Thanksgiving

We felt very blessed that our friends, the Frasers invited us to spend Thanksgiving with them at their home in La Jolla. I had been planning on cooking at home but at the last minute I realized my dad was going to go to my sister's in Utah and then my mother-in-law decided she would go see her sister when she found out some of us had colds! So we drove down and were spoiled by Monique and Tom's hospitality and DELICIOUS cooking! The girls were THRILLED that they got to play with their "big brother" Standing. They had a blast with him and got to play with his collection of ugly dolls before dinner. After dinner, we got to watch another great Miyazaki film, "Howl's Moving Castle" while eating the BEST apple pie I've ever had (made by Monique-- And I'm not exaggerating!) The next day, the girls had more fun with Standing. He made them some awesome balloon animals!
We went to see Craig's aunt Lena and his cousin, Cheri who I got to meet for the first time. We had a wonderful visit and we look forward to seeing them again soon.

Saying Goodbye to Andrew

Sadly, our visit with the Barbers came to end! It was also unfortunately somewhat spoiled by colds and rain on the last couple days. BUT we still had a wonderful time and hopefully, (keeping my fingers crossed!) they'll come again soon when Susan has an art show in South Pasadena. Here is the CUTEST picture of my girls hugging their brother Andrew.

Wet felted pumpkins

Another fun thing we did while Andrew and Susan were visiting was make wet-felted pumpkins. We wanted to make them to decorate our Thanksgiving table. Wet-felting is done by using wool, warm water, soap and some agitation. We wrapped the wool around balls to make the round shape and went to work. Using a wash board helped too. Then we dried them in the dryer. They came out pretty nice, but I really should have used a smaller ball so they would have been thicker. Learn from my mistakes! If you do this, use a tennis ball. They will be way cuter. We'll do it again next year!

Autumn Leaves & Andrew's visit!

This week we had the wonderful blessing of our friends Susan and Andrew visiting us. Andrew is like a brother to my girls. One of the days, we took a beautiful autumn walk where we sang lots of autumn songs, crunched through carpets of leaves and gathered bouquets of leaves of all colors. We took pictures with leaves on the girls heads because of a beautiful song we like to sing:

When Mary Goes Walking
When Mary (we sing Bella, Lala or Ceci) goes walking, the autumn winds blow
The Poplars they curtsey, the Larches bend low
The Oaks and the Beeches their gold they fling down
To make her a carpet, to make her a crown!
To make her a carpet, to make her a crown!





















PS--If anyone is interested in USA-made organic cotton clothing we found these outfits at Lapsaky.com

The Elves Faire

We LOVE the Elves Faire which is held every November at the Pasadena Waldorf School. Our first time was only two years ago where I first discovered the beauty and magic of Waldorf. Now I feel like I wait all year for this fair to come. The fair has so much to offer! There are wonderful handmade toys to buy, beautiful crafts to make, live music performed in every corner, puppet shows, plays, great food and a sweet tea garden where you can dress up and have a tea party.

I was so excited that my dear friend Susan and her little boy came to visit from Utah and could come with us! I was also excited that Brieanne was coming too with her little ones! It was the first time for both of them to come to the Elves Faire and I knew they would love it. We were so happy to find our girlfriend Lorell and her little ones too. We started by checking out all the beautiful handmade dolls in the doll room. Meanwhile, Craig took some of the kids to wait in the (loooooong) line for the angel room where they could pick out little handmade presents to give for Christmas. While they waited, the kids were serenaded by none other than the actor, John C. Riley, playing his guitar. He sang "She'll be comin' round the mountain" and changed the words to fit what our kids were wearing which was cute. ( She'll be wearing a rainbow cape when she comes . . .")

After this, we went to make some flower fairies which my girls and I thoroughly enjoyed making! We saw many, many friends--almost all of our Waldorf home schooling group and other home schooling and church friends. It was wonderful. Then the girls decorated tin cups. We then went up to check out some of the games in the play ground area where Bella and Lala played the fishing game a few times while Ceci napped. We then went to see the Waldorf band (my friends who I sing with sometimes) perform and I got to sing a couple songs with them which was soooooooo much fun. We did "How Sweet it is" and "Dear Prudence." This was perfect because I really wanted to sing with them, but really wanted to be with my family. (Last year, I sang with my band for like four hours which was super-fun, but I regretted not being with my girls more.) By this time, the fair was almost over and we wanted to have a tea party before it was too late. This was the kind of day where everything went too fast and we only got to do some and not all of the things we wanted to do! But we had a wonderful tea party with Lorell and her famiy. Next thing we knew, it was over. To squeeze a little more out of the fun, we then found our other Waldorf home schooling friends and hung out until it was dark! I wish it would have lasted longer!!

