Real Flower Fairies...

...are impish

...and eat real flower food

What A Day.

SURPRISE...WE ARE GOING TO DISNEYLAND!!!!







PS Thank you to Dmitry for the vegan gumbo bowl suggestion. The best!
PPS Disneyland is definitely Craig's happiest place on earth. Here he is in the haunted house.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FINLEY!

We are so happy we get to spend

your 4th birthday with you

Finley Joyous!

Cousin Power!

Craig and Cami

Happy Ten Years to You!!!

Forks over Knives

Our school is taking a field trip to see this!

We get these beautiful peoples...

...and...

In less than a week they are ours.
mwah-hahaha!

xoxoxoxox
can't wait!!


(Pretty pretty pretty!)





xoxoxox
:)

"She knows hundreds of jokes and tells them with panache."

Last words to me tonight from Mac before lights out:
"The difference between a coyote and a flea...one howls on the prairie, one prowls on the hairy."

Aaargh!

Emmett was the Captain Hook of Pied Pipers at this past weekends babysitting co-op.
The younger kids followed him all over the house, avoiding booby traps and hunting for treasure...and saying ARGH!

(This is an ok video, but if you just watch one kid at a time

it is hilarious. Emmett cracks us up!)

Tricia de Luna

A very nice artist/teacher named Tricia de Luna asked if she could paint our house today!
I love it!

It's Been A While...

...Easter, Tennis, Training Wheels, Plumbers Butt, Spray Paint...
and much more! Unfortunately my camera has been slowly dying and
also the computers ability to suck up pictures and spit them out has been
crapping out on us...
so no pics of Meg and Crys' awesome visit :(
but lots of good times to be had by all as well as some visits
by Satan...but that's another story for another day.

Music and Dance

The Ballroom Competition!

I didn't take a whole lot of video or pictures, there were just too many amazing kids to watch.
I get particularly choked up to see the tall girls and short boys for some reason. So fricken cute.
I love how happy Mac and Jordan look! (Aitana and John, too!)
And if it weren't for ballroom, I'd never see Mac in a dress!

Love the Tango!


Here's a mini clip with Emmett playing with Drew :)

This is great...

Read THIS Tina Fey's wish for her daughter.

Borrowing from Bob, the Silent Speech

It begins, "Last Fall the American People Gave Us Our Marching Orders. Jobs Jobs Jobs."

I don't always like gimmicks but when he put up the words "0 jobs bills" it made an impact and that's the point of the show, right. Boil down the point.

But...politics aside....now it's official. If members of Congress use the "double-sarcastic-really" then it's mainstream. I am cringing.

Really? REALLY?

Silas is Winking at YOU May-May!!

Who knew he would LOVE these window gel things??? You did, that's who!! xoxoxox

Spring Everywhere!!!

(okey dokey artichokey)

Three Little Pigs, for Finley (with eternal thanks to Odds Bodkin!)

Saturday Morning Cartoon Blogging: Thoughts from the Week

1. If you want your teenager to hang out in the living room with the family, let her be 100% responsible for her own laundry and the state of her bedroom. It will become unlivable in no time which leads to the wonderful sight of a long lanky teenager doing homework on the living room floor by the fire!!






2. If you'd like to encourage your 4 year old to write but can't seem to get his butt in a chair for more than 5 seconds, get Dr. Seuss's "My Book About Me". (pictured is Mac, Emmett, Silas and Matt's book from 1973!) This book is pure genius and has Silas walking all over the place counting forks and steps to the mailbox. He loved writing his address (with help) and his phone number and this book has him collecting neighborhood autographs (mailman, pizza delivery, librarian etc)... and ALL without having to SIT. This will definitely be a kindergarten challenge for our Dear Morgan!
(PS A little redheaded girl we love will be getting her "My Book About Me" for her 4th b-day! Good thing she can't read this yet!)






3. Two people going Vegan in the house (Matt indefinitely and Mac for one month after she read that going Vegan is the most impactful thing you can do to change the world!)...has really really reduced the amount of cheese and milk consumed by our household! This week we used more almond, rice and soy milk and only ONE 1/2 gallon of milk. I feel good about this.





4. Despite all the yummy things to eat around here, everyone's favorite snack is cereal. Specifically, O's with blueberries and bananas. Me too, actually.







