day three hundred.sixty.four

last day of the year and last post of the year on this blog. i wanted to post some dramatic photo, summing up my life in one shot. instead found my son under a blanket doing who knows what with my phone.

even though this was a one year photo journey i think i will continue it for another year. who knows what 2012 will bring. 2011 was as far up as it was down. i learned that god has a perfect plan for our lives, a plan that feels like a roller coaster, but on that is perfect for me and my family. happy new year to you all.

day three hundred.sixty.three

vacation is making us a little stir crazy.

day three hundred.sixty.two

bouncy house time

day three hundred.sixty.one

another picture from our boston trip. candied apples at quincy market.

day three hundred.sixty

we stopped by frog pond in boston common to possibly go ice skating. it did not happen due to lack of time and the thousand person deep line waiting ahead of us.

day three hundred.fifty.nine

one of our gifts from auntie ange (far left) was tickets to see disney on ice in boston. it was a family adventure to say the least. the boy loved riding the train as much as seeing mickey on ice.

day three hundred.fifty.eight

it is christmas.

day three hundred.fifty.seven

christmas eve. every year we celebrate with my husband's family. our son, as usual, had a spledid time opening myriads of gifts.

day three hundred.fifty.six

puzzle time. fooling around with the streamzoo app.

day three hundred.fifty.five

let me pencil you in. for someone who was just a breath ago struggling to climb out of his crib i am amazed at his coloring skills. he says scribbling is not allowed.

day three hundred.fifty.four

i decided to make my students work for their christmas fun by forcing them to unwrap hershey kisses with gloves on. this relay race was male versus female. males won. after such torture we enjoyed a mornign of junkfood, movie watching, gift giving, and a game of capture the flag.

day three hundred.fifty.three

'twas the night before the class christmas party.

day three hundred.fifty.two

my student's attempts and graham cracker houses. some kind of science lesson came out of this.

day three hundred.fifty.one

lunch out with grammy!

day three hundred.fifty

bed fort.

day three hundred.forty.nine

going for the nerd look.

day three hundred.forty.eight

dinner provided by target

day three hundred.forty.seven

i'm thinking this will be on our christmas cards this year.

day three hundred.forty.six

story of my life. send me a tweet sometime @raggammuffin

day three hundred.forty.five

let the wrapping begin

day three hundred.forty.four

my man.

day three hundred.forty.three

my attempt at making a basket. the hemp rope is burning my fingers.

day three hundred.forty.two

we are paying the final bill this month. it is easy to say 'let it be behind us now.' but 'it' will always be there.

day three hundred.forty.one

opening the advent calendar on day eight

day three hundred.forty

it was a rough day today. i wish i was home alone. this song has too much meaning for us on this day.

I promised you the world again
Everything within my hands
All the riches one could dream
They will come from me

I hoped that you could understand
That this is not what I had planned
Please don’t worry now
It will turn around

Cause I need more time
Just a few more months and we’ll be fine
So say what’s on your mind
Cause I can’t figure out just what’s inside

I hoped that you could understand
That this is not what I had planned
Please don’t worry now
It will turn around

We’re off to new lands
So hold on to my hands
It’s gonna be alright
It’s a whole lot brighter
So stand by the fire
It’s gonna be alright
Yeah, the road gets harder
But it’s not much farther
It’s gonna be alright
You know that it ain’t easy
Please believe me
It’s gonna be alright

day three hundred.thirty.nine

insert rocky montage here.

day three hundred.thirty.eight

my students decorating the tree in our classroom. tis the season. and only eleven and a half days until christmas vacation.

day three hundred.thirty.seven

o christmas tree

day three hundred.thirty.six

playing with his cars on the pull out sofa. why not.

day three hundred.thirty.five

time to decorate the tree

day three hundred.thirty.four

enjoying a night out to celebrate the hub's birthday

day three hundred.thirty.three

it was my niece, lily's birthday several days ago.

day three hundred.thirty.two

my parents packed up their house this past weekend. i did not grow up in this house, or even live in it. just spent a sunday afternoon, christmas or thanksgiving dinner here. still it was a little sad seeing their furniture splayed out on the driveway waiting to be loaded onto the truck to be taken to virginia. far too far away.

day three hundred.thirty.one

watching snoopy with snoopy.

day three hundred.thirty

it is a slow cooker kind of day.

day three hundred.twenty.nine

creepy baby jesus lying in a manger of plastic hay.  i grew up in this town and every year they drag out the same creche. tonight we went down to see it and rock out to some local band play christmas music and pet dirty, smelly sheep. bring on the christmas season.

day three hundred.twenty.eight

after thanksgiving meal lounging. i am grateful for most everything. GOD'S word tells me to be grateful for all things, like the food and wine coma i was under today, but that is hard sometimes. how can one give thanks during the pain and sorrow? during the moments when we feel all is lost? during the times of desperate need? i think all i need to do is to mutter 'thank you' to the One who gave me the breath i am breathing in and out. the fingers moving to type this sentence. the child to discipline and love. the child i had to let go but still love. the husband who loves me in and out. the students who increase my stress level to unknown capacities. the sunsets and sunrises that continue to appear each day. it is because of Him that i have things to be grateful for. i was very attentive to the people around me the past few days. i think i heard the words 'thank you' a handful of times. a handful. five. i spend hours with ten {and eleven} year olds, a four year old, and a myriad of adults. i heard them utter thank you a handful of times. i can barely recall myself saying them. saddening that our hearts are that hardened to see where thanksgiving is appropriate. in all things. thank you jesus. for.....everything.

day three hundred.twenty.seven

a most awesome leaf, he says.

day three hundred.twenty.six

woke up to a slight snow fall

day three hundred.twenty.four

our tattered old walkway

day three hundred.twenty.three

home made gobble gobble

day three hundred.twenty.two

we had a wonderful time, son and i, watching the trucks and marching bands parade by. the question all morning was, 'will we see santa?' it is hard to believe that this same forty pound bundle of joy was such terror later in the day. i think he realizes his self-centered world is now off balance and no longer revolves around him and he is not going to give it up easily. and he feels that the way to justify any wrong done to him is through physical aggression. combine these two emotions and he explodes. i try to think of how i could have prevented his meltdown {there have been several of late}. maybe i should have forced him to nap today. maybe i should not have let him get out of bed early. maybe i failed some where, some how. it is horrifying to be 'those parents' that are dragging their son kicking and screaming out of a birthday party. we have 'that kid' whose strong will is being crushed and the only way he can voice his opinion is to scream with a decibel level shared with a piercing train careening down a broken track. so we come home and put him to bed and he falls asleep instantly. an hour before normal bed time. now we rest and lay in wait to see if what we tried to teach him tonight about loving those who do us wrong resonate at all.

day three hundred.twenty.one

remembering ireland

day three hundred.twenty

his version of raking

day three hundred.nineteen

there is still time to enjoy the back yard slide.

day three hundred.eighteen

my students making posters for a very confusing grammar class.

day three hundred.seventeen

out of focus cuteness

day three hundred.sixteen

before the leaves tremble to the ground

day three hundred.fifteen

lemons

day three hundred.fourteen

striped sock boy sitting down for a movie on our day off today.