Harvest and Michaelmas Celebration!

Yesterday we got to celebrate harvest time and Michaelmas with our Waldorf home school friends. We had sooooo much fun and got to make many new friends. We have been so blessed to connect with so many wonderful home school families that share our educational philosophies. And what a blessing that so many of our new friends are little girls! (So many times my girls have been the only girls among many boys!)



Our gathering started with a delicious lunch.












Afterwards, David, an expert in wheat braiding (who has worked doing it at the Renaissance Fair for 12 years) taught us to braid wheat. He is very talented as you can see by this example! He taught me how to do the compass (4 strand) braid. My girls are a little young for braiding, (they wanted to play more than anything else) but I brought some wheat home so we could try it again.











After braiding, we heard a story from Lana about the harvest and the origin of the scarecrow.
Then Jennifer led us in the making of a scarecrow!


We had so much fun that 4 hours passed very quickly. These are our friends that we are going to start having nature walks with on Fridays. We are so blessed to have these friends.

A yummy autumn soup

Yesterday we met several of our Waldorf home schooling friends to celebrate the harvest and Michaelmas! It was a potluck, so I made one of our favorite soups that my wonderful friend Susan taught me to make last year. I felt I needed to share it because it is soooooooo good and such a nice autumn thing to do. It's also quite easy. Here are the ingredients:

10-12 sweet potatoes OR one large butternut squash, peeled and cubed
2 cans coconut milk
1 large onion, diced
2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp. ginger (grated or from a jar)
2 handfuls of cilantro, chopped
2 tbsp. coconut oil.

Boil the potatoes/butternut until soft. Saute the onion in the coconut oil until clear--almost caramelized.
To the onions, add the ginger, press the garlic in and throw in the cilantro. Saute a bit longer (but don't let the garlic burn!) A couple of minutes should do. When the potatoes/butternut are soft, drain the water. Add the 2 cans of coconut milk and blend with a hand blender. Throw in a cup or two of water if it seems necessary. Then add the sauteed ingredients and salt to taste. It has a delicious Thai flavor. Serve with a good whole grain bread. YUM!!

So beautiful!!

So this morning I slept in because I have a cold. :(  (Too much running around, I know.)  But anyways, I was delighted and surprised to wake up to the sound of rain.  My window was open and it sounded so beautiful.  I peeked out to look at the rain and found a nice surprise in our back yard . . . our avocado tree is bearing fruit again!!!  It's been about 2 years.  We had to give it a big trim back then and so we are just now getting fruit again.  YAY!  I saw around 8 avocados!

So I decided to go out to the front porch to look at the rain.  I know that the picture gives it away, but I thought: "I wonder if there's a rainbow out there?"  So I walked all the way out to the front of our front yard to find that yes, there was, right over the house!!  I got so excited, I ran in the house and woke Craig and the girls up and brought them out to see.  The rain was so light, I was afraid it was going away.  Oh, it was soooooooooooooooo beautiful!!  I just wish I could figure out how to put a picture of it in the header of this blog!! (Okay, yay! With my sister Brenda's help, I figured it out!!)

L A County Fair

On Friday, Craig and I took the girls to the LA county fair.  We forgot our camera, so we took pictures on Craig's phone.  I guess we need a special cord to upload the pictures onto the computer so I can't show any yet!  But I will try to upload them soon.  So here's a picture I found online.  :)  

The fair was heaven and h*ll.  We literally had to walk through tons of h*ll to get to the heaven.  But it was worth it.  And thankfully, my friend prepared me so I knew-- and I had prepared the girls. :)  At the entrance that we entered through there was a HUGE carnival.  There were booths selling all kinds of junky food, junky toys, and tons of too expensive rides!  But we went because we wanted to see all the wonderful animals.  (If we want a carnival, we'll go to the Santa Monica pier.)  After walking (in extreme heat) for what seemed like forever, we finally got to the part of the fair that had all the animals!!  And it was well worth the walk.  

