what it's all about...

ok, so be honest. how often do you say or hear someone say the phrase...'what christmas is all about' or 'the true meaning of christmas' or 'tis the season'. well, i hear it/say it all the time...but most of the time i, unfortunately, have not walked the talk.

i'm not referring to a lack of focus on celebrating the birth of christ. because...that IS my MAIN focal point...but i'm talking about something else. gift giving.

true gift giving.

how many times are we caught up in the hussle and bussle of getting our family members and friends the perfect give. it's stressful. (or maybe i am the only one who can spend hours upon hours searching, then finally buy something, just to end up returning it for something different the next day, ugh).
God knows my heart, he SO knows my heart. He knew how stressful I make the holidays for myself, in terms of gift giving.
an opportunity knocked on my door this week.
a family here at school was not planning on celebrating christmas. no tree. no gifts. not really even sure if they would have enough food/money to get them through the month of december.

when asking their 5th grade son what kinds of things do you, your twin siblings, and older sibling like? what do you want? he responded with the ever-so-humbling, "oh, we will take anything". now come on. most 5th graders would totally haved rocked this question with a PSP or DS or whatever latest gadget is out there. nuh uh. not this boy. he's a humble fella.

k, so his classroom teacher and I got our staff on board with support and went to town on gathering gifts...
...dinner certificate, date night for mom and dad
...toys, clothes, family board games
...grocerie gift cards

we went crazy. my heart is going crazy.

....my heart is so glad. my cup is so full.

someone has a crush on me...

while reading this book to one of the kindergarten classes at my school...

i got to the page that says, "peace is thinking about someone you love."

one little boy made a squishy/squinty face and then pointed to me.

his friend laughed a little, then pointed at the boy who was pointing at me, and said,

"he loves you."

so, my friends...in the absence of mr. leif....i have my own little romeo in the kindergarten class, here at 'the wash'.

one more funny from my day... i was just informed by our little possy of gangster 6th graders that we no longer use 'cool' when referring to something that is, well, cool. one must use 'fly' (kinda knew that one), 'raw', or 'crispy'. so to their request, i have now been using a lot of 'raw' and 'crispy' when giving them compliments...you should try it sometime. here, you can practice right now. repeat after me, "lindsey, your blog is so raw" GREAT! you did it, now try, "lindsey, your blog is so crispy". baaaaaahahahahahah. that one sounded marvelous. now, go on....add those 2 words to your daily vocabulary. do it for me. i am totally raw and crispy.

sidenote: i get to see my bff(2) in 3 days. san diego here i come.

this morning...

mr. leif caught me doin some serious damage on our bank account.

haha. jk. i didn't buy anything...i was searching for ideas.

i always seem to make such a big ordeal over christmas shopping for my mom(s)...

i want themto just l.o.v.e. their gift, and i want them to be meaningful, and i want them to be handmade...

so i am fervently searching for some good ideas.

if i had a million followers on this blog, i would now pose the question, "what are you all giving your moms for christmas, anything handmade?"

but i think i have like, well, not very many people who read this....so i will just stick to internet searching and crafty-blog stalking.

450 peacemakers at the wash...

we nickname our school "the wash" .......short for washington elementary

as i posted earlier...i am trying to promote peace in our school through my classroom guidance counseling lessons.

my theme for december is 'peace begins with u'. i like it.

i'm trying to create 450 peacemakers.

i wanted to spruce up my lessons this month and make them super deeee duper fun...so along with the typical 'stuff' we usually do...i am doing a fun crafty thing in each grade level.

these are the 5th grader's "peace flags"

check'em out......pretty sweet, ey?

i hung them from the ceiling in the hallway :)

bring on the peace.

side note...wouldn't it be lovely if i could teach them about peace AND the prince of peace??? that would be great.

3 flont flips...

so my sissy usually sends me a picture via text once a day...

here are some of the ones i have gotten...

i just love my bff. aren't u jealous you don't have a bff as cute as mine?

for all you females out there...if that didn't make your uterus do 3 front flips in the air...i don't know what would.

baby c (bff) = cutest thing on the planet.

peace,xoxo,linds

randomness.....

after saving and saving...this weekend, we got a new camera! yay.

mr. leif and i did a little photo shoot in our kitchen, even though i have no clue how to really use it yet. i will learn though :)

oh, and yummidy yum yum

i had this for dinner tonight. best dinner in a while :)

tonight,

there was a cat (not ours because i'm scared of cats, and strongly dislike them) stuck in the loft of our garage. not sure how it got up there. and it really freaked me out. i was too scared to crawl after it. it was making freaky meow noises, ones that might create a nightmare. i just left the garage door, open for an hour,hoping somehow it would make the 10 ft. plunge down and land on its feet (right?) and then dash out of the garage. i haven't heard the wacko meows for a while, so i think it finally figured out a plan of escape. i hope. otherwise that sucker is going to have to wait until mr. leif gets back.......which is not for a while.

tonight,

i am hoping for a snow day tomorrow. i would like that, a lot. i need to finish a final for one masters class and then do my final project for the other masters class. a snow day would be nice. maybe i would get those two things done, and clean my house? snow day? yes please. oh well, at least i don't have to clean the toilets. mr. leif did that this weekend.

i love him.

tonight,

i am watching one tree hill and gossip girl. because i am bored. because i did 2 out of 6 essay questions and that was my goal. because i don't really want to do anything else but be curled up on the couch, while wishing for a snow day.

tonight,

i am so thankful for my husband. when i think of him i smile. i love thinking about him, and more recently, deeply praying for him. it has been the most remarkable feeling, praying for him. through prayer, and lifting him up to God, i feel strangely closer to him during the week. it is so cool.

peace

xoxo

linds