'Tis The Season

A few images in the spirit of the season...

Turning the Biscotti

Evergreen

The Recital

Christmas Magic

More Christmas Magic

Love, love, love.

Make a joyful noise!

(My warm thanks goes out to all the writers

in this month's Haiku Kukai,

and especially to Josh Simerman,

for the use of this image under a Creative Commons license.)

Now We Walk In Beauty

It was a beautiful day.

This little lit-up walking dude had a good idea.

So did this one, but we weren't quite up for rowing,

so we went with a walk.

Lake Carnegie.

Beautiful every day.

He's got the whole lake in his hand.

Beautiful berries...

... beautiful boy.

Thanks again for the hand-me-down

binoculars, Grandpa and Nana!

(Hope you all enjoyed your day today,

wherever this finds you.)

Remember South Carolina?

I am apparently still in denial about the fact that my sister now lives in... South Carolina. And I had a crazy-busy summer. STILL, these pics have been hanging around for WAAAYYY too long now. So here's a little blast from the past...

Nina loves Mr. D, episode 264.

(Remember when she really, really, didn't?)

Miss C has put her dog-whisperer skills

to good work already,

helping to get gorgeous pups like these

ready to be helper dogs.

Go, C!

T continues to draw up a storm.

(Mr. D explains, "She's who I really look up to,

as an artist.")

A well-laid table and some pretty dang goodlookin' kids!

Did someone say, "Funnelcake?!"

Mostly, we just hung out in Lake Murray...

... or near Lake Murray...

... until it was time to eat again.

(Sigh. We had such a nice visit!)

Hallowe'en 2011

We had some great costume ideas for Mr. D this year. We were especially hoping that he might decide to be a "Creeper" from Minecraft. He was very polite, and took all of our suggestions under advisement. And then, once again, he came up with his own, extremely gruesome idea. "Tama," he explained pleadingly, "Hallowe'en is pretty much my one day to be really and truly scary." He is all about Dia de los Muertos.

So.... we knew we were in over our heads when we heard this year's idea. Thank goodness we happen to have a certain future forensic anthropologist on speed dial... Miss Ari to the rescue!!

"You want to look like your face is unzipped?

Exposing the bloody meat underneath?

We can do that! But you have to hold still."

SOME children go for sweet and whimsical.

But not our kid.

Are you ready?

(Grandparents, please sit down.

No boys were harmed, honest.)

WHOA.

You could tell where he was on the street

by listening for the screams.

Not kidding.

Hey, why is Albert Pujols hanging out with that bloody kid?

(Thank goodness for JT; the boys have been sharing

this holiday for pretty much their whole lives.)

At the end of the night?

The divvy.

Items available for trade

placed near the black rope.

Much haggling,

followed by a serious sugar high.

Life is indeed good.

(Gotta close with one more shout out

to the amazing Miss Ari!

Also, all praise to Galen, the inventor

of cold cream.)

Hard Work is True Joy

We had a fantastic "help Grandpa celebrate his xxth birthday" weekend up at Grandpa and Nana's house, and once those boys got together, there was no stopping them!

(Move along, Mommy; we're busy.)

Birdhouse design by Mr. D;

realization by Grandpa & his new apprentice

Sunday was especially beautiful,

so outside they went!

Grins were plentiful...

and the homemade 3 Sisters Soup was a hit!

(http://bit.ly/3sisterssoup)

When we got home,

Mr. D. resumed his studies

of perpetual motion...

"Can I have some graph paper?

I need to draw this up to scale,

like Grandpa taught me!"

(Love & hugs, Grandpa and Nana!)

Climbing Mt. Colden

Mt. Colden is a REAL mountain. One of the Adirondack High Peaks. So when Uncle Tom offered a guided attempt at reaching the summit to a certain nature-loving boy and his cousin, that was pretty much a done deal. This all happened much earlier this summer; it's a treat to re-visit the experience through these photos. (And I should say that both of the mountain shots are Mr. D's.)

The climbers, at the ready.

Aunties at the ready...

... to help in any way they can.

Mr. D loves being the BIG cousin for a change!

Did someone say "dimples"?

Mt. Colden

The view from the summit.

Still trying to capture the majesty of the moment.

Totally zonked.

(Thanks again, Uncle Tom & Aunties!

And you are in our thoughts, Grammy...)

Bumper Cars

When our friends

in New Orleans

invited us

to their school’s Spirit Night,

we said yes, of course.

Our boy had never seen bumper cars before.

Fresh from our visit to neighborhoods

where beautiful old side-hall shotgun homes

stood shoulder-to-shoulder

with their blighted, empty cousins,

this crashing on purpose

looked a little crazier, even, than usual.

But memories of our own childhoods

complete with bumper car adventures

(crackling thrill

of electricity overhead

punctuated by sharp jolts

of anticipated impact)

outweighed his fears.

Our promise of safety

held true for one more day.

We drove and crashed and laughed

and steered directly towards

yet another crash.

No one got hurt.

And everyone went home smiling.

(Thanks to the women of http://3x3x365.blogspot.com/

for their continuing inspiration.)

Celebration in Colorado

Things have been a little quiet on the blog.

Irene was a seriously unwelcome houseguest.

To the tune of about a foot of water in our basement.

But the insurance adjuster just left,

and we think it's all going to be fine.

So... time to catch up a little here at But Wait, There's More!

We received a lovely invitation

to join our faraway family members

in a celebration of cousin J's bar mitzvah.

We said yes, and we arranged the trip

so that we got to fly with Grandpa!

(Show here explaining some cool math concept

to an appreciative D.)

I called my old friend J to see if she

had any recommendations for restaurants

in the Denver area,

and we got invited over for dinner!

(Thanks again, J!)

Everyone cleaned up quite nicely.

The Charter at Beaver Creek? Niiiiice!

The amazing Super G was intent on showing off

for big cousin D.

T & D working on some sketches,

waiting for the ceremony to begin.

Cousin J did a fantastic job with his Torah portion.

Everyone was spellbound.

And the downtime afterwards

was sweet!

Did we mention the pool?

How about the harnessed bungee jumping?

(D's hair gives him away.)

Any guesses as to who D

is watching bungee jump next?

Check it out!

Grandpa did a BACKFLIP!

The crowd went wild...

even total strangers stopped to cheer.

So that's a brief recap. It was wonderful to see so many members of the family together, sweet to reconnect with an old friend, fantastic to witness this important chapter in cousin J's journey, and totally amazing to see the look on Mr. D's face the first time he saw real mountains.... and then again when his grandfather flipped upside down!

(If you'd like to see more Colorado photos,

you could check out the set on Flickr.

Next up here on the blog: Adirondack Adventure)