the Men in my life ROCK!!!!!!

Crimson Butterflies and Mexican Orchids

The prettiest 'guara' I have ever seen, called crimson butterflies...much prettier than the white...


















...and I definitely put 'epiphyllum', aka mexican orchids, on my list...for home and the succulent garden ay school!

Ry and Si...

This one is for you Lydia and Sean! Ry is so much fun and Silas seriously worships that cute boy. This mornings conversation was all about him! Check out the mayhem...
(I apologize for the annoying mama narration...again.)

cats cradle...

mac is back!!
here are just a few of the many things she learned at camp...

the teacup and eiffel tower

cats whiskers and jacobs ladder

witchs broom

Hide-and-Seek Hysteria

They could do this all day. This is why the noise level in our house is sooooo outta hand!

love these...

It's amazing how English-Garden-Looking you can get with some of these drought tolerant perennials!




Veronica Longifolia "eveline" (left)
Catmint (right)

you must must MUST check this out...

...Cami's most recent post!
This is one of the many reasons you gotta love Cami...that she was and is this girl!!
Just classic!

and off she goes...

Mac and her 5th grade class are off on their "Science Camp" adventure.
She spent last night alternately worrying about being homesick and packing meticulously.
She thought up every possible scenario of what could go wrong and only then could she relax. She takes after her mama AND her papa that way. Prepare for the worst, expect the best. I got the feeling she realized that it was actually going to be ok when she waved "bye" from that enormous bus with the biggest smile. I heard she and Isabel talking..."this is the first day of the rest of our lives"...and "we start our adventure!"
Ahhhhh, the freedom!
The difference a year makes...
I didn't even get teary-eyed. As with all things, when the time is right it isn't hard, just natural!

Two Guys in Corduroy

Emmett and I woke up one day and realized we had similar taste in clothes, and attitude.

Papa

out with the crock-pot, in with the juicer

oh yeah baby

We made juice twice today. Rhea introduced me to the JackLaLane Juicer a few years back...I think it was her apple/ginger that hooked me...anyway, it's time to start 'er up again. The kids were initially very excited to make alotta noise and have pulp for the compost.

This afternoon we made apple-carrot- cantalope-strawberry-raspberry-tangerine.
Wow.

Tonight with dinner we nixed the carrot and cantalope and added lime.

Both awesome to Emmett and Nana and me...we are mixers of all things edible.

Mac and Matt are purists and would prefer one or two fruits at a time max...and nothing on the plate touching, thankyou!

Good-bye soup, hello juice!

California Native of the Week...

Agastache "Summer Breeze" (left). This is the kind I got today at the City Farmer. The one on the right is Agastache "Apricot Harvest" but many of the different varieties make tall pretty bushes like this. Great cut flowers too!
Hardy, tall blooms, the leaves smell awesome...kind of like a lemon thyme/desert sage smell.

a not-that-profound moment of clarity...

what makes happiness?
For me...time spent listening to music, creating art, making things grow, learning from someone and teaching what I know ...time alone in quiet, time with children...working hard for something that matters with time to observe the fruits of my labor...all of this shared with people I love in the most natural environment possible...

When I boil it down, it's simple.

If we each could define our 'happiness list' and keep these ideas in the forefront of our minds...steer clear of activities that lead us away from these basic concepts...life would be so clear.

These have been my thoughts from today and yesterday and everyday since I saw the movie "Into the Wild"...I really loved it because it made me think about where my happiness comes from. If you haven't seen it... do.

Girls...Join the Revolution!!!

From my "sista" Megan...a mid-wife-to-be...a Planned Parenthood employee...my feminist connection...
the lady in the vaginal know...

She highly recommends the DIVA cup!! What is it? It is a tampon alternative that you buy ONCE and only ONCE unless you're me and then TWICE after I lose it the first time...

It is easy and cool and doesn't leak EVER (Megan is right here and put the emphasis on the EVER)!
The awesome company, lunapads.com, also makes a girls starter kit for our up-and-coming generation of feminists. You can also buy it at Whole Foods or online. Megan is so enthusiastic about this product I had to stop her from doing a demo. (JOKE.)

Be Eco-Friendly, Never mess with Tampons again,
Stop Giving Your Money to The MAN

(Embrace your inner woman. don't be the one who says, "ewwww")
Dare to comment.

the ultimite starwars post...by emmett

starwars was an atractting sceince fiction movie because of
the invention of the LIGHT SABOR and the DEATH STAR. it made kids move from
dungeons and dragons to light sabors and planets. it really
evovled and here is my impresion of a droid.





and my mom wont let me do generel greivus and mase windou or r2d2 or imperial walker
because she said"one violent video is enough." phooey.
she is acting like lord sideus, i need to summon yoda.

let's worship!

Today is Silas' Half B-day!

18 months is the best!
When Silas wakes up saying "Hello bed! This is mama, here's silas... walk?"
And then proceeds to introduce me to every inanimate object between my bed and the coffeemaker...then says "sowwy" for sorry when he bumps me and "shanks" for thankyou when I hand him his cereal...and says, "of cose" to just about any question...it's just great fun all day long.








This picture cracks me up because he is making that sort of baby-drunk face that comes from too much time in the same room...the slap-happy-because-we-have-been-in-the-house-for-5-days-with-sick-siblings-and-their-sick-friends-face...He has been a trooper but he definitely misses the playground at school!

For all you real men out there!!!!!!!

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~thoffman/videos/mansong.swf

Open this link if you are a real man....
or married to one. Or even know one....

Matt

greats...

Mom and I have been trying to remember the name of this awesome, prolific, low-growing perennial...and mom found it in the new Sunset book today...GENTIAN! (click to enlarge)

We planted this from seed, just threw it around, last year or even the year before...it is so beautiful!!









These are two California Natives that I think are really beautiful...California Wild Lilac (aka Mountain Lilac) and Sweet Broom....that smells so good like lemony roses!

what we did today...

...worked at the SDCCS Garden and School Clean-Up ...
check it out here

the avant garde, dramatic, sweet and graceful piano stylings of the dreyer children...for the grandparents far and wide...