Images of our week

 We celebrated my birthday which is on November 1st.

I'm thirty-four. I feel young and old at the same time.

 Lanterns made yesterday in preparation for Martinmas

The kids and I had a lovely week. We managed to stay home six days in a row, partially due to the kids having a mild cold. I thrive on weeks where we stay home. We have switched up our routine once again since none of us were inclined to get out to do farm chores while it was still dark. So we are going from breakfast right into lessons. By lunch we are usually done, and then we got out for chores in the early afternoon. This week Noah discovered ski-ing. I bought him used cross country skis, boots and poles, all for $65. He has been spending our entire outdoor time on skis. I had showed him how to walk sideways up the hill. But he quickly dismissed that as too much work and he now hikes up the hill and then puts his skis on and skis down. I'm thinking a helmet is in order, and I'm hoping he doesn't break his skis before the winter is out.

When we stay home day after day, we get our lessons and chores done without having to rush through things. Then we have time for reading, crafting, making music and cooking together. I have time to be creative in the kitchen, pulling our our veggies from this summer and meat from the freezer and come up with something tasty.

 All our own veggies and herbs, except for the onions and garlic which I'm out of already.

The kids played amazingly well together day after day this week. Usually if we have such a long home stretch, they begin to tire of each other. Thankfully that was not the case this week.

 I've been wanting to make a circular calendar showing the months of the year and my interpretation of them in color, along with our celebrations. I included our birthdays, traditional "American" holidays and the Solstices which are pretty big days for us, as well as some holidays which are celebrated in the Waldorf tradition as well as being celebrated throughout Europe still; Michaelmas and Martinmas, etc. I also love the idea of learning more about and celebrating some of the much older Celtic year celebrations, Samhain and Beltane. I was happy with how the water color turned out. I might need to re-arrange the wall and find a better place for it, as the wall is looking a little too disorderly right now.

 Going into winter we are in high spirits. We move outwards and just move constantly from spring to late fall. By the time the snow comes we are overly ready to move in and just can't get enough of mellow time indoors. We have transitioned in and are basking in the fruits of our labor; good food and a warm home. We are so stoking our wood stove, lighting our candles and lanterns as well as our light within.