Note to self, things to consider for the New Year

Here is a site I was reading on recently regarding carcinogens and toxins in our daily lives. Those are some fun things to consider for the upcoming year...

Toxins-Everyday Posions

Christmas 07

Christmas this year was great! We had more people than I ever remember having on a holiday ever! It was really awesome that we got to meet Dannelle too. She fits in so well with us. Its kinda like she has been here all along. I really hope she gets to stay for New Years so we can spend a little more time with her before she goes. I am really enjoying our family this year. It seems like we have grown so much closer. I never would have imagined us the way we are now. With the kiddos growing at warp speed and all the new people we have been blessed with, It just seemes like we are whole now. It really is a great feeling.

Mady's Art Progressing

Christmas @ Our House...

was CRAZY! OK. I could go on and on about the day but I will spare readers and let those of you interested know I have added a link to YouTube where you can view short snippets of the day. These of course are all taken from my point of view.

Some of my favorite things this year were:

Meeting my cousin Danniell from Michigan for the first time!
The framed puppy drawing from Mady!
All the family having the best Christmas ever!

When I opened Mady's drawing I just couldn't help but tear up. Mady has been taking art classes for a couple of months. She seems to enjoy it a great deal and I know she has learned more than I imagined she would. The puppy drawing Mady gave to me was a drawing she had done in the art class. When she showed me the drawing after class the day she had done it, I realized you can "learn" art, it's not ONLY a natural talent. I was truly impressed by it. So when I opened the box Christmas morning and saw the framed puppy drawing I couldn't help but tear up with the thought of how much she has learned...and grown.

I can vividly recall the Christmas Mady was 2 in a room piled with pink gifts that Mady never seemed to come to an end of. She ripped the gifts open as fast as she could, threw them down without any comment and on to the next one. That year she was given a Barbie Power Wheels Jeep, yes pink, which she seemed scared of. It wasn't until Niki was 2 that we got our money's worth from it. This year Mady was given some personal grown up girl gifts for Christmas. I can't believe she is growing up so fast. Mady is the sweetest, most tenderhearted, thoughtful little girl I know. I hope I am doing all I can to encourage her to continue growing in the same way.

Merry Christmas!

Niki sings, Ezra dances

OK, I know no one else finds my kids as cute and talented as me but I am posting these videos anyway. I am so happy I was finally able to get the kids on film. Enjoy!

Apparently I took Niki's video sideways??? OK, the videos are not as entertaining as being there bc I only caught them long after these scenes began and as soon as they saw the camera, they become shy, go figure.

Winter Solstice

We have decided that rather than travel 1 1/2 hours away to celebrate the winter solstice, we will have a celebration @ home. I think all the reading and group chat/activities we have participated in this year will be more beneficial for next year's planning. There are so many things to do, there is just not enough time.

The girls were so busy with hanging out with family they decided they didn't want to go eat breakfast with Santa this year. We still have the Nutcracker coming up this weekend. We have done that for the past 3 or 4 years, I think that is a tradition that is safe to say will stay.

Winter Solstice

Happy Solstice

Have you guys seen this?!!

Elf Yourself

Together

What's Goin' On...

Well, I haven't posted in a week I suppose. We have been busy hanging out with the family mostly. Last night we drove around town to view local homes decorated with Christmas lights. How was it you ask? To say it was disappointing would be the understatement of the season. There was one house worth viewing. I think we may drive over to Tyler to see the village of lights that is out there each year.

Unschooling. Well, since unschooling is just living and learning we seem to be handling it well. We did attend a Christmas ballet this season and we are soon to see the annual Nutcracker @ a local theater as well. There is one play I want to take the girls to but I am not certain we will make it.

I know we are visiting different venues and helping the children to be more active in the community but I feel as though something is missing. That maybe something on my end-I will have to talk with Mady about it and see what she has to say. Mady has been playing a ton of computer games trying to make sure she is where she needs to be with her math. We do science experiments and we usually count reading as history though no one has been interested in reading much lately. I am currently reading The Golden Compass to the boys. The girls mentioned they would like to go see it on the big screen but I like to read the original story before we see the movie.

