& the party!!

and now for the actual party...

it was awesome!!  held @ our new home, the marshall community center. 

 minnie mouse (aka miss amanda wilder)

oooh, the pinata!

ev & i, she was a princess & i was a goddess. :)

kati beautified us all *for free*, how cool is that?!?  she is absolutely fantastic!!

group photo of *some* of the kids...

acouple of the lanterns all lit up...

kati's son made some super cool signs, this one more than appropriate given tracy's costume. ;)

also from kati, 'finger food", get it??  i LOVE her!

after my visit to kati...

super cute emmelyn, a monkey (her mama was dressed up as jane goodall;)

aydin giving pumpkin golf a go...

up close w/the pinata; paper mache c/o miss michelle...

the hatchlings lookin' good... oh & the mama is nearby i see.

some of the jack-o-lanterns from the lantern contest...

our chicken, lookin quite nice...

horray, a sack race! 

the adults got a turn after the kids.  man, i really need to practice!

there were so many more games & cool costumes, but the camera got put away pretty early in the night.  it was too much to stay on the outskirts photographing & much more fun living it! 

i can definitely say that a good time was had by all...xo

*crafty* halloween decor & ev's new pilot hat! ;)

our homeschool co-op just had it's first halloween party.  it was super fun & we definitely plan on making it an annual event, perhaps even adding a haunted house next year (as a fall fundraiser ;)

@ any rate, michelle & i were in charge or decorations.  i thought i'd pass along some of the super cool & creepy crafts that we chose for our bit.

first up, paper bag halloween lanterns, courtesy of our friend (& former MCHC member!) christina @ moment to moment

 i made the cat & ehren traced a cardboard template for his ginormous bat...

 i added a simple ghost, @ ev's request, & aydin made the spider...

 lastly, we added an owl...well, because we LOVE owls!!

 i have been wanting to make these spider hatchlings ever since i saw them in a "family fun" magazine years ago, but we have never had a halloween party...until now!

they suggest cheesecloth & a glue/water mix, but i had some plaster paris strips leftover from making belly casts that has been dying to be used for something...anything & so hatchlings it was. ;)

 ehren's pumpkin, freshly carved. 

wow...this was a test, for sure.  ehren, our 4 year old, wanted to carve his own pumpkin this year & the kicker is that i let him!  the 'old' me never would have, nope...never, not in a million years, as carving a pumpkin requires using a knife.  a real knife & not a butter knife, which is all he has ever used up until this point.

BUT i was right there the entire time & i made sure that no one (aka our 3 other children) else was on the scene, so that neither he, nor i, would get distracted. ;)

it went well, as you can see.  i LOVE the mustache! :)

here is my jack-o-lantern... a chicken. :)  i LOVE our chickens!!  

michelle made a pinata, and we each made some handmade goodies to fill it with.  my favorite, by far, were these knit eyeballs.  'modeled' here by our son aydin.

i also made some knit pumpkins, & some woolen gnomes (not pictured).

lastly, here is ev's new pilot hat...

i *think* she likes it, yes??

happy halloween!!

samhain/all hallow's eve & in search of a deeper meaning...

when i look back to my childhood, or to american lives in general, i feel that there is a serious lack of meaning to our festivals. so much of our celebration seems to be based on materialism/consumerism. it is everywhere, as i am sure that you have all noticed.


i wonder how much of this is simply because the americas are a "melting pot" (the term i was taught in middle/high school). with so many peoples, religions, & cultures living together...how are we to have agree on common traditions. perhaps in response to this lack of a consensus, we opted to forgo any & all.


now that i have children of my own, and even more so since discovering the beautiful world of waldorf, we are beginning a journey to rediscover our roots & our heritage. a journey to give our "american holidays" a sense of meaning & reverence.


today we discover the deeper meaning of samhain, which literally means 'summer's end'. samhain is a festival often celebrated over a few days, mainly october 31st thru november 1st/2nd. it marks both the end of the harvest, and the end of the lighter half of the year. it also marks the beginning of the darker half of the year.


it is at this time of the year that the gaelic people believed the veil between the world of the living & the world of the dead was at it's thinnest. people dressed up in costume to both mirror & placate the spirits. offerings were made to appease those who had crossed over to the world of the dead. alters, also, are set up in remembrance of loved ones no longer with us.


we were invited to attend a local samhain celebration at orin's homeschool cooperative & relished the chance for the boys to experience something beyond an hour or two of costumes & candy.

i look forward to delving a bit deeper into this festival next year...
luke skywalker (from return of the jedi)
harry potter...did you know "harry potter doesn't have boobies." (i heard that from at least five different children. :)

thor (norse god)

laura ingalls & repecheep (from chronicles of narnia)

faeries!

native american chieftain...

an evil king...

little red cap & a nurse...

lovelies...

a little black cat...

king arthur...

ehren (our turtle)...

i love it!

these lovely women discussed samhain and the songs, stories, & traditions within...

our ancestral alter...

making corn husk dolls...

and dream catchers...

pumpkin carving...

the children made pots from micacious clay during their friday sessions...

part of a session on primitive pottery...

a nursing gnome...:)

the pots were fired over these sacred flames, started with just sticks & a bit of flint.

we sang songs of blessing & gratitude to infuse the pottery with strength & also to call forth the fire spirits...

the apple cider press (in action)...