Austin with Grammy and Grampa May 10, 2008

I’m having issues with blogger but was able to get a few pictures (of the multitude) uploaded. Chris’ parents came from NH and we took them on a whirlwind tour of Austin. It was a tremendous weekend!

Hiking Mt. Bonnell.

Sunset over the Congress Street bridge. We watched 1.5 million Mexican Free-Tailed bats make their nightly awakening to clear the city of insects. Awesome!

Elijah attempts to whistle with a blade of grass. Memories….

The Capitol. We toured the capital building and roamed the grounds where Elijah found a hill perfect for rolling.

While We Wait April 8, 2008

The moment the cat got out of the bag about our actual California/Disneyland vacation, a paper chain had to be made so that the kids could visualize how long they had to wait. 8 rings left! We get a daily update from Elijah.

Leap Day with LEAP Kids! March 2, 2008

It being Leap day and all, we figured there needed to be a LEAP party! What a fantastic day. We all had so much fun. South Lakes Park in Denton provided the perfect back drop (and a day in the 70s didn’t hurt either!) with a tremendous playground and room to run and play.
Here some of the kids (from left: L, Elijah, Ethan, H, and Sadie) convene to establish their next mission as superheroes.

The kids beaded necklaces, had their faces painted, made LEAP-y hand prints, and played all over!

Class Dismissed February 16, 2008

Class Dismissed is an article from City on a Hill Press that was passed on to me and gives a pretty good/short overview of unschooling.

Keep reading! Every unschooling family could write their own book. Homeschooling Our Children, Unschooling Ourselves is particularly good at covering unschooling over time with the McKee family- how it works, how it evolves, doubts, concerns, etc.

A ‘Lazy’ Saturday February 9, 2008

There seems to always be a project going here or there or some task which requires attending. On this particular day, the kids were thoroughly interested in stuff that needed doing and were active participants.

Elijah loaded wagons full of bricks and transferred them from garage to stacked pile out back (in hopes that we will get started on a walkway back there soon). This required some heavy-duty muscle and a LOT of loads. He was all in and a big help.

Sadie helped Chris clean out the pool filters and then both kids jumped in with testing the pool water.

Bring on the Color! January 31, 2008

We’re finally getting the white off the walls and bringing color. It’s fun, exciting, and…. a LOT of work! Thank goodness we have all this help!

Let’s Jump! January 14, 2008

Another group excursion! We played with our friends at Let’s Jump- a huge place full of bounce houses and obstacle courses. For much of the time, the kids disappeared into these giant obstacle courses and were spied here and there. I (along with many of the other mothers) was amazed at how independent my kids had become. Then I found myself in an obstacle course with a couple of the smaller kids and witnessed the fabulous teamwork between all ages of children so that all could get up the slippery slopes, the climbing walls, and down the humongous slides. They were clever and it was heart-warming!

Dallas Arboretum November 24, 2007

An outing to the Dallas Arboretum yielded all sorts of fun and adventure. We started out on the Chocolate Trail exploring the stages of chocolate growth and production from the bean to the candy store. What a fun way to trace back one of our favorite things to the earth!
We then moved on to Frontier Village which is exactly what it sounds like- a quaint little village of homes/buildings built to suit short people! The kids ran from building to building playing with the items inside and then ventured to the next field to the teepee with animal hides and charts showing how the Native Americans used every party of the animals they killed, the covered wagon, the metal bathing tub next to the fire pit used to heat the water from the well just to the other side, the sod house with the step-by-step pictures of how it was built… To top it all off- there’s a letterbox hidden just outside the Arboretum! East Dallas is a gorgeous area. This was a great day.

School? Not – An interview with the author of The Unprocessed Child November 16, 2007

Want to know more about unschooling? Don’t just read the text, listen to the podcast.

Baker, chef, and all-around helper September 24, 2007

Sadie helps with almost every meal these days. She loves to pour, mix, and measure. She also feeds the dogs and sets the table! Here she is making banana pancakes:

BANANA PANCAKES

1/2 c. unsifted flour 1/2 c. whole wheat flour 1/2 c. regular wheat germ 1 tbsp. sugar 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder 1/4 tsp. salt 1/8 tsp. nutmeg 1 1/4 c. milk 1/2 c. mashed ripe banana (1 med.) 2 eggs 2 tbsp. cooking oil 1/8 c. mini chocolate chips Preheat griddle. Combine dry ingredients in bowl. Stir well to blend. Add remaining ingredients (except chips). Beat with rotary beater until well blended. Stir in chips. Grease hot griddle for first pancakes. Pour about 1/4 cupful of batter for each pancake. Bake until top is bubbly and edges are dry. Turn and bake other side. Serve hot with syrup. Makes about 1 dozen pancakes. Store leftovers between wax paper. Reheat at 350 degrees.