for all the school gardeners out there...

...a little inspiration!! "I think we can, I think we can!!"





...kinda like your circular idea, Amy!!
This is all very exciting!

mug shots...

...ok, passport pictures...but, wow, we look odd...

I have to say, though, that I am relieved to no longer belong to the AWP club... Americans Without Passports!! (Matt and I had them but let them expire a while back...pitiful!)
So, we are ready to go anywhere. The question is...will we?

Here they are! And at the post office they made it seem they may not make it in time unless we pay $90 extra per passport to expedite...very glad I didn't fall for that one! Yelapa here we come...in January, that is!

can't wait to see this movie!!.......

...by the director Julie Taymor who made "Frida", which I love, love, LOVED...
"Across the Universe" opens in mid-late September...
Anyone up for it?!! It's all Beatles tunes which I can't decide if that's ok or not and hope it is because it looks visually stunning and awesome. I hope it's not so generationZ that it's just too cool for me. I love the beautiful music/movie combo!

good recipe...

cilantro, mint (chopped)
rice vinegar (3 tablespoons)
soy sauce, sesame oil (teeny bit of these, no more than 1/2 teaspoon)
thai rice noodles (boiled and rinsed with cold water)
cucumber, tomato (chopped)
onion (chopped,optional)
I know its good because the kids hate it!

truly delicious
good with chicken
great for hot weather

...but what I am really in the mood for...Soups and Stews!!

comparisons...

Last year, the first day of school and very pregnant...


...this year...

it's a lot noisier around here!

come on...just one more picture...

NOOOOOOO!!!

DOUBLE NOOOOOOOO!!!!

FINE!

on that note...

check out coop america and the green pages...

only 10 more years before it's too late...

Mom watched this special on Nova tonight and after talking with her I checked some of it out online and it's just incredibly horrible and frightening and what keeps going through my head ... "the worst decision ever made is the one to do nothing because doing just a little didn't seem like enough" or something like that.
The Syracuse Cultural Workers make this great calendar every year and all the proceeds go to great causes ...maybe passing this on will be my one little thing for today!

5th grade and 1rst...

Off they go...and lookin'good too. Mac in her rainbow outfit with brand new bookbag (way hipper than the backpack, mama, sheesh!) and Emmett finally deciding on an old favorite...the "human canonball" shirt!




...still not used to how huge, green, open and fabulous the new school is...

...new places and familiar faces!

Happy Birthday Matt!!

39 looks pretty good!!

Happy B-day to you too Craig! (I love this picture!)

summer favorites...

Inspired by my long distance friend (and old pottery partner)who now lives in Rhode Island, I have compiled a list of summer favs...

1)best snack of summer: enormous plate of Nachos with beans, cheese, avocado, scallions and tomato and sour cream. When lacking in the traditional mexican ingredients we make "deli nachos" with crackers melted cheese and hard boiled egg.
Dark chocolate covered almonds.
Sparkling lime water! The kids are now sparkling water fanatics!
What do we do while we eat this? Read books. Best pleasure ever, food and books!

2)best movie: Harry Potter 5...the only movie we actually saw this summer in the theatre. Its been difficult to take Silas anywhere he needs to be quiet...he does a great imitation of a divebombing seagull at the most inappropriate moments!

3)best outing: the beach obviously. This was the year of the beach and fully succumbing to all the sand everywhere. We just roll in it now. Who needs towels! Also, anything involving the zoo with Nana!

4)best books: For kids obviously "Harry Potter" the 7th Book(!!)"Inkheart", "the Deltora Series", Mythology books of any kind, and for me a couple of mindless "bodice rippers" that pose as historical novels...actually I am loving the kids books so much I have been neglecting my ever growing stack of bedside books. For Silas, "Good Night Moon" again and again and again!! For Matt anything with a black and red cover that has the words "death" or "menace" or "platoon" or "bravo company" etc.

5)best new discovery: our front lawn has a spot that is shady and breezy most of the day and if we sit out there on a blanket with Silas he is endlessly happy digging in the dirt or sucking on the end of the garden hose...while we engage in #'s 1 and 4! Oh and also we've re-discovered that you don't have to do a hell of a lot to have fun. Babies are good for that!

6)best outfit: Emmetts dream plan for the first day of school which I don't know if it'll happen but...anyway...a daishiki and a head band/sweat band to hold back his hair that he's growing out...and which shoes? his sneakers with "high white socks".
If this actually happens...Wow!

