also i wanted to ditto matt's expression of these lyrics
which reflect how we feel living out here:

so here i am
it’s in my hands
and i’ll savor every moment of this
so here i am
alive at last
and i’ll savor every moment of this
-the used

saturday YEEEEEEEEEEHHHHAAAAAAAAAWWW!!!!
our christmas break has started!!!!
no more school for 16 whole days!!! yeah!
i love being in the public school system!
and matt has all the time off because he worked his behind off these past few weeks. and now i'm letting him rest and sleep it all off. i may not see him until 3:00 this afternoon, but this is what we get when he works 15 and 16 hour days.

we started to watch "13 conversations about one thing" last night but i fell asleep about 10 minutes into it. i don't know how far matt made it. i'll try again today, along with jim carey's "the grinch"--a new tradition in my family because such a fun christmasy movie.

i need to go to the bank today but i'm afraid of all the wacko holiday shoppers! however, i can't put it off any longer, due to our fun travels coming up here on monday! can't wait to see you all, family!

michelle, i had a thought-i can't wait until you guys get a house and you try to get on both "while you were out" and "trading spaces". you'd better make pretty quick friends with one of your neighbors. and also, for michelle and anyone else who was following "the amazing race", did you have a sick feeling in your stomach when flo and zach won? sickening.

matt and i had our little christmas celebration here-well, actually, he gave me his gift. i already had his gifts shipped to my parents house--anyways, he gave me an awesome mountain bike!!! i am so pumped!!! i can't wait to get out there and ride!!! but first we need helmets before we go anywhere real... and another cool thing is that there is a san diego mountain bike club that meets every saturday to ride a different trail.

things i'm looking forward to this break: (in no particular order)
1. relaxing and not doing any work
2. seeing family
3. seeing my friend heidi
4. playing the lego game with michael and justin--come on guys, new famiy tradition, complete with our own songs!
5. sleeping sleeping sleeping
6. yummmy food face-stuffing time! the following items will focus on particular kinds of food... you can see how messed up i am, folks...
7. trotter's
8. polleye's breadsticks
9. skyline dip
10. tiger bakery's hummous, pita, shish tawook, lentil rice and fava beans oh my gosh i can not wait so yummy!

okay, enough rambling from me.
peace and peace out!
tracey

how could i forget the funniest movie of the year,
my big fat greek wedding?
i don't know. but that is definately on the list, replacing spiderman.

funny quotes coming out of everyone's mouths today....
a random little girl on the playground: "why do you come and take dominic?"
me: "because i'm his speech teacher."
girl: "can you speech me today?"
me: "no, i don't see every kid-just some."
girl: "please can you speech me?"
me: "no honey, i'm sorry."
girl: "but i want to be speeched!"
at this point, i was so weirded out by the use of "speech" as a VERB that i ran for my life!

and about an hour later i found myself saying,
"okay, when i count to three there will be no more pirates allowed in this room-only little boys."

this was in response to the number of loud "arghs!" i was hearing.
and later, one of them let out an "argh" and another one corrected him, saying, "hey! she said no more pirates in this room!"

now that is a quality day!!
only one more day of work and then nothing until jan 6th!
bye people--see you soon!
tracey

i started to write something yesterday, but i kept getting distracted and never did finish more than the two lines i started out with. so i decided to scrap it and start over today. i think it just seemed like one more item of "work" i had to complete and it was TOO MUCH for a monday!!!

also, mike, i have to agree with mary...
please never again with the star trek.
at least not out loud.
or in public.
please keep that skeleton in the closet.
heehee!

some of the top movies i have so far for this year are (no particular order): the royal tenenbaums, gosford park, the count of monte cristo, amelie, spider-man, y tu mamá también, signs, punch drunk love, monsoon wedding, and a preemtive lord of the rings: the two towers.

i'm always in AWE of how great God is.
when i was offered this job, they warned me about a "high-profile case", in which the district had been sued by a family and i was to see their daughter. i prayed about it, decided to take the job anyways (since i was confident in my skills and that i would just do my job and that they couldn't complain if i worked my hardest). i also prayed that i would just love their daughter and that the family would keep an open mind.
remember how god says he will do EXCEEDINGLY, ABUNDANTLY more than we could ever ask for or dream of? well, once again, he has. i was in a meeting with the parents and the team of 12 professionals who work with their daughter and i was sharing her progress and showed a technique which i felt i would like to implement for the rest of the year. not a big deal, i just looked at her weaknesses and developed a program to increase her vocabulary by using her strengths. and get this, mom said, "this is inspiring. you are an inspiration."
is that unbelievable or what??? this is a parent who was so unhappy with services 18 months ago that she sued the school district. beyond all of that, God has put in me an incredible LOVE for this child. she challenges me and i look forward to tuesdays and fridays because i get to work with her.
EXCEEDINGLY, ABUNDANTLY...

3 more days of work!
6 more days until we go home!

quote of the day from a kid:
"do you live here?" (in reference to my classroom).
oh lord, i would hope not!

in the air there's a feeling of christmas...
-silver bells

bye PEEPS (that's for you, dad)
tracey