Advent!

Hello Family,

This year I am particularly excited about celebrating advent. I have been scouring Pinterest for calendar ideas and I picked up the standard chocolate in the cardboard container advent calendar at church last week.

Do you have any special advent traditions or calendars?

Tracy

Surprise! Tracy Turned 40!

What a wonderful surprise I had last night.  Let me start by saying that on Friday during 4th hour chemistry 2 dozen roses arrived from my dear Matthew. We have been dating since February and he is. Wonderful man. I was shocked at the beautiful bouquet and my students oohed and awed!

That evening my 'big sis' Deedee and I went to dinner at da Luigi. We had two delightful salads and a  pear and Gorgonzola gluten free pizza. Deedee gave me a gorgeous bracelet with a cross on it. She is such a great friend.  We laughed, reminisced, and talked about the upcoming year. I told her how glad I was to see Mom and Dad last week but that I wish they were here this weekend.  I also noted that I really missed Alaina and Addie and was planning to call them on Saturday.  We headed home and we chuckled about how we were both getting old because it was only around 8:30 and we were both ready to go to bed. :).

Saturday morning Emma and I woke up at 7 and then laid on the coach like potatoes watching tv. We  chatted with our neighbors and played with our neighbor-dog, Cody.  We told our neighbors how much we'd love to see Nana &Papa and Alaina & Addie but we'd have to wait until Thanksgiving.   We cleaned the basement (or at least tried) and then walked to downtown and back. Afterward we watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, took a quick shower and then Matt picked me up for dinner at my favorite restaurant, Cafe Muse. We had an incredible meal!  Perfectly cooked scallops - mmmmmm! We walked around downtown and looked at all the beautiful Christmas lights that had just gone up. It was 50 degrees outside and just fabulous. We headed toward the bowling alley to have some fun and then Matt said we should stop t Tim and Sarah's house to say hello since they had invited us to watch movies that evening. We got to the house and they greeted us at the door.  Suddenly, a great big surprise!  It didn't quite register with me but then suddenly I saw Alaina running toward me and I was ecstatic - thrilled!  Pete, Emily Ann, Alaina, Addie Jane, Mom, and Dad had all come into town.  Carrie, my dear sweet little sis, had arranged for them to come into town and had all of my dearest and most love friends arrive to celebrate.   It was such a joyful time - I am so thankful - my birthday wishes came true.

Utter shock!

A Whirlwind

It's been a whirlwind the last few weeks!  The day before I picked Emma up - I caught something and have had a sore throat for the last five weeks.  The doctors say it is a virus and I'll just have to take it easy - yeah right!?!  I picked up Emma in Northern Ohio from her foster mom through Golden Retriever Rescue Resource.  The rescue does an incredible job at matching dogs with their new owners.  It took over nine months to find Emma!  She was worth the wait.  Emma did have a mast cell tumor and had it removed last Monday.  I recieved the pathology report and it looks like they got it all out.  I will just have to keep a watchful eye if she develops any others bumps.  She been wearing a cone and she has let everyone know that she is not a big fan.  I can't blame her.  Since she has come to live at my house I found that Emma is a loving girl - she likes to be pet (constantly) - to play ball - to go swimming - to take walks - to play with kids - and to nap!!