This is the centerpiece that I built...

<--Here are the centerpieces that I made for Thanksgiving. All done with stuff around the house and mother nature. The quaich we used at our wedding also graced the table and began our meal with a sense of sincere affection.









Here --> are the monkeys that helped me collect the leaves and acorns to create the centerpieces that I made for Thanksgiving. Don't they look cute? Avery thought it was funny to let Curran fall over, so this picture took about a dozen tries to get!










<-- Here is the meal that we served for the monkeys who helped me collect the leaves and acorns to create the centerpieces that I made for Thanksgiving. *whew* It was a long two days of prep, but it was totally worth it! Our friend Joshua made killer cranberry sauce and candied yams. Pam baked cookies and everyone helped watch the kids, even Doug! Thanks for a great meal together you guys!

I am Mother

The strangest thing happened last night: Curran was having a really rough time settling down to bed. Aric and I were trying to watch a movie, and had been interrupted at least three times as he woke up about 10 minutes after I'd put him down fully asleep. So there I was rocking him again, and just at the point where I might normally get upset that he was wakeful for no apparent reason, there was a cosmic *ca-chunk*. I felt peaceful, and suddenly I felt like a Mother.

"Silly Stacia," you might say,"you've been a mother for over three years now!" Yeah, but I've felt more like a young woman babysitting, compared to my image of my mother. There is a physical and emotional kind of presence I associate with mothers, and until last night I didn't feel that I possessed it. 'Mother' settled into me. I looked at my legs rocking the chair and realized those legs would hold children for years of reading and carry me on walks with them. I looked at my arms holding Curran and realized those arms would cuddle sick children and try to protect them when they got hurt. I felt like an anchor manifested for my kids, as my mother was for me.

This was a singular and unexpected experience, so I just thought I'd share :)
It feels good.

Dancing Green Ghosts, Batman!

Here is Avery to the right, very happy to be a green ghost for Halloween just like he wanted. (Mama's happy she managed to cut a circle with armholes, then hem it!) I also made his little treats bag out of skeleton fabric. We had to cut out the ghost's whole face because eyeholes and 3-year-olds just don't mix :) He made it to quite a few houses, but Grandpa did end up carrying him the last stretch home. Lollipops were his favorite to eat the rest of the night.

I thought the length of the the costume was perfect, but was unfortunately bad for stairs. And it seemed like EVERYONE around us had stairs - go figure!




To the left is Avery just before his first ballet class on Nov 2nd. He is with our neighbor Jane who happens to be taking the same class! He did really well following directions, and just did a lot of looking around during the free dance time, trying to figure out what he was supposed to be doing. His class has eleven other girls in it, so fairly sizable, but the teacher handles them really well. I was so proud of his 'leap over the pond'; he even held his arms out in 2nd!