7)best music: M.ward, Michael Franti, Rufus, the Rock Out Car CD, and for Mac "Convoy", for Emmett "Kung Fu Fighting"

8)best catch phrases:
Mac:"I lovest thou" (to Silas)
Emmett: "Just put it any darn place"
Silas: "by by bird"

9)best summer moments: catching frogs at Cami and Craig and Finleys...and seeing that baby girl for the very first time!

It's a pretty simple list really...every year has its own flavor and I won't forget this one!

Happy Birthday Megan!!

ok, I have officially known you as many years as you were alive when I met you. get that?...you were 11...ok, not the best riddle...ok not even a riddle at all. (whatever!)
we love you!!!

p.s. And you should be totally impressed that I got my act together on time to even post this b-day best wishes...sorry Caroline, and Lauren and Lydia and...everyone. I am pretty lame usually. Just ask bebe and pops...every year a week after their b-days Matt and I are smacking ourselves in the head! Basically, if you don't live IN our house and specifically put in an order for chocolate cake...well, we forget 'ya. I didn't even know that Camis b-day was in May at all until Finley was born!!! So Meg, thank goodness, for more reasons than just that, that you are here all the time!...and Again with the love!!
p.s.s. I hope you don't hate this cropped picture of yourself. I like it! I tried to find one of the eleven year old you...so cute. Maybe tomorrow on the second day of your 23rd year... old lady. ha.

just look at my neice...

...isn't she just ridiculously sweet and edible!!(I just had to steal this one from Cami and Craig's blog because, well, just look at her!
and she reminds me so much of another baby redhead...while being her very own self!

It's awesome getting to watch these girls grow...from the very beginning!

no cottage cheese, thankyou...

Summer is coming to a close...

...and I just hate that. Even though all the stuff to come is great, I really love summer. I love everyone home, even when it drives me crazy. I love that in just 3 months our family can read out loud two Harry Potters, Inkheart, and 7 Deltora Quests. I think it is divine to go to the beach on a whim and not so bad when you have to spend three hours running errands because there's time afterwards to go checkout the petstore just to look at the turtles and then go to Soup Plantation...or whatever...
This summer has been full...a great vacation, lots of outings every where and tons of creative home projects. (Right now "The Daily Blabbity" , Mac and Emmetts newspaper, is in the works.)And having Silas around has made it new again. He has started talking, (duck, bird, mama,ball, by-by,up,papa,nana etc) at least the kind of talk that the immediate family can understand, and that makes all the difference for me. He's really fun and funny and has a strong personality that all of us are discovering. It's so amazing to watch the relationship between family members develop. Emmett is starting to enjoy Silas, which makes that baby SO happy, and that makes Emmett happy and the circle continues. Mac, as usual, feels like the glue for all of us. She helps us all.
And now summer is over and I will miss the togetherness. WAAAAAAAA!
...but now having written all that...the feeling is passing. I look forward to school and hanging out in the classroom...the friends there and the garden plans (Amy!!)...time to work at the studio...(ha!)...OK its not sounding so bad.
Hello Fall, Hello Back to School...and the beat goes on.

Emmetts favrite things by emmett

every morning when i wake up there alway there to greet me.
and do the swim around the tank. there are some of my favrite things in the world.


my dad and my brother a fun bunche.every time he leaves i always hug him.
and on the other hand silas very anoying,but i still love him.


a sculpture of a living room, not that much ey,but when i tell you the story, you'll want it.
me and my mom made it hand maid glaized and a lot other stuff.

my dog mayble my favrite pet of all.i love her soooo much she like my older sister.


my sister and her friend bella. bella might be strange but she comes over so often she like my sister.mac my real sister she is so great i almost explode with love!!!!!!!

a suker a useful item to use with screaming baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
if nana were here i would take a picture of her!!!!!!!
don't you think i'm lucky.

tilt and freak...

this is sooooooo dumb but after Lydia and Sean's party I thought it hilariously hysterical...and now I can't stop singing this..."these are my tiny moves...tilt, tilt and freak"

summer of love...

first there was the 70's party...now for the 60's...

I know, I know, I don't look any different. But check out Megan!!!!!!!

Lydia and Sean throw a great party...and "the revolution will be live"!!

beachy...

I love the morning beach.

i am the loser...

I am having technological difficulties...all my "machines" have mutinous intentions...my camera will not speak to my computer so all of you out there who are waiting for kid pics will have to wait for me figure it all out which could take years (and those of you who have had enough kids pics for a lifetime are also out of luck because I am not that into the blog essay...)... my computerized kiln has also plotted against me and as most kiln repair people don't know anything about computers it seems I am scat-outta-luck unless I want to buy a whole new kiln...And the new air conditioner in Emmett's sauna of a bedroom keeps flooding the floor...
AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
This is a job for Techno-Man!!!!!!!