winter trip to Santa Barbara...

random photos

I haven't posted in a REALLY long time (almost a year!) but I wanted to share some photos...



Jakey and I - this has been my favorite sling for years now...



Seth and Sara at Christmastime...



Jake opens his favorite birthday gift - a jar of sprinkles!

Seth, spring 2007

Seth climbed high up inside our hedge and popped his head out, silly boy!



He lost one of his front teeth today, so his smile looks really different, I have to get a picture of that before the new one grows in.

Here he is at the skate park, he does some amazing things on that skateboard...

young kids

Sara and Jake on Mother's Day. I feel so blessed to share my life with these precious children.

Today, Mother's Day, I stood at Grant Park with several other women at 1pm for 5 minutes of silence.






We are standing for the world's children and grandchildren, and for the seven generations beyond them.
We dream of a world where all of our children have safe drinking water, clean air to breathe, and enough food to eat.
A world where they have access to basic healthcare to nurture their growing bodies.
A world where they have a warm, safe and loving place to call home.
A world where they don't live in fear of violence in their home, in their neighborhood, in their school, in their world.
This is the world of which we dream.
This is the cause of which we stand.

Brownie's Birthday

Sara has a favorite stuffed animal friend, and has for many years, he is a brown dog (much like our own non-stuffed chocolate lab) and his name is Brownie. Sara announced that Brownie's birthday was coming up and that it was important to her that we celebrate it. Apparently, his favorite treat is a root beer float (which Sara had never before tried) so on the day of his birthday we bought the ingredients for the floats, and did some decorating for his after-dinner party. Brownie sat at the head of the table, and received a card from Sara and we all sang to him on his special day.

Jake

Here are a couple pics of Jake, 2 years old - in the back of Michael's truck...

more about Seth

Seth's favorite place lately seems to be on top of my car. Michael worries that the car will be damaged in some way, but I don't think so...and he has SUCH fun. Seth loves to skateboard, bike, and do gymnastics, and he is learning new tricks everyday on his pogo stick. He has been asking to get his ear pierced for a long time, and so the other day, Michael took him to Optic Nerve Arts, an awesome tattoo/piercing studio on Alberta and here is the result - he is very happy with it, and I think it looks awesome.

friends

Seth and his friend do some special fighting for the camera...
we are so blessed to have friends like Oscar, who "sparkle"!

Teenager

I am really LOVING parenting my 15 year old son, Morgan. He's just great, and of course I know it's not because of me, but I'd like to think that mindful, respectful parenting has helped - it's our connection that I cherish - we actually like hanging out together.