Merry and Bright

Things have been chaotic and I've lost track of time....  Does this sound like the first sentence of every one of my blog entries?  If so, it is because chaos seems to be the one constant in our lives.  Not bad, mind you.  Just busy.

New owl hat from Etsy artist.
She loves it and frequently wears it in the house.

Speaking of busy...  Anna was a cherub in a local production of The Nutcracker ballet this year.  Once we hit the final rehearsals, I lost an entire week of my life, but I'm glad she did it and that she can add that to her resume of life experiences.

Anna and friend Mady admire themselves.
By the way, those extraordinary ringlet curls are a hairpiece.
Such a lifesaver!

Bravo!

Showtime!
Angels and Cherubs heading to the stage.

Instead of poker, cherubs play "Bubblegum",
just in case you didn't know.

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We are winding...up or down, I'm not sure which...for Christmas.  Looking forward to family and friends coming to town.  Christmas and New Year's traditions.  Then I'm certainly ready for nice, quiet January.

So, may your days be merry and bright with beautiful but limited amounts of the white stuff.

Happy New Year!

October Cliff Notes

Holy mackerel!  Has it already been (more than) a month?!?!  

I suppose it is a good thing that we've been doing so much living we haven't had spare time 

to blog about it.  But we do like to take some time to share what Anna has been up to 

for all our friends and family.  So, here is a brief, yet comprehensive look at the past month.

We really enjoyed another year of the annual Farm Tour.  

Really, what's not to love.

Corn!

Then we made sure to hit the Renaissance Festival this year.  

Another annual tradition.

We planted a tree in the front yard.  A beautiful river birch.  

And we held our annual soup party that evening (no photos).

  

The next morning we found what I have dubbed 

"The Bent Tree Lane Gang" in our back yard

...all seven of them.

Bent Tree Lane Gang aka the Gang of Seven

Anna was in another play at our Civic Theatre, "Big Pumpkin".  

She was Mummy #1.  We were so proud, she remembered all of her lines.

Anna with her Drama instructors.

We attended "Silents in the Cathedral", 

a silent movie festival set in an old, gorgeous episcopal church.  

This was something I'd always wanted to do, and it didn't disappoint.

Showtime!

We carved jack-o-lanterns, of course.

Anna's school had an inservice on the 31st, so we went to breakfast 

downtown to a great locally owned spot in a historic building.  

We had breakfast and board games, and the barista made Anna 

a very special hot chocolate. (See the bunny?)  

We followed breakfast with some trick-or-treating at Mom's workplace and then onto a photo shoot.  There is an awesome exhibit outside of the University museum that just screams (pardon the pun) 

witch haunt!  

Tonight we're heading out to trick-or-treat the new 'hood.  

The weather is perfect...and the forecast is calling for snow later this week.  

A perfect transition into November.

Blessings, All!

Brown-Eyed Girl

Anna just had her first appointment with an optometrist.  

Since she is just starting school, it seemed like a good idea.  I took her to see Dr. D.

 Not only did she blurt out, "This is fun!" during the exam, 

she told me later she thought he was handsome and kind.  

I was happy to hear that her eyesight is just fine.  

Huff-N-Puff 2011

Last weekend, we trekked out to the lake to watch "The Glow" at Huff-n-Puff, 

our area hot air balloon rally.   

The Glow is at twilight, after the final launch of the day 

when the balloons come back down to earth.  

They tether them in a cluster and as the moon rises 

(and it was a FULL MOON, too!) the balloons do their magic. 

We also had sno-cones, which I think are pretty magical as well.  

That would be the foodie in me rearing its head.  

Anna wanted to take a tethered ride on one of the balloons, 

but I told her it would be better to wait until she's a year older 

(and Mom conquers her fear of heights - mind you, it's just a tethered ride; 

not like actually going up that far, but fear often ignores rationality.)   

We had a nice, cool evening.  

The weather was beautiful, and the full moon looked down jealously 

as the balloons took turns lighting up like fireflies.  

I'm so glad Anna gets to grow up with these beautiful memories..

...and an annoying butterfly strobe wand that plays horrifying Japanese music

and blinks so rapidly it might throw you into a seizure at any moment.  

At least we can find her in the dark.

And would you take a look at this!