Tennessee Gathering

Here are some pictures real quick from our trip to Roan, Tennessee for the Unschooling Gathering. What a blast. This being our first group get-together with unschoolers, I realized one thing. This is so important to Bret and Marley. Bret is just about at that age where kids are going to start saying things to her about not reading yet and not doing "school things". If she has a safe place already, with friends that do not judge her for going at her own speed, she will better deal with the kids that do judge her. Here is Bret with her new friend. Face art with Sharpees.

Here they are again going on a hike together.

Marley playing ping pong. This was a big hit for her even though she couldn't hit a ball. Technicalities...

Brenda tried her hand at Guitar Hero and realized that she was good at it. And enjoys it. Where are you Santa??? Are you watching?

Bret making a work of art... Sugar Skulls for the Day of the Dead.

Our First Unschooling Gathering

We will be gone for a few days on here. Some of my family will be heading off to our first Unschooling Gathering. I am hoping to be inspired to move myself along the way of Unschooling. And no doubt I will have plenty more fun stuff to say when we get back. See you all soon...

Halloween Festivities

Brenda and her good friend went as devils. And they felt their costumes were very fitting. Another friend went as a baby in a diaper.

Gaige showed up late straight from his bed. He came as a boy that just woke up still in his pj's. Again, not a big surprise costume, here. But still plenty of fun! This is a big attration for the Halloween parties. We have been doing it for years. The kids decorate these big houses (boxes). Then all the kids line up to trick-or-treat, while taking turns being the candy distributor. When the party is over, I have all these huge boxes for the kids to play with. Marley and I painted one later today after the party and played hide-and-seek in them.

Bret and her good friend B. This game replaced bobbing for apples. That was thankful, since my kids are all suffering from colds. The kids got into pairs. They took turns holding up a donut that was tied with dental floss. Their partner ate the donut from the string it is held by. First one done wins. But they were having so much fun that I don't think a definite winner was ever announced.

This year's Halloween Party was a blast. Director of Fun was my friend C. She dug into her huge endless supply of games and activities for tons of fun. There was donut dunking, Halloween pictionary, and much much more.

Story Time Again

With Girl Scouts on a bye week (it is the 5th Thursday of the month) I have been thinking about my girls and their development. It is funny, when I put each girl in a group with her peers, how noticable it is the difference in maturity and interests. Brenda's troop, of 2nd year Brownies, is very mature. They listen well, they speak in turn (for the most part), they understand so much and are capable of about any activity I put in front of them.

Bret's troop, first year Brownies, want to play. They want to talk. They want to goof off for the sake of goofing off. With Bret's troop, I sift through try-its to find what interests them, and what they are most capable of doing and enjoying. It is more work for me to navagate through the maze that is my second grade troop.

Anyway, today was story time and the girls all went to check out the books. Brenda came home with a ton of books. We returned her other books, all of which she either read in complete, or decided that the book was not interesting after a few pages and closed it up. None were left untouched. And so she was welcomed to take as many books as she could read. Bret did the same, but of course I will be reading those to her.

Brenda made a comment about how she, meaning Bret, was not reading those books. I told her that the first step toward reading on your own is learning to love reading. That is where Bret is. Just a different place.

And Marley... in her own words, "This is my new friend, Ayissa. I maked her. (this means she made a friend.) I want to hang out with her." Can you tell Marley has older siblings? She so wants to have her own friends. Maybe Alyssa at story time is the beginning for her.

Our new pet

OK not really our new pet. This is Mouse number 2 in our HUGE mouse escapade. These things are 8-10" long just with their body. The first one we killed. Its body fit in the dust pan snug. Bret says they are rats and he took this one away to be a mouse somewhere else far away. But their tails are kinda fuzzy so I don't know. That was two days ago. We caught our third one this morning. Its a little smaller. Ever since we caged our mouse a couple days ago, and Abby, our dog, caught the scent, she is in the "mouse closet" all day trying to sniff another one out. Abby is going nuts today. Finally, with all the mouse action going on in our house lately, she decided to get busy. Maybe she will find one herself one of these days that is not too fast. And they can "play".

