Inside Recess....

Am I allowed to not title my blog entries?  I hate coming up with creative names.  Either way, I definitely foresee inside recess for this week.  Check out our first big snow:

For some reason the birds act like I haven't fed them for weeks!  Maybe they're storing up some food and preparing to hibernate.  That's what I want to do!

The hubby and I braved the cold and snow today and went to the store to get a few Christmas gifts and other necessities.  I bought some ingredients for a new mint chocolate cookie recipe I found online....excited!  In other cooking adventures....I made a new creamy cheesy potato dish that was really yummy and really easy.  Sorry I couldn't get a good pic:

I wanted to get the teachers I work with something small for the holidays.  I didn't have a ton of money to spend so I was thinking about making something.  That's when I came across one of my  new favorite blogs: Sisters Stuff!  This blog is SO fun!  There are so many easy ideas for crafts and gifts.  I stole their idea of post-it note holders.  What teacher doesn't need post-its close by?!  Here is their entry: http://sistersstuff.blogspot.com/2009/12/post-it-note-holders.html.  I made 10 of these and spent less than $2 on each one.......probably close to $1.50.  Here are some pics of what I made.  I also decided to make coordinating pens.

Last weekend Nick and I got to go see the zoo lights.  It was freezing but hot chocolate helped us stay warm.  Here's a pic:

 

5 more days of school until winter break!  I love my job but I'm super excited to have a break.  I feel like I have a ton left to do for Christmas.  Not only am I not done shopping, but I haven't even started wrapping anything!  I'm hoping I can finish shopping this week (depending on the snow....) and then wrap the first week of break!  At school I got a new tabletop whiteboard easel I had been eying for a while. Our PTO gave each teacher $100 to use on something for the classroom.  Since I'm PT, I got $50.  I was still really excited to get some free money to use for my room!  I also used a coupon on this easel so I only ended up spending $10 out of pocket!  The whiteboard is magnetic (great for our magnetic letters) and the back has storage pockets.  After buying it, I found out that the $1 pocket chart from the Target dollar spot also fits on perfectly!  

A few months ago (time is FLYING), I got my  new Fountas and Pinnell Leveled Literacy Intervention kit. They included a flyer for a free color alphabet/consonant cluster poster.  I sent in for it and just got it recently.  The kids love this compared to my old black and white copied version!