Jarjusey Kunda

WE'VE MOVED!

2010-01-03T23:27:00.000-08:00

Jarjusey Kunda is on the move!!!! We are merging with Nakita Baby!!!

It's been a long, long, long while, but I promise to update you on EVERYthing that's been going on since October.... You see, I keep this little thing called a calendar : ) I am probably the only person out there that has not yet converted to the electronic keeper! But see.... now I have all updates to give you! Just scoot on over to: www.nakitababy.com

Jarjusey Kunda and Nakita Baby have merged! You will find ALL of Jarjusey Kunda archives there, and ALL of the newest updates!

Be patient as everything is in the updating process ; )

That's.... www.nakitababy.com

C'ya there!

I'm on a roll

2009-10-18T20:35:00.000-07:00

(Halloween Store #1---?! ; )

So yes, after my last post, I figure 'why not? I'm on a roll!'

It's been quite awhile since I've posted, and rightfully so... our life has been so stinkin' busy lately I'm not sure whether I'm going or going or whether it's Tuesday or Friday.... let alone October or December!

The weather's been chilly and I'm not diggin' the chill. I LOVE the fall colors though, so I will bite my tongue and enjoy the season for what it's offering. It seems to be a really nice fall... longer lasting than the past ones, probably because it's chilly out. So, since my last post, the classes had been kickin' into full gear and I think I was loosing ground a bit. It's the first session/season where they ALL were doing classes, and all had a LOTS of interests too. It was hard to say 'no' to absolutely anything until we ran out of money! ; )

But some things have stuck and some gone to the way-side. The guitar class seems to have been one to go to the way-side. I think both Seringe and Kaidin lost interest (though I'm sure Seringe would never admit to that one! ; ) Kaidin admitted that it was just not what he expected. It was tougher than he thought it might be, and he did not have that much in him to not only make it through the class, but also to practice. He did not love it that much but says that eventually (some day) he would revisit the idea.

The cooking class was a flop as well. The kids were not learning much at all and I should have known this by the location in which it was offered. The Park Dist to which this was hosted suggested that it might have been some sort of after-school cooking-prep class and that was exactly what it entailed. So they really did not learn much than they already knew. And at home they actually cook with me.... hot stuff, measure, cut using knives. So this prep of afterschool snack stuff was just not cutting it for anyone. So that (kinda gladly... due to schedule) went to the way-side.

Dahlia is WAY diggin' her sports classes. Basketball is a huge hit. Soccer not so-much-so, but she loves to run, so she loves it anyway.... and gymnastics is probably at the top of her fav's list right now. She and I still doing clay, but coming to the end and I think she's totally ready to get into her own clay class... hopefully with a groovy homeschool mom that teaches clay here in Evanston. I think D tends to lean on me too much for her creativity when I'm around and she's ready to do it on her own. She's so artistic and creative, she'd love it. We'll have to figure some other mom-daughter time aside from clay... And... girls club has been a huge hit. We've had lots of fun with that one. Lots of games, projects, puzzles, and barbies.... To come.... a Halloween Tea Party in costumes of course!

Kaidin is totally diggin' the math class/club that a homeschool mom has organized. Go figure. He's enjoyed the new friendships his made with older kids and really adjusted quite well with in the group. His animation class has been really fun as well and they've accomplished their first claymation movie! This week we are going to do some halloween-based movie with stick-puppets. Should be lots of fun. Since guitar and cooking was ousted from his schedule, he seems quite satisfied with what's on his plate right now. Content and not over-strung. I think he was feeling the pull-in-all-directions feel that I was experiencing, so I'm glad that he appears to be happy with things as they are now.

They both will start a new thing in a couple weeks. D is joining the girl scouts, which I think she will love! During that same time they are hosting a Brothers of the Girl Scouts, boys-type club, and Kaidin is really excited about that one. So that will be a nice commencement as some of these other things start to end.

Big Shea is still in music. He just LOVES himself some Ms Leah. She is just so dang sweet and he digs that class immensely. He is a true music lover and its so awesome to see him take to it, the teacher, and the other babies so easily. He's quite the socialite of the 3 of them! I am thinking he may get into a parent-child gymnastics class too... But maybe right after the holidays. He just LOVES Dahlia's classes and some days it's really hard to keep him on the sidelines and from jumping into the middle of her class! ; ) I think he would love an active class like that... so that's something we are considering for the near future.

Ahhh.... so other than that full log, Halloween is filling the air in this household! It was the end of Sept. when K wanted all the decorations up and hit EVERY halloween store in a 10 mi radius of us. He just LOVES the holiday and that love rubs off on all of us! It's quite an adventure this whole month doing ALL halloweeny stuff.... His mind really seems to flourish with creativity now too... Huh... maybe thus the reading?!?! Not sure!

But other cool stuff this month (a list seems most easiest ; )

- Went to an "insect zoo" with Grandpa at the Kohls Childrens Museum. HA... have to laugh at this one b/c the "zoo" was 3 cages of creepy bugs... But it was so fun to play with Grandpa outside in the new park area there and they had lots of fun regardless.

- Visited an Evanston Fire Station for the National Fire Safety week.... great pix (see below).

- Full Moon Jam... hopefully not the last of the season! But it was so great to get out and the weather was very pleasant for us! We actually SAW the full moon this time!

- I had a host family event at Wagner Farm. It was pretty well-attended, and good time had by all. Lot's of pix at: http://ajarjusey.aupairnews.com

- Playdates with new friends. We've gotten to know a new family to EHE and the kids really dig their daughter. So it's been really fun to be able to meet up with them and play... get to know them more and more.

- The kids attended a workshop with children's book illustrator Klass Verplancke from Belgium at the EPL. They had a fun time learning illustrating techniques, but even more-so building an amazing project from the ground-up with this dynamic man! It was also SO great to see EPL finally offer something so fantastic for the kids! It's about $*# time!

- We also visited a Magic and Illusion show at the MGPL with Grandpa. Much fun had by all. This ol'-time magician did some classic tricks and many new, and super entertaining for all!

- Let's not forget the lego building workshop at the MGPL as well! That was the fastest hour of K's life, he so eloquently stated when we left! He had tons of fun building, as did Dahlia.... great fun had by all.

- K lost another tooth! FINALLY on this one. It's been loose for months and I was getting a lil' worried that it was getting stuck in there as the two bigger teeth were growing in and pushing.... but yea! It's out and lots of space now for other teeth to do their thing!

- Mask building... partly in lieu of the holiday, but also just because we love masks... the kids are I are in a building session of masks. This time around we sculpted their faces and they are building on molds of their faces! Don't have the complete project yet..... it's very much been a work in progress. But it's been fun! More painting to be done and they are really enjoying it! I'll post final pix when they finally finish.

We also need to throw in there a few park days, playdates and other fun stuff. On a personal note, I was able to attend two personal-big-people gathering so far, and I think one more this month! I went to the NUG tea and that was just lots of fun for me. Not only new people to mingle with, but a lovely gathering hosted by a NUG member in her home. Very nice indeed. Today I was at the EHE parent's social at Wild Tree and enjoyed a yummy banana coconut muffin and great company!!! Then proceeded to the monthly meeting with the au pairs where we hosted a halloween party for them. That really seemed to run smoothly and they seemed to have a great time!

We have a fun Shedd Aquarium visit happening this week. A field trip was planned for homeschooling families and we jumped on board for the super low price of $4 per adult! Can't be beat really. Seringe is even taking the day off to enjoy it with us! Should be really fun. We have friends in town from Portland that we are meeting up with, and Dahlia hopefully will check out a yoga workshop for kiddos.... Lot's more fun stuff I'll update on once it all happens... Day in the life over here is 'Just b/c it's on the calendar does not mean it will actually happen!" ; )

Halloween is coming oh-so-soon and the kids are so excited for trick-o-treating. I think G'pa is coming over to venture out with us. So that will be fun!!!

OMG ... it's really true

2009-10-18T20:04:00.000-07:00

So ok... here I am totally attempting to live life as it feels right inside of me. Not the easiest thing to do when you were raised.... um... pretty much the exact opposite and you have 35 years to undo! But yea, what I mean is this whole "radical" unschooly-ness that our lives have evolved to, or into... or still evolving into, but definitely aspiring to. This way of life is so important to me. It feels so right inside, yet I have a very hard time in fully encapsulating it to its fullest, all at once, in its full entirety. I'm definitely headed that way, and by many (other people's) standards, they may suggest I'm already there. I find myself battling a few things here and there, and hey... none of us is perfect. Still have a slip up here and there.... BUT this past Friday I had one of these moments in which a giganti-normous revelation came to me and UGH... the clouds of doubt that ever might have been have cleared the skies and left them light blue and sunny from here on out. And here's what I mean by that....

I totally have always supported the idea of child-led "education". I love the idea that learning and living should never be separated. And, well, basically truly and whole-heartedly support and attempt to live as a radical unschooler. Let's face it, our family lives have just sort of always been that way. It was sort of inevitable, but really... honestly... I did not know it at the time that I had Kaidin. Seriously. No one could have told me that this was our path at that time. Something we have just ventured down as it's come along and trying so hard to listen to my heart and head and not all of that outside noise that has muddled most of my upbringing. Not always an easy thing to do.

So... yes.... I'm rambling over this monumental moment because it's something that happens in your life that you then say to yourself, "AHHHHHHHHHH.... now THIS is what I really believed and LOOK...... HERE it is!"....

And that moment.... just this past Friday night at bedtime, our very typical routine to the evening is climbing into bed and reading lots and lots.... Kaidin starts pointing to a ton of words on the page and reading them out loud. I conquer that he's reading things very correctly and he's getting all excited. He runs out of the room and grabs a Dr. Seuse book and begins reading it. Actually sounding things out and figuring out and making sense of rhyming words! He then DECLARES himself a reader, which to this date he would have never done!

I had always stood in his defense that he was a reader (to those who very annoyingly pester him to find out if he reads). He would always say "not yet" even though he had the full ability to read. He did not deem himself a reader because he was not fluent. Partly as a boost to his esteem and not to deter from his ability to read, I would say, "he can read, he's not fluent yet but the ability is there." He really could have cared less. He never seemed frustrated about it, and he was quite at ease with the process. I had always known that Kaidin is much of a perfectionist. I know that he does not like to do anything unless it is perfect and it comes out smoothly, and much of this happens through is internalizing. He likes to master things internally before he would actually do them outwardly. And then and only then, would he deem himself a title of that task at hand. So I just knew that reading would come much of the same way. It would just magically happen this way one day (this same thing happened when he wrote his name for the first time.... I totally was humoring him when he asked if I wanted to see him write it (at age 4) and he just picked up a pen and wrote it for me... I teared up then!)

Any rate... I knew this time would come, and this is just one of those things that again proves to myself that we are on the right path. And it's not just about the reading or the ability to read. It's the trust that has come and been built along with this. It's the love of learning and experiencing everything and the safe-zone to make the mistakes and grow with out scrutiny. And even most important to me as a mother, the amazing relationships I am so lucky and fortunate to have and to build for and with my children. Ugh.... at that point, I go speechless.

This is an amazing journey!

Apple Picking!

2009-09-29T21:54:00.000-07:00

We finally made the adventure out to pick some apples. It was a marvelous day! The weather could not have been more perfect. The location, the orchard. We packed a picnic and sat among the orchard with other apple pickers, admiring the beautiful trees. It was a really fun day, and... I've already made my very first apple pie! YUM!

Fall

2009-09-29T21:36:00.002-07:00

A bit ridiculous that it is already Fall. It truly feels like Fall as well. I was so hoping for the extended, or "Indian Summers," we were so lucky to have the last couple of years. The trees are already starting to turn colors. And as much as I just LOVE the site of Fall, I am just so not ready for the inevitable Winter right around the corner. Yuck. Focus, right? Focus on this gorgeous season and don't look to far ahead.... That's my mantra for this week and the weeks ahead. (The colors are really starting and it's beautiful!)

So I don't know how this month slipped right by us. Oh, yes, let me recall... classes started up. On the one hand, it's been fabulous, and on the other it's been chaotic. Nothing horrible about it at all, just far different than our lovely lazy summer days. I think I may have mentioned in a previous post that the kids really poured on the classes this session. The great news is that everyone loves everything they are in right now. So at the very least we have not had to go through the oh-so-fun-refund-request-and-obtaining-process! ; ) Oh I just hate having to do that.

So D's done her Gymnastics, Basketball/Soccer, Clay Class and Girls Club. She loves them all. She starts cooking class with K tomorrow, and even registered for Girl Scouts today. I think she's really going to love that group. And I just can't believe how excited she is to do this all on her own. That's really huge! It's been so amazingly awesome to witness this huge growth in her in the last month or so. She's such a cool chick... man I'm a lucky mama.

K is into his Animation/Movie Making Club, Math and Guitar. He too will start cooking tomorrow and I'm very eager to see how that pans out! ; ) The boy who says he'll be a famous chef some day but really has yet to step foot in the kitchen! Guitar does not seem to be as much of a thrill anymore, but I am really proud of him for sticking with the class and practicing with Seringe (almost) nightly. They both seem to really want to learn the basics, but not overly eager to master. We will just see how that might all pan out. They may very well surprise me and decide on another session. Just don't know.

S is still in his music class and just super-duper loves it. He's picking up words left and right and it's incredible. He's such a little character. Quite determined, lovable, and yet very very good at bossing each of us around. I seem him already super eager to join in on D's gym-type classes and I thin I will need to find him something to rumble and tumble on very soon. It's very difficult to have him at those classes and have him try to watch. He really wants to participate so badly!

Work's been good and hopefully have found a couple more PT gigs to help supplement a little bit. Really hoping that all pans out as expected; some transcribing work, at-home office work for a realtor, and a pt babysitting gig as well. If all works out it would lend itself to a very nice supplement as well as an incredible fit(squeeze) into our schedules as well.

We've are so blessed. There is just so much to be grateful for. Ah... life is great.

Seven Sins

2009-09-29T21:36:00.001-07:00

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn/200909/seven-sins-our-system-forced-education

CCAP on Evanston TV!

2009-09-02T09:27:00.001-07:00

This is a 9 min clip of the 30 min show running for the whole month of September! Yea!

Summer coming to an end

2009-08-31T20:52:00.001-07:00

Well, it's already the last day of August and man this summer has just flown by. It was not much of the 'true' Chicago weather that we are used to, so in a way feels like we were gipped a bit. It's been in the mid to upper 60's the last couple of days and just does not seem fair to be this temp at this point in the summer! But I'm hopeful we will experience the indian summers we've been lucky to have the last 2, or so, years. It would be wonderful to know that we will get another warm bout... even just a bit of it.

Dahlia's first "how to" video.... She's a natural...

Check out some of Kaidin's at: http://kaidinjarjusey.blogspot.com/ (I think he has tons of updating to do as he has over 20 dvd's of over 2hours of footage each! He's been busy this summer!!!)

So... let's see, our August was quite busy. We did lots of beach and pool time, visited family in Waukonda, park days and playdates. We were up in Waukegan one day to see the Nina and the Pinta replicas. That was a fun day trip on the train. We visited Volo bog with our family from/in Waukonda and that was quite an interesting lil' trip. Had our international pen pal group gathering, helped friends pack up for their move, scoured tons and tons of garage sales and were unfortunate to not find any camping equipment what-so-ever. But all fo the pool and beach time made up for it! ; )

For work, I found a local woman to do a tv show on me and Cultural Care on the local Evanston tv station. I did this long interview, and she also snap-shot 2 local host families and au pairs, as well as visited my au pair meeting this month to interview a couple au pairs. It's airing this week, and for the whole month of September! I'm excited to see the final product. We had gotten to see snips of it along the way b/c I asked her if I could bring Kaidin by to see the studio and editing process. He's still 110% into filming and he was so stoked to know that mommy was going to be on tv. He is sure we are going to be famous now. Too funny. Anyway, she was really cool with him coming by to see the process and he got to see editing in action, as well as the live tv shows in progress there. Very fun.

The week ahead is pretty mellow and I'm happy for that one. Tomorrow we are headed to a tie-dye party and I'm excited to do this! I have not done this since in The Gambia, so this will be super fun. We stocked up on stuff to dye, so this will be an interesting feat with Shea in tow. He's doomed to end up face first in the dye.

We will see grandpa this week, do a park day and hopefully hang with our close buddies. The weekend starts on months of classes. Kaidin and Seringe are starting a parent/child guitar class for the next 8 Saturdays. They will totally love it I hope. They both are dying to learn and this will be a wonderful thing they can do together.

From there the classes only keep starting up and things pile on to our schedule. It will all be fun, but so different from what we've had our plates that I'm a little nervous. The last 1-1.5 weeks has been really rough on me personally. I have had fleating thoughts of school not being that half bad. What happens is the sibling rivalry kicks in and I start to loose it immensely. I really have an extremely tough time with the fighting between the older two. Fortunately, I do know and see that it's just frustrations being taken out on each other. I'm not sure that's a good thing or bad. But each night they go to bed saying they love each other and wishing each other a good night. I have to believe that this time together is stregthening and not detrimental... I'm sure there is a list too long to count that would like to tell me otherwise. But I just can't buy it. I can see the positives. I can see that home/unschooling builds stronger families and that's really one of #1 reasons for doing so. Ugh. But in that heat of the moment, I really can be thrown. I am really a very peaceful -type person. I am very auditory sensitive I have discovered even more so lately. And when they go at it, I really get way too involved. I have figured this out fortunately, and the last few days have been SO much better for me. And I think my less-intense-involvement has minimized it for them as well. At any rate... it's been good lately. Case in point... today we went to the thrift store's half-off day and it was chaotic.... insanely packed full of people. But we actually had a really great day. Got the kids a full wardrobe full of clothes and even did a Target stop for shoes. It was pleasant, we all enjoyed it a ton and they argued next to none. If I can remain a bit more distant to this going on, maybe it would happen less and less. Or at the very least, I would feel more at peace and not overly stressed out by it. At any rate, helping them through those frustrations is important to me and I'd like that good things caome from it.

So the Fall is bringing us loads of classes, and it really should be fun once we get into the swing of things and the changes in our carefree summer schedule. Dahlia will be doing clay (with me), and then on her own, she'll be taking gymnastics, intro to soccer and basketball, and a girls cooking class. Kaidin will be doing the guitar with Seringe, a math games group, a cooking class for boys, and a drama course ("Dragon Fighting")... possibly a clowing class as well but that one is still in the works and may not happen, not sure. Shea is taking a Kindermusik class which he loves loves loves. And if that weren't enough, Kaidin is teaching his own animation class in our home on Wednesdays, which will alternate each week with Dahlia's Girls Club. It's going to be a full schedule for all. I'm just trying to figure out where I can stick in a couple exercise classes for me ; )

I really hope to get our family apple picking this year and we have various other things we'd like to accomplish, visit, see and do!

Big D

2009-08-31T20:50:00.000-07:00

Tonight... we're laying in bed and she says, "Mommy there are 2 kinds of gods. There is the one that you just say, and then there is the other one... he's a guy.".... I reply with something like "oh really now.... " and then she comes back with, "Oh yea, there is 'god bless you' and she's a girl"....

Fun on FB

2009-07-27T20:56:00.001-07:00

Great quotes I want to remember:

"The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing that you'll make one!"

"Assumptions allow the best in life to pass you by."

Goin' too fast

2009-07-27T20:13:00.001-07:00

It's really crazy how summer seems to be flying by. Already this weekend we are welcoming August and it just feels like it's barely begun! We've been quite busy, clearly b/c I have not update our blog in so long, so it's at least been a fun summer at that.

We checked out Kenosha for the second time. We had a really wonderful weekend. Stayed at a place with a pool and enjoyed both Racine and Kenosha. Did the 4th in downtown Kenosha on the harbor and that was quite an interesting venue! The firework show was fantastic, but the traffic out of town, not so much..... enjoyed lots and lots of the pool and toodled around the outlet mall just next to the highway. All in all, I'd love to live there and Seringe would not. His verdict came days after returning and he's quite content not making the leap up there. So we are sorta on hold and seeing what happens with the new landlord/management team and our lease for the matter...

K lost a tooth on that exciting trip, though it seemed less exciting to him b/c he's lost so many already. But it was quite funny how he totally panics when the tooth actually falls out. He's just sure he's going to have to be rushed to the ER due to blood loss or something. He's quite the hilarious paranoia ham...

We enjoyed a Full Moon Jam with Seringe this past month and he really seemed to enjoy. He's longing to get some jembe's sent to us from TG, and that will soon come our way. We dragged Grandpa out to join us, but only caught him on the tail end before people were wrapping up and the kiddos were dying to crawl into bed. Many of these late summer nights have gotten them to realize they just don't dig staying up late. They always think they do, but when they actually do, they complain to all ends of the earth. They have experienced plenty this summer that has opened their eyes to the joy of sleeping and that earlier bedtime routines are not so bad afterall.

