fooled ya...

Mac and Emmett have been studying "The Book of Immaturity",
a gift from Mama and Papa (what were we thinking!)...and they have
learned to do things like this...a beheading...


...and like this... Emmett as Emma!

Run Emmett Run

Great photo from Lauren.

haiku for lauren

my house, this moment
negligent mama blogging
meanwhile babes eat sweets

a bit of what went on...

We had a great Christmas!

Silas loves elephants and Nana!



Xmas morning and the BABY JESUS Mac made for GG
(yes, she really did make a doll baby jesus...and Emmett
made a cross! I know!)


lots of bonding and hugs

A great holiday!
( Missing from these pictures are Megan, Johnny and George
from Christmas Eve and on Christmas Day, Grandma Carol, Grandpa
Arnie and Michael...I don't know how to get the photos from Matt's
camera on to this blog for some reason...grr.)

news of the day...

Finally, the new addition
to the family... A belated
bouncing baby
(10th Anniversary)
BANJO!!














...and a bit of winter Silas!!

check it out!!

Really cool way to
increase your
vocabulary...its better than
endless solitaire...and
feed someone at the same
time!

www.freerice.com

(Thanks mom for the link!)

Double Oops...Caroling is Sunday...

wow, latest e-mail...Sunday it is, 6:00ish! See you there!

Christmas 2007...how's it going so far?...

Every year has its own flavor and this year is no exception. I have tried to keep it simple, simply because life is a bit hectic right now and it's really the only option...So these are the things that make this year's Christmas Season unique.



1)This year I only send a Christmas card when I get a card and this gives me a very free feeling. I figure if you really want a one you'll send one!

2)This year is also different because of Silas! (also known as Franken-Baby/Monkey-Boy/Lover-of-all-Things-Elephant) Having a one year old makes any kind of shopping really, REALLY tricky...so there's not much of that going on.

3) Hmmm...this year Papa will be home for the neighborhood Chistmas Caroling (and all you 10 blog readers out there are invited...this Sunday, 6:30ish)

4)This year we went for the toss technique of decorating the house with lights....not quite as lovely but colorful. This year is less of a Charlie Brown CD kind of Christmas...that was last year, tasteful and jazzy...this year is proving to be a bit cheesier...maybe the Chipmunks Winter Wonderland Jamboree??

5)This year I hope to do some baking because I never have really. My mom always used to but then Trader Joes made it so easy to never bake pumpkin bread or make peanut brittle ever again. This year I will try...for Emmett who loves it when we cook together. (Baking is really not my forte...its soup or nothing with me.)

6)This year we will not be going to Yelapa. Long story, hopefully happy ending.

7)This year's student pottery sale was a huge success, the best ever. Everyone was so happy...Finally I have embraced the sale as the start of the holiday season whereas it used to be a huge stress-out for me.

8)This year I have fabulous new speakers at the studio so its just awesome to be at work now!!

9)This year Mac and Emmett are officially way too good at guessing their presents.

10) This year I think I only got one thing that doesn't fit Matt...usually its EVERYTHING....but time will tell with that.

11)This is the year we got to see Finley in a Santa suit.

This list will continue I am sure...in the meantime...HOHOHO!!

hey family...here's an idea...

...I'd love this book for Christmas... The Golden Bough. Craig and Cami
found it on Caroline's bookshelf at her Christmas party (ask her the funny
story about that!) and now its on my wish list too!










And this one too, The Meaning of Trees
which can be found at The Grove... (Matt)... a great place
for last minute Christmas shopping...hint, hint.







I also love Jasmine Pearls (the tea).
Hey Lauren, this IS a great way to get the wish list out there!

not big on change...

I am not a fan of goodbyes, seasons ending, the end of an era, the circle of life, aging, growing-up, moving on, progress ... a.k.a. CHANGE. Just when we were all nice and used to Cami, Craig and Finley staying with us, they up and leave. Well, that just stinks (as Emmett says). Mac and Emmett are bummed. The house is too quiet, all except for Silas that is...he doesn't really get the concept of "shhhh" yet, except the bit about the quiet old lady in Goodnight Moon...We are all just MISSING those East Coast Dreyers. And we are very worried that Finley will be devastated without us...Emmett has mentioned this many times. Mac is concerned that Finley won't remember her...And it's pretty great having Craig and Cami around too!...So we are sad...lots of emotions floating about.
So, this goes out to you C&C&F...Mucho LOVE !!!

