our road trip to washington

This is a post I never finished putting comments on. I think I uploaded the pictures over a month a go.  

The short story is we took a road trip up north. Ending in Washington state with stops in Danville and  Ashland.

And its always so fun to see Caleb's brother and his family. The cousins love each other so much. 

It snowed while we were in WA. My kids were in love. They considered the thin, mushy layer of white to be a treat beyond compare.

Jared and April were awesome hosts. The kids had so much fun playing endless hours of video games and enjoying new toys. I think Caleb and Jared had more fun than the kids playing Street Fighter every night, very late.

These two 3 year olds were so freakin' cute. Do you like how Jonas' jacket is too small. We don't need big jackets in so cal. I found out too late that he's outgrown his.

I got to see my BFF from college, Kari, one day. That was really super good. 

The day we spent in Seattle made us want to move there (until we came home and remembered where we live).

We drove down the Oregon coast on the way home. Incredible! It added a few hours to our trip but it was worth it.

Sorry for the lull in postings. I go through stages and moods with the blogging. Clearly I've been in a non-blogging phase for a while. But I'll try to post more often, for Kari. 

Unschooling Conference!!

The best family vacation we ever went on was to the unschooling conference in Washington, "Life is Good". The unique thing was that it was fun for every member of our family. Perfect for the kids since there was an unending supply of fun shops, games and new friends. Perfect for the parents since there were thought provoking seminars, cool places to walk to, constant activity for our kids, and lots of interesting and kind people to talk to (or not talk to if you preferred).  

All that said, we are so excited for this years inaugural San Diego unschooling conference! All the beauty of said conference plus the beach. This really is going to be an amazing event. My good friend Flo has put so much of her heart and time into this. And all the San Diego folks are gearing up for unschooling visitors from around the state. There is an awesome speaker line-up and the fun shops and chats should be a blast. 

Good Vibrations Unschooling Conference

Sept 10-13, 2009
Doubletree Hotel near Del Mar

EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION ENDS IN LESS THAN 6 WEEKS!!

All the exciting details are here: http://GoodVibrationsConference.com

She's 8

My first born child turned eight this week. As it always seems to go with time, it feels longer and yet so much shorter. Eight sounds so old. Older people have eight year olds, right? But I can barely remember life without her.

The day started with donuts and a few small gifts. Her big gift she got early - a chinchilla. His name is "Happy" because thats how he makes Charis feel. 
After school we had a simple party at the park. With cookies, juice, oranges and chips. It was fun to mix our new school friends with our homeschooling friends. Everyone seemed to have a great time.

Charis is going to Paxton's school now. She chose to switch after feeling pretty frustrated at the other school. It's turned out to be a great decision. She loves the new school and has made some adorable friends already. 

There was a lot of balloon blowing and launching until they all got stuck in the trees or popped.

Of course no party is complete without some spontaneous yoga.

Charis' teacher was able to stop by the party for a little while. It was so cute to see the kids attack her and want to hug her and be with her after spending the past 6 hours with her. I think she might be a pretty good teacher.

Here is some of the gang. I didn't get a group picture before eveyone left. But aren't they cute?!

Speaking of cute...

After the party we went to Chile's for dinner and dessert - molten lava chocolate cake. A favorite amoung our kiddos. Here's the evidence.

Here is me and my girl. My hair is pink right now. More pink than I planned, but it's fun. And while I'm on the topic of fun, this girl is so fun. A never ending force of ideas, energy and movement. I love it. I love her. I'm so thankful I've gotten to spend life with her these past eight years.

valentines day

Caleb and I have only gone out on a date for Valentine's Day once in the 12 years we have been going on dates. It was 2 years a go and we did it up Hagen style by eating at The Turkish Bird House in Leucadia.  Well, this year we stayed with our homebound tradition and made a "fancy" dinner at home.

Scott and Chris joined us for dinner and dessert. Charis enjoyed setting the table and giving everyone name tags. Pax helped me make dinner (not really), and Jonas spent most of dinner in Scott's lap.