International Pen Pal group met this month as well. We gained two new matches. One in Morocco and the other in Armenia. Good crowd came out to write to these gals and it's really fun to have multiple matches to keep in touch with. The kids are really diggin' getting to know kids in different parts of the world.

We had our EHE family picnic which was really nice. Great weather, lots of families showed up. The kids had a blast as it seems they had not seen that crowd in its in entirity for most of this summer. So they were excited to see everyone together. They had quite the game going when I had to call it end for our fam so I could head to an au pair meeting.

We've visted The Grove and hit the bike races at the Northbrook Velodrome with Grandpa and gotten in a few visits with Grandma as well. In between all of the days at the beaches and park, we also did the Ethnic Arts Festival where Dahlia and I spent no less thatn five hours at the family art tent! She'd did every project there, and she just LOVED every single second of it. Of course the boys were not overly thrilled, so the following day we came back to the do the music portion of the festival. Everyone was satisfied at that point. ; )

We said goodbye to our dear friend Fran Tomandl. That lovely lady passed away mid-July and it was a bitter sweet goodbye. She was such a blessing in so may of our lives and she will be missed dearly. I am sure I will be inspired to write more about her soon, but for now, I keep my joy, peace, sadness selfishly to myself while I ponder it all over.

Exciting news for me is that I feel I've really found a nitche/path for myself. I am eager to embark on a new journey in my life, and that is becoming a prenatal massage therapist and certified doula! Oh, this is a long road ahead with nursing baby at home, but I am very excited about this. I feel like this will be a field that I will be quite content in. Pregnancy and childbirth have been so life-changing for me that I want to give to those women about to embark on the journey themselves. I hope I can be great at what I've chosen to do, and look forward to the future of a fulfilling employment where I feel blessed to do what I am certified to do.

My book is done! I think I've updated on that one, but I'm in the proofing stage now which is not the easiest process in the world! Eager to get my site up and running and seeing if I can sell a few copies! That would be exciting!

Today we headed down to the Chicago Historical Museum b/c it was their free day and we've never been. Cool lil' place with lots of stuff. I particularly enjoyed it. The kids got into until hunger set in, and they were set on having a picnic outside near the zoo, not inside in the cafeteria. So we cut the visit kinda short, but will head back. Did the picnic in the park and then headed to the farm/zoo. Quite a busy day there, and that always rubs K the wrong way. He's not a fan of crowds, well neither are the rest of us. But the difference is he'd rather not be there at all than just deal with it and enjoy the day. ; ) He did do quite well though, and we had a nice day. It finally felt like summer too!

So as I reflected on what else we had planned this week I realized, MAN August is hitting us this weekend and this time is flying by so so fast! Just hope this warm(er) weather holds out for us!

Ahhhh..... love.....

2009-07-01T11:32:00.000-07:00

Last night Seringe and I were sittin' around watching America's Got Talent and the kids were coming in and out watching something else on the other TV, but coming in once in a while to catch a snuggle and then go back to their program. At one point, Kaidin was sitting with us and said, "Mommy, do you think you would ever be on America's Got Talent?" I chuckled, finding that quite a funny joke and replied, "Nope, don't think so". Seringe then pipes up and says, "She doesn't need to, she's already got the largest talent on earth. Raising and caring for you 3 is the greatest talent of all." AWE... How can you not go soft hearing that?!?! ; )

Oh gosh!

2009-06-29T21:08:00.000-07:00

I nearly forgot! Dahlia has lost her second tooth! She was hysterical when it happened. She was so mad at Seringe for "brushing her teeth too hard" and yet, she was thrilled the tooth fairy was visiting! It's the second/middle on the bottom.... unfortunately I'm trying to figure out how to get the stinkin' photos and videos from my phone to my computer, then I can upload some funny stuffs....

Yea Dahlia! ; )

Summer is fun!

2009-06-29T20:47:00.000-07:00

It's been far too long since I've update our doin's.... It's been a really really nice summer so far. We've only had one pretty intense week of heat and otherwise the weather's been completely amazing!

I had an au pair meeting mid-June and it was a potluck picnic at the lake with a mini soccer tournament running along side. It was a very pleasant afternoon, surprisingly. The au pairs seemed to really enjoy and that makes such a difference in these work-things lately!

Father's Day was quite fun. We drove out the Lego Fest in Wheeling and this was our first adventure there. It was a great fest. Pretty amazing creations. Only have a couple pix b/c camera batteries died just as we got there. But it was a fun family day, rounded out by stopping off to visit Grandpa for awhile and dinner out that was Seringe's pick. (YES! ALL of those are made from legos!!!)

That week following, we enjoyed a beach day with the Evanston homeschoolers, and an art class with a group of friends, a pool visit with Grandpa (and of course and ice cream stop!), a court date against the previous building owners (which is such a long story in and of itself... but at least they were charged for the violations!), playdate with friends, park day with Evanston group, playing with friends, (my) lucky parents' tea, rounded out by the latest drama.......

So yesterday I get a call from a family early in the AM saying that they have had suspicions for some time, and now confirmed (by witnessing) their au pair having an affair with their married man next door! I needed to pull her... she ended up with us, and really was not at all remorseful regarding anything that was going on, and was quite unappreciative for us housing her and feeding her... Ugh... could go on and on, but the smoking outside our door and cigarette smoke leaking into our place was the last straw for me. She ended up on a flight home tonight, and not a moment too soon.... I'm sure the details make this a very juicy gossip story! ; )

This week is play, play and more play! The weather's been perfect. Couldn't ask for more! Now only if Shea would sleep some more at night, life would be grand!

This weekend we are visiting Kenosha again for the 4th of July. Figured it be fun to swim in the hotel and check out the area some more before making the big decision! The move would be mostly dependent on my income/current job. My project is done and lokoing to get that on the market this week and start marketing like a mad woman. If the income can be generated there, I can also start working on the other couple of ideas I have mulling. It would be exciting to turn a new leaf and venture a new living space! We will see what life has in store for us!

Happy 4th of July!

Jarjusey's Royal Kingdom

2009-06-19T20:43:00.000-07:00

Dahlia: "Mommy?"

Me: Yes?

Dahlia: I am no longer calling myself the Queen.

Me: Oh really? Why not?

Dahlia: Well... I'm a princess! You are the Queen.

Me: Ahhh. OK!

Dahlia: And Shea is the prince, and Kaidin is the king..... and..... daddy...... is the guard of the princess!

Man... she cracks me up.

D's first tooth.... lost!

2009-06-07T14:55:00.000-07:00

So Friday we were backing up to head to Kenosha for the night (2 days) and on the way we stopped off for lunch.... D bit into her sandwich and sowwy, her first tooth came out! Of course it had been quite loose prior. She'd been working that thing pretty hard before then. She was even having trouble eating that afternoon, but nevertheless.... out it came.

Kenosha was a blast. It's very much our speed and very heavy thought is being weighed here on whether we will make the move up there. We're having a hell of a time with our living situation at present. Our landlord has screwed us royally. In the smallest nutshell I can sum it up in, mainly b/c it's not worth drudging.... the landlord is a broke looser who did not pay the gas bill. Our hot water was shut off. The new landlord has not actually signed on the dotted line yet and sale is not complete. Meantime, no hot water, some convenient vandal let themselves into the boiler room (with a key) to break a pipe down there and create some damage to the hot water heater and then walk out and lock the door behind themselves. We have our suspicions, but despite the police stating this as a crime scene, they won't listen to us. Meanwhile, we are stuck in a lease to a looser who can't even pay our gas bill, AND probably will never return our deposit. And if the new landlord decides to actually complete sale and fix the problem, it's probably just to take over and convert to condo's so we'd need to move anyway. Regardless, we are pretty sure a move is in the extremely near future.... faster than what we had intended. That's a bit stressful, but maybe just needed to happen this fast b/c we were waiting out our lease anyway and really feeling ready to move regardless of all of this mess.

So we were up in Kenosha to explore as a possibility as a home to move to and shockingly really loved it. It's really our pace, and just seems like a really nice place to plant ourselves for awhile. We will have to see how this all pans out... This week we will know what will happen with the water situation and who will take over ownership and just how much time we will have to move. The more time the better b/c I don't want to have to pack up a family of 5 in a haste b/c of this horrible situation, and not really feel comfortable with where we're going.

We will see. Life is an incredible journey.

Dear Dahlia

2009-06-02T20:30:00.001-07:00

Happy 5th Birthday my precious princess.... spitting image of myself. You were born to me to teach me so much of who I am and so much of who I was not allowed to be. You are an amazing young lady with a heart larger than most I know at wise old ages. It's because of you that I have learned so much about myself at this age, and as your mommy. You make me want to be a better mommy each and every day! Your gumption and ability to just be who you are is admirable. You are a precious, tough girl. You have a warm personality and a spark that sets my mind a miss! You can push my buttons till I want to rip my head off, and yet I understand you exactly and know exactly who you are! You are an amazing wonder in my life and I love, cherrish and respect you in every aspect of your being, personality, soul and spirit. Happy happy birthday you awesome gal!

Love, Mommy

We had an amazing birthday celebration! Started last week with a gathering of friends at Wagner Farm. Everyone brought their own family picnic's and we brought yummy chocolate/chocolate cupcakes. The kids had a true blast running around in the amazing weather, and just as we were wrapping up the day, it started to drizzle. The weather could not have cooperated any better! It was an awesome day. Dahlia even said "this was the best birthday ever!" ; )

That evening we met Grandpa and Aunt Jess at Baker's Square for dinner. That was a fun and mellow gathering. She had a blast. Enjoyed company of A. Jess who's been living in CA lately, so this was an extra special visit/person to celebrate. And of course Grandpa... she truly loves her Grandpa. That was super nice.

The day of her actual b-day (May 31st) we had a fun brunch with Grandma at Leona's. Gathered for yummy food. Grandma enjoyed sitting next to her and they had a nice time. Shea was a little tired of restaurants by this point, so poor Seringe was doing a lot of juggling in and out of the restaurant and actually trying to get some food in the belly, but we all had a really nice time.

Fortunately after brunch Shea fell asleep which made the next activity easier to accomplish.... pottery painting. This was a new thing for Dahlia and she loved it just as much as (if not more than) I thought she would! It was really fun. Kaidin painted something as well. That was really nice for Dahlia to see him enjoy something she liked so much. They've been butting heads the last couple of weeks, so for him to be that invested in her b-day was really really special. They had fun and Seringe and I had fun helping paint as well. It was really nice.

Back home she opened a slew of presents from all of us. I have no clue how I accumulated as many presents as I did, but she made out this year! ; ) But she sure did appreciate every single second and every single gift. And of course.... chocolate/chocolate cake to top off the whole celebration!

Yea! We LOVE birthdays!!!!

As tough as that girl is, she's just a softy at heart.

We love you Dahlia!

Ugh

2009-05-27T22:00:00.000-07:00

This week has been off to a rough start and I'd be glad if that's all that's in store for me. I'd love to know that all of Dahlia's b-day plans go off without a hitch, and that the worst is done. Monday Dahlia was sure she could scale a slippery wet shower wall by grabbing onto a bar on the wall overhead. Sure enough, too slippery to shimmy her way up and on the way down gashed her right knee on this sharp porceline (from the broken soap holder on the wall)! Ugh....

Off to the ER, where I was less than thrilled with the staff there. Even with me prefacing (to the staff) the fact that she was totally petrified to be there b/c we had been there before and the staff that treated us were pretty not-kid-friendly.... they still sucked. I can't say enough and the story is too long for me to produce this late a night, but had she not needed so many stitches, I'd have walked out with her at one point. Was not the best time... at all. She's doing well. Recovering with 6 stitches in the most inconvenient part of the leg. Right at the bend. So we've already had a few mild bleeding episodes b/c she gains just the slightest bit of mobility and she's off running and jumping around as if nothing ever happened. So she's banged it. Last night I was certain she popped a stitch or two, but all turned out OK. Today she's had a bit of swelling and I'm holding my breath that it's gone down by tomorrow AM, or I'm taking her in to the pediatrician to check on everything (particularly worried about infection). Hopefully a night without major wraps on her leg will bring that swelling down. I'm hopeful since she does not seem phased by most of this.

Then today the car was swiped in the CVS parking lot. Man was I ticked. I just can't envision people feeling kosher with themselves for have putting a 1.5-2 foot dent in someone's car door and then driving off like that. Filed a police report but the CVS survielence is not so great, so there's really no hope on that end. We were not in the store for more than 20 min.... it's just so annoying.

Of course after all of that we did the b-day balloon shopping. An annual tradition we do for each of the kids birthdays. They get to go to Evanston's Hallmark and pick out a bunch of balloons for themselves. They have high-float which helps the balloons last forever, so even 5-6 weeks from now she'll still be celebrating! They do a great job. We had tested out a couple other places for balloons. Yes, they were cheaper, but man... they were cheaper. Hallmark is worth the quality AND the squirt of high-float. The kids just love this tradition! Good times.

Tomorrow Seringe is home from work! YEA!

Starts with me getting to sleep in later! Then I will bake some cupcakes with the Big D.... and then Seringe is also letting me escape to Starbucks to do some writing! So excited about that. Going to soak up this day b/c I rarely get to have that much time for me, aside from him being around for a full day at random! A huge treat!

Friday starts off the celebration for Dahlia. We will be meeting friends at Wagner Farm for the afternoon, later dinner with Grandpa and Aunt Jess (who is in town)! Sunday is her actual birthday and we are taking her (immediate us) to the paint-your-own-pottery-type place, and later out to dinner with Grandma! Busy weekend ahead! But should be lot's of fun!

Recent Lowdown o' Pix

2009-05-20T21:56:00.000-07:00

So I've updated on lot's of this, but here are some great pix just recently uploaded to the computer (or should I say "finally" ; )

Mayor Dayley's Kids and Kites Festival!

Children's Museum of Immigration of the Swedish American Museum:

First Tennis Attempts!

Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture

Lately

2009-05-19T21:46:00.000-07:00

I'm getting a little frustrated. I need to get a particular project done and feeling like I have no time to truly work on it. Granted, I've enjoyed every second not working on it, so it's hard to be that frustrated, yet I'd love to actually accomplish it and not finding the time to do so, aside from staying up till 1am every night doin' so, and this is just not cutting it anymore. I need *some* sleep!!!

Anyhoo-- lives been so much fun lately... of course. After Shea's birthday celebration we went to the Mayor Dayley's Kids and Kites Fest with Seringe. That was super fun. Had our kite at the end of it's line a full 300 ft in the air. Beautiful down there by the lakefront!

I had 2 days where I was able to have date-days with each of the older two. They really have seemed to need more of that one-on-one lately. And I can recognize that they have been feeling more independent than they'd like to be right now. So trying to adjust that a bit more. (Part of that is me trying to get a bit of work done during the day, but I recognize their need for me to be fully present and less independent during that time.... ahhh.... finding balance!)

Last week we had a few playdates and EHE park day, before Shea got a fever-type sick. Then he was better and we had a couple playdates, a trip to the Children's Museum of Immigration that was super fun, but glad it was free ; ) . And then we picked up rackets at the thrift store and Kaidin's really been interested in tennis lately! He's really liked the sport and interested in lessons, which is pretty fun. We had an impromptu tennis date and lunch with Grandpa last week before our EHE park day. And even dragged Seringe out to play tennis this past weekend.

This of course, is in between Shea getting sick again, this time with a cold. Poor guy. He's been hit hard in the last 2 weeks. Part of me thinks it has to do with the amount of solids he's eaten on/since his b-day and how that may have made his immune quite low (less breastmilk).... but that's a proud nursing-mama's philosophy. At least now, he's on the mends and everyone seems to be doing well.

I had one of my frustrating "maybe school would be a good thing" days.... That usually passes quite quickly. But I was at witts end today. I had thought a nice bike ride would help us, and I really truly wanted them to ride in the trailer so I could haul a long distance and get a good work out, but K and D were sure they wanted to ride their own bikes. UGH. Sign for disaster. K has the tendency to not watch where he's going and runs into a lot of things. D tends to use the tip of her sandals to stop.... ruining the pair of shoes we just bought about a week or two ago.... that were intended to last the whole summer. In doing this, she also got her foot cut under and twisted in her one and only training wheel.... ugh... I was sure we were not going to escape the ER today.

Anyhow... today ended up much better. I'm up late doing the writing project and really hoping I can stay on my personally scheduled goal. I want to complete the project by the 1st and have it up and running and selling. With only 2 weeks left I will be grateful to have the project done and editing the first week of June and selling soon after.

Tomorrow we have a museum date with Grandma. We are visiting the Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture. We'll seee how that goes. I'm excited about the adventure with the kids. We will even sample to ethnic food as well.....

This reminds me that Facebook brought about an unexpected 'friend'.... a distand cousin on my mom's side found me and man, she is the family historian! She's sent me some cool family tree info and pix. It's been fun hearing from her!

Dahlia's b-day is next week! Random thought there... she is very excited, and I swear she's grown a couple inches for the occassion.... ; )

Time to get reading/writin'!

G'nite.

Happy Birthday Boober

2009-05-11T19:35:00.001-07:00

It's official... a full 12 months has past and he's a full year old! I truly can't fathom how this year just flew right by us. It feels like just yesterday that I was stressing about the colicy-ness of his first 2 months, and then watching him cruise around by 4 months, and waddling around by 11 months. He's just a super cool dude. No joke. He's completely his own person with an amazing personality. So incredibly sweet and tolerant, loving and playful. You know each baby has given me a gift in my life as a mother. Taught be valuable life lessons as mother. And for this I am just so entirely grateful, lucky and blessed for each of their presence in my life. Shea's gift to me was teaching me to 'let go' and 'give up' and 'relax'!!! I call him my little tornado. He flies through this house inquisitive about absolutely everything. And as much as I love to have things kind kept up and in some sort of 'order', with Shea in our lives this is impossible. And I have just had to learn to be OK with this. Our home is always a mess, and I have had to deep breath through that and just let it go. Life is far more enjoyable when I don't worry about this stuff, and man.... it feels really good. Aside, he has taught me to never take anything (at all) for granted. I constantly joke that with him, I feel like a first time mom all over again. I even joked with our pediatrician the other day that people may not even realize that he is my third baby! He has been a whole new adventure and it's been a wild ride. He is such a little blessing.

His latest achievements.... well, I mentioned the walking thing. He's cruisin' everywhere and just loves that he's mobile with his big bro and sis. He's quite the music lover and really gets his groove on when he hears a tune or beat that gets his hiney wiggling. He's so an on-the-go kinda guy.... loves and adventure, the outdoors, car ride, park, etc. He almost never naps and next-to-never is easy to persuade to sleep (I'm just shocked that a 12 month old could easily go without a nap in any random given day). He started eating very very early and since seems to have slowed up on the solid foods and loves nursing more. I have to admit that I was worried he'd stop nursing pretty early on b/c the food-thing was pretty serious for while. Hmmm.... he says a few 'starts' of words, but mostly if prompted and not really intentionally. If asked he'll give you a 'ba' for bada (nursing) and then 'ma' for mommy... occassionally he'll bust out a "eye" which is both hi and bye! ; ) Way too cute. Four teeth on top, two teeth on the bottom, and lot's of bumby suggestions that more are ready to poke out really soon.

B-day was spent at home this time around. Grandpa came over and played during the day, fed him a nice lunch and blew out a b-day candle. And then Grandma came later in the evening for dinner and another b-day cake/candle. It was a really nice day and he really got into it. The "happy birthday" song was playing on some TV show the other day and he stopped everything to run and check it out. He seemed certain he was going to hear his name and listened quite intently, even had the little boogy sway going on.

We love you Boober. You are the coolest little man around!

The April Run Down....

2009-04-24T20:50:00.000-07:00

So the weather is finally shapping up to be more like Spring and we thoroughly enjoyed today's 80 degree weather down at the beach with some friends. It's been busy the last few weeks, and I'm just gonna do the Jarjusey run-down on everything that has been and comin' up!

Since last checkin' in, we had Kaidin's 1st b-day party invite (and party) to a friends home all on his own! First time he's done this type of thing on his own! He did great. Ironically, Dahlia was really upset about not being invited b/c she plays with this boy just as much as Kaidin and all the other kids invited, so she was quite bummed about the lack of invite... I have to admit I felt is was pretty crummy she was not invited, but what's a empathetic mama to do in this case? At any rate, K went and D and I had a special girls date. We had a blast.... K did not. D did not feel so bad after that! ; )

A couple days after that Uncle Phil was in town helping dad out on some computer jobs he had... so we were so happy and lucky to sneak in a visit with him. He spent the day with us and fed him some of his favorite dinner. Kids were so happy to see him!

