~ day 1 ~

Last night, B and I made wrapping paper together!  I'm thinking we will use it to wrap presents for daycare and maybe grandparents.  I purchased some kraft wrapping paper at Target (which wasn't exactly easy to find, but I found it).  Then she stripped down to her diaper and got busy!  I showed her how to use her thumb to make holiday lights.  After painting I drew lines to connect the lights.  Although this was a December Eve activity, it just might make the December Daily album! 

our work

B's work

A new tradition that we are starting in our house this year is one that I found around somewhere, but now I've seen it so much I have no idea who to give credit to!  I purchased some fun wrapping paper at Target and have started making tags to match.  I'm using a few traditional colors mixed with more contemporary "Christmas" colors like pink and maybe even a little orange for good measure.  ;-)  I am wrapping 25 picture books with a Christmas theme, adding a tag with the number on it, and each night leading up to Christmas we will unwrap a book and read it!  Sounds like fun, right?  She might be a little young for this, we'll see.  I had some books already (imagine that) but I ordered some new ones too.  They haven't arrived (I expect them tomorrow).  So I just wrapped a few and tagged them to get us started.  My plan is to finish them up this weekend and put them in a basket under our tree (which isn't up yet, also on the to do list)!  I brought two tagged books upstairs, but left one on my desk downstairs because I still needed to make a tag for it.  Tonight when I got home from class, I went downstairs to throw in a load of laundry and found this:

the evidence

B was downstairs by herself for all of five minutes or less while I was at class tonight.  But in that time she managed to pull her chair over to my desk, find, and open the "present" without anyone knowing!

the method

I found this, of course, after we had already opened our first book, The Polar Express.  She didn't seem all that interested in settling down much to read.  Maybe it will go better tomorrow?  I dunno, we'll see.  I'm still glad I'm doing it!

day 1

As if December wasn't busy enough, I also joined a new flicker group -- december 2011 in photos.  It's a theme a day for the month of December.  Today's shot is supposed to be of my better half, but so far he isn't cooperating!  I will be sure to update this post if I make that happen -- I have an hour!

UPDATE:  meet my better half

~ paper craftiness ~

Woot!  Two posts in one day.  LOL

I haven't really been doing much with new layouts lately, but I have created a couple of things that I've been wanting to do for a while.  First, I made a "Reader's Notebook".  I will use this with students as I travel from class to class and meet them in the library and hallways!  Most students in my building have some sort of a reader's notebook.  They keep lists of books they have read, lists of books they want to read, and there is also room for reflection (among other things, all teachers use these a bit differently).  I will use it mostly to write down book recommendations from others (professional, YA fiction, and my own "reading for enjoyment" books) and use in my conversations with kids.  I also have a space in there to write down anything I think is important about what I have read -- to recommend to others, to jog my memory when working with students, etc.  Like the kids, I will keep track of what I have read, too.  Most students in my building have a "book requirement", a goal to read a certain amount of books in all genres, etc.  I am working with a classroom and sharing my progress as well, so this is where I will also keep track of the books that I have read.

I used the same papers to personalize my iPad cover!  I saw this idea on Stacy Julian's website and "pinned it".  I've been dying to do it since!

~ last one ~

Last night I purchased the VERY LAST of these at Elise Blaha's shop on etsy:


holiday books! from elise blaha on Vimeo.

I hope to try something similar to Ali Edwards December Daily, using Elise Blaha's cute little 4x6 book of mixed holiday papers.  It might be a bit much to tackle during this already busy holiday season, but if I don't stress about it too much it just might be fun!  Plus it will help me get into the groove of taking photos every day again in preparation for my 365 project in 2012 (actually, 366)!

UPDATE:  looks like Elise has added more of the holiday books to her esty shop!