Maddie's Christmas Party

Maddie's Christmas party was a tad bit more....exciting than Ben's. Part of that is just teacher personalities. Maddie's teacher, Teacher Patty, saves all year and goes all out for the occasion. I think the other part of that is age. It doesn't seem like a big difference when you're going through it, but the change in a year is HUGE. I am required to help in both kids' classes every month, and I must admit I don't enjoy Ben's class much. I love being there with him and getting to see his progress, but the class itself isn't what I'd call stimulating for an adult. Most of it is spent herding the kids around and making them behave. Maddie's class gets A LOT more work done. The amount of work she does in a day, Ben probably does in a month!! While you still have the occasional kid or two out of line, they tend to listen better and settle down faster. So yes, there is a huge difference between 3 and 4.

Anyway, about the party. Teacher Patty had the kids do all their projects in the multi-purpose room when they got there. About half way through the day, they went back to their class to see the big surprise: Snow!!! Teacher Patty covered the entire floor with fake snow!! I'd heard about it, but there isn't anything like seeing it. The kids came in with confusion, than "ooh's and aah's" The magic of Christmas is alive and well :)

The kids had cookies to decorate. Lots of them. Haha! Maddie was so sweet. She took her time and decorated two. When she was done I sealed them up and slipped back to Ben's class for a few minutes. When I came back to Maddie, most of the kids were playing in the snow. Maddie, however, was sitting in her chair with big crocodile tears :( I went over and she just curled up in a ball on me and was crying. At first she wouldn't talk, than she finally said, "I didn't get to make a cookie for Ben!" Oh. My. Gosh! My heart melted. What a sweet sister to be so upset about his cookie!! I promised her that Ben was down the hall making his own cookies. It took a few minutes, but she finally came around. Phew!

All the kids in their PJ's and snow :)

Ben's class ends 30 minutes before Maddie's. So he was a VERY lucky little boy and got to participate in the snow too! As you can see, he hated it ;)

He even made some friends! The boys all decided to make a giant pile of snow. I don't think they got very far, but it was nice to see how effortlessly Ben joined in.

The biggest surprise was that Teacher Patty had filled balloons with snow and hung them up. Apparently, she didn't do as many as she normally does, so the effect was less. But you get the idea. I think the kids were a bit confused, but Ben thought it was pretty cool!

It was the best Christmas Party I've been to for kids. They all had so much fun! There were presents handed out, they had pizza, they sang happy birthday to Jesus. I wish I could go back and be a kid in Teacher Patty's class :)