Another Huntington Trip

Last Friday my friend Claudia and I met so we and our girls could hang out. We had a wonderful time talking about our home schooling adventures and curriculum while our girls wandered all over the place, had a "tea party" and enjoyed nature! Gosh, the Huntington is BEAUTIFUL!

Carmen

Last night Craig and I saw Bizet's Carmen at the LA Opera. It was fantastic! All I can say is that it is simply amazing to hear this music performed live. It's funny because so many of these songs have been in cartoons and commercials but when you hear and see it live, literally watching the orchestra in the pit and seeing the performers singing on stage, you can truly fully appreciate the beauty and immensity of Bizet's wonderful music. What an opera! These songs are explosive. I especially LOVE when Carmen sings Habanera. The chorus sounds like angels. It's wonderful!

Craig and I saw Carmen four years ago also at LA Opera. I have two great stories about that time. First of all, we went with my mom and dad. My mom LOVED Carmen but she had never seen it until this time. She enjoyed it immensely. We are now sooooo glad that she got to see it because only 6 months later she was gone. Last night, I felt my mom's presence at the show.

The other story is this: I was in a "mommy and me" class with my girls at the time. The morning of the show, we went to my class and I casually mentioned to a friend that I was excited because I was going to see Carmen later. She then told me that she was going too which seemed quite a coincidence to me. She then explained that she was going with all her co-workers of the home where she is a nanny because the lady who she nannys for PLAYS Carmen! It then hit me that this friend would come sometimes with the little boy she nannied and then other days the same little boy would come with his mother. It was pretty-mind blowing to connect that this lady was a renowned international Opera star, while I had only known her as a regular mom. She is Milena Kitic. I had talked to her a few times-- she was nice. So my friend then arranged for us to get better seats at the show. We ended up on the floor maybe only 16 rows back. ($200 seats!) It was AMAZING!! I can't even begin to explain how great the view was so close up and how FANTASTIC this lady was as Carmen. I couldn't believe my eyes it was so great. LA Opera has called her "the best Carmen."

So last night was awesome, but not quite as amazing as my first Carmen experience.  I missed Milena, but we did have a wonderful time!  What beautiful music! and dancing! and costumes, and scenery! :)

Family Picture

Last Saturday we did a family picture sitting. We went to the Huntington Gardens because the backgrounds are breathtaking everywhere you turn. We hired my friend who is a professional photographer to do the pictures. Now I'm just praying they came out good!! I really dislike taking family pictures because I get so nervous that they'll come out horrible. I'm crossing my fingers . . .

Here are a couple of shots of my cute girls that I took with our camera. The last picture was taken by Craig of the prettiest hummingbird that we saw on our way out! I couldn't believe that he caught him before he flew away.

PS I just added the one of all of us--my photographer just sent it to me! :)

Celebrating Saint Martin

So Friday we were invited to our friend Claudia's home to celebrate Martinmas. We had a wonderful time. It was super-fun for the girls to get together with their home school friends. Claudia and her husband David did a Shabbat ceremony to start dinner. They lit candles, said some blessings in Hebrew, passed around wine and grape juice (for the kids and the mormons!) and then we ate some Challah bread with kosher salt. We all had brought foods for a delicious potluck dinner. After dinner, Claudia told a beautiful version of the story of St. Martin. Then, we lit all the kids' candles in their lanterns and we took a walk. It was sooooooo much fun! We sang the songs we had been practicing all week. When we got back, the kids played and we adults socialized. Claudia has the most wonderful playroom for her girls. What a lovely night we had although the fun turned to sorrow when we drove home and saw from a distance the fire in Sylmar. We have since been praying that all will be well and that the fires will be put out completely as soon as possible.