...)

ARGH!

some.days.my.job.is.just.hard.

let me tell you about my students....
[note: when i use the word "they" in this post, i'm referring to my "behavior problem" students]

they do not accept responsibility for their poor choices. one of the most frequent phrases i hear each day is "it wasn't me!" or "i didn't do anything!" (ick)

they are plain mean to each other. i cannot get them to stop saying nasty, hurtful things to one another.

they are defiant. they think the world revolves around them. they are lazy. they do not enjoy reading.

they make me absolutely crazy. today was a hard day.

Near To You

i love love love this song by A Fine Frenzy.

check it out. so mellow and moody. and rad.

these are a few of my...

... favorite things (about being married):

- every once in a while joel holds my hand while we sleep (!!)
- washing dishes together
- sleepy-eyed conversations over cereal/english muffins
- kissing joel 'bye when he first gets out of the shower at 6:30am
- hearing him stretch when the alarm clock goes off
- sitting at our computers working together (ok, he's usually working while i'm... um... blogging...??)
- snuggling while we watch a DVD on his computer
- choosing our outfits for the next day
- lazy quiet sunday afternoons & the fact that we don't have to drive anywhere
- listening to joel's stories when we first get home
- grocery shopping/meal planning
- his enthusiastic thanks when i bring him dessert
- hugging.all.the.time.

our.wedding.photobooth!

look at the shots from our photo booth!! holy smokes i am soooooooo happy with them!

*silver bells*

i'm done with report cards AND parent-teacher conferences. just in time for the weekend and now ... it's christmas at our house!

tonight we got a little tree, a darling red tree skirt, and a new stand. (i may or may not have pouted for an hour that target had zero white lights...)

we set it up, put on two strands of blue lights, added some new ornaments people gave us, and mixed in some ornaments i collected as a child. in addition to the tree, we have two nativity scenes, which are festive. i think the living room looks so cute and festive!

PLUS, i finally took some (notably poor) photos of the house. i love love love living here. with joel. so awesome~

bleached out t-shirts

holy smokes, check this out!

i totally love this idea! my favorite is the one with duct tape stripes... i'm trying to think who i could make these for.

my husband has far too many t-shirts. oops, i mean, he has the perfect amount...

basically, i wish someone i knew had kids i could do this project with. maybe julie will let me borrow hers someday and i'll try it with them!

(all images from design mom)