yah we are cool like that!

Gershwin Played on a Grand Piano

Our scavenger hunt list included a dog in clothes, a big musical instrument, a clown, drums etc etc....we checked off almost everything in just one trip through Washington Square Park as well as a fountain to frolic in, mandala sand art, professional hacky sack-ers, a religious debate over a loud speaker and no less than 3 kinds of music ......AND Cami danced her famous 80's dance to a guy playing drums on upside down buckets.

i love New York

joyful dancing shapes

Love! Unicorns! Epic Plans!

We soooo saved the date! Big Time! xoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxooxxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxo!yay !xoxox

the del mar fair

i only took a few pictures because i was too busy on rides getting nauseous. (wtf, btw. since when can i not handle spinning of any kind?!) we had a great time....managed to eat the least offensive fair food and visited the animals (we always feel sad for them though)  saw a magic show and  had a great time! i pretty much like to do anything with these fantastic kids. i do. (even when it involves crazy loud annoying music and fried oreo/ meat cooking smells) we also had the chance to see the enormous dahlias, champion roses and see Grandma Carols beautiful paintings!

took a potter's mental trip to morocco and look what i found

silas love

bed-head, hanging at basketball and pizza

a heart pizza for you

spring chickens

After much effort on all of our parts we finally have two baby chicks for Secret, our broody hen. (...the long saga goes...she sat on 3 eggs that never hatched, we replaced with 3 more eggs, out of those three eggs only one hatched...we added two more 3 day old chicks, just snuck them under her while she slept. she accepted 1 as her own and we sent back the one she wouldn't feed. so now we have 2 chicks and Secret is both a surrogate and adopted parent! And she rocks at it!)

One chic is named Evie. She's the one that hatched under Secret and she is the yellow and black one and will grow to be a gigantic Black Astrolorp. She was named by Silas for the Pokemon, Evie.
The all black chick is named Violet. Mac picked her name out of a baby book....she's the little one we slipped under Secret as a chick...and she will grow to be similar looking to Secret because she is also an Americana.

They have now been transferred from Mac's room, where Secret sat her eggs for a long while. Now that Secret is taking them out to learn to eat and scratch and generally act like chickens, we moved them to what used to be the outdoor bunny enclosure before the bunnies decided they like the backyard better. It's a perfect spot for them and we've hung  fabric so the hawks won't spy them.

And now we basically don't have to do much because Secret is an amazin chicken mama. I love baby animals but it is a whole new kinda love when you get watch them be mothers. All that instinctual animal behavior.....so cool to observe.  Those little chicks just tuck right under her wing when she calls. They follow everything she does.

Cami! You are All That!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMAZING WOMAN!!!!
you are seriously loved

Happy Birthday Finley!!!!

You are SIX !  Yippee!!! We will never forget that very first moment we saw your teeny little face.
We are so happy to know you from the beginning.
Have the very best day xoxoxoxooxoxoxoxooxoxoxoFrom all of Us

words to remember

The four universal healing salves.
In many shamanic societies, if you came to a shaman or medicine person complaining of being disheartened, dispirited, or depressed, they would ask one of four questions.
When did you stop dancing?
When did you stop singing?
When did you stop being enchanted by stories?
When did you stop finding comfort in the sweet territory of silence?

chloe and emmett at their second ballroom competition, 6th grade

....and that's proud Nana in the background...

i really had a wonderful mother's day

first off, it felt familair because i awoke to a six year old boy tapping me on the shoulder, putting a piece of construction paper in front of me telling me to read what basically said YOU CAN SLEEP IN ON MOTHER'S DAY!!!!! and this truly IS the perfect way to wake up on Mother's Day. it just feels right. (i know that eventually the time will come when i really get to sleep in because no one's around doing the tapping....and i will miss it for a moment or two before going back to bed~)

anyway, so i did doze a bit longer, feeling the morning breeze give the sun a voice made of wind chimes and, listening more closely, i also heard the best sound in the world...the voices of people i love cooperating with each other willingly....
and this led to a delish breakfast, served to me by the kids.... exactly like i would make for myself on  a pretty new day. berries from the garden, simple and good scrambled eggs, on piece of grainy gritty toast and a big honking cup of coffee in the latte cup with soy milk and agave. what a good job they did with this morning, my darling babes.

