Charlotte Mason Would've Loved My House

All these years of encouraging Nature Study with my kids have backfired.

I wanted them to learn to identify trees/birds/flowers.  To observe butterflies and clouds.  I envisioned family nature walks, hand in hand, where we did bark rubbings, picked flowers to press, spied birds, and spotted rainbows.

Somewhere, things when wrong.

MY kids want to fill my house with things I pray I don't find in my bed.  They want to dig up every last grusome detail of a Bloodsucking Conenose's behavior and then systematically fill me in at the dinner table.  What is this Conenose that I was happily ignorant of five minutes ago when I was mashing your potatoes?  "Mom, did you know that it climbs on you at night and sucks your blood while sitting on your mouth?  They call it the kissing bug."  Lovely.  Remind me to keep my mouth closed when I sleep.

They want to 'capture and keep' everything they find as well.  For further observation of course.

"Mom, trust me, this cricket can't get out of his tiny jar.  He loves it in there."  He did not.  

"Mom, those little tadpoles won't go anywhere, they can't."  Ah, but they could. 

"Mom, just one more glass jar.  I need it for my 14th crawfish."  Sure thing, we don't really need drinkware anyway.   

While I do feel slightly betrayed by Charlotte Mason and all the Nature Study books/articles I've read in the past, in truth I am glad.  The kids are learning.  Observing.  Identifying.  Consulting resources.  Gathering and internalizing information.  Preparing them for a lifetime of independent learning.  Til then I'm checking my shoes before I step into them.

H~s 9th

Happy Birthday to my beautiful 9 year old Harper! And, since I am in a picture kind of mood, here is a collage of H's Yellowstone trip. You know what I noticed most about H in all the vacation pictures? She is always smiling. I know that there were times in our trip where she was frustrated or cranky, but she always tried to smile for the pictures. I love that about her :)




(I had to add the following because it really shows her heart)

He has a six shooter, shooting EVERYTHING.

Her name is Harper.

AND, this...this, is the cutest video EVER.








(Just to make sure it's heard...his first words are "I shoot a mountain lion, Harper.")

She's such a good big sister. LOVE you H!

(Wow...2 blog posts in 2 days. A record. :)

2011 Vacation Slideshow

I had SUCH a great time making this. We had a wonderful trip and made many memories. I've done my best here to put them in the order they occurred. It is my hope that this video captures a small fraction of what I have stored in my heart.


(Don't expand because I saved this video in an easy to upload format because it was so long :)

The Game of Life

Well, since I haven't posted since JULY!!!, and I have finally finished updating everything, I think I should finally take back up posting on here. I know that in the 6 months that I have taken off from blogging I have missed the opportunity to chronicle so much.

Last night, we had a sort of family game night. We chose the game of Life and with all six of us playing, it was a looooooooooong game! It was interesting, as things usually are when we are all gathered around the table, and as you can see from the look on Quinn's face, this was a no nonsense game. He was in it to win. At all costs. The little bugger took all my life tiles, but I'm not holding a grudge...


Sonora had a bit of a learning curve.


Nate was all business, and the fact that he was the banker (and a good one at that :) came as no surprise to anyone!


Did I mention that this was a really long game?


The game fare of the evening was butterscotch candies. Thanks to Harper. The entire game Sonora kept asking for one more candy, just one more candy, and at the end of the game as no one was listening to her, she finally gave up...walked over to Harper and said..."HAAARRRRPEEEERRRR, can I PLEASSSSE have a hopscotch?"

And finally, I really have no comment on this image, it speaks for itself. I would however, like to wipe some of those memories from my consciousness.

Quinn walked by just now, and looking at this picture, he said, "Ahhh...those were the times!"

Yes, indeed, these are the times...

11 Years

We are celebrating our 11 year anniversary today!

Honestly, I don't know who these kids are...


Now these two I recognize...


While we were getting ready to take our 'real' picture, H~ snapped this one...I loved it and thought it summed up the last 11 years...


Very thankful today,

Vacation Stop One: Michigan

Well, we are back. We made our trip, came back in one piece, and slept for a week. I'd like to blog about everything we did in one post, but since that is impossible, I will break it down. Nothing like looking at other people's vacation pictures, right? Right.

First Stop:

MICHIGAN

We drove for two straight days to get there. The kids did really good on this leg of the trip. Things were new, including our vehicle, which we bought the week before, so the kids were happy, thus making the parents happy!

We stopped to see Lake Michigan before driving up to see our family. There was a man here playing relaxing music on his guitar, making it a very enjoyable experience. VERY BEAUTIFUL, as was the entire state! Here is H~ seeing for the first time what looks like endless water.


Now, does this look like a man that just drove 18 hours? I don't think so...looks pretty darn good to me!


The next day, we got up and went to the Coast Guard station to see the helicopters...Ben's brother is a pilot, so we had up front accessibility.


Ahh...the sling...


Afterward, we went to the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore...the kids had a great time! It reminded us of our Colorado dune experience from last vacation...


S~ was old enough to really enjoy it this time though...


I thought this was a neat photo.


The kids found the best way down, it just wasn't quite as fun coming back up this one.


Great picture of Ben and his brother Jeremy and their little ones.


The next day we went to the beach. It was freezing cold, but if you'll look in the distance, all the kids are in the water. I was cold on the shore with a sweater. Kids.


After we got back, we had a bonfire in the backyard. This is a priceless picture of one of my nephews. I love it! What you don't see on the end of that stick, is the marshmallow that was supposed to go in the graham crackers I was holding for him:)


The kids also played baseball that night. Here is Q~ on second base. Prettiest second base I've ever seen. Kid's not bad either!


J~ had his first solid food while we were there: Bananas...he didn't much care for them...


Two of a kind:


Talk about a gaggle of kids!


We had such a great time hanging out with our family! It was so peaceful and beautiful!

Next Stop: Chicago...