you bring me peace and, with it, joy!

merry making

idyllwild is just amazingly beautiful

blankets of snow

 O WORLD, I cannot hold thee close enough!

Thy winds, thy wide grey skies!
Thy mists that roll and rise!
Thy woods, this autumn day, that ache and sag
And all but cry with colour! That gaunt crag
To crush! To lift the lean of that black bluff!
World, World, I cannot get thee close enough!

Long have I known a glory in it all,
But never knew I this;
Here such a passion is
As stretcheth me apart. Lord, I do fear
Thou’st made the world too beautiful this year.
My soul is all but out of me,—let fall

No burning leaf; prithee, let no bird call.

stellars jays know that when the sky looks like snow...a storm is coming

natures popsicles

...and hello new addition to the family, Merlin the ShapeShifter

thank you friends, for everything

2013 resolution: speak well and practice kind magic! ;)

Christmas Moments

this year our christmas tree is decidedly fluffy and skirted. we love it.

a sleepover game night, battle of the gods

a quiet moment making christmas presents

the lovely chloe and dapper emmett

silas at his christmas show with his good friends rocco and nathan

nana and mac spend a morning wrapping

good bye to our old faithful and slightly smelly minivan SilverLining.

...after a fortuitous rainy carpool morning fender bender and some decent insurance money, we say goodbye to the SilverLining and also thanks for years (10!) of service. We will seriously miss this car. It has seem many  a car picnic, gone on countless family road trips and outings and has been privy to every kind of conversation, joke, giggling fest and rock out moment.  Bittersweet.

Silas' last game of his first season ever!

Rocco, Silas and Grant...great team mates! Silas loved it so much I think he's going to do it again next season too. I really enjoyed watching him practice.

Amazing.

caroling this sunday!

Look at little Mac, Emmett and Silas caroling a few years ago. HA!
Actually if you have ever  gone caroling in our neighborhood you know
it's more of an ambling (occasionally tipsy), singing and talking kind of walk while kids run around and play like crazy Christmas maniacs. But the streets are colorful and the luminarias lit!

You are all, really all, invited to show up here at 7:00 with a cup that I will fill with cocoa. We start walking at 7:05! If you miss us, you will find us...a group of 25-50, slightly off key and full of the Christmas spirit! Hope to see you there!
xo Annie

I still really love the record we made.

Listening to the Dreyer Family Band in the car today for the first time in a long time makes me happy. I still really love it and feel all those same warm and fuzzy feelings 4 years later. Seems like yesterday and a million years ago. It's still up on ITunes, which I didn't realize because I don't think we've sold any in a long time. I only have a precious few copies of the actual CD left and I plan to give them to grand and great grandchildren...as if they will own CD players! :)
So glad we took the time and energy and cooperation/collaboration necessary to actually do that
together as a family.
xoxo

This Season's Pottery

   

Check out Chloe and Emmett!

Wow. I love ballroom and SDCCS for making it happen. These two danced so well together! And there's more video of the ridiculously awesome cha-cha and the tear-jerker waltz on youtube. And again, please forgive the mom-commentary...embarrassing and apparently unavoidable. xo

I love this!

So happy this family is in the White House! 4 more years!

...and here's a blurry, excited picture from our house....what a great night!

just a teeny, sneaky ballroom snippet

i love middle schoolers who can dance...you know who you are! xo

Happy Halloween 2012

Can't take credit for this most fantastic VWbug pumpkin...

Great pictures by Lauren and Amy (my camera died, waaaaa!). Such a fun time. Really really really wish you all were here...especially our East Coasties in serious epic NY post-storm recovery. We are thinking of you !

Emmett from Lost's Dharma Initiative

he's magically delicious

i love these boys (even when their costumes scare the crap outta me!)

captain jack sparrow and he isn't kidding

queen of hearts!!!!!

the gang! (notice the pink fluffy unicorn!)

mac's and friends had a great time...sherlock was my favorite, and jordan was a fantastic green bean!

Love to you all!

Flower House From Silas Perspective

Lauren let Silas use her (really good) camera and tripod for a whole night and day and this is what our home world looks like through silas' eyes....slide show stylie.