Oh, hi!

Hello.
It's been awhile since I've been back in this space and it feels great to be here:)
I'm still waiting for a new charger for my newish laptop...until then, here I sit on my 2003 slow-as- molasses desktop.
But, that's ok:)
Last time we spoke, preparations were being made for our Martinmas celebration, which was beautiful, meaningful, and full of light.

Really, it was an incredible night.
The children began constructing their lanterns a few days before Martinmas...

The older children created lanterns from balloons and tissue paper; yielding beautiful results..

(I recommend layering dark colors first, then finishing up with white and yellow..)
The younger children enjoyed painting mason jars with glue, warm water and tissue paper.

Even little W created his own, which I'll never forget:)

At 5:30, the playschool families and I met a few other friends down at the local rose garden park close to our home. We had a great turnout; about 12 families or so!
We sang all of the songs we had been singing for the past 2 weeks with much vigor and joy...
"This little light of mine" was loud and clear in the night...it gave me the chills; especially during our last verse "Shine all over Bethlehem (our town), I'm going to let it shine!"
Other songs included "Glimmer, Lantern, Glimmer" and "I walk with my Little Lantern"; all lovely and clear.
Families joined us back at our house for the story of St. Martin and a spaghetti dinner...

Despite having our small house filled to the brim with children and adults, I will say that the mood was very relaxed.
I will always remember this night. It was a night of friendship, light, and joy. I don't have many photos..or really any at all, but that's ok.

 This past Tuesday night, I somehow got out to see a concert in my town. Ani DiFranco has been a favorite singer of mine for a long time now. Oh, yes, my love for her dates back to those early-in-your-twenties-I'm-so-unsure-and-kind-of-angry days....I've always felt so inspired by the words of others, whether it's coming from an author, poet, or musician...
This was also a night to remember; singing along loudly to 32 Flavors and remembering where I was in my life the last time those words left my mouth..and how much has changed.

2004. Look at that outfit, whoa!

Although...I still wear those socks and shoes..

Sorry, I turn 30 next week and I've been doing some serious reminiscing:)

With our Martinmas celebration behind us, we move to Thanksgiving..
I created a new circle for playschool; hoping to incorporate some Thanksgiving songs, but in the end, none of them were leaving me joyful or excited to sing them with the children. It almost felt like "I had" to use these songs, which I really didn't like. Bringing this feeling to our circle would have been damaging to this time together, which is sometimes hit or miss. On some days, just like that, I lose them. Something breaks the engagement and I feel it right away. Upon reflecting on these instances, I always come back to myself. What was I feeling? Was I excited about the content? Was I distracted?
I'm happy to say that our new circle seems to be very engaging for every child. I am loving it, too and of course it shows, just as it would vice versa.
(I'll detail this movement centered circle in my next post!)
Lastly, I had the opportunity to observe in a Waldorf Kindergarten this morning. It was a beautiful experience, no surprise. One detail I'd like to reflect upon are the choice of playthings in this particular room. Besides some dolls and a few other knitted animals, almost everything was unformed. Chunks of wood, long planks of wood, sheepskins, rocks, tree stumps, tree blocks, large wooden boxes, wooden cubes...
These items were the "things" of this room, and the play I observed was cooperative, clever, and powerful.
No surprise.
Thanks for listening, friends:)