And the last class….

Seriously – these kids were so flippin’ lovely to be around!  I’m kinda sad not to be going back this next week….

I kinda can’t wait til next year!!

The dark comes early

My daughter’s school does a Lantern Walk each fall, as the dusk comes earlier and earlier.

It’s a tricky time of day to take pictures sans a tripod, but I’m there first and foremost as a parent, and so I fore-go the clunky extra equipment and try to keep a steady hand.

A variation on the paper lanterns, the 1st graders did decorated mason jars this year.

The first-graders getting ready to do the play of St. Martine.

N., 1st grade, age 7

Loved all the faces on these two.

O., Kindergarten

“Is it lit?”

J., 2nd grader

O. leading the way!

Some of the big kids waiting for the littler ones to catch up.

Such beautiful colors in the dark.

And even when my hand isn't steady enough - the resulting smear of color is beautiful.

Hiking Parfrey’s

Every fall my dear friend Lana has hiked Parfrey’s Glen up near Baraboo – and I mean every fall since she was a youngin’.  My girl and I have been fortunate to be included as a part of the family the last few years and this hike has now become tradition for us as well.

It was a gray and cloudy day – this pic wasn’t converted to b&w:

We saw our first snow at the end of the hike – and what a hike! – with the early summer floods having destroyed the boardwalk.  My almost-7yo just kept saying “now, this is real hiking Mama!”

Since we do it every year at the same time it is a nice chance to get photos of everyone – I believe the first year we took pics in film, I’ll have to scan them at some point….

Here’s Lana, who is nearly impossible to catch looking “real” in a photo – I almost got it here along with Ms. M. who is 4 this year….

And E, who is 6 like my girl….

Ms. M with a cheesy grin…

I hope they are always such good friends….

My girl, who will soon be 7….

Ms B. trying not to get her pic taken….

And the end of the hike, as it was getting dark, and we still had the return hike to do….

The kids were troopers hopping rocks to get over the stream in the absence of bridges and the boardwalk- Ms. M ended up with a wet foot but she was relatively uncomplaining about it.  We ate our picnic huddled in the car, but it was still a really joyful afternoon.

Halloween Up North!

Hinu and I try to get home at least once every other month, but lately it’s been stretching it – and this last two months have seemed a long two months.  Getting home for Halloween was such a lovely treat – no pun intended!  Trick or treating on the rez with my sister and her girls and all of the roads and homes and people I grew up with was just what I needed.

Here’s the vampire getting scared by the human:

My vampire daughter and her sissies:

Kreighton (who is 3 weeks older than my girl) giving the baby some lovin:

Baby Kate with such a good make-up job that my Grandpa asked who was the kid we brought along:

Wow – someone took the camera from me:

And Baby Kate’s (on the left) expression had her mama crying with laughter – oh, we all had a good laugh on that one.  It captures her personality quite well:

I have a few other non-Halloween pics from this weekend that I’ll post, but first I need to make my way through the Happy Bambino Halloween photos!

Happy November everyone!

Gratuitous Food Shots

Who can resist taking photos of food when it is this dang well presented?  The only difficulty is resisting diving in long enough to snap a few shots!

Yea – ya’all would be that happy if you were about to dive into dessert at Muramoto after a yummy meal!