A trip to the beach

It's a good thing we lean heavily toward unschooling because there's not much of anything planned or organized going on around here. I'm doing well to sneak in a shower once in a while, much less teach anyone to read or count. But I have been trying to work some things in besides free play, snack time, and folding laundry.

So to go along with our daily art marathons, we've been doing some narration. R talks (and boy can she talk!) and I write it down. She wanted to share a story she wrote about going on a trip to the beach.

Mom, [R], [W], and [N] in the ocean

Mom is keeping an eye on us. Me and [N] and [W] are swimming. [N] is swimming, [W] is swimming, and I am swimming. [W] is taller than [N]. Birds were flying everywhere! Daddy saw the birds, too. They were beautiful! It was beautiful more than a whole wedding. Everything was beautiful. It was like a magical dream that ever happened. It felt like we were in heaven. The weather was hot so we went swimming. Daddy watched us. It felt so much like a dream. Mama was swimming, too. She was trying to keep an eye on us. Mama leaded us through the wide sea, taking us from step to step. It was like a miracle. It felt like we maked a great story. The [our last name] family, we loved it. We had a great time. We are going to stay until Tuesday. It was Sunday. We were going to spend the night. There were even grown up beds. Mom and Dad picked which grown up bed we would sleep in. We stayed all in the same room. [N] slept in the middle. We all slept in the same bed. Us kids slept in the middle. Our whole family came, too.

Fall is coming!

As the temperatures drop (it was only 95 today!), we are slowly coming out of our summer hibernation. I had a good chuckle the other day reading a magazine with an article about reorganizing your shed for the winter by moving the gardening stuff to the back and bringing the snow shoveling tools to the front. Well, in the alternate universe of the desert Southwest, we're packing away our swimsuits and busting out the trowels and seed catalogs. For the next several months, we'll live outside as much as we can, hike, visit the zoo, go for walks, and do our lessons while we lay in the grass. And on top of all that bliss, we'll enjoy as much homegrown buttercrunch lettuce as we want. So here are some recent pictures of us celebrating the end of our summer hibernation.


Savoring the last popsicles from the freezer


Look! They're sharing something!


Showing the little kids how it's really done

Happy to be outside

Getting the garden ready to plant

W watering herself instead of the plants

Dirt, glorious dirt

A little comic relief

Thank God for a funny husband. He keeps me laughing and can crack me up about the most frustrating things. So besides the jingle I mentioned yesterday that sums up W's and Noah's current relationship, we're coming up with new versions everyday.

Anytime you want mom I want mom also
Anytime you want mom I want mom more

Anything you can yell I can yell louder
I can yell anything louder than you

Anything you can throw, I can throw farther
I can throw anything farther than you

You get the idea. I'm sure these aren't as funny just reading them, but really, it's gotten to the point where one of us just hums the tune and I pee my pants. So much for not laughing at your kids when they misbehave.

Our family mobile

Sorry for the almost month-long silence. It's certainly not for a lack of good intentions. I've composed about twenty posts in my head, but I can't seem to find the time to actually type them up. When someone finally invents the telepathic blog, I'll be the first one to sign up.

Anyway, we're all doing well and everyday gets a little easier. I still can't believe how quickly Noah is adjusting. Within about 10 days of being home, he had gone from all Dave to all me. Now he has balanced out and goes to either one of us very comfortably. He's getting used to two sisters who want to play with him, hug and kiss him, and show him everything they know. Needless to say, he gets a little overwhelmed at times.

I can't remember where I first read the analogy of the family being a mobile, but I came across it again when I recently read "There is no me without you" by Melissa Greene. Every time a child joins the family, the mobile has to completely shift and rebalance. That image is so spot on. We are all learning new things about each other and figuring out what works and what doesn't. R is very protective of her "mama time" with me and she and I have been going on dates every week. She's struggling to figure out how to be a helper without mothering her siblings. Meanwhile, my sweet, gentle, polite little W has become a hitting, kicking jealous ball of emotions. Poor thing. (Jenni, I now understand what you were talking about when Little Miss L became Little Miss Stinker when C was born). Her new motto seems to be "Anything you can do, I can do better." I actually find myself humming that tune throughout the day. I know this is just part of each one of us reshifting and rebalancing our own piece of the mobile. I just had no idea that W would spend half her childhood in time-out to get there.

So we're having a great time and getting into a groove. Having two toddlers is kicking my behind, but I think I'm past the barely-treading-water stage!


Learning to love books


Out for a walk (thanks, Sonja, for the truck!)


Splashing at the park


Drying off at the park