A Cold Budapest Morning - Family Christmas Photo Shoot

I have been looking forward to this post since I started working on the actual project.

FAMILY PICTURES!!!

I love family pictures, but for some reason, my family never seems to get organized enough to get good ones.   Our last family picture was at our wedding, and although it's a beautiful picture, it's not particularly versatile, because- well let's face it, it's a wedding picture.  It's pretty obvious why the one girl is wearing a big (although stunning, if I might say so myself) white dress.

So, when my mom told me that her neighbor, who is a photographer, was giving my mom a family photo session as a Christmas gift, a bigger fire couldn't have been lit under my butt to get things going.  AND, she told me I could come up with the color scheme.  Pictures, clothes, style and a theme!?  And I get to tell my family what to do?  All the things I'm best at!

My mom told me, that we were taking the pictures in downtown Budapest, which 

(I know I'm biased, but)

is the most beautiful backdrop a person could ask for!  Only drawback?  It's freezing in December.  Correction, it's below freezing.

So, I started googling, and looking for cold weather, outdoor family pictures.  And let me tell you, it's slim pickins.  

So, I resorted to polyvore.com to create my own "family picture".

(Here's a link to the actual sets: polyvore.com/cgi/browse.sets)

I chose the color scheme red/black/white/gray, because the red made it Christmasy, but not in an uber-obvious way, it's my mom's favorite color, and it's classic.  I read everywhere, not to try to make it too matchy-matchy, but rather to go with a color scheme, and have everyone mix and match.  Even with patterns.  So I did...

Dad:  For my dad, I picked a handsome argyle sweater, because it's a basic, staple item, which honestly I thought he already had in his wardrobe.  I chose black/dark wash jeans for him, because I'm keeping my fingers crossed that one day he'll let us convince him to buy a pair. :)

Mom:  For my mom, I picked a black sheath dress, because I know it's what she feels most comfortable in, and she always rocks it.  She also has a pair of these amazing black shoes that have the signature Louboutin red sole.  Then, I gave her some red touches here and there, because my mom is all about detail.

Daughter:  For myself, I picked a cute Liz Claiborne dress my parents had just bought me (even though I ended up wearing the other one they got me), a jacket that looked like one I already had (jacket story to follow), boots, and cute red accents.

Daughter-in-law:  For my brother's girlfriend I chose a red coat, because I knew she already had one, and because she is so petite, she really could've worn anything, but I really liked the sweater dress with the skinny jeans.

Son-in-law:  For my husband, I picked a plaid shirt, because some days I think that's all he owns (but of course he had to buy a new one for the pictures), a black peacoat (he had just bought a charcoal one), Converse All Stars, some nice dark wash jeans, and a scarf, because deep down he's European.

Son:  For my middle brother, I picked a red button down shirt, because the boy likes a little flare, a black vest, because I know he loves vests, especially pairing them with signature shirts, and a euro tie, because that's just how he rolls.

Son:  For my youngest brother I picked red pants, because of all of us, he was probably the only one who could pull them off.  He's the kind of guy that saves up his money, and then buys a whole outfit, all the pieces from really nice stores I usually look in the windows of.  Also, the boy can rock a fedora, and is really classy in all his accents.

So, my family (wisely, I might add) did just about exactly as I said, ha! :)

Kidding.

Sort of.

Well, they did!

And THEN my parents surprised me with a gorgeous red peacoat that I'd been wishing for ever since the Lake House came out.

So, on a cold December Saturday, we all got up, Moni, my parents wonderful neighbor came over and did the ladies' make up, we got dressed, and all went downtown for our family photo session.

My gorgeous parents.

My handsome brother, and his beautiful leading lady.

My hot husband and I.

Our family. This is love.

Everyone.  I am in love with is picture.

She's as stunning as ever!

The city of love! (Ours, at least)

All I can say is, awwwwwww.