In the last week we have been to the Christmas party (which I didn't take many pictures of for some reason,) made bird feeders from pine cones, prepared ingredients from a 60 year old mincemeat pie recipe from our Grandma Ann,visited the zoo on the last warm day of fall, been to art lessons, played the guitar, and chatted with a Jewish friend about Hanukkah. We went shopping for some of the family and Mady spent the night with two different friends. Niki has had to stay home lately. I think spending so much time away from home has contributed to her recent uncharacteristic disposition. Life in itself is just busy, even if you don't take in account all the holiday activities we have still been with our extended family most days.

Our family recently purchased about 20 acres in a remote part of Texas so we can have somewhere to go to decompress without the usual daily distractions. I am excited to take the kids out to see it-and camp! It is too cool for camping now but as soon as the weather is about 70 again we will head out so we can mark the spot for a future cabin of sorts.

Plans for this weekend include a local play, spending the day with Pam on Sunday for her birthday, hanging out with the rest of the family, and breakfast with Santa @ a local business on Saturday morning. We have to get started wrapping our Christmas presents! How long will that take? Uhg...enjoy some pix of all the holiday activities.

The Story of Stuff

I know some people who laugh every time I mention that I clean my house with vinegar, baking soda, OxyClean, and water. We have been trying to live a cleaner, more natural lifestyle for a bit, it was easy for me to find these natural solutions to cleaning without chemicals on the web.

OxyBoost/OxyClean

Today after we returned home from our group trip to a small ballet production of "The Grump" based roughly on The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, I began reading again. Tonight I was reading some of our group posts and found The Story of Stuff. I wanted to share it in case some of you haven't seen it or read any of the information anywhere else. I know I am really preaching to the choir here since I am sure anyone reading this blog is into some kind of natural living. People amaze me. Every time I try to enlighten someone with a suggestion about simple cheap ways to go green, I get shut down. I would think that if for no other reason than saving money people would want to @ least try to use something besides chemicals to clean their homes.

The Story of Stuff

Chemicals in your Home

Have you ever had the feeling...

you were destined for greatness? Have you ever thought, is this what my life of greatness is suppose to look like? Why can't I just do the things I think I want to do?

I have and I do still. I was conversing with a friend via e-mail when it suddenly dawned on me I can just do whatever it is I think I want to do. The lifestyle we are currently living is new for all of us. Our family has only been unschooling since August and I only began reading on the topic of unschooling shortly before we began, or stopped (traditional school methods) as it actually is.

I had been living with the notion that there are certain things one does not do with their children. The more reading I do, the more things I have become interested in experiencing first hand. A rainbow gathering or drum circle for instance. I do plan on taking the girls with me. We all enjoy live music and I think this would be a great place for Niki to hear original pieces from other people and possibly be inspired to do more with her talent. Not sure I mentioned it before but our little Niki is a budding song writer. I have been trying for a few weeks to catch her on video but she seems to loose her train of thought every time she sees me reach for the camera.

What does all this have to do with greatness you ask? I have put limits on myself. If I limit myself I may never experience what it is I am to be great @. If I limit myself, how can I inspire my children to adventure out into the world to try new things? The more time I spend with our babies (not all are little any more) the less I want to be away from them.

I will post more @ the end of the week about our contrived suburban adventures.

Chow dahlings!

How do you tell your children...

you, as a parent believe that "BIG BROTHER" tries to control the masses by manipulating our unconscious desires? How do you communicate to your 4 year old that the reason her favorite cartoon character is plastered all over any unhealthy food and plastic toy on every isle of the local Wal-Mart is to have her want to purchase it? Well, don't ask me, I haven't been able to help her to understand it yet!

