We'll open the bidding on what is sure to become a collector's item at, say, $200.

Thanksgiving is still a ways off but I’m really feeling the need to take a time out to count our blessings.  So much of the past 3 years has felt stretched thin… complete and utter exhaustion, lack of personal time, too many demands on too few hours in each day.  I’ve said more than once that parenthood and all the rest of our recent life circumstances have been a steady drain on the Noell-Johanson relationship reserves. Honestly, had we not enjoyed an entire decade of building those reserves together, our relationship might not have survived the past couple of winters.

But the great thing about putting one foot in front of another when things get rough is that, eventually, you find yourself in a different place than where you started out. And recently, we seem to be finding ourselves in the land of plenty.

The first signal that our household was entering a special place was our little garden plot. Our tomato plants grew to be over my head, bent to the ground and continued from there.  Wilder and I spent weeks picking mixing bowls full of cherry and plum tomatoes from these three productive plants. The zucchini… well, you can look at the picture. And the raspberries are still putting out a ton of fruit.

We’re looking forwards to enjoying an abundance of extra free time and energy because, as many of you already know, we have decided to close Fifth River studio. Our last day is October 31^st.  Eventually, we may look for a smaller location that will allow us to continue teaching in a permanent space but in the meantime we’re going to rent somewhere by the hour and just teach one or two classes a week to those die-hard students who want to keep training. It’s hard to express just how excited I am about this. The school has been making less and less sense since we’ve all had kids and other growing demands on our time. And although there were a lot of things I really enjoyed about running a school, I really don’t like much of what’s entailed in running a small business. In anticipation of our closure, we cancelled all of the kids’ classes this month and have been enjoying having dinner together in the evenings before one of us takes off to teach the later, adult classes.

I think I mentioned in an earlier post that Wilder is back in day care. Instead of doing 3 long days per week, we’ve decided to try out 5 shorter days so that he can maintain more of a routine during the week (routine being something we’re not so good at providing at home). This means during the week, Wilder and I get up together and spend the morning drinking hot chocolate and playing. When I don’t have a contract job going on, I drop him off just as the kids are sitting down to their pre-playground-outing snack at 10:30 and pick him up around 4:30 in the afternoon.

Because I know Wilder will be going to day care, I am much more present and mindful during our morning times together.  I resist the urge to go check my email or go throw in a load of laundry as my normal multitasking habits might cause me to do. I notice the difference this mindfulness makes in my own energy and see that reflected back at me in Wilder’s behavior.

The new schedule also means the shift is less abrupt for Wilder when I am working and that I get some personal time every day when I’m not. 

In September we took a family vacation to Bend (click to see our photos) to meet up with some friends for mountain biking. Thanks to the high desert nanny service, Matthew and I were able to spend two solid afternoons riding through amazing forested trails at the foot of the Three Sisters together.

The day we got back to Seattle, my friend Jen flew in from Chicago and she and I spent 4 whole days backpacking in the North Cascades.  Jen has also been living la Vida Loca lately and this was the first time in quite a few years that she and I have been able to get together for a visit. We covered over 40 miles through some of the last remaining lowland old-growth forests, over spectacular passes and across high, alpine meadows. As you can imagine, this was a deeply restorative trip for me and I felt so lucky to share the experience with such an important friend.

After a pretty slow work year, I just finished out 2 consulting gigs at Microsoft and have signed up for another 5 projects between now and the end of November so I am going to be incredibly busy starting in about a week but then look forward to throwing some money at a few overdue home improvement projects… although I’m sure the neighbors appreciate how our cracked front window is keeping their property taxes down.

Finally, we have an overabundance of blue carpet fuzz floating around our house at the moment. It all started because I found a cheap projector for sale on Craigslist just a couple of blocks up the street and, on a spur of the moment decision, decided to go and buy it. This meant we could finally get the tv out of our living room (which we did - sold on Craigslist in about 90 minutes) and rearrange the couches.  And then all hell broke loose and after schlepping a bunch of furniture to our basement, several trips to Pottery Barn and IKEA and even a paint job, our house is completely reorganized.  Here’s a view through Wilder’s new playroom into the front living room (now alternatively known as the “adult room” or “zen room”).

The theory, which seems to be holding true, is that toys would stay in one room, leaving the other free of clutter and kid-stuff and that, with more space and organization, Wilder would keep his toys picked up. So far so good.

The only thing we don't seem to have an abundance of is new photos of Wilder who continues to blossom into an ever cooler, more interesting and expressive little guy. The few we have I've uploaded into the September folder. We'll try to do better next month!

Love to you all,

Chantrelle and fam