In second grade violin class...

...we've been spending our first few weeks "getting to know the violin" and "getting to know the bow"...separately.

We know the parts of the violin and how to put it away in its case and how to take good care of it. We practice holding the violin in shoulder position...plucking the strings, learning their names and sounds.

We've also met the bow. We've practiced carefully removing the bow from the case, tightening and loosening the horse hair, rosining the bow. We've even practiced holding the bow correctly.

But every time I see a group of second graders in the hall or at recess they ask, "Do we get to play them together yet? Can the violin and bow meet now???"

This week, one second grader raised his hand and said thoughtfully (and innocently, I should add),

"Mrs. Corbin, even though the bow and the violin have

never even met,

they've been sleeping together all this time!"

Back to school.

The world seems to be suddenly spinning at a faster pace.
I think we'll settle into this new routine alright, but getting prepared is a little overwhelming at times, and I'm not quite as 'together' as I'd hoped at this point. Ahead of last year, definitely. Will I ever feel completely organized, prepared, and in control?

I just turned in my first paper of the semester. And I think my online class is going to be manageable. I had been pretending that this course would actually just disappear from my agenda this year, though I need it to have a professional teaching license. I've been dragging my feet about becoming a student again and ignoring the existence of this one last class. But one class, without driving to Lansing all week... this will be fine. And it will be over before Christmas.

Maya is heading to school this year too. Her backpack has been ready for weeks, and we're all pretty excited about Kindergarten. I'll post her first-day pictures soon!

This time of year always comes with a powerful mixture of feelings... nervous anticipation, panic, sadness in mourning the loss of summer, a bit of regret at the plans left undone, relief for the fresh start, excitement for new routine and hope for big possibilities for growth and accomplishment.

Fall trip to Frederik Meijer Gardens

The trees were up, but not lit. We can't wait to go back to experience the whole Christmas display (including the beautiful train and village) and fun activities.

Sophie was a little mad because I made her slow down on the cement sidewalk.

She had already crashed once.

Entering one of our very favorite places to visit...the "Little House."

It's always extra cozy when the fire is roaring.

Maya taking a break in the garden maze.

i didn't believe her...

...when she told me she could hula-hoop.

Then, I got to visit her at preschool. The moment didn't last long, but surpisingly..my camera caught it to forever prove her claim.

october

Of the many reasons that I've grown to love October so much in the last few years, my favorite reason (at least for today) is the connectedness that I feel to the earth. The richness of the colors and smells. The cold air that fills every part of me, my lungs, and fingertips... The apples and pumpkins and squash and vegetables that we collect in the cold and bring home to be eaten and baked or transformed to soup. The many trips to the farms and orchards, the farmers' market, carving pumpkins with our hands and getting the stringy insides everywhere...

But I love November too...

a day at the farm

Goats, sheep, wallabies, bunnies, a camel, zebra, elephant, pony....

Apples, pumpkins, cider, donuts.

Friends. Fall sunlight. Time together.

I made this today....

North Muskegon Elementary Strings website

I thought that making it, and having it linked to their website would be a good way to distribute information and introduce myself, since I am new to the program.

I'm hoping to make one for Calvary too...in the very near future.

Any suggestions? Typos?

wind in the trees

We've been listening to the wind all day. In the morning, we went straight outside to see the silvery sunlight peeking through the bending pine trees. The wind was glorious on our faces, in our hair. We just had to go out walking. It was cold, but that perfect kind of bearable cold that seems just right.

While Sophie and Maya covered the sidewalk with chalk art, I sat on the front porch filling out some school paperwork. The sun disappeared and reappeared all morning as Maya and I sat on our front steps watching the clouds roll across the sky. When we came inside, we opened all the windows in the house. The curtains have been billowing, doors slamming all day. I had almost forgotten the wonderful smell of cold and earth and fall.

Summer is still my 'favorite,' I think. But every year I start to wonder...

We drove around running errands...finally meeting Ryan, Grandma 'Go-Go', Emma, and Liam for Egg-drop soup, Jam Bong soup, chicken, egg-rolls, rangoons and rice at the Egg Roll House. Snow White, The Poky Little Puppy, and Laura & Mary Ingalls greeted us back at home in the girls' beds. As I lay beside Maya, we tried to be still, listening to the sound of the wind in the trees. As I had hoped, nap time was extra long.

One of my grade books is ready, there is so much more to be done before next Tuesday. But it will happen...somehow. We're ready to eat Squash Bisque and parmesan beer bread for dinner. (I even made extra soup to freeze for our busy fall schedule)

It has already been a good end to a busy week. It seems to be fall now. I think I'll go digging for that fall wreath...

So far in 2010...

....we've been enjoying a schedule that is slightly slower than the exhausting pace of last fall. I'm not taking any classes this semester, so my 9 hour work week is a pleasant change for our whole family. Hopefully when summer arrives I'll be ready for that Lansing commute again.

