We're Here!

Just a quick note to say we are having a great time here in Kansas with our unschooling buddies. We made the drive out here safe and sound. It went well if you do not count me losing my credit card at a gas station in Colorado! A did not like the eastern half of Colorado, west half of Kansas. She said there were more cows than trees and she was right!

We have had a lot of wildlife siteings, a skunk, a raccoon, bunnies, all kinds of birds, and a cool spider on a web catching the bugs flying around the porch light. We went to the zoo today and had a very nice, if hot and tiring, time. I got lots of pictures and will be posting them when we get home. Tomorrow, we are going to a cool place where they make marbles. Sunday, my sweet husband joins us here and Monday, we head to Colorado.

See you when we get home!

We're Off!

Last minute preparations are under way for our roadtrip. We head out tomorrow morning, as early as I can possibly muster. It will be our longest day of driving, so we want to get a good start. Besides, if I am not johnny on the spot in the morning, I will have two impatient little girls sitting by the door begging me to GO. I just wanted to pop in and say that I have no idea if I will get to blog or not while we are gone, but I will try. And I am sure I will have much to say about our adventures when we get back. See you in two weeks!
A few pictures:

E surfing at a friend's pool

I can NOT look at this without hurting my head. Such talents my child has.

Super Solstice

Wednesday, we had a great start to summer. Under the stars, at the base of the mountains, with a picnic on a blanket, accompanied by good friends, we watched a musical, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. It was a lovely end to a very hot day. As we ate our picnic dinner, pairs of dragonfly lovers flew above our heads. At dusk, the bats came out for an aerial show, which competed with the musical for the kids attention. One quiet scene of the musical was interrupted by the braying of a wild burro. I swear the cast members paused to listen. We spotted two satellites cruising across the heavens. Oh, and the production was great! It was a magical night.

Only as I was driving us home at 10:30pm did I remember I still have to pack and plan for our road trip! I am way behind the power curve. The eleventh hour is my friend, I guess. A friend watched the girls so I could get my massage today. They had a blast playing with their friends and I had a much needed physical/mental/spiritual re-centering. I am going to need it!

Good news came my way. C is going to be able to join us for half of the road trip to Kansas! He is going to meet us in Kansas and drive back with us. He was very bummed by us being able to explore Steamboat Springs without him, so this is perfect. I will enjoy the company on the return trip, which is never as exciting as the trip there. And we will be together as a family for a whole week! Life is good.

The Bold and the Brave

Look at the pictures below and tell me what is different about my girls:

See it yet?

Yep! They got their ears pierced! Both girls have wanted to have it done for a while, but A was too scared of the pain to agree to just go do it. E was getting impatient with me and her sister and last Thursday asked once more to go get her ears pierced. We had already been by the place in the mall where they could get it done, met the girl who works there, had her show them the gun and picked out which earrings they would get. A was still apprehensive but decided she was going to do it. I told her that she was brave to face her fears. E wanted to be awarded the label of brave as well, but I told her she was not brave because there was no fear in her. She was bold. She liked that. So, the next day, off to the mall we went.

E wanted to go first and A wanted her to go first. There was only one person working, so they could not do the both-at-the-same-time method of piercing, which A had in her mind was the way to go. E was not deterred by the change in plans, but A was hesitant. She finally decided to watch E get it done and see how she felt after. E hopped right up in the chair and barely flinched as the girl pierced first one and then the other ear. She was beyond excited to see her reflection in the mirror held up for her. The lollipop offered to her afterwards was icing on the cake as far as she was concerned. She said it only hurt a little bit, her face all aglow with pride and joy.

I turned to A to see how she was and she immediately buried her head in my chest and clutched at my body, tears welling in her eyes. I asked her if she was ready and knew the answer as I asked. NO. Ok, do you want to go home? No. Do you want to stay? Nod of the head. Allright-y then. We stayed and walked around looking at the jewelry while A mustered up her courage. I knew the tears on the way home with no earrings would be much worse than the tears threatening to spill in that moment, so we waited it out. Finally, she was ready...ish. The girl working there was great! She told A she could sit in my lap and offered her a lollipop before the piercing. So, in my lap with a lollipop in her mouth, holding both my hands and her breath, A's first ear was pierced. She jumped slightly and said "Ow!" And then she cried tears of joy that she had done it. It took her a moment to be ready for the next ear, but she did it! Oh the joy!!

I was one proud Mama walking out of that mall with my girls, one bold and one brave.

Gianormous!

Ok, I know that that is not a real word, but it should be, especially when challenged to come up with a word to describe the freakin' sunflowers. Holy cow! Who knew you could grow flowers like this in the desert? The big one has got to be 12 feet tall! Take a peek:
This last one just blows me away with the perfect seeds! I hope I figure out how to harvest them properly. I love sunflower seeds!

In the picture above, A is on the phone with her friend M in Kansas. The girls spent most of the day on my computer at Trollz.com playing with their trollz. M got them started with it and they spent a good portion of the day talking with her as they did things at the site. I took the oppourtunity to be close to them and cleaned up my office while they played. I can finally see the surface of my craft table! Yea! I also worked on a slipcover for a loveseat we just got at a garage sale this past weekend to fill the hole I made by moving the couch into the library. Very good deal, $20 for the couch and $22 for the fabric. Score! A was complaining about not having a couch just the day before. Ha! The abundance of the universe is great!

We took a swim and watched some Mindfreak episodes off the Tivo. I got to chat with my SIL a bit, too, which was nice (Hi, J!). I forgot to tell her that I finally painted my bathroom last week, which I designed after a photograph she gave us for Christmas last year. When I am all done, I'll post a picture, but the photo is up on the wall already. I have had this urge to decorate the house more lately. Must be the two year itch! Move me or let me redecorate! I'll take the decorate option right now, thank you very much. Although someplace cooler, wetter, and greener might be on our horizon. You never know.

Please Indulge Me

...while I attempt to explain why I have been soooo absent from this blog. My life lately has been very full and exciting and well, all about ME. Not that that is a bad thing, but I have not felt much like talking about the girl's life, what with all the cool stuff going on in my life. And I have not wanted to talk about my life, since it would detract from the purpose of this blog. So, in this post I am going to attempt to find a balance between doing both. Talking a bit about what has been going on in my life and also about what is going on in the girl's life. Hopefully, I will get MY stuff off my chest and be able to move on to recording OUR life in all it's unschooling glory!

Do you ever experience life to be series of a-ha moments, coming so rapidly at you as to make you want the ride to stop so you can get off? Well, that would be my life in the past few months, getting more wild in the last few weeks. I won't go into the details, but here is a quick summary: challenging visit with my father which led to an incredible, mind-blowing session with my massage therapist, afterwhich I went to the book store and almost bought a book, that my friend told me I would enjoy the next day, got the book from the library and it led me full circle to the Course in Miracles, which our church is going to hold a study group for, which C agreed wholeheartedly to host with me in our home this fall, and my mother even visited with the message to stay on the path, as it was the right one for me. Doesn't sound like much to you I am sure, but you gotta trust me on this. Not one thing that has happened to me recently has not had an echo, some little, some HUGE, from my past. There is a theme of forgiveness going on here, as those familiar with ACIM would know, and it is not only present, but working. I even read The Tale of Despereaux to the girls, in which the main theme is forgiveness! The best part of all this is that my dear husband is totally on the path with me and we are, for once in our relationship, in synch, completely! Sure makes trying to make a baby fun. A wise woman told me I would not conceive until I had done some (self-imposed) work, and I feel I am really doing that work now and that the baby is close. We will see....

Ok. Phew. Hmmm. That wasn't so hard. Now about the girls. We are gearing up for a road trip to visit our friends who moved to Kansas this spring. Just me and the girls and the wide open road. They are excited to visit their friend, but I am not sure how they will do with three days of driving to get there. Well, I hope! It will be an adventure, I'm sure. We have our route planned out and the hotel rooms reserved. C calculated the gas it will take and I am not thrilled with the cost, but, hey, you only live once! I was very tempted to cancel, but I could not do that to my sweet girls, they would be so heartbroken. So, here's to dropping gas prices and clear road conditions and smooth running mini-vans!

On the way home we are stopping off to visit an old friend of mine in Steamboat Springs, CO. I am glad that we will get to explore the mountains a bit more than just driving through. After we get back, we will be home a couple weeks and then back out to visit family in New York. So, busy times a comin'.

We have been enjoying the pool a lot lately, with the heat here to stay for the summer. Enjoying the mix of friends that have been attending the Life Learners. Playing board and card games, mostly with Daddy. Not a whole lot more to report, not that I can think of anyway, right now.