They won the hottest couple's picture though.  Seriously, look at those sparks!

The Gracza family.

The original Gracza family

:)

Siblings.

The boys

RED!!!

We had an amazing time, and finally have the family pictures to show for it!

I'd like to say a special thanks to Monika Melczer for her incredible work, and for the beautiful memories.

DIY Clay Ornament

I love family.  I love MY family.  So, I can't even tell you how excited I was when my crazy generous uncle told me, that for Christmas he was sending Dan and I home for to see my family.  I hadn't spent Christmas with my family for 2 years, and we hadn't all been together since our wedding.  So this was huge!  I've always loved (giving and receiving) hand-made gifts, and I wanted something that would remind us of our Christmas together.

I had seen this recipe on pinterest.com for home-made clay, that sounded promising.  I followed the link to woodsidekitchen.blogspot.com.  Here is her recipe:

1/2 cup cornstarch

1 cup baking soda

3/4 cup water

For my specific ornament, you'll also need:

Cookie cutter(s)

Exacto knife

Heart stamp (small)

Red paint

Ribbon

Sealant spray

Chopstick- to make a hole for the ribbon to go through

(Nail file- for getting clean definition around the edges)

I also needed to add a little extra cornstarch.

This craft was a little messy, and I don't have a lot of counter space in my apartment, so the rolling it out part was a little tricky.  The rest of it worked just like the post said.

I wanted to make something really special, so I wanted to make it in the shape of Hungary.  I looked everywhere online, and couldn't find a cookie cutter in the shape of Hungary (go figure), so I tried to come up with an alternative.  Dan to the rescue!  He said if I printed out an outline of Hungary, he could figure the rest out.  So I did, and my brilliant husband bought foam board, and an exacto knife, and cut out a "cookie cutter".  So, I made the dough, and cut it out, then pressed the heart stamp over the spot where Budapest (capital city/hometown) would be, punched a whole through it, and let it bake at 175 F for about 45 minutes.  The length of baking time depends a lot on the thickness of your clay.  I tuned it over a couple times to make sure it baked all the way through.

Once they were cooled off, I painted the stamped heart area red, let that dry, and then strung a ribbon through the top.  Dan had found the perfect ribbon at Michael's, it was red white and green, just like the  Hungarian flag.  

I also write with a thin Sharpie on the back "Gracza Family Christmas 2012".

Pre-baked ornament

Baked ornament

With the pretty red heart

Four, for the four "units".  Mom and Dad, Jonathan and Katie, Stephen and Dan and I.

See the perfect flag ribbon?!

Here's my handsome brother with his ornament.

And, my other good looking brother and his girlfriend, Katie.

The original website for this ornament has lots of tips from people who tried it out, and I would recommend reading over those before you make yours for the best results.  This would be cute to make with kids, and I even made one with/for Bella out of the leftover clay:

The Legend Of The Candy Cane

There are so many perks to working at a christian school.  Especially around Christmas time.  As a christian, Christmas is such a special time.  So many elements of Christmas have deep meanings, however in a secular setting one would not be allowed to mention them, let alone have an entire class theme revolve around them.

Each class chose/was given a theme for their Christmas bulletin board.  I chose candy canes.  I've always liked candy canes, and am one of those weird people that actually eats them.
We read The Legend of the Candy Cane:

  

For our craft, I had them draw a candy cane shape on the paper (and emphasized that it looked just like the letter J), then I painted one of their thumbs red, and the other white.  I had them stamp their thumbs along the line one at a time creating a pattern.  After they'd mostly gotten the hang of it, I let them decide which the "came next", so that they understood the idea of a pattern.  We also then glued a poem I'd found next to it.

