Candice & Todd's blog: made it out of grading "jail" but along the way, we have done some holiday things.

I have more students than I've ever had: 193. And - sadly, a little over 100 of them finished projects last week / presented. They were rushed... not the best... but hey - they got experience making a poster, doing drawings, some got to make a model to photograph and put on their poster. It was A LOT.

Big mistake on my part -- having it end so late. What I should have done was that project BEFORE I had them do a 1-pt perspective drawing. Then we could have wrapped up the project a few weeks prior?! Maybe next year - if I decide to do the same activities. (the other 70+ students were upper level students. The Arch 1 students finished their projects the 1st week of December. Arch 2 - they were just working on learning a new computer program - there was no project this month thankfully!

The Arch 1 students competed in that "gnome home / fairy house" project again that I tried for the 1st time last year. (photos above from the 2 projects that were voted by their classmates to represent MHS at the Nature Center. I tie it into our Architecture Styles unit, but I feel like they're a bit juvenile. I think the students have fun with it, so I guess I'll keep doing it? Boy what a MESS it makes in my room... and SO MUCH prep work / clean up too!

On my birthday, I had to deliver the projects to the Nature Center and place them along the trail in the woods for their Woodland Trails exhibit (a 13 week exhibit that runs from December - late February. Todd took Mercer to a baseball clinic that day. I took Isabella to martial arts and she had the honor (duty) to join me.

We basically got to go into the nature center for free that day and I went along with whatever she wanted to do. She wanted to hike around a bit to explore the other houses along the trail before hanging out indoors and going to an interactive lesson on yellow corn snakes.

Yes - we both touched the snake! She wanted to look at butterflies through a microscope, look at rocks and she ended up spending her own money on a squirrel puppet. (I did not want to spend $40 on a stuffed animal with a hole in it's bum!) But she loves it and has played with it so much every day.

I know she's not going to want to do these things much longer, so if she wants to try out all the puppets in the gift shop - OK. If she wants to watch a demo on snakes - OK. If she wants to look at things through the microscope - bring it on!

Earlier in the day - as a family - we all went to visit the REAL Santa! He (Santa Lamar) was in Marietta that morning at a nearby business, so we signed up to see him! (no "stalking" him at a church about an hour's drive like we last year!) Since it was on my birthday, even the boy couldn't refuse!

Todd fixed up the backdrop a bit in Photoshop (he had to take Mercer to his office to finish a Graphic Design project, so he had some time there.)

Later that night, Todd and I ducked out to go to a wine bar for heavy apps + wine tasting.

It was a pretty low-key day, but nice overall.

Some other festive things happening throughout the month:

1 - the Christmas tours of homes was in our neighborhood / on our street. I docent-ed then toured. I had been in all of the houses on our street / knew the owners. It felt weird going through all of their spaces, but glad I went.

2 - that same weekend was a "pop up" market at a restaurant just outside of our neighborhood. The neighborhood art festival that got rained out in November was hosted (a smaller version) at Good Kitchen. There's really no pictures of the event / activity, but this VW van was parked out front.

A neighbor and I talked to the owner of the van - dressed in the festive shirt. He said he and his wife do this for fun and to get out / meet people. Note, the Christmas tree is BOLTED to the top of the van, so he drives around with it on top! I got a few small gifts there.

3 - our church had the carol sing - my favorite thing to do -- sing Christmas carols at church! The live nativity and the animals were cancelled because of rain, but there was an artist's market that our church members displayed their creations. Got some small things there too.

4 - I stayed after school one day for a teacher / staff event that the construction teacher facilitated: pallet wood Christmas-tree making. I still have to put nails in mine (I didn't finish / took all of the parts to my room to glue-up.... stayed at the school an extra hour.

But - so glad I did. I found some lights in a closet in my room that I had brought to the school my 1st year and - honestly - forgot about... and put them on (after this photo was taken) - this is one of my student's moms.... she teaches math at the school - and she hung out to talk to me about SCAD the entire evening.

I learned how to use a new tool I've never used (creating pocket joints), but the other stuff I knew how to use and was helping others with the tools. It was a fun experience and helped with some bonding with fellow teachers too.