First, we saw pigs!  We saw two HUGE mamas nursing their little baby pigs.  It was sooooooo cute!  There were tons of little baby piglets--many of them sound asleep.  They were adorable. Then we heard there was going to be a cow milking demonstration so we went to see that.  It was interesting.  I thought someone was going to show us with their hands, but instead, they put these suction tubes onto the cow's teets to draw the milk out.  I guess that's the way its done now, so that's the way they demonstrate it! I wish we could have seen them milked the less industrialized way. :)

We saw many, many types of cows.  We saw horses, donkeys, burros and Watusi cattle (with the super long horns.)  We saw every kind of sheep and goat you could imagine.  The mamas with their babies were so cute!  We saw every kind of chicken.  We saw bunnies.  We got to pet baby chicks.  We saw baby chicks at one day, three days, 5 days, 7 days, and 12 days old.  It's amazing how much they grow in just one or two days.  (It REALLY made me want to get some.) We saw a porcupine, an opossum, a mama rat with 11 day-old nursing babies!  We saw a huge 30lb. bunny.  

We saw a wonderful bee exhibit and found the queen bee and watched her lay her eggs.  We bought some honeycomb to eat which was DELICIOUS.  The big girls got to go for a pony ride. Afterwards, Ceci kept saying she wanted to go but when we went to put her on a pony, she totally freaked (like we knew she would!)  :)  

After we had seen literally every animal at the fair, we went to check out the garden area.  It was another long walk.  So we took a tram ride to help us out which was nice.  The garden area was sooooooo pretty!

After that, we found the "going green" section that had eco-friendly booths either selling things or educating.  One of my favorite stores was there, 10,000 Villages, which is a Fair Trade store in Pasadena on Lake Ave.  I highly recommend this store for gifts.  They are such great people and they really help people around the world earn a fair income.  The girls got to meet Smokey Bear and made buttons that they colored.  We also watched a Chinese acrobat show that was super cute.  

The last thing we did was check out a really neat model miniature train village.  It was very big and so cute!  I highly recommend checking it out--I guess its open even after the fair ends.  We had such a nice time.  I would totally go to the LA county fair again only next time, we'll park by the entrance that's near the animals!!!! :)

Art classes at the Armory

On Wednesday, Bella and Olivia started art classes at the Armory up in Old Town Pasadena. Bella's class is actually a "fun with drama" class where they will do beginning acting, but they will also be making their costumes and scenery. They will end with a performance in December where Bella is going to play a mouse. Lala's art class is making art based on planes, trains and rockets. She already built a rocket out of cardboard that she's going to cover in paper mache next week.








So Ceci and I got to wander around Old Town during their classes. I love Old Town! We wandered over to this beautiful courtyard only one block down that I love-- right by the Old Town Pub. There is the coolest store there called the Majestical Roof that sells work all by local artists. I was delighted when I walked in the hall of the courtyard to see that an artist installation had been put up--1000 hanging magnifying glasses in 5 varying sizes (hung with over one mile of wire!) It looked sooooooooo cool! Then I looked across the courtyard and there was a little gallery open next to the Majestical Roof! It was full of ceramic art. It was so well done that I had to snap a couple pictures. I was fortunate enough to meet the artist, David Lovejoy, who happened to be stopping by. He did the ceramic work and the installation. He gave me a mini-tour of his work (while I kept Ceci from breaking it!). It was really neat, he does a lot of raku firing and likes to make his surfaces look something like excavated artifacts. It was so inspiring because ceramics and sculpture was my major in college (feels more like a past life.) It got me thinking about how I might be able to bring art back into my life a little more. I plan to start by attending the Art Night Pasadena coming up on October 10th. David will be having an opening reception that night as well. I want to encourage any local friends who read this to consider attending. It should be pretty fun!




So I'm really glad the girls are taking these classes. They really enjoyed their first day!

