East Of The Box

Hello 2011

2011-01-14T19:46:00.001-08:00

Our Valentines Built An Igloo

2010-02-15T12:06:00.000-08:00

We got a couple more days of snow here where it never snows. Not quite the sledding days that we had in January. But several inches that were fluffy and stuck for a few days. Kids were able to sled on the grass on the hills, but not on the roads. I think during one of the snowstorms that came through, there were the largest flakes I had ever personally seen. They were the size of half dollars and so numerous for about thirty minutes to an hour. It was a magical sight to these eyes not used to snowstorms! The kids worked many hours into the day and night constructing this igloo you see here in process. It has blocks formed from the red treehouse bucket as well as from an old full cambro pan from the stores. The door was created by Alex from what he found in the neighbors wheelbarrow. I am very impressed with the igloo's solid construction as well as the lighting and heat system that has been designed for it during indoor hours out of the cold. It has been a joy to watch these guys build their fantastic foxhole in the snow!

SnowDay!

2010-01-09T12:40:00.000-08:00

Sledding down Bankhead.......

She Likes Shiny Things

2010-01-06T21:32:00.000-08:00

As a mother of four kids, who are often all with me, and who like to go places, I am constantly given unfortunately unthoughtful commentary by complete strangers as we are out and about. Perhaps some of you get this sort of thing when you are out with a joyful child or not so joyful child, or maybe you remember this from when you had a young child long ago... You know, the grocery store chatter along the lines of, "Wow, you have your hands full!" or "Are all these kids yours?" or the favorite "I could never do what you are doing!" (shopping with kids, spending your day with your kids, have an energetic kid....not sure what they couldn't do?) I always think of the good one liners hours later, too late to make a difference and hard to remember for next time, because the insensitive quip is always different. I still haven't quite figured out what the intent is of these comments, anyone? I am always internally enraged at the audacity of someone to say such things to another person and to say something so deragotory about the tiny people with me within earshot! I am frozen in the moment but really quite incensed that they spoke so unkindly to these precious people with me! Owen, our little ambassador, never afraid to speak his thoughts and generous with information to all folks, especially strangers, gave me my one liner this evening. It fits all commentary and will give me such joy and peace to use it from now on. As we left Tae Kwon Do all coated up with bags and library books and movies, a lady in front of me said, "Oh, are all these kids yours, what a handful?!" Owen ran right up to her and exclaimed, "She likes shiny things!" So whether he understood her or not, he gave more insight than I have ever been able to verbalize in one sentence. Owen, I do like shiny things, and I love and cherish each shiny little person in my life wherever we are and whatever you all are doing. Thank you Alex, Emma, Owen and Inde for bringing shine to your mom and dad's life!

Happy New Year

2010-01-01T00:37:00.000-08:00

it's sparkling cider despite the lovely cutting of the eyes....Happy New Year to All!

Squashing

2009-12-01T17:23:00.000-08:00

At our Tate Farms visit this year, we came home with three pumpkins, beautifully carved and 10 squash! We planned to cook us up some squash this fall by golly! Only one survived until December, the chiogga awaits its fate still sitting lonely on the kitchen counter. The favored dishes were the cushaw, descriptor seen here, that filled us on Thanksgiving. We made it into a yummy recipe that I found courtesy of the in flight magazine on my trip to Wichita Falls, TX to see my grandmother the first week of November, recipe is here! And the stuffed Festival squash were delicious also. Tate Farms and Halloween have so much more to offer than pumpkin pie and roasted pumpkin seeds, so glad we are still enjoying our purchases....

To the Coast

2009-11-15T17:45:00.000-08:00

We set off for our journey to the coast, it was ten fabulous days of surf and sand and all sorts of stuff. Thanks to my friend that gave us the impetus to go travelling while daddy worked, now I know I can do it alone for so long! Not that we want to be alone, as we missed daddy a lot, but had some fun adventures. Now we can head out somewhere farther from home and he can join us! We found out, yes you can sleep in a WalMart parking lot and some folks--Dale Pusey-- are on a longer journey than I felt I was on alone in the motorhome with four joyful children! At a Florida reststop we met Dale Pusey, the self proclaimed "Crazy Guy on a Bike". He was on the last leg of his journey to Florida all the way from Washington State, he left in August! It was a windy and drizzly day as we left him in the rest stop and wished him well on the last of his journey and helped him a little on raising funds--the purpose of his journey--for Iron Horse State Park, an apparent biker's park in Washington State. We discovered the beach is different and wonderful in November. If you must go to the beach last minute, go after a big storm...again on this beach trip there were thousands of shells littering the beaches on those first two days. The campsites were spectacular at St. Andrews, in Destin and in Dauphin Island. I treasured every moment of the time I got to spend with my Aunt Terry and other family on the beach in Destin. I have never experienced the beach in the fall. Having always been in school in the Fall as a child, the beach was still relegated to a summer event for me. We will have to make it a part of our Fall to enjoy this part of the outdoors. I thank my friend that prodded me to go south with her and Terry and Aaron, that were staying nearby to inspire me to stay a little longer and head more west. It was enjoyable at Dauphin Island to see the changes since I spent a summer there as a 14 year old! I was in awe of the Living Marsh dedicated to my friend Beth Ladner that died in a car accident when she was 17.....and wonderful tribute and Estuarium on the tip of Dauphin Island.

Emma Potter

2009-10-28T01:43:00.000-07:00

On the heels of the great wizard party, we introduce not Harry Potter, but Emma Potter ladies and gents.....Emma has had a vision for a long time of learning to throw clay on a wheel. After much searching for a way to make this happen (most places didn't have wheel instruction for young kids and we couldn't find any affordable REAL wheels or places to rent one) we found the Tennessee Valley Ceramic Arts Guild in Madison. Emma hit it off with the instructor and seems to have a real skill for using the wheel and a CERTAIN shine and joy while doing it. She has found a passion. This week her first set of pots and bowls from her wheel time were finished being fired. They are beautiful. If she was awake I could transcribe her descriptions, because in and of themselves, her words about her work are priceless, so detailed about the glazes and the process. Thank you Emma for this delight you brought to us watching you following your joy...look in our creations photo album for Emma's Pots

The Pizza Search

2009-10-27T01:12:00.000-07:00

Well, time's up. We can't own a pizza franchise and not eat pizza anymore, gluten free is just no longer an excuse. It might take a little more effort, but we're on a search to make it worth it. We have these really cool pans to use and all this knowledge we just need to meld the two to get our GF selfs just a slight bit less hypocritical! :) Inspired by a PBS special Kurt was viewing one afternoon about the quest for the best pizza we have started having pizza one night/day a week. Gonna try different GF recipes until we get one we like. Here is the first and second candidates, number one made with bob's red mill all purpose gf flour, number two with the actual bob's red mill gf pizza mix. These are the cheese free one's for dh, the kid's covered theirs in cheese, but it didn't make as pretty of a picture. They were so yummy in a the REAL yummy way, not in the "I haven't eaten pizza in years any old thing you called a pizza would be yummy" way...!

Happy Birthday Alex

2009-10-25T14:13:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful day celebrating Alex's birth this day 10 years ago. We really celebrated all week long as we went to Nashville and David Crockett State Park earlier in the week. I had to see if I could motorhome solo with the kids for some traveling future adventures, so we went nearby for a couple of days, Alex officially turned 10 over a waffle in the campground. For his big party he likes to have he devised a celebration with food, potions, bobbing in a dry ice bubbling cauldron and a bonfire. I want to send a thank you to all who came, sent him cards and gave him gifts. Everyone knew what would make him shine and smile...thank you! He was truly wowed and felt smothered in love. It was a special time to mark his first decade. These are ten potion bottles that were left on the deck the next morning. Emma had helped create names for all the ingredients from their wizardology book. We had various spices glitter and other ingredients disguised as: wool and blood of bat, pixie tears, toe of frog, ground unicorn horn, eye of newt, scale of dragon, screech owl essence, dragon's blood, tooth of wolf, oil of basilisk, tongue of dog, etc. Alex had been collecting the bottles and cleaning them off from the recycling bins outside the little green store for a few weeks. Thank you Maggie and Mom for your help in making the delicious green Cauldron Chicken Curry, that was the best soup I have had/made in a while. We can't believe we have ten year old and such a special person, too, in our lives. We love you SUN! Pictures from the events

Looking for Life

2009-04-29T07:15:00.000-07:00

The robin's nest eggs have started hatching. There are four of them now. Emma is spending each day checking on them several times a day. She told me that she thinks of Major and wants to go looking for something living to help the sad go away and seeing the birds helps her do that....The male and female robin really chatter and dive at emma when she comes over, they want their nest left alone! The sparrows in the front nest were missing on the 10th day and they weren't ready to fledge, so we speculate something happened to them. The kids have also found a nest in an old mailbox with my mom on an abandoned lot near her house. Those birds were sparrows and were about to fledge. We learned how the babies eliminate in a tiny sac so that the parents can carry that sac away from the nest and not attract anything, cool!

Goodbye to Major...

2009-04-28T22:02:00.000-07:00

Today marks one of the saddest days for our family in a long, long time. We all said goodbye to our beloved Major late this afternoon. He had several illnesses going on and primarily his pain and complete immobility after yesterday caused the vet to advise us to help him die peacefully. We could not get him to move all day, despite all types of assistance. This was not his first bout with immobility in the past three to four weeks. We could have taken him in for testing, but our hearts didn't tell us to take that path. His labored breathing and eyes told us he was not comfortable. We knew this might be coming, but it made it no easier as any of you that have experienced this know. We made the hard choice to help his suffering end, it was time to let him go in his condition and at his age.... I had never travelled this path before, and am a pretty numb person right now. This is one of the hardest things I have gone through, so I guess in many ways that speaks to all the blessings in my life, there are so many......but we still want Major back to himself and wanted him to die naturally years from now......I couldn't sleep even though it is late so I wanted to write about Major.

