Black friday

The Muscato family tradition has always been to ignore the Black Friday commercialism and instead hit the hills and find our Christmas tree... Soren and I have continued that tradition in our home (except for that one fateful year when Soren became so enamored with the American Black Friday experience that he spent days pouring over flyers and rose around 4 am to compete with old ladies for good deals... I still made him wrestle a tree home that afternoon!). Last year we mosied around the property and found a tree that I trimmed from the top, bottom and all sides to fit into the house, so this year I tricked Soren into going to a sweet little tree farm nearby. The kids scored hot cocoa, candy canes, cookies and a new little 6 year old friend. It was perfect.We spent the afternoon putting up the lights and decorating the tree and house together - it was a lot of fun even though K and A broke a few too many ornaments...

The kids found their Santa cups from Nana and we filled them with their first ever taste of eggnog. Since juice and sweets are a rarity in this house it was quite a hit and guzzled down at an alarming rate.

It is one of my favorite days... Cozy. Warm. Twinkly lights. Pulling out so many of the ornaments given to us by friends and family. Smelling the amazing balsam throughout the house. Decorating the table. Putting up the little tree in the kids room. Decorating the house elf's door. Just being together as a family and knowing there is no need to prepare dinner - Yum! Thanksgiving leftovers! (well, Soren groaned at this one or maybe that was Saturday night when I tried to do leftovers again...)
Hope Black Friday shopping or relishing in the coziness of family was the perfect start to the holiday season for you too!

Giving thanks

Ooooooh what a year... So very much to be thankful for in these past months...
:: Being able to visit with family near and far (who am I kidding, they are all far away!)
:: Making new friends and having the ability to keep in touch with old ones through here and elsewhere
:: Welcoming a sweet new babe into our fold, he is all that I wanted and needed this year
:: Watching our eldest two grow into these amazing happy, healthy (and sometimes ridiculously challenging! Hello Kasper - Mama is talking to you!) little individuals
:: Having more time together and seeing even more time free up in the coming year as the hardworking hubs makes promising things happen on the workfront
:: The bounty that was our garden this year and its continued blessings as it gives to us from the pantry shelves and freezer through the coming months
:: Having a roof over our heads, a cozy place to live and a few chickens, a cat and lots of wildlife to keep us company through the year
This morning Soren headed to work early to finish early and the three littles and I headed out into the balmy dawn for a walk through the woods, the beauty was out of this world...

We came in to a yummy smelling, warm kitchen to fill our bellies with a breakfast recipe we have been eating over the past few weeks and will continue to for a lifetime (you'll thank me later for this!).

And then the eldest two donned aprons and helped Mama all morning in the kitchen making dinner, caring for the babe. We took many breaks to play together outside in the warm sunshine and enjoyed racing back in to experience the sensory onslaught of Thanksgiving dinner in and on the stove. A and K set the table and arranged the centerpiece around a table runner I recently made for us and two other sweet families as a housewarming gift. Yes, so much to be thankful for indeed!

And mostly thanks to all of you who recently made me realize this is a place that you gather to keep in touch with us... I am grateful...

(photo by AnaSofia on Thanksgiving Day)

And just because I can't resist... Here is the little turkey (seriously he weighs over 16 lbs!) that we are all over the moon about...

Don't look so nervous baby, I promise we won't eat you up!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! Much love from our little home to yours!

Welcome jack frost

As I write this the kids are outside with friends in 50 degree weather dancing through the sunshine, running to the turkey house and checking for eggs. But this morning? It was one of the crispest mornings yet. So glorious to smell the air when I took Magnus out for an early walk through the fields. Sparkling crystals everywhere. Stop. Breathe. Embrace.

Welcome Jack Frost, we might just be ready for you. Twinkly lights are on to combat the early setting of the sun and the candles are burning for many hours each night.

In this moment we are finding such beauty.