I had my annual dermatologist check-up. Skin cancer runs on my dad's side of the family. Two years ago I had a yucky "pre" cancerous spot on the underside of my breast that got lopped off, and last year I never made it to an annual check up b/c I had just has Shea... So this year I got on top of things and went, and fortunately, everything looks great. That's always a nice relief visit!

Just two days after a visit from U. Phil, we were very surprisingly visited by Uncle Paul... my youngest brother. He swung by b/c he was doing the UPS route very near to our place in E. Rogers Park. So he decided to stop in for a surprise visit. It was amazing that the starts allinged this way. Not only were we originally not planning on being home that day, but he just never stops by to begin with! Last I saw him was long before this past Christmas. So that was a great-welcomed shocker. He seems like he's doing pretty good, which is always a good thing for U. Paul!

We mailed on park day one day to head down to the nature museum. We had not been in such a long time and it's free on Thursdays, so we opted to check it out. But you all know, there's just not a ton to do at this place. It's fun, lovely and great to do when you have not been in a long time, but the excitment tends to end with in a couple hours. Friends of ours happened to make it down to the zoo that day as well, so we met them over there and had a blast. The kids were just so excited to play together that we mostly hung out in the gardens and played. We did make it into the zoo later on, but at that point the zoo was nearly closing... We 'closed the zoo'! It was a very nice spring-like day!

Then it was Grandpa's b-day and we took him out to celebrate. We started with a small hike through the River Trail Nature Center, and rounded that out with a huge lunch at Sweet Tomatoes. One of our favorites.... He was thrilled with his 'new' phone.... our old Razr hand-me-down which worked just perfectly by slipping in his sim card. Yea!

We had a family trip one Saturday down to the Big Run Wolf Ranch. Wow, the ride there was less than pleasurable. Mr. Shea was not very appreciative of that long hike. I sorta thought we were in a good place to do an hour in the car, but he was just in that not-so-happy spot of the day when he wanted to nurse and sleep. We stopped a number of times for him, but man that was rough. Sort of ruffled my feathers for the day, but the ranch was great. Kids had fun. Lot's of cool animals. Ride home was a dream in comparison! He fell asleep early an stayed asleep all the way to the beach when the older two got to hang out and dig in the sand. Later that evening said goodbye to good friends over a pizza dinner. They were moving to Portland in just two days following that evening. So sad to see them go!

Then was Grandma's b-day. She came out to our place and went to our last homeschool storytime session at the library with us. It was great to see her experience a part of the homeschooling stuff and get a taste of the community we hang with. We then took her out to lunch (at K's favorite spot! ; ) but it was fun nonetheless. She seemed to enjoy her lunch, dessert and pressents. We had a really nice time with her.

We then took a new adventure down to the National Mexican Museum down on 18th. Fun! On the way we stopped off to visit friends who just moved to Humboldt Park last summer and we had yet to see their new place. After a shortish visit there, headed to this new (for us) museum and checked out what they had there. It was a great little adventure and have to say the kids did great with doing something new! (Esp. Kaidin, as he is my somewhat close-minded fella! But even he enjoyed it!)

The day immediately following that we were intended to head to the Museum of Science and Industry, but the night before (upon our return from the Mexican Museum) Dahlia had graced us with a nice little incident that just about put me over the edge. Not something that would have normally, but I guess I'd been feeling a bit busy and stretched that this incident really tore at me. She was jumping on the couch, lost her footing, fell and cushioned her fall with her two front teeth landing on Shea's forehead of steal. No telling how this baby escaped injury here while Dahlia's two front teeth were knocked wabbly.... and a split open bottom lip, but that's what happened. So a try "all the way" down to the MSI felt like a real lot to me... And fortunately the kids did not mind hanging at home and spending the afternoon at the park... so that's what we did!

Followed by a good 5-ish hour park day the following day with the homeschool group.... and rounding up the list of the month (or at least since I last updated.... ) Today we did some volunteer work for Miseracordia! We did the Misercordia Candy Days where we stood on the corner in front of Whole Foods in Evanston and collected money for the charity. I was quite proud how great they did. Kaidin made it a full hour before falling into his close-minded-shut-down mode, and Dahlia nearly the full 2 hours! They did great and had fun. And it was great doing our first volunteer thing together. We talked about other projects we could do together to help people in need. So I look forward to that in the near future.

After that of course, we HAD to head to the beach! It was 80 today and we met up with people there, spending most of the day and early evening... coming home with a sunburn.... felt good to get that much fresh air!

Work has been pretty quiet for me this month so it's been good for me in many respects. More time to putz around the net and create new projects for myself. Less time to be on the net as well and with the kids playing and just enjoying the days! And really realizing where I am at with this job and the major changes that need to happen in the next few months. Quickly and whole-heartedly. Eager for change and excited about my business prospects.

Tomorrow we are headed to Serpent Safari with friends that we don't see all that often. Next week holds just as busy... with Shea's FIRST BIRTHDAY ending the week! Updates and that amazing year with Mr. Boober to come. It's surreal to even think that it's been a full year already!

Run Noel!

2009-04-11T22:32:00.000-07:00

So these pix are just hilarious... the story behind these... Shea wanted to hurl our hamster, Noel, across the room! ; )

He seems to be the one that is most keen on our hamster, Noel, who was a gift from Grandpa for Christmas. He goes up to the cage frequently to check on her and say hello to her. He clearly is 'talking' about her and to her everyday. He's probably the one keeping that poor thing alive! ; ) Just kidding... we do take good care of her.

At any rate, I wanted to clean the cage one afternoon and put Noel in her exercise ball. Oh man, Shea goes bonkers with this thing. He clearly knows she's in there and is dying to get his hands on her. He will chase her around the house trying to do so as well! And this particular day, he caught her... and... was ready to HURL her across the room. He just so desperately wanted to "throw the ball"!!! It was hilarious. Dahlia was trying to 'help' (poor Noel, from a heart attack) but Shea was giving her the evil eye.... "why are you touching my ball"?!?

To funny....

This one is sheer.... "HELP, she's taking my ball!"

No Training Wheels

2009-04-11T22:17:00.000-07:00

So last weekend we took the kids over to the park. Kaidin was fueled b/c a few of his friends had been talking about riding w/o training wheels, and Dahlia... well... she just wants to keep up with everyone. So we rode over there, took the wheels off and let them go at it. I was really kinda afraid that Dahlia would get it in seconds and leave Kaidin in the dust, wallowing in self-pitty and total distress that he had not accomplished it... put that did not happen.

Kaidin only needed a few good guidance pushes with daddy behind him and he was off and running, phew.... This video clip is something I just have to chuckle at. It's the "classic" thing you'd expect, but what I just love about it.... eventhough I was laughing, and he totally just ran into a tree.... he just got right back up and mastered it before we left the park that day.... Something we don't always anticipate from Kaidin! So this was such a huge, pleasant surprise. It rolled right off his shoulders and he mustered on.

Dahlia on the other hand, go quite furious. She was trying desperately to keep up but the balancing thing was not working for her yet. She wanted the training wheels back on after a bit, but one remained quite loose. What we figured a to take that loose one off and let her cruise hat way. She does feel the balance-thing every once in awhile and hopefully she gets where she wants to be. It was so funny b/c at our penpal group this week, she wanted to tell her penpal that she could ride her bike with "just one training wheel".... ; )

Jedi Knight

2009-04-11T22:11:00.000-07:00

So the play went off with out a hitch. They did such a fabulous job on everything. Busy trying to edit a dvd for prosperity... somehow I get myself hooked into projects I don't have time in a day for! But it will be so great when it's completed. Tons of video and photos to go through. Some of which have been posted to Facebook as well. Kaidin did such a wonderful job on his first-ever performance. When we first arrived at the place he was saying he as hungry, then not hungry, then his stomach just felt "so weird"... First time he's ever had that sensation... pretty cool. I could tell the first couple of times on stage he was nervous, and then after the first few applauces, he was on fire. He was comfortable and really really enjoyed it. It was hard not to tear over seeing my baby up there! ; ) Ahh... the little "youngling"....

Lately

2009-04-02T20:55:00.000-07:00

So we've been really been in a good place lately... Things going well, feeling good. Of course we have our minor woes.... one of which I am having a hard time with is Shea and his nighttime nursing and restlessness issues, which I am hopefully is revolving around teething. But over the last several nights we've been testing the waters of me sleeping elsewhere (as a pediatrician suggestion)... not next to him at night and he tends to sleep a 'bit' better. But I have to say, it just plain sucks. I hate not sleeping next to my baby. I hate having to get up and go to him when it's nursing time. It feels unnatural and just plain exhausting. Seringe does not think it has anything to do with me and says that he will just get over it.... it is by far our worst sleeper of the three. So it's probably something we just have to deal with and eventually he'll finally sleep! Or at least hope so!

The other is Kaidin and his inability to be flexible with others needs or desires. Prime example is when Dahlia and I would love to do an activity one day and he is so totally opposed to the idea that it causes havoc in all of our lives. I have tried relentlessly to talk this out with him and sort of negotiate to the point that "hey we do this stuff with you when you need/want, how about giving it a chance and then we can ... ". But this is not something he wants to hear. And I am trying endlessly to understand that. Everyone's needs here are different. As a mama it's easier for me to put mine on the back-burner for now. But also as a mama, I struggle with Dahlia having to put her's on the back-burner. She's the one I wonder about her growing needs, passions, interests, hobbies, etc. etc.. She's spent SO long following suit to her brother, and that was great for them and their relationship... but now she's growing and trying to figure out "her thing", and I want to support that so desperately. If she's showing interest in somethin' I want to support her exploration, just as Kaidin has gotten throughout his growing and development. But desperately struggle with Kaidin's inability to go along or be supportive of that process as it's blossoming. I do gather that he's going through his own thing as well.... so this too can be temporary and passing.

Ah.... so Kaidin's BIG (FIRST) show is this weekend. He's doing the Circus/MacSith performance on Sunday and SO excited about the whole thing. It's been an amazing process... this entire class. I have seen him grow into this totally new person. I was trying to explain to someone the other day... "I truly feel like I am getting to know this brand new little man... it's remarkable". The class, and maybe just natural growth and development that comes along with being 7... and Kaidin... but he's just become someone I could not have ever imagined. Remarkable, whitty, comical... a performer. Not what I would have ever thought of my little lap-sittin-mama's boy who'd never give anyone time of day when he was just 2 yrs old! Ah.... motherhood. It's a remarkable ride if you can relax and enjoy even the hardest moments.

His passions for Bionicles even subsided a bit. He told me on his 7th b-day that he really feels seven.... but more accurately said "I feel different. Like a big kid. I'm seven now but really I think I'm 12". He's a boy so eager to grow up I am so not sure how or where that came from, but he's just so eager to be a BIG kid. Dahlia certainly has not come to that point yet.

So... looking and feeling the goodness and how I feel like we are in a great place right now. I think that may be because the process of deschooling has been really good for me lately. I feel like as much as we grow to trust the process for our kids, we also grow to trust ourselves. Lately I have had a couple inquiries about us and our unschooling life choices, and really has brought to my attention how much more comfortable I am feeling about our life path... Looking back since the very beginning when I did not even realize that I was going to be homeschooling in the first place, and now feeling quite comfortable not only unschooling, but life learning and/or radically doing so. The people who have posed those questions to me lately have really forced me to step back and look at it more deeply. And wow, it's just felt really really good to feel I am so incredibly comfortable with where our family is right now that I feel far (FAR) less pressured by what everyone else around us is up to and doing. (Explaining that may take me far more time than my eyes can manage to stay open for, so I'm going to leave it at that.... )

SO... it was a family choice that instead of signing up for more classes this Spring we were going on a museum tour. We are going to 1-2 places a week, depending on free days and distances, and going to check out several new places that we've never been to before. Greatly looking forward to it. Will be a fun filled 2 months before (hopefully) summer weather hits and we are on the beaches, parks and pools. Of course, there are 2 class options for us, if they actually do happen. Kaidin may be doing a 4-5 week circus class... Dahlia may be doing a 4 week art class. All depends on if the classes actually run. But if not, we have our museum stops along the way.

Also coming up is Shea's first b-day, May 1, and Dahlia's 5th on May 31st! The thought brings tears to my eyes.... I can't go there just yet! ; )

FB

2009-04-02T20:50:00.000-07:00

Who would have thunk it... but what you come across on FB is bewildering at times. I joined an unschooling group tonight and the intro to the group was great. Had to copy it for my own personal reference:

"It is absurd and anti-life to be a part of a system that compels you to listen to a stranger reading poetry when you want to learn to construct buildings, or to sit with a stranger discussing the construction of buildings when you want to read poetry."-John Taylor Gatto

"I never have let schooling interfere with my education."Mark Twain

"The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education." Albert Einstein

"My schooling not only failed to teach me what it professed to be teaching, but prevented me from being educated to an extent which infuriates me when I think of all I might have learned at home by myself."George Bernard Shaw

"School days, I believe, are the unhappiest in the whole span of human existence. They are full of dull, unintelligible tasks, new and unpleasant ordinances, and brutal violations of common sense and common decency." H.L. Mencken

"It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education."Albert Einstein

"What does education often do? It makes a straight-cut ditch of a free, meandering brook."Henry David Thoreau

"How is it that little children are so intelligent and men so stupid? It must be education that does it."Alexandre Dumas

"We are students of words; we are shut up in schools, and colleges, and recitation rooms, for ten or fifteen years, and come out at last with a bag of wind, a memory of words, and do not know a thing." Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The founding fathers in their wisdom decided that children were an unnatural strain on parents. So they provided jails called schools, equipped with tortures called education. School is where you go between when your parents can't take you and industry can't take you." John Updike

"I do not believe much in education. Each man ought to be his own model, however frightful that may be." Albert Einstein

"My grandmother wanted me to have an education, so she kept me out of school." Margaret Mead

"I loathed every day and regret every day I spent in school. I like to be taught to read and write and add and then be left alone." Woody Allen

"Nothing that is worth knowing can be taught." Oscar Wilde

"When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school, it's a wonder I can think at all." Paul Simon

"School is the advertising agency which makes you believe that you need the society as it is."Ivan Illich in his book Deschooling Society

"Schools are designed on the assumption that there is a secret to everything in life; that the quality of life depends upon knowing that secret; that secrets can only be known in orderly successions; and that only teachers can properly reveal these secrets. An individual with a schooled mind concieves of the world as a pyramid of classified packages accessable only to those who carry the proper tags."Ivan Illich

"Education is the period during which you are being instructed by somebody you do not know, about something you do not want to know."G K Chesterton

"I hated school so intensely. It interfered with my freedom" Sigrid Undset (Nobel Prize winner)

"The only time my education was interrupted was when I was in school." George Bernard Shaw

"There is nothing on earth intended for innocent people so horrible as a school" George Bernard Shaw (Nobel Prize winner)

"Nothing enrages me more than when people criticize my criticism of school by telling me that schools are not just places to learn maths and spelling, they are places where children learn a vaguely defined thing called socialization. I know. I think schools generally do an effective and terribly damaging job of teaching children to be infantile, dependent, intellectually dishonest, passive and disrespectful to their own developmental capacities." Seymour Papert

"It is much easier to condemn a child than to understand a child." Jiddu Krishnamurti

"One who uses coercion is guilty of deliberate violence. Coercion is inhuman." Gandhi

"I have not the least doubt that school developed in me nothing but what was evil and left the good untouched." Edvard Grieg

"Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense." Gertrude Stein

"Our aim in education is to give a full life. We owe it to them to initiate an immense number of interests. Life should be all living, and not merely a tedious passing of time; not all doing or all feeling or all thinking - the strain would be too great - but, all living; that is to say, we should be in touch wherever we go, whatever we hear, whatever we see, with some manner of vital interest."Charlotte Mason

"In the end, the secret to learning is so simple: Think only about whatever you love. Follow it, do it, dream about it...and it will hit you: learning was there all the time, happening by itself." Grace Llewellyn

"Drop out of school before your mind rots from exposure to our mundane educational system. Forget about the Senior Prom, go to the library and educate yourself if you've got any guts." - Frank Zappa

"the whole educational and professional training system is a very elaborate filter, which just weeds out people who are too independent, and who think for themselves, and who don't know how to be submissive, and so on -- because they're dysfunctional to the institutions."- Noam Chomsky

Country Mouse, City Mouse

2009-03-22T21:39:00.000-07:00

So recently we went to this really cool, fun beekeeping class out at Deerpath Farms. Cool little 'community'... ironically not very community involved. It's a wonderful development that is purposely underdeveloped to give a large sense of surrounded by nature. The home we met at was beautiful and since then I've been doing some contemplating.

First off.... here's the cool class ; )

And then the contemplating...

Well I occassionally feel like a fish out of water. I feel like the country mouse living in the city. And no matter how much I try to be the country mouse, the pressure of the 'nature' of the city is so influential that I don't feel I'm following my heart all that often. And I'm not even sure I know how else to describe that.

The need to go, go, go by most city mice does not mesh well with me. I am very at ease layin' low, movin' slow and enjoying the whole day on one idea. Being this type of personality, I find it excrutiatingly difficult to maintain this desire with the pressures of what all the other mice do around us! And the more I'm coming to this realization, I recognize that our kiddos are kinda much the same way. Not something I would have necessarily noticed had I not really taken ownership of it myself.

Anyway.... that pondering has grown expenentially and I think it's now time to take it a bit more seriously. I whole-heartedly feel that I'd rather drive 40-60 minutes to our city mice for the day than to force us country mice into the life(style) of city dwellers. We love to explore and our adventures to the city would be just that. But it's time to fit the round peg into the round hole.

I really like this...

2009-03-20T17:36:00.000-07:00

"Children are people we should spend a lot of time listening to, as they see the world through eyes untainted by our baggage." ~ J.A. Wood

Big D

2009-03-18T21:13:00.000-07:00

So I just had to post this as well tonight b/c she just totally cracks me up. She's totally clingy to me in absolutely most things we do, but this past weekend I had an au pair meeting at the Ev. Police Department. Four times a year I need to do safety training classes with the au pairs and this year the kind Officer Russ was taking care of the training for me AND giving everyone a tour of the station. So cool.... right?

So Miss D really just wanted to go with me so badly. I think it had to do with a morbid obsession about what really happens at the police station.... It probably comes from my repeated statements that someone's going to think something is desperately wrong with her ( in her high-pitched freak-out moments where nothing soothes her) and they will call the police to come check on her! ; ) Not trying to freak her out, but honestly... sometimes I am just totally sure that I will see a squad car pull up in front of our building b/c the neighbors think I am torchering this child!

Anyway, I totally promised her she could go to this meeting with me and last weekend it finally arrived. I had never seen her so totally outgoing, it was a bit scary! ; ) I kept invisioning her growing up to be a cop.... Officer D....

So, we totally had a blast.... loved it. Check her out;

Happy Happy

2009-03-18T20:34:00.000-07:00

Dearest Kaidin,

I want to wish you the happiest 7th birthday one could ever dream...

It was a magical day and memories I know I will never forget. Of course, my life with you has been nothing less than magical. I am honored to be your mother. You were born to me for a very very special reason.... part of which I have discovered as these 7 years has unraveled to me, and part of it I have yet to discover. You are an amazing young man with talents deeper than I would have ever imagined. Your heart encompasses all whom you meet and all that share a part of you. You are a precious soul and know that I love you deeply.

Forever Love,

Mommy

It was a magical week for Kaidin. Monday started with a visit from Grandpa. He joined us on our monthly storytime at the library and then with the amazing weather that day strolled trough downtown Ev. to a favorite restaurant of his for lunch. He loved every second of it, and it was a real special time with G'pa.

Yesterday was a bit more mellow, but only to lead up to out BIG b-day day today! LOT's of friends over to reinact Kaidin's play into a movie!!! Kaidin is writer and director and MAN was that SOOO much fun. What a special day with friends! Pizza, cake, good times had by all!

And a wrap up with dinner with G'ma this evening.... Yet another special event to this amazing day! And presents back home with the 'fam' ! ; )

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BIG K-MAN
We love you! ; )

Birthday Coming Up!

2009-03-09T19:14:00.000-07:00

So things here feel like they are moving at a very fast pace.... While trying to keep up with everything we are usually up to, there is much more happening as well. Kaidin's show is vast approaching and in the spirit of performing he has written his own play that his friends will be performing in! They will be here for his b-day to make a movie of his play and we are creating costumes, scenery and the like! It's been busy! But just so much fun and exciting.