Il Trittico

WOW. Last night Craig and I went to see the opera "Il Trittico" at the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion. It was amazing. I've been in awe all day of how beautiful it was. I keep trying to figure out how I can go back and see it again this Friday, which is the last performance. It was soooo good!  We had not seen an opera since we saw "Carmen" four years ago so it was kind of exciting to be back at the Dorothy Chandler (although our favorite will always be the Capitol Theatre in Salt Lake City.)

"Il Trittico" was written by Giacomo Puccini.  It was the last opera he completed. (He died while writing "Turandot," my personal favorite.)  He wrote some of the most famous operas including "La boheme," "Tosca" and "Madama Butterfly."  I LOVE him.  

"Il Trittico," (the triptych) is comprised of three one-act operas.  They were each wonderful!  The common thread of the three is death, but each story is completely different.  The first, "Il Tabarro" ("The Cloak"), is the story of a torrid love triangle that ends tragically. This story was beautiful and passionate. It left me aching and crying. The next, "Suor Angelica" ("Sister Angelica") is the heart-breaking story of a cloistered nun that longs for her child that she was separated from. The ending is first tragic, but then redemptive. It was so beautiful, I cried even harder. To lighten things up, the last opera was "Gianni Schicchi," a romantic comedy about a recently deceased uncle and what his family (and Gianni Schicchi) do to change his will to their likings. This was directed by none other than Woody Allen. It was adorable (but a little racy at times!) The set was amazing!! And it was so nice to end on a happy note. I have seen "Gianni Schicchi" before, but this performance was hands-down better. The song "O mio babbino caro," is from this opera, which was made famous from the movie "A room with a view." The soprano knocked it out of the park, it was so wonderful!


The show was 3 hours and 45 minutes-- I just sat there mesmerized, so blown away by what opera can do. I felt transported physically (to the settings) and emotionally (to the feelings of the characters.) Opera makes you feel on such a deeper level. I left wishing we'd all sing to each other, rather than talk to communicate. I think I could do that! What a beautiful language music is. Thank you, Puccini!!

If you are interested, please click here for a nice sampling from the opera on youtube--it's really good. If you want to read the synopses of each story click here. PLEASE DO, they are so beautiful--- you might find your own eyes welling up. If anyone out there can go this Friday, please try to go! laopera.com
And take note that "Carmen" is coming in November!

Our second week of school and other stuff

We had a very busy week last week! I was so tired every night that I couldn't bring myself to blog at all-- yet, I can't just NOT blog things!! So I'm going to try to catch up tonight.







On Tuesday, we drove down to Fallbrook with Brieanne and her kids to visit a puppy that she is going to buy when it's weaned. Oh my goodness, we're these puppies and their mama CUTE! The kids had a total blast playing with these pups for around 2 hours. They nursed, they played, they slept, and played some more. Afterwards, we had lunch at a cute health food store in town. Then we played in a cute toy shop that carries natural toys such as Haba. It was a big day and a long drive!























On Wednesday, we met our friends Claudia (my friend) and her daughters Tamar and Callista at the Huntington Library. We had a WONDERFUL time. Claudia and I relaxed on a bench under a umbrella while the girls played in this ADORABLE little playhouse and had a "snail" tea party. Yes, the girls had found a ton of snails and brought them to the table . . . I thought it was interesting when I found this bronze sculpture of a snail right on the doorway. We also wandered the new Chinese garden--I had not seen it completely finished yet--it's just amazing. The girls had SOOOOOOO MUCH fun! The bookstore was pretty fun too--with all the fairy things!









