yay!
grammy and ryan and michelle ALL blogged! congratulations ryan, on becoming VICE PRESIDENT! wow, and way before the age of 30, too--that is so fantastic!!!! and new pictures of hannah on michelle's page made me laugh! and in answer to ryan's question, my favorite dessert is fruit pizza (which i tend to only make for parties or on hilton head vacations!). i made this dessert for valentine's day that was actually a parfait of layers of chocolate cake, chocolate syrup, vanilla pudding, cool whip, and oreos and matt was really into it. in fact, we had a funny incident where he really wanted to eat it while he watched a show on TV, and somehow i was (unknowingly) inhibiting this from happening so it became a funny fight, where matt later apologized for "becoming obsessed with his dessert". HA!!! i don't think i know anyone more passionate about food than matt.

tonight we're having a few friends over for dinner, so i'm going to go prepare for that! thankfully, we've kept this place pretty darn clean for the past couple of weeks (i'd even say since christmas, we've been good), so there's not much work to do in that respect. i'm going to start a new project soon that may ruin the nice, decluttered space we've been living in! i've been wanting to do it since we moved out here but i just haven't been on the ball. i've been wanting to have a guest book in our guest room that each person signs/writes a message as they come to visit. since i've been late and we've had a ton of visitors, i'm just going to print out a picture of each visitor and write the dates of their visit. sounds simple, but once i get going, who knows what that could turn into???

welp, i'm off! enjoy your weekends, everyone!

in response to matt's comment about me watching "the littlest groom":
what can i say? i'm obsessed with little people.

it's monday and i'm not working!
hooray!
it's beautiful, so i'm going to take a hike pretty soon.
maybe by the time i get back, matt will be up.
this is the fun part of his unemployment: when he's home on my vacation days!

summer plans are filling up fast--
i'm doing a cincy/lexington/maybe columbus circuit from june 15-july 4.
then my parents are coming out aug 7-14ish, and ryan, michelle, and hannah will be out for a week sometime, and mare sometime as well! by the way mary--can you believe our campsite is booked for every day in august? i checked awhile ago (when we were emailing about it) and not one day in the whole month was open. ridiculous! it makes me feel like booking for next summer right now! so anyhoo, the summer is filling up! and happily! i love having people here anytime, but especially in the summer when i'm not working!

dad edwards, i loved the crab audio quote on your blog!
and mary, those pictures of bo are so cute! what a silly, sweet dog, with silly, sweet ears!
i can't wait to meet him in person!

i think i might go to our borders to see if their calendars are $1.00 as well, seeing as it is mid-february and we are still without one.
i was lazy all day yesterday, reading and lounging around... so today i want to get out and get moving!
so i'm off!

happy valentine's day everyone!!!

ah, saturday morning after a friday off!
it feels so good!
nevermind that i've woken up at 6:45 (the exact time my alarm goes off on weekdays) today and yesterday.
welcome to the world of being an adult, eh?
it's not that i don't get enough sleep when i get up this early, it's just sort of depressing---you know, saying goodbye to an era (of consistent staying up late, sleeping in late, being younger).

i'm listening to belle and sebastian and getting partly excited for coachella music festival (and partly not, because what if matt doesn't have a job by then..) but it would be so great to see ash, deathcab, flaming lips (i need to see what has matt so excited, but i could give or take the actual music--sorry), basement jaxx (just for where's your head at--the ultimate pump up song for me a few years ago), you will know us by the trail of dead, the pixies (of course), the cure (yes!), and belle and sebastian.

but thanks to grandpa's christmas money, that i actually carried around in my purse until now (aren't you proud of me??? 2 months almost, without spending it!), we're going to see the strokes! you can read in matt's blog how the deal went down. it's one of those shows that we would regret missing. like U2, i know we were poor, but i wish we could have scraped together the money somehow to see that epic performance.

i agree with mom edwards, i love hearing about the little everyday things that people are doing-- i love picturing mom making bread in her bread machine, mary sitting at her desk in her classroom with her journal open in front of her, casey chasing after silly bo, mike and justin in the basement recording, dad with headphones in, listening to the bros music. it makes me feel like i don't miss much between the times that we all see each other. when i go home and catch up with family and friends, i'll start telling a story and someone will say, "oh yeah, i read that on your blog." huh? oh. then i don't need to talk....:)

by the way, dad, are you giving any cs lewis talks in ohio/BG/cleveland/or pittsburgh areas anytime in the future (because ken wants to see you talk sometime)? i looked on your website and didn't see any ohio engagements, but--man! you are a famous speaker, eh? nationally and internationally known! when you first started reading cs lewis works, did you ever imagine yourself in this position?

