Advent

"The first light of Advent is the light of stones, stones that live in crystals, seashells, and bones."

We celebrate a very Waldorf-inspired Advent. I have changed some words in some of our verses to reflect the fact that we are counting the weeks until Solstice instead of Christmas, but the changes are very minor.

This year, Tim made a beautiful wreath from the grapevine that our grapes grew on early this Fall. We feel gratitude for having wreath-making material right in our own backyard! He added evergreen and holly from the woods behind our house.

At dinner time, all of the kids added a special crystal or shell to the wreath. Tim lit the first candle, we said a simple verse, and enjoyed the glow of the candle and the smell of the evergreen.

After we ate and blew out the candle, I read from Reg Down's book, Festival of Stones. We all love Tiptoes Lightly!

skateboarding!!

nature walk Friday

I could feel my spirits lift this morning before I even got out of bed. Sunshine was streaming through my bedroom window. After almost a whole week of fog, I was so excited to see the sun! However, it was still very chilly outside. We spent the morning indoors:





This afternoon, we went to a local state park for a nature walk. Daddy Tim was able to join us! It is always such a treat to have him with us. Nova, in particular, is going through such a phase of wanting to be right beside Daddy as much as possible.





Autumn is slipping away. We will be celebrating Winter Solstice soon, and I look forward to the quiet of Winter time. Each season is so special and beautiful. We are blessed to spend so much time in the woods.

starlings

See all of those little black specks?



Those are birds! I know that most people think of starlings as pests, but I actually love them. The way that they fly around following each other in such a chaotic yet precise dance is so beautiful. Their calls are like glass breaking or ice when it starts to thaw in early Spring. I love them. We pulled over and watched them for almost an hour yesterday.

Thanksgiving

I am thankful for my family, warm fires, the last of the Fall leaves, my animal friends, music, sunsets, rain, candle light, brilliant beautiful stars after a week of rain and fog, birdsong, the moon in all of Her beautiful phases, good food, friends, books, the coming holiday season.



We are lucky to have so many things to feel thankful about!

Indigo and Willow are 6!!!

Yesterday my sweet little boys became six-year-olds! It seems like they were just these two tiny sweet bundles:

Their main birthday wish was to have hot cocoa with marshmallows for breakfast. I also made cranberry pumpkin bread since it was the day before Thanksgiving and there was lots of pumpkin on hand anyway.

They each got a skateboard which has been on the wish list for quite some time now, and they also got dolls. Tim and I were unsure about how they would react to the dolls. They both love babies so much, and I feel that it is so important for children to have dolls. However, they have never mentioned wanting a doll. We were pleasantly surprised! They *love* their dolls. Willow named his Pumpkin and Indigo has Blueberry. Very sweet.


PawPaw joined us for a simple birthday celebration (breakfast for dinner) and ice cream cones for dessert. We had so much fun! But my babies are growing up so quickly!!!

nature walk Friday (flashback)

I just noticed that my Friday Nature Walk post didn't actually post!! So, I'm trying one more time...

We decided to take a walk through the woods behind our house. I was hoping to spot lots of mushrooms since we have had lots of rain and fog recently. We found some really nice ones:





We found this last cute little bunch in the hollow tree...


The woods are so beautiful at this time of year. We spent a couple of hours playing and exploring. I never get tired of Fall leaves.




We walked home and picked a tiny (and probably) final harvest of Autumn raspberries from the garden. They were so sweet!

birthday party!!!

Willow and Indigo will be six on Wednesday! We decided to have their party this weekend, since so many people are busy on the weekend after Thanksgiving. We had so much fun!!!!

This year, they both agreed on having a Candy Party. They wanted everything about their party to involve candy (from the health food store). So...

We played games and the kids got candy for prizes. Duck, duck, goose is such a fun one for a variety of ages. When everyone was in the "goose pot", they got a gummy worm for a treat. Mummy tag is another favorite with my kids. The prize for winning (and by winning I mean tagging someone or getting tagged or just looking on with amusement) was two chocolate raisins.


For the "craft" activity, we decorated graham crackers with chocolate icing, sundrops, jolly beans, tiny marshmallows, and chocolate covered raisins:

We had some yummy cupcakes and opened so many wonderful gifts. Indigo practically attacked my mom with a hug because he was so excited over the costume that she gave to him.


Possibly the most fun part of the whole party was the treasure hunt. The kids worked together to find five clues. Willow had to figure out the clues with the green star on the front, and Indigo had to figure out the ones with the blue stars. The last clue had a blue star and a green star. There was lots of running and climbing and discussing...





They finally found the treasure in one of our favorite places for play in the forest - the hollow tree! Indigo found the red basket hanging inside, and handed out treats.



Clover found some faerie gold near the tree, and made sure that everyone got a coin.


I love birthday parties, but they are such reminders that my babies are growing up! How can they be almost six years old???