Well, we had a very nice Thanksgiving day. Chuck's sisters Cheryl and Jerri and their husbands came over along with his mom, my parents , Jordan, Amity and Randi and then Ray and his kids. Our weather ended up being nice. The rain didn't last like the forecast said so we got to eat outside. Of course their was just way too much food! I can't even remember the last holiday I got to spend with my parents. And my dad had never met Randi or Amity! I feel so blessed to be part of two such loving, wonderful families. And it was nice to know that Jessica, Jason and the kids were all getting together with their neighbors since none of them have family around. I hope everyone had a great day and I am looking forward to Dec. 20th and seeing so many of you!

Well, after reading Jamie's post and looking at all the pictures, I realized how bad this fire situation really was. I have to admit, fires are the one thing that rally scare me. This one jumped freeways and burned down a lot of homes. I can't imagine having to leave everything behind like they did.
Mom and Dad stopped by yesterday on their way to chapter. They had left early and had an extra hour or so. It was nice to see them. Josh brought his 2 girls over to see them because they won't be here on Thanksgivng. Dad is looking forward to meeting Randi for the first time. We are supposed to get rain (which adds to a bad situation for the people that just had fires). I was hoping to eat outside on Thanksgiving. Ray and his kids are also going to join us. Brandi has to work. It is so nice to have them so close.

Boy, what a long week! It was a whole week sandwiched between 2 3 day weeks and it seemed like it was even longer than 5 days. You probably all know about our fires last week. Air quality was unhealthy all weekend and then again on Monday. That means we have to keep students inside after they had spent the whole weekend inside. One of my students decided to pull the arm on the fire alarm during lunch. Of course, we didn't know that at first and there are fires all around us. We still haven't found out who did it even though the principal put my whole class on punishment until we find out. I was out for a meeting on Tuesday and 4 of my boys got referrals from the substitute. That's pretty amazing because subs don't generally complain about too much. I guess they want the powers that be to think they can handle anything. Then, I also had something every night this week. I am looking forward to the weekend, even though I have lots of grading to do. The end of the trimester is Wednesday and I want to get at least part of my report cards done. Tomorrow will be Ella's last soccer game for the season. I will miss watching her play. She's come a long ways since September.We are looking forward to Thanksgiving with family. Only Jordan, Amity and Randi will be here of our kids but Mom, Dad, Gladys, Pete, Cheryl, Jerri and Mike will be here too. We haven't seen Amity, Jordan or the baby in a while. I wanted to go see them last weekend but the 91 fwy was closed due to the fires. Gladys had an accident last month so it will be good to have all Chuck's family here. Dinah & Rod will not be coming home. Holly got engaged so they are busy planning a wedding. We'll be going to Maui in March for that. At least that gives us something to look forward to!

Well, I finally did it! I love reading about all of my sister, nieces and nephews (and even my daughter) so I thought I'd join the fun. I bought my first Christmas present tonight and I've been listening to Christmas music on my XM radio already. I am looking forward to seeing as much of our family as possible at the Bolton's next month. I am excited for Diana and Rich to be home again. I've been busy with Ella's soccer games. Josh is her coach and we have run in to so many people we knew back when our kids played. In fact, Robert's coach is an old time firend from those days. Josh is also playing again so I go to Ella's games on Saturday and his on Sunday. I also try to fit in games of my students once in a while. I just got to spend a 4 day weekend in Arizona and got to work in the grandkid's classes. That was a lot of fun, especially since I have taught nothing but upper grades. We are looking forward to having the Mauss kids for a week after Christmas. And if they are here, Ella will be as well! I just finished my cake decorating class tonight. I took it just to do something with some friends from work. It was fun but I'm glad it's over. Hopefully I will be good about posting. I hope to learn how to post pictures soon.