A Halloween Circus

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls...Welcome, to the Miller Family Halloween Circus!

Get your Tickets here!

Our ticket taker is rather grim...

Incredible and Delicious Refreshments!

Music and Laughter!

A Daring Sabre Dance!

The Amazing Floating Lady!

The Incredible Talking, Singing Head of the Wizard Schmockoff!

The Horrible Harpy!

The Tall Man!

Every year for the past 5 year our family has thrown a big Halloween party. We actually did a big party the first year we moved here too. It was a harvest themed party and we invited all our new neighbors. We had been told that it had been a tradition in the neighborhood to have a harvest party on Halloween so we thought it would be fun to host it. It was fun, and a great way to gather with new friends. But the following two years, we were so overwhelmed with remodeling our home and then recovering from that, I just couldn't do a big party. Another neighbor did one...but we were busy and didn't attend. Finally, we decided it was time to bring it back. We set a theme - based on the Keats poem "La Belle Dame Sans Merci", made a Haunted Forest amongst our fruit trees, cooked tons of good food, and invited everyone we knew. It was greatly successful and so much fun! We decided that it would become a tradition, and have stuck to it ever since.

Our Halloween party theme this year was inspired by the circus in the movie Mirrormask, with a little bit of Mommy Fortuna's Travelling Carnival from The Last Unicorn thrown in. We began planning it several months ago, and I think it all came together to be our most magical party yet. We scoured vintage clothing stores and thrift stores for the bits and pieces of costumes and decorations, made plaster masks and sewed stripey tablecloths, re-purposed tacky Halloween decorations into awesome sideshow characters, and hung tons of paper lanterns and colored lights. There were only two things we fell short on - although we had our little white pony all brushed out and glittered, she never got her unicorn horn and never made it out to the main circus area, and....the harpy was supposed to have water balloon er...chests...and we just didn't get to it. She was nice and squalky though, and was quite entertaining until she felt she had enough attention and turned and pouted in her corner for the rest of the night.

We had beautiful weather, and it was a truly lovely evening for all of us. It is such a joy to share with our family and friends this way every year.

No Kiddin'...You're My Valentine!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope you all had as warm and lovely a day as we had here.

xoxo

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Introducing Rosebelle

Hello! My name is Rosebelle. Beth made me with the help of a very talented lady named Juliane. This is me in summer looking at all the pretty flowers in our yard.

Beth and all the other ladies in the dollmaking class decided to have a little swap. Everyone was assigned a secret partner to send a gift to. They all had to make an outfit for the dolly and send some little treats and sewing supplies by December 6th. That way we would all have a special present for Christkindle/St. Nicolas Day!

Here is what a nice lady named Nathalie sent to me all the way from Lebanon! Aren't I lucky? I love my warm, furry cape and my soft pants. As soon as I was dressed in my new outfit I was ready to go outside and play in the fall leaves.

Hello little bunny. What shall we do today?


Hmm. Bunny says I should climb the tree and he will find tasty leaves to eat. I'm good at climbing trees so that sounds like fun to me.

I climb very high in the peach tree and find a nice little spot to sit. I look up and remember the peaches we picked this summer and the ugly black bug that was crawling on one. I also remember the birds that shared the peaches with us and built nests in the tree.

I think I can climb a little higher, up to where the nest used to be. But it is hard work and I begin to get hot in my warm cape and hat!

So I let my cape drop down...It catches the air and floats right onto a rock! That's a good spot to leave it.

Now it's time to climb down, but going down is much more difficult than going up! My pretty dress gets caught, and I get bark on my nose!

I drop into a big pile of leaves and lose my hat on the way down. The leaves are fun to jump in!

I sit very still and the Bunny doesn't even see me. But now it's getting cold again and I am ready to go back inside and warm up.

Inside, I sit at my little table by the Christmas tree and drink warm apple cider and eat the yummy Baklava that Nathalie sent from Lebanon. My cheeks get very rosy, and my tummy is warm and happy! I watch the little Santa on my schwibbogen go round and round...