oh yeah, dad! yesterday i got a letter from my grammy, who has a friend who lives in the assisted living home where you spoke at in columbus. apparently, this woman is 90 years old and also an accomplished quilter. grammy told her that mom edwards was also a quilter and the lady said she knew and that she had her picture taken with mom. do you all remember that??? what a fun, small world!

welp, i must be going-- pilates is calling my name!
have a fantastic weekend everyone!

hello everyone!
short week this week!
tomorrow is a cake day of a conference, so i get to just RECEIVE instead of giving!
then monday and friday we have off-hooray! this time last year we were on our way up to san fran to hang out with the andys and joel and have one of the most fun weekends of our lives! good memories.

oh michelle-i say ditto to what mary said about tossing/donating the wedding paraphanalia. it sounds like you nearly had yourself convinced anyways. plus, it always helps me when i visualize myself in a few months, a year, etc. down the road. will i miss that item because i have a need to use it? or can i make someone else happy with it (by donating it to charity)? because i buy good stuff, gosh darn it! :) plus, this almost seems like a no-brainer, since you surely already have a picture of your cake-topper (and everything else), if you need the memory of it, you can look at the photo. ooh, it makes me feel so good to think of even other people's clutter going!!!! i'm sick, i know! the end.

after 6 years of my harrassment, matt finally gave in and went to get allergy tested, so we could identify and avoid whatever is causing him to be so miserable. which will be nearly impossible, apparently. poor guy had welts all over his little arms!!! he's allergic to every kind of pollen in nearly every kind of tree, weed, or grass. but apparently by living on the coast we have the best possible location to avoid that, because no allergens blow in off the ocean. the only time it causes problems is if we get a santa ana wind from the desert, which kicks up everything. AND that poor guy is allergic to dust mites, which make him the most miserable. so we're doing the affordable accommodations first: covering mattresses and pillows and stuff with dust mite protectors, and washing bedding/curtains every two weeks. the allergist said that carpets are the worst place for housing dust mites, so we'll eventually get wood floors. but that is in the distant future. michelle and ry, can you believe matt is NOT allergic to dogs? the dr. said he's allergic to whatever dogs bring in from outside and spread inside. either way, the dude said that did not give us permission to get a dog. so i'm sad. but who knows? in a couple of years matt may get miraculously healed and we'll be able to get a pup!

last night i went to my kids' opera production of "rip van winkle". they were so cute and the production was so fantastic! people from the san diego opera came and directed and practiced with them every day for 2 hours. i would have loved to have had something like that when i was a kid. i think the best part was seeing some of the rougher kids or kids who have learning disabilities really get to tap into other gifts and talents that they have. also, i have a student who is a severe stutterer, who was able to participate because his part was all singing (stutterers typically do not stutter at all when they sing).

too much valentine's candy for me! i've been bouncing off the walls all day!
happy valentine's day to everyone! i love you all!
have fun in vegas, mare and casey! and bo!

man, it's been a fun week!
perfect weather (plus one day of rain that made the ocean wild and purpley)
so matt and i have been taking walks, hikes, and bike rides every day this week.

this morning i went on a cleaning/laundry rampage and it felt so good!!!
then i went over to sunset cliffs (near where we had mom and dad edwards' vow renewal ceremony) and hiked way back in over the sand cliffs.
there's a trail that goes all the way down to the ocean and i intended to take a walk on the sand, but it was high tide so there was no beach. so i perched up on some huge rocks and watched the surf (and surfers) come in. perfect blue/turquoise/clear water today... and i just sat there and enjoyed the LORD!!! matt said something funny when we were hiking the other day. we were just taking in all the beauty and i commented on how close i feel to God when i observe his creation (huge, oddly shaped cliffs, layers of rock and sand, beautiful flowers in feb, etc...) and matt's all, "yeah, it's easier to believe in God when you live in a place like this. but in ohio (sorry people, but you know it's true!), i can see why it is hard to believe in him or even see him, because everything's so ugly." ha! funny and exaggerating, but a hint of truth, nonetheless. there's beauty in ohio, you just have to look harder for it.

so now i'm listening to the strokes and waiting for matt to wake up (what a sleepy slacker!) so he can come out with me and enjoy the perfect day God has made (let us be glad and rejoice in it!).

