What's new in January?

Views from our school room of our first snowfall of 2008

A Surprise 50th birthday lunch for my friend Vicky!

We know that Vicky really wasn't expecting anything because she had

already invited several of us to a 50th Bash that she was planning for herself! Is this what we all have to look forward to when we turn 50? Trying on Gail Holt's therapeutic shoes with trouser socks?

Since the party was at Josef's in Fallston, my kids went to visit GreatGrandmother Giordana, just around the corner, for a few hours.

Skiing and snowboarding at Roundtop with Willow and Drayton was a blast. Except that Willow took a bad fall and smacked the back of her head pretty hard. Drayton and I tried to tell her it wasn't that serious, but when she spit up some blood later that night, I was feeling a little sheepish...

She's okay now...well, mostly okay.
Cool cooks
Yes! We got a trampoline for Christmas! And best of all, we got it the freegan way. A friend was getting rid of it; said we could have it for free if we came and took it down and hauled it away...which we did (that is, the Tim part of "we" went and took it down and hauled it away and set it up in the dark, in the rain...) The kids are on it every day, except when it's pouring down rain (and even then, they've been out there a few times). And to think, we almost blew a few hundred bucks on a Nintendo Wii...which would've been so inconsistent with the Hamiltopian philosophy of simplicity, and enjoying what we already have...in a word, NATURE!

Some fun moments from December...

I came home one night from Christmas shopping, and found the girls shooting modeling poses of each other...they're so yummy!

Our Christmas celebration with the Homeschool Hiking Club (i.e., the Licharowicz')wouldn't have been complete without...you guessed it! A 4-mile hike! After pizza and a gift exchange at the Train Garden in Kenilworth Mall, we headed out to Oregon Ridge...every good party ends with a hike!


Sorry you're sideways, Isaac. I just couldn't get this one flipped around. But you're lookin, good...

On the 23rd, we had a Zeig family Christmas, and were priveleged to have several of the Williams' join us--WOW! That was very merry, indeed!

Maddie performing at the Christmas Eve service at church. (I admit I was reluctant to attend yet another church service, but we all really enjoyed it. And when we got home, we were rewarded with Tim cooking us a filet mignon dinner and the traditional Christmas Eve viewing of Groundhog Day.

A little gift opening on Christmas morning...
And a very nice afternoon at the Walshes for Christmas dinner.

A couple of days after Christmas, we headed to Washington, D.C. We spent most of our time in the Natural History Museum--the Art in Nature photography exhibit is AMAZING! Highly recommend it. Our own efforts at photography--documented here--were less remarkable. There are only 5 of us in this family--why it took three shots to get us all in the picture...I don't know...

The Capitol is always impressive; the Washington Monument--not really as big as we thought.

Fall 2007

October hike with Laura and Elasta-Girl
Alex and Dave at Assateague Island

Did someone suggest a hike? Our favorite pasttime with some of our favorite friends.

I love Hamiltopia

For those of you unfamiliar with the name Hamiltopia, it is a name coined for the wonderful down-to-earth intimacy which we share with some most excellent friends from the neighborhood once a week over simple dinners. Each week, a different household hosts dinner. This is not a dinner party where everything is fru-fru and perfect (not that we don't love those, too!), but it's a simple, practical meal meant to feed hungry tummies. Everyone eats dinner--why not do it together, and share the workload?! But we've gotten so much more out of these evenings than just full stomachs. We've enjoyed wonderful moments of silliness, laughter, birthdays, doctrinal discussions (some people might think these "discussions" impassioned enough to be called arguments, but in Hamiltopia, earnestness is not a sign of anger, but of feeling completely at ease with one's friends) , the balm of kinship after a hard day of... fill in the blank. Last year we had weekly dinners with Amy, Jenn, Shelley, Alan and Tina. Many other friends and family have popped in for a week here or there. (Sung Ko, most often) This year, we have enjoyed adding Andy and Jessica Smith to the group. ( All the kids are particularly glad of this because Jessica is the only one of us who, apparently, cooks "normal" food. That is to say, no beans.)

Hamilton + Utopia=Hamiltopia

Olivia and Phoebe with Austin

Boys and Guns

Looks like Abby has a new favorite aunt (eat your hearts out, A&J)


Family get together in honor of Amy's visit in October

That's little Augie in there!
Cousins in October when Aunt amy was here.

Tim's intrigued as John whips up some cotton candy.

Happy Birthday, John
Maddie and Abby having a midnight snack

October Campfire on Pop and Gramma Z's deck