Morning musings with Rollin (until my battery ran out)

Just give em' a flashlight!

Last night I was sitting in the living room with several books, a few pubilcations with local events, and the calendar and doing a little planning for the next couple of months while the kids were running around playing. I was starting my list of advent activities for December and making a few other holiday related lists. Eric and Zig were working on the power for the dog house and chicken coup and Zig called out that they would have to turn the power off for a bit. He brought the kids the flashlight and then the lights went out.

Something magical happened when the lights went out...we have some tall white walls in the living room and the kids began making all kinds of shadows. The further back they went, the more like giants they appeared on the wall. Then they discovered that they could have one person go close to the wall and appear little and the other person far back and it would look like a giant stepping on the head of the little person. Boy did they get a kick out of this! There were shrieks of laughter and it went on for about 20 minutes. Sela kept saying "This is the best night EVER! This is the best Veteran's Day! This is the best November!" It was so delightful to sit in the chair in the corner watching them and listening to their childhood exuberance. As I thought about all the activities I was planning I realized that it is often the unscheduled moments that bring the greatest joy. Amidst the schedule and plans, it's also important to allow for a little serendipity now and then.

Fall is for LOTS of planting!

Last week we had thousands of bulbs show up. Being the single minded and slightly obsessed person I have become waiting on some furniture items to show up, I mistakenly hoped it was my chairs being delivered when I saw the boxes lined up along the fence. It turns out Zig has ambitious plans for our planting activities this fall! I mentioned wanting more cutting flowers, but wow, I wasn't expecting quite this scale. I don't know why it surprises me as I should know by now that Zig is an all or nothing guy. Do it right and thorough or not at all. Rollin and Nina were enthusiastic little helpers and helped Zig get the first bed going. We are really hoping it doesn't freeze before we get them all in. Here's to planting!

Just the boys...

Zig, Eric, and Rollin had a little outing last Saturday. It had been in the works for weeks so Rollin was looking very forward to it. He blew mommy a kiss and off they went. They had big plans...first they went to a metal scrap yard to look for some specific thing for the fire pit. On their way they happened to find Rollin a free bike on the side of the road. Eric must be a good luck charm. He was SOOOOO excited and just loves his "new" boy bike. He told our neighbor at the bus stop this week "I have a big boy bike now and I don't have to ride the bunny bike anymore!" In the afternoon, they drove to Issaquah to see a tree house that had a suspended walkway kind of like the one we want Eric to build for our tree house. They took lots of pictures and brought back some great ideas. Then they headed to the Harley Davidson shop where who knows what they were up to. But they all had fun and were in great spirits when they came home. Rollin's favorite word is now is "mocercycle."

Going, going, almost gone.....

After several weeks of mostly dry and lovely fall weather, it started to rain on Saturday. I realized I had barely captured any of the amazing fall foliage, even though every day I am completely awestruck by the beauty all around me. There is a red Japanese maple just outside our kitchen window that is so stunning it almost doesn't seem real. The leaves are just amazing this time of year. We love to walk to the bus as the leaves gently fall all around us. There is no more glorious time of year. And it's also relatively brief which makes it even more special. Knowing that winter is knocking at the door makes me want to savor each day as the last leaves fall. As the saying goes, the best things in life are free, and I'm so grateful for this time of year and the joy it brings.

One more bit of pumpkin news....

We surprised the kids on Halloween with news of our own little 13 week pumpkin! The picture below is funny because the emotion in each of their faces says a lot. Sela told us she had been praying for a baby for a long time. Nina is so excited and wants to hold it first (if it's a girl) and Rollin isn't too sure what to think. Thinking of him not being my baby in six months leaves me a bit melancholy, but I think he'll love a little sibling. We shall see!

Halloween Fun

Our traditional Halloween meal is usually chili and cornbread but I just made chili last weekend for our church fall festival and I was not ready for chili again.

Then I saw Darcie's skeleton picture and just had to make it! I had so much fun with it! I first thought I'd do it because it was sooo simple. Then I got a little bee in my bonnet and decided to try a new spaghetti and meat sauce recipe. And wouldn't homemade breadsticks be good?! I used my regular bread recipe and the sticks worked out great and they looked like bones because they were knobby on the ends. I haven't made spaghetti sauce with meat, well ever! My energy has been low and I had my blood checked and found my iron levels to be very low. I'm trying to eat a little red meat to play catch-up and it wasn't so bad! It was actually very yummy! I kept the kids out of the kitchen and then brought them in for the big "reveal!" We had fun eating the intestines, bones and fingers and toes!

After dinner, we were off for the highly anticipated trick-or-treat. We all went and Zig even picked up a bay cow along the way (little Michael). It was a fantastic night and we bumped into lots of families we knew. Rollin was a greedy little goblin going in for triple dips. I was mortified but since he is so little everyone thought is was cute or at least indulged him. He came home with twice the take as the girls. And he guards it with his life. After they did their sorting and trading, they crashed and I wasn't far behind.