We've spent more time with friends and family, visiting Grandparents and hearing stories. We've even had a few quiet weekends at home, staying warm, playing hide-and-go-seek, reading books, doing puzzles, dancing around the living room, pretending, sipping 'tea' out of toy cups, making cake and tabouli in the pretend kitchen, and Ryan and I watching This American Life episodes during Sunday afternoon "nap-time" and foreign films on netflix at night on our laptop.

When Sophie is awake, life is exciting and exhausting and constantly surprising. Tonight, Ryan found the memory card for our camera precariously balancing on the toilet seat. Sophie had been potty training one of Maya's dolls and needed to snap a few photos for the baby book. Her vocabulary is expanding rapidly due to her assertive personality which requires her to articulate all day long what she needs and wants to do.... "I need dat." "Hode me momma." "I need juice!!" " I need meewk." "No, I do dat...I do it! ME!" And her new favorite phrase to yell in public if she wants freedom to run, "LET ME GO!" Unfortunately, she knows it's funny to all the strangers within hearing distance, so she smiles, repeating it louder and louder.

We've been eating lots of tabouli and hummus (Sophie's favorite food) when we need to remember how summer felt...or tasted. But we're also enjoying the warm winter roasts and stews and chili our slow cooker has provided.

And since I'm thinking about food...Ryan and I have found a new addiction to a bowl of Korean soup called Jam Bong at the Egg Roll House. I think about it...and kim chi..all the time.

A little too frequently lately, Ryan and I split a bowl of this warm and spicy, seafood-filled broth with perfect noodles while Maya practices her chop-stick skills on rice and chicken and vegetables (and Sophie spreads rice all over the floor). I think we were actually there twice last week (it couldn't have been three times??).





In other news, Sophie is sleeping in her converted "Big Girl Bed" these days. She is pretty proud to climb in all by herself just like Maya. And, though she doesn't really use it, she's very serious about her new ownership of a pillow.

the end of summer seems forever ago...

My fingers are freezing right now, actually. But I'm still cherishing the beginning of fall. Cherishing, slow-cooking...and baking (too much). Since the cold and rain began, we've already enjoyed pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, apple crisp, chocolate chip cookies, rustic peach pie, squash bisque, pork roast... I love all the warm smells (and flavors) in our kitchen.

fall

Pictures from a fall 2005 post.

This one of Will all bundled up was taken at one of Liam's soccer games. I think I was secretly pregnant with Maya when I took this picture of her big cousin Will.


I'm thinking about fall...even wore a sweater today. It was premature. The girls and I were peeling off layers when we got back into the car at the library.

But I think it's okay to start pretending it's fall. A few nights ago, we had squash bisque for dinner.

We bought another butternut squash today... and all the ingredients for pumpkin pie and a big bag of apples (which may become a pie as well).

That wreath is back up on our door...only now our door is navy (it'll probably end up red soon though, I just can't help it.)

But we've also been thinking about our little Will all day...he's much bigger now than in the above picture. And today, he's pretty sick, maybe pneumonia + asthma...needing oxygen and staying the night at Hackley.

"Is it cold yet?"

Ryan keeps asking me this every morning.

I could hold on to summer forever...almost. I love the warm sun, warm wind, leaves on the trees, everything is green, the happy illusion of freedom, the beach, the cabin, summer.

But fall is coming. And I think I'm happy about that too.

School has begun. And even in the first day, there were many moments of musical delight. ..those beautiful sounds and happy faces filled with pride and awe that make me remember that what I do is really really fun.

But.

I love the gentle singing and cooing I hear in the baby monitor and the imaginative chatter from across the breakfast table better than all the sweet voices I heard yesterday.

I think I'm going to love my abbreviated schedule.

Our November Escape...

...just a few weeks ago to Boyne Mountain Resort. Clearly, this weekend adventure could never replace that deep emptiness and longing to be at the cabin--which we missed this year. But the drive north still seemed right in the fall.




We bought (practically stole) a weekend in this beautiful condo that no one else had placed a bid on...at the Symphony's Gala auction last spring. It turned out to be big enough for three families, but perfectly cozy enough for our little family. There were three large bedrooms with four more double beds (besides our King-size in the master suite) and three full bathrooms. Sorry we didn't bring you.














Maya loved the slides at the indoor waterpark at the resort--the little "Lyellow!" one in the kiddie area and the big swirly one that she and daddy climbed to the top of the tower to ride. She still talks about the "pool" and all the "wah-wah". She sort of whispers about the "slah" (slide) now, with big serious eyes...a sort of reverent, hushed excitement.
We were prepared for her to be not quite old enough to appreciate this place, but she loved it...we had to tear her away when her fingers started turning blue.