I also found these stickers (I've seen them many places, one place being christianbook.com), which were a wonderful edition to our lesson:

I gave these out to my kids on their way out the door.  On my way home, I stopped and Target to pick up some lady products.  I saw one of them was "buy one, get a mascara free".  Well, I needed mascara, so I picked that one.  At the cash register, I told the lady I only wanted the mascara if it came in the package deal.  She said it wasn't showing up.  I told her I wouldn't lie (not in a defensive way, just making my case), and she said "Oh, I know you wouldn't" and rang it up free.  On my walk home, I was like "how does she know I wouldn't lie?"  I got to our apartment, looked in the mirror, and saw that I was wearing one of the stickers, and completely forgot to take it off.  Apparently she figured, anyone willing to wear a Jesus sticker in public wasn't going to lie about a tube of mascara, haha...

Feeling Very Thankful

The week of Thanksgiving was a wonderful one.

A half week at school, two days off, good food, even a little Black Friday (online) shopping... like I said, wonderful.

I read my kids the Albuquerque Turkey, which if you haven't ever read it, I highly recommend it.  Very cute story.  It's actually a song, sung to "Oh My Darling Clementine".  I'm very visual, so for those of you out there who are too, here's the cover:

After we read this book, I had my students make their own "Albuquerque Turkey"s.  

What you'll need for this craft is 

2 large circles out of paper

1 smaller circle of paper

1 yellow triangle out of paper

1 orange teardrop shape out of paper

2 googley eyes

5-6 feathers

2 black or brown pipe cleaners

You glue the feather between the two large circles at the top, and the two pipe cleaners (bent into feet- I had to do most of them for my kids) at the bottom.  Then glue on the smaller circle, the eyes, the beak and waddle.  This is the most fun part, because sometimes they don't put them where you think they will.  This is just one of the many very cute turkey ideas out there.

On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving we watched The Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.  Here's a confession.  That was my first time ever seeing it.  Just one minor set-back of growing up over-seas.

After the movie we had a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving party!  Naturally, we had toast, jelly beans, pop corn and pretzels.

I also had each child draw a picture of something they are thankful for.  And where it is Thanksgiving or not, it's always good to think about:

What are you thankful for?

Apples and Pumpkins Galore!

I love apples.  I don't know if it's because I've always wanted teach, or if it's their taste, my brother's name being Jonathan... I don't know.  But if you ask me, they are a very friendly fruit.  So, our topic was apples and pumpkins.  I'm telling you, give me a theme, and watch me run with it.

So, needless to say, we had apples for snacks one day.  Then, I found this adorable apple craft.

You take a paper plate, then draw lines for the children to cut on, that will make it look like a core.  Then, the children paint the (ridged) top of the paper plate red (although, making some of them green and yellow would also be very cute).  Then, I had them draw seeds in the middle, and added a green stem (that they also painted) to it.

Et voila:

Next, we made pumpkins out of strips of paper.  I lined orange construction paper (1 inch lines), and different lengths.  Again, I had my kiddos cut on the lines.  (I also had them cut one green one, for the stem.)  Then, they cut them into different lengths.  You need 2 of every length.  Then, you hold them together, shortest ones in the middle, longer ones next, and finally the longest ones.  Then they "helped me" staple them together at one end, then I inserted the green one at the top, and stapled them at that end.  Easy as pie!  Pumpkin pie, that is!

On another day we actually made pumpkin pie.  Yes, we made it.  I bought a pie crust, a can of pumpkin pie, a can of evaporated milk, and eggs.  I already had the spices at home.  So one day, during circle time, we went into the kitchen and made pie.  I let the kids put in all the ingredients.  Even the eggs.  It was a good thing that I brought an extra one, because as I learned, kids like to squeeze eggs, which has a great squirting effect, but leaves you missing some egg.  The kids had a wonderful time.  They also all got a chance to hold my hand held mixer, which was a very exciting experience.  We put our pie in the oven, and waited.  That was the hardest part.  We finally went back into the kitchen, checked on our pie, and......... it was perfect.

Here's the picture to prove it:

And, to top it off, the kids went home with a conversation starter stamp.

