A Wonderful Awful Idea

Beckham received a Christmas package the other day and cushioning the gifts was about 40,000 packing peanuts.  The teacher in me thought {stupidly} What a great tactile learning experience this will be! and I promptly encouraged him to dive into the box after we removed the presents and placed them under the tree. 

He loved it.  He sat in the box with the peanuts, turned the box over and dumped the peanuts on the floor,   squished the peanuts in his hands, stomped on the peanuts, sprinkled peanuts throughout the house,  scooped the peanuts, and tracked peanut crumbs everywhere - all while I enjoyed a) his amusement b) the fact that he was occupied for longer than a nanosecond while I fixed meatloaf and mashed potatoes. 

Then it was clean-up time.  It looked as though someone detonated a styrofoam bomb in my living room. AND OH MY WORD THE STATIC.  Every time I would try to scoop them up, they'd cling to every part of my body and ultimately wind up back on the floor.  Becks was no help in the matter because he couldn't manage to shake them off his hands.  I kid you not when I say it's taken almost a week to clean up the remains of the peanuts. 

And that, my friends - as the Grinch would say - was my wonderful awful idea.  Please learn from me.

{PS. Don't forget to join in the Headband Headwarmer Giveaway posted below!  And, also, go buy yourself a Wonderful Awful Idea Grinch shirt for seven bucks from Walmart as seen in the pic below! My fellow first grade teacher gave it to me as a gift. Love!}

Hmmmm, I betcha can't guess what I gave as Christmas gifts this year?!?!

Just catching up.

Today, Becks and I braved the masses in attempt to accomplish a myriad of pre-holiday errands, including a trip to get the oil changed in my car and go to the courthouse to get our cartags renewed - always a pleasant experience, what with all those cheery state employees. {I kid you not, there was not one person in line when I arrived, about 5 available employees, and everyone of them failed to acknowledge me for the first two minutes I stood there with my very present (read: loud) child.} 

I also had about a bazillion Christmas presents to find, buy, and wrap.  And, keep in mind, I had to do all of this with a TWO-YEAR-OLD in tow.  That meant that I stocked the diaper bag full of goldfish, juiceboxes, and lollipops in an effort to abate any tantrum-throwing, stroller-resisting, running-away-from-mama type situations.  For the most part, he really was a true gem, but there were moments when the Target popcorn just wasn't cutting if, reminding me why Christmas shopping with a toddler likely qualifies as some form of abuse.  I'm just not sure who comes away tortured the most, though - the parent or the child? 

In short, I am - dare I say it - done Christmas shopping.  I even managed to buy 2 toys from Santa without Becks even knowing it.  I did have to convince him that the long handle hanging out of the bag was a broomstick when he question it (it was a hobby horse).  He bought it.

* * * * * * * * * *

We were MIA this weekend because we went to the Lakehouse with my parents and sisters.  They treated us to a train ride with Santa and dinner on Saturday night.  Becks, being all into locomotives right now, thought the train was pretty darn cool.  The fact that Santa visited with him while enroute, even cooler.  The fact that the train blew its whistle multiple times during the trip, the coolest. 

The best pic I could get of all three of them!

What's a trip to the Lakehouse without bacon?

B and Aubbers.

Mom, Me, and Becks.

Santa was pretty serious into lecturing the kids about being good.  Not kidding.

Santa requested this picture.  He he he.

Showing Becks Cumberland Falls.  Kinda creeped me out!

And - I can officially say it - the semester is OVER.  Praise God.  I'll blog more about it later, but I would have to say it was one of the most difficult four months of our lives as an individual, couple, and a family.  Brandon finished off the semester smashingly, the first half of the school year is behind me, and I only have 15 more credit hours to go until I see an enormous increase in my teacher salary (I kid).  We owe more than we can imagine to that tiny baby in the manger. 

Now, I'm off to drink  twelve a Diet Coke to calm down from the Christmas chaos, and enjoy the first naptime of many over the next couple weeks :)  Happy Monday, y'all!

Snowday Tidbits...

A pic of us taken on this exact day last year!

• The snow hit, as the weather people predicted it would, so not typing up sub plans yesterday wasn't in vain.  However, the bad news is that the reason I was taking off was to see my spritely little elf sing in his preschool's Christmas Pageant.  Since they operate on the same snow day schedule as the county I teach in, that meant that Becks' school was cancelled too. Boo.  They're rescheduling after the new year.
• I've had a productive - but lazy -  kind of day.  I started the crockpot around 10am this morning, and the savory smell of stew is making my house smell perfectly delicious. I can hardly wait until 5pm :)  When Becks gets up we're making chocolate chip cookies to really round out the snow day smorgasbord.  Yum.
• I bought myself some birthday gifts (because isn't that what we all do, ladies?) from NY&Co, including tall yoga pants.  These, believe it or not, are very hard to come by.  And for $14.97 a piece, I'll take three please.  {FYI: Everything is 40% off today and when you use a code you can get $50 off a purchase of $100.}
• Many of you have asked about my WIWW posts.  Honestly, I've been so busy {and forgetful!} that I haven't been snapping pics of my outfits daily...or even for the past month!  Maybe I'll be back on the WIWW train during holiday break :)
• Today, I've built, put away, and rebuilt several looping train tracks throughout the living room.  Right when we clean everything up, Becks wants to play with them again.  Figures.
• In case you missed my edit, the headband headwarmers were made for me by a girl from church.  However, there are plenty of Etsy retailers who I'm sure would love your business!
• I may lose followers for this admission, but it's a risk I'm willing to take (and I think most of you probably already know about my MTV reality show addiction).....I might have also taken 2 minutes of my time today to watch the trailer of Teen Mom 2, which is looking like it's going to be a pretty entertaining season.  Love it.
• I spent about 30 minutes trying to locate a personalizable bean bag chair for Becks for Christmas, not realizing that omiword these things cost upwards of $100!  Any suggestions, friends?
• If you haven't already, check out my Headband Headwarmer Giveaway posted below! 
• I wrapped 24 Junie B. Jones books today to give to my firsties tomorrow - if we even have school.  Truly, though, I do want school to be in tomorrow because no teacher wants to have a Christmas party the first day back to school after the holidays (which our principal has asked us to do if we're cancelled tomorrow!  The horror!). 
• I got my first birthday card in the mail today, among a half-dozen Christmas cards.  I love getting the mail in December.