Major came to us out of another tragedy. In February of 1998, Kurt and I visited the Atlanta Humane Society and came home with this tiny black fluff of a puppy. He was adorable. Days later he died of heart failure. We returned him to the Humane Society as they requested and soothed our loss by bringing home one of his litter mates, a tiny golden fluff of a puppy. He looked and felt like a baby bear. We named him after the constellation of the big bear, Ursa Major, as his big feet made us think he might be a good size dog. Boy did we have that pegged, and Major grew right on into that name. He always was like a teddy bear, he thought he was tiny, but was oh so big! He was a person's dog and a dog's dog. We know he was unique in his demeanor and gentleness. He knows Kurt and I better than anyone as he's been with us so through so many changes in our lives. I feel I've lost the silent confidant, the fly on the wall to our lives, the kid's third protector. He wouldn't be Major having been born any later, but I oh, so wish the kids could have gotten to see him as a puppy and frolic with him when he was still young. It is painful to know at least two of them most likely won't remember his prominent place with us......We have been reading the book this week of Judith Viorst's about a cat's death, "The Tenth Good Thing About Barney". The kids wanted to make a book about Major, so we will, but here are some things we thought of today as we sat with and around him on the deck knowing we might be saying goodbye, tidbits that will be in the book Emma has titled, "The One Hundreth Good Thing About Major":

He always wanted to go on walks with us.
He liked to "Horse-around" the House with whomever was horsing around.
He followed us down to the creek and liked to walk in the cool water.
Once he "treed" a family of possums, when we lived in Georgia.
We never figured out how he caught a squirrel one day.....
Daddy used to lift him up to the water fountains to drink, not for long!
He liked watching us play the Wii.
In Georgia, he liked to swim in the lake near our house when we took him there.
He is named after Ursa Major, because he looked like a bear when he was little.
He was a great watch dog. He watched the bend in the road and the yard from his sentry post on our deck.
He loved to roll on his back in the grass, quite a feat for the big guy! He would shimmy down the hill as he did it.
The first time he barked, he scared himself and whined. His bark was deep and low, the best bark on the block!
He would greet you with a Happy Dance when you got out of your car.
He liked and gave bear hugs.
He had velvet ears.
He liked to lick babies, even those big grown up babies...
He was GOLDEN, his eyes, his fur and his heart.

The book is a work in progress, so I'll stop there for now. He loved us and we loved him. We all cried for him, and cried for him and cried for him. We are grateful to Dr. Ashman and Roberta for letting us cry and talk so long. There was no hurry to this process, just lots of painful steps. Then we made him a crown of flowers and held him and told him goodbye so many times and in so many ways. He drifted off in all our arms here at home, when we were all ready and while not the natural death we dreamed of one day, it was peaceful and beautiful to be here at home with him. It is a relief to know he is not in pain, as he could never tell us what he felt from day to day. His body stayed with us and we buried him in a favorite spot in a grave Kurt and the kids dug and placed his body there with lots of flowers and sprinkled his grave with Morning Glory seeds and started the awesome Cairn we are going to build in his memory on top of where he is buried. With each rock we place through the years we'll bring back a memory of him as we place it on the growing pile. We miss him so, there is such profound emptiness, it keeps coming as something brings him immediately back here to the present so quickly, the pain will fade, but it is so real and so sad for now.....he's gone.

The kids also want to celebrate his life with a bonfire. So we'll find a day and let everyone know and if Major touched your life you are invited to come enjoy the fire and celebrate the light and darkness of all life by honoring the life of this amazing creature, our dog, Major.....

lvkt

Tae Kwon Do Winners

2009-04-26T22:17:00.000-07:00

We had a fun trip to Fayetteville, Georgia to an Invitational TKD Championship. Both Kurt and Alex competed in sparring. Alex won first place in his division and Kurt placed Third in his division. It was so wonderful to watch them shine and enjoy what they are doing. Alex can't wait until the next competition. Kurt held his own quite well, and I was so nervous which i did not expect! He had to spar with a guy several belts higher than him, several years younger and quite a bit larger! Go guys! Here's video and pictures

Birds are Nesting

2009-04-18T22:13:00.000-07:00

Celebrating Spring's arrival, the kids built nests in the yard to go visit the next morning and see if there was a surprise left there by mom and dad. After nest raiding and egg hunting for days, we hunted for nests around the yard. There are two we are watching, one in the front vine, you know that vine that attacks you when you come to visit? and one in the pear tree in the side yard. The front nest is a sparrow and has three eggs, one that got cracked and two that hatched today! The pear tree has four eggs of a robin and hasn't hatched yet. We are enjoying watching them as all the kids can get up on a stool beside them and peek inside!

UWWG

2009-01-31T20:41:00.000-08:00

Emma asked us today, what is round on both ends and really tall in the middle? stumped? it's OHIO, she screamed! I am not sure if that joke exists somewhere or if she made if up, but it was hysterical. The kids are sleepless for ohio, they have been helping me get us ready all week. We are headed to Ohio for the week for UWWG, that is the acronym for the unschoolers winter waterpark gathering in sandusky, ohio at the Kalahari, america's largest indoor waterpark, we are going with friends to see other friends and will also get a visit from our friends that moved to pennsylvania last summer, and the true blast, over 1000 unschoolers all at a waterpark for a week. we are so excited are SO packed and will leave in the night. it is hard not to bring everything when you are going to funshops and travelling 10 hours, and going to water and snow.....We will see snow and get sunburned all in the same week. Thank you to Grammie and Papa for your Christmas gift that is helping fund our winter adventure, we are going to love it, and thanks to others of you that gave us some christmas gift cards, they and we used them to enhance our journey with fun things for the trip or games or books the kids wanted, we have shopped with gift cards all week to be ready to go, and had a blast doing that shopping. we'll let you know if an indoor waterpark should be in your future! Here's to 10 hours of driving! We hope the stores survive, the computer already crashed, the drama already happened, the things already broke, what will happen while the cat is away????? Yahoo! p.s. note to self, don't plan winter vacation right when year end stuff and tax stuff and audit are happening, AGAIN! or maybe do plan vacation to RELAX and usher winter out properly!

The Year of the OX

2009-01-26T20:37:00.000-08:00

we went to esther's today to celebrate chinese new year, this year is the year of the ox! the wraps you made were delicious esther, with mint leave and rice paper and a delicious sauce, thank you for the fun day. the kids played games, got some outside time in the pasture and generally had one of those romping kid days......we all refreshed ourselves what year we are, we have a couple of rats (kurt & inde), a rabbit (alex), a horse (emma) and a tiger (kt) what animal are you and do you match your characteristics?

Kite Flying Weather, Not!

2009-01-20T22:53:00.000-08:00

The kids wanted to fly kites today........you know it was windy in the low 20s, there were flurries at our house......but the sun was out, so why not! Before some errands, we went down to the soccer fields downtown and took the kites Grammie and Papa had made for them. Luckily Inde stayed asleep right nearby in the car and everyone got their kites going for a bit. Emma was the first to retire to the van, saying it was too cold. Owen and Alex lasted for quite a bit running in the field and laying in the grass with the kites swirling above them. They also retired quickly thereafter. It was nice to have some running even with the wind chill and some sun. These guys are ready for warmer weather...........I think it's on the way and only two months till spring is officially peeking at us!

Emma's Dragon Den

2009-01-17T21:08:00.000-08:00

The dragon den was a success! Emma planned a dragon spend the night party to celebrate her birthday this year. The planning has been going on in her head for weeks and going on around the house for weeks as well. She made a red dragon for her cake with baking clay. Like Owen she wanted to bake her own cake and decorate it, chocolate cake, chocolate icing, red sprinkles, green writing icing. Emma wanted to have her friends all to herself for the night, so Alex and Owen went to spend the night with Gram and Gramps after we all shared cake. Thank you two for helping make Emma's spend the night special by giving her siblings a special night away, that was a wonderful gift! Earlier in the day we went hunting for icicles, Emma remarked that it was the best birthday ever to "go see such beautiful things on my birthday!" I am glad you enjoyed that, emma.....What night can go wrong when you start off with dessert? The five girls that spent the night seemed to enjoy the activities Emma had planned. I can take no credit as Emma pretty much planned the whole party! There were make your own nachos for dinner with chips, beans, meat, cheese, avocado, sour cream, olives and salsa to choose from. Then there was a scavenger hunt that started at the mailbox and ended in the dungeon(the basement). Along the scavenger hunt the girls found glowsticks for the night, nail polish in green blue purple and red to paint their dragon 'talons', hair color to color the "scales" on their heads, chocolate to go along with the movies they found on the hunt, and at the end the scrolls Emma made and the wands Emma and I made. Emma worked for days making each friend two scrolls with drawings they would like, some were traced and some drawn. Such a beautiful and thoughtful gift you gave, Emma! We made wands from sticks in the yard, whittled them, wrapped the 'handle' in different yarns. The girls had fun that night adding jewels and beads to their wands. Kurt had the best colored hair, I think. And we all thank him for serving as the party chef, the ice cream sundaes were delicious! Emma had made her bedroom into a dragon den for sleeping with two air matresses, but all the dragons ended up moving sleeping quarters to the den. I hear the last dragons went to bed at 3am...the elder dragons were already asleep...In the morning Kurt had made us some M&M pancakes before he left for a meeting and Emma had planned another scavenger hunt for ten stamps she had carved to stamp in little books the girls made that morning. Emma you are a fabulous party planner and a special person to all you know. She enjoyed her presents and the shopping we have done in the days since with some gift cards. Emma, you are our lucky 13, the world is a brighter place with you here! You seem so much older than last year and at the same time exactly as curious and independent as that one year old baby I remember wandering the house so many years ago. Happy Birthday to my "Star" Dragon! Love, Momma (pictures)

Loving the Library

2009-01-12T22:42:00.000-08:00

I wouldn't have thought it a few months ago, but the library is one of the most peaceful relaxing outings with everyone right now. Alex and Emma are really getting into picking out books on things they are interested in on their own where before i used to do most of the picking based on their interests. Emma always leaves with a stack of books on CD. She and I recently finished Inkheart and we can't wait to see the movie. Some she likes to check out audio books multiple times and listen to the story over and over while she draws or creates other things in her room, around the house, in the car...... Weeks later she will repeat for me lines from the stories verbatim and laugh and laugh. We had a haiku book this week on animals and then Emma and I wrote this haiku after talking about what they were while she was in the bath with Inde and Emma had remarked how slippery Inde was like a salamander:

Bathing in Water,
Skin Slips Like Salamander.
Water is to Blame.

Today she got Inkspell the sequel to Inkheart and convinced Alex to get Inkheart for himself. He enjoyed it in the car on the way home and for several hours at home. Emma and I are reading another Funke (the author) book, Ingraine the Brave. Alex has mostly all books about RC flying and planes, he is really enjoying that passion along with his simulator on the computer. We found some kits that we didn't know the library had that I hope Owen and the other kids will enjoy this week. And we are glad they have upped the limits on dvds and videos! I am also glad that the library now uses the library elf service--thanks for telling me esther! they didn't when we first moved here, so now we won't have any late fees hopefully, that's a new years resolution of mine anyway! So here's a toast to the library! I marvel that it is a place I flock to with a smile with everyone, as we are usually so loud when it's everyone and me alone, the library seems like the least likely place to go.........but it's not---i'll take it everyday over grocery shopping with more than two children! Twice weekly library outings are on our list of things to do this winter to keep out the blues and barricading in the house of this cold weather.....

