Sadie has really gotten into sewing as we figure out how to work the sewing machine and delve into projects together. Her first project- a scrunchie!

Since the scrunchie, she has proceeeded to make flaxseed sacks (which she sold at the Rethinking Everything Conference!), pillows, quilted blankets, a tanktop/skirt set, her Halloween belly dancer costume, a stuffed animal for Elijah for his birthday, and more.  Still searching for additional photos on this but trying to catch this blog up to date so we’re plowing on through!

4 other local Mamas and myself start a whole-life unschooling Meet-Up group for the DFW area! We meet once a month at a local park and have a focused discussion topic in mind. This is no ordinary park date! The conversation is thought provoking and lively and the company is wonderful. Sadie and Elijah perk up when they hear Meet Up!

Elijah is in love with reading. It is a secret love- a fascination. One he shares with us periodically and expects very little ‘to do’ over. On this August evening I went upstairs to find him building words with letters on the magnet board.

He found a new show on On Demand (his reading prowess has facilitated his ability to navigate the TV menus effortlessly) called Destroy, Build, Destroy. Young teens team up to destroy the other team’s vehicle and build a new vehicle to specifications. The team whose vehicle most approximates the assigned task then destroys the other team’s creation. He LOVES this show and watches the episodes over and over.

He then proceeded to write ‘LOVE SADIE MAMA DADDY LULU MINKA SAWYER MOTLEY’- naming all of the people and animal inhabitants of our home excluding himself.

Then he wrote a poem!

And I wrote one about him.

And I wrote one for Sadie.

Then we got into a ‘war of words’. I would spell things out on the board like ’sleep’, ‘rest’, ‘quiet’, etc. and he would read them and protest loudly. Here he spells out what HE wants to do.

Who celebrates their birthday in one day? Certainly not us. You may remember that we celebrated Elijah’s birthday last year at the Great Wolf Lodge. Due to some technical difficulties with the kiddie area of their indoor waterpark, Elijah was promised (on bended knee by a hotel rep.) that we would be able to come back another day. Fast forward 7 months, several e-mails, and unreturned phone calls and we are in July with Chris’ company’s concierge finally resolving this (seemingly simple) issue. I might have let it go long ago had the woman not looked my son in the eye and promised him a return visit. That was the clincher for me. The universe is always in alignment because here we are with an incredibly cool family outing for Sadie’s birthday.

Days like this….

…end like this.

We had a tremendously fun day.

Sadie loves to plan a party. She invited some friends over for a pool party in honor of her 5th birthday.

Here she decorates the goodie bags with each guest’s name and stickers suited to their particular likings.

Trying to set up a tarp for shade on a windy Texas day proved to be very interesting… and frustrating. We eventually managed and it stayed up for (almost) the whole party.

The kids decorated flip-flops with tied pieces of fabric.

Sno-cones in the pool!

There was lots of  general pool play and some games. Here the kids hunt for color-coded ping pong balls in the pool.

Time for cake! Cupcakes by Kelly! Our friend Kelly makes the most amazing (and vegan!) cupcakes! She made some beautiful and deeeelicious ones for Sadie’s birthday. If you’re local and looking for the best cupcakes you’ve ever had for any occasion, I can get you her info. Mmmmmm!

Sadie loves going to Chili’s for her birthday (where the waitstaff sings and brings yummy molten chocolate cake) so that was dinner on her actual birthday.

She has been wanting to make clothing and accessories for some time and got a sewing machine for her birthday! Here we watch the DVD to figure out how to thread/use it.

Her 1st creation- a purse!

My friend, Vera, in the UK is having a giveaway on her blog of the cutest little handknit/hand-dyed snowman! I’m doing all I can to get my name in the drawing.

Elijah continues to be camera-shy. I can sneak a pic here or there without him being the wiser but any more than that and I get this.

Like Sadie, Elijah likes when I write out his messages first on dry-erase for him to copy in full. Unlike Sadie, Elijah can read just about anything and prefers not to write. He came to reading quietly and on his own- without rules, lessons, or forced repetition. Words like ‘night’ and ‘caution’ pose no challenge as they are seen in the context of a story, sign or other such life situation. That recognition is built on when similar words are encountered. As a left-hander, Elijah has not mastered a comfortable way of holding a writing utensil AND being able to see the product of his pen at the same time. We learned a new way (turning the paper and writing vertically) from a Bermudian unschooling dad at the Rethinking Education conference and will try it out next time! Thanks Michael!

As part of my regular exercise routine, I was running to the tennis courts for Tennis Tuesdays and then back home. This day, Elijah opted to run to the courts with me. Here we are stretching, talking about different muscle groups, and thinking about why stretching is important. He made it about 1/2 mile before the heat got to him (95 degrees F) and Chris picked him up in the car.

Elijah remains very enthusiastic about video games. He has virtually ‘beaten’ the games of MarioKart and Lego Star Wars for Wii through strategy, online searches for ways to unlock new options, earning money through play to purchase new characters and strategic tools, etc. Yesterday he used saved money from occasions to buy Lego Indian Jones for Wii. He and Chris are on cloud 9 figuring out this new game and blazing through the unfamiliar levels. An excerpt from this morning’s conversation:

“Daddy said when he gets home from basketball, we can play more Lego Indiana Jones. There are 3 sections. Each section has 6 boards. That’s 18 boards altogether because 3- 6s are 18. We did 4 boards yesterday. That leaves 2 boards in the first section. But then we can go to the next section. Since we did 4 boards yesterday, there are 14 new boards that we haven’t done yet.”

Sometimes the gears in his brain are audible!

I’m about a month behind on the blog- a result of being hung up on how to blog Disney coupled with some new endeavors. Last weekend, Chris and I conducted an 8 hour immersion session called Journey to Unschooling at the Rethinking Education conference- the biggest and oldest unschooling conference in the world. I also participated in a panel discussion entitled Unschool Utopia. It was a fabulous experience. We met unschoolers and progressive thinkers from all over the world and experienced, as predicted, yet another growth spurt on our journey of unschooling, questioning, and rethinking… everything. More exciting rethinking news to come!

We went to the University of Texas at Arlington Planetarium to see the Secret of the Cardboard Rocket with some friends. This was our first planetarium trip together- exciting! UTA’s campus is beautiful and the planetarium was everything we had hoped. The show began with an overhead depiction of the constellations that can currently be seen in the night sky of DFW. Each was described, delineated, and enlarged for clarification. The show was a combination of cartoon animation, a cute story/characters, and loads of knowledge about each of the planets as they traveled to each and landed on those that were solid. Did you know that Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are made only of gas and, therefore, have no solid surface on which to land?

Even Elijah’s pink pinguino was in on the fun.

The show was awesome. I learned so much and the kids were riveted (without popcorn- that’s saying something). Here they are weighing themselves on Earth and then comparing that with their weight on other planets, the moon, and the sun. This was a very cool adventure.

One of the best parts of being home together is how close the bond is between us all. Especially heartwarming is the children’s friendship. Above Sadie puts on a puppet show for Elijah. Below he returns the favor. The story lines were similar and always seemed to end with the puppets running screaming from the stage across the playroom and two children giggling hysterically.

We continue with our Star Wars Monopoly game. I continue to hover around the poverty line while the children put up apartments and towers. There is no ‘letting them’ win. They’re just winning (and not very gracefully…).

This game is Jenga with a twist. It comes with a colored dice and each player must roll to see the color of the plank that they will remove on their turn. It makes it a bit trickier but always fun when it topples.