I want your must-read book lists.

I can't wait to read read read this summer.


many many books...

lots and lots of books everywhere around this house...



and I feel like I need some summer reading lists...



in every subject...for all ages....taking suggestions...

the cuyamaca water conservation garden, on our list...

check out the website
I have amazing pottery students that do incredible things that I don't know about...until I do. And this is one of them. Jeri Deneen and her husband own a company that designed this garden, landscaped it...everything. And they are also responsible for all the graphics and planting of Monkey Trails at the Zoo and now their latest, Elephant Odyssey at the zoo. They are amazing. And then she comes to class and makes delicate cups and bowls.
This garden is at the top of our summer day trip list...."where to picnic".
Anyone want to join us?

psychadelic pottery and weird whale trip-outs...

..again with Silas at the Childrens Museum in their big, concrete, echoey shadow room...it is completely empty in the mornings when it first opens. We spent a half and hour in there. Silas liked to be a shadow dolphin and is very good at making that extrememly high piercing dolphin sound, a surprise to no one! And if you watch this video we can all agree that I go a little wacko in this place, odd whistling and girlish humming included. This is one good reason to go when there are no crowds! (this video is for you Cami, to make you laugh!) I obviously am in need of a new creative project as I have been messing around with the blog and tweaking far too many pictures for no reason at all. But my garden looks great...well tended and weeded. Always a sign of artistic malaise for me to be so on top of my free time. hmm....
And here comes summer!! Speaking of it...I will be taking the kids to the World Beat Center for drumming class in the park on Tues. at 3:00 throughout the summer if anyone wants to come, for a bit of food for the soul.

Mac cracks me up (from the "year of the tam" archives)...

...daishiki and UggBoot wearing, gum smackin' Emmett in the background is pretty comical too...

i was going to (and actually did) write a very depressing blog post...

...but then pressed "save" instead of "publish" and meandered over to Salon for a little politics (double depressing...after all I live in California where the Republicans are bleeding our social programs in very disastrous ways)... so I then read a little Garrison Keillor. Thank goodness for him. So, please click here to check out the little essay that lifted me out of all the disillusionment and placed me back where I like to live...where there is respect and compassion and sweetness and wonder and and so on and so on...


painting by tayla johnson called "rain on birch trees"

happy anniversary!

...not easy to find one of just us together...
best I could do...but matt, you look
pretty hunky in this one!


xxxxxoooooooooo

12 years!!!!!! wow!

*******HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAMI********

the best of birthdays to the woman known as Cami, the Cammer, Camshaft, Camster, Camalama, etc etc etc



this is some great video of the birthday girls being themselves...
we love you!!

Baby-Book Entry: Silas Loyal, 2 years 7months

It's been forever since I wrote down any of the things that this boy, this Wind Storm, says or does.

And he is a force of Nature worthy of many pages...

Hmmm, to start....

Yesterday (baby fee's 2nd b-day) was also a day of firsts and lasts for Silas. We went to see the "Night at the Museum 2", his first experience in a movie theatre. I thought it would be scary for him and expected to spend most of the time walking up and down the halls, drinking out of the water fountain and riding the escalator but he loved it. The popcorn spilled all over the floor in the first fidgety 5 minutes and he drank all his watered down lemonade so of course we visited the bathroom 4 times, "I have to pee, oh no, right now!!"

I think that potty training in our house coincides with other huge developmental leaps. I noticed the same thing with Mac and Emmett.

When they are ready to sit still for a movie, hold a drink, take direction without running wild (while mama's hands are full of movie junk food) among a million other can-do things...they are ready to be potty trained.

...and also ready to finally give up nursing. Yes, he was still "taking sips" before naps and bedtime and "when the sun comes up". So last night we talked about having boo for the last time and he just sort of had a two second nip and rolled over and fell asleep. And that was that.

He didn't even ask again. (And that is NOT the way it has been up until this point.)

I am amazed how easy things are when its the right time.

So here we go. Kung Fu panda underwear!! He's gonna try preschool in them tomorrow, another first. No more boo. He also can ride the big tricycles at the kindergarten playground now so he is happily occupied while I water the garden...it feels like a brand new day for him! He is even trying very hard to stop himself from hauling off and hitting Emmett...his target of choice. He said this morning, "Emmett is not the kind of boy that likes hitting. He likes hugging." Of course the hug knocked Emmett over but what can we expect from a boy that actually fell off the swing today, smiling too big. His hair is so kooky too. It's not curly or straight, its kind of Einstein or that guy on Taxi...he's just a trip and we love him.

...oh I had a list of funny things Silas says but there are some M&E in my head too... like how Mac called grilled cheese sandwiches, "girl cheese" and how Emmett thought the song, "Roxanne" was "Rock-Sand" and how Silas says "Yes I Mam!!" instead of yes I am....

the list goes on...for another day...

Happy Birthday Baby Feee!

We can't believe that two years has flown by so quickly and now
You Are TWO!!!!!!
We all love you so much and wish we could go to your park party!
Here is a video for you...we are not singing happy birthday like
we had planned... but we think you will like this...
because we know you will get to do some big
pillow flopping soon too! xxxx000000x0x0x0x0x0x0

Papa's Girl

Mac and Papa have got some moves...

and Mac is loving her new sweater from BEBE!

She may be growing, but she's still papa's little girl!

Dreyer Family Band party pics, take two

Emil took some great shots of all of y'all...

from the video archives..

I think Emmett and Benj must have been 5-6 here, at least
2 years ago...when we used to carpool the girls todance
class in the park. Feels like yesterday! Wish I had also
taken video of the incredible guy on the diggeridoo. (I
have no idea how to spell that.)

a lifetime worth of handkerchiefs...

Old Photographs...

she was a knockout...

...she was a mama...

...she was glamorous at times...

...and she wore the fab glasses at my baptism...

...she made great ham and potato salad and coffee and had
a very spicy and passionate relationship with my grandpa...

It's amazing, looking back through someones life.
Mom and I went to grandma's house today to find some photos for the funeral...
what an experience. I didn't expect to feel so much, well, sadness. Grandma has been ready to go for a long time and actually prayed to go. So what is there to be sad about?
Looking through these pictures, collecting her old handkerchiefs (I will make a curtain for Mac's room with them) and seeing that her life was not just the last 15 years...but so much more.
She traveled, was funny, was a great mom to her young children and was considered bold and curious and a bit sassy. As an older woman, this turned a bit ornery but just look at her life in pictures. It's all of us, isn't it??
And, yah, that's me in one of her legendary wigs for your amusement. I looked thrilled.
Oh, grandma....

Check out Cami and Craig and Finley's new Apt. in Brooklyn!!!

We are all so happy that you GOT IT!

Click here for pictures! Love the blue door!