Magic Dog is Four

2009-01-09T22:22:00.000-08:00

Owen had a fun few days celebrating his birthday. This year I think we got to see for the first time the challenges of having two birthdays in the family only days apart....since each member wanted to celebrate separately for the first time! On Owen's actual birthday he got to participate in a friend's build a bear party, what a treat! And what a treat for our family to all be together on the actual day and watch that joy. He made a panda and dressed in it tae kwon do gear, he calls it tae kwon do panda or kung fu panda. For his celebration, Owen wanted to play games with all of his family and have a robot cake. He made the Robot with Emma and I one night while Alex and Kurt were at Tae Kwon Do. We made it out of sculpey clay and other odds and ends like screws and metal. Owen also made his own cake with me one night when Emma was doing book night and Alex and Kurt were at TKD. Peg remarked that he was the only four year old she knew that baked his own birthday cake! He made a chocolate GF cake mix and a vanilla GF cake mix, mixed them together and then we baked it! He frosted it with vanilla and strawberry frosting and lots of sprinkles. We also had a special time this week going shopping in the rain just he and inde and i to get the ingredients, he pushed the cart all through kroger for me. He enjoyed the cards he got in the mail and the wishes he got on his birthday on the phone. After playing the Wii with all of us and having cake, which he set everyone's place with a plate and a napkin for, he said, "I want to have my cake with the more people that are gonna get here." He meant, I wanted to have cake and more singing with more folks and friends, hindsight 20/20.....So we set a day to go to sciquest and have cupcakes with friends. I made Owen a stuffed magic dog out of felt, daddy gave him a zoom-o catch game he has had his eyes on, gram&gramps gave him a mini rc car that he drives all over the house, emma made him a magic dog card, alex made him a stamp that is a moon, eye and sun, peg gave him one of those famous singing cards, he hasn't picked yet what to do with his gift card from grammie and papa although daddy took him shopping one day just the two of them, the adelfangs tye-died him a shirt, and the conklins made him a stuffed robot named "lighting"-as he calls their mom lighting right now......All this celebrating Owen weathered with quite a cold/sickness that is on the outs! I am glad he is feeling better. It was so fun to watch him enjoy this birthday and be such a part of celebrating his life here with us. I can't believe he is four, i remember the day he was born like it was yesterday, and yet at the same time, it seems as if he has always been here. We did get to see some amazing moons this month, One night as the moon "rose" owen insisted it was the sun--it was so large and bright! much like the moon Owen was born under....I love you MoonBeam, Happy Birthday, Love, Momma photos

Special Nights

2009-01-05T19:11:00.000-08:00

Gram and Gramps have decided to have some "special nights" with the kids on their permanent schedule for the year. The kids are so excited and have been really enjoying their time. Each week twice a week one of the kids goes over to their house at night for a few hours to read, play games, explore something together, eat, etc. They are just alternating right now. I enjoy hearing what they did while they were away. And often just one of the kid is left at home with Inde and i, so we get some special time, too! Gram said she might blog about it and I hope so, as i always enjoy what they say and do when we are not around, they are different when i have each of them alone, that is special to see....I never lived close enough to any of my grandparents to visit them regularly, our visits were always on a trip or a vacation. And although I have many memories of them, I always pined for that relationship where I could go over to my grandparent's just to visit, just to have a cookie, just to go on a walk. I never had that familiarity of what it was like to be at my grandparents house just as a part of my everyday life. I think the kids are blessed to have these memories....i'm feeling a little jealous, can I come have a special night, too? :)

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T20:36:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to You! We all made a toast, watched a movie retired early to nurse our sick bodies. on new years, daddy made awesome new year nachos, and we also had black eyed peas, greens and marcy's yummy GF cornbread! Here's to another amazing year of life!

December

2008-12-30T19:05:00.000-08:00

We have been celebrating with each other for several weeks, doing special things each day, going on special adventures, and i have even been finding a little elf (emma) leaving me presents on my pillow! Some of the things we enjoyed together this year in no particular order: going to see the minature display at the train depot with peg and we got to ride the trolley while we were there, building 'cairns' with the kids on the table using the kid's rock collections, we hope to visit a large outdoor cairn one day, anyone know where one is in north america?, the kids all made sun crowns for the bonfire night on solstice, they even made inde one!, with daddy we made and iced GF sugar cookies, made one day, baked one day, iced one day....,we moved all the couches off the windows and sunbathed inside several days wishing this cold away and yet enjoying it's importance, we made a centerpiece on the table and each person brought something to represent themselves, some mornings the kids found a fun activity on the table to do, we made beeswax candles, create your own mugs for our tea times, we made a cedar smudge stick (the precursor to incense) it smelled lovely burning, decorated a tree in the house, strung cranberries, made some sand art and wished for the beach, made pinecones with birdseed and hung them in the trees and the treehouse for the birds, played some new card games, alex and i made some handmade cards one evening, took some naps, went and found a special ornament with gram and gramps, got several new books to read, enjoyed some new wii games, went to see lights at the botanical gardens and the luminaries downtown......celebrated on solstice, had a one for all day on christmas, had yummy soups and company at the elams on christmas eve......it was a wonderful month, see some here! And it contained a surprise, that my sister maggie and michael are going to let us all celebrate for them officially as they are going to get married, will inde be walking by then folks or is this a soon event? :)

Bowling

2008-12-27T19:09:00.000-08:00

Had a blast bowling before everyone that was in town for the holidays left town. Here are some highlights here....Again, libby and maggie, i do not appreciate the butt shots.......I will get you back, promise. Alex did really quite well from the last time we bowled, he seemed to enjoy it. It is scary that even when you are bowling with bumpers, you barely are beating the people 25 years younger than you!

Christmas Day

2008-12-25T19:08:00.000-08:00

We celebrated on Christmas Day this year when our stores were closed and folks were home to visit by doing a "ONE FOR ALL" day in lieu of gifting like we have in years past. Everyone gathered for the day and brought or planned something for us all to do or enjoy together. The only "rules" were that everyone had to enjoy it and it had to all happen by the end of the day. We started off making gingerbread houses with gram at her house, maggie made a brunch for all of us, i took everyone to a movie, kurt made us dinner, peg had an ice cream of our choosing for dessert that night, alex made and flew paper airplanes with everyone, emma had made everyone a candle, owen wanted to play a wii game with everyone, gramps prepared a dancing cd and we all had a dance party, and libby and ben taped the events of the day to give us all a hard copy of the memory. It was a wonderful day together away from the commericalism that loves to creep into the holidays......I really enjoyed the day, the whole month actually was surprisingly stress free for mommy, just full of enjoying and being...........We should have done some of these relaxed ways of celebrating long ago in our lives. Thank you to all for the day and may all the rest of you have a happy holiday this year yourselves! gingerbread houses at the bottom: Photos

Eggs!!!

2008-12-22T19:10:00.000-08:00

The morning after solstice morning, when i checked we had eggs! They are gorgeous.....each one slightly different. Of course all eight of these were not there on one morning, but they seem to be laying every day or day and a half right off the bat! We were saving the eggs for the first few days to have a batch that was just our chickens eggs. Then when kurt and i weren't home one afternoon and our neighbor that was watching them was over, she cooked alex and owen some eggs. I realized that they cooked the chickens eggs, because when i got home alex kept going on and on about how good the eggs were that emily made, could i find out how she had fixed them? He said all she did was put some water in them before she scrambled them and the water must have made them yummy. I checked the fridge and the brown eggs were missing, so we now have a blind taste challenge a la alex that the chicken eggs are better tasting!

Solstice

2008-12-22T19:07:00.000-08:00

We decided to greet the sun on the morning after solstice this year. We had a bonfire with some friends last night and then kurt and i stayed up all night together visiting and getting some surprises ready for the kids. It was full to do an "allnighter" again like we used to when we were young and wild! We are going to celebrate with them today to have time for them to enjoy the gift we give them so we can then all enjoy our day visiting with everyone on Christmas Day when we gather with family. Gram, Gramps, and Peg came over this morning to watch the sun come up with us. It was bitterly cold, but we did do some viewing from the treehouse, the kids were awoken at their request and watched from the couch, it was a beautiful sunrise. I think Kurt won the bet on exactly where the first ray was going to break the horizon. We have enjoyed the winter, but are ready to be over the hump and enoy the days getting warmer. Here is us enjoying this day....

Ornaments

2008-12-20T19:03:00.000-08:00

the kids were taken this year two days on an adventure with my parents to hunt for a special ornament. they went all over town choosing their favorite in each store, taking photos to remember. they then looked all the photos over again and made a choice. gram and gramps are helping them build an ornament collection to have of their own one day...it was a special adventure, in a few years we might have to find something to hand tem on besides the tree---four ornaments times four years gets you to sixteen, see how the math grows?!? thank you for this special time i enjoyed going out for this and i usually hate shopping and stores!

Flying Monkey

2008-12-13T19:01:00.000-08:00

A & E sold some ornaments today at the flying monkey art center at lowe mill, they had a day that kid's could sell their wares. E also sold some of her window art as well as some origami snack cups with either raisins or trail mix. The kids made the ornaments out of ornaments and some lovely yarn emma found in the laundry room. We enjoyed being at the monkey for the day and seeing the other artists wares, the most creative were some of the jewelry made out of dominos......Creating is infectious!

Walking the lights

2008-11-30T18:58:00.000-08:00

we went and walked the lights at the botanical garden tonight, had faces painted, drank hot chocolate, braved the cold. itis nice to enjoy lights not inside the car. we also went this year and drove around twickinham with the luminaries. the doorways are my favorite with the greenery and especially the ones that put fruit over the doorways....yummy to look at!

Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T19:00:00.000-08:00

celebrated a lovely meal with all my family and all michael's family, it was nice and fun to all get ready for this day together, the tables, the food......delicious turkey by kurt from mountain fork farms, i recommend brining a turkey it makes an amazing difference and i am so happy we have some for the freezer! We read again the book 1628 about the real story of Thanksgiving. There is so much to be thankful for, even that alex got sick today, we can find thankfulness in that, that we are here to comfort him, that his body has an immune system to make him better. Mostly i am thankful right now for TIME, and for the knowledge that it is a gift and I am thankful to know that in my heart and try to live every moment for we never know how many moments we have left....if you are reading this, you have touched my life and i am thankful for you! Happy Thanksgiving......KT

Last Leaf Pile

2008-11-23T18:56:00.000-08:00

Wow! we got a family photo! Here is the last leaf pile of the year. It was massive in the backyard. The kids have been jumping in it with goggles on, to "see" through the leaves. Luckily it has been dry so it has stayed playable a while. Jumping in leaf piles is one of those visceral memories from childhood, i can remember the smell, the air, exactly what it felt like to be small enough to land cushioned on the leaves, what it felt like to hide inside that tiny outdoor space.....

Space Station Sighting

2008-11-20T18:53:00.000-08:00

We got to see the space station "pass" over our house this evening. It moved very fast through the sky, just looked like a faraway plane. It came towards us from the western horizon, near the moon and the planets that you can see there this time of year, went over the house and then kind of faded suddenly into the eastern horizon as the atmosphere got too thick to see the light from it. Here is emma laying in the front yard watching it, it was COLD! We were kind of glad that it only lasted about 30 seconds!

Wake Now Discover Park Day

2008-11-20T17:00:00.000-08:00

a friend started a yahoo group for local unschoolers and we have had several get togethers, maybe more when it gets warmer. Today we went to have a park day and it was warmish. Alex enjoyed flying his kite in the field by the park. Here is the group if anyone is interested!

Vision Boards

2008-11-17T18:43:00.000-08:00

I finished a & e's vision boards today. This was a fun idea coming from several places at the live and learn conference. To have each family member have a board that is their vision board for their life. It is kind of anything goes, something you want to see, something you want to do, something you want to experience or feel, something you want to accomplish or make or get, etc. Owen wrote his name solo for the first time on his, Emma put a drawing she made of her riding a horse on hers, and Alex has yellowstone and the great planes r/c software on his. I can't wait to put my vision board up and work toward what I want to add to my life in the future. I don't have a picture on here of the actual "boards" but we sewed them, one side fabric and the other side chalkboard fabric. They have names and kites and animals sewn on the border. Hopefully i will finish owen's one day when he starts showing an interest in adding to it.

I Spy a Helicopter

2008-11-17T18:38:00.000-08:00

If you look real close you can see Alex landing his orange helicopter on top of the landing area built on top of the fort they created this morning. This helicopter is quite fun to fly and is giving our r/c flyer some experience and joy flying while he can't outside and while he is wishing for that amazing software that he hopes to have someday soon to learn to fly larger r/c planes.

Thankful Turkey

2008-11-16T18:35:00.000-08:00

Emma helped me make a leftover, but non-edible pumpkin into a centerpiece for our table for a Thanksgiving dinner that we are having everyone over for. The feather are all either cut out paper or drawn feathers. We plan to write on the pumpkin body things that we are thankful for and let others do the same.

Leftover Candy

2008-11-15T18:32:00.000-08:00

If you have a bunch of leftover m&m candy and you just can't eat it anymore, make pancakes out of it! This is what Kurt created for us today, they have been requested many days after. He could market them in the frozen section, I think. The m&m gives it just enough sweetness that they are perfect on the go pancakes, and they happen to be GF! I can hand one to the kids if we are in the car one morning and have yummy breakfast on the go!

Costco Carriage

2008-11-11T18:23:00.000-08:00

Inde is so patient with all this discovery she has created. She is amiable to any carry, activity around her, etc. AMAZING! Here she is in the "Costco Carriage" Emma and Owen made for her. They pulled her around the house for quite some time. Emma is doing well with her broken arm. She fell out of a dogwood tree when the branch she grabbed broke at my parents house two weeks after inde was born. Has to have it casted about 6 weeks--we are glad summer and most of our 'water' time is over. She is missing doing a lot of her drawing, and would LOVE a bath, but seems still able to create with paints and window art without to much trouble. We are glad she wasn't hurt more and know in a few weeks she will hardly remember it.

Late Leaf Hike

2008-11-11T18:19:00.000-08:00

We went on a late afternoon hike to enjoy the final leaves. They seem to be really late completing their fall this year. This was behind the house, so we all went, even Major whose hiking is limited by his legs these days. Found some gorgeous reds and oranges, you could smell the chill of winter coming in the air. The kids enjoyed climbing fallen trees and the cliff area.

Snacking on Eyeballs

2008-11-09T18:16:00.000-08:00

From this book we have, titled something like gross things to make eat and do, the kids decided to make eyeball drinks this evening. They really did look like bloody eyeballs floating in battery acid, get your selves some marshmallows, some toothpicks to hold them up, some tootsie roll pieces for eye centers, and some red food coloring for vein lines, YUM! Emma widened her eyes each time she took sip, we told her to be careful she might lose an eyeball if she opened those eyes any wider!

From High Green to Blue

2008-11-08T18:29:00.000-08:00

Alex and Kurt both tested for their blue belts today, kurt in TKD and Yong Moo Do, alex just in TKD. I finally got a pretty good action shot of the board break. Each test has board breaks that they have to do in different ways. I enjoyed seeing Kurt do the Yong Moo Do test, the running rolls are spectacular. Afterwards we celebrated at Red Robin with lunch. Emma had tried TKD for a couple of weeks, and then decided she didn't want to continue, Owen is still on the fence. It is fun to watch them each experiment with things and find the things they love and the things they just want to try on for size.

One of last Bonfires

2008-11-06T18:11:00.000-08:00

This is one of our last bonfires of the year, it is just getting too cold! Owen is adept enough now to do the sticks in the fire and smoke them around the yard like he has been watching alex and emma do for years. I loved how he watched and tended the fire tonight. He kept roasting others of us marshmallows, "just like you like it momma..."

Experimenting

2008-11-06T18:04:00.000-08:00

This is a gift Alex got from a friend that the kids experimented with today. It is hard to tell from the photo, but the "balloon" is about ten or more feet long. It is very light and sensitive to the warmth of the sun. As the kids had it in the sun it rose like a blimp, as it would hit a shady spot it sank. They enjoyed experimenting with it around the yard, and Alex kept it out of the trees, amazingly, he has a running joke about getting everything he flies either in a tree or in a body of water!

Howl-O-Ween

2008-10-30T18:02:00.000-07:00

Look at these magnificent pumkins that we worked on all day today with Gram. The kids and I roasted the seeds later in the week and they were delicious! Emma wanted to make a moth pumpkin, Alex a haunted house and Owen a happy face. These are the pumpkins that they picked out at Tate Farms two days before Inde was born. We had a fun warmish night trick-or-treating in the trailer pulled by the truck on the mountain with friends.

How to Go Into Labor

2008-10-26T23:35:00.000-07:00

Mom, I think I might have found a more sure fire way than spaghetti dinners, chocolate cake and a movie with a toddler on your lap that has to potty to get a labor going. Although by all accounts not as relaxing or delicious as your method, this one apparently works within a day or so. Proceed thus: Find a warm day, take three children (your own or someone else's) to a pumpkin picking farm. Make sure you walk in the hay maze, supervise all the corn bin jumping and go on the hayride--did i mention this has to be very bumpy, as in every rut you expect your water to break--out to get your pumpkins from the field. Yes, you will get asked a sickening amount of times, if you "are stealing a pumpkin under that shirt, ma'am?" smile or offend the commentator, your choice....Make sure each of the three children picks the largest pumpkin they can feasibly carry or not carry as the case may be. Head back to play and eat pinto bean soup around the barnyard. Right as you are planning to leave have the eldest child with the largest pumpkin careen out of the hay loft to hurt their tummy to where they not only can't carry their pumpkin to the car, they can hardly walk. Exit the pumpkin patch with pumpkins in wheelbarrow, child crawling, and waddle to your car. If you are smart you will realize that while the wheelbarrow was a great savior to get those pumpkins out the door, the wheelbarrow does not lift the pumpkins into your car. Find a friendly soul wandering the parking lot to lift those pumpkins for you. Knowing in hindsight how quickly Inde was born, I am oh so thankful she didn't decide to join us at tate farms, I guess she didn't want to be Inde Tate Bothwell, she was waiting for just the right moment to fall into our lives......in the rain...

Muscadine Jelly

2008-10-24T17:58:00.000-07:00

We received some muscadines that we couldn't eat all of, so we decided to try and make muscadine jelly.........I had high hopes of giving some jelly away as gifts, we made mint jelly last year and it was delicious. The jelly went fine until we added the optional part of the recipe of pureeing some of the skins and adding them. As it hardened it just got TOO thick. Trying to get it out of the jar was like some sort of edible spackle that had hardened. It was the consistency of slightly melted jolly ranchers! Fun nonetheless, and now we know not to add the skins, except in extreme moderation. The muscadine innards are such a lovely color green....

Inde Raine Bothwell

2008-10-17T13:47:00.000-07:00

We give a joyous welcome to our daughter and sister, Inde Raine Bothwell! Inde was born late Thursday night at home surrounded by her dad, mom, brothers and sisters and close family. We are enjoying a babymoon soaking up her beauty, wonder, noises, sweet smells and most of all her SHINE. We love you Inde, welcome to this world!

Alex Reaches Cloud Nine

2008-10-14T22:59:00.000-07:00

Our baby is nine! We had an amazing time celebrating Alex's birth with him this year. He wanted to have a full party at home with all things flying. We had paper airplanes to fly, parachutes to drop, coke geysers that flopped for some reason. Alex and I were pretty proud of the nifty invitation we created on paper airplanes he folded. Along with me as the paper mache maker and candy stuffer and Gram as the decorater, Alex created a kicking pinata that was a helicopter. It was the highlight of the party, as when it was Alex's turn he was blindfolded and missed the pinata and instead pounded a birdhouse that was nailed to the tree to the ground (video)! When he saw what he had felled he just laughed and laughed. A big thanks to Daddy and everyone who helped get the tree house safely completed to use by party time, it was enjoyed....and the FOURT as the kids named it in honor of the Fourth soul we are waiting on will be loved and explored for many years of enjoyment....We had gingerbread cake with homemade whipped cream, regular and GF, pizza, regular and GF, We partied all afternoon and on into the night with a bonfire Kurt built for all. It was nice to celebrate before our new family member joins us, even if it was before Alex's real birthday, he didn't want to be interrupted by a mom in labor! I most enjoyed the night two nights after the party when Alex Emma and I slept on the air mattress in the treehouse. It was nice to lay there talking with them as the stars came out and play "i spy" with the shapes the trees made against the midnight blue sky. I made it out there all night before the bathroom called my very pregnant body inside at sunrise.....it was a beautiful sunrise, thanks bladder! It seems like both yesterday that Alex was born as well as a lifetime ago, in that it seems as if he has always been here leading us on into adventure. Happy Birthday to my Sweet Boy, you put me on Cloud Nine everyday.....Love, Mom (photos)

Imperial Moth Caterpillars

2008-09-30T14:34:00.000-07:00

The imperial moth that Emma found after we got home from camping at Buck's Pocket had a lot of eggs hatch in her butterfly keeper. We have been feeding them sassafrass leaves and watching them grow. They are huge. They went underground today, two of them, and were larger and longer than Kurt's thumb by that time. We have put them outside in the keeper partially buried underground to wait and watch for them to emerge in the spring, they are a moth that pupates underground over the winter. It will be interesting to see when they emerge. Here is a link to a guy that Emma likes to visit his blog to see what he says about moths.