More and more lately all I have been feeling is how I hope my kids will do a better job than me @ taking care of Mother Earth. I hope I can help them learn to take less and give more. Maybe I am rambling. I have been slowly moving toward a more natural lifestyle for sometime. Once in awhile on our journey, something will spur me along, an article, an ad or commercial or billboard. Today one of my relatives made a comment that Christmas was all about spoiling the kids. I highly disagree with that. I love the relative very much and made no argument with the comment. It did start me thinking that I certainly hope our children do not think Christmas is about being spoiled and recieving all their hearts tangible desires. How to know? Ask.

I did ask Niki what words she thought described Christmas for her. Here they are in the order they were given:
FUN
JOY
GREATNESS

What is your favorite part about Christmas?
The whole part! I like to play with all the presents too!

So, I think she sees some of what I see @ Christmas time...or she has already heard too many Christmas songs this season!

Here is a link to more about control over the masses from the Information Liberation site.

Controlling the Masses

The Table

Christmas tree oh Christmas tree

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree!Thou tree most fair and lovely!Oh Christmas tree, O Christmas tree!Thou tree most fair and lovely!The sight of thee at Christmastide Spreads hope and gladness far and wideOh Christmas tree, O Christmas treeThou tree most fair and lovely!


I know this picture is blurry, but I enjoy the way the lights appear. It makes me think I am looking @ the Christmas tree in the background of something, or as a memory.

My husband picked the tree-it is about 3 feet shorter than I would have liked, but he gets an A for effort. The girls decided to stay with Brother Beal and Pam tonight so I put all the lights and other decor up and they can decorate the tree tomorrow when they return home. The boys seemed to be mesmerized by the entire episode, they wanted to eat the lights??!!!



This is Ezra one day this week playing with Niki's baby stroller, and a baby, she doesn't play with much any more. Later, I pulled out Mady's old stroller for Luke but he wasn't as interested as Ezra.

I decided to change our page a bit. I think if we want to have some friends from other countries we need to show them what we do around here in Texas. It will also be a great way to add in some history for the kids. The plan is to post more of the local things that we really take for granted but that people from other countries maybe interested to see. I know we are becoming a global village and cultures all over are mingling more, we still have our differences. Hopefully I will be able to highlight these interesting points.
As for unschooling, well I like to think it is going well. We really don't think much about school any more, we just live our lives. The kids are flowing right along. Mady and Niki have both asked for something more structured though. I have tons of book. I suppose I will try to make more efforts to ask them what they want to do instead of just letting them make their own daily course since that is what they say they want.
Niki is learning some guitar from Brother Beal and Mady is creating some beautiful art in her classes. She is shy about showing it to me so I haven't been able to post any of it yet.

So today since I only had half the usual number of children (!) I tried to list some of our Christmas traditions so we could make our paper chain and write our traditions on some of the rings. I was stunned to see just how many traditions we actually have. There are actually so many that we have one for every other day in December, but we usually do several over the weekend.

1) We spend one entire weekend (usually Thanksgiving wknd) decorating the house inside and out.
2) We make cookies and truffles for everyone. The truffles never look right but if you love chocolate then they are the best chocolatey Christmas treat ever.
3) We watch all the old Christmas cartoon specials: Rudolf the Red Noised Reindeer, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Charlie Brown Christmas, Frosty the Snowman along with current cartoon favorites.
4) Volunteer
5) Make paper snowflakes!
6) Make homemade Christmas ornaments usually something with the pine cones we collected on one of our spring time trips to east Texas.
7) Listen to corny Christmas songs and sing along @ the tops of our lungs while we wrap presents.
8) Drive around the city looking @ Christmas lights.
9) Attend The Nutcracker
10) Attend the Annual Christmas on the Square here in our town.
11) Write clues for the scavenger hunt Christmas day. (We hide the one best present for everyone.)
12) Write to Santa
13) Make our paper count down to Christmas chain
14) This year we are attempting to add a Christmas movie marathon

So, there will be plenty to post about in December! I am felling more Christmas-ee by the minute.