Thursday evening was my ward's Enrichment Fall Social. We had a potluck dinner in the backyard of the home of our Relief Society president. We had a wonderful turnout and I could tell all the sisters had a really nice time. Craig and I were the entertainment!! :) Since we're a little out of practice, we sort of ended up winging it. But people told us they really enjoyed our music. We did "All I have to do is dream," "Helpless," "All my lovin'," "I will," "Girl from Ipanema," "Only love can break your heart," "Dream a little dream," "In my life," "Big Yellow Taxi," "Comes a time," "And I love her," and "Sabor a mi." It was pretty fun. I'm so glad that I can do music with Craig--



On Friday, Craig and I went on a "date." We had not been out like that since my birthday in June. We went to the Scarlett Tea Room in Old Town Pasadena. It was perfect because I was able to have a full tea service and Craig got dinner. We ended up sharing everything. Every bite was soooooooooo good! And there was a pianist there playing the most beautiful music. Afterwards, we walked around Old Town and hung out in Barnes and Noble. It was really fun. So nice to be away from the kids for a while.


On Saturday, we drove to San Diego to attend a party for Craig's Aunt Lenna. She is a wonderful lady. It was so nice to see her and her son, Steve. We later had dinner at Steve's home with her and his family. It was such a nice visit--they are such great people. This was my first time getting to know them.

Our first week of school . . .

We "officially" started school on Monday, September 8th. Prior to that, I'd been working really hard on creating an ideal routine for us and we have been working really hard to stick to it. We have not yet had a day where we really did everything perfectly, (don't know if we ever will,) but we are striving. (I do have a potty-training two-year old who empties drawers!)







Here's our "Ideal" schedule:

Morning Routine
5:30 I wake up, personal prayer, scripture study and meditation
6:00 MWF yoga, TThS walk--water garden
7:00 Girls wake-up, family prayer
7:15 Start making breakfast--girls help
7:30 Bless and eat breakfast
8:00 Clear and clean table & kitchen--girls help
8:30 We all brush teeth, make beds and get dressed for day
9:00 Short morning walk
9:30 Snack
9:40 Circle time-- prayer, sing songs, read stories, or play a game
10:00 Put Ceci down-- School time till 12
12:00 Prepare lunch--girls help
12:30 Eat lunch!

This is what we do each day in the afternoons:
Monday--Cleaning and make food day--soup, chili, hummus--girls help
Tuesday--Meet home school group at the park or go on a field trip
Wednesday--3:45-5:15 Art Classes at Armory (starting this week)
Thursday--3:30-4:15 Ballet(starting in October,) Farmer's Market
Friday--Meet other home school friends for a nature walk & painting day

Evening Routine
4:30 Start dinner
5:30 Eat dinner
6:15 Clean kitchen (leave it spotless!) put girls in bath
6:45 Brush teeth, pajamas, Scriptures, stories (Mondays--Family Home Evening)
7:20 Girls IN BED!
7:30 Asleep!
8:00 Craig & I read scriptures and pray together
8:30 -10:00 Mommy & Daddy personal time!!! Read curriculum books--prepare next day's lessons, blog, play guitar, finish projects.
10:00 Go to sleep! (This is the HARDEST part!)

I hope this isn't too much information!! You'll notice that we do our schooling from 10am-12pm. I'll be blogging more later on what we do during those hours--but I just want to clarify that I believe children are learning every minute of the day and that the most important thing is having an established routine that they feel secure in. Some of the most important things they are learning are when they are helping sweep the floor or cut vegetables or just getting along with each other. And I believe their most important learning of all takes place during their free play time while acting out their stories, using their imaginations.






Anyways, so here are some pics from our first week--I didn't take too many because I was so focused on our routine-- but the ones above are the girls on a couple walks--we met some nice kitties. We went to our home school group park day and met up with our friends Tamar and Callista. We also visited Brieanne and her wonderful children (where we get to play with chickens and bunnies!) and we made a DELICIOUS apple crisp! Perfect because we've been talking about harvest and apples.

I'll try to blog soon what we did in our second week of school and our family activities too! :)

Celebrating a life

So yesterday was the memorial service for my friend's wonderful wife. I woke up very early to be in North Hollywood by 8:15 for a sound check and some run-throughs. I've never sang at anything that made me so nervous! I'm not sure if it was because of the sadness of the situation or the fact that the song is one of the most difficult I've ever learned. The melody and the timing were so hard to grasp.