When the principle went by, they kids were saying "cutie pie", "cutie pie".  She was like "Oh, how sweet, thank you!" Then I showed her that they were just trying to show her their stamp.  That sure burst her bubble... :)

Community Helpers Theme

I've been gone for so long, I have many many themes to go over.  Our school had their community helpers theme in late fall, however many other schools may have them at another time.

There are many cute ideas out there about community helpers, so it's hard to choose.

Firstly, we talked about safety.  In connection with that, I had the kids cut out red, yellow and green circles, which we then taped to large popsicle sticks.  I made a set of my own, onto which I wrote "Go!", "Slow!" and "Stop!".  During outside time, we played red light/(yellow light)/green light.  The kids loved it so much, that they played with their own, and requested it every day that week.

I printed out badges that looked like either firemen or policemen badges, on which they wrote their names, and then colored them.  I pinned them on them, and they wore them for the day that we talked about that particular community helper.  I also had hats they took turns wearing.

Here are some of the templates:

On Thursday, we had a fire truck visit us, and the kids got to get up close and personal with some of the equipment.  In honor of that, I had my students cut out certain shapes, which when put together made a fire truck.

Although I probably could've come up with this on my own, I found this one on tams-thisandthat.blogspot.com.

Finally, my favorite part of the week was when I had each child draw a picture of what they love doing most with their family.  Then, they got to put the stamps on the envelope, lick the lip of the envelope (their favorite part) and stick it down.  Awesomely, there is a mailbox right outside our school.  So, I put on the mailman hat, out the letters in a messenger bag, and we all walked outside.

Each child got to pull down the latch, put the letter in, and then close the lid.  

Let me tell you, they had a blast!  They couldn't wait for the letters to arrive!  I asked the parents to send the letters into class with the children when they arrive, so all the children could see the full-circle of mail system.

This was one of my favorite themes, as there are so many things a person can do!

Falling In Love With Fall

For the next 3 weeks our over-all theme is Fall.  The first week was "Leaves and Trees", and the letter was "Tt".

Right away I wanted to make a snack in the shape of leaves, because, well, that sounds awesome!

So, I thought of Jello.  Everyone loves Jello.  I bought red (cherry), orange (orange) and green (lime).  

I followed the directions for jigglers, but I think the pans I used were too large, and the jello ended up being too thin and wouldn't cut.  So, I got enough out for every kid to have one, and then they got just regular jello.

The leaves.

The Jello.

Okay, so remember how I said that everyone loves Jello?  Well, apparently my kids don't.

So, to sum up, the Jello wasn't the greatest hit.

On the craft/art side, I had the kids write a giant "T", and then glue leaves on it.  Also, we made family "T"rees.  They drew a trunk, then ripped up little pieces of brown, red, yellow and green construction paper as leaves.  Then, they glued their family pictures on it, which they loved!  Kids love to talk about their home lives.

The second week was "Squirrels and Acorns"  I found a really cute recipe for "acorns" on pinterest.  It was made with Mini Nilla Wafers, Hershey's Chocolate Kisses and peanut butter.  (It actually called for  chocolate frosting, but peanut butter is healthier, I already had it, and none of my kids are allergic.)

These are seriously the easiest snacks EVER!!!  They're also very yummy!  Much bigger hit than the Jello.

I put the peanut butter in a ziplock, and snipped off the end.  I put about a pea-size on the flat side of the kiss, stuck the mini nilla wafer on it, and put a little drop of peanut butter on top of that for the stem.

And, voila...

These little acorns were a huge hit!  The teachers loved them, the kids loved them, and the parents came in the next day going, "They said they ate acorns yesterday...?"  I would absolutely make these again, and highly recommend them for any function from a kids' party, after school snack, Thanksgiving or Fall/Harvest party.  They are simply adorable!

