Last night we participated in the annual candlelight procession and tree lighting ceremony here in Lexington. We started at the Stonewall Jackson Cemetery and walked the four or five blocks to Hopkins Green where our town Christmas tree was waiting to be lit. The night was windy and cold, we had had our first snow flurries earlier in the day. As a result, our candles kept blowing out and everyone was more or less sprinting to reach the tree, but when we got there the effect was truly magical. Luminaries were lit around the brick walkways and candles were being re lit to glow on people's faces. The lights popped on on the tree and we all sang the first Christmas carols of the season.

Afterwards we went out for sushi. Joshua particularly liked his "cow" as he insisted on calling the beef teriyaki, but the highlight of his whole night was the green tea ice cream. (Yuck!) Which, when the waiter asked us how it was, Joshua nearly shouted, "We like it!"

Big Night

We had a big night last night. Ella had her first sleepover at her friend Caitlin's house. She had a ball staying up late, watching a movie with popcorn and designing fashions. Joshua meanwhile had his friend Evan come spend the night at our house. The first time he's had a friend of his own come to sleepover. They mainly played legos and soldiers and ate pizza. Evan fell asleep around 9:00, but Joshua was so excited to have him over he didn't conk out until 11:00. Here's to more sleepless nights!

Devil's Marble Yard

Monday we took advantage of the unseasonably warm sunshine and went hiking to Devil's Marble Yard. I thought it was just a one mile hike, but it turned out to be at least three round trip with a very steep rock scramble at the top. Joshua charged up the mountain like he was on a dirt bike, Ella mostly enjoyed the creek crossings, and Gabriel happily freeloaded on Tucker's back three quarters of the way. The "marble yard" is a massive mountain side covered in boulders (Antietam quartzite) that looms larger and larger the closer you get. At many points on the way up we thought we were almost there, only to be fooled by a bend in the trail.
I would have loved to enjoy the sunset from the top, but after a quick peak treat of teddy grahams, we scurried back down and returned to our Subaru at dusk. Picked up cheese steaks on the way home and called it a night.

Love this hiking outfit!

Wild ginger root grows rampant all around the trail

Several days ago we collected some dried weeds from the field at Kendal. This morning we mixed them with watercolors for some lovely art.

A print from a piemarker (did you know there is a weed called piemarker?): Leaf spattering around Japanese maple leaves from our yard:
Using the maple leaf as a stamp:
This I thought was really cool, a foxtail dipped in a rainbow of colors:
And my beautiful artists just beginning to get busy:

Here's a bit of randomness from today (because it was just that kind of day):
First, something beautiful Next something magical

Then something funny

We found this cover floating down the creek. It says "irrigation control valve"

Another funny thing I discovered while baking blueberry muffins; on the bottom of our pyrex 4 cup measurer it reads:

"For general household and photographic use only"

Do people take pictures of pyrex ware? or is it the official measurement tool in darkrooms everywhere? Any ideas anyone? Do your pyrex products say this?

And for a bit of weirdness, I found this video clip when I was clearing the camera card.

And by popular request, another of Ella's poems.

In the Fall
by Ella

In the fall
I like to look
at the leaves
and watch them
fall to the ground

A couple of weeks ago, Ella "fell" into the creek on a cool evening at our friends house. Looking in the trunk I found we had no extra clothes, only a few old felted sweaters. So I pulled one up around her waist, tied the sleeves tight and voila! Instant skirt! That night prompted this little combo:

Grey wool skirt with woolen leg warmers. The leg warmers are super easy, just cut off the sleeves :). Thanks to Ella for wearing such fun outfits and thanks to mama for the sewing machine.

The night before Ella got sick she declared she was going to sit up all night like Jo (from Little Women) and write stories. She had a bit of a poetry frenzy and churned out six poems before she finally fell asleep. Here's one of my favorites:

About My Papa
by Ella

Papa doesn't like red beets.

When we go to Michie Tavern

We try to pile them on his plate

Hee hee

I think we are on the mend here. Yesterday all three little ones were driven to a halt with high fevers, today lingering coughs and tiredness. We took it easy, read lots of stories, played mastermind and candyland, and all snuggled in under wool blankets for a mid-afternoon movie (The Fox and the Child). I put a ten pound ham in the oven just before we started the movie, and by the end all of our mouths were watering. Everyone ate a good meal and at the end Ella announced that she was even feeling up for some candy. At which point Joshua asked,

"Is peanut butter healthy?"

me: "Yes"

J: "Does it have vitamin C in it?"

me: "Well, no, but it has protein."

J: "what does that do?"

me: "It helps build your muscles"

J: "Hmmm. Then I think I'll have a Reese's!"

Oh, and we amused ourselves with the magnifying glass:

Joshua wanted to make a stuffed animal leaf. ("So we can play leaves together Mommy") Here he is stuffing the tips with a dowel rod.



I love Ella's head thrown back in laughter in this one. They've actually been playing with their halloween candy, trucking it around the house to different "stores".