A NEW BLOG!

So, I have begun a new blog with my old friend Amber. We will be writing about our struggles, suggestions, and successes with organic, natural, simple and unprocessed living. It should be an interesting blog since it is coming from 2 different voices - one that is already inclined towards all things hippy (that'd be me) and one that is more conventional (yet conscious). We have been friends since first grade! We're seen each other change a lot. Now it will be documented change.

Please check us out!

UNPROCESSEDMOMS

A poem

This poem is a beautiful reminder that children are paying attention to our example. They are great imitators. It is written by Mary Rita Schilke Korzan (wow) as a thank you to her mom. I got it from the book The New Good Life by Tim Robbbins.

When you thought I wasn't looking,

You hung my first paining on the refrigerator,

And I wanted to paint another one.

When you thought I wasn't looking

You fed a stray cat,

And I thought it was food to be kind to animals.

When you thought I wasn't looking,

You baked a birthday cake just for me,

And I knew that little things were special things.

When you thought I wasn't looking,

You said a prayer,

And I believed there was a god that I could always talk too.

When you thought I wasn't looking,

You kissed me goodnight,

and I felt loved.

When you thought I wasn't looking,

I saw tears come from your eyes,

And I learned that sometimes things hurt

But that it's alright to cry.

When you thought I wasn't looking,

You smiled

And it made me want to look that pretty, too.

When you thought I wasn't looking,

You cared,

And I wanted to be everything that I could be.

When you thought I wasn't looking,

I looked,

And wanted to say thanks

For all those thins you did

When you thought I wasn't looking.

Seven sounds so old.

My first born son is now seven. Seven didn't sound old when Charis turned it. But for Paxton it seems old. We've had a very fun birthday weekend. He's so easy to please. It's the best. Every gift is his favorite. He thanked us over and over again. He's the only one like that.

We had pancakes and gifts in the morning. He wanted tamales for lunch. And Chinese food for dinner. My international boy. We ate out with friends. It was a little fancier than our noise level preferred. But it was tasty.

The birthday party was the following day: boys video game sleep over party. So many games. So much junk food. So fun. Most of the boys stayed up until 4am. It was loud. I didn't sleep much.

My heart feels heavy, in a good way, when I think about how much I love my boy. Who is seven.

mothers day

Today was mother's day. This second picture was taken right before we went to the Quail Botanical Gardens, which was after I was served a delicious play-dough meal and given a lovely finger-knit necklace (by Paxton). Charis made me a recycled art car, and Caleb got me a cute little coin purse from Not For Sale (they sell things made by people taken out of human trafficking situations- it's awesome). As I type I'm listening to the record they gave me, She & Him - Vol. One. Good gifts. We walked to the farmer's market and had lunch there : vegan chilli! One thing I really like about this picture is Paxton's hair. He spent a long time combing it - with a comb. He was intreguided by this skinny hair brush that could make his hair lie so flat. Needless to say, I don't usually brush his hair.

Every year we go to Mothers and Others, a luncheon at my mother in law's church. Charis adores the event. She loves getting a new dress from Grams every year. She loves buying the raffle tickets to win a basket, which she never wins. The thing I think she loves the most is telling her brothers about all they missed. Every year Paxton bemoans the fact that there isn't a Fathers and Others, and he asks several times a day about why there isn't one. So sad and cute.

This year I have felt very grateful to BE a mom. In the past I've felt grateful for mine and Caleb's moms before, but this year I'm unusually glad to be the mommy of these 3 kids. I'm not sure why this year has been more this way. But I'm happy for it - I think I get easily bogged down in the small difficulties of daily mothering life and my gratitude level is usually kinda low. Maybe because my kids are getting bigger and aren't as hard as they used to be. But I think that Jonas is one of the funniest, cutest kids I've ever known. Paxton still melts my heat daily; he's such an endearing child. And Charis, oh Charis. My first born, and only girl. It's tough sometimes, but I love her so much. She is so beautiful and smart; so full of ideas and spirit. God knew I was supposed to be these people's mom. I didn't know it, but He did. And I'm glad today.

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...