Autumn around the corner

Well, we are off to a good start with school this year. T loves his new Montessori school, and we are very happy with it as well. As one of the oldest kids at the new school, he enjoys being a leader. I am happy that he will be able to have the full Montessori education though 8th grade. It is like the greatest gift! Such a lovely freedom within a structure suits him well. Especially since he has gone from school to homeschool back to school. It is good to find a fit for him where he can read all day if he's like, but can also do the lovely works. The physical education plans established by Dr. Montessori are also quite impressive--they focus on synthesizing the mind and body so that the child can develop deliberate motion/control over the body. It is pretty impressive, and I'd like to read more about it.

I've my job cut out helping develop the urban gardening part of the school, and look forward to teaching some vermiculture to the kids. Kids and worms are a winning combo. T is also excited for the bunnies that will arrive soon, too.

V will get to go to the school next year, and J is hanging out with me, gardening and baking and going to the library (which is her favorite place) as well as a gymnastics class through parks and rec.

We have all our fall crops planted-- the brussel sprouts look good, even though they had those little nasty bugs on them. I sprayed them off and will put some garlic tonic on the leaves tomorrow. The purple cabage whihc I thought I killed is also doing well, and we have new rows of radishes and beets...

And we are still picking tomatoes, peppers, corn, pumpkins (K made the absolute best pumpkin pie with one of V's pumpkins last week), tons of spearmint, and some little carrots... K dug up the last of our potatoes today, too--which looks so lovely and red. I don't know if the celleric root will grow fast enough before it gets too cold, but next year I am going to grow tons of it. It tastes so good in soup and can be used as cellery, but seems to last longer. But is costs so much at the store!

Our kefir water is going... going too well. I had to put the little grains in the freezer because I felt like I had two extra pets between the kefir grains and the sourdough--constantly feed and tending the little growing things... it was too much. Plus I am surprised how alcoholic some of the kefir water I've made has smelled! Being pregnant, I'm nervous about throwing it back.

So, I can't believe I will be a mom of 4 in a few short weeks! Some days I panic, some days I am calm and it all makes sense. But 94 days seems like nothing.

Especially with Halloween, All Saints Day, Martinmas (which we are planning a lovely lantern walk and cider/pumpkin bread party for), Thanksgiving and then a new baby! Then Christmas!

I love this time of the year, and feel so strange because I want it all to come, but I don't want to miss it by it going by too fast... Such a strange reality time is, that is but hardly is at all.

I found the USB cable and can upload some pictures soon!

Christos Anesti! Alithos Anesti!

Happy Easter! Christ is Risen! Lent has been wonderful, and Easter is here! YEAH! We've had a great day of feasting and reveling in our new being--Christ rising in us.

And we've had a surprise... number 4! We are having another child, the estimated due date is around the 8th of December (the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, the Theotokos!)

Wow, like we don't have enough going on in December with our Wedding Anniversary, two birthdays, Advent and the birth of Christ.

I'm freaked out, totally surprised, but very excited, as well.
The freakish part is that I was planning on taking a job for a few months, like a fulltime office job (I know, scary, eh?) to pay down some bills from moving and such...

I guess this is God's not so subtle way of saying NO.

Never a dull moment... eh?

this is ground control to major tom...

Perhaps that is the wrong message, I haven't been strung out and floating in space. We moved to Portland, OR and are here. We have three chickens, baby chicks now, soon to be big hens. The kids love the hens....

We are now part of Holy Rosary Parish--a great place. The kids are so big. T is almost 8, and V will be 5 in two weeks. J had a lovely 2nd birthday right after Christmas. And she is totally out of diapers now. Yeah cloth! So I (kind of) sadly (kind of joyously) pack all her little diapers and woolies away. I guess I'll hold onto them for a bit here, for maybe #4?

I'm getting ready for Lent. I really need Lent this year--after moving and all the upheaveal,, I want to get refocused (sp?). Because we aren't eating dairy except for the occasional sheep cheese, I'm cutting out olive oil and wine as well. I'm basically following the Eastern Orthodox Great Lenten Fast--I don't think I can fast for a complete 3 days in a row because J is still occasionally nursing (for comfort). I hope to go to Mass at least 2 times per week. Daily would be great, but with 2 little ones and limited funds, that might not work.

Which brings me to my big part--Lady Poverty. lovely Lady Poverty. We are considered economically poor in this country. We live below the 200 per cent above the povery line ( I won't say exactly where, but it is down there ;) ). And I have mixed feelings about telling people this. I feel like it is show what shameful--but then don't the poor have a special place in the Heart of Jesus? Isn't poverty something to strive for?

So why do I feel so weird about it, in this land of the protestant work ethic and calvanistic predestination anxiety? When did capitalism invade my conscious and begin to inform my ethics?

I;d like to really give away what we don't need/use and be content with the bare minimum if stuff. So I'm perging the things. We gave away a lot of stuff before moving, but we are kind of nostalgic pack rats, and well--you know writers... it is hard to pry stuff out of their hands.

So that will be a task. To embrace Lady Poverty, and reconnect with Him.

So I plan to spend little time on line. I'm going to refocus on my place here, and live poor.

sorry this is kind of wacky and disjointed, but I just need to get it all out before my bread is done baking in the oven.

Yeah! Lent.

Saint Joseph, pray for us!

my baby entered the One, Holy and Apostolic Church today.

Baby Paints.

Yesterday, youngest son asked if the baby was wan artist. We discussed what he does to be an artist--make stuff. Today, with three year-old assurance he proclaimed his baby sister an artist. Here she paints.
Crayola makes a really nice finger paint that is totally nontoxic and washes off of everything.

flowers for mama

The Sunroom

In this urban jungle we do have an oasis of childhood. We call it "the sun room," although it is more nearly an enclosed porch, with huge windows all around. It is mostly dedicated to the children--it is a place where they can experiment and create on their own.

Split peas! I got a bunch of bags of these and they make a lovely tactile 'sand.' Second son especially loves them, but first son will spend a lot of time pouring and sifting... Sure, I find them in weird places all over the house (they like to stick to bare feet), but they are relatively simple to sweep up. And the sweeping is another game with a 3 year-old sized broom.

This is where we made a huge vinegar & baking soda volcano. We've made all kinds of 'machines', and watch the garbage trucks outside and the birds visit our seed feeder. I plan to make a fort for the boys and have a little climbing structure for baby bibliotecaria in the works for when she is one--at Christmastime.

The sun on the wall above was salvaged from a neighboring dumpster on San Pablo when we lived in the Creamery Art Studios (thank you Martian Gallery Man). We though it was too beautiful to be dumped, and so it has hung on the wall in all of our homes since living there. And is any space complete without Christmas Lights?

We love you, little sunny room.

I sent it all in

I had such fun mailing in my transcripts to SJSU yesterday. They were received at 4:27am today (thank you www.usps.com ). Now I wait...

And seek out daycare for 2 kids. Which is really difficult [for me]. I've decided that they have to go to the same place and that money is no object. I find a school I like that will take both kids, and then I discover that there is a 9 month waiting list. Fun.

I think I can wait though because I can perhaps get Mr. Bibliotecaria to watch the little ones on the few days I have to commute to school and do the work before/after the kids sleep. Coffee is my friend. Then there is summer...

And then I'll be ready for internship, or whatever adult endeavors my life brings me. I am terrified.

I think, what if there is a huge earthquake--how will I protect my children... and the list goes on and on... I guess it doesn't help that oldest son has had special drills for when the 'bad people' come to school, where they all have to hide in the cloakroom... life in the era of school shootings is .... I'm having trouble finding a different adjective other than terrifying.

So now I'll fill out the application for my kids' preschool. Which will, incidentally, cost a lot more than my M.L.I.S. program.

I plan to go to school to obtain an mlis from sjsu and become a librarian. this is the occupation of the year 2007.

When telling oldest son this, he asks if I will then wear skirts.

Yeah, right. I totally dig this whole wifewomanmother thing and wearing skirts and modesty, but I need to sprint after two very fast boys--frequently.

Just how are you going to make the escape from the black-hatted via horseback in a skirt? I'm talking survival here.

I try, but my life seems to involve too much danger for skirts and purses. I'm talking survival--so you should always be able to run fast and far, survive all kind of extreme heat and cold, and oh, yeah--

have your hands free to brandish a knife.