Random Pictures and Tibetan Rituals

I've done a lot of random thought posts recently. Here are some random pictures.

Here is Thing 2. He is so handsome.
And I love, love, love the missing 2-front teeth stage.

This picture represents what an awesome wife I am.
I made all this for Mark to watch sports with his friend.
(I had no interest in said game, but did have interest in said food).

This is a picture of our kick-off NaNoWriMo breakfast --
Dutch Babies, Farm Fresh Bacon, Farm Fresh Sausage, and
Homemade Apple Muffins and various juices.
We know how to incorporate food into anything.

And here we are, later that morning,
kicking off our NaNoWriMo efforts with a toast!

I uploaded the following ones on "small" mode,
so feel free to click to enlarge.
The day we started NaNoWriMo was a full one.
It started with a great breakfast and writing party.

Then our friends took us to the Hands-On-House
and that was a lot of fun:

And then we attended a Tibetan feast and lecture/opening ceremony
with the Buddhist monks who visited the local college
to do a mandala (which we also visited all week long).
It was both delicious and fascinating.
Our pictures didn't turn out so great from the feast/lecture.

That evening, we were all tired, but not too tired not to read before bed:



These pictures came out better -- these are from later that week:

Here is one of the monks working on the mandala --
all that design? All made with sand. Beautiful!

It was fun to go visit it throughout the week
and watch the mandala grow.
They spent HOURS and such attention on it.

We also attended the closing ceremony as well:

The finished product.

After they finished it,
they did another Buddhist ceremony
with a lot of praying/chanting/meditating.

Then they gathered up all the sand,
sweeping it into a container.
You can hear audible gasps.

And we all hiked (and I mean HIKED) to the creek
where they poured the sand in a closing ceremony.

It was gorgeous.
And a neat representation of the principle of non-attachment
as well as many more lessons.
We loved it.

Here is where the monks dispersed the sand with prayer.

Mock Trial Class
Taught by Homeschooling Dad and Lawyer

Here is Thing 1 on the day of the mock trial.
Most hilarious moment?
When the prosecution gave their closing argument
and then Thing 1's defense attorney exclaimed,
"That was BRILLIANT! Why didn't I think of that?!"

And here is Thing 1 at 4-H with the bag she sewed
for a Humanitarian Aid project

I haven't posted a ton of pictures recently and these are all from this past November/December. More to come . . .