3:07 AM Post Turkey Day

Did anyone do Black Friday? Thanksgiving was great @ our place. I am still trying to sift through pix and see what I want to post. I am also trying to find a way to add a slideshow to my blog. I do not have the Microsoft Office Suite on my computer so I have to find an alternate way. I am slow to search.

My dad and I were on a mission to purchase a top of the line laptop from Best Buy. Best Buy was running a special for an almost top of the line laptop for $299.99! we live in a small town so we thought we need only arrive slightly early to stand in line to get our laptop. When we arrived @ Best Buy, 45 minutes early, a line had been formed and already doubled back around the building! OK, we laughed our asses off and hopped back in the truck. Papaw, my dad, decided we could log on to see if there were any online specials. On the way to the computer we happened by Wal Mart! Papaw says lets check it out. It was 3:07. Once in Wal Mart we discovered there was a laptop going on sale @ 5am, better than the Best Buy's, for the same price! There was no one in line for it. We waited. By 4am someone else was in line behind us. 5am we purchased our laptop and ran to the truck to go home for a nap! Why do this? Was it such a great deal it was worth loosing sleep over? Yes and yes. We waited in line for a mere 2 hours to save $658.98!

The best part for me was just being there with my dad, Papaw as he is known to my kids. He has worked hard all his life, like most dads no doubt, but he has played hard too. My dad is a fisherman. You would never catch him in a store if he weren't purchasing fishing equipment, NEVER! Christmas time in years past, my dad paid me and my sister to complete all the shopping. He actually commented he had a fun time hanging out waiting around @ Wal Mart @ 3 AM with me and that it was well worth it. I agree. My sister has requested a laptop for the previous 2 years @ every gift giving occasion and now we will all witness her face Christmas day as she unwraps a laptop she has longingly coveted. I can't wait! That is the stuff memories are made of.

Pen Pals

I have tons of little stuff to post from the family get together @ the holiday, just not enough time right now. I do want to mention that my eldest daughter Mady is looking for pen pals. I think a more accurate description would be computer pals. I am glad I added the cluster map after we joined the web ring so we can see where site visitors live. If anyone has any ideas for locating "computer pals" please leave a comment. I would like to chat with families overseas to see what their lives are like while they unschool or homeschool.

A Sabbatical

What is a sabbatical? A year of rest.

My mom and I were speaking about what I am actually doing with the kids...as far as school is concerned. I was trying to convey to her I believe once you take a person (a child for instance) from a familiar environment (school for example), they need time to adjust, time to remember who they are, time to enjoy participating in activities instead of just rushing to and from activities because that is what you are "suppose" to do. I have been home for about a year now. I feel I am only beginning to feel like myself. There are many things I want to do, I just don't have the time! I am not certain how long it will take Mady to feel like she doesn't want to go back to the daily sit @ your desk and do busy work schedule. I am trying to have her involved with as many children her age or close to her age as possible. She thrives on being sociable. She feels like she doesn't have any friends. I don't see how, she is constantly on the go. I think she is somehow feeling pressure from my parents. My mom is forever asking her what she is learning. I believe children are naturally curious. I also believe public schools stifle curiosity. Some people that have not researched the public school system may believe me to sound like a loon or someone with a conspiracy theory for everything. While it is true, I despise the mainstream, I do not despise it because it is mainstream. I despise it for the kind of people we have allowed it to turn us into. No matter how much I talk with my family about how Wal Mart has run all the caring Mom & Pop shops out of business and how all they care about is the bottom line, all my family can see is Wal Mart has the cheapest prices. I say, @ what cost? Does anyone read labels? Maybe purchasing from the local Farmers Market costs a few cents more, but @ least one can speak with the farmers right there and find out what is on the veg one is purchasing. One also knows that since it is a local Farm Market, the veg is local and it didn't travel across the world and use who knows how much fuel and then pass through who knows how many hands or what kind of poison or disease it is riddled with. When you purchase something locally you become familiar with the farmers and if you do have a problem @ least one may go back to the source for help and answers.

My dad may not agree with everything I say about the public school system or Wal Mart but he agrees with me about moving out to no-whereville and growing or raising and hunting food yourself. This would eliminate reliance on the national corpocracy.

What does all this have to do with a sabbatical you ask? These are only a few things I have read about in my year of personal study. I am on the verge of discovering a career that will allow me to maintain the home life we are growing to love as well as earn some money to help support our beautiful family.

One year can change a person. I wonder where I will be in ONE more year?

A little on child development

"Observe your grandson's spontaneous play. This will give you the best clues to the developmental tasks that are important for him to learn next. Children tend to be most excited about skills they are on the brink of mastering. If you try to engage him in an activity that is beneath his developmental level, he will quickly get bored. If you try to interest him in something that he is not yet ready for, he will become upset. (Note: babies don't tend to cry when they fail, but rather when the activity isn't at the right developmental level). Our task is to find that zone of moderate challenge -- where learning is fun. Provide situations where he can teach himself through playful exploration. Forced teaching hinders development. These principles apply equally to "gifted," "average," and "special-needs" children."

Entire Article by Dr. Greene

Dr Greene

On his quest to educate and inspire parents about their children, Dr. Alan Greene has become one of the world's most trusted and beloved pediatricians. His acclaimed book, From First Kicks to First Steps (McGraw-Hill, 2004), is an inspiring resource for parents around the world. It's no wonder that Intel named him the Children's Health Hero of the Internet. A practicing pediatrician and father of four, Dr. Greene has devoted himself to freely giving real answers to parents' real questions -- from questions about those all too common childhood conditions to those that address the most rare childhood illnesses. His answers combine cutting edge science, practical wisdom, warm empathy, and a deep respect for parents, children, and the environment. He is also an electrifying public speaker, and has become a go-to expert in children's health. He has personally touched many during his talks in North America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
Dr. Greene is a graduate of Princeton University and the University of California at San Francisco. Upon completion of his pediatric residency program at Children's Hospital Medical Center of Northern California he served as Chief Resident. He entered primary care pediatrics in January 1993. In 1995, he launched DrGreene.com, cited by the AMA as the first physician Web site on the Internet. His award-winning site receives over 50 million hits a month from parents, concerned family members, students, and healthcare professionals. In addition to being the founder of DrGreene.com, he is the Chief Medical Officer of A.D.A.M., a leading publisher of interactive health information. He also teaches medical students and pediatric residents at the Stanford University School of Medicine, and is an Attending Physician at Stanford's Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. He is the President of Hi-Ethics (Health Internet Ethics) and helped URAC develop its standards for eHealth accreditation. He serves on the board of directors of The Organic Center.
Dr. Greene is the Pediatric Expert for Yahoo!, Rob Reiner’s ParentsAction.org, and NPR’s The People’s Pharmacy. He is the author of From First Kicks to First Steps (McGraw-Hill, 2004), The Parent's Complete Guide to Ear Infections (People's Medical Society, 1997), and a co-author of The A.D.A.M. Illustrated Family Health Guide (A.D.A.M., Inc., 2004). He is the medical expert for three additional books, The Parent's Soup A-to-Z Guide to Your New Baby, (Contemporary Books, 1998) The Parent's Soup A-to-Z Guide to Your Toddler, (Contemporary Books, 1999), The Mother of All Baby Books, (Hungry Minds, Inc., 2002).
Dr. Greene is a frequent keynote speaker at important events such as the first Green Power Baby Shower, held in Hollywood, the first European Internet health conference, held in Maastricht, and the first International eHealth Association Conference, held in Jeddah. Dr. Greene also appears frequently on TV, radio, websites, and in newspapers and magazines around the world, including such publications as the Wall Street Journal, Parenting, Parent, Child, Baby Talk, Working Mother, Better Home's & Gardens, and Reader's Digest.
Dr. Greene was named a "Community Hero" for his heroism during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and selected to carry the Olympic Torch in the 1996 Centennial Olympic Torch Relay.
He loves to think about challenging ideas, he collects encyclopedias, and he wears green socks.

