Fall Frenzy and Fun!

October proved to be a very busy, but wonderful month here at the CDC. The beginning of the month was filled with preparations for our "Under the Tuscan Sun" Silent Auction, which took place on October 15th. Thank you to Ginnie McConn and Laura Wolfe for charing our auction and for all of the work that it entails! Thank you also, for all who collected donations, the room parents who arranged the class art projects, and all of the other volunteers who helped make this event possible. The night of auction was absolutely delightful and a huge success. We had a great time with our CDC families and friends, while raising money for our awesome little school!

Beautiful Classroom Art Projects for Auction:

Younger Toddler "Trick-or-Treat, Smell My Feet" Bowl

Older Toddler Sunflower Hand/Fingerprint Plates

2-3 Class Handprint Chair

3-4 Class Hand-Painted Sunflower Quilt

Pre-K Fingerprint Critters on a Stool

After Auction, we began preparing for our 2nd Annual Trunk-or-Treat event! This year we had around 30 parents there to decorate trunks and pass out candy to the children! Way to go CDC Parents!!! The event took place yesterday on Halloween and the parents did a spooktacular job of decorating their trunks for the occasion! The kids had a great time and took home a whole bucket of goodies! Thank you to all who participated in Trunk-or-Treat and also thank you to all of the parents who made their classroom parties so much fun, as well. We really have an outstanding group of parents around here! If you have photos from the event, please email them to stmarkscdc@smumc.org and I will post them. My new camera had a malfunction and I am mailing it back to the company, so I'm unable to get my photos off of my memory card until the new camera arrives later this week. So... more photos to come soon.

Now it's November and we can't wait for more fall fun, as this cooler weather has finally hit Houston! The teachers have all kinds of great activities planned and we're also looking forward to our Thankful Gathering before Thanksgiving Break. Happy fall to everyone!

BACK TO SCHOOL FALL 2011

Younger Toddlers- Ready to Explore!

Older Toddlers in Centers and on the Playground

2-3 Class Getting Ready for Chapel

The 3-4 Class, Having a Yummy Lunch

Fun in Pre-K

12-14-2010 Pre-K Singing for the Seniors of St. Mark's UMC- XYZ Club

December 2010 Frosty Fun!

As the winter air rolled in, we have already began to have some frosty fun, with the performance of "Frosty" by the Express Children's Theatre on December 2nd. The children had a blast as the cast sang both familiar as well as new songs. The highlight of the show was when Frosty the Snowman came down from the stage to walk amongst the children. The focus of the story was to introduce holiday celebrations amongst different cultures and religions. The children learned how three friends celebrated their own unique traditions and found similarities in Christmas, Chanukah & Kwanzaa. Here are some photos from the performance:

TRUNK OR TREAT/Halloween Festivities 2010

I must say that our very first "Trunk-or-Treat" turned out to be a huge success! The children, staff & parents all seemed to have a blast and we have decided that it should become an annual event at the CDC! So parents, start planning now on how you will decorate your car (I didn't realize what a huge event this is at some places, until I saw a full blown castle built around someone's car at my church this weekend... I'm not going to lie, it got me really excited at the thought of taking our little CDC event to the next level for next year)... Maybe we can have a door prize/competition for the best "dressed" vehicle. I think we can agree that the Weaver's would have taken the prize this year, with the giant, inflatable cat. You all were already on the right track this year, as we had GREAT parent participation and the parents, as well as the trunks, were very impressive! We also noticed that having this morning event was a great outlet for the children to get all of their Halloween party/costume excitement out early in the day because they took great naps and every classroom seemed to be eerily calm during class parties at the end of the day (Which has NEVER happened, in the history of the CDC). So, overall, we vote that this event is a keeper for sure! Here are some photos from our awesome day at the CDC (Parents, please feel free to email or bring in a cd of any photos that you took from Thursday. We would love to see them all).

Some of the staff kids- worn out at the end of a very fun day!

Fire Engine #9 Comes to the Rescue!

After two years of missing out on fire engine visits, we were sooooo thrilled to meet the great guys from Station #9 (on Hogan near Houston Ave). They were suppose to send a truck on Monday from our nearest station (#15), who called and rescheduled for today... and then they called this morning and said they would not be able to come... So they called Station #9 for us and they were in our parking lot within 5 minutes from receiving the call. We were greeted by Captain Kimble as well as Charles (Driver), Jeremy (EMT) & Jared (Paramedic). They were a very friendly, funny, kind group of firemen and they really took time to spend with the children, showing them the engine, equipment, fire suit, etc. Some of the children were able to sit in the driver seat, climb through the back seat, and try on the helmet as well. I think all of them really enjoyed hearing the siren and horn and seeing the flashing lights too! I will be emailing Captain Kimble some photos, as well as making the guys a framed photo with the kids' fingerprints to thank them for coming out today! Way to go, Engine #9!