Ode to Emmett

A few of the many moods of my highly evolved six year old son.
Matt

Three Great Shots...

We can see them on a porch in 40 years...can't you?

The girls being sweet.

Cami at a Gorilla La Leche Meeting.

Annie-still life-in motion

This will probably embarrass her.
But she is very beautiful to me

























I love my wife.

Matt

In Carlsbad......on the beach

Finley at the beach!

























Mac and Emmett making sandcastles

















Craig and Arnie walking and talking















West Coast Dreyers
















Finley focused on the mustache















East Coast Dreyers













Naked Silas!




















Peeing on Papa!

More CCF in SD

Silas crawling on Finley


Silas giving Finley a hug.

Tagged

I was tagged by lauren.
7 weird things about me:

1) I don't know much sign language but I do know the alphabet and I often do it while walking down the street. ABCD half time, EFGH double time and the rest incredibly fast up to P...then I start with QRST half time UVWX double time, then YZYZ. Occasionally I try to spell out "now I know my abc's, next time won't you sing with me" but its hard and I lose focus and move onto something else.
2) I gag a bit when I smell gin, the cologne Drakkar Noir and/or fresh cut celery due to a wild night in college ... I won't go into the details... but the smell memory is vivid. I do still like celery just not the smell. Hate gin and that stinky cologne forever.
3) I had a crush on Ricky Ricardo as a kid and tried to mimic his laugh...and also Pa from "Little House on the Prairie" but even then I thought the actress that played Laura over-acted terribly.
4) When I was a kid it never occured to me that I would have kids or want to be a mother. And my mother was great so its not like I didn't have a good role model. This surprises me because I love it so much and my daughter talks about being a mother all the time.
5) I really dislike many, many cool and popular things and will only admit to a few...I don't get the granite kitchen phenomenon, I hate that certain color green that Martha Stewart and everyone seems to love to paint their house including the paint designer at SD City Schools and I'm not fond of asymmetrical haircuts or "hairstyles" in general, ... and I can see right through the cool glasses everyone wears.
6) I don't really know how to be "in" nature the way other people seem to. I can't sit in it or be still in it. Everything I do outside is some form of organization...and I am not even talking about gardening but ALL my experiences in nature... from placing sticks from smallest on up, to color separating stones. Even if I am hiking I am making connections like this in my mind...building dwellings, collecting and stacking pinecones, making drawings in the wet dirt to reveal the dry, lighter colored dirt underneath. This is probably why I love the artist Andy Goldsworthy (photo of his work above). I especially love the documentary "Rivers and Tides" and the book "Passages".
7) If I could have another life...not change this one but ADD another...I would like to be a choreographer that lived on a lot of wild land somewhere where people spoke with accents. In this other life I would somehow be mellower too.

Here are the people I will now go and "tag":
cami
craig
rhea
amy
that's it... I am all out of blog buddies thanks to Lauren!

Emmett's Favorite Joke that He Made Up...

knock-knock
who's there?
it's not a knock-knock joke.

(this really cracks all of us up...had to share it)

the best split pea soup ever...

How can something so gross looking taste so good?! Here's how!
Saute the following in olive oil:
3 cloves garlic
one small onion (cut small)
3 large carrots (cut small)
one stalk celery (cut small)
one potato (peeled and cut small)
1/2 tsp dried thyme
fresh basil chopped fine
one bay leaf
Add the following and saute some more:
salt pork (I don't cut this and I fish it out later)
canadian bacon (comes three slices to the package, cut up small)
Add the following:
4 cups split peas
32 oz chicken broth (or make your own)
32 oz veggie broth
Boil, reduce heat and simmer on Low for 2 hours or more:
salt to taste

The kids love it and so do I... with crusty bread and way too much butter! YUM!
I have made this vegetarian and its good too...just different!

On the mountain

Sometimes I see things on the mountain...
Most of these things are not happy ones. However, on occasion I see things that remind me what I like up there and work doesn't seem so grim.