Happy Halloween

Last Monday, Owen and I went out to the farms to get food. While we were out that way, we used his free pass for the Strasburg Rail Road that he got from the library during the summer reading program. (This was the only useful coupon among the free McDonald's ice creams and such.) He had fun riding in the turn of the century coach car.

We also finally got our pumpkins. He'd been asking for over a month, and I'd been holding him off so we'd have ones that were still good for Halloween.
He and Abram carved them Wednesday night while I was out.

I think they did a great job!

Yes, this photo was taken on the toilet.

In Lancaster, "they" decide when to celebrate Halloween. Last year, "they" decreed that Halloween should be celebrated on Friday, October 30. This year, "they" sent down a edict that we could all celebrate on Friday, October 29. I guess almost 50% of trick-or-treat nights end up on Friday - maybe more???.
So, we celebrated Halloween a couple of nights early by going a visitin' during trick-or-treat time. Owen's knight costume had already had a test run a couple of weeks ago, but this time he did wear the chainmail shirt under his tabard. He's been loving the decorations that the neighbors have:

Again this year, we did not collect treats. Two neighbors actually came to our door to try to give treats, and one left them even after we declined. Owen thinks we can share them with someone who eats candy. He enjoyed walking around the neighborhood close to the college and visiting some friends to see their costumes and show off his own.

Birthing Again

I'm looking forward to birthing this baby. Owen's birth was an intense and wonderful experience, and I am wondering what this coming birth will be like - what it will teach me. Abram and I recently took a (Birthing From Within) Birthing Again class with a local doula and CBE, Kerry Clements. She prepared a wonderful day of birth preparation activities for us, and I am really glad that we had the time to spend together psychologically preparing for this new baby's entrance into the world.
Pamela England's Birthing From Within book and childbirth preparation classes focus on the psychological aspects of birth and help parents prepare mentally for the challenges, joys, disappointments, and fears of birth. We did a lot of birth art activities, and we were both pleased with the experience of focusing on our expectations, feelings, and concerns through drawing.
England uses the labyrinth as a birth metaphor, and after learning how to draw a labyrinth, we taught Owen to make one big enough for us all to walk through - what a great use of the local ball field

and the sand pit at Gifford Pinchot Stake Park.

The recent belly painting was inspired during that class, and I have been trying to really savor these last few weeks of pregnancy -
hiking with Abram and Owen,

sitting on my bum watching

them fish,

doing yoga, and enjoying the sometimes cooler weather while looking forward to birthing again.

Nesting

I've been nesting.
I canned/froze 45 quarts of tomatoes over 2 weekends in September. That may sound like a lot, and it while it was a ton of work, that's less than a quart a week for the year.

I've also been "feeding the freezer" for the last month or so. I try to make double batches of things for dinner and freeze the extra. Now, my freezer is FULL of part of a beef, whole baking chickens, stock, and ready to thaw and eat meals for when I am too busy sitting on my bum nursing to cook dinner.
I have completed most of my Christmas shopping and making.
Yesterday, Owen and I did potato stamping (with a turnip that wasn't getting any love in the fridge :o)) to make lots of bags for quick and easy Christmas wrapping. This was a good rainy day project!


I finished a couple of baby quilts recently - one for a Christmas present for another new baby

and one very similar one for our new baby.

The second one has the back that I made back in June.

My current project is a sweater for Owen. It's knit from the bottom up, and I'm on the yoke, so I'm making good progress toward finishing it before Christmas - so long as I complete it before the baby arrives. I'm thinking a month is plenty of time to finish that sweater!

Yoga

It's been a while since I was able to do a yoga class, and as you may all have guessed, a home practice is out of the question with Owen as part of our household. Recently, Abram found a perfect class for me - a relaxation class on campus that doesn't conflict with his schedule.
Lately, on Fridays, I have been doing yoga while Owen and Abram have a lunch date. They've enjoyed Thai food from the market, Five Guys burgers and fries, and sushi while I have enjoyed PEACE and RELAXATION.
Sadly, I have no pictures, but I can assure you that I look graceful, coordinated, and beautiful throughout each and every class ;-). Actually, I probably look more like a yoga ball than a yogi, but I feel so nice that it doesn't really matter what I look like!
I'm pleased that it has worked out so nicely for Abram and Owen to have a special time while I do a bit of centering.

