It seems winter has arrived. Up here in the mountains we have snow that seems to be staying. Down in the valley is comes and goes. The boys are thrilled. They could live out there in the white stuff, at least in November they could. They must have slid down the tiny hill behind our house a thousand times over the last week. Little northern boys.

 We've been out walking in the woods in the snow and it is lovely. Willa loves to gaze up at the trees and take it all in. The boys play long elaborate games in the woods. One day they were tigers. Today Ari was an arctic explorer and Dori was a pet monkey who liked to carry a giant (heavy) magic snowball around with him. We've been visiting our little creek, loving its beautiful burbling voice under the thin skin of ice. The littlest boy feels very brave to step over the rocks and cross it on his own.

 and inside, there has been lots of good stuff too-
art making,

 book reading (and Movember- oh my!)

  sweet sweet sweetness-

 learning,

 knitting!

 and creating. I'm in love with this homemade laptop (there are 9 other screen/ keyboard combos in his journal including a page of Mama, Papa and Willa on Skype!) This is e-mail. I love how kids that don't actually use the computers on their own yet, still pick up so much. Both boys spent so much time making and then playing with their computers.

 a finished quilt,

 
 and a really cute model,

 who took me totally surprise when I placed her on the quilt on her back facing the other direction and then turned around to make myself a cup of tea and put some dishes away and turned back around to find her here! Things are really going to have to change around here fast! Note the scissors and small bits of chokey paper everywhere. Not pictured- marbles in every corner, playmobile bits scattered hither and thither, glass jars on low shelves, crayons and pebble collections and treasured projects in every corner of the house. But look at her. Isn't she awesome?

 For Ari's grade two homeschool we have started a new Sage/trickster humanities unit and cultural block and are loving it. We are working with Harriet Tubman's story, and cultural studies around it- listening to African American music and learning dances in circle time, making a shadow puppet plays of the Brer rabbit stories, and really sinking into the story of Harriet's life over a few weeks. This has been both wonderful and difficult for me- her story is so heavy, but so inspiring, and it is not easy for me to bring the reality of such injustice as slavery to my little boy. Yet, I can feel it really touching him on a deep level and I trust the wisdom of the Enki philosophy. This is a good thing. Just for the joy of watching my boy make connections for himself- that verse we started in circle is actually about Harriet herself, and that song we heard Mavis Staples sing on our Cd is the same one Harriet herself sang, and she too ate food like we are cooking, and heard the same Brer Rabbit tales we heard- he is just thrilled to tie it all together. Walking this journey together is such a gift.

 

And Dori joins us for the parts that work for a 5 year old- the dances, the crafts- and I read the stories to Ari when Dori is listening to his quiet time story. He has his kindy stories that we read together that he loves. And Willa- she loves the dances most of all. We put her in the highchair and bop around the living room and she waves her arms and grins at us. Fun for all.

:: halloween decorating

:: paper shoes made by Dori,

:: Mama loves it when superheros use their powers to mop the floor.

:: pumpkins and spiders and witches abound.

There is lots of loveliness to report on here- a wonderful mellow Halloween with friends, a new grade 2 cultural/humanities block we are enjoying greatly, Dorian's wonderful creations of paper shoes and homemade books and endless wild stories, a baby who is rolling and cooing and charming us every day, celebrating my best friend's baby girl's first birthday, new projects on the go- but we had a real Halloween terror that makes it hard for me to write about anything else here in this space. Perry drove to work on Halloween morning and rolled the car down into a deep ditch. He is okay. Totally unscathed, amazingly. The car is a write off and I still can't talk about it, or hear the story about how it happened without breaking into a cold sweat. The road was icy. Our appointment to get the winter tires on had been delayed to the next day because we were waiting for some other parts to come in. He was running a little late. He is so very lucky. We are all so very lucky. I have been keeping my brain from going to all the scary places it wants to go- the what ifs that make me shiver with fright. We are all okay, but holding each other a little tighter. Oh this fragile, fragile life. How precious it is. How lucky we are to have each other.

feeling thankful:

 for the morning light,

 for little moments like these,

 for our bedroom closet being taken over by tiny hand-me-down baby dresses,

 for tinkertoy rock bands,

 for our homeschooling days and how very well they are going,

 for the abundance of good food we have to eat,

 for this smile,

for a few moments of peace while a baby napped and little boys were at lessons to knit in front of the fire and breathe deep.
It is good.

My three little loves~

 

Ari- still wearing that apron I made for him when he was a toddler,

 

Dorian- making up games on our walks. He is a robber, trying to steal my (willow leaf) money.

Willa Rose- rolling over and and just generally wowing us all with her sweetness.

Oh how I love them so.

