welcome spring

we have been waiting for you.

and we are so glad you are here.

the warmth of the winter festival

a heart warming winter festival was celebrated tonight. So many beautiful lanterns. The look of wonder on the little class one and two's faces. The big class seven children held their little hands and lead them down the path.The path was lined both sides with parents and lanterns. The children were lead to the spiral. There was silence as we watched the little ones journey their way to the middle of the spiral. Once in the middle, their candles were lit by Mother Earth.

A wonderful fire twirling display was performed by class seven as the african drums echoed in the background. A beautiful farewell speech was made to a beloved and long standing kindy teacher, who also happens to be my friend - Amber. Thank you Amber, you were so beautiful as Mother Earth this year!

It is sad to think that this is my middle child Josh's last winter festival. He will be moving on to high school next year with his big brother. Thankfully, we still have little Grace to journey through. So, there will be many more years for our family to experience and celebrate festivals at Silkwood.

I counted and this year was our tenth winter festival.... i look forward to the next ten!

winter surrender

i have been away from this space for a while. I always thought that I was a winter person. Rugging up in my warm winter woollies, drinking hot cups of tea while curled up with a good book. But the simple truth is that I find it hard to adjust to the cold and rain (even though I was born in New Zealand and spent my childhood there). I am a doer, I like to get things done and the cold has been slowing me down. It wasn't till I was at the winter solstice, I was reminded that winter is about slowing down. With those simple words I surrendered. I love the change that surrender brings. Maybe it is just the fact that there is no resistance. Everything just flows more easily. The winter blues are gone and I am enjoying my days again. The sun even came to visit today. Gracie and I enjoyed some giggles as she got pushed along on a friends bike that was much too big for her. I must go now and surrender to washing up the dishes! I will be back in the next few days.

our little autumn space

having a young child in the home again has inspired me to set up the seasonal table. Well, in this case it is a little space on our bookshelf. It is a nice way to bring nature into the home - it only has to be simple like collecting a few leaves from your yard. I did have some fun creating these little pumpkins and gnomes. The timber mushroom was a gift to Grace from her brothers, brought all the way back from the black forest in Europe. I wonder what other little treasures will be added to the seasonal table in the following weeks?