day 334

day 333

As I was getting the tree set up this afternoon, Hershey decided to lay down right next to it and have a little nap. It was terribly cute. She saw me coming with the camera and sat up - darn it - but the memory is captured in my head, if not on film.

day 332

day 331

I am working on a little project for a certain friend of mine who has a certain special occasion coming up so I've been digging through boxes and albums looking for photos. What fun! :)

day 330

Happy Turkey Day to all my loved ones, near and far!

day 329

I had a $10 date with Nanci today - we saw The Blind Side and then had lunch at In-n-Out.

It was so great to catch up with you in person, Nanci! Thanks for a great afternoon. I love you and am so very grateful for your friendship!

day 328

This is my amazing friend and stylist, Monica. She's been in charge of my hair for almost 15 years. I love the time I spend sitting in her chair and catching up - it's fantastic therapy. She is one of the people in my life that I am so very grateful for.

Thank you for always having such great advice, making me laugh and making my hair look so good, Monica! I love you!

day 327

I'm sitting on the couch with my feet up on the coffee table and Charlie wants some attention...

day 326

Arijana and I took the dogs out to Otay Valley again today. This is Buba, standing atop the boulders, looking back at us.

day 325

This is Hobbes, my friend Tammy's dog. He's got so much energy and is a total sweetheart.

day 324

We had another swap meet in class today. The kids bring in things that they don't want anymore and sell them to one another, using our classroom money. It's a lot of fun to watch the kids negotiate with each other and to see their excitement when they buy things they really love.

day 323

day 322

Our little mouse, Snowflake, isn't looking so good. I think she may have had several seizures today - at least that's what it looked like - and she's just not being herself. The kids are very worried about her and kept a close eye on her all day. Ugh. This is the part of having pets that I just never get used to and it's even harder when you have a classroom full of little ones...

day 321

day 320

We read the story Frederick by Lio Lionni today. In the back of the book there were some directions for making paper cut-out mice (like in the story) so the kids begged me to make them. I caved in - the results were pretty darn cute. :)

day 319

The Browns and I joined Arijana and the Black & Whites for a walk out in Otay Valley today. It is so dry out there right now but it was a beautiful, warm afternoon. The dogs love the opportunity to get out and run off the leash and we enjoyed the time to catch up with each other. That's Johnson's silhouette in the second shot.

Thanks for inviting us friend! We love you guys! :)

day 318

I've been trying to take some photos of the Browns together lately. It's tough to catch them sitting together because every time I get up to grab the camera, one of them gets up to see where I'm going. It seems like they are getting older by the minute these days. It's hard to see them hurting when they get up from the floor and to not know if the meds they are on are helping.

day 317

I let the kids hold our pet toads this afternoon. They were so funny about touching them and were worried that they'd bite. These are the classroom moments that are so much fun to capture.

day 316

We made a list of family members who are in the military and wrote them letters of support and thanks in honor of Veterans Day. Love this one!

day 315

I am so very grateful to all of the Veterans who have given so much to serve our country. I am especially proud of my father for his years of service in the Navy and my brother-in-law who is in the Reserves, preparing to ship out to Kuwait.

day 314

day 313

Charlie is the cutest. I love when he lays like this.

day 312

Nothing makes me smile like my sister.

day 311

Jody and I went to see Mat Kearney at the House of Blues tonight. It was a fantastic show and we had a great time!

day 310

day 309

We went to the San Diego Air and Space Museum today so that we could check out the da Vinci Experience - in honor of our namesake, of course. After the visit, we headed over to the Pepper Grove Playground to have lunch and run off the kids' energy a bit. The Museum of Man's tower peeked at us through the trees and made for a beautiful backdrop.

day 308

I discovered that it is really difficult to photograph fish today. I just couldn't get the coloring/lighting right. This is Mr. D - he is so pretty and could make a terrific photo if I could just figure out the best way to capture him.

day 307

The more I look at this photo, the more unfamiliar my hand becomes. It looks a bit like my sister's hand but I'm not sure I would recognize it as my own if I hadn't shot it. Weird.

day 306

This is a bit of a cheat but the other shots I took today all had kids in them... we had a presentation from the Burn Institute and this is Firefighter Oscar. :)

day 305