Happy Snow Day, blog buddies!

Flower Headwarmer Headband Giveaway!

Before I even received all the sweet comments from y'all on my flower headband headwarmer pictured in a recent post {thank you, btw!}, I had a little something special in the works for my bloggy friends.  As silly as it sounds, I truly do feel like I know many of you and I enjoy every sweet comment that you make!  Not only did I want to show my appreciation for your readership, but I also wanted to include you in my birthday celebration - which usually gets lost in the Christmas hubbub.  I was always that kid that had to bring cupcakes to school before or after the winter vacation (darnit, mom and dad...but then, I can't really talk since Becks' birthday is in June!). 

Anyway...

I am giving away THREE darling headwarmer headbands!  Yay!  I have three colors to give away - purple, cream, and black, and they look absolutely fantastic on.  They're wonderful for this winter weather and because they're made to be worn loose-ish, they don't give you hat head and remove effortlessly.  I, for one, am obsessed!

Here's how you can win...

{You Must...}

Be a follower of Babbling Abby.  Join on the lefthand side of the page, and leave me a comment telling/reminding me that you follow!

{Additional Entries...}

Blog about this giveaway and leave me a comment with the link back to your post. 

Follow me on twitter @babblingabby and tweet about this giveaway to your followers.

{Rules...}

Up to 3 entries allowed per person.

You may only win once.

Sorry, but you can't choose the color!  I'll pick at random who wins which color once winners are chosen.

This giveaway ends on December 23rd (my birthday!) at 12AM EST. 

Winner will be announced by January 1st. 

If the winner doesn't contact me with their address within 48 hours, a new winner will be selected. 

Thanks so much!  Good luck!

{ETA:  I ordered these from a sweet girl at church!  She doesn't have a website, but you can certainly find a ton of reasonably priced vendors on Etsy!}

The Calm Before the Storm...

Don't ever understimate...

the amount of fun to be had...

blowing out a candle...

or baking muffins...

with your momma.



And, for the record, White Death Numero Dos is due to hit tonight around midnight.  In a BIG way.  Like, five plus inches (which is big in the midwest).  I am supposed to have a sub tomorrow, but I didn't even write plans because I am pretty sure we're going to be off.  {Now that I've actually verbalized that and written it down, don't you know that the storm is going to take a dramatic turn and not hit us.  You just watch!}

Furthermore, so funny you should all make such sweet comments about my headwarmer hairband...

Quite possibly, you should stop back by around 9pm tonight.  I'm just sayin'...  :)

Hint...  Hint...

Christmas Card 2010 Preview!

How much do I LOVE Shutterfly?!

Let me count the ways...

1.  50 FREE cards valued at - get this - $120!!!!  LOVE!

2.  Adorable card design.

3.  An additional $25 giftcard for writing this post!!
4.  They were a breeze to work with when I realized I put TWO 's' at the end of our last name AFTER I'd placed the order! 

THANK YOU, SHUTTERFLY!!!!

{First Grade} Grinch Activities!

So, I know it is totally late to be posting this, but, if nothing else, it can give you some ideas for next year :)

Initially, I planned to do The Grinch over two days...however, tomorrow is officially a *SNOW DAY* so I'm going to have to combine my activities into 1 day.  I am incorporating these activities into my literacy curriculum, so many things relate to our particular reading series {Treasures}, but could probably be generalized to what most 1st graders are doing around this time of year.

1st Grade Grinch Activities & Literacy Centers

• Wear a cute Grinch tee which can be purchased at Walmart for $7.  I found mine in the seasonal apparel, and was inspired by Cara :)
• Read The Grinch and complete a variety of fun Grinchy-themed charts and activities that can be found at The First Grade Parade.
• Download Deanna Jump's Grinch Unit!  {Loaded with cute activities!}
• Make a couple bottles of Grinch Glue or Who Glue (whichever name suits your fancy!).  I made it green using food coloring, but it would be fun in all colors.  I plan to let my students use this at a center to write their spelling words/high frequency words.  {Next year, I'm going to make cute labels.  This year = no time!}

• Incorporate these activities into weekly literacy centers...
• The Grinch Who Stole Words Literacy Center {Click HERE and HERE for downloads}

• Who Stew Literacy Center {Click HERE and HERE and HERE for downloads}



* * * * *

My plan is to finish the week studying reindeer, so even though I don't have everything ready to go, here is one activity we will be doing (adapted from somewhere on the internet!  I don't remember where!).  My students are going to apply for positions as reindeer.  I made my own application for them to fill out and they'll make antlers to complete the look.  The students will write, cut, and paste, but I made a model so you could get an idea of what it will look like completed.  {Download application HERE}

I hope these are helpful or can be adapted to fit your needs!  Let me know if you have any trouble with the links. 

***PLEASE NOTE - I just noticed that the words look "off" in the google doc.  Make sure you go to "file"  on the lefthand side of the google doc page and click on Print(PDF) to see it clearly!***