Freezer Paper Shirts

2008-09-17T17:33:00.000-07:00

We have been wanting to do this for a while, make stenciled shirts using freezer paper. I highly recommend it as an easy way to screenprint one image on a shirt. Thanks to our friends for the idea. This is Emma's mermaid, that she drew and i made into a stencil for her shirt. Alex did a hedgehog, owen wanted one like Alex. You can see the finished items here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/KTBothwell/CreationsInOurLives?authkey=01IKrZq7O9U#5268692645544741314

Demonstration Team

2008-09-11T17:20:00.000-07:00

After going to view the Korean Tae Kwon Do Team from Yong In University in Atlanta this past summer, which were phenomenal, Kurt and Alex got to be a part of a demonstration team this evening here in town. Grand Master Kim is a former member of the Korean demo team and the owner and instructor at their dojang. They did a demonstration with other students at a church in town for members of the Huntsville community. It was amazing to watch them break the boards and other items as well as perform the rolls and stunts incorporating what they are learning. I was proud to watch these two high-green belts, Owen was mesmerized as well. Congratulations on getting to experience demonstrating your skills!

See Kurt break a concrete block here: http://picasaweb.google.com/KTBothwell/LivingLearning?authkey=ikR7-1QMOeo#5268686895823269970

and see Alex break one of his boards here, he also did a jumping stunt, but i didn't get it to load:

http://picasaweb.google.com/KTBothwell/LivingLearning?authkey=ikR7-1QMOeo#5268687732260416802

Live N Learn 2008

2008-09-08T16:54:00.000-07:00

We had an amazing five days at the Last Live N Learn Conference in Black Mountain, NC! Some of the highlights were the Amy Steinberg concert (see her if you ever get the chance, she understands and conveys beautifully what is divine and important in life), the bionicle funshop, the masquerade ball (thank you for the Thriller flashback!), seeing alex and emma dancing together, the lovely henna on my belly by Ginger Sabo!, the games funshop, the airplane funshop, all the talks and roundtables.....and the black bear mother and her three cubs that we saw on our way out. We will miss this gathering, but know that other conferences and more informal gatherings will continue to fill our unschooling community at large. We stopped to see Maggie and Michael in Knoxville on our way home. The kids enjoyed going down by the river to play in the water and I enjoyed the yummy food from Wok Hay made gluten free per their menu that you can only get in Knoxville! More trip pictures on flickr: photos

Chicks Have Grown

2008-08-30T14:29:00.000-07:00

The chicks had grown a lot in our ten days away from home. Before we left we had gotten them set up in their Chicken Ark that Kurt built. Major feels it is his sole duty to "guard" them day and night. He is chewing up more grass pacing around them than they are! I know that he will get used to them, but as of now they are still dinner to him. Major is 10 years old and was getting kind of slow and old. The chickens have added years to his life, we think, because now he is very energetic and seems like a new dog....

Road Trip Back--Breaux Bridge, LA

2008-08-27T14:37:00.000-07:00

This was definitely the highlight of our trip home. We decided to not go toward New Orleans, but instead hang around in Louisiana for the day and do a late afternoon swamp tour and then head all the way home the next day. We went on our swamp tour in Breaux Bridge, LA, the crawfish capital of the world. We were on a swamp and a bayou off of Lake Martin, this area's cypress swamp was created and remains as it is because of the levee maintained around lake martin by the state. At the visitors center in Breaux Bridge before the tour we learned how crawfish make thier homes and saw crawfish houses under the bridge and had a picnic along a section of river that had a miniature drawbridge. Our guide was very knowledgable both about the native plants and animals and birds as well as about the invasive species that are in the swamp. There were nine of us on the boat. We saw alligators, dragonflies (which eat all the mosquitos--there were NO, ZILCH mosquitos on the whole tour), Cormorants, Black crowned Night Herons, Great Blue Herons, many other nesting birds, frogs as tiny as your pinky fingernail, amazing spiders, an alligator nest, and lots of alligators! Thank you to our guide for this wonderful 2.5 hours! On the way home we went through Mississippi, we missed seeing you Terry and Aaron, but glad you had a fun trip....We stopped to visit the Ave Maria Grotto in Cullman, AL before we arrived safely home. It was close to sunset, so the glass at the Grotto was pretty. The kids liked the castle with the dragon underneath. It is amazing what one man started and created. We bought one of the beeswax candles that the monks make to burn for our baby's birth. The kids also liked the "chipmunk crossing" and the mysterious cat that followed us around with gorgeous green eyes.....There are more photos of this portion of our trip on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/eastofthebox

Road Trip Back-Houston & Beyond

2008-08-26T20:33:00.000-07:00

We made it to Houston the night we left Libby's although it took us a while to get settled. On the fourth hotel room everything was alright, they kept having smoke alarms that didn't work and I wasn't comfortable with that! We spent the next day at the Houston Space and Rocket Center. Here the kids are touching a real piece of moon rock. The room that had all the moon rock displayed was interesting as well as the theater where a guide went through all that was happening right now with NASA as well as the International Space Station. They showed live footage of the space station during that talk, so that was interesting. Dad, you would have wanted to touch the podium in that area, it was the podium that John F. Kennedy gave his famous speech from.......They wouldn't let us take photos in there, though! We saw mock up of a real shuttle and also an exhibit of the Star Wars Clones stuff from the movie. The kids enjoyed the play area as well as a maze they had. Alex got up the courage to jump on the bungee jumpers and went up to see the trapeze, but decided not to swing down. When we left Houston, we drove south of town over the bay and towards Lake Charles, LA. We made it to a nice little hotel there and the kids swam in the outdoor pool pretty late into the night. We still haven't decided if we are headed straight home through Mississippi, or are going to go towards New Orleans. The hurricane news might make up my mind tomorrow. Couple more photos on Flickr:

Our Days in Austin

2008-08-25T23:49:00.000-07:00

We had four fun-filled packed days in Austin, not by planning, just what ended up happening! Thank you Libby for hosting us and going "so slow" with as as you said. Maybe after you read this you will see that we couldn't possibly have been that slow paced, if we did all of this in four days! I'll just kind of give the quick list to jog our memories in the future, explaining a little as I go. We had plenty of opportunity for dress up with the clothes and odds and ends in Libby's apartment, the moustaches were a favorite. We visited Toy Joy, "the finest toy store in all of Austin", twice I believe for browsing and shopping. The yummy bakery attached served gluten free muffins and handed you huge horse keys to use the bathroom! In fact we decided Austin is a place to live and eat gluten free, there are options everywhere....If you go to Austin, don't miss visiting the downtown Whole Foods, it is their headquarters and is exquisite and their largest store at 80,000 square feet! We dined there from their pay by the pound buffett outside by the rock stream and a couple of other times during our visit---you could go bankrupt if you lived nearby. The kids loved riding the moving sidewalks in and out of the store and seeing all the delights, most notably the chocolate fountain and the Live Plant wall. We spent many hours in what appeared to be Libby's private pool, can't believe no one else uses it. It saved us from the heat as it was quite a bit warmer in the Austin heat. Owen learned to do back flips in the water and dive for things on the bottom. The night we went to see the bats come out from the Congress Street bridge we picniced with burgers from P. Terry's--a drive thru burger spot with organic and grassfed burgers, yum! And as I said, everyone knows how to feed you gluten free:)The bats were different than seeing bats come out from a cave, there were so many! We even found bats another night at the bridge near Libby's, you could hear them squeaking. We enjoyed some ice cream late one evening at Amy's ice cream, complete with outdoor playground and shuffleboard. Alex taught us all to play shuffleboard, he learned on his trip with Grammie and Papa last summer. I was amazed at his recall of the details! We went to both sides of Barton Springs, the "dog" side and the "paying" side. This is a really unique swimming spot in a really cold creek! It is three acres in size and fed from an underground spring under the diving board.....It is huge and concreted in parts, and yet retains the creek in parts and feel. In lieu of a pool vacuum, they have an underwater pool mower to keep the plants mowed back, alex thought that was cool! We rode the really hot, really slow train in Zilker Park on the other side......This is a really unique spot. Alex bought a boomerang at Toy Joy and lost it in the creek behind Libby's........Libby saved the day and rescued it from the deep muck with the pool stick from her swimming pool, hooray! One afternoon we saw an Improv Childrens Theater at a theater downtown, they used the kids in the audience and their ideas improv style, Emma really enjoyed this and gave me lots of her deep belly laughs. We visited the Cathedral of Junk, which is quite impressive! The pictures don't do it justice. This man has been building the Cathedral in his backyard for years out of stuff people bring him, you can climb all up in it. THe kids loved it, wonderful recycled art! Vince, the builder was there in the backyard hanging out and giving the kids facts like how many skis are in the cathedral, how many bikes, etc. I liked his door greeting, "Shalom Ya'll" and the sign that stated only "nice people got to use the bathroom." We made it a point to ride the "dillo", which is Austin's green bus shaped like a trolley that is green and has an armadillo on it, again, riding a city trolley was a highlight for the kids. We went to the Farmer's Market on Saturday and saw all the yummy food vendors, had some good tea and gluten free cookies. I think I would love a whole trip planned around visiting cities farmer's markets, this is a highlight for me, to bad most of them are all on Saturdays, makes it hard to go from one to hte next.......Libby showed us the TXRD warehouse where they hold all their practices and have their practice track set up. As you may or may not know, Aunt Libby is a member of the Hellcats in the TXRD bank track league. We spent a couple of hours in a local huge bookstore called Book People. I wish I got to go there every week for storytime it beats any big box bookstore I have ever visited. Kind of like the bookstore in Seaside, FL on steroids.....Emma spent a lot of time reading books in the tunnels they have in the kid's section. We went to Lucy's in Disguise Costume shop. I love the use of the song title in the name. This is a fully stocked costume shop, I have never seen so many rows and rows of costumes. We outfitted ourselves with masks for the Masquerade Ball at the Live and Learn conference and also got some parts of Halloween costumes. We spent our last day at the Austin Children's Musuem, where they give you unlimited pennies to spin in the "vortex", big hit with Owen. This was a really different musuem. The sound exhibit they had going on right then was great. My favorite was the huge music box an artist had built that you could create your own music by placing washers where you wanted them to be, brilliant idea! Before we drove towards Houston for the night we barbequed by the pool and swam with Libby and shared a moment in "Old Brown" my Grandpa Bob's car that Libby has. It was worth the road trip to Austin for such a fun and relaxing time, thank you again Aunt Libby!