That same day, we had a Literacy Parade, in which the kids dressed up as their favorite book characters, and brought the books in, to share with the other kids.  For me it was a no-brainer.  Amelia Bedelia.  I have loved and identified with her since I was a little girl.

So, I went to Goodwill and bought a simple, black, long-sleeved dress for $6, and a black hat for $3.  One of Dan's dress shirts had gotten ruined a few months back (and I kept it to make something out of), so I cut the collar off that, and just wore that with the dress.  I didn't have any luck finding a black apron, until I asked the wonderful lady who cooks at the preschool.  She had some made out of garbage-bag-type plastic, which was perfect.  After that I made some flowers out of pink construction paper, and this is what I looked like:

Pretty close to the real thing, if you ask me! :)  (Even though about 70% of people didn't know who she was.)

So, this has been our Fall Theme.  I've thoroughly enjoyed what we've done, and hope you find some of my ideas, tips and slight failures (namely, Jello) helpful.

I would love to hear any type of feedback from you, please let me know if you have any ideas for our next theme - COMMUNITY HELPERS.

Mrs. Blair's Pig Pen

So, last week was Pet Week, and the next week was... Farm Week!

I wanted to come up with a fun craft/art for the kids to do, that would tie in with the theme, but be something that we could hang on the wall and show off to their parents.  I remembered this craft we made one time (in church or school, or with my mom- who knows!) where we made animals with clothespin legs.  I wanted the kids to cut out the pieces, because we're learning shapes, and practicing fine motor skills, like cutting.  

I used the bottom of a hand sanitizer bottle (or germy, if you're 4) for the body, which made a perfect oval shape.  Then the paper clip holder was the perfect size for the head.  I traced these on pink paper, for the kids to then cut out.  Then, I had this awesome construction paper that was different skin tone colors.  I took the caucasian color out.  I traced a smaller circle for the snout, and two triangles for the ears.  Then I had clothespins, googley eyes and pink pipe cleaners (or chenilles) for the tails.

They all named and cut out the shapes, and glued them together.  Then, they drew on two nostrils, and glued on the googley eyes.  They colored the clothespins pink (a pink highlighter worked really well).  I helped them twist the pipe cleaner on a thin marker and attach it to the pig's bottom.

OH MY GOODNESS!!!

Cutest things ever!

Once the kids made theirs, I had to make one of my own!

I took pictures of all the kids with their pigs, and gave them to their parents.

Then, I made a "Pig Pen", and attached all the piggies to it, so my kids could show them off to everyone who walked by our room.

So broken down, here is what you need for one pig:

1 oval shape for body

1 large circle for head

1 small circle for snout

2 triangles for ears

2 googley eyes

2 clothes pins

1 pipe cleaner, wrapped around a pencil

Pink highlighter

Black marker

Glue stick

For a snack that week, I bought them Milk Straws from "got milk?".  (Because milk comes from cows, and cows live on farms.)  They were a big hit!

We also had animal crackers.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, was Farm Week in our K4 class!

My New Life as a K4 Teacher

For those of you who may not know, Dan and I moved to Florida 2 months ago, for a job he got as a youth pastor at a wonderful church in Jacksonville.  

For me, this meant that I was back on the job hunt.  I am very blessed, because I found two great jobs right away.  The first, is teaching ballet and jazz ballet to 3-4 and 5-7 year olds.  This is SO much fun, and I'm really enjoying the fact that I've found my way back to my childhood love like this.

My second, and "real" job is as a K4 VPK teacher.  I work at a wonderful Christian Private school, called Seacoast Christian Academy.  (The VPK program is public though.)  It's also such a blessing, the school is only a 20 minute walk away from our apartment.  This is very convenient, because right now we only have one car (oh yeah, and because I don't have my license yet - shut up!)
 This position incorporates EVERYTHING that I love to do.  Most importantly teaching.  Not to mention that it's my favorite age group!  I also am constantly needing to be creative, coming up with fun new activities and art projects.  We also have Bible time, which is straight up my alley, as well as music and movement.  Did I mention that I was made for this job!!???