Family Portrait

We have been busy this weekend! Mady had a guest Friday night. The girls had a wonderful time together. We managed to make arrangements for another circus ticket and Mady's friend went too the circus with Mady, Niki, and Pam (our adopted Grandma!) Niki described the circus to the family last night as we ate dinner @ Olive Garden with our Aunt Heidi, whom we have never met. Her description included words like cool, loud, and creepy. She also told us about the man on the motorcycle riding across the string in the air. She was scared he was going to fall. She didn't mention any of the animals @ all. I can't say I am surprised. We purchased an annual zoo pass for the family and it was all I could do to drag the girl enough times so the pass had paid for itself!

Meeting our Aunt Heidi was cool. You know when you have a really close friend and they begin to hang out with your family sometimes they don't really fit in for awhile, this was the complete opposite. She and my mom were cutting up and we were all telling stories about each other, it was more like she was a missing piece to the puzzle. Unfortunately, my mom and Aunt Heidi were not very keen on allowing pictures but I do have a couple I can include. I should have sent the camera with the girls to the circus. Note to self, get Mady and Niki a camera for Christmas!

Today, I have to go to my mom's and bake 6 loaves of bread and then we are off to have a family portrait taken. Julie and Pam and Bill are not going to be in it though...Target can only seat 9 people. I told my dad we could set up my camera with timer so we could all be in a picture together. After our portrait we are all headed back to my parents house to celebrate my mom's birthday. My Aunt Heidi has decided to join us. Our family is really growing. I also still need to purchase a card for her! We better get going. I wanted to post some of my not so great pictures that no one wanted me to take so I could look @ them!

Sometime this week I will post the research about unschooling. I can see a change in all the kids already.

Fabulous 50's Band

Today I took Mady and the boys to ride horses with a friend while Niki played @ Nenaw's house. Everyone had a good time. The boys were able to explore a new place while Mady rode the horse, and everyone knows it is always fun @ Nenaw's! Mady and her friend had so much fun they decided they didn't want it to end & have moved the party to our house tonight.

Tonight was also 3rd Friday so we went to watch the Fabulous 50's Band play @ the 21st Century Club here in town. The girls like to dance while the band plays. This was a special event though since it was a benefit to help a fellow musician with some unforeseen life changing events. The building was packed front to back and the band put on a performance worthy of a small town newspaper review! They collected a good deal of money for the family and everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

Tomorrow the we will be preparing my moms lasagna recipe for her birthday dinner on Sunday while the girls go to the circus with Pam. To top off the day all the girls in the family are going to meet our Aunt Heidi for the first time! Then Mady has requested that I drop her off @ her friends house after all that! Isn't life sweet? I know, the last few posts I have been sniveling about problems posting pictures to the web, man if that is all I have to worry about, life is grand!


I suppose it is high time I posted some of the research I have read about unschooling so anyone reading this blog doesn't think I am completely off my rocker! I will gather up some while I wait for one of the boys to tire of watching me type and post it tomorrow...if I find the time! I feel so fortunate to have such a close family who are interested in celebrating life together.

I also need to post some of Mady's art work. I want to gather up several pieces and show her progress. I always thought art was a natural talent, but apparently if you like to draw enough and are willing to learn technique, anyone can draw and move on to create their own pieces. She is truly loving her art class. I hope she will continue to follow her passions all her life. On to the research!

Time

Who has time to write in a blog everyday? I am trying to post all my pix to the web...still making me crazy. The only time I can get anything done is in the middle of the night when everyone is asleep! Once you see the pix you will know why!

I am trying to get ready for Christmas. I have compiled an approved toy list for the relatives @ Amazon.com. I have posted a ton of outside play toys as well as a selection of wooden toys. Dom did get the girls both a Nintendo DS...I think that is what they are. I know we will all log sometime on them! I am so trying to get rid of all the plastic (toys mostly) around here. We have new sippy cups (no phthalates) no more plastic plates and I am trying to convince the family to give up the microwave and eat more fresh food. This is an ordeal in itself.

As for the unschooling life, I love it. We are still in search of a tutor for Mady's math but for the most part we are just reading and hanging out with our friends in new environments as often as possible. Since we have taken up letterboxing I think this new hobby will get us out of our comfort zone more often as well. I am trying to locate letterboxing events around the state.

One thing I didn't realize on our first letterboxing adventure was how serious some of the "planters" are about this hobby. I was under the impression that many people participated and a considerable portion of the participants were children. Research, research, research. This is what I get for relying on second hand information. Come to find out some people do not appreciate children hunting for the boxes, even though a great many planters are children...? Anyway, we have discovered the best thing to do when one is new is to read, read, read and try to seem informed and then ask questions. There appear to be no real rules to this hobby, you are just suppose to be considerate. You know, the golden rule. When I did log on to one of the Yahoo groups we joined to get some more information I was met with hostile answers. I thought the point of this hobby was to enjoy nature and collect individuals' unique stamps from letterboxers far and wide. Some people don't want a bunch of people from a group stamping 6 stamps in the logbook. No rules, but this etiquette should be logged somewhere for newbies instead of having to be harassed. I don't know, does the internet really help?

Once more off to try to add photos to the web. Wish me luck!

Crazy daz!

Man, I know I began writing this as a way to keep track of what we are up to but today it will become therapy.

Dom is still down from his back surgery so he is really not very helpful as far as things that need to be done around the house. He is suppose to be resting and recovering...there is always so much to do here. Today the yard needs to be mowed, and the laundry never ends. I usually say, ok today we need to do X and I need your help. They help or they don't. I am grateful for any help I can get! Lately I have been trying to get them outside so there is not so much mess in the house! This has worked fairly well until today! Niki needs a cartoon fix but I have a ton of choirs to do while the boys take a nap, I just want her to go outside! Plus, the computer crashed last night and I haven't figured out what pictures I hadn't backed up yet...there maybe a months worth missing that I will not be able to replace. I have got to get all the pictures on the web so this won't happen again!

I know my life is great. I have a wonderful family whom I love more than I ever thought I could love anyone. Sometimes there is just so much demand, even though we have scaled back our activities and tried to live a more simple life together. I am @ times overwhelmed, and @ the same time, I feel guilty about feeling that way. Sounds weird huh?

Oh well, off to try to get something accomplished!

New Hobby: Letterboxing

OMG! Our unschooling group decided we wanted to try letterboxing, so we went on our first letterbox quest today. We all had a blast! We searched for 3 boxes in Keller and located all 3. We then went on to stamp in the hidden book and place the letterbox stamps in our notebooks. I think this will be an awesome way to learn about our state history without cracking a textbook! Many of the letterboxes are planted by historical markers and in beautiful parks.

We enjoyed ourselves immensely, so immensely in fact, we have decided to recruit my sister and Aunt Julie to go with us this weekend to locate boxes in Fort Worth. Today we used some stamps that Sarah had laying around her house. Tomorrow we are planning on trying to carve our own stamps. That will be an adventure in itself!

We have another busy week ahead. I do plan on spending sometime soon trying to load more pix on the web. I discovered it takes a great deal more time to upload pix than these sites suggest. I think the entire world must try to upload pix @ the same time...ah, frustrating.

In other family news, Dom has decided the kids need to do formal math. I am trying to rescue Mady (she is the only one old enough to be subjected to this currently,) by telling Dom that we can help her memorize the multiplication and division facts up to the 12's (she does know how the process of each works) and then we can send her to an Algebra tutor. For me, that is acceptable and Mady has agreed.

Also, everyone keeps asking what I would like for Christmas. I told Dom I want a zip line to fly through the air on, I think he thinks I am more crazy than he originally thought! If you have no intention of giving a person what they ask for, why ask? Oh well, I just want some more fun stuff to do with the kids!

I think we walked 5 miles today. I am so tired-off to bed!

