~Holiday 2: Did it~

Take note of the army guy, at lower right that has been vanquished just in time from a sneak attack on the manger. Way to go, Ox! Baby Jesus has survived!

Twinkling Juggler, Robot PJs, AND roller skates?! Seriously. For realz.

Beautiful tables set, loving family, and just the right kind of company with a lower case "c." The kind of company that brings their own instruments and makes music! Beatles sing alongs should be part of every Christmas henceforth.

We had a crazy gift swap and I ended up with a DVD from Goodwill: Yoga Booty Ballet Abs! Booty Ballet---can you believe it?! Also on the floor were a hula skirt, felt jester hat, truffles, a Chia Obama (not ours), a 1990 Jack Russell Terrier Calendar, a collection of used cookbooks and odd kitchen implements, a yogurt-maker, and much more silliness. I am sure we will see some of it again next year!

But the best is that I am a blogger with a new camera. A real deal digital SLR camera of my dreams! Thanks to my husband for organizing some family support towards this amazing gift. And for choosing a camera over an iPad because he wanted to support me as an artist, not just a consumer of technology. I am batting my eyelashes now and my heart goes pitter pat.

~Holiday 1: Preparing~

~favorite handmade ornaments~

all the Eichenlaub news fit to print

Christmas Eve hike up Beech Hill with friends and kids and Santa's Little Helper, in the frigid wind and gorgeous afternoon light. The wind was bitter and our cheeks were shiny and pink with cold on the way down. But our hearts were light and warm from good companionship!

It's important that everyone get their daily required dose of baked goods this time of year. Fat Means Flavor is Jake's idea for a way to advertise butter.

beautiful pie crust in process by my mother-in-law

Still Making Things, little clutches from a pattern by KeykaLou. Cute Cute Cute! And I came up with a few pattern shortcuts after I made a few. :) The making part took a little while to return, but it's back now, as I begin to feel less like a Mama with a brand new baby and more like a person again. A person who can see her friends! And stay up past 7 pm most nights! Who can, once again, bake for her family!

This person, below, just turned 13, even though this picture makes him look like he's going off to college! What a big (bigger than me!), handsome, clever, and intuitive fellow.

The 3 Fs

Friends, Family, Food. The most important and the best. (And reading.)

This year I didn't have to host a big Thanksgiving and I didn't have to travel far either. Yay and hooray! We had a white Thanksgiving and our first snowplow!

good cheer!

In other news, let me tell you how thrilled I am that our 3rd grader had his first homework: to make foccacia.

He copied the recipe at school and brought it home, read it himself, gathered the ingredients, kneaded the dough, with only the occasional check-in with me.

He was delighted and so proud, literally skipping through the house as he waited for it to rise. With no standardized testing interfering with instructional time, a teacher who requires children to greet adults respectfully (and stand when an adult enters the classroom), knitting and handwork, and homework like this, I am grateful every day for the education my boys are getting. Oh and there's still time for academics, and I do mean all of them, not just language arts and math!

happy valentine's day

~My favorite holiday.~

parents of 6th graders:

DO NOT show your children this picture, Jonas implores you!

One of my favorite memories of being little was sitting with my mom at my tiny table, making potato stamp Valentines for my kindergarten class. I remember the window next to our table. And that it was sunny.

A day when we get extra encouragement to spread the love.

At Rockport Public Library tomorrow, come pick up a BookLover or Love Books bookmark for a donation in any denomination to benefit the library. Old check-out cards upcycled from RPL; new stamps carved by yours truly.

Now go out and spread some love!

~fusion~

Herod couldn't get near the place

The fusion of families, of people we love, of all my folks (4 in total) and his folks (they're still married to each other!), of friends who come and go unexpectedly as well as those who last, the fusion of a staunch traditionalist and his tradition-less wife, the fusion of food and many hands, and finally of plastic and Waldorf and technology and wood.

The fusion of cowboys, knights, Indians, the Queen's guard, and WWII soldiers.

The fusion of the Force (old and new movies) with the lovely Star Money candle tableau.

Does our philosophy about technology for children change now that it is infiltrating our lives a bit more, with certain 12 year-olds who now have certain devices, gifted by certain relatives? Nope.

How about plastic toys? Yes, we have them alongside our wooden ones, and they are frequently integrated by our children in their play. How else could you build a ramp for the 20+ year old matchbox cars that have survived the years of Demolition Derby, enacted in this very hallway? (Well, OK they're not plastic, are they, if they lasted this long; they are the good, old school metal variety.)

Many hands made light work of the Lego White House model.

So. Fusion. And compromise and integration and limits and boundaries. And flannel pajamas warmed up by the woodstove.

Easter: Part 2

I bet you were feeling cheated out of the pictures you knew that I must have taken of the adorable little girls in their Easter finery. Never fear. This mother of boys won't let you down!

Here's a little flavor of the Easter party we attended.

I had to include my big boy here, so you can see his height! And he was the proud winner of the magic egg! The prize was a terrarium, now filled with grass and sometimes ladybugs. A fly on a leash is another idea Jonas had, but no takers yet.

Wading in the stream? Yes, please!

Two gorgeous bellies on view:

And Z's "widdle chicks:"

Two more favorites of the day: