Harvest Festival

This past weekend brought us the Public Library's Fall Harvest Celebration, our second annual visit.

This year the Mill Mountain Zoo sent a delegation: a Great Horned Owl and her handler. We learned that Great Horned Owls eat skunks. I'm wondering if they can be persuaded to eat our stinkbugs.

Last year Adele was a (large) bump in my maternity sweater. This year... well, she started taking steps this week.

Miles played Hay Bale musical... bales... with the other children and with his beloved Miss Tori from storytime. He did not win a painted pumpkin this year, but he got the winning fever and wanted to play ALL the other available games. So he did take home a few (small and plastic) prizes.

Look! a hayride!

Obviously we had to go on the free hayride. I'm laughing because the horse is trying to get into the diaper bag. Bad luck, horse; for once, it was zipped up all the way.

Adele is wary of these large life forms

If you read our blog really carefully and are like, big Miles fans, you'll remember that he's developed an affinity for bluegrass music. He was pretty excited, then, to get to watch the Back Porch Cloggers perform!

Goats! Glorious goats! Miles and goats go way back. They were like the second animal name he could sign and say as a baby.

"This one's got nothing. Better move along."

Adele fearlessly slid (supported by our hands) innumerable times at the little playground.

All libraries should have playgrounds!

She has a gift for unbridled joy.

LOOK. AT. HER. You're smiling, aren't you?

Miles finished the day with a tour of a firetruck and an ambulance. He got to see where the sick people sit. We heard one on the way home and by himself this time, Miles said, "Dear God, please help the person that is sick, to be better. AAA-MEN." I prayed my own prayer, that God would deliver us from Miles ever having to see the inside of one of those for any reason other than education and fun.

Blessed

Thursday was the third Saint Francis day we've celebrated in Blacksburg, and our third Blessing of the Animals service, too. It is a service that is punctuated by barking, scampering, and other misbehavior, and yet it is, to me, one of the more peaceful services held at Christ Church. I look forward to it always.

Sometimes I think I get some of my enjoyment from watching the dog owners try to control their dogs' behavior while we read and sing. It's nice to see someone else struggling to control their creatures during a church service.

Adele happily held on to the picture of Grendel and Dragon, the same Miles held for the Blessing in 2010. Adele will happily hold anything with an image of a cat on it. They are her favorite animal and her first word. I insist that her soundless little "K.T" consonant sounds, made while pointing at images of cats, are her first word. (It may also be "Papa." I think I'd rather come in second to "Cat" than to "Papa," though>)

It's hard to get pictures of ourselves, so I have to swipe a couple of the pictures our priest took at the event. :-)

Let me tell you briefly the story of Snandy:

Snandy is an invisible dog that first emerged from the aether of imaginary friends in early summer. Snandy is frequently with us, but unnoticed, and Miles tells us later what Snandy was doing at such and such a time. He shows up in Miles' cooperatively-told bedtime stories, along with his friend, The Bactrian Camel (who works at Starbucks... this is another story).  Dogs are frequently compared to Snandy, or Miles will say that a certain dog "is a Snandy." so he's apparently a kind of ideal as well as a specific character. So far, Snandy is fairly consistent in being big but with a high bark, and in being white with large black spots (though these particulars sometimes vary). Sometimes when he wishes to incarnate Snandy for some purpose, Miles will say that one of his stuffed dogs is "pretending to be Snandy." For today, rather than pointing to an invisible pet, Miles chose to incarnate Snandy into one of Adele's stuffed dogs.

And thus, Snandy received his "invisible friend" blessing. Father Scott even included a clause that blessed Snandy's ability to chase monsters away.

Adele performs her office dutifully.

She is such a cheerful soul these days.

The family. What will it look like next year?

Saint Francis watched with an air of seeming, if distant, approval.

Miles at Preschool

 I haven't had much time with our new external hard drive with which to upload pictures, recently. But I thought *some* of my readers might be interested in seeing some of the pictures Miles' preschool teacher has taken of him at school. He's benefiting hugely from his time at school, learning routines and disciplines, social skills, manners and just generally becoming more confident. He talks to unfamiliar kids, goes down slides at the playground, and participates in group activities (say, at church) more readily than before.

I can't really commentate much about what he's doing in each picture because, for the most part, I don't know! I wasn't there. That's why I so appreciate Miles' teacher's efforts in documenting school days. He's only going to be in preschool for a tiny span, really. I'm glad I get a chance to peep in the window every so often.

Evening Cozy

We are deep into Ordinary Time here, at the top of October, and starting to get comfortable in the Routine. I am at work 40 hours a week, and often, like yesterday, I leave the house before either child is awake! So the evening routine has come to be rather important to me.

We try to get a bath in almost every night.

Adele is a huge fan of the bath experience. Miles is a huge fan of not looking at the camera when the flash goes off.

There we go. Can you see the adoration in Adele's face? He only has a few more years of his sister following him worshipfully. But I doubt he appreciates this.

We had to make a rare trip to purchase clothing for the kids. We've gotten so much handed down to us that we almost never have to do this, but we needed some key warm pieces in their current sizes now that Fall has stopped messing around and it's genuinely chilly for 12-15 hours a day.

So: new sleepers!

Mr. Miles was being honored that evening with a special ceremony. We have long been making his naps optional, which has done a lot for Inner Harmony, Household Morale, and for Adele's naps. However, we have made him a deal recently wherein if he takes a nap during the day, he gets to stay up later than Adele and watch a kiddy movie with us. This promise has been in effect for several days, but he finally was able to nap yesterday.

The movie was The Land Before Time. It's probably only the second time he's sat through a movie, even a 68 minute feature like this one. It's certainly his first popcorn experience. He got to help make it, too.

The dinos... were mesmorizing.

He was absolutely delighted. To be honest, his parents were too. This 1988 movie was kind of big in our childhood.

Miles thoroughly enjoyed his movie night treat. I sure hope this bribe incentive option continues to hold the same appeal... Because I really enjoyed the payoff.