TO NARNIA WE GO

We did it !! This past Sunday, after months and months of thinking and planning with other like-minded friends, we were in Narnia. It truly was a labor of love, and while it was a lot of work, we all agreed that it was worth it.  I think all of us would also agree that the preparation leading up to the event, along with reading the books again with our kids, and dreaming up and thinking of the costumes, is more than half the fun. I am thankful for a group of ladies who not only love to read, but are creative and passionate about the magic of these stories. 

I have lots of pictures to share, but I thought I would start with this post of the characters that Ken and I and the girls dressed up as. Ken was a bulgy bear, I was a silver beech dryad, Sloane was Aslan (she knew as soon as she heard that we were doing this that she wanted to be Aslan), and Logan was Mrs. Beaver (to pair with her friend Alec, who was Mr. Beaver). My friend Martha is brilliant and made Logan’s Mrs. Beaver costume (to which I made little beaver ears with felt and hair clips), and for Sloane’s costume I found a lion costume at Target and then attached a tutu skirt (that used to be part of her Tiger Lily costume two years ago!) to it to make a big mane. Ken made that bear head with paper mache (so proud!) and I put together my dryad costume with clothes that I had and just added leaves and branches to it. 

And the here is an excerpt from Prince Caspian, which was the inspiration for my costume: 

“All the trees of the world appeared to be rushing toward Aslan. But as they drew nearer they looked less like trees, and when the whole crowd, bowing and curtsying and waving thin arms to Aslan, were all around Lucy, she saw that it was a crowd of human shapes. Pale birch-girls were tossing their heads, willow-women pushed back there hair from their brooding faces to gaze on Aslan, the queenly beeches stood still and adored him, shaggy oak-men, lean and melancholy elms, shock-headed hollies and gay rowans, all bowed and rose again, shouting, “Aslan, Aslan!” in their various husky or creaking or wave-like voices.” 

FALL AT HUNT CLUB

I had been meaning to post all week, but all of my spare moments this week has gone into my job and then also preparing for the Narnia party...which is tomorrow! I am very excited but also very apprehensive because it is calling for rain and thunderstorms. After a lot of deliberation, we decided to go ahead with the party anyways (one of the more important reasons being the pig was going to be roasted tomorrow no matter what; yes, a pig!) but it will really make everything harder and less fun if it is pouring. We are praying that our little spot is spared and we march on, regardless! 

It’s been a couple of weeks that I’ve been at my new job now and I’m feeling really good about it. I'm excited and motivated, and I can see myself growing there, which is a good sign. Plus, the people and the culture at the company are great. 

I'm working hard, being kind to myself and trying to pace myself to make sure I am doing all the things that are most important to me. 

Things that I find myself working on these days: 

1. Making sure I sleep early so I can wake up early.

2. Prepping lunches the night before.

3. Continuing to meal prep the week's dinners on Sunday. (I need to add meal prepping the week's breakfast to this! Anything to make the mornings a little less hectic.)

4. Reading a chapter from the Chronicles of Narnia books every night with Sloane.

5. Using my lunch break to run errands, or read a book.

6. Staying on top of my emails and texts, especially with my family far away and also with friends.

I haven't been writing as much as I would like to, and I think that's because I've been spending a lot of the creative energy I would usually put into writing into my job.  I'm going to give myself some time to figure out how to balance those things so that I can carve out a new time and system for writing consistently with this new job and schedule. 

These are photos from a fall festival we went to last weekend at Hunt Club. It was so cool how the kids could wander inside these really large pens with goats, sheep, chickens, birds, etc. The girls loved it! 

These cuties!

This is Sloane, sharing her bird with another little girl that didn't have one.

RAY AND WON

We are always secretly hoping our friends and family who live far away will come move into our city, so it was with glee that we welcomed the Kims when they moved to Richmond earlier this year. They have had a lot on their plates recently - with buying and renovating a home, and then moving into it right after having their third baby girl, and other life changes and transitions - but they have taken it all into stride and it has been wonderful doing life with them. 

I took these photos of them after church one Sunday and although it was a super quick photo session I like how these turned out..they capture the sweetness of this family. 

Ray also recently started her own line of hair bows and clips called Cocoon and Things that she makes by hand from repurposed clothes and fabrics, if you want to check it out. They are so sweet and lovely and my girls love wearing them! Her girls are wearing them in these photos too.

REMY AND LOGAN

We had lots of visitors this past weekend and among some of those visitors included a happy, squishy, adorable baby named Remy. Sloane and Logan were excited about friends visiting, and Sloane asked if she could hold the baby, and of course Logan immediately also claimed that she wanted to hold the baby. “ He’a so cute!” She cooed, “He likes me!” she declared, without any real evidence to support that latter assessment. She climbed onto the couch to hold the baby, and it was comical how similar in size they were, with her continuing to coo and pet the baby as if she was an experienced old soul.

I mentioned this in a previous post, but I am processing a lot of things right now and I’m taking my sweet time doing so. In addition to the new school year, I started a new job last week, which has both been really good and tiring. I also have been putting a lot of time into thinking about how to better prioritize our busy schedule, and also how to be better about getting a handle on our finances. Ken and I have been on the same page about a lot of this stuff, which is crucial and we are trying our best to not be overwhelmed. I’m trying to make space in my life so that I can be proactive rather than reactive, and part of that mean being really intentional about scheduling all of those things that are important into our daily, weekly, and monthly rhythm.