 

Some random pictures from around here. Not picking the camera up much these days, and never remembering to grab it when we head outside. There has been lots of book reading and school work and messes made, and pictures drawn (I'm in love with this wizard by Dori!) and baby goodness and a little bit of knitting. There has been jam made and laundry washed and dirtied again, and diapers changed and washed and changed and washed. There have been meals cooked and band aids carefully placed, and baby fingernails carefully cut and guitar and fiddle practices attended to and baths and board games and kisses and sibling squabbles. There have been lullabies and cuddles on the couch and long morning walks in the crisp autumn air. There have been voices raised, and little heart shaped cards for mama cut from paper and illustrated with care. There is a big boy who likes to jump and run and leap and bound and carry his sister around all day long. There is a littler boy who likes to play and draw and play and draw all day, and likes to have things just right.  And there is a wee baby girl who has found her voice and likes to coo and chat to us all and who sometimes would prefer a few less kisses on her face and a few less laps around the house in her brother's arms. And there is love. So very much love in this busy life. This wonderfully, crazily, joyously full up life.

We celebrated Dorian's 5th birthday this weekend. Five! I'm not sure how my baby got to be so big, but there it is. He is big and sweet and ever so lovable. We had a small family celebration on his actual birthday, and an art party with friends and family in the bighouse the next day. He was pretty excited.

We love you our sweet  boy. Thank you for being your wonderful, snugly, imaginative, creative, bighearted goofy little self. You fill our hearts with laughter and joy. It is a gift to watch you grow.

 

Oh my, but it is busy these days!
Homeschooling has started, but it hardly feels like autumn- the weather has been incredibly hot and summery. Getting back into our homeschooling rhythm has been wonderful, though we miss Perry when he is back at work. We started our year off with a not-back-to-school gathering of homeschoolers, and it was glorious to spend the afternoon with 18 kids splashing in the mountain stream- all thrilled to be playing together in the sunshine.

This year Ari is starting grade 2 and Dorian is in kindergarten. It is ever so busy with 2 homeschooling kiddos and a wee baby, but it has been going very well. I am in love with Enki grade 2- it is exactly right for Ari. This year we are working with cultural units and our humanities blocks are focusing on "Sages" - people from different parts of the world who have done great things with their lives- and the trickster tales from their culture. We will be working with several cultures over the course of the year, and the dances, songs, crafts, food, poetry and stories from each. We are starting our first cultural unit in Scotland with John Muir as our Sage and having a great time hearing trickster tales about mischievous Fox, dancing Scottish dances during circle, dying wool,  listening to some great tunes and eating tattie scones with our supper! Dorian is along for the ride with the cultural activities, but has his own special kindy stories during story time which he loves. He joins us at morning lesson and draws  (and draws and draws,) while Ari is working on his schoolwork. He is pushing for some work that looks more like Ari's during our afternoon lesson time which is when Ari practices reading and works on practice work- handwriting, and worksheets for skills we've already learned. Perhaps some simple workbooks will be in order for him- maybe simple letter tracing or something?

And Willa- oh, sweet baby Willa- she is just the most lovely, easy, happy little love. She loves to just watch the goings on from my arms or on a sheepskin on the floor, kicking and cooing away. We borrowed a friend's sling for the chariot stroller and she's been joining us on our morning walks in there- often falling asleep and staying asleep once we are home- we just bring the chariot into the mud room and keep our ears open while we get started on morning lesson. I know enough now not to get too used to this particular routine, but I'm loving it while we've got it. And she sleeps! Glory be! This baby is a sleeper, (as least for the time being!) and I could not be more thankful.

Ari started guitar lessons this week and is loving it. He is learning on my baritone ukelele (so I suppose calling them ukelele lessons would be more accurate, but he considers himself to be learning guitar, so we'll go with that,) which has 4 strings instead of 6 and is much smaller and easier to play. Because it still uses the same fingering, the hope is he will be able to pick up guitar chords easily when he is big enough. Ari is incredibly musical (he is playing kit drums so well it rather astonishes me!) but I knew with his learning style that being able to learn songs quickly would be best for him, and he is really keen. And Dorian was fitted for a fiddle this week and will start lessons soon, with the tiniest cutest little fiddle ever!

And there is so much else we've been up to that I have not managed to record here. A lovely visit with my sister and her husband and beautiful baby girl, the fall fair with prizes for crafts and cookies, learning about bees from the beekeeper friend that kept hives on our land this summer, farmers markets and garden food we can barely keep on top of.  And with this incredible weather we have been having- so much time outside playing and soaking up the sun.

Last night we all went the beach and had a last lake picnic of the season. Ari is getting really good in the kids kayak, and they both love to play along the water and in the dense bushes around the lake.  I had a swim myself and it felt so good to get into that cold clear water. We forgot the camera, but the memory will stay warm and bright in our minds. A beautiful last hurrah to summer.