painting, playing and such (:

Jude and I are loving the pumpkin-ness of this time of year (: We decided to make a couple jolly little pumpkin garlands to decorate our window. First, we painted large pieces of paper with orange paint, then drank tea while they were drying. Tea parties are awesome.

Ollie woke up from his very short nap and jumped right into painting!

I made the garland by folding the paper into a fan and then cutting out a pumpkin shape. Then Jude drew the most wonderful faces on each one, each unique (:

When we were finished, he drew tattoos on himself.

 

Then Ollie drew tattoos on himself too (:

And of course I needed some, so Jude gave me three; a chainsaw, a tree and a baby highchair.

Practicing letters (:

Playing with puzzles (:

A walk in the sumac forest

At the far, far edge of the pasture, over the little hill and towards the woods, there is a special place where the boys love to go. It is our very own little sumac forest. There is a pathway through the sumacs, likely made by deer, and it weaves in and around and along the old split-rail fence. There are 'rooms' inside the trees and for little boys, finding little rooms in a little forest is the most wonderful thing in the whole world (: When we venture there, the sheep follow us and bound across the meadow, leaping into the air and bouncing like little lambs (even though they are big, fat lambs now!) and it is one of my very happiest moments, every time it happens.

some of the chick'ns

White sussex pullets

Sleepy Easter Egger pullet ~ This one is my favourite (:

Free ranging!

Donning a lovely chicken apron..

I think this hen wins the award for grumpiest chicken. She is a tremendous grouch, and nearly impossible to catch! We didn't raise her ourselves, and her former owner clipped her wings. But isn't she so pretty in her apron? (-;

Welsummer pullet ~ I love her plumage!

Yep, this guy is pretty hideous! He's our Turken rooster (:

Handsome Easter Egger rooster

Cutie-patootie Faverolle pullet on her way to somewhere important (:

Sleepyhead hen dozing in the sun

Rhode Island Red

Golden Laced Wyandottes all in a line (:

Goofy Faverolle

Wyandottes in a line again!

Be where you are.

Those words kept playing over and over in my head yesterday. It's good that I listened to them, even if only in retrospect. I customarily power through the day, there being so much to do, and a never-ending list of things that need to be done as soon as one thing gets accomplished.
But yesterday, I was so-so-so tired. That kind of tiredness that has you totally done in..where you feel like a walking zombie as you drag through your moments. I still did everything. I still made the meals, did the laundry, swept the floor, fed and watered the barn animals, cleaned the kitchen, walked the dog in the rain, minded the little ones and prepared a bushel of apples for applesauce. In the end, the applesauce burned and the whole pot was ruined which has never happened to me before, but I suppose that says a lot about my abilities while in such a state.
It's hard to "be where you are" when you have no coherent thoughts or basic mindful attention to your life!
Oh well. I know it won't last forever (:
Right now, Ollie is napping and Jude is watching a short video, even though I feel a bit guilty about that - and I am on the couch under a quilt with a cup of tea. I don't ever do this, but I should, so I am. I rather like it actually!

And totally unrelated, look at this great big fungus we found in the pasture!

Three pictures of me ~ taken by Jude (:

flight over the pasture

Ollie loves tea!

We all love our tea around here, even the littlest among us!

And now, with the changing leaves and cooling weather, glorious warm tea is even more wonderful (:
I am giving thanks for the simplest things on this day (:

Some random goodness..

The kids and I made old-fashioned pink popcorn. It looks beautiful but it was waaayyyy too sweet.

Woolley Pippin lump lounging in the barn doorway (:

Really yummy muffins, made with oats, applesauce and banana.

Jude and Ollie in an old church full of antiques

Jude and I stamped with legos and other blocks and then drew to make robots and such.

Haha! Ollie is the silliest sleeper!

Ollie running fast!

Kitchen helpers (:

Chocolate chip cookie dough; something I don't make very often (-;

Autumn trees by Jude

We took our leaves out of the flower press this afternoon (:

We thought it would be fun to make a pretty autumn tree with them. Two actually.

I cut a tree shape out of contact paper and taped it to the window.

Jude drew a trunk and cut it out and stuck it to the contact paper, then proceeded to stick the leaves all over it. He loved it. A very peaceful boy (:

He saved a handful and we made a smaller tree for Ollie (he was napping and Jude wanted to make a little one, just for him)

Tomorrow we will have to take another walk to collect more acorns and leaves! We have used them all up!

Painting on acorns

I took the little ones for a walk down the forest road earlier today.

We found many lovely acorns, and fallen leaves too of course!

We tucked the leaves into our flower press right away, painted ink faces onto the acorns and then wrapped a little garment around each one, fastening with a bit of yarn (:

A simple activity, good for a 4 year old (:

Jude painted faces on at least 10 acorns; he loved that part of the process!

Oh, October is a joyous and creative month (:

In the pasture

Everywhere we go, we travel as a pack! (:

love.

Teapot and I, taking a moment together (: