All Hallow's Eve

So much anticipation from the littles for today... Carving pumpkins, doing yarn crafts and making mischief of one kind and another!

We went to the SERC Institute just down the road on Saturday to learn about creepy, crawly bugs, coyotes, moles, owls, bats and snakes for their annual Halloween celebration. Soren and I felt right at home with the scientists dressed up as anatomically correct ash borer beetles, owls and more. It was a lovely way to calm the anticipation, dress in costume and go for a hike along the ocean. This afternoon all the sweet businesses in town invite trick or treaters to come through and grab a treat, it was a perfect way to go last year and I was excited to do it again this year. Safe, fun and full of kids in their costumes!

Kasper has been asking to be a hammerhead shark for the past month, I shamefully put him off of it because I had no idea how to make it! Then Saturday morning (three hours before SERC), I sat down and whipped up his costume... Needless to say it was a hit at SERC, their school parade and out on the town - he and I were more than a bit embarrassed by all the attention! AnaSofia wanted to be a flower fairy and make her own costume from the dress up box. She looked so sweet. Love that creative mind...

And the school parade? Perfection... I have no photos because it is discouraged to take photos and rather allow the child to BE in the moment, but I was struck by the inventiveness of all the students. Not many families watch television at our school so it was a creative, book driven, imaginative motley crew of kids and such fun trying to guess who they were impersonating. Wishing you and yours a Happy Halloween!

Signs of autumn

The sun has been warm and plentiful and the nights cool and bright. Nursing Magnus in the wee hours has allowed me to gaze in wonder at falling stars (3!) and watch the changing moon. Around here I can feel the daylight hours grow shorter as we pull from the garden all that we can and wait for the right time to turn the soil over and plant garlic for next year. And thus it begins again...

Right now we are soaking it all in and still in the summer mindset, but soon we will gather around the table and move into hibernation mode for what is promised to be a wonderfully snowy winter.

But today? Today was my favorite day of Fall, a true sign change is coming... Our two giant oaks in the front lawn suddenly, finally decided to release all their leaves. It happens all at once, in a day of leaf flurries like no snowstorm I have ever witnessed. The kids race through the yard catching leaves for hours, making wishes and helping Mama rake the biggest leaf pile of all time to play in.

Yes... L O V E

One Month

One month and already the rhythm of little Mags (or Maggie as Kasper calls him) fits beautifully in with all of us. He is pure love, pure sweetness and the best thing that happened to us all. Kasper loves to smell his world and all summer would have a permanent dark stain under his nose from smelling who knows what, but now I finally get it... Magnus smells delicious. Kasper sniffs him all day, his toes, his head and his hands... I can't help nuzzling him too... One month is over and I am just trying to soak up ever inch, every moment before it slips past.