October (in order)

we love our neighborhood. these are only some of the kids on our culdi-sac. one of the neighborhood moms hosted a pumpkin carving block party. note to self (or to neighbor) pumpkins carved the first week of october will not be good when halloween rolls around.

nates butt farm. oh wait, bates nut farm. good times with good friends.

my baby turned four this month. we had donuts and opened gifts in the morning. then went to legoland with grandma and papa.

and, per his very specific request, i made jonas a pink cake with pokka-dots. that's right.

and of course, halloween. i didn't get a good picture of the kids completely decked out. jonas was too cute as frakenstein. charis was an egyptian princess, and pax was a monkey.

commune living

Our friends from Washington flew down and stayed at our house for a week. There are 5 of them. There are 5 of us. Thats 10 total in our house. I loved it.

My kids loved waking up every morning with friends to play with. Charis tried desperately to act as little mommy to Caylin. But that little girl was having none of it. She knew what she wanted and it was not to be bossed around by Charis.

Jared looks strangely angelic in this picture. Caleb thought the lighting was cool. He and Caleb have so much in common and such a good time together. I like seeing that.

April and I got to go out on the town one night. I like talking to her. We have a lot in common. She's a patient and kind mom.

Liam is amazing. He's hilarious and cute. He's one of those kids you can just sit back and watch for entertainment purposes. I don't have a good solo picture of Trevon. He's a sweet kid who my kids loved playing with. All three of their children are beautiful.

We already have our next visit up to their house tentatively planned. I do like communal living. Anyone want to move in?

the rest of our "summer"

is summer over? it was 101 degrees at my parents house yesterday. that's how much we love them. we leave the (also hot but not nearly so bad) beach town we live in to visit my beloved family in east county (everytime i say east county i think "what! what!").

all my kids are home now. paxton started off the school year at the charter school but after a week he decided to do homeschool. although i like so many people there, and was sad it meant i wouldn't get to see them as often, i was very happy about his decision. it's been really fun to have everyone home for school again.

speaking of homeschool...we just had our first ever san diego unschooling conference the other weekend. it was an awesome event full of playing, listening to inspiring speakers, making new friends, swimming and dancing. my kids had so much fun and caleb and i were encouraged and challenged. unfortunately i have zero pictures from the weekend. lots were taken by others but i don't have them on my computer. charis and i did dye our hair pink for the wild times.



i got to spend an evening with emily james recently. i really liked that.

we are loving our new unschooling co-op. every other firday we meet at a beatiful park and have multiple activity options for the kids. everything is optional but everything is available. it's the way learning should be in my opinion. here a few pictures from it.

the kids made a volcano out of dough, and then put explosive ingredients in it. pretty cool.

another activity was a rat dissection. look at paxton's face. this mom had been saving this rat in her freezer. i don't think i could do that.

charis decided she wants to take clarinet lessons. good think my sister happens to be a professional clarinetist. so when she's driving through town she going to give her a lesson.

pax wanted a turn too.

and of course jonas...

Yummy Thai Coleslaw (it's raw too)

Everyone seems to like this. I've been asked for the recipe several times, so I figured I post it here.

For The Salad:

Either buy the Trader Joe's broccoli slaw or...

3 cups finely shredded green or Napa cabbage

1 cup peeled and shredded zucchini

1 cup shredded carrot

1 bunch fresh chives, chopped

Herbs (can be fresh or dried):

basil

mint

cilantro

For The Dressing:

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup soy sauce (I use tamari)

2 tablespoons agave nectar or honey

1/4 cup olive oil

2 cloves garlic peeled

One 1-inch piece ginger, peeled

1 1/2 tablespoons curry powder

1 tablespoon peanut or almond butter (optional)

In a large mixing bowl, combine all of the salad ingredients and toss to mix.

In a blender, combine all the dressing ingredients and blend until smooth. Pour dressing over the salad, mix well. Top with peanuts or almonds.

Adapted from Rawvolution

I liked this reminder

Do you want to be a more light-hearted parent; less nagging, more laughing?

Here are some tips that may help:

1. At least once a day, make each child helpless with laughter.

2. Sing in the morning. It’s hard both to sing and to maintain a grouchy mood, and it sets a happy tone for everyone.

3. Get enough sleep. It’s so tempting to stay up late, to enjoy the peace and quiet. But 6:30 AM comes fast.

4. Avoid feeling cranky by getting organized the night before and making sure you’re not rushed.

5. Most messages to kids are negative: “stop,” “don’t,” “no.” Try to cast your answers as “yes.” “Yes, we’ll go as soon as you’ve finished eating,” not “We’re not leaving until you’ve finished eating.”

6. Say “no” only when it really matters. Wear a bright red shirt with bright orange shorts? Sure. Put water in the toy tea set? Okay. Sleep with your head at the foot of the bed? Fine.

I got this from www.mercola.com

Thank God

This has been a crazy week in the Hagen house. Saturday night Jonas had to be rushed to the E.R. and was later admitted to the hospital. He'd had a bit of a cold. I'd kept him home from a beach party that day, but felt he was up for our family shin dig that night. He was pretty lethargic at the party and was definitely struggling to breath. But he'd had something similar about a month prior, and had pulled through just fine (or so we thought). So, we just held him a lot and gave him some medicine my sister in law suggested.

Once we got home (10:30 pm) we realized the situation was getting worse. He was working so hard to breath and was making these sad gasping noises. At that point we decided that Caleb should take him to the E.R. I wasn't worried. I assumed they'd give him a breathing treatment and send him home.

A few hours later I talked to Caleb. Apparently the breathing treatment had helped but Jonas was not improving like they wanted him to, so he was being admitted to the hospital.

So, after 12 hours on the breathing treatment he finally started to show signs of improvement. Once they added the steroids he seemed to really perk up. I knew he was feeling a bit better when he punched me and then laughed. And things had really improved when he was calling me a poopy-stinker again.

I feel like God was really gracious to us. My amazing mom was able to come up and watch the other 2 kids. Caleb was able to take a day off work. And I got to have a private room with my baby, despite the fact that the room had 3 other beds in it.

While the emergency part of this was all happening I was very calm. I truly didn't feel worried or scared. I asked a lot of questions of the nurses. I talked them out of treating Jonas for swine flu. And I learned a lot about asthma.

The past couple of days have been the hardest. Learning that he might have life long asthma issues. Being told that he needs to be on steroids all winter. Seeing the medications mess him up (but keep him breathing). And I've just been tired.

But its in such perspective. Because tonight, at least, all my family is alive. And they're all breathing. And I have the ability to hold them and play with them. And I feel more thankful to God for that than I ever have.

camping

Sorry about the lack of comments on the last 2 posts. There seems to be so much to say and I haven't felt like saying any of it.

Our summer has been really fun. At first it was flying by and now everyday seems like two. But I'm enjoying it immensely. We've been to the beach a lot. Soaked up a lot of sun (this is Paxton's and Charis' new favorite phrase). Played with lots of friends. And have loved the break from school. I'm learning a lot this season about just being content. To be happy with what is, because it is. To not believe my untrue thoughts.

A few pictures that go with the last post got left out. These will get comments.

We had a 3rd of July party on the 4th. Ask Caleb why. But it was a fun BBQ with good food and, of course, many hours of badminton. Here are the kid's 4th outfits from Grams. I love the dance moves going on here.

Rob and Sarah came to visit us for the weekend. We trade off visiting each other every 6 months. Its a fun relationship because Charis adores Sarah and her jewelry and dress wearing ways. And Paxton talks about Rob often. They are pretty good role models for my kids to have. Paxton felt like he looked like Rob with these glasses on.

We went tent camping at Laguna Mountains over the weekend with 3 other families from our church. I love camping. I love being outside all day long. I love seeing my kids play nothing electronic for 3 days in a row. I love not cleaning my house.

One day we drove to Green Valley Falls and swam in the little waterfall pools. It was frighteningly slippery. But so fun for the kids.

Here is the whole group. I barely know any of these people. We were a last minute invite after another family cancelled. But I'm glad we got to go, and start relationships with them. We had a lot of fun playing games at night. Quiddler anyone? It's our new favorite game. We even did a round of Pit with our mouths stuffed with marshmallows...can you tell there were a couple of old youth pastors in the group?

We have a month until school starts. I'm looking forward to a lot more beach and friend time.

As of this week Charis is planning to do homeshool next school year and Pax is going back to the charter school. I'll keep you updated as it gets closer.

summer so far

He's six now.

I like him so much.