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.

Sadie’s interest in crafting and design is expanding as of late. To hold her off until her birthday surprise, we got some barrettes and ribbon so that she could make her own hair bows. Lots of discussion centered around the fact that these same bows which cost us about $1 each (maybe) were being sold at the local shop for $8!  Let’s hear it for creativity and frugality!

It was called to my attention that we hadn’t made peppermint patties in a while. With a baby shower upcoming, Sadie and I made a batch for the party and then some to keep at home.

Elijah was more than happy to help her lick the bowl.

While waiting on baby shower goodies,  Sadie sat down with Mema who showed her how to weave with paper. Sadie was very excited to weave like Mema who is a weaver/fiber artist/artist and stood below one of her creations in this photo.

Loving to write, Sadie often dictates messages and stories which I write on dry-erase boards for her to copy over on her cards or illustrated books. She is slowly learning to recognize words through her writing. Like her mama, the brain seems to be directly connected to the product of her hand.

On a cozy morning hanging around the house, I brought snacks on a monkey platter to the playroom for us to pick at. Elijah and Sadie decided that they wanted me to price each snack and they would pay me for them with their fake dollar bills and real coinage. You want to pay for snacks? Yup- all giggles and money sorting. So I took some little yard sale stickers and priced each item with completely random and odd prices. They worked together sorting bills and change and each bought unlimited quantities of all of the snacks.

We recognize the body’s natural ability to maintain health and that illness is an imbalance of the body’s energies such that the physical workings are interrupted. Chris and I utilize healthy lifestyle choices, Reiki, chiropractic, and acupuncture in order to maintain the healthy balance of our bodies. The kids have decided that they would also like to take part in the two latter pieces of this (they already do the former by default because we are an active family that surrounds ourselves with healthy food options and they have been raised with Reiki and request it frequently).

Whole-life unschooling deals with the all-important emotional piece of the health equation. Through our commitment to respectful parenting, Chris and I are continually discovering and addressing our own emotional blocks so that we don’t pass them on to our children. Our goal is to raise them in freedom (aka- without judgment or guilt) such that they can live in authenticity. We do this through open, respectful, and gentle communication.

We took a morning jaunt down to the Ft. Worth Zoo. It was an overcast day so the animals were not hiding away from the heat. We got to see some really amazing animals. We’re still waiting for the Museum of Living Arts to open (and probably won’t be back for a bit due to the heat). Hopefully it will be complete soon!

The kids ask, “are humans animals?” which spawns (tee hee) a revisiting of evolution and a discussion of plants/animals/inanimate objects. I often think of the discussions that their off-the-cuff questions bring and how uninteresting they would be if presented out of context and/or at a time when the kids were interested in some other topic. Based on personal experience and awareness of human psychology, it’s obvious that they would never truly delve in and digest the information or understand how it pertains to life. Learning in life is exciting!