Black Fly

I had never heard the song Black Fly by ZZ Top until I looked it up on LimeWire. What have we been doing you ask? Cleaning house and taking photos with a cheap little macro attachment I found on Amazon. The attachment will only work on still life shots bc it is basically a magnifying glass that can be attached to a camera. Pix look cool though. The Fly shots are cool. Click on them to get the full effect. The photo of the Christmas Carol program with the last letters of the word Christmas cut off, is the one taken with the macro lens. It is a truer image. My camera would not take the photo that closely without the flash, which washed out the true colors on the program.

Last night we went to see a production of "A Christmas Carol" put on by the folks @ a local church to help raise money for 4 local charities. It was an awesome production. The actors/actresses were amazing and had to have put a great deal of time into the production. The set was equally well done. Unfortunately, the boys did not do as well @ this play as they did @ last weeks "Rudolph." We still have the seasons "Nutcracker" to attend next weekend, only the girls to that one, I know better!

Today we are off to visit some friends. We will share the camera, make some cookies, and talk about gnomes. Yes, gnomes. I like gnomes (and fairies) and so does Logan. I found a 12", inexpensive, wooden gnome while I was Christmas shopping, so I bought it. I am bringing it to him today.

Ok, this was just a lame post so I could post these pix. Should have just posted them without the commentary. Rambling now...not sure why I am even awake at this hour of the AM.

I turn to you

one more homeschool/unschool group!
Dilemmas, dilemmas. Our family belongs to about 10 area homeschool/unschool groups. I like everyone of them for a different reason. However the last couple of weeks have left us driving all over the metroplex for park days. In all honesty, driving an hour and a half for a park day is crazy to me when there are perfectly good parks within 30 minutes of me-without roads right next to them I might add! I do want to meet many diverse people and go on field trips and hang out in cool off the beaten path places, I am just not willing to drive an hour and a half for a one day trip! That makes 3 hours in the beast with our sweet, yet fidegty kiddo's and that is if I don't hit traffic or an accident-which always seems to happen! So, not only is it socially irresponsible of me to drive so much, my kids do NOT like it @ all and it is wearing on me too. We met with one more small group of families today-yes one more, that means we now belong to 11 local area groups! Here are some pix from the park with more of our friends. I haven't done a very good job of taking pix this week. We have been to a couple other activites I just left the camera in the truck!

Mady has gone to Kansas with my dad for a couple of days so she is not in any of these. I hope she took pictures @ the Oz Museum! Niki had a blast @ the park with the other little girls that we met today, like she always does, though she claims she is shy! Luke and Ezra even played with kids besides one another today. It was a beautiful day to be outside. We were @ the park all day!

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!