Putting the past behind me

Day 125 - 1 November, 2009

Spooky Birthday

Originally, my mother-in-law had wanted to do a fun-filled costumer party for my sister-in-law's birthday. What ended up happening, since Uncle Leonard's Memorial Service was on Halloween, was that there was plenty of lounging and food... just the day after. I was sad that we went sans costumes. I thought that was a really cool idea. But alas, no party.





Day 126 - 2 November, 2009

Stripes

We were raking up all of the pine needles from our tall tall pine trees.

Tim has an interesting sense of humor.

Whatever makes the chores get done!









Day 127 - 3 November, 2009

Hand in the candy jar

Just guess whose little mit that is.

Today was a hard day at work, with a big mess from progress reports and online transition, and I could not handle it with all of the stuff going on right now...

So Malcolm helped me put away some of this sugar.




Day 128 - 4 November, 2009

Souper Day

I had so much anxiety that I had a mini-meltdown with my principal at work.

I was fairly useless all day. I did not teach a lick, and when I got home all I did was eat soup, and go to bed.





Day 129 - 5 November, 2009

Distractions

Since I though I was going to Katie's viewing this day, I made no plans, but when I found out it was family only, it freed me up to make myself sick again. Jenora was so thoughtful to see what I was up to. AND she was an excellent distraction. I helped her make cupcakes for her husband's birthday, and we talked and I got to vent some of my anxieties.

Yeah for thoughtful friends!






Day 130 - 6 November, 2009

Laid to rest

After being able to get out how uncanny the comparison between my life and Katie's has been for purposes of me stressing out this week, it was a huge relief to bury those feelings, along with Katie. I just keep thinking about the warnings of doctors with my cardiomyopathy and having more children, and the odds of relapse and uncertainty of the future, how Katie has left her husband with two children, and my heart has just hurt as I have watched my worst fears about my own life being acted out in the life of a friend. I know that the risks are not so bad for me anymore, but the pain is still very real. It has been harder on me than I expected, but I am grateful that I have so much, and am so blessed. I am glad to be regaining my sense of peace.

Don't be a Halloweeny

Day 122 - 29 October, 2009

Stencils.

I have everything I need now to make my Halloween costumes complete. It's very exciting.

This year may be even better than last year because I got Tim involved!













Day 123 - 30 October, 2009

Halloween Treats at school make me cool!

I love this bat ring. It has been years since I have worn cheesy Halloween stuff, and this ring just made me happy for some reason.











Day 124 - 31 October, 2009

A Hard Day.

We went to Tim's Uncle Leonard's funeral this afternoon... In combination with Missy (one of my best friends from Junior High on up) calling me about her cousin Katie's death... Well, Katie has always been a great person. One of my childhood friends, and just an all around beautiful girl. She had been fighting Crohn's disease, and was doing well... When she made the stupid mistake of not wearing her safety belt in the car, and the person driving apparently wasn't too careful... Anyway, she paid with her life, leaving behind not only the family I have loved dearly through the years, but a husband and two children.

Anyway, this photo was taken in the parking lot at the memorial service. I was reminded that these things seem to happen in threes.

On a brighter note, our Halloween evening was loads of fun!

Without further ado, here are some highlights of the festivities.

Rushing into a Spooktacular Season

Day 117 - 24 October, 2009

Fall Colors.

Malcolm needed some 18 month photos, and I thought I should capture some good ones before he turned 19 months. I love the yellows in this photo. Outdoor foliage always makes for fantastic photographs, or so I think. There is not much of a better background.

I really enjoyed the part where he began to tackle his teddy bear, and play "BOOM" with him.

Where did I get such a photogenic kid from?







Day 118 - 25 October, 2009

One Year Older.

So, as scary things go, my sister-in-law turned 39 this day. When they arrived back in from a trip, we had the mandatory cake and ice cream. I am not sure whether or not you can get the full effect of the glaring of 39 candles on a cake from this angle, but let me tell you; it was a sight to behold.

She enjoyed endless ribbing about her age from Tim, all night long.

Heaven help her for next year.









Day 119 - 26 October, 2009

Family Home Evening.

I love it when we have actual organized events for family home evening. Monday nights just don't feel quite right when we just lay around "as a family".