The whirlwind of it all Dahlia got some wierd stomach bug last Friday. She puked enormously that night and just once more Saturday, so really not that bad. But worse than any of the big kids could ever remember feeling. She has recovered quickly, but you can tell there are times when she's just too scared to eat something. The sweet stuff has no problem going down nicely though! ; )

Other, Dad sent me this cool link and I really really like this. Not only how amazing it plays out forwards and backwards, but the impact the words have. Check THIS out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42E2fAWM6rA

Carpet Disease

2009-02-25T06:50:00.000-08:00

So yesterday we were supposed to gather with friends for a playdate, but 2 out of 3 of our crew were quite buggary and with in minutes of me debating whether it was wise of us to go or not I get a call from my friend. She's letting me know that she thinks her youngest has Hand, Foot, Mouth and she's going to take her to the Dr. that afternoon. So easy decision for us to lay-low.

We cruise over to the library to pick up a few movies on the want lists, and drive through the bank. Very hungary and still needing to get to CVS, we drop into a Boston Market for Mac n' Cheese and corn bread.... We scoot over to CVS to pick up some chewable Vit. C and head home. On the way I get a call from my friend, "It's NOT Hand, Foot, Mouth!!!" YEA! Relieved she tells me that it was hives from something she came in contact with. She speculates maybe the shampoo landlord used on the hallway carpets that AM? But who knows.... right? At least it's not HFM!

So day wears on and we do a bunch around home and I'm getting dinner ready. Dahlia comes into the kitchen to ask me "what is it again that Bella has? I can't remember the name". I explain the earlier phone call to her and let her know that it's just an allergic reaction to something and she's ok.

Again, time wears on.... dinner is just about ready and Kaidin and Dahlia are sitting at the table. Kaidin says something about Bella being sick with HFM, and Dahlia says, "NO KAIDIN, she is NOT sick with that. The doctor told her she has Carpet Disease!!!"

Can't Believe it's February Already!

2009-02-04T17:12:00.000-08:00

Time has sure flown by! I had a fabulous birthday at the end of last month! I got to sleep in till 9:30am because Seringe just happened to be working late that particular day (thus leaving later in the AM)... the kids made me breakfast in bed! I got the little chip-thingy I wanted for my new phone to be able to hold video, pics and music... had a great day at open gym, and a pizza dinner at my moms, with chocolate cake of course! ; ) My brother sent me Birthday Munch, but says he calls it Crack b/c it's so good you just can't stop eatin' it (I suppose I have to agree, but trying to explain that name to the kids proves a tad difficult!). The day before my b-day Dad took us to Le Peep, my choice b/c I love to get the Harvest Benedict there and only seem to get there if it's my birthday! ; ) Yum! And then we poked around a bookstore and enjoyed what we could of the BITTERLY cold day.

Other... Kaidin's been doing Fantastic Fridays (including clowning and MacSith classes) and we've been regular at open gym, storytimes, weekly library visits, play with friends, and trying to bare the rest of this nasty winter. I am truly sick of winter at this point, and it's not been easy to tolerate come this time of the season!

I've ventured onto Facebook, but have to admit I am quite a rooky. I find it amazing how much time some people spend on there! Not quite sure I get the point of it, but it's interesting catching up with people.... secretly. Brings new meaning to "fly on a wall".

Recently, Dahlia and I decided to venture into the outdoor skating arena. I am not sure why I have never thought of it before. Maybe b/c it seems to be consistently FREEZING out... but this past weekend it was in the 30's!! Yea, 30's and we were excited to be outdoors! Frightening. Anyway, we ventured to some outdoor skating by the lakefront and I figured out how to take a video with my phone/camera! (The trickier part was figuring out how to upload to the computer! ; )

Can you tell how proud we are?!

New blog!

2009-01-16T19:38:00.000-08:00

Busy times! Working on another blog to try to spread the world about Cultural Care! Check it out: http://www.aculturalcareblog.com/ Spread the word! ; )

1st tooth!

2009-01-13T07:40:00.000-08:00

So while Kaidin is loosing teeth left and right, we had an amazing feel at Shea's FIRST tooth breaking this morning!!! ; )

Too cute. He won't let us see it, and I've only rubbed it once. If you tickle him on his back he'll open wide enough to catch a peek! ; )

Mr. Shea is 8 months old now..... trying to stand and furniture walk.... cruisin' on hands and knees everywhere, very interested in food and wants to eat something everytime the big kids are eating..... but usually amounts to just a bite or two.

Sweetest, calmest disposition with a pretty tough-guy flare. He definitly let's the big kids know when he wants them to back off and it's pretty funny. By far.... he's the worst sleeper of the 3, but I am very very hopeful that past the gist of the teething we may eventually get some sleep. (Hopefully! ; )

Just had to report the big news!
We are feeling whimpy and stuck inside. We've had over a foot of snow grace us in the last couple of days and temps are now (today and next couple of days) dipping below zero. I feel less than motivated on these sub-zero days to get out with all 3.... but at the very least we had a great run at the sledding hill with a group of homeschoolers yesterday. Several came out to enjoy the snow and each others company and it was quite fun....

Off to get the Boober a little 'shnappy'...

Happy New Year!

2009-01-07T20:05:00.000-08:00

We have been fun and busy lately! It was a rush to the end, but always well worth it. Leading right up to xmas we were wrapping, cooking and baking and excited about the upcoming holidays. Xmas eve was hosting at our place. Mom, brother and his wife came by for a nice dinner and fun with the kids.

Xmas day we opened Santa's presents and only had a brief time to enjoy before we needed to rush off to dad's place. Lots of people gathered there. Some we had not seen since last xmas. And even "great" grandma (to the kids... my grandmother) came up from Florida to visit for the holidays! It was a treat to have her here!

The kids made out like bandits of course. Lots of fun goodies... and a hamster to boote! Yes, we have a new family member. Grandpa bought "Noel" for them for xmas and she is the cutest little rodent I've ever seen. We have thoroughly enjoyed having her here!

And of course this was Shea's FIRST CHRISTMAS! ; )

He scored this adorable little ride-on toy and man did he really really love this toy!

And of course, the traditional photo pose that I have for the other two on their first xmas'.... but Shea did not want to wear the hat for me ; )

Ringing in the new year, the kids passed out asleep and Seringe and I watching a movie. In fact, loved the movie so much that we nearly passed the new year completely. If we had not heard fireworks, we may not have even acknowledged it! ; )

Since then, we've been visiting Great Grandma while she's been here. She's heading back to Florida soon.

Activities are just starting back up again this week and next week. So it's been a nice little break from the regular, and back to that and more! The kids are signed up for some great things this session and hope they enjoy it all! Kaidin will be doing a "MacSith" and clowing class (aka drama and theater type stuff), and possibly Clay class (yet to be confirmed by him). Dahlia will be skating and doing PeeWee Drama.... and Shea is enrolled in music class with me! ; ) Aside, we will be attending open gyms galore and storytimes at the library.... it will be busy but great in these winter months when we are desperate for things to do!

Winter Fun....

2008-12-21T12:10:00.001-08:00

This week we had a small winter time adventure visiting friends. Since the snow had come down in mass quantity, I decided was too lazy to dig out the car, so we would walk to the train and take it to downtown Evanston to visit....

Along the way they were able to play in the snow and it was quite an adventure! Kaidin's plan was that we were all Otzi (s) the Iceman and we were hunting and trying not to freeze. I told him that I was not to pervy to mumification by freezing but I would be the scientist that found him. He said that was not fair ; ) and that we all had to be Otzi!

So off we went. What is a .8 mile hike to the train took us well over an hour to accomplish, but fortunately out of sheere fun not misery! ; )

Along the way we had polar bears chasing us, searched for food to eat... and just tried to stay alive. Kaidin dug many burrows along the way, though none quite big enough for us to crawl into. ; ) Dahlia found us food; blueberries, pizza and "salok" (your guess is as good as mine!). After many different aversions along the way, finding good nourishment, some friendly polar bears assisted us in finding the train. We were saved! Great job staying alive guys!

Once in downtown area, we grabbed a snack and went to visit friends for the afternoon. It was a lovely day. Since the bitter cold was setting in, we taxi'd it home. These pics are from when we finally reached back home again.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

2008-12-16T20:12:00.000-08:00

Dahlia tells me today that she would like to be the person that helps the people ride Silver (the pony she fell in love with this Fall.... aka, horse trainer!

Kaidin says that he is going to open a store called "Everything Bionicle". This store will have every single Bionicle known to many, thousands of different parts, masks, comic books, chapter books, movies and games all about Bionicles.

I teased, "I'll be your spokes person, I could do your commercials!" And I spit out a few lines about "coming on out to Everything Bionicle where we service all of your Bionicle needs!".... to which he says, "mommy you'll be way too old to do that commercial for me by that time"!!!

Musings....

2008-12-15T20:47:00.000-08:00

So during the morning today, or maybe it was early afternoon as we were sitting munchin' on something together at the table. Kaidin and Dahlia were telling jokes to each other.... At first everyone was in stitches and truly enjoying.... minutes later Kaidin tries to get a bit serious and says, "I'm going to teach you that Dahlia". And she looks at him totally confused. He says, "I'm going to teach you how not to laugh at someone's funny joke." I pipe in, "Why?" He says, "because that is what the big kids do. They try to pretend your joke is not funny to them, so I am practicing not laughing just like the big kids do."

Just hours later Dahlia, Shea and I are cruisin' back home from G'ma's after dropping Kaidin off for a special afternoon. Music is on, it's kind of quiet, and Dahlia says, "Mommy guess what?" "What is it?" I ask. She says, "I can sing with my eyes closed! Whatch me." Of course, driving (ugh the things we should not do while driving!!!), I glance back and she has her eyes closed and she's singing. I revert my view to the rearview mirror and every other second she just slightly opens one eye a slit to look to 'see' if she is singing correctly. The most hilarious thing I could ever imagine!

Precious moments.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays!

2008-12-13T22:42:00.000-08:00

Here is this year's ornament that went out earlier this week! Wishing everyone a happy holidays and hope everyone received in one piece!

We've had nice couple of days. The kids convinced me to celebrate xmas all month long so they opened a xmas present yesterday. I thought I was picking out a good one to give.... but ended up being a nightmare (for me, not them!). It was this huge blow up jumping thing. Like an inflatable trampoline with walls. The inflation was what just about killed me in the process. We were going between a battery operated inflater that did not have the right spout to adjust to the nozzle, so it would be blowing a LOT of air, and only inflate 1/100000 of the darn thing. And then while we were out yesterday I decided to get a foot pump that had all of these adjustabl nozzles. Thought I was being smart and clever about this purchase only to figure out that the *%#*! nozzle did not *hold* on so I was not physically inept to hold the nozzle AND push the foot pedal with a foot. Instead, I had to hold the nozzle and pump with my ARMS. AAAUUUGGGHHH....

Ok... SO over my whinning about it they did absolutely LOVE it. They bounced around in it all evening/nite and again today. Even Shea totally loves to climb in a get thrown around like a tumbleweed. So it was well worth the agony on my end! ; )

AND....

We've lost another tooth!

I don't have a head shot yet b/c this happened just after we had returned from seeing the Nutcracker on Ice this evening. Great performance, by the way. I had heard that Robert Crown does a great job with the ice shows, and those reviews did not fail. We really enjoyed the show. But, yea, when we got I was trying hard to get that tooth out for him. It was just dangling there and really I was wondering if it'd fall out and get swallowed while sleeping! (OK, maybe a little mama paranoia, but really... I was worried!). I was not doing such a great job, so I recruited Seringe to do it who simply said, "oh, it's just attached right here, " and took the floss-thinga-ma-jigger and pop that tiny little thing went flying about a foot in the air and landed on the backside of my hand. Pretty hilarious. Kaidin was like, "what just happened?" We all had a great chuckle out of that one.

Ah.... which reminds me. The tooth fairy is expected this evening!

Tooth count!

2008-12-11T19:05:00.000-08:00

We have lost tooth number 4! Thanks to lil' sis' taking an arm to the face, we had a very bloody lost tooth episode this evening! She was so proud of "helping" that she wrote a note to the tooth fairy to let her know that she was responsible for Kaidin's tooth falling out. She drew a picture of lot's a little fairies, wrapped it in an envelope and put it under her pillow. Kaidin was kinda annoyed.... maybe feeling like she was stealing the thunder. But he is quite happy that danglin' little thing is finally out! He is sure that he's going to get an early xmas present b/c of it! I, frankly think that an early present would be quite fun. The anticipation of waiting till the "big" day.... it's killin' us all! And, frankly, why shouldn't the holiday be celebrated more than just ONE day in the year! There is just too much fun around the holiday to have it all bundled into a single day!

Anyhoo.... here is the newest 'mouth' pic:

And other pic's..... Shea is truly cruisin' now. He's crawling everywhere and pulling up on things to practice that upright position. He loves when Dahlia or Kaidin help him "walk". It's quite cute. Other pics are from our visit to the Field Museum this week. Even Shea had a blast crusin' around with big brother and sister!

Random Thoughts

2008-12-09T22:09:00.000-08:00

So, as usual, I can report that life has been very full and busy at the Jarjusey home. We just wrapped up the Christmas ornament/cards that we send out each year. It was quite unusual this year having to do an ornament with 3 photos!! I found myself reflecting on the last 7 months and realizing, "wow we really do have three children"! It's funny.... not that you don't really know this as a reality.... but there are times you get very accustom to him hanging on, worn and just taggin' along that he's just a part of me, the action and family life. But then the other afternoon, he's sitting on the floor playing with random things (it's funny that at this age 'baby toys' are not the item of interest! They need things like the 'big kids' have!).... So he's sitting there, about 2-3 feet close and I am SEEING him. Dahlia was attempting to trade one item for another and he was not having anything to do with this trading business. His personality is showing, growing and just filling the home with fun. He's going to be a real spitfire that lil' one. He's got quite a spark and you can see those wheel churnin' as he intently watches Dahlia jump from the highest point off the couch!

So the ornaments went off in the mail today, so can't quite post the pic of the design this year, but I think they were fun and sparkly. I hope everyone enjoys. My intent project got Dahlia engaged in making her xmas presents as well. However, today was a bit of a catastrophe. I was sure I would assist her with the hot glue gun.... but that did not really stop the contact of the glue to skin on her thumb, and we had howlin' and whalin' I have never ever heard from this child! Yipers! I am shocked that the mirrors did not shatter or an EMT end up on our doorstep! She's doing quite fine after the fact, but that incident definitely nipped her interest in working on presents today. She's postponed till the shock from hot glue wears off.... (probably some time tomorrow! ; )

Kaidin is a bit under the weather. We had a great weekend with him and his ever-growing projects. He has started his own blog which is quite cute. He is learning the logistics of it, and has ideas each day of what he wants to add on it. We currently have a new bionicle that needs to make the protocol list online, but this was deterred today b/c he's not feeling so hot. He's got a chest-thing, sore throat-thing. Hope he's on the mend tomorrow... I can quite honestly say that he's not the easiest sick person. Each time I hear even a little sniffle from him I wince. ; ) He's the type that feels that if he downs some motrin and drinks a cup of water he should be "POOF" ~ all better. UH.... I really can't explain more with out being mean so I'm going to forgo the explanations and descriptions. Bless his heart. I feel horrible when he's sick and I wish him healthy vibes QUICKLY! ; )

The hermits have become an ever-growing disappointment in our home. We seem to have initiated a daily 'dead check' in which we dig them all out of their little burrow and put them on or near the food and water dishes. Then we wait..... "Who will get up and walk back to the burrow?" We constantly ask each other each day. We wait and wait and no one moves. So we decide that if we move away, they may be brave enough to run for the hole! Sure enough, I'll be cooking (or some desperate act of "house cleaning") and someone will run shouting, "Spiderman is NOT dead yet!" Whoahoo! We all are thrilled that at least one is alive.... then low and behold, we have one more! And yet another....

But that's where it stops. We are sad to announce the passing of Patrick today. It was a very slow and traumatizing death. He progressively was falling out of his shell and attempted to pull himself back in time and time again. It looked as though he lost a couple limbs as well. UGH, so sad and depressing. Dahlia finally announced that we had to put him out of his misery. We 'buried' him (in the trash can). So we are down to only three. I really have no idea what is going on, however I can only suspect it has something to do with this youtube video that shows how these poor creatures are yanked, pulled out of and put (not gently) back into different "prettier" shells to probably sell better. It's a very sad thing to think about, and had I known this before hand, we would have not purchased them in the first place.....

So xmas stuff is nearly all gathered and collected from all corners of the earth. I am very very proud of myself b/c I have found lots of kiddos favorites for super duper cheap. Great deals on craigslist and ebay, and even found some really fun stuff on freecycle. I have more than doubled my savings this year and grown ups in the family gatherings have all agreed not to purchase for each other. What a miracle.... I've been asking for this kinda deal ever since our day of children dawned us. It's relieving to have so much complete this early on. I know each year before I had said I'd wanted to be this prepared but it would be 3am the night before and I would still be trying to figure out how to get every last thing wrapped, and dinner for several cooked!

I was reading through several other random blogs the last few nights. As I have started Nakita Baby, I have been looking for inspiration and thriving on creativity of others in attempt to drive more traffic to my site. I'd love for things to take off, but it's been feeling quite daunting as of late trying to poor creative juices into this project each and every night committing to some portion of 'business development' when I'm just plain POOPED....

I have been exploring not only how to generate new avenues for myself, but also as a way to gain some advertising on both my business side of life, but also the 'job' side of life. Work has been pushing lots of self-generated advertising and inquiry lists that scoping out the WWW has become a life-consuming project! If I'm not on developing business, I'm on looking for was to advertise CCAP.... and somewhere in there, I need time to just play online as well!

No, but it's been fun, exciting and really I've come across some amazing blogs out there! It' quite incredible to see how much is out there and how interesting it is to read about people going through similar life-stuffs....

I just need to find a little balance. I'm finding it hard to figure out how to fit sleep into the picture! ; ) Afterall there is way too much to enjoy out there, how can one sleep? Waking at 6-7am after just a couple of hours a sleep, assuring myself that I'll get a nap in that afternoon with the baby. Yea sure.... in between each added project to the list of projects, added on to the other list of projects! How DO homeschoolers get it all in? I am so curious about this?

And speaking of homeschoolers, I read this incredible blog entry of a friend about finding a Tribe. It was quite beautiful and I never did write to her or tell her how it affected me.... really got me thinking about life, friends, family.... the people we have in our lives and reflecting on how vitally important a Tribe truly is. It was a lovely entry Nancy and I thank you for taking the time on that one! I will certainly chat with you about that at some point in time!

I am finding myself a bit lost in the unschooling-homeschooling life. I had one revelation that certainly helped me unwind and feel SO much better about life, our family, our current 'stage' and everything. I ran into another fantastic mama at a homeschool gym who filled me in on a little secret about 7(-ish) year olds. OH, this was a conversation that was SO needed that particular day at THAT particular time. I have no idea how she knew I needed to even discuss this, b/c the topic came up pretty fatefully. But yes, this conversation helped me 10-fold in my current 'status' as a home-mama, but I feel like even having that enlightenment has not assisted me with my feeling a bit lost with out a tribe. Or maybe I have not identified people as such.... just yet....

I have noticed just how unschooly we really are lately. I suppose I never was (maybe never will be) brave enough to use 'radical' unschooling to describe our home and our family, but it is something I aspire too, most definitely. I feel like I have too many hang ups from my upbringing that I still desperately try on a daily basis to deschool myself of and move on to greener pastures. I suppose one day you come to a resolution with in yourself that you have done better or aspire to do better and pride yourself in how great your family's relationships are because of it. Afterall, you do totally love to spend each waking moment together and pride yourself on the relationships ever-growing, right?

OK, so really, the unschooling topic came to mind due to the Tribe-topic previously mentioned, and I have realized just how radical unschooly we tend to be in many senses of the description, and how what I thought was balanced in relationships we have, just really may not be. I don't know if I'm getting that out clearly. But I suppose the deep sole-searching question in finding a Tribe that helps you feel connected to a community is, "How (very) much do you need to have in common with your Tribe for them to be just that (your Tribe)?"

I suppose I could delve deeper into explanation of myself by giving one single example in our lives.... saying, Kaidin is a reader, but he's certainly not fluent. He, in fact, would term himself as a non-reader b/c he needs to be perfect in something before he will claim otherwise. So the fact that he has to sound things out and can not just fluently pick up a book and read a full page of text as quickly as mommy can, deems himself a non-reader. But for 6 years, I think he's fantastic. So.... of course we spend a great deal of time with other homeschoolers, all of whom are of various philosophies, and definitely not all unschoolers, and I worry and question as to whether this affects him. To hear his friends read something out loud in a group of people? I suppose he'd say something to me if it did bother him? I often wonder if I should ever bring it up in a manner that delves into his feelings on the topic, but he tells me when other things bother him, so I'm really not all that concerned.

Ok, so if neither of us are concerned about it, then what's my problem, right? Well.... simply, I wonder if it affects friendships or relationships b/c I don't 'force' him to read, or force him into much of anything other like reading, writing or math (many aspects of our lives for that matter). Does following this type of lifestyle in our family affect the relationships we have outside of our family? Would we feel more connected to an outer community if people we spent time with followed much of the same?

