Winter Solstice

Even though the Winter Solstice this year was on Sunday morning, there was a Solstice party out on the lake Friday night. The Djembabes played (including a talented and soulful sax player), there was an amazingly beautiful and fluid fire dancer, food, dancing & cavorting, friends and a wonder full presence around. Sherry, my drumming instructor, has such a beautiful way with words, and one of my highlights of the evening was when she paid homage to the Earth, Seasons and Winter Solstice. The neighbors had a slight issue with the noice, but the Westlake police officers were incredibly understanding and kinda wanted to join the party :)

Here's one of my favorite links to explain what Winter Solstice is all about. Now, I need to talk with those Djembabes about back lighting on a dark night! The only decent shots are from when the fire dancers' flames got close :) As usual, there are more shots here.

Mia's first day as a photographer

I'm not sure why, but I can't wait til the actual proper date to let someone open a gift from me. It's not that I want to open one so bad, b/c it happens on other people's birthdays, too. So, yesterday (Dec 20th) Mia opened one of her Christmas gifts. A new kids digital camera. She LOVES it and it soooo easy for her to use. Here are a few of her shots in a collage, then some of my faves a little larger. Now the camera's turned!

I'm not sure if Mia took this one or if Auntie M got ahold of the camera and graced Mia's camera with a self-portrait :)

Our first taste of Hanukkah

As a girl growing up in a South Texas border town, there was a HUGE catholic population. I 'knew of' a couple of Jewish families, but wasn't ever really introduced to Judaism. Until this past Friday when the Simon family hosted a little Hanukkah get together. I regret that I don't have a single shot of Geni...she was busy in the kitchen making latkes (YUM!) from scratch. Mia was entertained by the menagerie of animals...Allie the big kind dog, Garnier and Bill Pickles...guinea pigs, a cat and hamster that I didn't catch the names of. Bonnie, Kel, Geni and Bethany all shared snippets of the culture. I learned about the Maccabean Revolt against the Romans, Menorahs, dreidels, and even Shiksas :) A total crash course that I truly appreciated. Their home was decorated with a little bit of both....a Christmas tree, a Menorah (shaped like a dog), a nativity scene (with a chewed up wise man)....beautiful.

Here are a few of my fav shots...I have many more on Flickr

Jennifer's delish gingerbread dreidel and scotchie cookies

Mia played the piano, with a cat under her feet that she pet with her toes...while playing, Mia even turned the sheet music :)
LOVED Freya's dress and leggings!

one of the coolest hobby horses I've ever seen

Mia LOVED the latkes...with chunky applesauce



Miranda sculpting



here she is eye to eye with an animal...as usual :)

It's a Grrrl

While talking with my pal, Jennifer today, I realized that I posted it on the O'Mama message board and on my Facebook status. Since I hadn't posted it here, Jennifer was unaware that we're having a girl :) We found out on Tuesday.

Mia's excited about becoming a big sister to a little sister, but don't talk to her about it too much. It gets old fast.

Daryl's First Christmas Gift of the Season

For his birthday, Daryl got a RC airplane and his dad got the engine and all the innards needed for actual flight. Well, they flew it on Thanksgiving, and if you can remember from the post, it only lasted about 6 seconds. I heard flying a higher end RC helicopter may actually help learn how to work the controls and stuff....soooooo I may have won wife of the year with this gift. He opened it on Sunday night after Mia went to bed....I couldn't help it. I'd bought it Saturday. So, I did wait an actual 24 hrs :)

I LOVE how happy he looks in these pictures. He actually RTFM'd! He flew it around...Niles was mildly concerned, but Daryl was having the time of his life! Then he let me have a try. It was fun, but I felt out of control and insane. There's a LOT to think about while flying. All was good until I managed to make it fly toward ME! That just freaked me out! I dropped the control box and fell to the floor!