Also, you know I'm coming up with cute, topic-related snacks!

So, this blog is going to take a slight new direction.  I will still be posting about my latest baking/crafting/cooking/pinterest conquests, however most of the time they will have to do with things we're doing in class.

Two weeks ago was pet week.  Oh my, don't even get me started!!!  Give me a topic, and watch me go crazy!

First, I painted a paw print on my big toe.

I used a paw shaped puncher on painter's tape, stuck that on my toe, painted over it and, voila - paw print toes!!!

Because of my love of scrapbooking, and my love for my doggie, Bella, I have a giant paw print stamp.

At the end of the day, all my kids got to go home with "paws for hands".

They were crazy about them!  I loved it, because the parents got to see exactly what our topic was, the kids loved them, and I got to be the cool teacher. :)

Now, on Fridays I've been trying to have a special snack, one that ties in with the topic.  In Ohio I learned about "puppy chow".  It involves peanut butter, so I wasn't sure I'd be a fan, but it was surprisingly good.   I found a recipe on momswhothink.com.  This snack is so simple, so cute, and very yummy!

It calls for:

1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup butter
1 cup chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
9 cups Chex cereal (any flavor)
3 cups powdered sugar

You melt the peanut butter and chocolate chips together.  Then, you pour it over the 9 cups of Chex cereal, and make sure it all get coated really well.  Next, you put (portions of) it in a ziplock bag, pour some powdered sugar in it, seal the bag, and shake it- shake it like a polaroid picture.  Once you've gotten powdered sugar on all of it, put it in a bowl, and serve it up!

It was so adorable, and thankfully I knew none of my kids were allergic to peanut butter, so I didn't have to modify the recipe.  I was so excited to have brought in such a cool and different snack!

That same day we made cat and dog ears (they had to cut out either triangles for the cats or ovals for the dogs), and they wore them while they had their "puppy chow".

SO, that was pet week!  The next week was farm week.  Wait till you see what they made... I'll give you a hint!  They're pink and go "oink"!

We're Floridians!!!

For those of you who may not know, Dan and I moved to Florida 2 months ago, for a job he got as a youth pastor at a wonderful church in Jacksonville called First Coast Christian Center.  

For me, this meant that I was back on the job hunt.  I am very blessed, because I found two great jobs right away.  The first, is teaching ballet and jazz ballet to 3-4 and 5-7 year olds.  This is SO much fun, and I'm really enjoying the fact that I've found my way back to my childhood love like this.

My second, and "real" job is as a K4 VPK teacher.  I work at a wonderful Christian Private school, called Seacoast Christian Academy.  (The VPK program is public though.)  This position incorporates EVERYTHING that I love to do.  

But first, let's back up to the move.

We arrived on August 5th, after a two day trip in a moving van, with Bella sitting between Dan and I in the front seat.

Shhh... we gave her baby Benadril so she would sleep for most of the trip- she was the best behaved dog in the world!

We moved into our apartment, which we love very much.  There's a lake on the property, around which we take Bella for a walk every day.  Even though we live on a busy streat, our apartment building is so far back, we can't even hear street noise, which is great!  (I strongly dislike my itty-bitty kitchen, in which Dan and I bump butts while we're cooking, but hey!)

Best part is- we're 20 minutes away from the beach.  At first, Bella hated the beach, but she's really become quite the beach dog! 

This was Bella's first time with sand and water (besides baths).  She wasn't quite sure what to think...

Dan is so happy to be so close to the beach!  He could go every day!  And that first week- we nearly did!

I really love this picture of Bella and I.  We're loving the beach life!

My little beach baby.

On a date that ended with a walk on the beach - not too shabby!

So, this is our new life.  A new church family, new jobs, our pet baby (who we love and spoil too much), a new apartment and the beach. 

For your entertainment: