Forgot to post this picture of Zita and Julia dressed as Bavarian shepherdesses for their Christmas play.

We are swinging back into more normal routine this week as much as we can with Julia's Birthday and Epiphany in the same week. It always is our final hurrah to the Christmas season. We tried burning frankincense this week which was cool but did make the whole house very smoky and I just kept feeling like I was at mass. It was a very strange feeling to have in one's home. Incidentally you can make a great incensor out of a tin can.

Ben had to fill out a survey for Shelf Awareness "Daily enlightenment in the book trade", some sort of reviewers. They wanted to know all the gritty details of his llong literary journey. He asked me to help him with it and I was honored. One of the questions was about books you have "fake read." We both fondly remembered (fakely of course) "Paradise lost", by John Milton. Did anyone at Christendom ever really read that book? Oh and Ben and I share at least two of five top favorite authors. Neil Gaiman and C.S: Lewis. Hooray! Remember, "A survey a day keeps the marriage counselor away."

Oh and Gwen taught us speed scrabble during her wonderful visit with us and I am totally hooked!

smoothie for sale

Anna's Pregnancy smoothie, adapted from a midwifery blog. I like it because it is, (or can be), all raw!

I cup yogurt
I/2 cup milk (raw if possible)
1 banana
1 TBS flax seeds or 2 tsp flax seed oil
3TBS coconut oil
1-2 raw eggs (I only do this with our own eggs and I only use the ones the day they are laid just to be exrtra careful, but if you have acsess to free range local eggs from a healthy flock this is okay otherwise a big no-no)

blend well

then add
1 cup fronzen berries
cinnamon or vanilla

you can also add a little honey or maple syrup to sweeten if needed

I think this baby packs a whopping 28 grams of protein and all of your calcium requirements. . . and the coconut oil stabilizes your blood sugar and the raw eggs give your liver a break.

Oh and Ben and my kids love this smoothie too and it is a great healthy snack. Wow, is there anything this smoothie can't do?

Oh and it is really important to blend the coconut oil into the other ingredients before adding the frozen stuff or you get these gross globs of cold coconut oil. Yuck.. . .

Buon Natale!!!! Christ the Lord is born!

The tree, the panettone, the waldorf dolls, most importantly the bambino divino!!!

We have had a lovely Christmas so far. The baby Jesus is here at last and the feasting has begun. With no less than nine kinds of cheese in the fridge, a new case of wine and the girls blissfully happy with their new dollhouse and furnishings from their grandmothers we will hopefully live out the last days of 2010 to their fullest.

Of course, today was full of bundling everyone out the door for the second mass of the weekend into the bitter cold followed by the usual crash from the sugar high of yesterday but all things considered everybody got to bed by eight. (even my husband) I am so full of baklava and chocolate that I for the first time in three days went to go make some nourishing nettle tea and soak some oats for a breakfast porridge. I am needing my health comfort foods already. There is something to a hot breakfast that is so needed at this time of year. I was on this smoothie kick the past two weeks and they are absolutely energizing and so nourishing but I have to down a glass of hot tea immediately afterward or I lost my core heat.

Hmmm footsteps, look like I spoke too soon. . . . .

Julia is down for food. So typical.

Oh m goodness she is a fickle thing. Here is a sample of our conversation this morning in bed. (they are almost all like this)

Julia: Mama I want some pants.

Me: Oh, Pants?

Julia: Yeah I want pants.

Me: Oh, okay there are your little red pants. They are over there, on the floor of your bedroom.

Julia: No I don't want pants.

Me: (puzzled) But you just said you wanted pants. You don't have to wear those. There are others here in the drawer.

Julia: (with emphasis) No, I DON'T want pants

Me: You don't want pants now?

Julia : Yeah no pants. (walks away shaking her head)

I just don't get it, do I. . . . . .

Okay I am off to do bed duty round two. How could I think it could be this easy the day after Christmas. I just don't get it do I?

