spooky season

From Sherlock Holmes to snake charming, cardboard costume construction to fairy garden celebrations, from indoor decor to museum displays, pumpkin carving to leaf pile play, the boys have not collected candy yet but there's been plenty of fall festivity already.

The really good pictures were taken by our ultra-talented, extremely generous friend Juliet.

in old Ohio

Things like travel baseball and trauma work and the cross country schedule made getting to campus to tailgate (and into the stadium to see a game!) a little harder this fall, but whenever any of us could be there, we were! And we're glad the season is not over yet.

love is an open door

We really only use the door in the mudroom, where sunglasses and shoes and hats and keys are stashed, to go in and out of the house. But the back door is where the magic happens.

It's where the cats come for attention before the sun comes up.  It's where the boys look for snacks after school, where they bring treasures to show off, insects and interesting rocks, school projects and three snakes alone just last week. The screen door is open most days, and the sounds of the neighborhood float in with the breeze. From the kitchen I hand out fish tacos, and later see a thumbs up as someone deposits their empty plate on the steps. 

Today I distributed gloves to children at every entrance. Time to order another bulk pack of those, and prepare to shiver every time the patio door slides open.

cherished days

I lost track of a couple weeks there.

I'm not so much in search of a more ordered life but I am trying to maintain a handle on what shapes our days, music and books and at least one vegetable and some sun. 

I want to be aware of what rhythms we reinforce, what any sort of busyness says about our values, what patterns may be emerging. To keep a finger on how we're doing in addition to what we're doing. 

something to think about:

"The sun makes days, seasons, and years, and the moon makes months, but people invented weeks."
-Jill Lepore