christmas eve

union square

after grace cathedral, we ate in union square and enjoyed the trees (indoor and outdoor) and lights. we walked through the life sized gingerbread house as well.

grace cathedral

our family tradition is to go to grace cathedral before christmas. this time we heard the men and boys choir. the cathedral has a special art installation (the ribbon) which was beautiful!

merry christmas 2013!

We hope you are having a wonderful holiday season! It seems like things around here have been non-stop and now we cant believe it is almost 2014! See how happy we look in this picture - all calm and smiling? Well would you believe that major meltdowns preceded this photo? Yes, the kids were very upset about taking this photo. Funny how a simple request can turn into the most dramatic event. You would think we would be used to it by now….but we are not.

This year seemed to be dominated by work and very few vacations. I am going to make sure that never happens again! Douglas is still working at San Quentin and is doing some private practice on the side. I am still working from home for two different architects while fitting in many field trips and class events in between. I think I also officially became a soccer mom. Oh no! And although we celebrated our 12th anniversary and 46th/39th birthdays in our usual low key fashion, words cannot describe how blessed we are to have the life we do.

Mahala is 9 and in 4th grade, has braces, loves running, has great interest in science and the environment and remains an avid reader. We often find her staying up late at night to read and seems to be a regular at the library. Her teacher this year is a perfect fit as her curriculum is focused almost entirely on science. Mahala has had the chance to go bird watching, spends a lot of time in the school garden and is adept at naming native trees and plants. She ran track and cross country and will be doing indoor soccer this January. She is also going to be in the school play and is taking Spanish. We love how passionate she is about what she believes. It does not always work to our advantage but definitely a valuable trait!

Noble is 6 and in 1st grade, lost his first two teeth, learned to read, loves math, soccer and basketball, and continues to be the hardest to photograph. He is certainly a ham most of the time but usually when it is just us. He talks so much. Really. Half of the time it is nonsense, but he really does have a serious interest in discussing things and telling us about things that are going on. He can throw a major tantrum though - yes, that charming smile is not always there. He is a very caring person and impresses us with his goofiness. He has really blossomed as an athlete this year and plans to continue. He plays soccer but he claims basketball is his favorite. He loves origami as well as making paper airplanes. And as you may be able to tell, he decided to grow his hair!

This year promises to be a busy one - and an exciting one - and a challenging one. May your new year be healthy and full of happiness.

peter-franks go dickens style

xmas cookie time

christmas decorating

brady, nikki and eme came over for our second annual christmas decorating sleepover :)

dickens fair

we headed the dickens fair - officially beginning the holiday season! carols, dancing, shop-lined "streets" and trying on top hats and woolen capes made for a fun sunday afternoon with our friends natascha, greg, mischa and sascha

cuddle time

ice skating

on the first day of thanksgiving vacation we met up with some friends (sascha, mischa, ellie and natalia)  for ice skating at the mall in san rafael. small rink, sunny day and friends made it a great success! we ended up going back again a few days later for a morning skate and an evening skate.

thanksgiving with the 'shas

our wonderful friends who we nicknamed the "shas" (natascha, sascha, mischa and greg) joined us for the thanksgiving feast! we joined forces and created the most amazing vegan, gluten and nut free meal EVER (oh and non-alcoholic)! on the menu: kaboucha squash soup, sage and lime cauliflower, maple brussel sprouts, tofurkey, oatmeal patties, plain and mushroom gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes with pear, green beans with artichokes, regular and gluten free stuffing, biscuits, cranberry sauce, pomegranate seeds and some sparkling cider to wash it down. then dessert was caramel apple crisp, pumpkin pie, pumpkin pie bars and chocolate pumpkin bread pudding all served with ice cream and whipped cream. we could not even fit all of the food on the table. if we could only eat like this every day….

thanksgiving hike

before the big meal we all went for a hike at blackies pasture in tiburon. it was  a BEAUTIFUL day!

cute kids

mahala's birth-day out

mahala took control on her 9th birthday! it was a day off from school so we headed in tot he city where she decided we would got rowing on stow lake, eat a soft pretzel for lunch, go to the japanese tea garden to stroll around and drink hot cocoa and go to the exploratorium (which was closed but we had fun at the outdoor exhibits). we then joined daddy at the california pizza kitchen and then went home for the requested strawberry cake. full day!

mahala's party

we decided instead of a big birthday party, mahala could go to a trampoline park and dinner with 3 friends for her birthday and then they could sleep over. mahala along with sascha, ellie and zoe went to the house of air right after school and then on to tapas in san francisco. we then came home for birthday cake. only one friend was able to sleep over but all in all, it was a great day for mahala!

marin gangstas

sunset hike

a later afternoon hike up to the labyrinth with mischa and sascha. the city sat in a blanket of fog in the distance. the last photo with the tree is courtesy of mahala!

karana and shaun

happy halloween 2013! the first year that mahala and noble did not have coordinating costumes, but they really picked some great ones. mahala's was based on the native american character of karana from the book "island of the blue dolphins" and noble was the tv character "shaun the sheep". as usual, i went wild with the glue gun and mahala's was completed the day of halloween in one hour - my new record. we did the usual fairfax parade, doming street trick-or-treating, and our neighbors house for a little after party.

sacramento field trip

the two fourth grade classes went on an all day field trip to sacramento to see some native american history and to check out the capitol. we started at 7am and were back by 7pm. we took amtrak to sacramento and walked over 5 miles between the station, the native american museum, the capitol and the train museum. mahala had been looking forward to this all month!

cross country

mahala had a fun cross country season ending with an awesome performance at the big blackie's pasture run.

buddies

mischa and noble are good buddies! (watching their big sisters run cross country)

pumpkin patch field trip

the three first grade classes went to a pumpkin patch in petaluma for the day to pick a pumpkins and potatoes and eat fresh pumpkin ice cream. noble harvested 3 potatoes which we ended up eating for dinner and he picked a great wrinkly pumpkin. they also got to play around in huge piles of dried corn - probably the highlight!