Granted, we are spending quality time, and haven't had the energy as of late to do anything fun, but hopefully we broke the laziness trend.

This time of year begets Pumpkin carving, and it was soooooo fun to share it with our friends the Mitchells. My tree turned out fairly well, and Tim did a cute Jack-o-lantern, as per the norm. Malcolm even drew all over his pie pumpkin... it'll be fun to cook up next week!


Day 120 - 27 October, 2009

Trapped!

The next step in scare week is how to trap and torture toddlers. The answer seems to be to leave them on their own.

As I was cooking dinner, I heard this poor schmo wailing on the other side of the baby gate. As it turned out, he had gotten himself into this predicament. It also turned out that it was not so pitiful as it seemed, because after I ran and grabbed my camera, and laughed a lot, he gave up on my rescue, and got himself out.



Day 121 - 28 October, 2009

Halloween Spooktacular!

Every year at the middle school I help at on Wednesdays, I get charged with help setting up for the Halloween concert.

The decorating itself has turned into a beast, but it is a REALLY good time.

This is one of the cooler concert ideas that I have stumbled upon.

This is a terrible shot of Nancy, but a decent shot of the cobwebs behind her. I was too busy dangling from the ceiling to set up creepy stuff to take any decent shots.

Trip Throwbacks

Tim did a lot of babysitting on the wedding day, and we did a lot of trying to make Malcolm happy.

We did a lot of running around, and a lot of celebrating.

Malcolm found a cat in the compound. A cat on a leash, poor cat. He also crashed out at Costco, played with my brother's jewelry, and jumped on a sprinkler.



He enjoyed his reflection on wedding dress day.

And I loved the little city garden, tucked away in Pasedena.

ENJOY!

On Hump Day you should not go around getting too frisky...

Day 114 - 21 October, 2009

I am a commuter.

I live in Norfolk and teach in Chesapeake. That means I travel between 30-45 minutes during my commute, both ways, each day. Lately, the commute in the morning has begun to look like this.

I love a sunrise.

This is one of my few moments of peace during the day, as long as no one is acting crazy out there on the road.





Day 115 - 22 October, 2009

I pledge allegiance.

As predicted, I am sick and tired of hearing D rest A rest A A D rest A D rest rest D A D repeat. Over and over, and over again. What is really grating on my nerves are the handfuls of kids who do not do their work. I feel like they had adequate warning this year, I stressed homework right from the beginning, so my patience for idiocy is very thin.





Day 116 - 23 October, 2009

BOO!

At one of my schools, I was booed! This rarely happens, and made me feel warm and fuzzy after a torturous week.

The morale committee puts out this little poem with goodies, and the point is to pass it on, so everyone gets a sort of happy gram. Normally I am forgotten, but not this year.

It was very cute, and a great way to end the work week.

Fall is Falling

Day 109 - 16 October, 2009

A crispness in the air.

Happy Friday everyone. I am so happy that autumn is here. As I walked into my first Friday school, I was excited to see this Autumn face there to greet me. I love this time of year. Really, I love any change in the seasons. It always brings excitement. Winter brings Christmas and the prospect of snow. Spring brings a renewed desire to get outdoors and bike, hike, and camp. Summer is freedom and the beach. Fall is apple pie, cozy snuggling, and brisk walks. I love the leaves turning.







Day 110 - 17 October, 2009

Heavier Clothes

Crisp fall air brings the need to swap out swim suits for sweaters.

We braved the attic, and pulled down the bins for clothes and decor.

What a happy Saturday chore.











Day 111 - 18 October, 2009

Rainy Sabbath

Mac's raincoat is most definitely huge on him, but he loved being outside in the cool rain all the same. Church wasn't bad though Tim had to work today. Malcolm slept through sacrament, and did well in nursery. The primary kids are getting ready for the program next week, so after my lesson, I was basically crowd control. Poor Malcolm looked for daddy everywhere after church though.






Day 112 - 19 October, 2009

Music Music Music

I do not understand why students would take a class, knowing that work is involved, and still try to skate through on nil, especially when it is an elective class.

I am already getting tired of hearing the same poorly played quizzes all day long, by the end of the week, I know I'll be fried.

Seriously, what is so hard about reading directions?



