Neighborhood Thrift

Our lifegroup signed up to help at Neighborhood Thrift (NT).  NT is the store that our church partners with.  At Christmas time we as church goers donate new toys etc to NT.  NT then sells them at a discount to the public.  It is a fantastic way to give the shoppers a way to purchase toys that they would not otherwise be able to afford.

Part of our group helped out in the Cafe doing crafts with the kids.  I was not there so I did not get pics of that, however that is where my children and husband were.

I was in the store part.  Karle and I made a great team, gift wrapping extraordinaires!  We rocked the free gift wrapping that was offered.  We also had help with our tape.  One of our other members was our tape giver outer.

Karle and me

Our tape helper

Others helped by taking money and bagging items.  It really was fun.  

Bag guy and money people

Justus Class Christmas Party

On Thursday I got to be party hopper.  Justus class party was at 8:45 and Havens started at 11:15.

Justus party was just like the Halloween one being that it was done through stations.  Our room mom does a FANTASTIC job of making it fun for the kids.

She passed out Reindeer antlers for all the kids that had little jingle bells on them.  Needless to say the kids loved them.

 So they went to their various stations.

Eating carrots - getting ready to decorate cupcakes

Decorating the cupcakes - he got to have his friend Ani in his group- that was special

Enjoying decorated cupcake!

Playdough station

Game station

Hot Santa game

 The best part was when Santa came in and each kid got to sit with Santa and tell him what they wanted.  Of course Justus was like "who is this and why am I sitting on his lap"  Of course he knew it was Santa, but the whole sitting on the lap thing was a little crazy for him.  He gave Santa the funniest look.

All the adult helpers with Santa

Haven's Class Christmas Parties

Thursday was party day.  The thing I love most about Havens Christmas party is the Christian influence.  The kids sang some songs for us, then we prayed for our food.

Haven and her teacher

Singing songs

Praying

Eating

Decorating

With friend Tristan

The kids ate, decorated a cookie and then it was time to go home.

Happy Birthday Jesus Party

Peoples Church always does a great job putting on a Happy Birthday Jesus party for the kids. So naturally I kept Justus out from school and had both he and Haven attend.




They got to do some crafts - the favorite being making a jingle bell.

Sing songs - which is when they got to use their jingle bells.

Hear a story

Have birthday cake!

Afterwards the kids went to be cared for by the staff while the moms got to have a super yummy brunch and hear a fabulous speaker. A great time!

Gingerbread house

Justus Kindergarten class made Gingerbread houses. Well - actually graham cracker houses, but you get the idea!

It was so fun. The parents got to help set up. Then the kids came in and took a seat. We sat with our kid and then it was all out fun to decorate the house.

Fun stuff....in the mail

This time of year brings lots of fun Christmas cards and Seasons greetings.

Because people we love live far away we often get gifts in the mail as well!

From Grammy & Granddad:

From Katrina:

Fun stuff!!

Havens Preschool Christmas Open House

This year the preschool decided to do an Open House. In years past they have always done a big production where the kids get to perform on the church stage, singing their songs and whatnot.

I was a little disappointed to find out this year it was only going to be an open house. I love the idea that the kids get to go up on the big stage.

So we went straight from Justus Winter Program to Havens Open House.

The teacher had put out a candy cane craft that the kids were happy to do.

Then we checked out Havens artwork - so cute!



We ended the night with some cookies in the Children's Center.