Pool Days

Once a week the local high school pool opens for two hours for free play. The girls are so much not for structured learning right now, but this is great for them. We played for about an hour and a half before I pulled Lily out to dry off and get her pj's on. It is from 7-9, so after playing at the park, taking Bret to dance class then swimming, she was so ready for bed. I brought her pj's to change into because I didn't know if she would make it home awake. She did, of course, but was all ready to go. The girls are excited to go back again this week. But here is the thing... It is free. And it is from 7-9pm. So the parents that want their kids to get plenty of sleep for school don't take their kids there. And since it is free, ANYONE can take their kids here. So there are a lot of kids that don't really know about pool rules very well, and don't listen well to the life guards. Hopefully that will change with time. But really that didn't affect us much. We were content to swim and play in our own little group with a few friends that DID show up.

Time Alone

Marley and I went to the children's museum over by us on Sunday together. The girls were upset because they were staying home, but I wanted to give Marley the time to go do whatever she wanted to do without being ushered away to follow the older girls. So we were there three or four hours playing with dolls, sliding, throwing balls, experimenting, etc. We met some puppets. I think the names we made up were Mia (the bear), Sasha, and Tina the girl puppets. Marley refused the smock for water play. I insisted, so she begrudgingly put one on. But when she poured an entire bucket of water over herself, she was quick to point out that the smock didn't help keep the water off her. How can I argue with that logic? She was right, the smock was useless for her. Of course I was just thankful that she didn't climb into the water again.

But what a great time we had. We need to do more of these kinds of things together.

Conversations with the angels

Brenda said to me, "Ok mom, close your eyes and open your mouth."
I did what she told me.
"Ewww. Mom, chew your food and swallow it first."
Ha ha ha. She wanted me to taste her sucker and guess what the flavor was. Watermelon. She agreed.

Bret says, "I gave Dad a card, a lolly pop, and flowers. I love sweet days mom. Don't you?
"Yes I love sweet days too."

The other part of a moment

The rocks climb on my toes
The sky brushing against my forehead.
I am reminded of that eternity we talked about

Inspiration finds me here
In yester-days I might not have arrived
But you pulled me in so I could become we.

I can hear the kids in the background still
Not mine but just as well
We are climbing rocks together
Basking in the air that they don't breathe.

Was I born to be the me I am now
Standing here unsure
Knowing what I want to be
It's standing right in front of me

They pull and push
I am wore out of being another pawn
But here watching the leaves morph
The water glisten in the falling sun

I am destined to stand here staring at my future
Remembering it as if it were my past
Changing me to become HER
Is that who I want to be?

A Day to think about

We went on this real cool field trip today. It was a history festival at a big park. There were weavers, story tellers, old games to be played, the older kids got to try out a tomahawk for themselves, face painting, corn husk dolls being made and handed out, and plenty more. Gaige complained the whole time because his school friends were out of school for the day and he wanted to be hanging out with them. Bret complained because she was bored and I was not buying her anything (a frequent complaint lately as we tighten money for Christmas coming up). Marley cried because she saw a park with swings and wanted to play at the park. Brenda did not complain at all because she hooked up with a friend and spent all her time playing with her. Eventually Bret, Marley, and I ended up at the park to swing and play with the other school kids that were there. Gaige and Brenda stayed with the rest of our "group". When we made it back to the group, Bret complained that she had not done all the things the other kids did, Marley was crying for her na na, and Gaige was asking me if he could go wait in the car.

So we left. Moral of this story? I am not sure. Stop planning to go on field trips? This seems to be an ongoing issue I have. Gaige, well he isn't happy anymore unless he is hanging out with his school friends. Brenda doesn't care what she is doing as long as she is with a friend. Bret's happiness depends on whether or not she is going to get something. Maybe just plan social events for a while until the kids want to do something on their own time? I don't know. I will have to try to figure this one out.

