christmas bells are ringing

christmas break (in SF)lights in san carlos, hiking in the redwoods, visiting the beach, going to see noni and nonu (jeff's grandma and grandpa), visiting a wildlife zoo, hiking in point reyes, more hiking in point reyes, and spotting yule elk! and lots of games, gift giving, and food with family!

highlights for me: spending lots of time with my family, seeing my foster sister who is now going to my old high school, hanging out with two adorable girls from church that i used to babysit (and are now all grown up!), surprising j with a trip to point reyes, spending time with j's family, talking about teaching with my aunt who is a principal, and receiving an ALASKA CRUISE from my parents!

highlights for mister c: spending time with stacey, not having to study for a test, hiking in point reyes, seeing noni and nonu, visiting with my sister and her husband, and getting an Alaska cruise from my in-laws.

a little christmas cheer...

our school has a door decorating contest each year

the other first grade teacher and i teamed up to create santa's workshop.

4 hours and a lot of paper later...

my students loved it!

they called themselves "elves" all day long,

since they lived inside santa's workshop.

hello again!

it has been awhile, i know.

mainly because teaching is on my mind (and all over our living room floor) all the time.

hence not blogging for a loooong time.

but now its sunday night, hubby is making dinner, (most) of my lessons are planned, and i don't have work tomorrow.

PLUS i just found out that all the pictures j takes on his nifty iphone goes to his computer directly!

so a little update, in pictures.

thanksgiving break (in SF)

apple picking, biking from san francisco to tiburon, clam chowder on fisherman's wharf, amazing almond dessert from tartine, ferry building with my sister, and of course...thanksgiving day!

the wife almost forget my bday last year, how did she do this year?......

Although the wifey was knee deep in TFA and district training she made time to throw me a surprise party. What you don't see in this picture is a room full of people. What you do see is killer cupcakes (childhood favorite),  a super chocolately cake (more chocolate the better), and a happy Mr. C receiving a Giada cookbook (I love Giada)

home.

seventh day of cruise.

one last picture in front of the ship.

and then back to real life and responsibilities.

p.s. we totally recommend checking out cruises on vacationstogo.com, then booking it through another travel site--we got the ATV adventure for almost free by doing that!

day at sea

sixth day of cruise,

celebrating our one year anniversary.

j surprised me with a cake, flavored the same way as our wedding cake!

puerto vallarta

fifth day of cruise.

ATV adventure (including helping some ranchers coax a pregnant cow into a trailer!)

swimming in the river,

riding a horse (i promise i am not hitting it!),

checking out the streets of a small village,

and admiring architecture.