SEASON'S GREETINGS 2014!

We hope you are healthy and happy and ready for 2015! We have had a year of transitions and renovations and celebrations.

We have been remodeling because THAT never gets old. We have turned our very poorly made 1970's addition into a entry hall and a third bedroom. For those of you who have stayed with us in the past, our guest room now has a door! We also remodeled our master bath and it looks too nice for the rest of the house now!

Douglas transitioned to private practice in an office back in his beloved Berkeley. Along with some partners, he found a space, had it remodeled and the hired psychiatrists and psychologists to fill the offices. His work load is lighter now allowing him to get more rest, family time and exercise.

Sheeba continues to work primarily at home for the same architecture firm. The large residential project that brought her to that firm is coming to a close after 2 years so now she is working on other smaller projects. She also caters to the increasingly complicated Peter-Frank diets providing a challenge even to this experienced cook. Sheeba and Mahala celebrated their 40th and 10th birthdays adventuring around Europe like 20-somethings. They visited Holland, Belgium, France, Switzerland and Spain, done almost completely by train with only a few backpacks in tow.

Mahala is in 5th grade and plays violin and flute, runs track and has been exploring theatre. She still reads voraciously, wears sports everyday and continues to be a foodie, blessing us with some of her own gourmet creations.

Noble is 7 years old and is in 2nd grade and still talks non-stop. He lost his two front teeth and a few others and is

becoming a fantastic soccer player. He plans to grow his hair indefinitely and still can't enough Shaun the Sheep. These siblings continue to battle but the moments when they giggle together make it all worth it.

WISHING YOU A PEACEFUL AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

not-so-christmas crafts

douglas noble turned some cardboard and an old shoebox into a foozball game. noble then created a marble maze on the lid - it all turned out really cool - and it works! they had a blast making it even though it meant that we were postponing christmas activities!

christmas craft making

shadow puppets

mischa and sascha joined us for an outing to go see a shadow puppet show in the presidio. sascha and mahala got to take part in the show since they were some of the oldest kids there. then all of the kids had a chance to make their own.

thanksgiving #2

we drove to morgan hill to join the franks, the other franks and the smiths for thanksgiving. the kiddies at the kiddie table are no longer really kiddies! everyone stayed overnight and the kids stayed up late playing maffia - which they seem to always play when they get together.

thanksgiving #1

our annual 'friendsgiving' with the she's included some creative options for all of our crazy dietary restrictions - no one went home hungry! dinner of mashed potatoes, roasted cumin sweet potatoes, vegan gravy and vegan mushroom gravy, cauliflower with lime, maple roasted brussel sprouts, vegan paleo stuffing, gluten free stuffing, cranberry sauce, white beans with caramelized onions and for dessert, chocolate fondue with all of the fixings, gluten free apple crisp and paleo apple crisp. natascha put together a thankfulness activity and the kids put on a few performances complete with costumes and props!

thanksgiving toilet paper tubes

as long as i lead the way, the kids get really into making crafts. they made turkeys, owls and napkin holders (with dried beans) to dress up our table.

10!

and now for her real birthday! requests were to make crepes with chocolate and banana for breakfast, go rowing on stow lake and macaroons for dessert - so she got it!

mahala's bday sleepover

we kept mahala's birthday simple this year and so she decided to have her friend sascha come over (along with her brother mischa to keep noble occupied!). she wanted to do wii dance, watch i love lucy and have a cake made from almond joys (for this i made the closest thing that was palatable - a vegan german chocolate cake). the girls also got to sleep in a different room than the boys. in the morning we had pancakes and all of the parents got to watch them do some wii - so fun to watch!

safari west fieldtrip

a fun but rainy field trip to safari west in santa rosa. we took a "safari" ride and then walked around to see the many birds. and then the highlight, especially for me, the reticulated giraffe barn…up close and personal with my favorite animal!

finally 40!

a day to do skip work, not cook and go out for my favorite sandwich, followed by chocolate cake at home!

the marin clean energy soccer team

noble had a great soccer season his fall with west marin soccer. coach gavin and coach michael did a great job pulling this team together. noble made some great goals and worked really hard overall!

best buddies

at manor school's winter faire :)

pumpkin patch fieldtrip

violin play-in

mahala's first "susuki play-in". all of the local students do this once a year. the program starts with the most advanced students and then lower levels join one group at a time until they are all playing twinkle twinkle little star. mahala had just finished her twinkle graduation so she played with that level towards the end of the program. her teacher, charmian, is the one who is just a little bit taller than her students!

halloween 2014

the kids were really into greek mythology this year and so it was very fun to make these pretty easy costumes! mahala wanted to be artemis, goddess of the hunt, and noble wanted to be poseidon, god of the sea. i am not really sure why they came up with these particular characters, but they were pretty recognizable with artemis having the bow and arrow and poseidon having his trident. douglas and i did 5 minute costume on halloween day to be medusa and zeus. fortunately we were not rained out and took part in the usual school parade and thriller dance, downtown parade and dominga trick or treating.

age of sail

one of the big field trips in 5th grade is the age of sail which is an overnight on a ship from the early 1900's. it is a re-creation of life of a sailor back then. the kids are the crew and they do all of the work following the rules of the strict captain. mahala was in the rope tying group. they ate food cooked by the galley group. they slept on hard wood floors and received letters from "back home" (us). they woke up early to do chores and finally hoisted their teacher up in the air with ropes (he was not following the rules!)

putu with mischa and sascha

the she's joined us for putu with ammamma and appappan. our kids taught their kids the fine art of banana squishing!

ammamma and appappan's visit

ammamma and appappan stayed for a week while the girls were in europe and then stayed to help out when we got back. here they are the day before they left, along with jackelope, who visited with noble this week from school (it's a school project where they get to take jackelope on adventures and document them).

final stop: madrid

we visited the hoglunds in madrid. natalie and mahala had lots of fun together and we toured the city while she was at school. jennie cooked some wonderful food that was a welcome switch from plain european food!

city of gaudi

barcelona is filled with work by architect antonio gaudi, who is known for his wild organic forms and colorful mosaics. we saw sagrada familia cathedral (my highlight) which has been under construction for years and will be for years more. also visited park guell, filled with whimsical forms and colorful mosaics.

with the bortolatos

our good friends, the bortolato family, live in chavanod, france, near annecy close to the border of switzerland. they have two older boys and twin girls that are mahala's age. mahala was able to join in the girls school for a couple of hours where she was treated like a rock star! they took us through the old town of annecy, up into the mountains to view annecy lake, and then higher up into the mountains to view mont blanc, the highest peak in europe, then to switzerland to see a museum and to go swim in the warm water of natural springs. we also toured the old city of lyon before heading off to barcelona by train.