Oh... the "what if's" in life.... you could go on and on. You could worry yourself into oblivion with those. So really having blurted this all out, I've come full circle to remind myself that 'yes' all of our family and friendships are so very special to us.... and what's even more special is that we (our immediate little clan) feel that we are doing just great as we are. I suppose outside relationships could or would grow deeper with these very core and heartfelt ideas about life, but then again.... our's are ever-growing and changing... every day! What is now, may not be a few months from now.... or even years..... oh I could go on and on at this point.

It's most important that everyone here is at peace with who they are and what they love, their passions they follow and their creativity they indulge in endlessly. There are no limits to stopping your passions to sit in front of a book to "learn how to read".... or to add numbers together. It's all a part of life, a life which we are very very at peace with. It's lovely to have that feeling because many people struggle constantly, and it's not an easy thing to shake. I still work on it from time to time. But man the strides I have taken in the last 5 years.... It's all a blessing. Who would have thought.... but yet here we are!

It's done!

2008-12-02T21:32:00.000-08:00

The first ever family trivia adventure game is ready! It's been in the works for several weeks now. The kids and I have had this on-going project for quite some time, but it is finally complete and ready for our first test run! Grandpa has the priviledge of coming over tomorrow to give it the unveiling with us! We are all so excited about this project and only look to grow and develop it further. It's such a fantastic family fun kinda thing to do! It's occupied MANY hours in our home! ; )

Updates to come soon!

Dahlia funnies...

2008-11-29T22:57:00.000-08:00

You just gotta love his girl.....

I'm buring the midnight oil.... trying to do 'some' work on the computer, and she comes out of the bedroom to find me.....

She comes up and sits down and I say, "hey Dahlia, what's up???"

She sits and stares off.... no answer....

Me - "What's happening?"
D- no response
Me - " Dahlia?"
D- "I forgot what I was going to say"
Me- "Are you awake or are you still sleeping?"
D- ............. "I'm not sure"
Me- "Well......... maybe you could crawl back into bed and see if you're still sleeping or not?"
D- "OK" .....

and off to bed she went ; )

Good tidings....

2008-11-29T20:58:00.000-08:00

So Thanksgiving was quite lovely. We visited mom and it was just us and she cooked a wonderful feast for us. Sat and chatted the day/evening away and truly enjoyed a wonderful day. The kids were thrilled to be a Grandma's for so long. Kaidin has this funny thing.... when he's had a really awesome time, he'll rant and rave about how great 'that' (activity) was and then ask, "How long was that??". When I told him we were at Grandma's for about 6 hours he was so flabber-gasted he just literally could not grasp it. Quite cute.

As we get ready for the holidays this year, I am so thrilled that everyone had finally decided to only buy for the kids and not the grown ups. It's only been 6 years (since having Kaidin) that we (Seringe and I) have asked for this type of tradition. We feel so funny receiving so many gifts when we really are not in need of anything. It's just so much more fun for the kids to receive and enjoy in their magic. Tis the season to revel in their sheer joy of the holiday magic. (And I have to say, opening my gifts the last several years has taken away from this for me as a mommy... it's very hard to even enjoy what they have received when so much chaos is occurring.)

Anyway.... thanks to economic crunch, family is finally taking note that their spending is way out of control, and this year is a HUGE relief on us as a family. I am so thrilled at the change and hope that this continues as a year tradition.

That said, I have started snooping around for the kids gifts and finding some great finds on Craigslist, Ebay and even the thrift store and freecycle. So it will be a very nice xmas despite the penny pinching. I am so excited to enjoy this thoroughly with the kids this year.

Other... well Nakita Baby is finally up and running. Expansion is little by little each day. And thrilled to be on the worldwide web with it. Hope that all will continue to move onward and upward. I made my official announcement that my email has changed and linked my new site. Figured putting my butt on the line will keep me moving forward and really commits me to growth! It is quite cool, the amount of new things I am learning getting this going! Never stops!

The hermies have had a few sad passings. We lost Mr. Turkey the night before Thanksgiving.... go figure, right? And then Tweetie was next to follow... the day after Thanksgiving. Yesterday, I thought that Mr. Shark was looking a little slow (a.k.a.... totally still and death-like), so I moved him to the food bowl and he was cruising around that evening. But then we woke up today, apparently Kaidin was checking him out and he just plopped, dropped out of his shell lifeless. Ugh.... we are down to 5 live one's now. And with luck we can keep these guys going. I think a tank cleaning is necessary. Maybe we need to move their location in the home? Needless to say, the hermit crab thing is getting a bit disappointing. Kaidin is really really concerned that they keep kicking the bucket one-by-one. Last night he was hypothesizing why and what might be going on in the cage. Dahlia is sure we should just get a hamster. ; )

We had the first two dead one's in a plastic bag b/c they had fallen from the shell in the night, I put them in a bag for them to see when they woke up. They are strange looking, intriguing, cool... and figured they'd want to see what happened (what lifeless really is). The last day or so, Dahlia was more interested in the dead ones than the live ones! She was running to get the bag saying, "you wanna see the crab hospital??" Pretty funny. But those guys really get smelly, so they have moved on to crab heaven..... aka. the garbage dump.

It's been a really great and mellow weekend. I love this time of the year b/c holidays are coming, winter is not so horrendous yet, and laying low at home is kinda fun. It's after the new year that you get sick and tired of being home but its so stinkin' cold you don't want to go anywhere.... and it starts to get old and tired..... Enjoy this and every moment.

Deck the Halls!

2008-11-25T21:36:00.000-08:00

So the kids have not even gotten to Thanksgiving yet and they have been begging me to set up the Christmas decorations already! They wanted to enjoy them starting a week ago! We have finally done so today. It was quite fun actually.... this year Dahlia was quite in to doing all of the decorating *with* me! (I usually seem to man that process alone!) So it was quite fun that she was at that point that she really wanted to help and was really in the spirit. She was quite excited as things came out of the storage boxes.... all the while Kaidin was on YouTube checking out Bionicles videos directing us at what was right and wrong and what should go where. When we'd sit to rest for a minute, he'd say "is that it? You did not do 'x' task yet!" (As if we did not figure this out already! ; )

Shea was quite thrilled to play with the fake tree and pull himself up on stuff. I think the excitment was just overwhelming b/c he totally refused to let himself nap this morning. It was well into the early afternoon before he crashed from it all.

So our home is quite decorative already! I am eager to buy just a couple more light strands. If its one thing that bugs me more than anything.... those light strands that you put safely in a storage box, only to not work just one year later... Like I'm going to sit down and check out all 100 lights on the strand to figure out which one it is not working!

In other news....
Hermies have been very very interesting so we decided to add 4 more to the clan. Making them 8 in all. We have "Mr. Turkey", and "Bruce", "Spiderman" and one teeny tiny little guy in a pretty unpainted shell.... let's call him "PeeWee" as the kids have not yet deemed him a name of their own yet.

Makes for a lot more action in the tank, and I think we will soon witness someone's changing of shells! Very cool! (Hopefully we get to witness this.... I guess I should add, as I think they mostly do this at night.)

And....
We have a new handcrafted game in the works! It is a sort of trivia adventure game and it's been SO much fun to put together. It is still in the works though, so I guess details will have to be relinguished much later.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

The Hermies Have Landed

2008-11-18T20:13:00.000-08:00

Today was the BIG day! We are official "pet owners" as of this afternoon appx. 4pm central time! ; )

We had been discussing this for weeks.... well maybe even months! (The kids wanted a cat when I was pregnant with Shea, and I kept putting it off saying "when the baby is here, we will discuss 'A' pet option".... hinting strongly that it may not be a CAT!)

So Baby came and time has rolled on and it's been an even heavier discussion "what kind of pet"??

We had scanned many a pet stores and read many a books from the library.... surfed many a websites, and my first announcement was, "if we get a free aquarium/tank of sorts, on freecycle, then we can see what type of pet would suit us".

WELL.... we ended up getting FOUR tanks on freecycle and now have limitless options to house various types of reptiles, amphibians and other creatures. After reading, "Hermit Crabs for Dummies" from the library I finally gave into the notion that we would own and care for a creature. And today was the big day!

Actually, yesterday and today. The tanks have been sitting here a while now (since Halloween actually) and I could not muster to clean them up and get moving. But Dahlia was pushing more and more and getting more and more excited, so she eventually motivated me on this project.

Yesterday we went out and got the "home stuff" to be able to set up the tank for the Hermit Crabs.... OH yes, I guess I should have mentioned, the consensus was that we would do Hermit Crabs because they were very super duper low-maintenance, and we'd probably not kill them. ; )

So, this AM we spent cleaning out one of the tanks and getting it all ready. I told them we could swing by the pet store after gym today. I had thought we'd leave with 2-3 and we left with FOUR! But I do have to say, having them home and seeing how pretty cool they are, we could easily add a few more in the tank! They are pretty facinating little guys.

The kids had picked out 3 names for the hermies before we went out today, but when we got to the store, the only one's Dahlia wanted to select had characters painted on their shells! So they gave up on the names b/c they say "they already have names"!!!

"Welcome to the family, Patrick, Nemo, Plankton and Tweetie!!"

Exciting week!!!

2008-11-12T20:58:00.000-08:00

Where to start?!

Well... first of all we had a very exciting Sci-fi workshop happening the last two weekends, and Seringe and Kaidin actively participated. Not only had a fantastical time learning cool Jedi moves, but what an amazing/special time for them as well! There was a very very cool performance/recital of sorts the last evening of the workshop, of which I have some very fun video coverage. This is just a new camera, so I have to figure out how to upload the video footage and get it on our site to share! Stay tuned for that one (I promise it's coming)!!!

And then.... had a very exciting order for my slings this week! I usually have been doing them per order (1) basis, and someone who had been given one of my slings as a gift loved it so much she wants to sell them in her float/massage spa in New Mexico! I am so thrilled about that! I have started a new outpost for all new updates on that facet of life, so do check things out there: http://nakitababy.blogspot.com/

Let's see, I can think of two other very fun things....

Dahlia wrote her name all by herself this week. She's been working pretty hard on this since the beginning of the summer. I have been getting regular 'love' notes on my desk each day that have her practicing on there. She often would ask me "what it says"?? And I would try my best to sound it out. She often would ask how to spell her name and would do it herself. She's also copied my writing when she's asked me to write it out for her. So this week, while makin' the routine waffle breakfast, she came in with a picture of the HUGEMUNGOUS millipede (or whatever the heck those god-awful bugs are called that transpire from the depths of the drain!!! We had a 2.5 INCHER cross our wall this week! Man, I still shake from the thought of it!!) Anyhow.... the pic is a beautiful momento of this creature that cruised our wall, and at the bottom, her name, so perfectly written, and she had *not* asked me once how to spell it!!

Pretty cool stuff! So I just had to take a pic of that one.... I think the pic speaks for itself!

(Funny.... I am just noticing the bugs face.... he looks a lot happier than all 4 of us when it crawled across the room!!! ; )

And in other Jarjusey news.... Mr. Boober has started nibbling on food. It's just ever-so-random, and I'm not really confident I could say anything is going down, but he just wants to be part of the gang. So he's maulled on banana, chomped on a single cherrio, and today..... rice cereal! ; )

He gets these funny looks, and most of it comes back out..... and after 1-2 bites he's already done. But he's just so proud that he can do what the 'big people do'.... it's pretty cute. See for yourself:

That's about it on this end. We have open gym tomorrow and day after I think we are going to check out a show at Old Town. The weekend.... well, Kaidin and Dahlia really want to see the new Madagascar movie that just came out. And I have a CCAP au pair event on Sunday. But as always, anything can change and anything can happen in Jarjusey Kunda!

History made

2008-11-06T20:12:00.001-08:00

It's been an exciting week in the world... I just have to say it was a HUGE relief!

http://obama2008.s3.amazonaws.com/headlines.html

Enjoying the last of Fall

2008-11-06T19:28:00.000-08:00

So we headed up to River Trail Nature Center, and aside for being reemed out for trying to have a picnic at the center, we had an amazing time! The center itself is truly remarkable. The kids and I thoroughly enjoyed. And the walk we took deep into the forest was just stunning. The "golden sea" was what we called it. Of course we were under attack by characters from Star Wars ; )

The color was shimmering in the sunlight. It was 70-something (in November no less!!) and it was just amazing. What a blast.... great memories...

Cool shades

2008-11-02T20:43:00.001-08:00

Halloween!

2008-11-02T10:47:00.000-08:00

Everyone here has hit their halloween low.... We thoroughly enjoy the holiday in this house. Probably more than any other holiday. Each year adding more and more decorations, and had them up in late Sept. no less! Even had them in our car windows this year!

This year we trick-or-treated in Grandma's neighborhood.... that was a bit sereal. One neighbor had about 50 pizzas set out on a table and cases and cases of water... serving the whole neighborhood! Can't even count the number of full size candy bars the kids raked in! Such is Kenilworth I guess... (when we left for home that same neighbor had a live band playing.... no telling what they were serving at that point b/c earlier in the evening each adult we saw was carryin' somethin' for happy hour!!)

Pic's are hilarious b/c we could not get Shea to peel his eyes off of Kaidin's mask ; )

Jedi moves ; )
Ranger power!

By the way.... Shea is 6 months old now!!!

Save our planet!

2008-10-24T20:25:00.000-07:00

We had done an early morning grocery run since everyone was up at 6:30a, and I was in the kitchen frantically trying to unload the bags before little boober woke up (wanting to nurse) and little Ms. D was sitting at the table munching on some chips she picked out at the grocery store.

I noticed her intently savoring each and every bite, and occassionally coming back to 'real life' to catch a glimpse my unloading our bags. We had just recently purchased some cloth bags to cut down on the plastic in our house, and our contribution to the earth. Of course, when I purchased the bags we had lot's of discussions about trying to help save our planet even if little by little.

Anyhow.... she's munchin' on the chips and in her own little world. Occassionally I see her connect to what I am doing and then all of a sudden silence is broken....

D - Mommy, don't you think we should go out and help clean up the whole planet?
M - (smiling of course) I think that is a wonderful idea. It sounds like a really really big job. Do you think we could all of it?
D- How big is it?
M - Well, there are hundreds of countries out there on the entire planet so it could take us a really long time. Countries can be really big and some can be smaller....

Silence.... contemplating.... and little chip munching....

D - Mommy, I have an idea.
M - Hmm.......
D - We could do one country in one day and then the next country in the next day and then we would do all of the countries!

More fun with G'pa

2008-10-18T20:55:00.000-07:00

A short time back we invited G'pa over to our house to 'play' all day long and feed him a yummy lunch (thanks to Nancy and her chicken salad recipe ; ) !!

While G'pa was here, Dahlia and he painted this beautiful mural we have hanging in our office/playroom. I desperately want to find a frame big enough for it as it was such an amazing project they enjoyed together.

Week before that we met G'pa at Wagner Farm and enjoyed a lazily-amazing rock in those great ol' rockers in front of the main barn, just after checking out the inside gallery, the outside farm animals, and contemplating buying pumpkins.... AND just before heading off to the local forest preserve for an awesome picnic lunch and a stroll through the Fall trees!

It's been quite nice to see G'pa as much as we have lately! Cherrished moments!

Our first Full Moon Jam!

2008-10-18T20:43:00.000-07:00

We had a blast! I invited Grandpa to join us, and he brought along his drum to join the circle... the invite encouraged us to 'do' halloween-ish if desired and we all did a little something. We have a fabulous time down at Foster St. beach celebrating the full moon. The drumming was transing and the fire-throwing a blast to watch. The kids and I stopped off at the dollar tree to pick up some glow sticks for them and their friends as well, so they did a little 'fire-throwing' themselves! Everyone thoroughly enjoyed!

Gapping Hole!

2008-10-18T20:40:00.000-07:00

Have you noticed the big hole! Yes! We have lost tooth #3, with #4-6 also very loose! ; )

Fun things!!!

2008-10-13T17:56:00.000-07:00

Well... for starters, Friday the kids and I had one of those amazing days where just absolutely everything went better than we could have anticipated. The day was a total relaxed one... b/c of this amazing weather we've been having, coupled with the fact that we had not been in a very long while.... we headed down to the zoo for the day.

We had no major agenda that day except just 'be' at the zoo, so we did not leave super early. We left when we were ready to go, and not racing out the door to get somewhere. We found a free parking spot right in front of the north entrance. All of the animals were out and about, and we got to see some feedings, and even pet a few critters. Had several picnics throughout the day.... visited each and every exhibit, including the farm.... and everyone was just happy as clams at the end of the day.

Pic's as the sun was setting before we left to head home:

Then.... Saturday we visited a Medieval Homeschool Demo at UIC this weekend and we all had a really nice time! Several booths set up for us to learn a ton of stuff about the era, and even a courtyard where we witness some bafa fitting. Kaidin was able to grasp a few fencing swords, Dahlia tried on a heavy armor helmet.... and I learned a ton about a herdy gerty (if I am even spelling that right!).

Pic's from this adventure:

And then, as it often is, Kaidin did not want to venture to far on Sunday, so Dahlia and I went a crusin' before her ice skating in the afternoon. Our main errand was to get to the grocery store, but she had been talking about horses for some time and how she'd like to ride one. I took her over to the most local stables I know, for what I thought would just be looking around... and we had a blast. Got to walk through the stables and pet some really huge horses... observe some riding and jumping lessons.... and low and behold, she truly wanted to do the pony rides!

"High -ho Silver!!" (literally... her pony's name was Silver!) She wants her to move in with us... and tells me several times a day that she missed Silver SO much.

After riding Silver:

Mr. Boober is 5 months old!!!

2008-10-05T06:38:00.000-07:00

Oh my how the time flies!

I just can not believe he is 5 months old.... What a whirlwind adventure since he's joined the scene. I find it so amazing, fascinating and awe-dropping at how unique this little man really is. It's remarkable that they can be so individual!

His latest tricks....

Well.... he is sitting. Though still a little wabbly, he loves to sit with big bro and sis to "play".... aka slobber on all of their toys. Luckily for him (and me), they find this totally cool and not at all bothered by the baby slobber. ; )

He loves to "read" books.... and is just dying to figure out what the "cup-thing" is all about. He watches everyone drinking water all of the time and is just utterly fascinating in holding and 'using' cups.

He finally seems to be out of the horrific car-riding phase. He seems more at ease with being in the car as long as we don't try to load a few too many errand trips on him, he will more happily ride along with us, and even doze off on occassion. So we have enjoyed far more adventures together lately.

He is rolling over, all over, and definitly scooting.... a can bet a crawl is in there with in the next month... then we will really have to watch out!

I see the same exciting, totally untamable flame in his eye as his big sister had at a very young age.... and he has testosterone to boot! ; ) I told Seringe he better brace himself, we are in for a very fast past ride with this little man!!!

Here is the latest pic.... taken just a day ago while we were at Wagner Farm with Grandpa.

Into the Wild....

2008-10-05T06:29:00.000-07:00

Some friends of ours had been reading about early humans and their development. A about a week or so ago, we were invited to the forest preserve to create a hut/dweling of sticks, bark, etc.. It was quite a fun adventure (aside from the horrendous mosquitos that made us all look like we had chicken pox for a week! ; )

But these photos were just passed along from that fun day and we were reliving the adventure all over again!

The plan is to go back and finish when the mosquitos have moved on their way, and with the hopes that the other half of our home is still standing!

Full Belly Project

2008-09-24T13:18:00.001-07:00

http://cinema.sevenfund.org/kickapps/_The-Full-Belly-Project/video/331256/23905.html

Edutopia

2008-09-19T20:45:00.001-07:00

http://www.edutopia.org/james-gee-games-learning-video

12 WAYS TO HELP YOUR CHILD BUILD SELF-CONFIDENCE

2008-09-10T21:29:00.000-07:00

12 WAYS TO HELP YOUR CHILD BUILD SELF-CONFIDENCE
http://www.askdrsears.com/html/6/t061500.asp

Self-esteem is your child's passport to lifetime mental health and social happiness

It's the foundation of a child's well-being and the key to success as an adult. At all ages, how you feel about yourself affects how you act. Think about a time when you were feeling really good about yourself. You probably found it much easier to get along with others and feel good about them.

Self-image is how one perceives oneselfThe child looks in the mirror and likes the person he sees. He looks inside himself and is comfortable with the person he sees. He must think of this self as being someone who can make things happen and who is worthy of love. Parents are the main source of a child's sense of self-worth.

Lack of a good self-image very often leads to behavior problemsMost of the behavioral problems that I see for counseling come from poor self-worth in parents as well as children. Why is one person a delight to be with, while another always seems to drag you down? How people value themselves, get along with others, perform at school, achieve at work, and relate in marriage, all stem from strength of their self-image.

