Sugar and Lights Make Everything Nice!

I volunteered to help out in Trenton's 1st grade Christmas party at the first of the year.  It was today.  Ugh!  Lol.  So I braced myself for the noise and went on up there to... do something.  I didn't know what I'd be doing, I just knew I was participating.  I didn't realize that meant I'd be running it, lol.  When I got there, Mrs. Wyatt, his teacher, said "You guys (the parents) are in charge".  And the other 6 or 7 adults just stood there.  The kids came back from recess and just stared at us so I jumped in and started sending kids to stations since no one else was doing anything.  Not even talking.  Just looking at the kids like they were aliens, lol.

I yelled out instructions, made sure everyone had ample time at each station, ran the cookie decorating station, and took pictures of everyone.  The other parents stood at different stations helping or with their own child.  It was funny.  I don't know if it was the Mom in me, or the bossiness in me, but taking complete control of everyone in the room, including the other parents, just naturally happened.  And everyone had a good time, I think.  By the end of it, I had a huge group of kids standing around me singing Christmas Carols and ringing their jingle bells.  I saw my girlfriend/sorority sister (she's the ISS teacher) up there in the midst of the singing.  I told her I missed my calling.  She thought I meant teaching.  I actually meant standing in the corner making noise.  ::Shrugs::  :)

It started at 1pm and went until the end of the day (2:45).  The kids decorated a Christmas cookies, played pin the nose on Rudolph, and played holiday bingo.  Midway through, a quartet from the high school came by to play Christmas songs.  Then the kids were delivered a gift from "Mr. C".  It was a box with bells that only they could hear (they read and watched The Polar Express earlier that morning).

I only posted some pictures, because I didn't know how the other parents would feel about their kids being plastered all over the internet, but I took about 175 pictures, lol.

The Special Bells from Santa being delivered

Quartet from the high school playing to 1st Grade

Waiting for the next station

Cookie Sprinkle Face

As yummy as it was pretty

Mrs. Wyatt's 1st Grade Class

After school, Trenton and I walked home to meet Popaw, who was there watching Carter.  After gathering some blankets and packing Carter a bag, we were off again.  This time, to meet Scott.  We went to dinner at Denny's, which Trenton loves for some random reason.  Then we stopped for chocolate milk and hot coco and went to Deerfield in Plano to look at Christmas lights.  We go there every year.  Weekends there are insane.  Traffic like you wouldn't believe.  But tonight wasn't so bad.  I recommend it if you're close by and don't have another place to go.  This is a neighborhood that gives out awards and it's a nice place, so most people do it up right.  Even the Jewish houses are decorated with menora, lights, and things of that nature.  really neat.  They even have bus tours that go through there and horse-drawn carriage rides. 

They even have one of those houses that's a toys for tots drop off and every inch of that house is covered in lights.  Not only that, but it lights up in sync with a specific radio station for just that house!  It's fun to watch.  It's mostly Christmas Carols that it "dances" to, but when we pulled up, it was jazzing away with the blackeyed peas and the light show was enough to cause a seizure.  I took some pictures of our favorite houses.. as voted on by Trenton and I, but keep in mind, I like simple, crisp white lights and Trenton light insanity and colors.  :)

Dinner: Check

Blankets: Check

Hot coco or chocolate milk: Check

And we're off!

The Disney House.  This is only some of it.  They add characters every year for the new movies that come out.  Monsters Inc, Cars, Toy Story, Wall E, and I noticed they added UP, this year.  It's massive.  This is just a small portion of their side yard.

Scott made me take this.

And I took this one for Sarah.. after I got over being creeped out by it, lol.  So outta place with all the Santa's around.  This was all they had out.

Ok, the rest of these, are from the House with the dancing Lights.  You really can't grasp the absolute insanity of the lights and the movement unless you see it live, but here some snap shots.  There's so much stuff, I had to do the sides of the yard seperately.

                                                                          

                                                                            Right Side

And then I did the impossible and caught the house between lights.  You can just barely see the lights on the tree coming on.

Left side

It was a fun day, but exhausting.  By 7:15pm, the backseat of the truck looked like this: