As the Year Winds Down...

I know, I know...I've been off in blogging...AGAIN! Life has been so busy and I've been neglectful. I have so much to say, but haven't taken the time to say it. Soooo...here's a recap of the last 17 days in photos and words:

It was no small miracle that the trees and decorations got put up. It's such a process at our house and this year, it was in the midst of a very busy schedule.

Things were up just in time for DS 1 to come home and enjoy a moment under the tree with DS 3 and LG.
We had a day in Tampa to take pics with family. This is a picture that DS 3 took of my DH and Me.

And here's one of our family.

My Mom gave us tickets to spend one day at Busch Gardens before the holiday. I took DSs 2, 3, and 4 and LG and some of their friends for a day up there. It was a nice day and we had a blast! DS 4 even rode his first roller coaster.

DS 3, LG and I went out one night to look at holiday lights. We found this display at a local church where the lights are synchronized to music. They had hot chocolate and cookies after you walked through their huge display.

We had a lovely Christmas Eve Service and a quiet celebration at my in-laws. Grandma was quite creative in her gift giving this year! The boys and LG loved opening each of their presents that were filled with so much LOVE!

Once again the boys indulged me and let me get them all Christmas PJ's. It is always a fun thing for me to shop for them. This year it was a little difficult because I had to also find something that would work for LG. Still...she had a blast in the mix of all these guys!

We spent Christmas Day at my Dad's house. As always it's filled with laughter, great food, and family fun!

At the beginning of this week, we loaded up DS2 and what remained of DS 1's stuff and moved them to Gainesville. Here is DH and his co-pilot LG ready to drive the truck!

DSs 1 and 2 got a very nice apartment and will be living together this semester. They seem excited to take this venture. I am reminded of when they were little...they told me they'd never be able to be apart because they were used to sharing a room. So...here they are moved in and once again, sharing living space! I'm glad they're such good friends.
After we dropped them off, DH, DS 3, LG and I went to Orlando for a couple of days. We enjoyed the Ice! Exhibit at the Gaylord Hotel. It's such an amazing thing to see and LG was simply fun to take through it!

Shoot, it was fun just having her at the hotel. She'd never been on an escalator and was THRILLED with that experience! Then, we did the glass elevator which amazed her.

While in Orlando, we met DH's brother and his family for dinner (and to pick up DS 4 who stayed with Grandma and Grandpa a couple of days). It was a lovely visit.

Yesterday, we took the family to Islands of Adventure at Universal Studios. It was JAM PACKED and we ended up leaving early. There's no sense trying to get it all in when you're a Floridian and you can get up there in a non-peak season. Sooo...we dropped off my niece, had a nice dinner and headed home.

Knowing she'd never been on an escalator, you can imagine that the moving sidewalks at Universal were also a novelty for her!

That pretty much brings us here...to New Year's Eve. I had good intentions of getting Christmas completely down today, but I didn't. I have enjoyed a nap. I enjoyed the quiet. I enjoyed doing pretty much nothing.

There's no question that this has been a busy few weeks. Heck...it's been a busy life! My goal for 2010 is to learn to sit still and just enjoy some quiet moments.

I hope your December has been just as memorable and that your New Year is filled with much love and joy!!

I know it's not Wednesday, but....

I wanted to be a bit more "wordless" today! Here are a couple of pics that make me smile:

:

Wordless Wednesday: Summer's Almost Done

Wordless Wednesday: Family Fun

Wordless Wednesday--sort of

This picture showed up in our morning paper complete with my age revealed for our entire county! It shows DS 4 and I trying to stay warm yesterday morning while waiting to vote.

The caption reads: Susan (my last name), 44, a teacher, tries to keep her son, DS4, 9, warm as she tries to squeeze in a vote before school at (our polling place) in (our town), Fla., on Tuesday.

A Fun Time was Had By All...

FIRST of all...Rock You isn't working again. I have the slide show made and it's showing some other family here! I thought I had deleted it and saved this as draft, but apparently I published it and some of you are probably wondering if I've lost my mind. Soooo...I'm going to start over.

Our Halloween party is over and it WAS a success! We had 15 adults and 12 kids from the church in addition to many neighbors who dropped by. We gave out 75 children's treat bags and a BUNCH of candy! Many adults took chili, soda and candy bars. And they loved the cookies! We met some new neighbors that we didn't know in the past. It was fun connecting with both our neighbors and our church family a bit more. Here's a little glimpse of the preparations and our evening:

It all started with Reverse Trick or Treat last Sunday. Here are some of our church family getting ready to surprise neighbors with a bag of candy to use for Halloween. I have to tell you, if you try this, bring a cute little kid in costume...no one refused these darling little girls!!
DS 4 took care of pumpkin carving. As you can see, he had a little "help" from both cats!
The "set-up" was a table for goodies, chili, cider, soda, AND water in the driveway. Chairs and a firepit for visiting when it got dark.

One of our church members is a professional baker and she brought these darling cookies to share. They were a HUGE hit with all the kids and adults!!

DS 2, DS 3 and their friends played frisbee all night in front of the house. It was amazing how this also attracted kids! I think it's funny how frisbee comes and goes by way of popularity.

DS 4 couldn't decide WHAT he wanted to be for Halloween. I did not type up this story, but here he is being a "funny guy" and loving on one of our church members' new puppy. The puppy got LOTS of love throughout the night.

And here are the sweet little girls who won hearts during Reverse Trick or Treat....

And then the kids and their families started coming. It is always so fun to see the cute little costumes everyone is wearing.
Even the neighborhood pets came by for a little loving.
I found these cute little lanterns at JoAnn Fabrics the other day. They were only $2 each and I got 8 of them to add to our decor.
And here is a picture of the lanterns and the pumpkin lights we found as well. When the sun went down, the firepit went on and we enjoyed visiting with everyone who came by to visit. It was fun to see how people came back after they took their children around the neighborhood. They came back for chili or drinks or just to visit.
Here are DS 4's pumpkins after dark. Can you tell he got tired of carving by the time he got to the big one? It became an abstract work of sorts.
And you know I can never show pictures without sharing the food that was INSIDE too!

Dragon Hunt...and then some...

Melli decided she wanted to initiate this dragon hunt. And I was so excited to play since there are dragons all over my school. I just haven't had time to take a photo of ONE of them this week (yet). BUT...I decided that I could put this one up here:

This is the dragon ice sculpture from our cruise. It's a little hard to see with the lighting, but I was having trouble with the flash reflecting. You can make it bigger if you'd like.

In the meantime, it was "back to school" for teachers yesterday for me. We always have some sort of "back to school" party for our staff. Last night we went to the antique car museum that is in our area and we had a little fun...

Here are Sandy, Debra, and I in our "period costumes". We literally found the accessories and shirts at the last minute. But I think they worked.

This is my Principal and Assistant Principal posin' by one of the cars. My school is a very "tough" place sometimes due to the populations we serve, but these two never forget to help us stop and have a little fun along the way. I think it's one of the things that makes our school successful.

Here is my friend Brenda. She is going to turn 70 in not too long and has more energy than most 20 year olds I know!! Brenda's costume (the piece over her pants and shirt) was her Grandmother's in 1917!

And just to show that this seating area can span the ages, I decided to do my best statue pose! That's all for now, I've got to head out to work. I'll be around later to read!!

Photo Hunt: Support

It's been forever since I've done a Saturday Photo Hunt, but I figure with so many travel pics, I can play again. Today's theme is "Support"...This is a house we saw while whale watching in Alaska.

I'm Back!!!

I've been home from Alaska for one week today. But, I had to head out less than 18 hours after arriving home to our state's Reading Coach Conference. After three days there, I spent the next three days at the "River" scalloping with my family...our "4th of July tradition" according to my DS 4.

At last, I am ready to start sharing some of the beauty of our Alaskan trip and will post more when I can. Below you will find my picks from more than 1000 photos from days 1 - 3 alone!! Don't worry, I narrowed it down to about twenty.

I PROMISE I will check in on all my blogging friends very soon.

Book Review: If You Lived Here, I'd Know Your Name

I brought plenty to read while I've been here in Alaska, but shifted my focus when a local Haines Resident shared this book title with me: If You Lived Here, I'd Know Your Name by Heather Lende.

First, let me tell you a bit about Haines from my point of view. DH and I went to Haines on a ferry from Skagway. From there, we were taken by Larry, the bus driver out to a small fish camp where we took a scenic river boat tour of the valley.

In our 30 minute drive out to the camp, Larry told us about life in Haines. It is a small town in Alaska that has 2400 "locals"...Apparently there are about 900 people who live in the city area. They have no postal delivery, so they meet at the post office to pick up their mail. It's quite a social affair. This is a subsistence community, which means people there rely on what they can hunt, grow, or catch to sustain them. Haines is listed as one of the top ten places for people who are millionaires (and need no other income) to move, because it's "one of the most perfect places on Earth".

Larry explained what life is like during the long winter months. He told us how neighbors have to care for neighbors. And he told us that this is a place that you "have to love to live in". He even told us about his wife who is a member of the "Ripinsky Rippers", a quilting club that meets regularly in women's homes...and his wife doesn't quilt! She just likes to be with the ladies.

And Larry mentioned that there was even a book written about Haines.

Ever intrigued by the small town life and finding out that Heather Lende and her husband, Chip came to Alaska to visit on their honeymoon and never left, I made a mental note to find that book. Heather is a columnist for the Anchorage Daily News and writes the obituaries for every Haines resident who passes on.

How pleased I was when I was in an independent bookstore in Sitka that featured books written by Alaskans. DH and I both finished the book in the past three days. And I have really fallen in love with Haines, Alaska (no, I don't intend to move and never go home). The book is a sweet picture of life in small town America with the wilderness of Alaska thrown in the mix.

I was even more excited this morning to open up the Anchorage Daily News and find an article by the author herself. A sidebar noted that she has a second book coming out soon.

If you like memoir, reading about real life in real places, considering the convergence of belief systems, cultures, and/or environment, then you would love this book.

We spent a very wet rainy day rafting down the river between icebergs and below a glacier today. It was still simply amazing. Tomorrow, we head up to the Denali, or Mt. McKinley, area via train. We will be in Talkeetna for the day, then leave on a red-eye flight tomorrow night.

I'm looking forward to coming home and sharing more stories and pictures with friends and family.