this and that

Our internet has been down for days, which has been a challenge- not only for me and my blog reading addiction, but also for the Enki course I am taking. I think things are sorted out now, though I am wondering at the wisdom of signing up for a course at this time in my life. Things feel busy. Really busy. And I am realizing just how day-to-day I have been living. Doing research and trying to remember assignment dates and phone conferences has been a challenge for my foggy brain. But a good challenge I think. Learning is good. Sleep would be good too, but I can't count on that one right now.

We had a fun Halloween. I'm never very excited about it- I often just feel sort of mystified by the celebrations. Blood and gore and spooky is fun? I try, but I just often feel confused by how much people get into it. But we did have fun. We went to a party at a friends house and there was a herd of three and four-year-olds and they had so much fun running (sprinting) from house to house, banging on the doors yelling "Trick or Treat!" gathering their treats and then racing off to the next house. Ari had rather limited visibility in his ghost costume, so I was jogging along behind, carrying the costume as he ran, and helping him throw it back on for the door-knocking bit. We laughed a lot.

Pumpkin carving was fun and this pumpkin is my favorite. I asked Ari to draw out the face on paper first, but since representational drawings are still rare for him, I didn't know if we would get anything that could actually be carved. But he drew out this adorable face with huge eyes and long smiley mouth and I was in love. Here he is on bedroom duty on Halloween night. A good reason to carve yourself a happy pumpkin- to help keep the Halloween spooks out of your dreams.

And the Switch Witch came to visit our house for the first time. Ari picked out 5 candies and then hung up the rest on the door knob for the Switch Witch and she traded them for a book and a little brio engine (his one and only battery operated toy and he is over the moon!) And a few ginger chews. He was thrilled. Dori got a little bag too with a book and a little toy rooster- his current obsession. He holds it to his mouth and makes and adorable crowing sound. The Switch Witch will definitely be visiting in the years to come.


I've been making the effort to have a walk every day and we've been really enjoying it (though it sometimes takes some coercing to get everyone dressed and out the door, adjusting to having to bundle again is hard.) It's chilly but lovely out, and the snow we had recently is melted and it is still feeling fallish. I wasn't quite ready to jump into winter, so I'm glad for that.
Despite the busyness and overwhelm, I am noticing so many small beautiful moments, and feeling such gratitude. I feel blessed. Full up to brimming with this crazy wonderful life.