Christmas is coming...

It was thanksgiving weekend, but once the Christmas decorations come out, its Christmas!
Naomi really loves her cousins Abby and Anna.

Chickens! and other news from the backyard

This weekend we inherited four chickens! They have already been laying eggs. We are so excited - and Naomi thinks they are supercool. They even came with their own house and everything (That's the smaller of the two, below). We still need to name the black and white ones.

In other news, Mark has spent some time planting grass seed the last few weeks, and we have a nice patch now -- so much better than our dirt/weed combo we've had going. It really makes a big difference. Mark also planted an experimental patch of quinoa - a south american grain related to amaranth, that is looking really lovely (the last picture).

Halloween

I'll have more pictures later- but for now, here is Naomi and her friends ready to Trick or Treat! They were all so cute - and we the parents loved all the candy they got! Naomi was Little Red Riding Hood (thanks to the cape made by Mark's grandmother). She had a lot of fun later in the night handing out candy and helping Mark carve a pumpkin.

New Shoes!

Naomi picked the color. :)

Changes are coming...

So, on Tuesday I was offered a full-time counselor position at my work (so, same agency where I am now, different program) and I took it. It has been a long-ish convoluted journey to deciding this was the phase of life we needed to enter into, and while I'm sure many are glad they won't have to hear about it any more (Mark, me, small group!), I am very thankful for a community who has prayed with me through it.
However, I start next week. So this part-time gig, which was such a blessing and gift, is ending quickly. Thankfully, Naomi's school can't add Monday mornings yet, so we'll still have that. This brings up for me the two people that have been battling ever since Naomi came along: Professional Kristen and Parent Kristen. Not that they are mutually exclusive, they just have competing interests. And because they feel very differently about things, I can feel very confused a lot of the time, and have felt frozen in making a decision. So, for example Professional Kristen is excited about this new job, and sees that it will hopefully give me more options in the future, and was ready to do something different with some of the non-working time in her week. Parent Kristen is sad to give up the Mondays and Fridays with Naomi, and (even though she sees how much Naomi likes her school) questions whether she is being a good parent. Both are happy to bring home a full-time salary.
I feel really blessed to have had the time I've had over the last year and a half+, and look forward to making that happen again in the future.

Binoculars

When I picked Naomi up from school today, she asked to go on a walk in her stroller. It was a beautiful afternoon, and Naomi brought along her binoculars (which she looked through backwards).

Pumpkin Festival

Today Mark and I took Naomi out to the Elgin Christmas Tree Farm to their Pumpkin Festival. It was an excuse to be outside with friends, see some animals, go on a hayride, ride a mini-train (pulled by a lawn mower!), and dance to bluegrass.

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

Naomi and I have been to a couple of pumpkin patches this weekend -- Friday I went along on a field trip with her school to a place in south Austin. The kids had a blast climbing on piles of pumpkins, singing with the Big Jack 'o' Lantern and running through the haybale maze. We tried a couple of times to get a class picture - but trying to get 14 two-year-olds still in one place was impossible!

Co-op Night

We have this informal babysitting co-op/rotation thing going here in the neighborhood - which is lovely, both the nights that we get to go out, and the nights that we have the kids. They really are a blast, especially because when I tell Naomi her friends are coming over she starts asking about Ellaiden, Cash, Eli, Soren, Layla. It was four of them tonight, Ellaiden, Soren and Eli, plus Naomi, and we had a ball. These are a few blurry pictures I got with my phone - some others are on the film camara that will wait til developed. We read, dug in the garden, ate, played, dug some more, looked at the worms, and had a fabulous dance party with instuments - everyone danced, including Soren!!

I'm not sure why Mark looks so surprised in this picture, but the kids had a great time looking at the earthworms in the worm bin. You can see Soren happy with the sandbox.

At one point we caught the three two-year-olds all on Naomi's bed, each with a book.

I'll get the other pictures soon and post them!

At the Playground