Later, I am very sleepy, but I look at the Christmas tree all lit up and think about Santa again. I wonder what he will bring me for Christmas....

Will You Walk Into My Parlour...(Halloween 2010)

...said the Spider to the Fly,

'Tis the prettiest little parlour that ever you did spy;

The way into my parlour is up a winding stair,

And I've a many curious things to shew when you are there."

"Oh, no, no," said the little Fly, to ask me is in vain,

For who goes up your winding stair, can ne'er come down again."

"I'm sure you must be weary, dear, with soaring up so high;
Will you rest upon my little bed?" said the Spider to the Fly.
..."Oh, no, no," said the little Fly, "for I've often heard it said,
They never, never wake again, who sleep upon your bed."


..."I have within my pantry, good store of all that's nice;
I'm sure you're very welcome--will you please to take a slice?"
"Oh, no, no," said the little Fly, "kind Sir, that cannot be,
I've heard what's in your pantry, and I do not wish to see!"

Our Halloween Party this year was a Spider theme...it was as creepy as we get around here! I didn't take pictures of the mummified (fake) owl and skeleton - eek!
The very weird big spider was made by Lucy out of a large, standing ghost we have. She took it apart, made spider legs out of wire and fake fur, gave it a big beach ball under it's cloak for an abdomen - ugh! I don't like spiders much!
Our entire orchard was wrapped in spider web to make a spooky den for the kids to explore. It was complete with a big web tunnel entrance, a foggy graveyard, spider eggsacks, and the web-wrapped mummies. All the kids loved it!

Click on the top picture of Lucy to see the amazing spider coat she made! She designed and sewed it herself, spun blue wool for the decorative stitching, added angora fur cuffs and netting collar, peacock feather epaulettes, and a pair of spider legs coming out the back.


The little girl cousins divided and swapped candy for hours!

Our party was on Saturday night, so on Halloween itself we had another celebration at Gramie's house. The teenagers and Robin all coordinated with Steampunk inspired costumes. They made quite an impression on the neighborhood! Apparently Barry was proposed to several times by admiring neighbor girls...he's sure it was just the vintage tailcoat :)

Summer Days

I know, I have been absent for a long time. But the days have been so full of summer fun that it's been hard to sit down at the computer. Here's a little glimpse of what we have been up to....

...our days have been busy with new pets, birthday celebrations, midsummer festival, some crafting, some acting (Elsa was in two plays! She was adorable as Cinderella's stepmother and the Magic Mirror in Snow White.) and even some sewing inspired by the ripe strawberries growing in the garden.

Hopefully your summer days are just as full and fun. I will try to post a little more frequently, especially with all the exciting activities going on this month!

Happy Mother's Day!

Me and my mama.

Isn't my mama adorable! Full of love and imagination, she gifted me with her love of reading and writing, her great sense of style, her passion for thinking long and deeply on life's mysteries, and so much more. Happy Mother's Day dear mama! And Happy Mother's Day to all you other mama's too. May you have joy in your journey this beautiful day!

Easter Morning

Our Easter morning was sweet and peaceful and filled with delicious food, handmade surprises, and fluffy little chicks. We spent a quiet morning listening to the songs of birds, laughter of happy children, and guidance from our spiritual leaders. It was truly a joyful morning!

Sweet 16 Unbirthday Party

Lucy and her cousin Sarah decided to celebrate thier 16th birthdays together and have one big, Mad Hatter, Unbirthday Tea Party! We met early Saturday morning at the movie theater to watch the new Alice in Wonderland movie with friends and family. (It was amazing and delightful!) Then we came back to our front yard where the setting was perfect for the birthday tea...

Lucy, dressed as Alice, oversees the festivities.

It was an enchanting day for everyone ~ perfect weather, great food, beautiful surroundings and good friends. Both of the birthday girls had a wonderful time!