 
Lasagna was on the menu. I've actually never made any kind of lasagna before and I decided to make two different kinds that night. One from my Southern Living cookbook (thank you grandma) and one from a raw cookbook. I can't say how the cooked one tasted since I didn't partake (although I heard it was pretty good) but the raw one was awesome. I will definitely make it again. In the picture below you can see the pine nut " ricotta cheese", the pesto and sun-dried tomato filling. The noodles which you can't see in the picture were made of thinly sliced summer squash tossed in olive oil. 

 

We did get a date Monday night after Valentine's Day. Mom and Dad spent the night and we went to dinner, coffee and a concert. It was pretty much my favorite concert. Gary Jule's opened and Donavon Frankenreiter was the head liner. I wish I could convey the awesomeness of this concert. I'll just let your imagination take you to a place (circa 1971) where people still use accordions, harmonicas, trumpets, and (YES) mouth organs on stage. omg. I loved it.

Charis Asparagairus

Charis finally updated her blog yesterday. Two posts in one day actually. One about Wii music and one about her school experience. It's pretty cute reading what she has to say about it. She wanted me to let my friends know that she did some new posts. So, now you know.

Feeling more processed than normal

For those of you who don't know (which is admittedly a lot of you) Charis and Pax are both going to school now.  I'm not trying to keep it a secret. And I'm not completely ashamed (okay, not really at all), it's just been so hard to talk about. I can barely talk about it with Caleb. I'm taking it all in, and constantly questioning. But I haven't been able to do much output. So, I apologize to those of you who are finding out about this through my blog. I've really only talked about it with local friends and family. And they will testify that I haven't been able to talk with them about it much either. I feel like a kid. My mom asks me how the kids are doing in school, and I say, "fine". But, oh, there is so much more. But how to say it all?

Why are they going to school now? Well, because they want to. It started with the girl. She's had mild interest in school for some time. And has asked lots of questions. But she always went back to her love for her unschooled life. She thought school sounded boring and hard. But one night, after a long questioning session about "what is school like?" she asked if she could try it for a day. I said I'd look into it. So, we took a tour of the local public school (she couldn't visit for the day - that'd be too distracting they said). After that she was hooked. She REALLY wanted to try out school. So we enrolled her. 

After a couple weeks of her in school Pax wanted to try something too. But Charis' school was too big and scary for him. So we found this little homeschool charter school. It's only 4 days a week and they are much more laid back than public schools. He is in a class of 16 students who range from K-2nd grade.

They both like school for the most part. They are going completely by choice and are allowed to be done with it whenever they like. So far they like it enough to keep going. Charis really likes seeing friends everyday, and the volume of options. She likes that everything is big. Lots of people, lots of teachers, lots of balls and swings. She a "lotsa" girl. Pax likes playing with friends and doing science and art projects. They both seem to like having a thing that is their own. 

Jonas and I have enjoyed having more time together. He is super fun. But he misses his brother and sister while they are at school.

Me? Some days I like it. I feel much more purposeful in life. And my house is cleaner. And the break is nice. But I hate homework. (Thankfully Pax's school doesn't really do the homework thing.) And I hate not knowing all her friends and their parents. And I don't like the 'tude she brings home. And I miss our sweet little homeschool life. I liked being out of the "system". It is so flawed and insufficient in many ways. I worry about the influence that it's having on them. 

I don't know. We are willing to pull them out if it seems it's having a really negative impact on our family. But we're willing to keep at if they want to. I'm working to become an advocate for my kids at their schools. I'm getting as involved as I can in everything. I want them to see my face and influence even when they're not at home.

So that is our life right now.  It is still so good. And I'm thankful for this time to evaluate and change and grow. My prayer life was improved greatly through all this. I'm so much more aware of my kid's need of God's grace. And of my own. And I feel He is giving it.

Happiness Tree

Flo tagged me to continue this fun game...list six things that make me happy.

I'd definitely have to start with my funny kids. Although they are the people who can make me most sad, they are also the one's who make me happiest. Just look at those faces!





Being married to Caleb makes me happy.

Going on walks around our neighborhood makes me happy.

Good (homemade healthy) food and drink make me happy.