More photos on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/eastofthebox/

Road Trip Day Three-Dallas & Austin!

2008-08-21T23:41:00.000-07:00

We spent a little time in the morning on our way to Dallas in a little town called Mt. Pleasant, TX it was the home of the tallest horse, Radar, in the Guinness book of world records but we couldn't find out where he lived no matter who we asked or where we searched. He travels a lot...In Dallas, we headed to Fair Park for the day. Here there are nine or more musuems as well as this is the home of the Texas State Fair. You could see the enormous ferris wheel in the distance. I love ferris wheels, and I kept wishing it was working....We visited in the natural history and science portions of the musuems all day. There was much to see and do, it was like four or five musuems wrapped into two. We decided to try and make it to Austin, so we had some dinner on the porch of a mexican restaurant under the water blowing fans and headed Libby's way. Alex gave the server that made our "live guacamole" a lesson on how Alex makes guacamole at home....With only a couple of stops we made it to her house, hooray! I have to say that the section of interstate from Dallas to Austin was a horrible road to drive, not rough, but with high concrete walls on each side most of the way and very unenjoyable! We look forward to several fun days with Aunt Libby in Austin. More photos on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/eastofthebox/

Road Trip Day Two--Memphis, Little Rock & Texarkana

2008-08-20T21:33:00.000-07:00

We woke to a rainy morning, but it was perfect for our plans. We visited Mud Island in Memphis in swimsuits and played in the model of the Missisippi River, we had the place all to ourselves! The kids enjoyed the monorail and the model of the steamboat and exploring about the different boats that have traveled the Mississippi in the museum. They recognized the keel boat from the Earlyworks musuem at home. We had a yummy plate lunch at a downtown diner and rode the streetcar before heading towards Little Rock. We missed actually seeing the ducks walk at the Peabody in Little Rock as we had planned because we skipped them in Memphis---because of the rain storm on the drive there we were late, but we did get to see where they swim in the fountain, ride up the elevator via their red carpet and see where they are housed on the roof. The Peabody in Little Rock is right on the Arkansas river, and as we walked down the riverfront we found an amazing outdoor space. Owen had a tugboat blow the horn at him several times, he loved that. I believe it is officially called Riverfront Park and is on the river with a greenway and also right next to the Farmer's Market. There was an amazing play area complete with water area and built into the rocks on the riverbank with tunnels and all sorts of unique play spaces. We spent several hours here. On the walk back streetside to the car to head to Texarkana for the night we found a Memorial Garden-- the H.U. Lee Memorial Garden to Grandmaster Lee of the ATA organization of Tae Kwon Do that is headquartered in Little Rock. There were many sculptures, a gate, etc. Alex really enjoyed seeing this. We made it to Texarkana that evening and I would say more, but what is there to say about Texarkana? :) On the trip Owen always wants to know where we are, and he doesn't mean, "on the way to see aunt libby", he actually wants to know exactly where we are, the only response that satisfies is the gritty details, "on the arkansas river in little rock, arkansas" you get a hurray, anything else, gets, "but where are we?!?!" until you detail it out.....it took me a day to learn this! I kept answering his question, and he got more and more upset, i wasn't really answering, i was trying to answer for what i thought he would understand, and boy i should know he understands all.............:) more photos on flicker: http://www.flickr.com/photos/eastofthebox/

Road Trip Day One--Made it to Germantown, TN

2008-08-19T23:30:00.000-07:00

We made it this far the first day. We had a stop in Corinth, MS to visit Borroum's Drug Store, Mississippi's oldest drug store complete with barstools and old fashioned root beer floats. We enjoyed playing on the square around the courthouse, visiting the dollar general for "journals" and rubber balls owen and alex bought--i forgot to bring the kids any notebooks or paper to draw in for our journey and they like to do that.....We made it to Germantown, TN west of Memphis. Here they are known for their Charity Horse Show, and a treat for Emma was to see all the horse statues around town. We got a map and visited all 21! In the link you can see all the horses we saw and read the history of the horse show there in the fall, this is the 60th year. Germantown also had some amazing playgrounds around town that we explored that evening. The driving was made easier by the shows daddy had burned to dvd for us and the cooler full of snacks we had in the car. We ended the day late into the next day with swimming and hot-tubbing at the hotel pool. I have posted photos on a "flicker" account to go along with what I write about our trip because there are just too many I wanted to share to put them here. If you have any trouble let me know. Here is the link to see the photos on the Flicker account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/eastofthebox/

On the Road

2008-08-18T08:40:00.000-07:00

We are headed on a road trip to see my sister Libby in Austin, TX and then to the final:( Live and Learn Conference in Black Mountain, NC two days after we get back. Don't know that I will post while gone, but will try if I have time!

Sleeping

2008-07-22T14:30:00.000-07:00

Sandra Dodd got me really thinking and being aware about the joy and *shininess* of how we sleep yesterday when I was reading her page about Sleeping. If you haven't read that page, it's a good one.....Last night it was just Emma and Owen and I, Alex was at a friend's house and Kurt was working away from home. At dusk, they wanted to go to a park, so we went to the playground down the street, then they wanted to go swimming, so we ran back home and got our suits and went to the pool. Owen announced on the walk into the pool that he was going to jump off the diving board because he could swim now and he didn't want me to catch him. I got to watch the joy he got from that for about twenty minutes when the pool then closed for lightining, the water was perfect and the sun was down. Then they wanted to go to a store that was open at night.....choices were slim after 9pm around here, so we went to Wal-Mart at about 10pm. There were all these wonderful conversations between the two of them riding there and in the store and on the ride home. They planned what they wanted to do tomorrow. Emma told us some wonderful things about fairies and the stars and dragons. She asked me if I would help her learn to ride her bike on two wheels tomorrow and if we could build Fairy Houses. Owen wanted to make water balloons. When we got home, Daddy was here and they said they wanted to eat some cereal and snuggle with me and the baby. I really don't know when we all went to sleep, but I know it was after 1am....I remember Emma asking me if I was going to sleep in those clothes or, "are you going to get pajamafied?" she said. There was so much sharing and loving and laughing and learning that happened last night in our house after 9pm, and happens many other nights after 9pm or whatever time they might have been coaxed to bed. I have often thought in these hot days of summer, that I might thrive better if I stayed up all "night" and began my day in the afternoon, sometimes it is just too hot to function, let alone let yourself *shine*! After reading that sleeping page and having last night, I was thankful to have found this path of whole life unschooling that gives us these times together no matter what time of day they are--thank you to all the souls out there that led by your example and your sharing. Would Owen have shone on that diving board if he was going to bed at 9pm against his free will? Would Emma have asked me to help her ride her bike on two wheels tomorrow (and she did learn that today!!!! wow!) or would she have been lying lonely in her bed not sleepy at midnight and sad she was alone? I used to have trouble sleeping. I would lie awake even when tired and always needed to do something to go to sleep. I realized last night that most of my troubles sleeping started to shift when our lives shifted to living this way four years ago. Now I can fall asleep anywhere in the house like the sleeping photos from a few days ago. My mind isn't running with all the things I want to do and have to do and need to do and didn't get to do, and should do, etc. Letting go of time and expectations of time-along with many other things- has brought us so much peace! May you all find a time of year no matter what your philosophy of life to step outside the box of "sleep" with either yourself or your kids and see what else sleeping can be......there are too many kids and folks that go to sleep sad or lonely for no reason......I know because there were four years were I was a parent that sleep and going to sleep were something really different in our house than they are now! I'm even more ready for all those folks now that like to ask you when you have a new baby, "How is the baby sleeping?" What a silly question! Is there nothing more wonderful to know or enjoy about a newborn than how they are getting on with their schedule or how they are following the schedule you might give them? And if they are sleeping "well" that somehow makes them a "good" baby?!? We are hoping for another free soul that sleeps when they are tired and shines when they are not.......I like the father that says when asked when his kids go to bed, he replies, "About thirty minutes after they fall asleep." Perfect!

Knitting

2008-07-21T13:47:00.000-07:00

I finished the "mink hat" as we are calling it a couple of weeks ago. Here it is modeled on one of Emma's babies. I had a really bizarre dream that the baby was born as a mink, complete with eight nipples, in the dream this was normal, upon awakening it was a little unsettling....So the baby has become our "mink." I was so thrilled to create this! After learning to knit over the past year or so, this is the first thing I have made with stockinette stitch and that wasn't flat when completed, although I did not knit it in the round.....That is my next project, to knit something in the round, after I make the kids some bath mitts they requested. Emma wants to knit the baby a blanket, she has gotten really good at knit stitches, but I think she is going to start off trying to make a washcloth for the "mink." This item on the bottom was inspired from a book my friend Sarah had. In the end you will sew the knit coil around a cotton cord, secure it circular style as shown and it will create a round rug. It is with remnants or full skeins of various colors of 100% wool yarn, great use for extra/remaining yarn. I have been wanting to have something in the house that I could knit on when sitting around or that others that come over could knit on, and scarves aren't real big around here in North Alabama, so when I saw this I seized it as a long term knitting project that excited me. If I had the full picture I would post it here, but I don't! The one I am following--you slip/knit, slip/purl alternating with 20 sets about 20 yards of the coil and then finish it by sewing aroudn the cord and securing into a 33 to 36 inch rug...........so, yes, this is my 5 year knitting project, or that thing I finish when the mink is 20....:)

Gearing up for Learn Nothing Day

2008-07-20T23:45:00.000-07:00

Summer is hard. We are gearing up for Learn Nothing Day on July 24th.......read more on the satire of this first annual unschooling holiday here. How do you think we are doing? Can you learn nothing when you are sleeping or isn't that when you make connections subconsiously that you just can' t help but learn from??!?!? If you think too much or any at all from these images, you might LEARN that some folks can sleep anywhere....I just left the room to take the dogs outside--came back and they were gone--off to dream and cement their learning! Owen, when you are older and see this, this was not abuse, this is where you freely chose to fall asleep this evening, I have four witnesses.....

