MERRY CHRISTMAS

The Teuscher family (and Santa) Wish you a Merry Christmas!!

After taking our picture with Santa Ryan said to me,

"Next year can we go to a Santa that gives a Christmas coloring book instead of this educational stuff."

Me: (very confused) Didn't you get a coloring book?

Ryan: Yeah, but it's all about saving money, it has nothing to do with Christmas.

Me: I guess that's what happens when the bank sponsors Santa!

On further inspection...here are the words in the book (imagine corresponding pictures)
page 1: Money comes in two forms -bills and coins
page 2: Be smart. Learn how money works and where you can make it grow.
page 3: The people you give your money to are called tellers. When you give them your money, it is called a deposit. Your money is placed in a checking or savings account in your name and can be withdrawn at your request.
page 4: People who have checking accounts don't have to carry a lot of money. They keep it safe in their account and pay for things by check.
page 5: The money that stays in a savings accoutn earns interest and grows.
page 6: People save to take vacations.
page 7: People save to buy a new house.
page 8: Some people save for a comfortable retirement.
page 9: If you save your money, it will be like having your own money tree that grows and grows.
page10: You can save for your future education. You need a good education to get a good job.
page11: You can save to buy presents for special friends.
page12: You can save for the things you would like to have
page13: You can earn money by doing chores. You can save the money you get as gifts or you can save part of your allowance.
page14: Your plan for saving and spending money is called a budget. Be smart. Learn to budget your money wisely and always save some.

So while your kids are getting a sugar high from that candy cane Santa gave them, mine will be opening retirement accounts.

Friday Flashback

In honor of the "Friday Flashback" I thought I'd post this picture. I have no idea how old I am in this picture but for as long as I can remember, the Downey 1st Ward had a Christmas program/dinner/activity that included Santa. (This must have been a good year - notice the fancy background!) Santa would always give us these netted stockings that had mostly gross candy in them. Oh, how we craved that stocking! I remember standing in line saying over and over in my mind what I was going to ask for. Of course, when I got to Santa I would have the "Ralphie moment" and draw a blank. I let(or force) my kids to take a picture with Santa every year. It just isn't Christmas without a visit to Santa!

Hooked on Phonics ROCKS

My sister-in-law sent me this email this week. I've been under the weather and this made me laugh. I thought it was blogworthy.

My five-year old students are learning to read.
yesterday one of them pointed at a picture in a zoo book and said, "Look at this! It's a frickin' elephant!"

I took a deep breath, then asked..."What did you call it?"

"It's a frickin' elephant! It says so on the picture!"

And so it does...

" A f r i c a n Elephant "

GO BIG RED!!!!

It's Husker season!! I know that this means nothing to most of you so let me explain. Come about September, it seems every weekend the city of Lincoln turns red to show support to the University of Nebraska football team. The schools and many businesses have "Husker Friday" in which you wear your Husker gear. Weddings are planned around Husker games; I even heard someone on the radio say. "Well, if you want people to come to your wedding, don't plan it during a Husker game." The first few years we lived here, we couldn't understand the craziness of the fans. Then I attended a football game. It is so fun!!! I'm not a huge football fan but I must admit I am catching the "husker fever." This weekend I was lucky enough to go to a football game with a couple of the neighbor girls. It was about 22 degrees with the windchill factored in. But the Huskers beat the Jayhawks (Kansas) 45 to 35...What else can I say besides....GO BIG RED!!!!!

Follow the Yellow Brick Road to Death

For Halloween we combined the sweet with the not so sweet. Cassidy chose to be Dorothy and Ryan wanted to be the Grim Reaper. Ryan chose his costume at the store but when we looked at the Dorothy costume at the store I just couldn't bring myself to pay $20 for such a piece of junk so I pulled out my sewing skills and made Cassidy's costume. Next year I am going to plan more time for picking out mistakes. I think I redid just about every step, some more than once. But it was all worth it because she was a darling Dorothy.