then i went to my pottery class. should i work on mother's day? YES! i was embraced by the walls and air of my studio. (i love that place) i was reminded that all the women in my class are mothers or have mothers for that matter and love to nurture and create in PEACE and, well, that just felt right because mother's day should be peace filled. it truly was the best thing in the world to be surrounded by capable and kind and surprising humans....i have so much to be grateful for in this area always. my life is truly brimming in abundance with fantastic people.

when class ended i had some time to myself. shocker! there was no one home! not a non-feathered or furred soul in my tree-green and sunlight bathed house. wow! you won't believe what i then did... i washed my actual face and painted my toenails and then sat down to make the mother of all mother's day cards complete with string and glue and fancy scissored edges (or so it felt...the reality is pictured above).  ha! ME with time! it felt positively decadent to NOT be doing something cleanish or washerly or pick-up-like and instead crafty and leisurely. i was able to put a bit of soul into this card along with the time to think of my own beautiful mother and how who she is has shaped me!

this was followed by lunch at the best new restaurant i have been to in a long time (and affordable!) at the location of the first original Santos called Buono Forchetta (i can hear you saying this cami!).  mom and i had mimosas and really crazy tasty fresh real italian food with legit accented waiters, owners, staff. it felt like the kind of FUN mom and i used to experience when it was just the two of us in San Francisco, New York.
I loved it!!!

and if you can believe that this meal and quality time was followed by TWO movies with Mac, Em and Silas, just lazing around on the couches for 4 hours. seriously. when does that happen. i even took a nap the length of "night at the museum 2", sleeping like a baby right in the middle of the kid huddle. and all this while mac and Em were tending a dinner surprise in the kitchen.  i really didn't expect much, didn't even know i was hungry BUT holy smokes it was a truly great dinner of roasted vegetables with an amazing lemon sauce and a salad and tea. (i am seriously impressed by the cooks they are becoming...they both have a really good feeling for spices and herbs.) and to top it off...they cleaned up. really. dishes, quick living room tidy, no complaints about baths. a 92% whine free day, which is exactly the amount i enjoy.

yes this day was a complete and mellow surprise.

and it was perfect. so let it be said that THIS MOMENT HAPPENED. i asked for nothing but to be taken care of for a day and it was so sweetly accomplished with just the perfect amount of fuss. i couldn't be happier knowing that they really know what that means! What wonderful adults they will be. deep sigh.  i love these children. i love my mother and i love to BE a mother.
a lucky lucky duck am i !
XOXOXOXOXOXOXO 

flowers, bunnies, nature, art and a cute picture of chloe

silas and megan time

i love the way silas looks at meg. they had so much fun playing twister, monopoly and pokemon but what i really think he appreciates is the way meg gives him her full attention.
he eats it up and his face shines. xoxoxxo

it's been a while

and lots has happened and this is only a fraction of a teeny representation of all of it....i am missing all the times with silas practicing his diablo (coming soon) and there have been so many events! here's just a snippet. really only the times i had my camera!  xoxox

just a few of the many proud family members at rebeccas for the canaries cd release party

the animal santuary where we are going to take nana for her birthday!

isaiah, aiden, emmett and sean at sea camp

 a bike riders neighborhood water conservation tour with a stop at our house!

and (below) silas and ry playing trashketball

em and si on a hike

love grows

mac the ginger

check out Mac's youtube channel that began as an assignment in her multi media class.

mactheginger




i love mac the ginger. she is a fantastic teen daughter woman human.