and just, we're good with the fam in austin someday, as long as we're making enough money to maintain a home out here as well :)!
aw yeah backyard BBQ's!!!!! speaking of which, we still need to get a grill. and a million other things :).

every day i watch the mini videos that ryan and michelle sent of, who else?, HANNAH!!! she is rolling over, smiling, taking a bath, giving raspberries, squealing, flapping around, grabbing her toes, putting her hand in her mouth, and just being bald!!! why is she so darn cute??? so even though we don't live close, we get our fix every day with the videos :) (matt does, too :)

welp, time to get back out there!
have a great weekend, everyone!!!

i had a funny conversation with some kids a couple of weeks ago that i don't think i blogged about:
i have a fun group of 3 kindergarten boys who are full of energy. apparently, before christmas break i was reading "the grinch who stole christmas" to them and never finished. so somehow they remembered this in the middle of january and requested that i finish it immediately! of course i did. we got to the part where the grinch realizes, "maybe christmas wasn't about packages, boxes, and bows. maybe christmas was about something more..."

so i asked them, "do you think christmas is about something more than presents?"
and erik said, "yeah, it's God's birthday!"
me: yep!
ruben: what did he say?
kaloub: he said christmas is God's birthday.
ruben: my brother says that Jesus and God are the same person.
me: well, yeah...
erik: and He's KING!
me: yeah!!! He is!
erik: but he's not king of the dinosaurs: T-rex is!!!

ah, tuesday. i had a good day with my kids today. a total of 5 kids are graduating this month from speech! it may not seem like much, but that's quite a bit, actually. and some of them are my total cutie kids that i'm going to miss. but ethically, i can't keep them on my caseload anymore :(. oh well, i'm sure there are more cuties to take their places.

apparently my slacker blogger brother ryan is on the horn so i must be off for some real life chatting :)
-tracey

hello everybody!
superboring sunday.
how embarrassing for those teams, though.
it's the biggest moment their careers and everyone is talking about how boring it is going to be.
oh well. i'm just there for the food!
we're going to our friends marni and eddie's today to watch the game.
last night we had a presuperbowl game night at our friends sue and tom's, where we played games!
(michelle you may be interested in the following) and we played "scene it", a movie trivia game--very fun!!!
and the rest of the night we played catchphrase and laughed uncontrollably! at around 12:30 am, they got out cranium and i was starting to drift off on the couch. that is, until, i had a screaming monkey thrown at my face. and later in the night had the stereo turned way up for some crashing thunder noises (it shook the whole house). this guy, tom, apparently grew up being scared by and trying to scare his family; therefore, he continues to try to scare his wife and friends. the funniest one i have seen is when he gets on his hands and knees and waits outside the bathroom door and then when the person comes out he barks so loud and wierd like a dog--when matt received this treatment, he screamed like a girl!!! ha!

anyhoo, yesterday i got to talk my good old friend dyan and her 3 year old peanut, justus!
it's been a blast from the past lately with talking to old college friends out of the blue. so fun!

welp, i'm going to get some breakfast now.
it's so wierd that it is february already--how did that happen?

have a great day everyone!

hello everyone. one week has passed.
it was supposedly a short week, since we had monday off. but why do those four days seem to last so long?
i took the weekend totally easy--just chilled, watched y tu mama tambien, did some scrapbooking, cleaned, and laid around!

i made chicken tortilla soup tonight--so good. i actually put seasoning in it this time, unlike when i made it in cincy :).
i count it a good meal when i have matt moaning and rolling around in pain from being so full. or dozing off... he did all three tonight!

dad, we're glad you had fun in cleveland! can't wait to see all the pictures and hear the stories (maybe you'll do a mini blog journal!).

we haven't had guests since thanksgiving, so it feels sort of strange. i think this is the longest stretch we have gone without guests since we have lived here! it should pick back up in the spring when we have a couple friends scheduled to come out. and then summer, of course, will be out of control! mare-core, do you have any dates yet?

oh yeah, anyone who wants to see pictures from our half marathon, here's a link:
(it's for my number, so the pics are a little different from the ones mare sent around!)
http://www.brightroom.com/view_user_event.asp?EVENTID=3954&PWD=&BIB=4802

have a great week!
-tracey

WOOOOOOOHOOOOOOO!!!!!
yesssssssssssssss!!!!!

my first half marathon, completed!!!!
mare and i had so much fun and we ran it in 2 hours, 15 minutes!!!!!!!
here's the breakdown:
first 2miles--just fun, everyone chatting and really thick with people, just a blur--did we just run 2 miles without even noticing?
between mile 2 and 3-okay, i'm working a little, we're running with the ocean, my knee is killing, mare and i are still talking pretty consistently.
miles 3-10: delirious time for tracey, focused, in my head, runner's high (at one point i became so out of it that a guy was holding out some clear gel stuff on tongue depressor sticks and i grabbed one, thinking it was energy gel and i almost ate it!!! thank God the guy said, "vaseline" (for blisters) and it registered before i put it in my mouth. mare and ladies running next to us were laughing and making fun of me...)
matt was waiting for us at mile 5 and mile 8 with the videocamera!!!!
mile 10-12: ouch, major knee pain, mary helped talk me through it and even let me lean on her shoulder on a rough downhill, but my body was a machine, limbs moving without trying, trance-like rhythm, a little light-headed (seeing a few spots at times) so really needing that water and energy gel (which we finally did obtain around mile 10--no vaseline!!!). once we got to mile 10, we were feeling it, but the mental, "3 miles left, we can do it" definitely got us through. lots of verbal encouragement to each other for these last 3.
mile 13.1: uh, the longest mile ever, because no one was there cheering us on so it was quiet, just footsteps and breathing. pretty soon we saw matt and the videocamera with less than 1/10th of a mile to go. mare and i crossed the finish line holding hands in the air. and we thanked the Lord instantly.
then we got medals and water and food and we stretched and made the trek home.
getting out of the car and into the house = walking like very old women, creaky, barely moving legs.
then the hot tub--ahhhh
then a nap- zzzzzz

and i'm still high!!!!!!
thanks mare, for training with and being there with on one of the best days of my life.
and thank you jesus!!!!

~tracey

hello everyone.
just a quick post and then someday i'll write a real blog again!

in less than 24 hours, mare and i will be running our first half marathon (for those of you who don't know, that's 13.1 miles).
please, Lord, keep us injury-free!
yeah!!!! wooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!
so much nervous excited energy!!!!!

~tracey

happy 29th birthday to the best husband in the world!!!
i love you so much!!!!

well, we're finally home!
for those of you who don't know, we've had quite an adventure getting back here to san diego.
we were supposed to fly back on friday, jan2, so we would be home on our anniversary for the first time in 5 years.
but alas, it was not to be.
as soon as we checked in at the airport, the lady at the counter told us that all flights to chicago (our 1st of 2 layovers) were delayed until later in the evening. she said that they would most likely be cancelled, but that there was a chance that she could get us to chicago late that night (where we would have to get a hotel room or spend the night in the airport). so we decided to rent our car back for one more day (much less expensive than a hotel in chi-town) and drive back to heidi and ken's, where our towels were still hanging in the bathroom and our bed was still made! we ended up having a fantastic extra night!
long story short, saturday we went to the airport again, went in a TINY plane from cleveland to washington dc, and then dc to los angeles. the flight from dc took forever, due to some wierd winds, so we had to run to our connection in another terminal in LA. of course, we missed our flight. and the girl at that desk said, "okay, i can get you on the 6:45 flight" and i'm thinking, "jeesh, we could drive home and get there faster", and then she says "that's tomorrow morning." at this point, matt turned funny and mean and started huffing and puffing. thank God she got us on the next flight out (just an hour later, not too bad at all).
and we finally got home around 7:30. whew!
happy 6th anniversary to us! :)

we had a great time visiting family and friends this christmas and new years.
i wish people weren't sick, though! michael, justin, dad at the edwards household (gramps later...)
ryan, michelle, and matt at the good household...(hannah later...)
i felt good, though.
(michelle--don't beat yourself up over not getting the flu shot--there are MANY flu strains going around--remember you were also exposed to columbus, cincy, and BG germs as well--and it is MOST LIKELY that the flu shot you would have received in lexington would not have been the flu virus that you caught).

highlights from our visit with heidi and ken:
-matt and isaac, their german schnauzer, became best buddies--finally! a dog that matt is not allergic to (i had done some research a few months ago and found out that shnauzers and poodles usually don't give people allergic reactions. poodles = no-no ever.)
-at midnight, we went running outside, armed with confetti, horns, party hats, etc. from emily and kevin's gift to matt. matt and ken each had a can of silly string and proceded to spray me and heidi each with an entire can! i was laughing so hard i couldn't even stand up!
-yummy fondue--2 types of cheese fondue and a meat fondue, and a chocolate fondue.

welp,
i'm trying to recover from a migraineish type incident that i caught before it blew up.
but i still have residual head trauma, so i need to stop looking at this computer screen.
have a great day back to work everyone!
tracey

Tracey’s Year in Review
2003

January- Matt and I celebrated our 5-year anniversary!
I moved into my new speech room at Sunset View Elementary School-a whole new office with high ceilings and tons of natural sunlight.
We found out Michelle was pregnant with Hannah Banana!

February-Matt and I took a trip to San Francisco to stay with Joel, Astevens, and McCann—such an excellent time and an instant bond with new friends. Additionally, we started to really make some good friends in our own region of San Diego, with people in our Bible Study and people at Matt’s work.

March-I kidnapped Matt after a difficult couple of months at work and took him to our favorite places in San Diego—Encinitas, Cardiff-by-the-Sea (the area where we stayed when Matt, Mary and I came out here for a spontaneous vacation several years ago). Then we had fun visitors-first Michelle (and Hannah, in her belly!) and also Astevens, McCann, and Joel. We all went to Joshua Tree National Park and had an epic trip. Matt and I also went to see Cush, which was one of the best shows I’ve seen in my life.

April-Mom and Dad Good came to San Diego!!! We hiked to an oasis in the desert, went to the zoo, farmer’s market, sunset cliffs, and many other great places. Also watched “a mighty wind”, which I enjoyed thoroughly.
May- Our friend Chelsea was in LA on business so we drove up to meet her and spent the evening with her on the Santa Monica strip—excellent time with another lifelong friend! Also, I went to see Billy Graham, who was in San Diego (so beautiful and simple and honest). We finally made it up to Chowchilla to see Mary and Casey—quick visit to Yosemite and a glimpse into their new lives in central California.

June- Yay! School’s out!!! Ryan and Michelle (and Hannah still in the womb) came to visit us for 8 days! Unfortunately, we had probably the worst week of weather we’ve had since we’ve lived here. That didn’t stop us from having a great time, though. I was on the local news, laying out at the beach-ha! We also found a condo that we fell in love with and put a bid on (the waiting game began…)At the end of the month, I left Matt for a couple of weeks to spend time with family and friends in Cincinnati.

July- Cincinnati visit continued…whew! What a busy two weeks of visiting with Grammy and Granddad and Kevin in Columbus, Mom and Dad in Cincinnati, Ryan and Michelle in Lexington, Michelle’s shower in Cincy, and then a visit from Heidi over the 4th of July. The rest of the month involved me running at Sunset Cliffs, relaxing at the beach, and having fun!!! Also, inspection of the condo and more waiting…. Michael (and his friend) came to visit on their way through the country.

August-More waiting for the condo, a visit from Rachael, and one of the best vacations ever! Matt and I drove up the coast of California and camped at a different place each night—it was beautiful and peaceful—great to have time alone and with the Lord, enjoying His many creations. While on our vacation, we received a message that we could close on our condo! Yay! We finally joined the ranks of first-time homeowners! We moved in at the end of the month, with much help from good friends and a schedule that allowed me to move things over little by little. And we had fun painting our new walls with actual colors!

September-Our dear friends, Heidi and Ken, came to visit and we had such a fantastic time. A perfect ending to a perfect summer! And then, school started! It was a rude awakening at first, but I eased into it by the end of the month J. And then beautiful Hannah was finally born! We are now Aunt Tracey and Uncle Matt! And Michelle and Ryan are Mommy and Daddy!

October- Kevin and Emily got married! Yay! A new sister for me! Matt’s good friend Marni got laid off of word (at Scantron) and we kidnapped her and took her out with the friends that we run around with. Mary and Casey came down for a weekend and we had a great time! Unfortunately, they had to leave early due to the California wildfires. Mary and I started training for the San Diego Half Marathon.

November-Matt got laid off of work, which was sad, but we’re looking forward to the next adventure! We shared Thanksgiving with the entire Edwards family (except Gramps)—my first turkey-making experience! Such a great week of yummy food and visiting and a sunset vow renewal ceremony for Mom and Dad’s 30th anniversary.

