christmas joy

uncle stacy playing with taylor's honu from our cousins pauline, grant, travis and amani.

daddy playing cinderella with taylor and having *way* too much fun.

the locals make a local snack, spam won ton!

anticipation

this year's christmas was wonderful! just a couple of pics for now...to share our christmas with you. hope yours was excellent too!

uncle stacy

i have not been the only one enjoying uncle stacy's visit! stacy arrived on monday and it's been shopping malls ever since. he and tay tay were able to get in play time every day (notice the playhouse and legos) and kai doggie has worked her charm to get her a spot on his bed!!! more to come later...taylor's in the tub (fingers and toes pruned as we speak) screaming, "all pau tub!!!"(for the non-hawaii people/people i have not taught, "pau" means finished in hawaiian) peace out, people & have a very merry christmas!!!

holiday rush

i'm in it. i'm in it so deep i don't know what to do first. my profession-induced ADD tendencies are in full swing and i don't think they'll subside until friday, the last day of school. rather than torture you with my list of "to dos", i'll just move on to what i was thinking about while driving to walmart tonight at 9:45 to get *freakin* mini candy canes, spice drops, frosting, graham crackers and red hots for our "gingerbread" house activity tomorrow. {julie-i think i'll need starbucks to make it} i swore i wouldn't supplement the candies and such, but when kids come to me and say they can't bring anything because their parents said they don't have money to get the few things on the list...i become sad and of course go back on my promise to myself. but anyways, back to what i was thinking about in the car (see, ADD in full force). as i was thinking of all i had to get done both professionally and personally, i started remembering my college days during finals week with all the exams to study for/papers to write...how even though it was all piled high, you still managed to get it done by the time it needed to be. nevermind the all-nighters, 6 pots of coffee, the against-your-better-judgement study breaks or just plain 'ol procrastination (like i am doing right now by blogging rather than grading compositions)...you took care of business. truth of the matter is i think i was *and still am* addicted to the adrenaline rush that comes with being under pressure. (hi, my name is jonelle and i'm an adrenaline-olic.) although it was stressful, it was fun. being there in the "same boat" with your roommates and friends-just trudging through together... oh crap! it's 11:30 now. well, as my new t-shirt says, "i gots to bounce". {tricia-that means i have to go now. hee, hee}

no school!!!

got the call this morning at 5:30...our district's closed due to the winter storm (my college pals in oregon would laugh at what dallas calls a winter storm) and icy roads. most people wouldn't know the power the transportation department has. they are the "godfather" of the district, you know. they're the ones who decide whether the weather is severe enough to cancel the running of buses thereby cancelling school district wide...afterall, you can't have school if kids can't come, right? {grinning ear to ear}