Om

first eggs

hatched on May 7

pumpkin gathering

The family spent the afternoon at the pumpkin patch. yesterday afternoon gathering huge pumpkins, riding the goat cart, riding horses, shooting a pumpkin slingshot, and petting animals. Many friends were there, and we spent the whole afternoon. Next year I'm bringing a picnic because the kids spent a lot of time begging for food and treats. I need a soup thermos big enough for all of us. Ruby and John both rode a horse for the first time, and I think that Ruby hugged the goat twenty times. The leaves and the landscape were gorgeous. Back in our warm house, I needed to keep Ruby occupied while the two Johns went out to mow grass. I let her stand on a wooden stool and make the gravy for dinner. She was excited by all the new things she tried in one day.

falling

homebody

I'm going to spend more time in my favorite places this year, and my own back porch is very high on my list.

shakori hills

We went on our last camping trip of the season at the Shakori Hills festival in Pittsboro North Carolina. It is my favorite festival of the year, and we bid farewell to warm weather with a veritable four day hootenanny. We feel asleep to sing-alongs and woke up to fiddle tunes in the middle of a country meadow. We came home dirty and exhausted and ready to do it all again next year.

11

Someone turned eleven this week.

Rabbit and Robot

I took all three kids to the Rabbit and Robot Book Launch Party on Sunday.  The amazing and lovely Cece Bell had come to John's class last year to read some of this book while it was a work in progress.

Getting ready for the book party required a trip out for silver spray paint, the destruction of a pair of leggings, the raiding of a box stash, much duck tape, the sewing of a coonskin cap onto a small pair of pants,  and the use of several Magic Erasers.

John covered his bike helmet in foil, old cans, a whisk, and a spatula. Then he taped a candy thermometer to the front and donned a box covered in foil. Oops. He wouldn't fit in his carseat. The costume had to come off and go in the truck.

Rabbit and Robot. Cece Bell. Pure sweetness.