. . . .Been a long and fun filled fall full of tons of fun family visitors and now we are gearing up for Christmas. I have been working hard on making the girls waldorf dolls, which consumes pretty much almost all my time now. I just finished the third one last night and realized that I did used to blog in a world without dollmaking and all our wonderful guests. So here I am again. I am not so little now and Hatke number four is going to be making an appearence early this spring.
Latley I have been drinking lots of awesome smoothies and have enjoyed cutting my own hair. I watched Scott Pilgrim and decided to bite the bullet and finally cut myself a cool thick bang (alas mine is not pink like Ramona Flowers) I had been on the fence with this one for a while. Last time I had bangs was back in my Audrey Hepburn phase freshman year of college.

The chickens have stopped laying almost completely this last couple weeks as we approach the solstice and there is pretty much no daylight at all. I am going to have to cave and buy eggs for the Christmas baking. Ben has been hoping we could get away without buying eggs but Christmas baking is CHristmas baking.

Hopefully I'll get a picture of the waldorf dolls up before they become worn with love.

Chickens in dresses. Cats is slings. Rooster hanging post mortem awaiting the pot. Oh and a nice pumpkin harvest. We have been having a busy ending of the summer. THere has been lots of food to process. We put up our peaches and have TONS OF JAM. I ordered the school books this week and have been easing us into the new schedule already. Last week was cleaning out closets like a madwoman and bringing bags to second hand store. I feel as though a great burden has rolled off my back. I think fall house cleaning is always way more involved than spring cleaning.

Goals for the fall include.

Getting to mass every Friday.
Continuing some kind of once a week hike at least until December or I am too fat, whichever happens first. Nature journals!

Oh and everyone now has a chore list, even Ben. I become a mad organizer when pregnant.

Pat on the back right when I needed it. . .

So a few weeks ago a nasty cop showed up at our door and arrested my husband and we went through a small town drama worthy of a vintage television sitcom. My husband is analoging the entire episode for posterity in comic form over on his blog so I won't say any more about that. But, needless to say, my attitude toward the outside world has been slightly embittered of late.

Today we drove out to an orchard to get our two bushels of peaches and there was a little old lady there. I am used to this kind of person fussing about my kids climbing on things (I always tell them that their father is a gymnast) or worried that they'll get dirty when they go to draw in the dirt or look for bugs.

She asked me if my children were home-schooled. The question surprised me as it is still summer vacation but I replied that they were. Then she said in a soft Virginia drawl. “Yep, I can always tell cause they are so well behaved.

WOW! Thank you, kind lady! You have no idea how that has made my day, well my month actually. A pat on the back to homeschoolers everywhere!!!

Oh and the peaches are really good too.

Well I'm not posting anymore pictures of the garden. While the bounty has been fairly plentiful, between breaking my flower pot, the great drought of '10 here in Va and the chickens its looking a bit like "the devastated vineyard". But as you can see Angelica has worked hard on a couple of cool projects this summer. The first of them is this set up made mostly from her little wooden figures and moss and such from over in the forest. She worked so hard on this that we kept it up for several weeks. I don't know if this is visible in the photo but my favorite part was that she made a little field for the animals out of hay from the mower and it looked just like a little field of animal hay.

I am stating to get exited for the time of year when I blow all the homeschooling money on sweet sweet german art supplies and gorgeous books and then end up scratching my head and wondering why there is nothing left to buy the math book with, Also fall hikes in the musty leaves and best of all APPLE SEASON!!

We have been making many foraging walks lately and brought in a bumper crop of elderberries. I have been inspired by reading Stalking the Wild Asparagus again and we have made many quarts of jam out of Blackberries and elderberries and even some grape jelly. (all sitting rotting on the vine and waysides right outside my own house. Who knew! With the elderberries I made jam and am turning the rest into Sambuca for my dad for Christmas ( I can post that because I don't think my father ever has really been online to speak of) Of course I am keeping some for myself to enjoy a cafe coretto once baby Hatke makes his or her appearance.

I am off to get peaches tomorrow so lets hope this preserving kick doesn't lose steam.

Oh and Ben killed the rooster. I made coq a vin and it was sublime.