Yesterday, we got a flier about a children's yoga class in town, and Owen and I checked it out today. As the old class had just moved up, he was the only child (a good thing for his first day). He picked out a purple mat since there wasn't an orange one and worked on the floor with the instructor as she read Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? For each animal, they did a different pose. They also played a game of staying on the mat while moving wildly then freezing in a pose when the teacher said stop. Owen really enjoyed it, and we are planning to go back for more kids' yoga.

Afterwards, Owen got a fresh orange juice from the market (a rare treat), and we sat at a fountain and listened to some high school students drum.

Belly and Face Painting

We watched part of the movie, Babies, at our Birthing Again (Birthing From Within) class. After seeing the Namibian mother crush and rub red-brown paint over her pregnant belly, we talked with Kerry, the teacher, about how much fun it would be for Owen to paint my belly. One rather unsuccessful attempt with henna later,

(above, a treasure map in henna)
I got face paint crayons which were much more fun and user-friendly.
Owen really enjoyed doing art on mama. Since the paints came on a card with Halloween ideas, he was inspired to make "a vampire" (actually looks to be Frankenstein's monster) on my belly. He, of course, doesn't know either one is scary. He asked me to do his face like the devil on the card.

We went out to play (in public) with his face showing and my belly covered.
When Daddy was finished with work, Owen somehow convinced him that he (Owen) should do his face like a devil too. I think he did a great job on both paintings! Like father, like son:

Poor Kitties. . .

. . . lucky squirrel!

Bigger Belly

I'm sure you all must be wondering what I must look like to draw comments from neighbors and complete strangers. Certainly my belly is growing quite impressively, but nothing too shocking - I promise.

I can still do Ring Around the Rosie.

And I'm as happy as the Buddha.

Abram thinks I'd look just right here with Lilliputians all around me.

PA Ren. Faire - 2010

Abram's been pretty busy lately with three classes to teach, applications for jobs, and a book review. This weekend, we've been able to spend a bit of time with him, and we like it!
Sunday, Owen and Abram donned their knights' best, and we headed up to the PA Renaissance Faire for our third year of Renaissance fun. I just couldn't manage to imagine anything out of my selection of maternity clothes, so I went as pregnant me. I'd really hoped to be a pregnant nun, but that would have required a bit more time and money than I was willing to spend.
Owen wore his (very small) chainmail shirt, a crocheted "chainmail" coif, a new puffy shirt, and a new green taffeta tabard. After seeing the jousting knights, he let us put his tabard over his chainmail shirt. He was pretty sure he wanted to carry his very heavy shield from Will, but we convinced him that it was best to leave it in the car for the day - thank goodness, because I didn't want to carry it around myself.

We enjoyed looking at the bow making shop and the knife making demonstration, eating a large turkey leg and peanuts, tasting honey and looking for the queen in a hive, listening to music, watching a jousting tournament and a comedy knife-throwing show, and . . .

. . . riding on a hippogriff.

Owen's Art

Owen likes to do art projects - of his own design and ones I pick out. Lately we have worked on a few Christmas gifts (some of which I can't post here 'cause people would know what they were getting).
We had to make some paint out of glue and food coloring when we opened these "stained glass" ornaments up and found that the paint was all dried out. Owen was super careful about painting them. (Also note the chalk drawing from earlier.)

With the extra paint, he painted a rather long dragon that took up 7 sheets of paper.

Although I wouldn't generally say he's careful or meticulous, his art definitely is. He is very serious about it.
Here's some drawings in the ball field dirt from a recent walk at the park. We had to go back the next day to get the pictures.
an arrow:

unnamed:

a giant:

a circle:


He's also asked to use the camera some lately. Here are some of his photos:
Zoos:

a groundhog hole:

We have a colony of groundhogs living in our back yard. Fortunately, I don't have a garden so we can just enjoy watching the groundhogs and watching the cats watch the groundhogs.
a mushroom:

a jet: