Thanksgiving Weekend

Here are some pictures from our full moon weekend. (Jasper spent lots of time looking for "man of moon." To me, the moon is all about femininity, mother, mystery, an invisible hand - but to each his own...) There was really something for everyone during our four-day Thanksgiving holiday, from playdates for Lucy, lots of grandparent time and the zoo for Jasper, bike-riding for Rob, Nia (yoga/dance type exercise) class for me, a date night courtesy of Mom and just plain old cozy family time. The yum just kept on coming, even after Thanksgiving dinner was over.

The Thanksgiving Menu was a group effort and it worked:
Homemade bread, tapanade, hummus, cheese, veggies for starters

Salad of Winter Greens with Roasted Squash, Pear, Pecan, and Balsamic Vinaigrette
Pulled Pork with Pomegranate Molasses
Wild Salmon with Garlic, Lemon, and Thyme (Ali's recipe)
Granny's Hubbard Beets
Mashed Potatoes with Buttermilk
Bread Stuffing with Cranberries, Apples, and Hazelnuts
Brussel Sprouts with Mustard Butter
Cranberry Relish with Orange and Walnut

Rob's Amazing Pecan Pie, Mom's Beautiful Apple Pie, A Lovely Swedish Apple Crisp, and Pumpkin Pudding with Cashew Cream

We spent the rest of the weekend gratefully eating leftovers, finishing the last of the pies last night just before bed.

Homebound

Speaking Jasper

Jasper's language and cognitive skills are coming right along. I am noticing different things with him than I remember about Lucy. Some examples:

When he wants to know someone's name, he says "What's that?" We've of course been mentioning that he could say "Who's that?" when referring to people. Finally, one day he said "Who's that?" He was asking about the garbanzo beans I was rinsing in the sink.

We spied the moon tonight out the window from the dinner table, which is rare these cloudy days. The moon is a waxing crescent and only 42% of full. Jasper said "people take away part of moon... I'm sad."

We've all been coaching Jasper to respond appropriately to the questions "What's your name?" and "How old are you?" He has finally been getting the hang of it, only this evening, I started with the question "How old are you?" to which he answered confidently, "Jasper." Then Rob asked him "How many days was Rome built in?" Any guesses as to what Jasper confidently replied?

Family Adventures

Lucy's school friend, Teo, spent the night with us last week. We were pleased that they were asleep by 11:00 pm. Rob stayed with the girls while Teo's Mom, b/f Jeff, and I went to our Anthroposophical Study Group. Stay tuned for a definition of Anthroposophy. Turns out a few meetings of a study group is not enough time to get a straightforward definition out of anyone. I kind of like the anticipation...

Jasper is rubbing his hands together with anticipation for the Indian buffet that awaited him. We go to Indian buffets just for him.




OK truth be told, Jasper isn't so very fond of Indian buffets, but he does truly love to hang out with Granny and Grandpa Brown.



The nighttime pics are from the much bally-hooed lantern walk at Lucy's school. Lucy took the picture of her friends that cut off Rob's head. Dahlia and Emilie were obviously amused; hard to say how Rob felt about it... Other peaceful scenes from the Lantern walk, like Jasper lovingly shoving his sister in the back... So sweet...




We had a family bus ride - it ended up taking us about an hour and a half to get to Wallingford, but as you can see, Lucy at least found some interesting ways to pass the time at the Metro station.











Finally, we had dinner with the other Browns and much dancing ensued.

The Worm Whisperer

Halloween

We have found the perfect place for our family on Halloween: a local park where some Waldorf teachers organize a community gathering that includes live music and a series of super-duper spooky stops for treats (for example green people, circus performers, and a granny in a rocking chair knitting...). And the park has a short path through a small woodsy area that provides a chance to see all the other little gouls and goblins as we stroll along and also gives the children some grounding and distraction from the candy aspect. Lucy immediately ran into her good friend, Tessa the Witch. They took off and didn't look back. Then Pippi and the Witch ran into other friends and generally played with a perplexing intensity. Then, as if that wasn't thrilling enough, more friends showed up - namely many of Lucy's school friends, and her good friend Maggie - AKA Dorothy.
After all that, our friends joined us at our house for a mini-potluck. It was great because the kids entertained each other so well that we had actual sustained, adult dinner conversation. A treat indeed. I'm still a little giddy from this. And strangely, in spite of eating nothing but candy and dessert, the kids were super happy and there were no meltdowns (although at one point they were all naked except for the required undergarments).
More pics below of Pippi and the basketball player (with guest appearances from a witch, the world's cutest puppy dog, and Dorothy).