Pumpkin Tableau

Well, Steve and I came home from the "Whole Parent, Whole Family" conference in Boulder this weekend (more on that later) to discover that the children had spontaneously set up a pumpkin centrepiece in the middle of the dining room table! It consisted of a carefully-folded red cloth with a small pumpkin on top surrounded by autumn leaves. This, apparently, was Natalie's contribution. Leah added two small dishes, one of the smaller acorns on our property and one of the larger. It was so sweet to see them celebrating the season in that way, and without any prompting from an adult. They had a wonderful time with my mom -- played outside, baked cookies, and so on and so forth. Mom reports that Rebecca has a new must-have bedtime story: The Sleep Ponies by Gudrun Ongman.

On Thursday I took the children down to the Calvert Marine Museum to see a pumpkinseed fish -- this was meant to be the culminating event for our P. week but I have new ideas from books that I got at the conference! (Again, more details to follow.) So this evening I am finishing up the hollow needle felted pumpkin for Peter Peter Pumpkin-Eater and we will do that tomorrow as well as a pumpkin game. We do not celebrate Halloween.

I have to pass on a Halloween-related treat, though. While at the conference I spent quite a lot of time talking to Melisa Nielson (who is wonderful by the way, and incredibly supportive -- she's inspired me to move forward in several things that had been on my wish list) of the Little Garden Flower Waldorf curriculum series and was commenting on how much I loved her homeschool planner and wanted to buy it. She gave me a code good for 10% off on all orders through Halloween. It is sugar plum (for the sugar plum fairy). Happy to pass that one along! Her planner, by the way, is very very good. It covers all 7 days of the week, all 52 weeks of the year. Has a goal setting section in the beginning for the school year, inspirational quotes and an address book section in the back, as well as an appointment schedule AND a set of blank lines for your to-do list for each day and journaling space on the facing page. So you can put in the dentist appt. so you don't forget it, your list of things to do for school that day, and how it all went & see it all in one place! Marvelous. Here's the link to her shop as well as a sample page from the planner so you can see how it is set up. Melisa inspired me to listen to my heart and bring back my website (which will be subscription-based) as well as to open a store for my needle felted items. Check back for updates on these projects!