Knit purl sew

When I had AnaSofia, my body itched to be creative and I began to sew. Without lessons, patterns or any guidance, I just tore up the little machine Soren bought me and taught myself the best that I could. Thankfully my mother in law, a sweet old lady at JoAnn's and many in between gave me guidance through the years that kept my passion alive and allowed me to continue sewing rather than shelving the whole idea like I had every year since I was 14 and first asked my Mom for a machine. Sewing still brings me such peace and satisfaction. If I have a bad day, rather than crawling into bed frustrated I often pound something out on the machine and leave a gift on the kids' nightstand for morning or send a mailed package to a friend filled with something a little special made with love.

When I had Kasper, I began painting again. AnaSofia and I covered one wall of our house in huge, Marrimekko-like flowers and in the kids' room I painted a tree with birds among the branches that we marked their height and many days the kids and I pull out the watercolors and just meditate. It is peace.

Pregnant with Magnus, I felt the longing to create again - this time with knitting needles. I have circled around knitting many times in the past six years, but always put the needles down and move onto something else. I was determined. This summer with a heavy belly in the hot sun, I sweat through a park date with little friends while their papa guided me through casting on. Little was absorbed as I hunched over needles and felt my shoulders burning unprotected in the sun. I went to Denmark armed with needles and yarn and never found a quiet moment with my mother in law to go through the steps she had taught me years before. Maybe it was my left handedness, my pregnancy brain, my busyness. I could not start knitting despite that I so desperately wanted too.

Last week was the final pull. Little AnaSofia came home from school citing cold cheeks and asked if I could knit her a scarf. Full stop. Mama can do anything, isn't that what we are teaching our girls and boys? So that dear Papa and his kids came again and we worked while our children methodically upturned our house and Magnus slept in my arms. And it made sense. Finally. I am knitting... In the in between moments, amidst chaos, with a babe on me, all while AnaSofia proudly sits next to me and waits for her cowl.

(Photo taken by proud 6 year old daughter)

So I decided to teach that little waiting one to knit. Finger knit that is. I remember teaching myself to do it at some stage in my youth, so I played around for a bit and thankfully my fingers remembered (you can find a great online tutorial here). Little brother tried it too, but really just dutifully held out his hand while I wound the yarn around it - maybe next year. But AnaSofia is stockpiling Christmas gifts and has made a dozen bracelets and necklaces. Fun little wintertime activity to keep her happy!

And we all gather together during this quiet time to be close.

And little girl has something of her own creation to wear when she is wearing one of Mama's handmades.

Two Months

That intoxicating, sweet baby smell.
Oxytocin pumping through my body.
His new, lopsided huge smiles and coos to match our baby babble.
Watching my big two match my baby talk and gestures and suppressing the urge to giggle knowing I must look THAT crazy doing the same thing.
Two Months... Filled to the brim my cup is today. So thankful for the light Magnus has brought...

Pumpkin Fairy to the rescue

Once again the Pumpkin Fairy visited on Halloween Night to rid the kids of all their leftover candy after a gluttonous day of sweet treats. AnaSofia, always quick to be good and kind, was ready to give all her candy to the pumpkin fairy citing the unhealthiness of sugar and her excitement over the present she might get while Kasper was a little more nervous about giving up any of his candy and bargained until bedtime. SIGH. He is so much like his Mama, always fighting that sweet tooth! In the end, they both graciously gave up their candy and were rewarded with a mermaid craft set for AnaSofia and a wooden lego like car for Kasper called an Automoblox. Kasper's was the coolest gift ever, he figured out it came apart ALL BY HIMSELF and made all kinds of different cars with it. I was really proud of him and happy I spent the $15 on it. And same with AnaSofia's gift, she loves to sit and do art all day and this has been a huge hit, especially for car rides to school.
But of course the silly Pumpkin Fairy must do a handmade something too because... well, because! So she spent Halloween night up LATE elving around the house, cutting down grapevines, digging through Mama's jewelry box and making a mess of the crafting area (all left like that so the kids could see it in the morning - at least she did not have to clean up that night too!) to make dreamcatchers for her little loves who are not sleeping so well lately...

The lighting in their room is blah, but you get the idea! They were so excited to see the bits and pieces of us in them and here is to hoping we get a few more hours of shut eye each night!