Happy Happy Happy Happy Happy (that's FIVE) Birthday Feeee!

This was YOU last year on this very day. We love you and I wish we were sharing pancakes at this very minute! We are so happy for you, so thankful you were born, super excited you are FIVE!

Have a Fantastic DAY! xoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoAnnie, Matt, Mac, Emmett, Silas, Nana and Flower House Animals, Plants and Fairies xoxoxoxoooooxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxooxoxooxoxoxooxox

contagious giggles

you just can't not smile when you see this.

the quail botanical gardens

a small and perfect place to spend the day, ditching school and reading with emmett.

never before have I seen a flower this color

looking up, what a sight....because this big green tree has eyes!

It's About Time for This Post

I really love this blog because I love to go back and look.  But I have always known the posts from these past 5+ years are not a complete picture of our life. Not only do I leave out most of the good stuff (because I couldn't possibly document it all and wouldn't want to try!) but I am very aware that the picture painted is unreasonably rosy.

What is missing, of course, are all the bad times. The boring days and the sick days. When nothing that happened was pleasant at all. Or maybe what did happen wasn't even worth remembering. And then there's the really, really shitty times no one wants to dwell on...when everyone is at their worst or when very sad things happen. When people break a little. The emotional storms.
Our family is in in the middle of such a storm... weathering it, as they say....and it feels strange to continue posting happy pictures and silly videos without first addressing the elephant in the room...

Matt and I are separating. He is moving to an apartment nearby. We are doing ok and working through this with as much love as possible. We are still a family. This is super hard yet it also feels familiar, like change... just accelerated. All of us are working through this with all manners of support. (when I say "we" I mean all of us; kids, nana, all of the extended Lockee/Dreyer families) And the good part is that it seems to be in our nature to make the best of things so we are finding lots of time to have fun. (hence the silly videos and happy pictures I keep posting!)

 So, having finally said all that out loud (in the blogosphere with a bullhorn? now my computer knows? now you know, friends from afar? hello future me!? wha?) ...I will continue to blog the good stuff because that is what I like to dwell on.
This small family blog has been a healing and revealing process. It appeals to the artist, the designer, the writer, the photographer, the reporter, the narcissist, the activist, the proud mama, the eager traveler and the enthusiastic gardener in me. It feels important to write this post now because it feels better to be open about this. I've always taken note of the milestones and dramatic, life-changing events that happen to this family and here I go again. This needed to be written if only to have a reference point for the future and to not belittle the magnitude of these events with silence.

Sisters, Friends and Family near and far (yes, all 11 of you who visit this blog ;)  I am happy to continue this practice of documenting the good, despite the occasional not-so-good. Now I can do it with renewed openness.

Thanks and Love,
Annie

sleepover!

these boys love eachother!