5. Painting is really really fun and absorbing even if its a wee bit embarrassing showing everybody how unsubtle the symbolism is....or clumsy the techniques....and a little bit "uncool".
I love it anyway. I only wish it was as fun to paint on small canvases as it is on big ones! I think I might have to paint, take a picture, gesso over it and on and on....because who has room for (or wants to look at...) a 48'' x 72" painting of The Pregnant Hippy Muse of Pottery ?!! Looks a bit like it should hang in Lady of the Lake! :)



6. I love Bill Murray and I really really love the poem "I dwell in possibility" that he reads to the guys working on the Poet House in NYC.

7. I still can't keep clothes on this boy!

Emil's "A Day in the Life of SDCCS"

I love this because it takes its time with long shots of our kids at school. And because it shows the things that make our school great and our kids lives better! All of this, the art, the garden, the music, the dance and seeing kids working in cooperation out of their desks...its what our school is all about and what is being slowly stripped from so many schools.

Thanks Emil, you are great!

I love this picture of a picture!

SDCCS Flash Mob!

Spring Clean and Paint!

Nothing like new color AND brand new ART!!
Carol shared many of her sand paintings with us and I think they add beautiful color and texture (and secret messages!) to Plum Pottery.
I just love it. I wanted the studio to look like earthy clay, vibrant glazes, colored stones, trees and nature... and still be a great place to get dirty and be creative!!!

The Solvency of Social Security

Good new Political Blog and Interesting Article....thanks mom...
she always knows where to find the good info!!

The Greatest Wedding Picture...

...on the cover of Lavender Magazine!
Our friend CJ just got married and I just love this photo.
Click for the better, bigger version.
Looks like magic!

Can-Phones, Pretty Pretty Princess, Sledding and Sleeping

this is, hands down, the best dog in the universe.

love this guy!

who will be the princess?? emmett wins this one but....

mac is the princess and the pea!

force of nature!!!

MARBLE SHOOOOOOTEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRR!


"copy that, stop copying me"

Nutmeg in the Garden

She loves to be outside and, so far, doesn't

venture past the side and backyard.

AND she hasn't peed on the couch once since

being FREEEEEEE!!! (knock on wood.)

Read this Book, Pass it On

This book is interesting and has a lot in it that

helps explain why I had such

a problem with the documentary

"Waiting for Superman" but

couldn't articulate it....it is very critical of charter schools (which is hard to take since my kids benefit from a great one...but I do understand and lean towards agreeing with her point...). The book is also about testing, report cards, the arts and sciences and how poverty is really the issue we need to address...and doesn't simply focus on rooting out the bad teachers.

(I am surprised they don't ALL go "bad" or at least get prematurely "burnt" after all the demoralizing treatment!... Can we please stop blaming teachers and

unions for everything now?)

My crazy idea (not in the book but I thought I'd put it out there!): Instead of asking for the bare minimum and continually losing ground...instead of continuing to cut-cut-cut... why don't we go completely in the opposite direction. Why not have a big public debate and PUSH for more money than we had in the last 10 years and more than we had in the 90's...what if instead of cutting the education budget... we double it!!! (cheers, applause, sighs of relief!!!)

Can you imagine TWO teachers per classroom, sharing the load. (2 1/2 days each in the classroom and the rest of the work week doing prep work/meeting with parents etc.) Instead of one teacher for every 30, how's about 2!?! If they work at the same salary as before the crazy cuts and with the normal expectation of a raise every couple of years and a decent amount of job security and full benefits...and YES, summers off to take that extra job or to take summer classes...hey, we might even be able to retain the talented ones!!

What could this do for our country?

It would INCREASE the deficit!!... but not much in comparison to everything else (war spending and tax cuts)....

It could REALLY educate ALL of our kids (not just the rich ones!) AND employ a whole lot more people who currently wouldn't even consider teaching as a viable option to support their family. (Rather than obsessing about maintaining the "perks" for wallstreet to attract "talent" why not apply some of that philosophy to those educating our kids! Brilliant!)

Thinking about the interactive 2012 budget pie chart from the NY Times online newspaper makes me think we could easily double spending in education. (So simple, ha!)

Maybe end some tax cuts, close some business loopholes or do what the republicans do....we could go ahead and increase the deficit for the stuff WE think is important.