Day 113 - 20 October, 2009

RAWRRRRR

After work, we ran to the pool for a little play time, and then to my mother-in-law's to help make Malcolm's lion costume for Halloween.

It is so cute!

I am purposefully not showing the costume yet, in keeping the couple of you who actually read this, in suspense.

Instead, I have included Malcolm's latest fascination.... The Buckle.

Back to normal?

Day 105 - 12 October, 2009

MING MING!

While I began to unpack, I had to snap a quick shot of this mostly taken apart flyboat with little captain Ming Ming at the bow. My parents found this little toy for Malcolm, and it was an instant hit. They didn't realize that the Wonderpets were an actual T.V. show, but were glad he loved the legos.







Day 106 - 13 October, 2009

Fellow Blogger

A fellow blogger who was at the wedding, happened to snap this photo, which I stole because it was of my son, almost in full tux. I hope there is a good one out there, but this will have to do for now. Mac was just not interested that day. His naps and snack time had been overly neglected.







Day 107 - 14 October, 2009

Moravian Star

In an effort to find an interesting shot in my house, my star immediately peaked my interest. I love these stars, though they are hard to find. I thought this was an interesting shot of my ceiling, well back-lit, and with an interesting shadow cast. I played with my manual settings, and feel that this is a fair representation of real life. I am actually really pleased with this shot. It makes me sad about prior shot slacking.





Day 108 - 15 October, 2009

Yummy, Cookies!

I wanted to bake these things so badly. So, amidst baking, and cleaning, and tending to Malcolm, and STILL unpacking, and other such things, by the time they were made, I could not find the energy to clean anymore.

It's a good thing I had enough energy to eat them.

The Wedding

Day 100 - 7 October, 2009

Day 100!

What a day to make it to 100 pictures in 100 days.

Today was exhausting. We went to get tuxes rented, and then tried to beat the bus to get Will to the bus stop which he missed each time, poor kid. Then we went to Pasedena to do hair, and waved to the HOLLYWOOD sign from a distance. Then we took care of the dress, and some snack shopping, and ended up tired and ready for bed. Malcolm had a rough time adjusting to life on the road in a new time zone, but this was his hardest day. I love this photo of one of the many pictures on the elevator doors in the parking garage.







Day 101 - 8 October, 2009

Shopping

Yeah for the millions of shopping trips to get what we need for the wedding day. At the end of it all, we did a mini "bachelorette" party. Mom and I left early. Poor Mac needed to get to bed. I wish I had the photo I took when Mac was crashed out in the shopping cart at Costco, or some of rht eparty photos, but the Costco trip is on Ingrid's camera, and the rest are on mom's. So this will have to do.

This is the street corner I got before my camera died and I had to be a camera mooch.







Day 102 - 9 October, 2009

Pacifically Speaking

After setup, and rehearsing, we took a trip to the coast. I loved the dinner, and singing "That's Amore!" at the end of the night. While we were waiting for a table, we walked a block to the beach, and Tim and I both had the distinct feeling like the beach was wrong. I even said, "why does it feel like the beach is on the wrong side?" Time finally came to the conclusion that is was because the sun was setting over the water, and not rising over it. I think he's right. What do you think of this west coast sunset?






Day 103 - 10 October, 2009

Happy Birthday Mom!

Will and Ingrid decided to get married on mom's birthday. I felt like a dope for not making time to at least get her a card, though we did do a birthday dinner at the end of the day. Here is one of the many photo's of the L.A. temple. While, I have not decided which version will turn sepia and make it to our wall of temples, I enjoy this photo a lot. I don't think it will make it t our wall because of it being off center, but I love the palm trees and smog in the distance. So California.








Day 104 - 11 October, 2009

Peace at last

Poor Tim. I enjoyed sleeping on the plane trip home, but poor Tim got stuck with a lot of Malcolm's whining. It wasn't as bad as it could have been, but I was exhausted. Poor Tim ended up playing babysitter for a large part of his trip there. But, the view was serene, and I really do like American much better than Delta, and better than United, now as their planes seem to always break down on our trips with them. Between Amercian and Southwest though... I'll leave that for our El Paso trip in December. Thank goodness it's over. While we had some fun, it was definitely not a vacation. It will take me more than an airplane nap to recover.