December-A fun month of Christmas parties, more training for the half marathon (to take place Jan 18th), and a trip back to Ohio to visit family for Christmas break: first to BG (Edwards’), then to Cincinnati (Good’s), then to Youngstown (Heidi and Ken). This year we’re thankful for the family and friends with which God has blessed us.

Favorite movies this year…
-Catch me if you can
-Chicago
-Owning Mahoney
-Bruce Almighty
-Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
-Pirates of the Caribbean
-Seabiscuit
-Elf
-Love actually

Honorable mention
-Down with Love (set design, costumes, and style of banter only)
-Lost in Translation (for Tokyo scenes and Bill Murray’s hilariousness only)


Favorite music this year…
-The Strokes
-The White Stripes
-The New Pornographers
-Rooney
-Saves the Day
-Something Corporate
-Ash
-Denison Witmer
-Travoltas
-Cush, as usual

twas the night before christmas
and all through the house
every creature was stirring
especially grandpa and matt.

mare! i forgot about that awesome lazy quote of:
"(come on fog!) i didn't get this job to have to go to work every day!"
i laughed so hard when i read that, remembering the silliness of that statement (and also the anger behind it!)

best quotes from grandpa so far:
"it'll never work out with michael's girlfriend."
why not?
"because she's a redhead!"
(pause maybe 3 minutes)
"life never works out for redheads...unless they have lots of money and can pay their way through life."

lots of laughing at that funny guy!

we had sort of a ridiculous trip out here, which included our taxi being late to pick us up to take us to the airport, and two flights where we had CONSTANT screaming kids sitting the row in front of us, and then a lost suitcase--which of course contained all of our christmas presents. so anyways, it all worked out and we finally got the suitcase back today, so everyone will get their gifts this year! hopefully the trip home will be less eventful.

been having a fun time over here at 1040 village drive: eating, talking, laughing, playing cards, eating out at trotter's, etc.
last night matt and i went out with lots of old friends and had such a wonderful time.
it's hard for us to be back in BG for several reasons, but family and friends make it worth it.

tonight is christmas eve and we're going to do "the night before christmas" over the phone with mary and casey. and we're going to make cookies, too, since we haven't fatly eaten enough yet.
and then tomorrow christmas of opening presents, maybe a movie, and best of all, mom's chicken enchiladas!!!! yummy!

merry christmas everyone!
~tracey

here's a quickie blog
since i'm at school right now.
the kids are out of control!!!!
oh my gosh, the wildness is unbelievable!!

i gave myself a headache for lunch since i ate a cookie, a cupcake, and candy all before 11:00. there have been kids in the nurse's office with upset stomachs all day long...hmmm..wonder why...

when i went home for lunch, matt was cleaning the house (thanks sweetie!). we're having our friends marni and ed over tonight before we take them to the airport. then we'll have our friends sue and tom over on saturday to have a fun game night. that's why he's cleaning....

and then pack it up, pack it in, let me begin...
it's off to ohio for christmas! hooray!
arrive in BG on the 22nd
go to cincy on the 26th
lexington on the 29th maybe?
cleveland on the 30th

whew!
i'm tired just writing it!
it will be great to visit and relax and eat and laugh with everyone.

see you all soon!
love,
tracey

matt is setting up my new photo printer right now--yay!
so i'll come home with some pictures for all to see at christmas.

ryan, i was laughing so hard at your blog! i can't believe reeces howls along with hannah's cry! that is the sweetest thing!
your fireplace story reminded me of our own fireplace story...
which is that matt and i were having a christmasy kind of night last weekend. we had the tree on, and sparkley lights on our banister, and we were just playing cards and stuff... it wasn't actually cold but i thought, it's december: let's have a fire! so after about 52 matches, we finally got it lit. the fire was actually just 10 evenly spaced blue flames. and the sound of the gas coming out of the line (with and without the flames) was so LOUD we had to turn it way down low. ha! so it seems that we need someone to come out and look at our deal to see if anything can be done about the wierdo gas line. maybe our neighbor knows...
well, it was a nice try, at least...

we're listening to the strokes new album--very quality, for those interested.

one more cake day before break!
i plan to do no actual speech therapy
and instead make fun christmas cards
and "holiday glasses" that say "happy holidays" on the top of big googly paper glasses
and eat candy and cookies and cupcakes, etc.
sounds fun, eh?

then freedom.
and then when we go back to school we'll be halfway through the school year.
huh???
how did that happen???

welp, matt needs to get on to get this deal going!
~tracey

ahh, three more days until freedom!!!
this last week is busy, filled with lots of meetings that are being squeezed in before we go for break.
tomorrow i have the afternoon off, due to the fact that everyone else will be going to the christmas lunch deal for my one school.
i originally wasn't going because i had a meeting scheduled for my other school--but that got rescheduled, but i didn't get my rsvp turned in in time (besides, it's $16.50 WE have to pay. the social committee is sort of weird this year with all that stuff). so no tears here, i'll just have a nice run and relaxing afternoon with my husband!

matt is strumming the guitar in the next room-- i love it!

can't wait to see friends and family in less than a week!

i was playing the game "trouble" with 4 little boys this morning (you know, the game that has dice in a little plastic bubble that you pop in order to roll) so anyhoo, whatever number they roll is the number of speech cards they have to practice; and i was teasing a little boy because we ended on the word "girls". so i said, "oooh, girls--your favorite thing!" and he said, "ewww--yuck! girls are not my favorite thing!" and another little boy who was sitting next to me hugged me and said, "i don't like girls either, but YOU'RE my favorite girl!"
why do i have the best job in the world????

~tracey

my shoulders are sore this morning. i think from my bike ride yesterday. i upped the mileage/minutes and by the last 10 minutes i was feeling it in my lower back (for mary's info: i measured most of it and i think it was approximately 13-14 miles in 60-65 minutes--most triaths i've checked out have a 9 mile bike section--so even if we stayed at this speed it would be at least less than a 45minute ride). love it, though, it makes training much more interesting and biking is easier to control speed than in running. mare, do you concur? mom and dad, do you still have your exercise bike set up in the basement? if so, i will probably need to be using that on one of the days we are visiting. i will definitely be using the treadmill (don't worrry, mom, i won't do it when your quilt shows are on:) if it is too cold to run outside.

i was walking down the hall in school the other day, alone, and i hear a little child's voice say, "hey baby." so my eyes get all mean-teacher-squinty, and i say, "who said that?" and i hear, "hey baby," again. i can't really identify where the voice is coming from so i just stop and sort of look in all directions. all of the sudden, one of my little girls comes around the corner and i hear the voice again (not coming from her) give a scream and a laugh. and i ask her, "who is that? who is laughing?" and she points to a random brown wooden box in the hallway that has holes drilled into it--"it's a bird". so we go over and there is about a 3 inch diameter hole with a circle of white feathers and a silly bird eye, checking me out. i started cracking up. (apparently there were people from the zoo at our school, bringing around different animals--this little guy was just on a break). maybe this bird was a friend of bocifus?

i sent out christmas cards yesterday morning. yay.
last night we went to the festival of lights at the wild animal park.
the lights actually weren't that impressive, but we did get to see some sweet baby warthogs (they looked adult size, though), who were acting like dogs. one of the zoo workers came in to fix something and they ran over to her and nuzzled against her and she petted and scratched them. she said that sometimes when she scratches them, they roll over onto their backs! then when she was leaving, one of them sat his little bottom down by the door and she said, "oh good boy! you're sitting! oh no, you want a grape--i don't have a grape." SO CUTE! now i want a pet warthog!

long, slow run today, too:)
~tracey

saturday morning!
and i finally slept past 7:00 (7:15, to be exact)!!!
yay! this really is reason to celebrate!
i love coming back to ohio for family and friends, of course, but another reason is that i can actually stay up until 2:00 am and i can sleep in until 10:00 am!!!! (nevermind that it is my usual 11:00pm-7:00am schedule disguised as eastern standard time).

dad, how about the 23rd for a trotter's dinner?--yummmy............. i can't wait for one of my favorite meals in the world!!!
and mary, you get those pictures of bocifus up on your blog or i will come visit unexpectedly next weekend!
he sounds so completely cute and such a great pet!!! i'm so happy for you guys!

tonight we're going to the festival of lights at the wild animal park, since i took too long of a walk last night (it wasn't actually long in miles, rather, minutes, since the person i was walking with was s-l-o-w) and got home too late. but i made a great dinner of carne asada tacos and matt and i played uno and watched tv for awhile. i started falling asleep at 8:30 but matt forced me to get up, thankfully!

mom, cool bag. is that an exchange gift for the quilter's guild? i wonder what you received/will receive. hopefully you don't get a ceramic box that holds a smelly piece of soap!
well, i'm going to make some christmas cookies today, so i need to go shopping.
farewell people.
~tracey