trick or treat

 

and, then we had our official costume night. with a couple of snags of course. as we were getting ready after dinner, Chris called to me from the other room. "Polly, come look at this." So I did, specifically at the goop coming out of Brixton's eye. Yup, pink eye. So the friendly monster went with Papa to the ER to trick-or-treat for antibiotics and Unity and I went out. (Don't worry she promised to share her candy with him and he was the hit of the not-at-all-busy ER.)

 

 

 

                             Our street is too busy for trick or treating so we went to our friend Lena's house.
                             Lena is in Unity's class and also attends Meeting with us. She's a fairy and
                             her friend Ali is a crocodile.

                                   Dancing in the streetlights......

                              Then we went to see Reuben. He was the Titanic.

                                       Wait, you need more of that costume don't you? I thought so.         
         

                                     amazing, I know.

 

Then Unity and Reuben performed a little song and dance routine for us, that I like to call

"Burning off the sugar."

 

and now, to bed.

 

Happy Halloween.

a sneak peak...

 

Every so often we attempt to have a family movie night. This is harder than you might think because we have the following rules: 1. the movie must be something that adults can sit through without wanting to scream. (Sorry Dora, you're out.) 2. the movie must be something that kids can watch without the plot being too "scary". (This eliminates almost everything- including Cinderella, the life of a sea turtle, and Wallace and Gromit.) Mostly we have been without success. On Friday we tried to watch the Land Before Time which is about cute and cuddly dinosaurs. Also, a T-Rex. Yeah so that wasn't the best but we actually made it through two-thirds of the movie which is a record for us.

 

                                Cuddling up for the movie. They always get so excited by the idea of it.....


                  We went to a pumpking carving party on Saturday which is a neat way of getting the job done while also socializing with friends and neighbors, all of us up to our elbows in pumpkin goop.

 

 

The faces on our porch.

 

 

The next party we went to was a costume party so you get an exclusive look

at our Halloween festivities this year.

 

                                            
                                            Confused? She's a butterfly driving a truck, concept inspired by a
                                            favorite Caspar Babypants song.

                                             
                                              and Brixton really wanted to be a monster,
                                              a "fwendly monster." Check and check.

 It's nice when your outfit also makes a great table.

                        and thankfully the party came equiped with a swing to burn off some of the sugar.


I can't believe we haven't even gotten to the real holiday yet. whew.

dancing and art

 

Over the weekend we got to see a great kindie band play. The Board of Education writes fun dancy songs about nerdy stuff, it's a great combination. (Their most famous song is called "Why does dad get so mad about Star Wars?" and it's about the generation gap between the 80s Star Wars movies and the prequels. )   Pretty awesome, you have to admit.

 

 

 

 

We went with a bunch of friends from preschool days and Unity had fun dancing with them.

 

 

and with dad of course.

                                      On Monday Brixton and I went to the Kid's Museum with Tarah and Baird.
                   We used to go all the time with Unity but it's been a while, and B had mostly forgotten
about it. Which was great, it was like a whole new place to him.
                                     

                                He loved the pretend grocery shopping. Sometimes, it's the little things, right?

all you need....

 

 

We've had such a lovely weekend. Thanks to a discount from my brother's job, we got a new couch!

I'm super excited about it, and if you've ever sat on our old couch I bet you're excited too.

 

 

Unity decorated foam flowers and glued them to headbands.

                                         Brixton made Lego trucks.

                                      We listened to these guys....such a good rainy Saturday afternoon album.

                                Chris fixed the electrical system on his new/old scooter. It works!

                                Brixton cuddled with baby Wumpy. 

and now there's squash soup simmering
and the kitchen is warm and smells good and the kids are playing together without fighting and
all's well with the world.

These days....

 

These are the days of leaves edged with color, breath turning cloudy, more blankets at night.

                       These are the days of rustles when walking,

 

walk-to-school mornings

                            and feet taking flight.

our weekend

 

Our weekend started early because Unity had the day off school on Friday. We did some Halloween decorating and painted our nails and started making her Halloween costume. It was a pretty fun mother-daughter day.

 

                                 Don't be fooled by the photos, there was no napping to be had. But we did have swimming, and potlucking with our spring kids crew, and a really nice Meeting for Worship.

Autumn is really here now and I am loving the sweaters and the hot drinks and soup, the bright leaves and the cool air. Perfect weather for, as Unity would say, "putting on pajamas and getting in bed and snuggling and listening to Christmas music." I know, it's too early but this is her idea of cozy for all seasons. And really, I'm good with it. I like cozy too.

Linking with Amanda for Weekending.

the earth goes around the sun tra la la

 

Brixton seems to think that his birthday is an entire month-long event. And, you know, I can see his point. We've had multiple celebrations, including this most recent one at school. I love the Montessori tradition of carrying the earth around the sun. Brixton walked his three years around the circle while Chris told stories about when he was a baby, one, and two. He has started asking strangers on the bus "Do you remember when I was a baby?"

 

 

We have our own ceremony at home too. The measuring against the door frame, watching the leaps of growth and realizing it really is that quick.

 

 

 

I'm thankful for these rituals that remind us to stop and notice all the amazing growth they're doing.

 

Yarn along- Chicago scarf

I took this photo last week when we were in Chicago. One of the many great things about visiting family is the ability to have more reading and knitting time. I was in-between projects so I just started a basic scarf with some lovely varigated yarn. I'm a total sucker for the effortless color changes.

I read J.K. Rowling's new book Casual Vacancy. It's good, but very dark and definitely not for kids.

Linking with Ginny for Yarn Along.

sweet Ella

One of the best things, ok really the absolute best thing, about visiting Chicago is seeing our dear ones that we don't often get to hang out with. This trip we got to meet a new friend, my dear Thea and Justin's daughter Ella.

 

 

We are all totally smitten.

Double Vision

We just got back from a lovely trip to celebrate Brixton's birthday with family and friends. And the whole time we were in Chicago I was seeing things with double vision. Seeing my kids play with the toys I grew up loving. Seeing the people who knew me as a child. It's so strange but since I moved to Seattle when I was 22, there's a very clear line. One city holds my childhood and my past. One city holds my young adulthood and my present.

But the places we leave never just stay there do they? Buildings are torn down and new businesses open. The park I used to hang out in after school is being renoved. People are growing and changing jobs and getting new glasses and having babies. But I can't help but see it all through the pantina of my memories.  A layer of what used to be on top of the layer of how it is.

Children are like this too. When you see the face of a child, you see them, of course, but you also see the echoes of your own childhood, you feel the ripples of other children you have loved. I'm sure that when my own kids are grown, I will still see traces of their baby selves in other faces.

Four Generations!



Hanging with the second cousins, Bella and James.

One night while we were there, I had a splitting headache. I went downstairs and my mom rubbed my back. The feel of my mother's hands soothing away my pain is such an ancient and deep reassuarance. And afterwords, she told me she was channeling the sense of her own mother's soothing hands.

This is the way we pass it on.