Christmas Spirit

I'm feeling completely overwhelmed by the consumerism of Christmas. I feel like it has evolved to a completely materialistic holiday, and am feeling quite dismayed and trapped by that and I'm not sure what to do about it. If anyone has any suggestions, books, etc., please let me know! So far I've checked out a book from the library called "Hooked, Buddhist Writings on Greed, Desire, and the Urge to Consume" and I'm going to try to find a community service project to do before Christmas. So. . . in contrast to those feelings, the girls, especially Naomi, are really excited about Christmas so we have already put up our Christmas tree and lights. They also helped their Grandma put up her Christmas tree and decorations and have made some homemade ornaments. My suggestion of celebrating Hanukkah instead of Christmas this year did not go over well! Here is our tree this year, we did homemade garland, popcorn and construction paper, plus we have lots of homemade Christmas ornaments. Naomi also checked out a book on Origami Christmas ornaments, which is her specialty (origami, that is).

Some very scary acrobatics and feats of insanity on the roof of the house rendered us some outdoor lights (thanks Daddy!):

In other news, Naomi is feasting on the quantity and requestability (sent to our branch two blocks away!) of manga that is available through the Nashville Public Library.

And last but not least, I am feeling increasingly like the Venus of Willendorf thanks to a combination of PMS and cold symptoms so I am going to bed!

Life's a Fieldtrip

We went to the Parthenon today. It's a replica of the one in Athens, Greece built in the Athens of the South aka Nashville.

The coolest part about it is the statue of Athena inside. For those of you not in the "know," Athena is the patron goddess of Athens. During a competition between her and Poseidon over the patronage of Athens, they agreed they would each give the city one gift and the people of the city would decide which gift had more value. Poseidon struck his trident down and out sprung a spring of salt water, Athena struck her spear into the spring and out emerged an olive tree. The people of Athens decided the olive tree was more valuable and Athena became the patron deity of their city.
The statue is breathtaking. It's built by by Alan LeQuire, and I realized on the drive home that we go right by his studio on Charlotte, LeQuire Gallery. The girls are now in love with Athena and I think I am too!

Naomi: I'm Athena. . . Jayda: No, I'm Athena!

City livin' and Art History 101

We were by the Frist Center last night and decided to stop in to get a brochure. Guess what? They let us in for free to see Societe Anonyme, a modern art exhibit. Which went along perfectly with a documentary we are watching, "How Art Made the World" a really good series about art and humans. For those of you who have netflix and like art, I recommend.

These are pictures of the girls on the giant balls out back of the Frist.

Yes, we're in Nashville!

Here it is, Elise and everyone, the front of our new house in Nashville.Here's the backyard. Small, but nice, killer neighborhood:
This is the alley way that runs beside our house. This neighborhood has alleyways between the main roads which is kind of nice, most people's backyards face the alleyways instead of each other. Great place to walk dogs, off the beaten path. In our alley, it's the side yards that are divided by the alleyway. Pretty cool, so we just have to push our garbage and recycling cans a few yards to be picked up from the alley on garbage day!
I think it's going to be cool for me to live here. Hopefully it will work well for everyone else. The reason for moving is another post, which I don't want to get into right now, I'll save that for another time, hopefully.

Rejecting a pre-packaged life.

Had to share this article to those of you reading. From Sandra Dodd's site, "Rejecting a Pre-packed life." Go ahead, changing paradigms is an option!

Cocoa Loco

The cocoa loco party rocked!!! We played a game where the girls had to open a chocolate bar wrapped several times in wrapping paper with a knife and fork while wearing a hat, scarf, and mittens! Very challenging and hilarious. . .

Also some word scrambling games!

And finally, thanks to Elexa, we had a chocolate explosion, which made the night complete. She was playing with the chocolate fountain and lifted up the top which caused chocolate to spray everywhere. . .

The next morning Naomi had our traditional family birthday pancake in the shape of number eleven. Here's to an awesome eleventh year of life, Naomi! Love ya!

And now for the little sisters!

This post should be after the next post, Naomi's BFF's, so read that post first, and then this one!

Adria's 'lil sis, Elexa. . .

Naomi's 'lil sis, Jayda. . .
Rebeca's 'lil sis, Casey. . .

Naomi's BFFs

We had a slumber party at our house last Friday night. These girls have been friends with Naomi since first grade and come to her b-day party every year. We had a "coco loco" party. Naomi has a slumber party theme book, "Snooze-a-palooza" that she got a lot of the ideas from for her birthday party both this year and last year. The mini edible flower pots the girls have are courtesy of the book "Tiny Treats," another book from the American Girls collection. Naomi is a big fan of these books and has almost all of them.

Here's Lindsay:

Andrea:
Katie:
Beca:
Adria:

And finally, Naomi:

11 on 11/11/07!

My eldest baby turned 11 on Sunday! For those of you who don't know her well, she is a very interesting, sweet human with a great sense of humor and lots of talent. She is a very good friend and a great daughter. I love her and am so proud of her!

Trying to get caught up on blogging. . .

When I should be studying!!!!

This Halloween, we had a Charm School Witch, and Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz.


And a devil/vampire (isn't he mysterious looking)!

Lot's of candy was had by all.

Poor Maggie even dressed up!

Hey Elise!

Hi Elise! Thanks so much for the letter and stuff! Naomi made a little pouch like the one you sent her. Here it is. She's also working on one for you.

For everyone else. . . my niece, Elise, is in St. Kitts which is an island in the Caribbean, serving with the Peace Corp. Check out her blog. . . http://bbdoesthepc.blogspot.com/

We love you and miss you!