Merry Christmas - Necklace making with Caitlyn

My neice Caitlyn LOVES making necklaces with me.

She is a great little helper, and has pretty expensive good taste when it comes to picking out pieces of jewelry.

She made this necklace for her mom's birthday. She did it all by herself!

 Then, Caitlyn needed a necklace for herself!

She just needed this peace sign, and did a pretty good job at putting it together.

Last weekend, my family celebrated Christmas (it's an off-year, everyone is with their in-laws on actual Christmas this year)

So Justin and I got Caitlyn a huge box of beads and jewelry supplies from Toys R Us. I told her she HAS to make me a necklace! You should have seen the smile on her face!

 Here is a picture of my family

Back row: Dad, Boyd, Blake
Front row: Mom, Kyrstin, me, Kinsey

"Spouse" picture
Back row: Nick, Boyd, Justin, Blake
Front row: Kyrstin, April, me, Beth
Front-Front: Kinsey!

My parents with all 7 grandkids!

Candy Cane Pain

This necklace is for my nephew Connor's Kindergarten teacher.

 

I think it's sweet that when you are in elementary school, you get your teacher a present, and in return they usually get you something as well. Kids in elementary school get a "Holiday Party" and get to spend their last afternoon before break eating cookies and exchanging gifts. (At least that's how it was when I was little)

I still remember receiving a Santa face mug from my 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Bauman. I still have the mug. (Little fact, Robert Goren on Law and Order Criminal Intent has the same mug on his desk)

I don't know what I got her... probably an ornament!

 

This is possible, because in elementary school, a teacher sees 20-25 kids a day, and that's it. They spend all day with their teacher, they spend all year with their teacher. Not in High School, I see 150+ kids a day, for 44 minutes.

 

Now that I teach 8th, 10th, 11th, and 12th graders, I don't get a chance to celebrate Christmas the last day before break. Sure, I give my students a candy cane - but I'm also the one picking up the wrappers left all over the room, and say to them as I hand out the treat, "Why thank you Ms. Bodenburg for being so nice and giving me a candy cane." That usually gets a grumble out of them, "Oh yeah, thanks." My favorite is, "This is all we get? Don't you have anything else?"

 

Anyway, only one week left til Christmas Winter Break. 11 days off? I'll take it!

Live and Let Live

This necklace is a custom order.

It is a Christmas gift!

(I'm keeping all names confidential... who knows who is following my blog) :-)



I'm Still Here...

Yes, it's true. I am still alive.

Alive and well... maybe not so much.

It was a great Thanksgiving holiday at my parent's house in Wisconsin. My sister Kinsey and I even braved the freezing Wisconsin weather to hit up Target's Black Friday sale. (We got my parents a new 40 inch Westinghouse TV)

However, the reason I've been missing in blogging is because I got sick the Sunday after Thanksgiving. It wasn't just me either. I think out of the 19 people home for the holiday, only 4 didn't get the flu-like grossness.

I ended up missing 2 days of school - went back to papers and grades due by Friday.

So, I spent this last weekend doing absolutely nothing but catching up on Tyne time. I watched some Christmas movies, baked some cookies, and went to bed super early every night!

There have been no necklaces made recently, but I promise I'll get back to it soon.