Our Shiny Family

OK, I am working on storing all our pix online. I have no earthly idea how long this will take! Once I become more familiar with the site I chose it should go more quickly. @ any rate please enjoy what has been cataloged thus far from our SHINY family. I have added a link in Our Links titled Family PIX.

Vampires!

Halloween

Well, it has been about 2 weeks since I posted last. We had a fun Halloween. We decided we wanted to know how Halloween originated, so we looked that up.

The girls listened for a bit while I read about the origins of Halloween, then it was off to the computer games. Mady and Niki were in such a hurry to get out the door for candy and by the time they arrived home they had shed their Geisha and Princess persona's, so not many pix in the costumes.

We also joined our unschool group for a Halloween Party in Keller. I think the girls had a good time. Niki is finally talking to some of the other girls. It would certainly be nice if we could find some locals to play with! I don't mind taking the girls to see my sister (45 minutes away) once a week but if all our friends are 45 minutes away that could pose a problem, especially with fuel prices being so volatile.

This week we are going to ride horses with Christa and the gang out @ their place in Springtown. Friday we may go to Keller for some Letterboxing. Jess is planning to come over on Tuesday to make a pumpkin pie (from a pumpkin, not a can) with us. I think if that turns out to be yummy we will do that from now on!

I suppose we do more than I realize. Mady also has her art class on Wednesday and Niki will be starting gymnastics again in 2 weeks. Hopefully they are having fun learning while we live. I suppose only time will tell.

It begins

I am writing this as a kind of journal, or log of our family's life. I know this will be mostly my point of view, but I feel like I need to save my point of view right now so that one day I may read this and see that I truly have grown.

Our kids started out in a Private Christian Academy. As our family grew our income kept up, for a time. Once we learned we were expecting twins it quickly became clear we could no longer afford to send our eldest 2 girls to private school and have twins in day care. Well, we could do that or we could eat and have fuel for the cars to get to work! Dominic (DH) & I worked out our budget and it was decided that I would continue to work after the boys arrived. I did return to work for 2 months after Luke & Ezra's birth. I believe we were all miserable. Dom was on deployment, I was breastfeeding and pumping @ work. My boss was not understanding of this @ all. Apparently it took too much time away from my important job of running her errands and making her fresh coffee. Mady (DD) was having a hard time doing the 2 hours of daily homework on her own. I couldn't help-come on?! Two hours? She was a 3rd grader for Christ sake! And Niki (DD) was feeling so left out. Between regular daily tasks, the kids, work and the occasional nap, I had no time left to spend with any of the kids and it was blatantly evident we desperately needed time just to be ourselves together. The more I worked (ok it wasn't that long, just 2 months) the more I saw us growing apart. I saw our attitudes change, our priorities shift, and our family falling apart.

On top of all this, I felt very pressured @ work to just conform to the rest of the crowd. I was taking too much time to take care of my kids by breastfeeding. No one said that. What they did say was I needed to inform them when I was going to go do "that" and when I returned. I was then told that I wasn't provided enough break time in my 8 hour day to continue the schedule I was on.

I could go on about the pressure to conform. Like the experience Mady had in 3rd grade with the state testing, but she and I can remember that and I don't want to re-live that either.

We finally had enough. I quit my job to stay home with the kids. I also began to think that I was going to homeschool the kids. I started researching and I haven't stopped. We decided on the unschooling method. So this blog is about our lives. How we choose to live and learn as we go instead of taking time away from living to go to a special building, with government paid babysitters that do not have time to teach my children, let alone see what special unique people they are.

I am looking forward to sharing our uniqueness, our shininess on this blog.

First post

I am starting a blog to record our family journey. I also think, for me, it is an outlet, a place to record my own growth as a person, as a wife and mom and all the titles I have right now.



Mady has also started a blog. She is having difficulty writing when it comes right down to it, but she is intrigued by the idea. Once I have time I will post some of the recent pix and small descriptions along with a link to Mady's blog.