They didn't seem to learn anything from this trip about history. They have had quite a few activities just like this lately. They are doing plenty at home. So maybe I just stop for a while. And see where life takes us...

Gaige gets his hair cut...

Girl Scouts

Update?
Well Brenda's troop appears to be ever-growing. It is a great group of girls. We have had a couple meetings already. The girls have completed a try-it badge. They will have completed the work for their first key badge soon. The girls are excited to be going on activities, our first here in a week or so.

Bret's troop had their first meeting yesterday. Boyeeee! That group of second graders. There are a couple girls there that have the energy of the Energizer Bunny. I will be looking for a way to calm that bunch down a bit. It is a welcome challenge. I think that this troop is going to be a real challenge, but great fun. Bret was so excited to have her own group of girls to meet with. And she had sooo much fun! So for that I am thankful.

The November activity there was only one activity that I was able to offer them. So the second grade troop will be joining the third/fourth grade troop for that. But after that I think they have chosen different activities for the next few months. Still waiting for a troop number for Bret's troop. I should inquire about that one. We will need that soon enough for their activities.

The Book WORM?

I had big plans to blog about this but hadn't gotten to it when C called me to chat. She mentioned to me that she went to the library with her kids and B (9yo daughter) checked out armfuls of books and had read them and returned them already. I was surprised, and I told her so. Brenda (also recently 9yo) had gone to story time with us at the library the day before, also checked out a ton of books and had been reading them like crazy. Well I should back up.

We were at the Thrift Store the other day when Brenda found a book called BabyMouse. It was comic book style and book form. So for something like 59 cents, I bought the book and gave her a minute or two of happiness. We had a couple more stores to go to, well I think it was three. She was done with that book before we even made it home. I was shocked. So now we found ourselves at the library and she comes out of an aisle with something like 15 books. Anything from paleosharks to more BabyMouse books to a Frannystein book. From there the girls wanted to go to the park. At first Brenda didn't want to go. She changed her mind and took a bunch of books with her to read. Bret and Marley took books too. I have always had this weird image of us going to the park to play while one or two of my kids sit under a tree and do their school work. Totally a "school" image. But this was so cool. She brought her own book and read of will at the park. And we were all after a while reading at the park. After that Bret had dance class. We at dinner and headed over to the school pool because once a week they open their pool to free swim. I packed Marley's diaper and pajamas for bed because I knew when we were done she might not make it home awake. What a long fulfilling day!

Birthday at the Farm

One of Brenda's homeschooled friends had a party. This year the farm we usually go to is not doing their halloween school events, so everyone headed over to this other farm to have similar fun. There was a corn maize (no surprise my kids chose to skip that part) a hay ride (we came late and missed that part) slides and fun.


But the best part for the kids was the big bucket of corn. That is where everyone spent most of their time funny enough. They had corn coming out of their underware for the rest of the day!

Here is bret in the latrine. Boy was she caught with her pants down...

Fishing at the Lake

We went on a fishing trip this week. Well we headed over to the lake for a lesson in safe fishing and the kids were let go to try it on their own. We were there in time to see the lake stocked. First the fish were scooped out of the truck. Then they were weighed.
The kids were real excited to see the fish put into the lake. If I can try remember one of the more creative comments correctly, one of the kids exclaimed, "There's a floater! Bonus!"
Brenda caught a fish, but it jumped back in when she unhooked it. It was small anyway, not quite fish stick size.
Bret just had fun casting out.
Marley tried, but eventually headed off to a pile of rocks and sand to make a sand castle. Still a fun morning with friends.

Marley's new room

So we have had this ongoing problem lately with Marley getting into the girls stuff and playing with it. I had started to solve the problem by buying each girl a chest with a lock to keep their personal stuff in, when a friend mentioned to me another aspect of the issue. Marley has no place of her own to put her stuff. She doesn't have very much stuff of her own. She plays with Bret's Polly Pockets, but has none of her own, for instance. She sleeps in bed with us, her clothes are in my dresser, her toys have always been her sisters' toys. Now that she is almost 3 it seems like a good time to give her some space of her own. It could be a good time for her to learn the value of having to ask before you take, merely by us giving her the space to do the same. That is what we are doing this week. I am transforming the living room space of mine into a play room for her. We spend much of our play time in there anyway since that is where I keep the Holly Hobby dolls and accessories. I pulled the old toy box out from the basement, and we are off to find toys that could be considered "hers".

Why so SLEEPY

Why is this girl still sleeping? Big Bret says she was still up at 4am. Well she went to sleep around eight. Then I went to sleep around 11:30ish with the tv still on. She woke up and asked for Noggin, her fave cartoon channel. I turned it on for her and went back to sleep. She has discovered a new dimension for Noggin TV. There is a whole different set of Noggin style shows on in the middle of the night. Oobi, Barney, etc. Shows that don't come on during the day. So the real question is this... will she choose to stay up all night to watch Noggin for now on, sleeping her day away, or will she stay up all day to watch her Noggin shows and go back to sleeping all night?

Speaking on TV, Josh was watching some MTV take-off of Survivor yesterday. The girls and I came in and watched it too. Josh eventually set off for bed and the girls and I kept watching. The girls were mesmerized by this show. Pretty much a bunch of bully men treating women bad and calling them all kinds of names. Then the girls getting upset because of the way they are being treated, but doing nothing about it. Then sometimes everyone drinking and becoming beligerant toward eachother, girls and men alike. Brenda couldn't stop watching, hour after hour. What a great teachable moment, where otherwise I might have told them this show was not for them. Instead we talked about how those people were treating eachother, the words they were using, why they might be treating eachother like that, what a person feels about themselves to feel a want to call people those kinds of names. 7yo Bret mentioned how that one man used the word Bit@* so many times it didn't even seem like a bad word anymore. We talked about how words are just words until someone gives them meaning. And again I brought up again how when people are happy and feel good about themselves, they don't want to call people names to hurt them. We call people names when we are sad, we don't feel good about ourselves, and want to control other people.

And now... everyone is fast asleep at 9:32am. Except Gaige who is off to his co-op to learn the Algebra, Physical Science, and Grammer and Writing that he decided he needs. And me because I am here.

Today's Tour

Well today I had set up a tour of the Ballet. So we were there at 11:00 a little early to welcome the people who signed up for the tour and collect money. Well by 11:15 no one was there. So I called a friend who was supposed to be there and asked if she was on the way. She told me the tour was scheduled for 1:00. So feeling like a confused dufe, I went home to wait for 1:00. Well at 1:00 I was back at the Ballet to welcome the people for the tour. My friend showed up with her child, and no one else came. Then the lady who I set the tour up through came to me and told me the tour was supposed to be 11:15. I told her what had happened and that I just assumed the mistake had been mine and had left. Well turns out that NO ONE else had shown up at 11:15 for the tour either. And it was my friend who was confused. That is what I get for second guessing myself! What happened to the people who RSVP'd?? I have no idea.

So we were invited to watch about 35 minutes of the rehearsal. It was real neat. The ballet we were watching was Dracula. The choreographer was actually making the ballet up as he went along. So we got to see them working the moves out as they were setting them up. We got to see the three main dancers working as the understudies were working on the same thing behind them.

All in all it was a good experience. What happened to all my RSVP's? I don't know...

Then my friend C will appreciate this story. For Girl Scouts tomorrow, I went to the Dollar Store for balloons. And wouldn't you just know that the balloons were all out. I sooo didn't want to go to another store to pick up balloons. I chuckled to myself, rolled my eyes, and told myself that the universe would provide those balloons to me. (But secretly I thought to myself, "right sure, I will be heading to another store to pick them up. That is how the universe will provide them to me...") Anyway we continued shopping, and picked up a couple other things, Marley played for a while in the toy aisle. Bret asked the cashier where the balloons were, and she pointed Bret to the aisle where the balloons were all gone. Then Bret got crabby and started saying there were no balloons and she was tired. She wanted to go home. I told her I was going to check for balloons one more time. She complained that her feet hurt and fell to the ground to prove to me that her feet were hurting. I told her I would check one more time anyway. Sure enough all the balloon hooks were empty. Then I looked down at the bottom of the shelf where there was this box filled with bags of squiggly straws. I noticed one balloon sitting all by itself not in a bag, and I thought that was odd. I picked it up and found a couple more. By the time I had three I knew there was a whole bag of balloons there somewhere probably spread out, out of the bag. In all I found 29 balloons with no bag. AND so I had my balloons for Girl Scouts, Bret's legs felt better once her hands had a balloon to hold, and we all left happy.

AND THEN right before I took Bret to dance class (because remember her legs were not hurting anymore) Steve came over with a chipmunk he trapped with this rat trap at his house. The girls were excited to see the chipmunk. I asked Steve if that was his trap because I was looking for a trap for the HUGE mouse that is WAY to big for our small mouse traps. He said I would need a bigger one and he would bring his bigger one over for me next week. So again, that worked out too.

She sells Sea Shells

Brenda and I were talking about this tongue twister a couple days ago. And Bret chimed in. She told me she could say it five times fast easy. No problem.

"See sells see sells at the see sore. See sells see sells at the see sore...." And on my little lisping daughter went ten times as fast as she could. "See? It is easy! That's because I am always practicing talking fast."

Youth is so happy...

A friend of mine told me with all Marley's two year old energy, she might be the one I want to put in school for a while, at least kindergarten. And take the chance to squash moments like these ones? Never. And have her sit in circle time when she wants to run around? To color when she wants to paint? And work on the ABC song when she could be playing Holly Hobbies? Really? That doesn't sound a bit fun. Oh the things that Holly Hobby can teach her.

Brenda, my "Mom won't let me go to school, she says I'm not allowed" girl, made a friend yesterday and made an interesting comment. Surprising, anyway. We were all at the park and I everheard her tell this girl that she will never go to school and she will never send her kids to school either. "You learn more at home. You get to go on hikes, and be outside in the world more, and so you learn more." It could be a homeschool friend that she has been spending a bit of time with lately that is giving her a new perspective. She has a friend that despises the idea of school or anything school related. She is head strong and doesn't listen to anyone's ideas about what she should learn. 9 years old, at that.

Me and Marley

She was just making faces for the camera and I was taking snapshots of us. It was fun, that's all. She likes to see herself after each picture. Then we would laugh hysterically together. Boy oh boy, that girl is almost three!!

Girl Scouts

Are you wondering what is going on with Girl Scouts this year? If so hold onto your horses. You might not believe this one. I have started two troops in our town. That was not my plan. I always considered myself so much more of a co-leader than an actual leader. I was hoping to find a couple troops to drop my girls into. It didn't pan out. I am the leader of two Brownie troops (Brenda's 3-4 grade troop and Bret's 2nd grade troop). Both troops have a great group of kids. I have a co-leader in one and an Adult Girl Scout helper in the other. One troop meets the first and third Thursday, the other meets the second and forth. Yay for the months with five Thursdays, I get a break. This month we are off to a night hike for the Halloween holiday, next month we are seeing a full body puppet show. December we are off to roller skate with other Girl Scout troops.

I am organized, too. Get a load of me! We are earning try-its, we have bank accounts, we are collecting dues, and I prepare parent letters for every meeting. We will see how organized I really am when GS cookie sales come along. He he he. Oh well, no need to look too far into the future. We are having fun for now.

Creeking

Today was such a beautiful day. With all the chilly weather lately, it was refreshing to have a brief moment out in the sun with friends. We sunned, skimmed the creek for fish and other creatures, and in the end most everyone was wet. Afterwards we headed up to the park for some swings and slides, happened upon another homeschool family, and ate lunch. Boy are those bees in full swing today. The cold hasn't put them to rest yet completely! Then back to the creek for a little more fun before retiring to our home for the rest of the day. Thank goodness I remembered to bring towels with me. Those would have been some mighty unhappy car seats if those wet butts sat down as they were.

These days are almost over for a while. We oughta soak them up while they last.

Hair Fun

So, not a moment too late for the Halloween season, Bret has gone blue. (well not completely, but nice highlights.) We are off to a Homeschool Gathering in a few weeks, and a friend and I have tossed around the idea of all of us picking a color. I am thinking more along the lines of red for myself, but I am not really sure. Is my Bret a little punk? No, just a little girl having some fun.

The Good Ol Games

We have been into playing those Good Ol Games lately. Jump rope, hop scotch, roller skating, riding bikes. We have been real busy hanging out and spending time together, that there has just not been much time to blog. You could find us at the park, or hanging out doing our own things. The girls have been spending a good amount of time with some neighborhood friends of theirs. That is what we have been up to. Lots of nothing much.

Homeschooling This Weekend

This week was one about thinking and figuring things out. We were headed to a park after a field trip to the sanitation district when Gaige asked for Wendy's food. He knew I didn't want to go there and get food for all the kids so I said no. He persisted. And again as I passed McD's. Finally I told him that I would stop at McD's for some fries on the way home from the park. I could say that I had little to no intention of actually following through with this, but it was a fleeting thought. The park was fun and when we started home I passed right by that McDonalds. Gaige noticed and complained and then said forget it. He was obviously hurt and one might say "pissed off" that I didn't follow through with what I said I would do. And his "forget it" suggests that I have done this plenty of times before and passed it off for no big deal, no doubt hurting his feelings and making him feel like I was not dependable. To make a long story short we ended at Wendys for the fries instead, and I got a good hard lesson about how often I say one thing and do another. I am thinking about that this week.

Saturday was the day to do nothing from what I can remember. Today was the Unity picnic. Josh came with a friend to see Jessie and Leah (a couple homeschooled friends of his). Marley and I are still spending tons of time together. We will continue to do that until she understands that we will always have plenty of time together. And I am trying to fit time with Brenda and Bret in there too. Bret and I had a great moment today bonding together when her new diary lock broke.

Girl Scouts begins on Thursday for Brenda. Oh THAT was Saturday. My co-leader dropped by with her daughter. The girls played and we discussed our first meeting. Next to send out notice to the second graders about a troop for Bret's age.

No pictures, but all in all a good amount of stuff getting done. I will go to the college tomorrow to drop my class.

A Week in the Dark

No TV, no radio, no cooking? What to do? Since we had plenty of time and not much to do with it this week, I decided to get out the big lego tub. Years ago, for Christmas, the boys got a 75+ lb box of Legos to add to their already-brimming-over collection. Well anyway I broke out the Legos. The girls have never really played with them before so I had no idea that they would be stuck like glue to them all week. To give you an idea what a mess that Lego box was, in the beginning the conversation went something like this... "Hey I found a head," -Brenda. "I found the body," -Bret. "I found an arm" -me. Brenda, "Oh give that to me, I need an arm." As we were putting the people back together. Now there is a Lego town equipped with store, bank, and hotel on my dining room table. Lego cars and boats, and Lego people living amid it all. How can I complain???

A friend asked me to come to the ice rink and keep an eye on her kids for their ice skating lesson so that she could go to an appointment yesterday. My girls laced up and had a blast. C came and picked up her kids, they left, and my kids were still on the ice until the last minute where they were finally kicked off. Ha ha ha. Lessons? I don't know, but free skating? Yup, that is the answer for sure. What fun!

And in other news, as I am adjusting my homeschooling and parenting methods lately, I am also quiting school for a bit. The kids need me there 100% and it seems like I just can't be. I am frustrated when I cannot get everything done. So I am taking a break. I am usually much more happy when I am slowed down, and the kids need to see that right now. I think I decided if I am to make the kids my priority, I agree that I am not doing that when I have midterms and final exams to study for. Anyway I am three weeks into one of my classes and am dropping out mid class. I am a little sad about it, but it just feels like the right thing to do. So check out my quote of the week on the right. It has all to do about this.

Go Fish (aka Pink Unicorns)

Bret and I chuckle now about how she decided one time that Gold Fish was not the name she wanted to call the card game. She switched the name to Pink Unicorns. She now knows that the game is actually not Gold Fish but Go Fish. So sometimes we call it Pink Unicorns in jest when we play together.

But Anyway that is not why I am posting. My girls woke up this morning, got breakfast, and sat down at the dining room table to play cards. Not turn on the tv to start their cartoon day, play cards. That's all. It was just unusual.

Yesterday Bret, Lily, and I made a crazy maze in the living room out of weaving yarn in and out of our furniture. Marley and I spent a lot of time playing with the Holly Hobbies. I have finally given in to her love for those dolls. They are my special dolls that are put up for display only, with the tea set and all the other Holly Hobbie stuff. But truely, she loves them and plays with them soo good, I don't want to tell her no.

At the end of the day... I talked Big Bret into going to the park with us for an hour. Lily loves to have park time with him. And Bret got in contact with a bunch of her friends there too. It was a good thing. We went home and crashed.

New book from the library that Mr. C gave me for Brenda's age... Boots and Pieces. I started reading it to Brenda and Bret last night. I think it might be too mature of reading for Bret. Maybe even Brenda but we are not for sure yet. We will read on and see. More updates on that. Gaige has picked up a couple more Margaret Haddix Patterson books. Those are still his favorites. We are glad to see there are some new ones he hasn't read yet. In fact he has been choosing to read lately.

Today we are putting the slide away. It has run its course. And I don't want to break the table from extra pressure on the legs. Awwww! It has been a lot of fun to do.

September old weekly quotes...

You mean," asked Avon, quite amazed, "that after all this time, we're just beginning?""Worse," Edward pointed out. "Since this is the beginning, if we hadn't gotten to this point, we would not have begun.""Oh goodness, "said Avon. "All that traveling, and we haven't even started. I had no idea how far you have to go before you can start. Almost makes me want to stop.""You can't do that, either, " said Edward severly."Why?""Can't very well stop if you haven't started, can you?""Edward," cried Avon, "I never knew how important it was to start before you begin."And turning around, they began.-The End of the Beginning by Avi

“How did it get so late so soon? Its night before its afternoon. December is here before its June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?”Dr. Seuss

"Don't Forget to look up from your keyboard and see how blue the sky is now and then. Don't forget to put away your cell phone and spend some time alone with paintbrush or pen. Don't forget to seek the sound of silence and let the daily traffic rush on by."Remember that the secret of success is how happily you climb not how high."

The Day of the Slide

As you know I have been sensing a discontent in Marley, and have been reevaluating how we spend our time together. I decided to involve her more in MY life, rather than trying to find time at her beck and call to do what she is begging me to do. I am asking her if she wants to go help me with the laundry, does she want to go upstairs with me to put the books away, does she want to go to the store with me. Even when Gaige offered to keep her today, I asked her if she wanted to go with me anyway. I am realizing that she is feeling like her time with me is scarce. There isn't enough and so she needs to keep me busy doing things that she wants. I am trying to provide more time with her so she sees we are unlimited in our time. Josh brought two tables down from the auditorium this weekend so we could use them as a tent for Brenda's sleep-over. The girls bent one leg down today to turn one of the tables into a slide. Here are Marley and me rolling a Christmas cookie tin up and down the slide to eachother.
Brenda and Bret later in the day spent a couple hours sliding down this slide of theirs. They were experimenting with all kinds of sliding tricks. Head first with a flip at the end, singing songs and dancing on their way down, and all kinds of things.

