celebrate, good time, come on

for the last few preschool parties, i'd gotten lucky and slid through with super easy contributions, like paper goods, tablecloths, and other worry-free items.  but for the christmas party, my luck ran out - they must've put the signup sheet out on one of the bean's off days.  because by the time i got to it, everything had already been spoken for except the dreaded goody bags.  24 of 'em.  bah!

between trips to the dollar store, target, and the grocery store, i managed to cobble together a fairly decent selection of stuff that didn't involve too much candy.  i always appreciate when she's sent home with bags that aren't stuffed to the gills with sugary treats, so i thought i'd pay it forward.

well, now, i didn't say i left it out altogether!  besides, what's a goody bag without, well, a few goodies?

the bean is at that age where she wants to help with everything.  and i figured she'd take some pride in having had a hand in the assembly of the fun stuff for her classmates.  so after her bath, i set up a workstation for us to get it done together.  she was quite appreciative and excited to get started.  can you tell?

it didn't take long, and she had a lot of fun inspecting every item before dropping it into the bags.  when all was said and done, we'd put together a nice little giveaway.

when i arrived to pick her up after school that day, i was amused to find her still sitting in her seat, thoroughly enjoying a cupcake.  like her mother, she seems to always be the last one at the table still eating.  heh.

not surprisingly, she'd already powered through the layer of frosting - but unlike her usual routine, she was actually eating the cake beneath.  i got her to take this mid-chew.

on our way out, she stopped to give her little friend a big hug...goodbye.  sadly, it was her last day at school as her mom had lost her job.  such a bummer for the bean, who'd become pretty tight with her.

only four more days till christmas!  yikes.