Winter Festival!

On Friday night, Katie Anne's school hosted their third annual Winter Festival.  It was such a fun evening and a great way for the families to get more involved with the school!  At Katie Anne's former daycare, they'd tried a few family events, and the turnout was always very low.  We were very pleasantly surprised at the crowd at the Winter Festival... the parking lot and overflow lot were so full that we had to park down the street!

They had the classrooms set up with various activities and staffed with two teachers each, and the families moved through each room at their own pace.  They had several craft rooms - Katie Anne made marshmellow and pretzel snowmen, a foam Christmas tree, a candy cane reindeer ornament, and decorated a bag to hold all her goodies.  In one classroom, they had snacks and drinks for everyone.  They had a reptile rescue group who put on a reptile show in one class.  In the largest room (for the after-schoolers), they had a bouncy house for the kids to play in, and they also had a professional photographer taking pictures of each child - the school picked up the cost of the picture packages, too!  Katie Anne did every one of the activities.  We stayed about an hour and had a very fun time! 

Giving Santa a hug and choosing a candy cane

Saying hi to her friend Lacey while waiting in the picture line

She did a GREAT job getting her picture made, and we think those are going to be super-cute.  I'll scan one when we get them back.

Making a snowman in her class with her teacher Mrs. Angela

 

With her candy cane reindeer

Making her Christmas tree... she spent a lot of time searching for the perfect sequins to complete her tree.

Creating a Christmas bag to hold all her crafts

Watching a few minutes of the reptile show

After I took this picture, she turned around and asked, "Mommy, when are they bringing out the real animals?  When are they bringing out the horse?"  I guess she wasn't too impressed by snakes and lizards.

So, we left the reptile show to the older kids and took advantage of the virtually empty bouncy house.

Family pictures in front of the Christmas tree

What a fun night at school!