Cucumber Olympics

2008-07-20T22:18:00.000-07:00

We had a surge of cucumbers in the garden. Quite a few of them were yellow and large, and after eating so many for two days we retired these to other more athletic uses. First we had a cucumber toss, a la javelin or discus, the athelets choice. Owen slung his catapult style with daddy via a shovel. We were going for distance and burst upon impact. Kurt's discus throw is somewhere in the state park.....Then Alex coined an event called the cucumber carving competition and we lit the three contestants up in the front yard. The aroma of roasting cucumber would make a revolutionary candle scent, it filled the front yard all evening......It was a nice end to our anniversary which was the weekend of the 1996 Olympics, and the still full looking moon this evening was also nice since it was the anniversary of the moon landing in 1969. Gluten Free fact we learned today--P.F. Chang's has a whole separate gluten free menu, wow!

Chicks are Here!

2008-07-20T10:11:00.000-07:00

Well, our vacations are done and the chicks arrived this morning (Friday the 18th--beautiful full orange moon this evening) at 7:30am when the post office called. Alex and I went down to pick them up right away. A friend of ours Karen and her son Brad and their Dad, took nine of them, and these six ladies will stay with us! They all still had their egg tooth, and the paperwork indicated that they hatched at 5am on Wednesday July 16th. They all appeared healthy and bigger than I expected. We inspected each one, introduced it to the water and put it under the warming light in the tabletop brooder we are using until we move them to their movable coop. This is the coop that we think we will be building over the next few weeks, they can go in it when they are about six weeks old--Catawba Coops plans. They knew exactly what to do with the water. The kids have named three of them, Speckles (by owen which is interesting because i am not sure if he knows they are going to look speckled as they are dominques), Lily (by Emma, she falls asleep with Emma holding her), and Flutter (by Alex because this one flies the most). The kids are fond of playing them music on the music box and bringing them grass clippings as well as any tiny bugs we find around the house and yard. They go beserk when you put an insect in the brooder! Kurt and I haven't named one yet, although Kurt is leaning towards Jerome for his name pick, I'm trying to get him to choose something a little more feminine :)--or maybe he suspects one of them is a rooster even though their markings are classic pullet. As of day four they are fine with being handled, not picking at each other and already growing mature feather buds on their wings and tails. Their fluff has started to fall of occasionally. Emma is telling me that she is going to miss when they are tiny like this after they grow, I told her I understood, that I missed when she was tiny sometimes, too.....We are sorry the incubating didn't work, but are thrilled to finally have the chicks here after being disappointed in April/May.

High Falls

2008-07-18T09:21:00.000-07:00

Here is Cot-A, the Io moth from camping. We went to High Falls on our way home. The water was not as high as the time we were here in winter, but still high enough to swim and jump. Saw a small rattlesnake on one of our hikes sunning near a bench. Alex and Kurt braved the cliffs and jumped into the base of the Falls for a while....Kurt said he hadn't felt that youthful since he was 16! I was kind of wishing that I could jump in, too!

Buck's Pocket

2008-07-17T09:11:00.000-07:00

After our trip along the Blue Ridge Parkway, we were inspired to get back to camping with everyone and to keep it simple!--it got too complicated for some reason about a year ago, and we stopped camping like we wanted to. As time permits we hope to take many one night camping adventures to spots nearby because we all love to explore and be outdoors. This time we went to Buck's Pocket. We had the campground to share with one other couple, until, ironically a school bus pulled up at 6:30pm with 30+ teenagers on board! While they added a little to the noise level, it was not the end of the world as we first thought as the bus rumbled in! The playground was nostalgic with the riding animals....Emma kept us all fascinated with an Io Moth that she found, named her "Cot-A". Cot-A spent all night with us in Emma's hands being sung to and talked to and asked to come back when she flew away. She also came home with us and lived the last of her days here in the house and yard. We learned that Cot-A had already mated, if she did, from her lack of flying behavior and that adult Io moths do not eat, they are at the end of their life cycle at the point Emma found her. By the time we got home, there is no doubt in our minds that Emma and Cot-A had some sort of communication going on, there is nothing else to explain the number of times she got Cot-A to come back by calling her or singing to her, or asking her to show herself........Alex carved us all some nice marshmallow roasting sticks. Owen experimented with burning all sorts of things in the fire with Kurt. While Alex and Emma giggled from their tent at 5:30am, it took Owen until almost 9am to wake up! Everyone left asking to camp again, soon!

Solar Cooking

2008-07-15T23:08:00.000-07:00

Thank you to my friend Esther for the day of Solar Cooking and visiting. I enjoyed meeting one of your goats, Thistle. I love her brown silky coat, I can see why my mom would love to have a goat! We had a day today with the roamschool folks making solar cookers for hot dogs in the heat, having ice races, experimenting with "tan men" and sunscreen, and making ice coolers, and mainly just playing...... The ice cooler emma made with paper plates, tape and aluminum foil, still had ice when we left four hours later and it was a hot day! A plastic cup, a styrofoam cup, black paper, a napkin, saran wrap and foil were used for the solar cooker the kids used to "warm" their fully cooked hot dog.

Independence Day

2008-07-04T08:57:00.000-07:00

Kurt and Alex won second place in the parent/child raft races at the pool on the Fourth of July, Alex is on the green raft headed towards the end. Was a fun day of celebrating and visiting and eating. Saw our friends the Chris' for the last time today as they are headed to live in Erie, Pennsylvania tomorrow....we will miss them. This rat snake came out to watch the "flower power" fireworks Alex set off for us this evening. We are thankful for the freedoms we have to live and learn everyday!

Blue Ridge Parkway

2008-06-30T08:51:00.000-07:00

Thank you Mom, Maggie & Dad for offering Kurt and I a few days to slip away before our lives get busier this Fall....We missed everyone and also had some wonderful days and found some spots to come back to this Fall during the Live and Learn Conference with the whole family. We know and heard of the wonderful days they had while with you, thank you for loving them like that! We camped along the Blue Ridge Parkway (yes it rained, it always does when we camp!), saw lots of wildlife, even a black bear!, went on many hikes, ate good food over the fire and in some local restaurants, remembered how to talk without interruptions:), toured some of Asheville, enjoyed just being and ended our time pampering ourselves at Spa Shoji, wow! We want to tour the rest of the Blue Ridge Parkway one day...Thank you again!

Settling Back In

2008-06-24T23:15:00.000-07:00

Settling back in to life at home.....We had our first cucumbers and snow peas when we got back home. We had squash before we left and the strawberries were done. I was so excited about these cucumbers and they were so delicious with mayo, balsamic vinegar and a little sugar, we all ate them up. I know by summer's end we will be groaning at cucumbers. Rocky (alex's beardie) is enjoying the salad greens from outside so much better than the kale from the store. We also had our first blueberries when we got back home, so juicy, but all the blackberries were gone:(--glad we made that final blackberry cobbler before we left, before the birds ate them all....We finally cut open a coconut for emma to have a coconut shell bowl, she was inspired to make a story about a coconut "egg" for her friend Ellie's birthday. The coconut milk and meat were yummy!

50th Hastings Reunion at Grayton

2008-06-24T23:00:00.000-07:00

Thank you to all our family and friends for the memorable week at Grayton..........the dinners, the floats in the ocean, the pool time, the boat rides, the drum circle, the games, the showers, the bonfire, the sandcastles, the chairs and tents. We send you all another hug and thank you for making memories with us! I'll share some more Grayton photos in next post. Grayton has changed mucho in 50 years, but the week really hasn't, not the parts that matter anyway...

Grayton Photos Again

2008-06-24T22:20:00.000-07:00

Outdoor showers, i want one at my house!.....Rosie the Riveter visited with us.....and on the last day near the ocean in these lovely chairs from Terry we finally found Emma's hermit crabs she had been looking for all week!

More Grayton

2008-06-24T22:16:00.000-07:00

Grayton 2008

2008-06-24T22:15:00.000-07:00

More ATCs from Day

2008-06-06T17:09:00.000-07:00

Kristy-Jane's ATCs

2008-06-06T17:06:00.000-07:00

Our friend Kristy did these "anime portraits" from live models. I have to get her to do one of Alex, Emma & Owen another time. They are lovely!

Some ATCs from the Day

2008-06-06T17:01:00.000-07:00

ATC Day!

2008-06-06T17:00:00.000-07:00

Thank you to everyone who came to the ATC Day today, here at our house. We hope to now have one every month or so. We were introduced to ATC cards at one of the LiveNLearn Conferences and didn't get to fully explore them while we were there. My mom won the ATC basket at the last conference and gave it to me and I have been waiting to use it. We had lots of folks coming by all day, creating and playing. I didn't get all the photos that I wanted of the hundreds of cards that were made, but have some highlights to share in the next posts. Please join us for the next ATC day sometime in July.... The hit with the kids was the laminator. We have one for our business and the kids often use it to preserve a special piece of artwork so that it is indestructible. Strangely last fall, on our doorstep from Office Depot arrived 1300 business size laminating pouches. We did not order them, and if you have ever dealt with Office Depot customer service, we got nowhere on getting them returned or explained.........we were not charged as we never placed an order for such an item, and decided they must be meant to be here for some reason........The kids found one of those reasons to day with unbridled creativity. Here is some more information on ATC Cards.

Fairy Circle

2008-06-04T16:48:00.000-07:00

We discovered this "Fairy Circle" in the empty lot across the street last night. The diameter was 8 or more feet across. It is stretching out into the road. I have always loved mushrooms, more than flowers I think! They are just one of those things that makes me squeal when I see one. It was interesting today reading all the lore about fairy circles as well as the science behind the fungus doing what it does. Then in a couple of days later we saw another one down the street from the car window, it had those red spotted mushrooms! By the time we went back later to take a picture or the next day, someone had cut all the mushrooms off:(. I don't recall ever seeing fairy circles around here when I was younger, but we know the signs to look for now (greener grass ring or browner grass ring) and are going to be on the lookout! Major, our dog, was the only one who decided to enter the fairy circle after what we had learned, we hope nothing ill befalls him!

Turkey Creek

2008-06-03T16:41:00.000-07:00

We went on a third creek adventure today. This one was the most intense creek so far. It was really full and rushing because of all the rain recently. Turkey Creek is near Birmingham owned by Forever Wild and has an interesting history if you want to read about it at the link. Alex was the only one brave enough to float down the actual waterslide portion, and he had a blast. Emma, Owen and I floated on the flatter part upstream, but it was still quite rapid and bumpy and we swam in the water below the falls. You can see Alex in the orange in the waterfall going down in the top picture...The day was so hot, and the water was icy and felt wonderful. You could just sit on the rocks that had paperthin water running over them and cool while you warmed. We finished listening to The Fellowship of the Ring, the first book in the Lord of the Rings series on the way there and back. We were able to scrape enough change out of the car to get an ice cream on the way home, since they only took cash and we had none! Only downside to the place was that it did get crowded and there was quite a bit of broken glass, don't go without shoes/water shoes! Still trying to find out why it's called Turkey Creek...

Busy Bees

2008-05-29T05:51:00.000-07:00

Well, I didn't get to checking the bees right at a week, as were busy and then a couple of rainy days, so I did get them checked at about day 12 or 13. The Italian bees seem to be living up to their reputation. They are known for being good comb producers and quick colony growers. When you first hive the bees, you leave one of the ten frames out of the hive to have a space for the queen cage to hang. When you check them that first time you take the cage out and replace that space with the tenth frame. This can be tricky, because bees make comb where ever there is space. Our bees, since we had given them a few extra days, had built a lot of what is called burr, natural, wild or brace comb--comb they made in the space. I got this all off of the frames and we all got to sample the sweet nectar and the pollen that was on some of it, delicious! It is true for us for some reason, the hardest part of bee keeping this far has been lighting the smoker...you use the smoker to calm the bees as you approach and open the hive. They either gorge on honey and don't mind you because the smoke makes them think a forest fire is near and they might have to move, or the smoke masks the pheremones they send to communicate danger.....either way it works, once you get it working! Here is Alex blowing smoke rings:).

I love the fog...

2008-05-28T06:05:00.000-07:00

particurally when it is below us:) We get a lot of fog sometimes of year, this was a unique view of some this evening...

Grammie & Papa

2008-05-27T06:03:00.000-07:00

Kurt's parents came to visit us for a week at the end of May. We had a fun week. Thank you for your help on the treehouse, you helped Kurt make huge progress, I know he is pleased! The kids made 'battery acid' shakes and 'cat litter' cookies during the visit, yum! We had several fun adventures. One day we went on a 22 mile bike ride down the Greenway off Bailey Cove to Ditto Landing and along the Tennesee River. It was lovely! Emma and I opted out at mile 17 to wait for pickup at the library, as we were tired. I would have never thought.........hmmmm, I'm pregnant, let's go on a 17 mile bike ride, but it was really enjoyable, I just got winded at the end. We also got to go and see the new Saturn V exhibit at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center. If you haven't seen that, it is impressive up close, they have done a beautiful job of restoring this bit of history. We also enjoyed one of the first lunch concerts in Big Spring Park that day. Alex and Emma had a fun time sleeping in the motorhome, and Owen is still thinking Grammie and Papa are down the street in the park in the motorhome. He has a hard time grasping that they move around in the motorhome, that they aren't just there waiting still, even though i've shown him! We are glad Grammie and Papa got to see Kurt and Alex at Tae Kwon Do and see the new store while they were here. They also got several lessons on the Wii. We enjoyed celebrating Memorial Day at the pool with yummy potluck food, friends, and music. The pool also opened while they were here, and it's still icy, but the kids didn't mind at all! Thank you for coming to visit us!

Bees are Here!

2008-05-17T05:38:00.000-07:00

After our dissapppointment with the chicken eggs earlier in the month, it was a real excitement to get our package of bees to hive in our beehive in the yard. A huge thank you to Tom Ricks for sharing one of his packages with us, thanks! Here is what the bees look like when they come via the mail. We kept them in the basement for about an hour and then I put them into the hive. The queen comes in a special cage that the other bees free her from after you place her in the hive, they do this by eating throught the 'candy' that plugs the cage entrance. We will leave them alone for a week or so and then check to see that she is laying eggs and all is well. We have been waiting for some bees for over a year now, so either it was the adrenaline from handling 3 lbs (11,000) of bees or it was a long awaited event, either way, we were all really joyous! They are really very peaceful and easy to handle. The kids and I built the hive last year from a kit with my sister maggie, but didn't get it started in time for last season, so a year later, hooray, they are here! Originally we were getting some Gray Caucasian bees ( a russian strain) but that farm didn't work out. These are Italian bees from Rossman Apiaries. The first day the ants found the hive, but a sprinkle of cinnamon around the hive and the top solved that problem. We are excited to watch them work.

Go Green!

2008-05-16T05:26:00.000-07:00

Kurt and Alex both received their Green Belts in Tae Kwon Do this evening. We are so proud of them, Kurt on his leg's recovery especially. The belts will get harder from here. Alex is really enjoying the sparring class that they have added that he takes on Saturdays with Kurt. Go Green Belts!

Pool Almost Ready

2008-05-14T05:16:00.000-07:00

We went to explore the waterfall nearby the other day and discovered that they had started filling the pool. When we first arrived they had had the water on a hour and it was just under the diving board up to your knees. We checked back freqeuntly over the next couple of days watching it be filled. The kids enjoyed this, as they have asked every year how long it takes to fill the pool and what it looks like, etc. So this time we got to watch it in action. It takes about 2 and a half days to fill. This photo is from about five to six hours before filling is complete. Alex, Emma, Owen and a friend Beck also rescued a lot of tadpoles from the baby pool as the rainwater was being drained from it. We brought them back to our pond to hopefully add to the amphibian orchestra at night.

Creatures at Sugar Creek

2008-05-13T05:16:00.000-07:00

Sugar Creek

2008-05-13T05:13:00.000-07:00

This was the most wonderful creek adventure by far. This is from when we went to Sugar Creek with the Roamschool friends. While an adventure to find in Southern Tennessee, this is magical spot. My friend hid a letterbox here, so directions to the creek are on her clues here (link in a bit), in case you ever want to visit the creek. It sits right along an old cemetery, and the road crossed the creek in this spot twice below a suspended bridge. We explored all day, floating, finding fish, crayfish, geodes, doing rubbings in the cemetery, playing pretend/dress up with capes and wands and swords in the trees, visiting the cows and horses. The most interesting markers in the cemetary to me were the ones that said "consort of" in lieu of wife, son, daughter, husband, etc. and then the won that simply stated "Born" and then the date and then "Murdered" and then the date. I was taken back to when I studied a lot of the cemeteries in New Orleans when I was little visiting my nana one summer.

Bubbles Mastered

2008-05-12T04:59:00.000-07:00

Alex finally mastered "The Bubble Thing". He has been trying to get those perfect big bubbles for a couple of years now, starting with just clothes hangers. I think we finally found the soap that seems to work the best, either that or the humidity was just perfect here lately to not need any special ingredients. The Blue Dawn soap seems to work the best, 1 cup to 12 cups of water.....

Towers

2008-05-11T04:54:00.000-07:00

The kids have amassed a large stack of paper and plastic cups, this is a favorite game that has been going on since Alex started it at one of the stores in January.

Emma's Bonsai Is Here!

2008-05-10T22:07:00.000-07:00

When asked what she wanted to celebrate way back in December, Emma told her Grandparents she wanted a bonsai tree. She has been fascinated by them for a while, and has checked out all the books at the library on them. They couldn't find a bonsai in December, so she was told to keep her eye out for one that fit the bill, and today she saw it at a store we were at, so it came home with us and now graces our table on the deck. We look forward to learning to care for it, it has already added an element of peace as we sat outside with the candles lit and listened to the frogs next to Emma's little tree. It is a Japanese Juniper and it is 7-9 years old.

The Baby Hiking...:)

2008-05-09T22:19:00.000-07:00

Treasures in the Park

2008-05-09T21:59:00.000-07:00

We found these treasures today in the park...and yes the beetle did hiss and the centipede smelled like cherries!

HIke at MSSP

2008-05-09T21:56:00.000-07:00

Went searching for waterfalls today while Beck was over playing. Went in MSSP and by the waterfall near the pool in the neighborhood.
We went off the trail and just walked down the creek bed. The boys found some neat rocks and had a grand time busting rocks open by throwing them against the large, steep rock walls around us. It was like being in an untravelled part of the woods.

Happy Birthday Maggie!

2008-05-06T21:51:00.000-07:00

A rare glimpse of my sister in photo, gotcha! Hope you enjoyed your birthday sundae and our serenade....

Yogurt Omelette

2008-05-05T21:47:00.000-07:00

Had to document the lovely "Yogurt Omelette" that Alex brought me for a snack!

Sad News, No Chicks...

2008-05-04T16:13:00.000-07:00

We gave the eggs that had some promise an extra couple of days, and there were still no chicks peeping out. Kurt made a candler out of a bright bulb and an old metal part from the store that had a small opening. In the bathroom, it gave a pretty good view into the eggs. I don't know if it is because of the brown color of the eggs that made it difficult to determine the size of the embryo inside or our inexperience, but we thought we had seven viable. So today the kids and I opened them all. There were six that seemed they had expired at about 7 to 10 days incubation. They were tiny, and we aren't sure why they looked larger on the candler. We went back and can't pinpoint anything that happened at 7 to 10 days to cause a disturbance. Then there was one that had gotten to the point that it was just about to absorb it's yolk sack, it was precious, had feathers and you could see the egg tooth. Again, not sure what could have happened that day. The kids took all this in stride, although were disappointed as were we. We don't regret being mother hens for 21 plus days, and know that nature certainly does it better, but wanted to try. For now the kids have decided to go the route of just getting some tiny chicks or day old chicks. We decided to do this after we get back from our vacations in June. So we are hunting for a chick source for Dominique hens! Hopefully they will be grown and laying some before it gets too cold...

More Hurricane Creek

2008-05-01T21:44:00.000-07:00

Alex informed me that he had found a way that it could actually be a good thing to put a bag on your head, even though you weren't "supposed" to put bags on your head. He was cold and figured out that if he put this bag on his head, but just on the top!, that it warmed his head and then his whole body from the cold creek!