Marley was happy to just be part of the fun with the girls. I enjoyed sitting on the stairs and watching them have fun. Marley kept trying to get me to slide with her. I am afraid that I am too big and heavy for that game.

Reused Clothes

I remember the time that we went to the mall together (Brenda, Bret, and their cousin Kira), got matching outfits and headed to the Picture Place to get a group picture. That is still my favorite picture of those girls. They were so young. For a couple years after that the girls would say, "Remember when we went to the mall and got an outfit, that one time?" What a treat that was. I am not sure that we have been back to the mall since then for clothes. Sometimes Wal-Mart, Target, or Old Navy, but never the mall. The girls now get so excited when someone we know gives us a bag or two of clothes to look over. It is like a fashion extravaganza for them.

A friend gave us two big black garbage bags of clothes sized from 6 to 12. What a treat this was today. Marley and Bret spend hours going over the loot. Bret said of the girl whose clothes she inherited, "B has a sweet deal on clothes, doesn't she?"

Holly Hobby Day

Marley and I played Holly Hobby for quite a while yesterday. I noticed that she kept switching to other activities. We are playing with the dolls then suddenly she says, "I know, let's play clay." Then we are back to the dolls after that and she says, "I know, let's play music." She gets out a drum and flute. Then we are off to something else. I mentioned this to my husband. His thought is that she is desperate for me to keep playing with her and to not stop to do something else so she keeps trying to find new things that will interest me and keep me involved. After he said that I mentioned it to a friend who added that she probably senses me tuning out for a moment and is trying to hold me attention. Today we will spend a good amount of time hanging out and I will pay more attention to exactly what is going on. I don't like that she feels like she has to work hard to get me involved. She DOES require a lot of my time and energy. I think that after cleaning up the syrup off the floor, and going out to buy new laundry detergent and shampoo because those were dumped out, and picking up all the other disasters in her wake, I mentally take that time into account when I spend time with her. We will work this one out.

Turning 9

Brenda is turning 9. We are really low on money and I was struggling with what to do. She usually is afforded big birthdays with lots of kids. Last year she had a Noah's Ark party where all the kids got to make their own stuffed animal as their goody bag. How to make her birthday special with little money to spend?

I came up with it! I was so proud of what I thought of. So proud of myself. These kinds of ideas don't always come easy. We got her a small present that she wanted, then I sent her out with her dad for a day together. They went to see Wall-E at the dollar theaters, shopped at Toys R Us to spend her $20.00 she got from PawPaw, then they got a small snack to eat. While they were gone, little Bret and I made a tent in the family room and decorated it nice with blankets and stuffies. Then a few of her friends came over and hid in the tent. When she got home I sent her in there and they surprised her with a sleepover birthday party. Convenient, easy, and inexpensive! Bonus for me!! They played Webkinz, had a fashion show with past years' Halloween costumes that had been left out from Marley dressing up as a pirate yesterday, and did all the basic party things. It was a great time. And now they are asleep. Sigh. She will remember this one.

The Band Plays Out

Josh and his band, Five Stories Falling, play out at their first gig at a bar. I know he is not homeschooling anymore, but I just had to post some pictures of my Josh hanging out on his drums with his band guys. I still don't know if they got paid for this. I think it depended on how many people came and paid to hang out and see the bands.

He came there ready to play, sporting the correctional detention facility outfit I bought him last year for Halloween. Thank goodness that hard earned money didn't go completely to waste. At the last second Halloween night, he and a friend decided to go trick-or-treating as girls. Finally the Jailhouse outfit gets some wear.

Of course shortly after he dropped the clothes for a cooler approach: Bare skin.