I think I was terribly nervous because I felt so bad for my friend--my heart was just breaking for him.

The service was the most beautiful I've ever attended aside from my own Mother's service. It was truly a celebration of her life! It was at a lovely Methodist church with gorgeous stained-glass windows. The chapel was overflowing with people (many standing) and it was clear this woman was beloved. The service began with a wonderful sermon by my friend's own father who is a Methodist Reverend. He said so many beautiful and comforting things. What I remember most is that he talked about what a gift life is. We then sang a hymn together with very comforting lyrics by Horatio Spafford. "It is well with my soul." I really needed to sing/hear this song.

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Refrain:
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

But, Lord, ’tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
The sky, not the grave, is our goal;
Oh, trump of the angel! Oh, voice of the Lord!
Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul!

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.

The program went on to have some beautiful musical performances interspersed with spoken tributes. Each speaker had such sweet, wonderful and even funny things to say--we were laughing and crying. Everyone who spoke of her called her their best friend. I know this woman was a truly wonderful person. It was so incredibly emotional. It was hard to keep composure when I was trying to be prepared to sing.

The musical performances were all beautiful. The first was a woman singing a moving a cappella version of Ave Maria. Then another woman sweetly sang "Blackbird" (Beatles) accompanied by guitar. A gentleman then played "Running up that Hill" (Kate Bush) on piano. That one nearly killed me it was so heartfelt. Next thing I knew, it was our turn to sing "In my Life," (Beatles) which I sang harmonies on with my two friends, Julian and Steve. Steve played guitar and Taylor played cello. I was very happy with how we did it.

The song to end the memorial was "Calling All Angels." On the inside, I was a basket-case. How was I going to sing this song standing right in front of my widower friend and his little daughter? I walked up, and somehow felt like I was a puddle on the floor. All the emotion had melted me. In my heart I asked God to help me do my very best. Steve and Taylor each played wonderfully, their music truly touching our souls. And I sang with all my heart as I watched my friend cry. I put everything I had into it. Steve sang sweet harmony with me. I know the angels were with us too. Somebody told me later that during our song the sun came out from behind the clouds and shone through the doors and windows. So many people said they loved our song including my friend.

I am just so grateful that I had this opportunity. I know God sent this song to me at a time when I am experiencing my own personal heart-breaks and I really needed it. I am so glad I could support my friend and honor his wishes for the memorial. He said that his wife had recently downloaded the song onto her itunes so I couldn't help but feel it was her wish too. Please continue to remember my friend and his daughter in your prayers.

When I say, "I am a Christian"

When I say, "I am a Christian," I'm not shouting, "I've been saved!"
I'm whispering, "I get lost! That's why I chose this way"

When I say, "I am a Christian," I don't speak with human pride
I'm confessing that I stumble--needing God to be my guide

When I say, "I am a Christian," I'm not trying to be strong
I'm professing that I'm weak and pray for strength to carry on

When I say, "I am a Christian," I'm not bragging of success
I'm admitting that I've failed and cannot ever pay the debt

When I say, "I am a Christian," I don't think I know it all
I submit to my confusion asking humbly to be taught

When I say, "I am a Christian," I'm not claiming to be perfect
My flaws are far too visible but God believes I'm worth it

When I say, "I am a Christian," I still feel the sting of pain
I have my share of heartache which is why I seek His name

When I say, "I am a Christian," I do not wish to judge
I have no authority--I only know I'm loved

--Carol Wimmer

A friend emailed this poem to me today. I felt it so deeply, I just had to share.

More Labor Day

So after the beach we went to get dinner at a place called "Roberto's." It was right across the street from Torrey Pines Reserve which is very beautiful. We saw fish jumping right out of the stream!! Afterwards, we went back to the high cliffs we went to the night before and watched paragliders. It was sunset and sooooooooooooo beautiful! These pictures do not do the colors of the sunset justice. If you click on this bottom right photo, you can see the tiny crescent moon! I didn't want the day to end.