Healthy self-worth doesn't mean being narcissistic or arrogant;it means having a realistic understanding of one's strengths and weaknesses, enjoying the strengths and working on the problem areas. Because there is such a strong parallel between how a person feels about himself and how a person acts, helping your child build self-confidence is vital to discipline.

Throughout life your child will be exposed to positive influences builders and negative influences breakers. Parents can expose their child to more builders and help him work through the breakers.

1. PRACTICE ATTACHMENT PARENTING
Put yourself in the place of a baby who spends many hours a day in a caregiver's arms, is worn in a sling, breastfed on cue, and her cries are sensitively responded to. How do you imagine this baby feels?
This baby feels loved; this baby feels valuable. Ever had a special day when you got lots of strokes and showered with praise? You probably felt like queen for a day and hopefully you behaved accordingly. The infant on the receiving end of this high-touch style of parenting develops self-worth. She likes what she feels.
Responsiveness is the key to infant self-value. Baby gives a cue, for example, crying to be fed or comforted. A caregiver responds promptly and consistently. As this cue-response pattern is repeated many hundreds, perhaps thousands, of times during the first year baby learns that her cues have meaning: "Someone listens to me, therefore, I am worthwhile." A stronger self emerges.
Of course, you can't always respond promptly or consistently. It's the predominant pattern that counts. You will have days when you are short on patience. Babies pick out the prevailing parenting style and form impressions. As baby gets older it becomes important for him to learn how to deal with healthy frustration, as this will teach him to adjust to change. The important thing is that you are there for him; that's the message on which baby builds his sense of self.
The confidence-building aspects that result from attachment-parenting pay off especially with high-need babies. Because of these infants' more intense demands, they are at higher risk of receiving negative responses. When attachment parenting produces mutual sensitivity between connected parents and high-need babies, they learn to see themselves in a good light.
Because of responsive nurturing, the connected baby knows what to expect. On the other hand, the disconnected child is confused. If his needs are not met and his cues unanswered, he feels that signals are not worth giving. This leads to the conclusion that "I'm not worthwhile. I'm at the mercy of others, and there's nothing I can do to reach them."
We emphasize the importance of early nurturing because during the first two years the baby's brain is growing very fast. This is the period when a baby develops patterns of associations – mental models of the way things work. The developing infant's mind is like a file drawer. In each file is a mental picture of a cue she gives along with the response she expects. After a certain interaction, the baby stores a mental image of what happened. For example, baby raises her arms and a parent responds by picking her up. Repetition deepens these patterns in the infant's mind, and eventually emotions, positive or negative, become associated with them. A file drawer full of mostly positive feelings and images leads to a feeling of "rightness." Her sense of "well-being" becomes part of baby's self.
Infants who get used to the feeling of well-being they get from attachment parenting spend the rest of their lives striving to keep this feeling. Because they have so much practice at feeling good, they can regain this right feeling after temporary interruptions. These secure infants cope better with life's setbacks because they are motivated to repair their sense of well-being, which has become integrated into their sense of self. They may fall down a lot, but they are likely to wind up back on their feet. This concept is especially true for a child who is handicapped or seems to come into this world relatively short-changed in natural talents. Children who do not have this early sense of well-being struggle to find it, but they are unsure of what they are looking for because they don't know how it feels. This explains why some babies who get attachment parenting in the early years manage well despite an unsettled childhood because of family problems. Consider the famous case of Baby Jessica, the two-year-old who because of a legal quirk was taken from the familiar and nurturing home of her adoptive parents whom she had known since birth, and given to her biological parents who were strangers to her. She is likely to thrive because she entered a strange situation with a strong sense of well-being created by early nurturing. She will spend the rest of her life maintaining that feeling despite the trauma she endured.
Playing catch-upBut what if I didn't practice all those attachment styles of parenting, you may wonder? Don't be too hard on yourself. Babies are resilient and, of course, it's never too late to start building up your child's self-image. Getting to know your child and seeing things from his point of view will help you help him learn to trust himself. This kind of nurturing cements together the blocks of self-worth, and can also repair them. Still, the earlier the cement is applied, the smoother it goes on and the stronger it sticks.

2. IMPROVE YOUR OWN SELF-CONFIDENCE
Parenting is therapeutic. In caring for your child you often heal yourself. A mother with a high-need baby in our practice once declared, "My baby brings out the best and the worst in me." If there are problems in your past that affect your present parenting, confront them. Get psychological help if they are interfering with your ability to remain calm and parent effectively.
Heal your pastA child's self-esteem is acquired, not inherited. Certain parenting traits and certain character traits, such as anger and fearfulness, are learned in each generation. Having a baby gives you the chance to become the parent you wish you had. If you suffer from low self-confidence, especially if you feel it's a result of how you were parented, take steps to heal yourself and break the family pattern. Try this exercise (therapists call this "passing on the best, and discarding the rest")
List the specific things your parents did to build your self-image.
List the specific things your parents did to weaken your self-image.
Now resolve to emulate the good things your parents did and avoid the rest. If you find it difficult to follow through with this exercise on your own, get help from a professional. Both you and your child will benefit.
Don't be too hard on your parentsThey probably did the best they could given their circumstances and the prevailing advice of the times. I remember once hearing a grandmother say to a mother, "I was a good mother to you. I followed exactly the schedule the doctor gave me." This new mother felt that some of her present problems stemmed from the rigid scheduling that she endured when she was a baby. She was determined to learn to read her baby's cues. I reminded her not to blame her own mother because the prevailing parenting practice at the time was to follow the "experts'" advice on childrearing. The mother of the 90's, however, is more comfortable becoming the expert on her own child.
Polish your mirrorNo one can put on a happy face all the time, but a parent's unhappiness can transfer to a child. Your child looks to you as a mirror for his own feelings. If you are worried, you can't reflect good feelings. In the early years, a child's concept of self is so intimately tied up with the mother's concept of herself that a sort of mutual self-worth building goes on. What image do you reflect to your child? She will see through a false facade to the troubled person beneath. Matthew, on a fill-in-the-blanks tribute to his mother, wrote: "I like being with my mother most when she's happy." Children translate your unhappiness with yourself to mean unhappiness with them. Even infants know they are supposed to please their parents. As they get older, they may even come to feel responsible for their parents' happiness. If you are not content, they must not be good (or good enough). If you are experiencing serious problems with depression or anxiety, seek help so that you can resolve these feelings before they affect your child.
Martha Notes: Tip of the Day"Shortly after the birth of our eighth child, I was overwhelmed with two babies in diapers and the needs of four older children at home. My stress was reflected in my face; I was often not a happy person. Fortunately, I recognized what I was showing of myself to my children. I did not want my children growing up believing that mothering is no fun or that they caused me to be unhappy. I sought help, fixed my inner feelings and polished my mirror so that my children could see a better image of themselves."

3. BE A POSITIVE MIRROR
Much of a child's self-image comes not only from what the child perceives about herself, but from how she thinks others perceive her. This is especially true of preschoolers who learn about themselves from their parents' reactions. Do you reflect positive or negative images to your child? Do you give her the idea that she's fun to be with? That her opinions and desires matter to you? That her behavior pleases you?
When you give your child positive reflections, he learns to think well of himself. He will also willingly rely on you to tell him when his behavior is not pleasing. This becomes a discipline tool. "All I have to do is look at her a certain way, and she stops misbehaving," said one mother. She had saturated her child's self awareness with positive feelings, and the youngster was used to the way he felt being on the receiving end of these strokes. When mother flashed a negative reflection, the child didn't like the feeling it produced. He changed his behavior quickly to regain his sense of well-being.
Be realisticYou can't be up and smiling all the time and still be human. Your child should know that parents have down days, too. Children can see through fake cheerfulness. Your sensitivity toward him will increase his sensitivity toward you, and someday he may be the one lifting your self- confidence.
Putting Humpty-Dumpty Back Together AgainYou spend the early years building your child's self-confidence. You spend the later years protecting it. Many thin-skinned children need protection from situations they find overwhelming. I was examining five-year-old Thomas for his school-entry physical. Thomas was a sensitive child whose mother had spent years helping him build a strong sense of self-worth. We were engaged in a philosophical discussion of the long-term benefits of attachment parenting and Thomas was understandably bored. He began hanging on my scale—an expensive scale that is built into the top of the examining table. My first thought was the safety of my table. To me it was more at risk than Thomas, so I firmly asked, "Thomas, would you please stop hanging on the scale?" Just as Thomas was about to crumble from my unintended put-down, his mother interjected a saving, "...because you're so strong." She knows how to get behind the eyes of her child.

4. PLAY WITH YOUR CHILD
You will learn a lot about your child—and yourself—during play. Playtime gives your child the message "You are worth my time. You are a valuable person." It is well known that children learn through play. It improves a child's behavior by giving him feelings of importance and accomplishment. Instead of viewing playtime as a chore, use it to make an investment in your child's behavior.
Let your child initiate the playA valuable learning principle that parents should keep in mind is this: an activity initiated by the child holds the child's attention longer than one suggested by the adult playmate. More learning takes place when the child chooses what to do. Child-initiated play also increases self-worth: "Dad likes to do the things I do!" of course, you may be thinking, "oh no, not the block game again!" or "We've read that story twenty times!" That's the ordeal of parenting. You'll get bored with The Cat in the Hat long before your child. If you want to bring something new to the same old play activity, add your own new twists as the play continues. Stop to talk about the book: "What would you do if the Cat in the Hat came to our door?" "Let's turn this block tower into a parking garage."
Make your child feel specialDuring play, focus your attention on the child. If your body is with your child but your mind is at work, your child will sense that you have tuned out, and neither one of you benefits from the time together. Your child loses the value of your being with her, concluding that she is not important. You lose the opportunity to learn about and enjoy your child—and to relearn how to play. I remember the fun six-month-old Matthew and I had in our "play circle." I sat him facing in front of me with a few favorite toys (mine and his) making a circle around him with my legs. This space contained him and provided support in case he, as a beginning sitter, started to topple sideways. Matthew had my undivided attention. He felt special and so did I. Making all those goofy baby noises is fun.
Parents need playAs a busy person, I had a hard time getting down to a baby's level enjoying unstructured, seemingly unproductive play. After all, I had so many "more important" things on my agenda. Once I realized how much we both could benefit, this special time became meaningful. Play became therapeutic for me. I needed time away from some of those other things to focus on this important little person who was, without realizing it, teaching me to relax. Play helped me to get to know Matthew's temperament and his capabilities at each stage of development. The child reveals himself to the parent—and vice versa— during play; the whole relationship benefits greatly. Playtime puts us on our child's level, helping parents get behind the eyes and into the mind of their child. Take time to enjoy the simple pleasures of play.
Play is an investmentConsider playtime one of your best investments. You may feel that you are "wasting time" stacking blocks when you could be "doing something" instead. Some adults panic at the thought and really have to struggle to be able to let go of their grown-up agenda. Of course, you don't have to play all day long, nor will your child want you to (unless he senses your resistance!). What may seem like a meaningless activity to you, means a lot to your baby. The more interest you show in doing things with your baby early on, the more interest your child will have in doing things with you when he's older. As your child grows, you can involve him in your play and your work, since being with you is the best reward. Think of it this way—you are doing the most important job in the world—raising a human being.

5. ADDRESS YOUR CHILD BY NAME
What's in a name? The person, the self—little or big. I can still remember my grandfather impressing on me the value of using and remembering peoples' names. This lesson has proved profitable. One year I was a pre-med student competing with a bunch of marketing majors for a summer sales job. After I landed the job I inquired why I, though less qualified, had been hired. "Because you remembered and used the names of all of your interviewers." Addressing your child by name, especially when accompanied by eye contact and touch, exudes a "you're special" message. Beginning an interaction by using the other person's name opens doors, breaks barriers, and even softens corrective discipline.
Children learn to associate how you use their name with the message you have and the behavior you expect. Parents often use a child's nickname or first name only in casual dialogue, "Jimmy, I like what you are doing." They beef up the message by using the full name to make a deeper impression, "James Michael Sears, stop that!" one child we've heard about refers to his whole name as his "mad name" because that's what he hears when his parents are angry at him. We have noticed that children with self-confidence more frequently address their peers and adults by name or title. Their own self-worth allows them to be more direct in their communication with others. Our two-year-old Lauren dashes by my desk chirping: "Hi, Dad!" The addition of "Dad" impressed me more than an impersonal "Hi!" A school-age child who is comfortable addressing adults by name will be better able to ask for help when needed.

6. PRACTICE THE CARRY-OVER PRINCIPLE
As your child gets older, encourage her talents. She can do well at something, whether as a two-year-old who packs exceptional pretend picnics or a ten-year- old who loves ballet. Over the years, we've noticed a phenomenon we call the carryover principle: enjoying one activity boosts a child's self-image, and this carries over into other endeavors. One of our sons is a natural athlete, but he wasn't interested in academics. Operating on the carryover principle, we encouraged his enjoyment of athletics while supporting him as he worked on the academics. The schoolwork improved as his overall self-confidence increased. Recognize your child's special talents, and help her build on them, then watch the whole person blossom.

7. SET YOUR CHILD UP TO SUCCEED
Helping your child develop talents and acquire skills is part of discipline. If you recognize an ability in your child that he doesn't, encourage him. Strike a balance between pushing and protecting. Both are necessary. If you don't encourage your child to try, his skills don't improve, and you've lost a valuable confidence builder. If you don't protect your child from unrealistic expectations, his sense of competence is threatened.
Beware of value-by-comparisonsChildren measure their own value by how they perceive others value them. And in our measuring-and-testing society, children's skills—and therefore their value—are measured relative to others. Your child may bat an exceptional .400 on the softball team, but she will feel inadequate if her teammates are batting .500. Be sure your child believes you value her because of who she is, not how she performs. Do this by giving her plenty of eye contact, touching, and focused attention. In other words, give of yourself regardless of how the game or the achievement test turns out.
Don't expect your child to excel in sports or music or academics just because you did. The one thing your child can excel in is being herself. She must know that your love for her does not depend on your approval of her performance. That's a tough assignment for a parent who may have been raised to perform for love and acceptance.
WALL OF FAME In our Sears' family gallery of accomplishments, our walls display Hayden's cheerleading trophies, Erin's horse ribbons, Matthew's Little League pictures, etc. Every child is good at something. Discover it, encourage it, frame it, and display it. If your home is missing this wall, your child is missing his moment of fame. If you have a child who is not athletic, try scouting. With Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts everyone wins and everyone gets lots of badges. As children walk by their showcase, they can see at a glance five to ten years of achievement. This gives them a lift, especially during times when their self-worth is faltering.

8.HELP YOUR CHILD BE HOME-WISE BEFORE STREET-SMARTS
Sometime during your parenting career you may run into the idea that a young child should be exposed to children with different values so that he can choose for himself. This may sound good, or at least politically correct, but it just plain doesn't work. It's like sending a ship to sea without a rudder or a captain. Only by chance will that ship reach a desirable destination. Children are too valuable to be left to chance.
Screen your child's friendsThe child's values and self-concept are affected by persons of significance in his life— relatives, coaches, teachers, religious leaders, scout leaders, and friends. It's up to the parents to screen out those who pull down the child's character and encourage those that build it. Keep a watchful eye on your child's friendships. First, let your child choose his own friends and monitor the relationships. At the end of a play experience examine your child's feelings. Is he at peace or upset? Are the children compatible? Coupling a passive person with a strong personality is all right if the stronger child pulls your child up rather than knocking him down.
While some children will wisely seek out complimentary playmates on their own, sometimes it is helpful to set up your child by purposely exposing him to appropriate peers. Some groups of children just naturally seem to get along well. If your child's group does not seem to have the right chemistry, it would be wise to intervene. By being a monitoring mom, Martha was able to come to the rescue of one of our children who was being intimidated and blackmailed into stealing money from us. This junior racketeer in the neighborhood was busted because Martha became suspicious of certain phone calls and listened in one day. Our frightened seven-year-old was in way over his head and was greatly relieved when we intervened.
Keep a kid-friendly homeMake your home inviting to your child's friends. Yes, you will have more messes to clean up, but it's worth it. Hosting the neighborhood helps you monitor your child; it gives you the opportunity to observe your child's social style and generally learn more about your child's personality—which social behaviors are appropriate and which need improving. You'll be able to make on-the-spot disciplinary interventions, either with your child in a private lesson or in group therapy if the whole pack needs some redirecting.
The roots of a young child's self-concept come from home and nurturing caregivers. After six years of age, peer influence becomes increasingly important. The deeper the roots of home-grown self-confidence, the better equipped kids are to interact with peers in a way that builds up self-worth rather than tearing it down. They know how to handle peers who are fun to play with and those that give them problems. When children are attachment parented, they are well equipped to manage different environments (home, grandparents, preschool, Sunday school) with different rules very well. For healthy social development, a child first must be comfortable with himself before he can be comfortable with others.
Clinging to homebaseIn normal development a child moves out from the known into the unknown. She tries out new experiences in much the same way that an attached infant learns to separate from mother. It is quite normal for a child to retreat periodically into the comfort of the known (her home and family) as she progressively ventures into the jungle of the unknown. It is important for the child to have a strong attachment base. Being shy does not mean that a child has a poor self-image. She needs an extra dose of confidence so that she can follow her own inner timetable in adjusting to new situations and relationships. Parents often wonder what degree of clinging to homebase is normal. Look at the problem over the course of an entire year. If you see no change in the child's willingness to venture out, that may be unhealthy. But if you see some gradual moving out, then your child is simply a cautious social developer, which is characteristic of sensitive children, who may form a few meaningful and deep relationships, rather than numerous superficial ones.

9. LOSE LABELS
"I'm asthmatic," seven-year-old Greg proudly said to me when I inquired why he came to my office. Indeed, Greg did have asthma, but the physical problem was much easier to treat than the emotional side effects of his label. A few puffs of a bronchial dilator and his wheezing cleared, but his label persisted. I mentioned privately to Greg's mother that there are two issues to address in any child with a chronic illness: the problem itself, and the child's and family's reactions to the problem.
Every child searches for an identity and, when found, clings to it like a trademark. "Asthmatic" had become Greg's label, and he wore it often. His whole day revolved around his ailment, and his family focused on this part of Greg instead of on the whole person. Instead of feeling compassion, Greg's brothers and sisters had become tired of planning their lives around Greg's asthma. They couldn't go on certain trips because Greg might get too tired. It became a family illness, and all, except Greg, were put into roles they didn't like.
To take away Greg's label would be to take away Greg's self-esteem. So, we made a deal. I would treat Greg's asthma; the family would enjoy Greg, and we all worked at giving "the asthmatic" a healthier label to wear.

10. MONITOR SCHOOL INFLUENCES ON YOUR CHILD
Schools can be hazardous to a child's emotional health. School choice (if you have one) needs to be carefully considered. The connected child who enters the school arena with peers from various upbringings and degrees of attachment will have a set of expectations that he may not find at school. Children meet the challenges of a new social group with different behaviors. If a child is securely attached to his caregivers and armed with a strong self-image, he may not be disturbed by these different behaviors. He may stick cheerfully to his own style of play. Or, he may be frustrated, creating stress on his emerging personality. If his self-confidence is shaky, a child may view aggressiveness or bullying as normal and make these behaviors part of himself or allow himself to be victimized.
Around age six, when your child begins elementary school, other adults become influential in her life. These are people who are around your child enough to influence her behavior and model values. Once upon a time persons of significance in a child's life came primarily from within the extended family, but in today's mobile society a child is likely to have a wider variety of peers and persons of significance. This means that today's parents need to be vigilant as to who is modeling what behavior to their children. Here is where there is confusion in the ranks of parents as disciplinarians. There are two extremes. On the one side are the parents who feel it's healthy for children to experience a lot of different value systems while growing up so that they will be more open-minded as adults. On the other side are parents who want to protect their child from all outside influences and any ideas that may differ from their own beliefs. This child grows up in a bubble-like atmosphere.
Somewhere between these two extremes is the right answer for your child. Throwing a child into the melting pot of diverse values at too young an age, before she has any of her own values, may produce a child who is so confused that she develops no conscience and no standing value system. Parents who overprotect may end up with a child who cannot think for herself, leaving her vulnerable to challenges or so judgmental that she condemns anyone with different beliefs. Somewhere in the middle is the parent who grounds the child in a firm value system and guides her as she encounters other value systems. The child, because she has a strong value system to begin with, is better able to weigh her parents' value system against alternatives and develop her own firm code of values. It may be different from the parents'. It may include many of the parents' values with a sprinkling of alternatives learned from peers or teachers. But the important thing is that the child has a value system from which to operate. He is not a leaf hurried downstream in the river that takes the path of least resistance, overflows its bounds, and eventually drains into a large sea of uncertainty. Many children flounder, sometimes for the rest of their lives, searching for values that should have been formed in infancy and early childhood.
Parents, don't be misled by the complacent term "latent" applied to middle childhood. This is not the time to sleep and get careless. This is the age in which your children build consciences and learn your value system. In fact, it's the only time in their entire life when they unquestionably, at least early in that stage, accept their parents' value system. Slowly they form their own standards through interaction with peers, other families, and teachers, and through neighborhood relationships and church/synagogue friendships. They discover a larger world with a variety of beliefs and behaviors. As they talk (endlessly) and observe and experiment in a variety of situations, they learn about how they will choose to act and react. Trying belatedly to impose your values on a teenager whose main developmental task at this stage is to identify his own values is difficult. The best way to get your values across is to "walk your talk" by living your values.

11. GIVE YOUR CHILD RESPONSIBILITIES
Children need jobs. One of the main ways children develop self- confidence and internalize values is through helping maintain the family living area, inside and out. Giving children household duties helps them feel more valuable, besides channeling their energy into desirable behavior and teaching skills. Try these tips:
Enter the work force early. Beginning around age two, children can do small jobs around the house. To hold a child's interest, choose tasks the child has already shown an interest in. Our two-year-old, Lauren, had a thing about napkins, so we gave her the dinnertime job of putting napkins at each place. A mother in our practice told us: "I couldn't keep our three-year-old away from the vacuum cleaner. So I gave him the job of vacuuming the family room. He kept busy and I got some work out of him." Starting between ages two and four, a child can learn the concept of responsibility to self and to parents and for his personal belongings. Once he learns a sense of responsibility for these things, a sense of responsibility to society will come naturally in the next stage of development.
By three years of age, a child can be taught to clean sinks and tubs (using a sponge and a small can of cleanser). Young children love to scrub. Three's and Four's love to sort laundry into darks and lights. At five, the child can be doing dishes every night. Teach him exactly how you want them handled (for example, excess food in the garbage, dishes rinsed, and then put in the dishwasher). Be sure to use unbreakable cups and plates and put messy pans in the oven to be cleaned later by an adult.
By seven, a child can be cooking at least one meal a week from start to finish. Teach him how to fix his favorite meal and let him learn how to pick out the ingredients at the market. Encourage school-age children to make their own lunch. Besides giving them a sense of responsibility for their own nutrition, they are more likely to eat what they make. Once taught, the child can be left alone in the kitchen—no hovering mother. Relax and talk to your mate.
Give special jobsCall a job "special" and it's more likely to get done. Whatever magical ring the word "special" has, it sure gets results. Perhaps a child infers that "I must be special because I get a special job." A four-to five-year-old can have preassigned chores, with reminders, of course. To put some order in our busy house we announce: "It's tidy time." Try assigning one room for each child to tidy up. Children at all ages suffer a bit of work inertia, especially as tasks wear on and lose their fun appeal. But sometimes children need to learn that work comes before play. To get them started, work with them.
Create job chartsMake this a creative activity for a family meeting. List the jobs to be done, and let each child choose and rotate if they want. We divide jobs into paying, extra- credit jobs they can earn money for, and nonpaying or those that are naturally expected of the children for the privilege of living in our home. Expect to pay a higher price on the most unwanted jobs. Best is to pay immediately after the work is responsibly done, since children are immediate-reward oriented. In the next stage of development, from five to ten years, children can make the connection that with increasing privileges come responsibilities. When we decided to get a family cottage, the deal was that Saturday mornings would be family fix-up time at the cottage, and only after the work was completed would the recreation begin.
Plant a family gardenPlanting a garden teaches children that they reap what they sow. During our family garden phase, when our children were younger, we tied in caring for a garden and caring for them: Water the plants and they grow nicely, keep the weeds away and the flowers bloom better.
Other jobs boys and girls love and do well when first taught alongside a parent include: washing the car, sweeping outdoor living areas and sidewalks, gardening, vacuuming, dusting, and baby tending. By seven or eight they can put in a load of laundry, and by ten they can be doing their own laundry. When children have jobs in the home, not only are parents relieved of some of the busywork, but children feel they are contributing to a cause. They feel useful and needed. And the energy they spend on the home becomes an investment they are making into the value system of that home.

12. ENCOURAGE CHILDREN To EXPRESS, NOT STUFF, THEIR FEELINGS
Expressing feelings comfortably does not mean the child is free to explode at every emotional twinge, but rather develops a comfortable balance between expressing and controlling feelings. She should eventually be able to keep a lid on her emotions when needed, but not so tightly that she can't remove the lid in a "safe" setting, such as exercising (i.e., run like mad to blow off steam), or with a trustworthy friend. All babies freely express their feelings. Maturity develops through years of learning how to stay calm in difficult situations. A child with unbridled emotions becomes a brat. A person who never expresses emotions becomes too reserved. Too much control or too much emoting will both produce problems in adult life.
Stuffing feelings doesn't do any good for the child, the parents, or the relationship. It tells the child that you are threatened by her feelings or she gets the message that you don't care to understand her feelings. The child picks up on your attitude and learns that expressing or even having feelings is not okay. The child decides that the feelings that accompany the ups and downs of her daily life are not worthwhile. In a child's logic, if her feelings are not worthwhile, she is not worthwhile. If this unfeeling pattern repeats itself over and over, the child quickly learns both to suppress the feelings and especially to hide them from her parents.
Even more devastating than being uncaring is responding to a child's feelings with anger messages, "I don't want to hear any more bellowing about that stupid fish!" The fear of parents' reactions to her feelings turns a child into a feeling stuffer.
on the positive side, picture what happens when a child feels free to express herself and a parent accepts her feelings. Consider this example: "Daddy, the necklace Grandma gave me for my birthday broke." Dad stops what he is doing and focuses on his child, looking into her eyes and placing his hand around her shoulder. He says, "I'm sorry. That was such a special necklace." Both his verbal and his body language convey: "I am available to you; your feelings are important to me. You are important to me." His reaction frees the child to tell him more about her feelings and to work through them by talking to him. Instead of retreating into her shell or erupting into a tantrum, she has been given a way to express her sorrow. And he has boosted her self-worth by accepting her feelings, which are a reflection of herself.

DO YOU OWE YOUR CHILD SELF-ESTEEM?
Parents may misunderstand the meaning of self-esteem and feel that this is just one more thing they are required to give their child along with regular meals and a warm winter jacket. They guard against anything that may undercut self-esteem – to the point where it becomes ridiculous. ("oh, Billy, you don't really sing flat. You're just tonally challenged.") They measure self-esteem daily, as one might take a temperature. ("Julie's self-esteem is low today. Her big brother beat her at checkers last night.")
Every infant whose needs are met has self-esteem built in. Like an arborist caring for a tree, your job is to nurture what's there, do what you can to structure your child's environment so that she grows strong and straight, and avoid whittling away at the tender branches. You can't build your child's self- esteem compliment by compliment, activity by activity. Parents are already overloaded with guilt because they may not be doing enough to foster their child's self-worth. You don't need a degree in psychology to raise a confident child. Much of parenting is easy and fun. Hold your baby a lot, respond sensitively to her needs, enjoy your baby. Then sit back and enjoy the person whose self-esteem is developing naturally.

Dahlia and the Chocolate Factory

2008-09-10T19:13:00.000-07:00

So one of the may big questions from Dahlia lately are the "how too's".... She is extremely inquisitive about the "how's" of certain things.... at the top of the list being "How is paper made?" and "How is chocolate made?"

We have had several books out from the library exploring the background and "how" of the process' but even more phenominal was our visit to the nearby chocolate factory who provided us with a phenominal tour of the factory!

In my research of attempting to find a factory that would give us a tour, I found that sinc 9/11 many nearby factories (including Blommers) does not even offer tours any longer. I was told that since this huge tragedy that the FDA has set such high regulations on their companies that many factory tours have been abandon completely. So I was unable to find a 'true' factory that processed chocolate from the actual cacao bean (YES it IS cacoa.... NOT cocoa!). Those pesky importer/exporters bobbled the name way-back-when and nowadays, you won't hear anyone pronounce it properly! Interesting, eh?

So the factory we found, able to give us a tour said that the could do so, but not from the bean.... I was not expecting a great deal from this tour, as it was only $2 per person, and we would not see the bean-process.... but MAN was I wrong!

It was a phenominal day! We learned SO much about the history of the company and the development of cacao, it was remarkable. Saw many things that will remain embedded. What an awesome field trip! Here are some pic's to share our fantastic outing (though we were not allowed to take pic's of the inside production).

Awaiting outside before our tour.... checking out the "how to" books we brought along from the library:

Inside, waiting for our tour to begin.... with a very interesting and informative video and talk with our tour guide:

Cacao bean dispay, sample pods as well!

3000 pound Statue of Liberty carved from chocolate as tribute to 9/11:300 lbs. chocolate pizza!

After our tour we were given a goodie bag and a discount card to buy goodies in the outlet shop. This is after our first 'dose' of chocolate for the day! = )

YUMMY!!!!

Now.... the "how to".... at home:

http://hubpages.com/hub/How-To-Make-Chocolate-From-Scratch

The Bitter Homeschooler' s Wish List

2008-09-10T19:11:00.000-07:00

1 Please stop asking us if it's legal. If it is — and it is — it's insulting to imply that we're criminals. And if we were criminals,would we admit it?

2 Learn what the words "socialize" and "socialization" mean, and use the one you really mean instead of mixing them up the way you do now. Socializing means hanging out with other people for fun. Socialization means having acquired the skills necessary to do so successfully and pleasantly. If you're talking to me and my kids,that means that we do in fact go outside now and then to visit theother human beings on the planet, and you can safely assume that we've got a decent grasp of both concepts.

3 Quit interrupting my kid at her dance lesson, scout meeting, choir practice, baseball game, art class, field trip, park day, music class, 4H club, or soccer lesson to ask her if as a homeschooler she ever gets to socialize.

4 Don't assume that every homeschooler you meet is homeschooling for the same reasons and in the same way as that one homeschooler you know.

5 If that homeschooler you know is actually someone you saw on TV, either on the news or on a "reality" show, the above goes double.

6 Please stop telling us horror stories about the homeschoolers you know, know of, or think you might know who ruined their lives by homeschooling. You're probably the same little bluebird of happiness whose hobby is running up to pregnant women and inducing premature labor by telling them every ghastly birth story you've ever heard.We all hate you, so please go away.

7 We don't look horrified and start quizzing your kids when we hear they're in public school. Please stop drilling our children like potential oil fields to see if we're doing what you consider anadequate job of homeschooling.

8 Stop assuming all homeschoolers are religious.

9 Stop assuming that if we're religious, we must be homeschooling for religious reasons.

10 We didn't go through all the reading, learning, thinking, weighing of options, experimenting, and worrying that goes into homeschooling just to annoy you. Really. This was a deeply personal decision, tailored to the specifics of our family. Stop taking the bare fact of our being homeschoolers as either an affront or a judgment about your own educational decisions.

11 Please stop questioning my competency and demanding to see my credentials. I didn't have to complete a course in catering to successfully cook dinner for my family; I don't need a degree in teaching to educate my children. If spending at least twelve years in the kind of chew-it-up-and- spit-it-out educational facility we call public school left me with so little information in my memory banks that I can't teach the basics of an elementary education to my nearest and dearest, maybe there's a reason I'm so reluctant to send my child to school.

12 If my kid's only six and you ask me with a straight face how I can possibly teach him what he'd learn in school, please understand that you're calling me an idiot. Don't act shocked if I decide to respond in kind.

13 Stop assuming that because the word "home" is right there in "homeschool, " we never leave the house. We're the ones who go to the amusement parks, museums, and zoos in the middle of the week and in the off-season and laugh at you because you have to go on weekends and holidays when it's crowded and icky.

14 Stop assuming that because the word "school" is right there in homeschool, we must sit around at a desk for six or eight hours every day, just like your kid does. Even if we're into the "school" side of education — and many of us prefer a more organic approach —we can burn through a lot of material a lot more efficiently, because we don't have to gear our lessons to the lowest common denominator.

15 Stop asking, "But what about the Prom?" Even if the idea that my kid might not be able to indulge in a night of over-hyped, over-priced revelry was enough to break my heart, plenty of kids who do go to school don't get to go to the Prom. For all you know, I'm one of them. I might still be bitter about it. So go be shallow somewhere else.

16 Don't ask my kid if she wouldn't rather go to school unless you don't mind if I ask your kid if he wouldn't rather stay home and get some sleep now and then.

17 Stop saying, "Oh, I could never homeschool!" Even if you think it's some kind of compliment, it sounds more like you're horrified. One of these days, I won't bother disagreeing with you any more.

18 If you can remember anything from chemistry or calculus class, you're allowed to ask how we'll teach these subjects to our kids. If you can't, thank you for the reassurance that we couldn't possibly do a worse job than your teachers did, and might even do a better one.

19 Stop asking about how hard it must be to be my child's teacher as well as her parent. I don't see much difference between bossing my kid around academically and bossing him around the way I do about everything else.

20 Stop saying that my kid is shy, outgoing, aggressive, anxious, quiet, boisterous, argumentative, pouty, fidgety, chatty, whiny, or loud because he's homeschooled. It's not fair that all the kids who go to school can be as annoying as they want to without being branded as representative of anything but childhood.

21 Quit assuming that my kid must be some kind of prodigy because she's homeschooled.

22 Quit assuming that I must be some kind of prodigy because I homeschool my kids.

23 Quit assuming that I must be some kind of saint because I homeschool my kids.

24 Stop talking about all the great childhood memories my kids won't get because they don't go to school, unless you want me to start asking about all the not-so-great childhood memories you have because you went to school.

25 Here's a thought: If you can't say something nice about homeschooling, shut up!

Makin' movies

2008-09-04T18:39:00.000-07:00

So at the start of this summer Kaidin came to me and told me that he had an idea for a movie. He wanted to call it "The Happening" and truly had a plot line worked out and everything. So I was determined to get this going for him. We sat down and he dictated to me as I got things into the computer for him. However, I think I screwed up royally. I was trying to assist in embellishing a bit on his story (just in adjectives and descriptives) because he said that he wanted it to be a really really long movie like Eragon. But, what I should have realized was that trying to do that during his dictation would wear him thin and he'd get frustrated at how slow it was going. We did not get very far that day, and sure enough, he spent the rest of the summer talking about the movie, but not wanting to really work on the movie any more.

This past week or two he's been seeming to be having a 'rough patch' emotionally, develomentally, all around really. I am having a very hard time pinpointing who, what and where of it all, but really trying to focus on letting him work through this stuff, and give him some well-needed extra attention. SO.... today was the day that we created a very short-movie plot for him.

It was a really great project for all of us. We got out all of the favorite toys; legos, imaginex, bionicles, train tracks, building blocks, playmobils, and tons of figurines.... OH, of course the pirate ship. And we built an entire "village" for his movie plot/line:

It was so much fun building, all the while he was getting more and more into the idea that I initiated and building more characters and stories along with it. We drew up a title page ("The Tales of Legend") was this one's name, and a 'the end' page to put in the film.... found the Eragon dvd b/c he really wanted to use the music from the movie in his movie, and we were set to go!

I get out the video recorder and say "action"..... video tape the title sheet and let him know he can create his own story and I will just get it all on tape for him!

............... he froze

= )

He said, "Well if I'm going to do my stories, you have to leave the room." SOOOO funny b/c he must think other days that I'm in the room (but doing something else) I don't HEAR his stories!!! I told him I have heard ALL of his stories before and he could do a great job! But no go.... he did not want to have me video tape him. So.... I left the room, but proped the camera in view. He questioned if it was on, recording, and I said it was recharging. He said he knew it was on, but he went ahead anyway! As long as I was not watching, he and Dahlia created their stories and did a great job! Most of all.... they just had so much fun doing it!

We are anxious to see the final product. I had tons of trouble trying to get the camera to play on the TV this evening, so they turned in and I need to get that transfered to a video tape for him to see in the morning. It will be really fun to see!

Tons of fun!

Happy Birthday Uncle Phil

2008-08-30T16:25:00.001-07:00

While Uncle Phil is wandering the likes of Alaska on his neverending vacation and move to LA.... we here, celebrated his birthday 'in style'!!! A BIG:

Let's see.... for starters, we did our marathon waffle making morning..... this batch does not seem to be the full 2 week supply we usually get out of a batch, but it will last us a little while at least!

While working on the waffles, Dahlia lally-gagged in a half-hour bath that then was followed by a half-hour shower.... full of bubble-soap making and soup making, and very little "washing" going on!

All the while, Kaidin was diggin' through Legos and created his own transformer lego man/robot thingy. Transformers have been a big hit in the house lately.... of course Legos and Bionicles are always hand-in-hand with anything else going on in our world.

Alrighty.... so then we worked hard on the big "Happy Birthday Uncle Phil" sign.... which we have to mail out to him b/c Kaidin created a dot-to-dot on there for him to do.... So... uh, Uncle Phil, we need your new mailing address! (p.s. to that one... it's a race car on a race track, so make sure you get it right!)

After all of that, of course I had to take on a clothes exchange project. Mr. Shea has grown out of everything in his cabinet, so we had to go diggin' in the clothes box for some bigger boy clothes. While we were diggin' we came across the rasta hat.... a big hit I might add.

Hmm.... I think somewhere in there I finally was able to take a shower and vacuum the floor.... and then Mr. Shea got his very first swing of his life!!!!

Of course, we could not end the day with out cake! So since we all ate a very very late lunch, we decided we would have hot fudge brownie ala mode for dinner! What perfect way to end a great day!

I love you

2008-08-29T20:09:00.000-07:00

At bedtime this evening....
Dahlia: "Mommy, I love you"
me: "I love you too Dahlia"
Dahlia: "I love you SO much!"
me: "I love you very very much"
Dahlia "..... Mommy........ I love you more than a pig."

Ahhhh..... to be loved more than a pig = )

Other summer fun

2008-08-29T10:11:00.000-07:00

I realize that I am very slow in getting the pics downloaded.... but here are some other summer fun-happenings. Kaidin tested for his blue-stripe belt in Karate and we had a really fun day at a water-type/fountain park with Grandma near her house! (I think this is one of the few pics we have of Grandma!!! Except for maybe the day they were each born!)

Cicada Killer aka Sphecius

2008-08-29T09:35:00.000-07:00

These have been the talk of the town lately. We seem to have a few nests of these guys perched outside our front door. So each morning we leave it is a "mad dash" by Kaidin and Dahlia as they are just positive these things are not just after cicadas!

Today we found one..... laying dead. Dahlia wanted to take it inside, but guess who had to carry it in! Yikes.... gives me the willies, even when it is dead!

So we then did a little googling on the buggers and found some cool stuff!

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.forestryimages.org/images/384x256/3226055.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.forestryimages.org/browse/detail.cfm%3Fimgnum%3D3226055&h=256&w=384&sz=23&hl=en&start=17&um=1&usg=__fnzxDAkTXc4PUkYRX4oWMU9Bxow=&tbnid=a2oUo8LbgAM8EM:&tbnh=82&tbnw=123&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcicada%2Bkillers%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1T4DKUS_enUS236US237%26sa%3DX

And:

http://www.ca.uky.edu/entomology/entfacts/ef004.asp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicada_killer_wasp

AND:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qqyZbaGZfc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eE5KCTyiLR4&feature=related

Pass it along

2008-08-18T07:27:00.000-07:00

http://www.revolutionhealth.com/blogs/mirakirshenbaum/a-first-anniversary-r-9886

The BIG 3 MO!

2008-08-06T20:33:00.000-07:00

That's him.... little man is already 3 months old! Can't believe how the time is flying. Can't believe how 'solid' he feels in my arms. Becoming a true 'little man'!!!

Weighing in at nearly 16 lbs. and already 25 in. long! He's quite the charmer. Will coo and goo at just about anyone.... as long as mommy or daddy are holding him! = )

Favorite place to sleep?

Of course!!!

LOVES big brother and sister! Just can't wait till he can get on those feet of his and run himself! His favorite 'trick' is where I hold his hand/arms and count "1, 2, 3.... ooopa!" and help him to a stand. His face lights up and he giggles and is just SO proud of his accomplishments. Way too amazing for words.

We are all enjoying the rest of summer and hoping the warm weather lingers well into the following weeks/months!

AC Rock

2008-07-23T21:45:00.000-07:00

My new love.

Today we spent the entire day (literally something like 7 hours) water-logging ourselves at Grandpa's pool. It was such a beautiful day. Needless to say we were all famish so grabbed a bite to eat (very!) nearby and then decided to stop in on the local summer concert in the park. WOW! What a group was singing tonight. They were truly amazing.... If you ever are able, I highly recommend checking them out! It was fun and remarkable what they can do with their voices! At first glance they reminded me of the Wiggles by the way they were dressed! But wow, their voices were amazing. Very entertaining! Fun had by all till Kaidin was about to pass out standing up. That swimming really did him in! Great day!

Summer

2008-07-21T22:17:00.000-07:00

Summer is just plain fun, isn't it? Why don't more of us (namely me) be this carefree as this all year long? Something I just must train myself to do!!! Much more often than I do!

So today we started with Dahlia and I running out for a quick Freecycle errand. We picked up some goodies! (TOYS!) Among were some imaginex and mega blocks dragons, which of course, both of them really love. Seringe was home this AM, so it was so perfect that I could make this quick run with out subjecting Mr. Shea to the car/seat today!

Upon our return we cleaned and cleaned the new toys as they had looked like they were sitting in a closet somewhere for some time. But so cool nonetheless! Of course this led to hours of building and story telling and lunch did not come about till very late in the afternoon.

I had wanted to go to Vogue today as I needed to make a sling for an "order" I received = )

We had a great time getting there too! In the spirit of trying to refrain from the car as much as possible with our littlest one despising it by all possible means.... the kids rode their bikes all the way over and I tagged along in walkin' shoes and babe in sling. It was a perfect day for it. Not too overly hot, and really, it was not as far as we all imagined. Of course it still took us a good 45 minutes to get there with all of the crossing streets and Dahlia's stinkin' bike pedal falling off every 5 min. But we made it, they weren't exhausted.... and they made it all the way home. (I truly envisioned myself carrying someone's bike home at some point!)

For dinner Dahlia helped me make a chopped salad and man, did that girl go to town on the chopped salad! Kaidin started strong but soon got tired of it. There is somethin' about men needing meat in a meal. At least for our household that holds true.

I'm super duper pysched that there is a Farmer's Fresh Market opening up just 2 blocks down the road from us. It's just a matter of months now.... they say "Fall".... so hopefully they open on schedule. That will be amazing to have right down the street from us!

Anyhoo.... kids all turned in together this evening which allowed me to make my sling! I love it so much that I am going to make myself one (similar) tomorrow evening!

We also attempting to construct a panda bear costume for a friend of ours who is celebrating a birthday this week. She's a true admirer of panda's and we thought this would be the perfect gift for her.... of course we've never made costumes before! First time for everything! (Hopefully we can get close enough that it at least resembles a panda!)

We are headed to family camp in the AM..... celebrating Farasang, a Hungarian holiday. In the afternoon we are doing another round of Freecycle pick-ups.... back home to work on a panda bear costume.... and if we still can muster the energy, Dahlia and I were going to do public skate tomorrow. This time we will be smart enough to bring the boys in case a nursing session is needed! = )

Woohoo!

2008-07-20T21:47:00.000-07:00

Great day for a car wash! We has such fantastic weather and we earned a whopping $128 for KidsFirst! We are a great amount of au pairs show and a pretty decent amount of cars. Of course the first time around is always a learning experience, so looking for bigger and better next year!

Seringe took the big kids to the movie to see Meet Dave. This was one that I was really willing to fore go. I love going to the movies with the kids, but this particular venue I could easily do with out. So it became a perfect outing for the kids with daddy. They also enjoyed the Ethnic Arts Festival down at the lake today.

I had my car washin' buddy with me the whole day, and did enjoy our time!

We only made it part way down to the festival after the car wash. We watched an annual bike race on our way down, therefore cutting our festival time. We were all pretty hungry and needed to head home for some grub. Tonight's cuisine was "crabby patty's and mama fries".... quite de-lish!

Saturday....

2008-07-19T21:04:00.000-07:00

So, Karate was cancelled for today b/c all teachers were competing in the world karate champs or something along those lines. Kaidin actually seemed bummed about it. As of late, he did not seemed as enthused about karate, but today he really wanted to go.... go figure.

Having Seringe home is very lovely in the AM's. He is so great to take lil' man for as long as he allows for me to catch a few more z's. Today I got a full hour more before he wanted to come nursin' and even then I was lucky enough to get nearly a half hour more! Quite lovely.

After taking a shower and settling Mr. McGoo with Seringe, I took Dahlia over for skating. Unfortunately, it was not well planned out by all of us. We thought it be easier for all for the boys to be at home, but of course, this was the one day that Shea wanted to nurse during skating class! So we ended up cutting class very short and heading home... in tears of course. I felt horrible.... for everyone. Seringe was sure he'd be fine. Dahlia wanted to be in class so badly....

Oh well.... I did promise to take her to public skate this week to make up for it. All works out as it should. (I do see her needing more mama-time lately.... she is 'herself' when that time is put in the schedule regularly.)

After everyone had settled from the mild trauma, we made bows and arrows. Our contraptions entailed taking the longest kitchen spoons possible, mommy's rubber-like headbands, and the cardboard sticks of the bottom of the hangers you get from a cleaners. Quite clever if I do say so myself!

During the afternoon I locked myself in the bedroom for a short period trying out this 'new' position with work. It's very sales-oriented and I'm not diggin' it. Most of all, I'm not diggin' the phone time involved.... I can only do it when Seringe's around to help with kiddos, and when Seringe's around, it's family time, in my book. So this just is not jiving with me. But I did tell work I'd give it a try for this weekend, and that's what I was trying.

Since I worked on that for longer than I thought, we were all feelin' lazy about cooking, so we ordered a pizza. Yum! We all love pizza. While waiting for that, we had archery lessons. Quite cool that the contraptions were working enough for them to aim and shoot at things! During archery we found King Kong on the TV and all activity seized. That was very captivating to all. We all snuggled up and watched....

That was our day. Pizza arrived shortly and after we got ready for bed, read books, and slept. I'm up.... again.... putzin' around on the computer. Why do I feel the need to stay up to do stuff when I really could get a great night's sleep?! = ) I do enjoy the quiet of the night... find myself to be a night-owl and a horrible morning person. Despite my kiddos being morning people up at the crack of dawn, I don't know that that will ever change about me!

Car wash tomorrow! Fingers crossed for no rain!

"Too Cute... "

2008-07-09T19:42:00.000-07:00

Leaving Baker's Square this evening a woman stopped me and said.... "oh your children are TOOOOO cute!"..... "Oh thank you very much, " I replied.....

As we walked towards our car, I repeated "tooo cute!"..... "What do you think?"

Kaidin replies, "Mommy I'm too old to be cute! I'm COOOOLLLL!"

Today's Song Lyrics....

2008-07-09T08:21:00.000-07:00

ala Dahlia.....

"Gitchy gitchy goo, I love you, my heart starts stopping, gitchy gitchy goo..."

repeat.... repeat.... repeat....

You get the idea = )

Gardening...

2008-07-06T10:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Dahlia and I had some wonderful mommy-daughter time taking care of a friend's garden. They are out of town and asked that we stop by to water it once this weekend and pick some peas for ourselves. We had a blast!

As the hours past and we picked bundles and ooshles of peas, watered the entire garden plot and made mud pies we felt we worked so hard that we definitly needed to get some ice cream!

We were hanging out in the car having a snack and awaiting the nursing of Mr. McGoo when Dahlia says:

"You know what mommy?"
"What?"
"When I grow up, first I'm going to be a grown up"
"Hmm"
"Then I'm going to be old, and then have a baby.......... and then go home. That's it."

What more is there, eh? = )
It was quite cute!

How to Screw Up Unschooling

2008-06-29T06:02:00.000-07:00

http://sandradodd.com/screwitup

LOVE IT!

Father's Day comin' up!

2008-06-12T09:13:00.001-07:00

We are working on daddy's special t-shirt that has become an annual event with Father's Day.... This is this year's photo!!! What luck, eh?

Happy Birthday Big "D"!

2008-06-05T10:04:00.000-07:00

She's had a pretty big month! First we had 'caved' and bought the birthday bike early b/c we ha been having such awesome weather, we just could not wait till the end of the month!!!

Then... a Chucky-Cheese birthday with Uncle Phil and Aunt Jess b/c they were taking off for Asia before the big day! So they wanted to celebrate with her early...

Then.... she had a fun party with Grandpa which included a viewing of the new movie Speedracer in the theater (I'd recommend waiting for the dvd = ) And then lunch out and about. It was a fun afternoon! And then finally, she had "the" day celebrated with us and Grandma at Leona's. Was quite a pleasant afternoon despite her just getting over a roaring ear infection and not being up to tip-top speed. But she seemed to enjoy!

And then....

The big "S" man is 5 weeks old today! He's been growing amazingly fast. Has turned over already!!! And a nursing-mania-little-man! Everyone is so over-the-top in love! = )

And other fun stuff going on is tracing U.Phil and A.Jess' travels all over the world!

Check them out: http://hp3ba.smugmug.com/

And of course we can not forget the recent karate-kid's belt test! We have now advanced to the green stripe!

Celebrating Unschooling

2008-05-21T15:18:00.000-07:00

~Make some ATC's with your family: http://www.cedarsee d.com/air/ atc.html

~Blow up a bunch of balloons and make up games with them as you go.Fill some with water. DRaw faces on some. Ooh...FREEZE one with waterin it to make a huge ice ball!

~Read some unschoolers blogs: http://theparenting pit.com/http://sandradodd. blogspot. com/http://www.xanga. com/juliepersons

~Subscribe to an unschooling publication: http://connections. organiclearning. org/http://www.livefree learnfree. com/http://www.lifelear ningmagazine. com/

~Read Dr. Suess books in a VEeerrryy animated voice, especially "Whatwas I scared of?" (pale, green pants)

~Try to get marbles out of a pan of ice with your feet.

~Start an insect collection, not the dead kind, the kind you have tofeed and take care of.:)

~Go for a walk someplace new

~Have a water fight

~Grow a sunflower house to hide in: http://www.rain. org/~philfear/ sunflowerhouse. html

~Don't wonder if you're child "should" be learning ANYTHING this week.Just live. And be. And suck every bit of joy out of every singlemoment together. Because you can.

To all parents!

2008-05-21T15:15:00.000-07:00

For All My Favorite Moms by Anna Quindlen, NewsweekColumnist and Author

All my babies are gone now. I say this not in sorrowbut in disbelief. I take great satisfaction in what Ihave today: three almost-adults, two taller than I am,one closing in fast. Three people who read the samebooks I do and have learned not to be afraid ofdisagreeing with me in their opinion of them, whosometimes tell vulgar jokes that make me laugh until Ichoke and cry, who need razor blades and shower geland privacy, who want to keep their doors closed morethan I like. Who, miraculously, go to the bathroom,zip up their jackets and move food from plate to mouthall by themselves. Like the trick soap I bought forthe bathroom with a rubber ducky at its center, thebaby is buried deep within each, barely discernibleexcept through the unreliable haze of the past.Everything in all the books I once poured over isfinished for me now. Penelope Leach., T. BerryBrazelton, Dr. Spock. The ones on sibling rivalry andsleeping through the night and early-childhoodeducation, all grown obsolete. Along with GoodnightMoon and Where the Wild Things Are, they are battered,spotted, well used. But I suspect that if you flippedthe pages dust would rise like memories. What thosebooks taught me, finally, and what the women on theplayground taught me, and the well-meaning relations--what they taught me, was that they couldn't reallyteach me very much at all.Raising children is presented at first as a true-falsetest, then becomes multiple choice, until finally, faralong, you realize that it is an endless essay. No oneknows anything. One child responds well to positivereinforcement, another can be managed only with astern voice and a timeout. One child is toilet trainedat 3, his sibling at 2. When my first child was born,parents were told to put baby to bed on his belly sothat he would not choke on his own spit-up. By thetime my last arrived, babies were put down on theirbacks because of research on sudden infant deathsyndrome.To a new parent this ever-shifting certainty isterrifying, and then soothing. Eventually you mustlearn to trust yourself. Eventually the research willfollow. I remember 15 years ago poring over one of Dr.Brazelton's wonderful books on child development, inwhich he describes three different sorts of infants:average, quiet, and active. I was looking for asub-quiet codicil for an 18-month old who did notwalk. Was there something wrong with his fat littlelegs? Was there something wrong with his tiny littlemind? Was he developmentally delayed, physicallychallenged? Was I insane? Last year he went to China.Next year he goes to college. He can talk just fine.He can walk, too.Every part of raising children is humbling, too.Believe me, mistakes were made. They have all beenenshrined in the "Remember-When-Mom-Did" Hall of Fame.The outbursts, the temper tantrums, the bad language,mine, not theirs. The times the baby fell off the bed.The times I arrived late for preschool pickup. Thenightmare sleepover. The horrible summer camp. The daywhen the youngest came barreling out of the classroomwith a 98 on her geography test, and I responded,"What did you get wrong?" (She insisted I includethat.) The time I ordered food at the McDonald'sdrive-through speaker and then drove away withoutpicking it up from the window. (They all insisted Iinclude that.) I did not allow them to watch theSimpsons for the first two seasons. What was Ithinking?But the biggest mistake I made is the one that most ofus make while doing this. I did not live in the momentenough. This is particularly clear now that the momentis gone, captured only in photographs. There is onepicture of the three of them, sitting in the grass ona quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summerday, ages 6, 4 and 1. And I wish I could remember whatwe ate, and what we talked about, and how theysounded, and how they looked when they slept thatnight. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get onto the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish Ihad treasured the doing a little more and the gettingit done a little less. Even today I'm not sure whatworked and what didn't, what was me and what wassimply life. When they were very small, I suppose Ithought someday they would become who they werebecause of what I'd done. Now I suspect they simplygrew into their true selves because they demanded in athousand ways that I back off and let them be. Thebooks said to be relaxed and I was often tense,matter-of-fact and I was sometimes over the top.And look how it all turned out. I wound up with thethree people I like best in the world who have donemore than anyone to excavate my essential humanity.That's what the books never told me. I was bound anddetermined to learn from the experts.It just took me a while to figure out who the experts were.

It's a Boy!!!

2008-05-09T17:47:00.001-07:00

So, once again a long haitus since I have written. I spent much of April giving the kids 110% with the anticipation of the arrival of little peanut. I was so sure he would come early too! Instead.... one day late. What can I say, all on his own time. But what a fantastic labor and delivery. I hate to say it was "easy", I mean... dare I say? But it was SO much different than the other two, and it went by very very quickly.

It was about 4am on May 1st that contractions started. This time I knew it was not the 'fake'-me-out kinda labor pains. This was it.... however not in any regular patterns off the bat. It wasn't till about 6am that 10-11 min. contractions started regularly and we were well on our way.... with in an hour we were down to 5-7 min. apart with a random 3min. or 10 min. thrown in there. But progressing pretty well. I actually had nice breaks between the contractions where I actually wondered if this was really it.

It was about 7:30a when I called mom to let her know, "this is it"... I bathed the kids and myself, and let them know today was the day! It was bout 8:30a that I spoke with one of the midwives and she said to come in whenever I felt the need to. It was about that time that I called my brother to come by in the next hour or so and we'd see how things were going. By about 10a, dad came with Seringe, whom he had picked up from work and driven home. And around that time P showed as well. And all about that time I was getting really worried that maybe this thing was stopping! YIKES!

Fortunately with three adults home for the kids, I could now concentrate on getting things going for me and baby. I did stairs.... nothing. Walked a ton.... nothing. So I tried crouching over the side of the bed. Knees on floor and leaning forward over the bed with a rocking motion.... AH HA! This did it! 5 min. apart for a good hour and I was sure it was time to get going to the hospital.

Called mom to tell her we were on our way. Called the midwife to let her know the same. By the time we got in the car and on the way, we dropped to 3-4 min. apart. When we arrived... man the L&D ward was hopping! We got the very last room available in there!

Nurse Tina walked in just as we did and were so BLESSED to have her assist with the birth. Debbie came in to check on me and low and behold... I was 7-8 cm. along, completely effaced, and baby was nearly at 0. (Frankly, I had been bracing myself for far worse b/c the labor just really did not seem "that bad".... )

Well.... speak too soon? Yes, I guess in so many words I did b/c that last 1.5 hours was by far the biggest, loudest moment of the entire process. We have some funny pic's of the kids covering their ears. = ) But with in an hour and half of arriving, getting checked, getting on a birthing ball, and pushing.... little boy Jarjusey was born into this world! Big brother and big sister experienced the entire process, and we as a family were home that evening with an "as immediate as possible" discharge. Nonetheless, we were home by 9p that evening, all snuggled together in bed!

What a day!

Mr. Shea Seringe Jarjusey

Born Thursday, May 1st, 2008 at 1:21pm

9 lbs. 1 oz. and 20.5 in. long

What a beautiful boy! We are just all so blessed!

Recent ' Doing's ' ...

2008-03-27T17:32:00.000-07:00

News to ponder...

2008-03-20T20:03:00.000-07:00

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19212514

Friends

2008-01-09T20:59:00.000-08:00

I find it particularly challenging (and rewarding) to 'read' my children to the point that they feel safe, loved, secure.... heard. I have to admit though, I have not been doing such a great job of it lately. I feel the last couple of weeks I have disconnected from really concentrating on this process. However... even with that said, I have to say that I *realize* this. I have come to the realization that this has happened and have been trying hard to regroup myself. Get back on track and hopefully assist my kiddos in the same process.

Maybe I was consumed with the outside world and what should be for us. With out focusing on the inside... and what really is good for us. This week we took a full day and putzed around the zoo. It's been awhile that we have not been on constant playdates or activities and this day at the zoo was remarkable. It felt like we were breathing each other in again.

Today was a particularly busy day where we left in the AM and did not return till the evening. Normally on these days, I feel like chicken with its head cut off. It's daunting on me to continuously have something and not taking time to breath. Today felt different. It was thoroughly enjoyable... and most pleasant.

Analyzing what I feel like I *should* be providing for my kids and myself, with out really stepping back and realizing what we really want and enjoy. I think we all sort of fall into this category though. Society has such high expectations about what is and what should be, that it can be very challenging to separate yourself from that. I was, admitedly, getting caught up in what I "should" do that I was disconnected with what they were telling me they need.

An example... I have been overly cosumed with finding Kaidin some older boys to hang out with. I have noticed that some of his younger friends that he's had for quite some time... he is just not getting along with very well lately. Not that it's horrible, but he's more irritable at times. Why would I think he needs new friends? He has constantly told me that he does not want to make new friends (at least that's what he says right now). And he has not really stated that he wants to spend any more time with his current friends. So why am I hung up on this? Why am I so concerned that something more is needed?

Good question right? So... I guess I am talking this out right now. I am over doing it and not just letting him be in his moment right now.

This parenting thing sure is a life-altering journey... There absolutely was no telling that having kids would just completely bring out the true inner me that truly feels as though it may have been surpressed all of these years! It's pretty scary to think that so much of what I feel is right is not at all how I had lived my life till now! I am, deep down, and truly different person, working on emerging each and every day. What a scary and yet exciting challenge!

Wonderful Holidays

2007-12-27T20:40:00.000-08:00

Things have been quite busy at Jarjusey Kunda. Since last I touched base, we've had plenty of playgroups, study groups, field trips, holiday shopping, playdates, classes ending and starting, a fun holiday cookie exchange and of course.... christmas!

Feeling quite broke at this time of the year, and eager to file the tax return = ) the kids are thoroughly enjoying their holiday stash. This year we had the luxury of having 3 full days of xmas. The first day was over at grandpa's for a nice xmas dinner. Then xmas eve was hosted at our place with mom and p & j. Quite a nice day. The kids were quite sad when everyone had to go home. Then xmas day we had fun with family presents and went to see a new movie that started that day. Did not have any idea that the theater would be as crowded as it was! It was so packed we could hardly belief our eyes! And here I thought I had a creative way to spend out xmas day together! = )

Since, Dahlia has started an ice skating class that she really seems to love. I am out there on the ice with her this time around, hoping she really gets the hang of things before I get too big to be out there on the ice! G'ma gave her the cutest white skates for xmas and she is eager to try them out! She has a week off of class this week, and then next week, Kaidin's karate starts up again. It will be a fun family Saturday of karate followed by ice skating. The kids (as well as Seringe!) are eager that daddy gets to come and watch them. This will be a special time for all.

Other... since it's between xmas and new year's it seems lot's of friends have traveled and classes not being held, so we are just hanging loose. Playing with our xmas goodies. Kids love their stash, and I as well. I received a new bread maker that is becoming a new thing for me. My first loaf yesterday, though did not rise as well as it should have, was still quite tasty and disappeared before the end of the day. Kaidin, I think, was the biggest fan of that first loaf. My second loaf today did not go as smoothly. I am certain there was just not enough liquid in the mixture to get the dough doughy enough to get going. At one point I just had to stop the cycle and toss it. It was lookin' pretty sad. Tomorrow I will try another, and with luck have a success. It's fun experimenting.

Also receive the magic bullet and the george foreman (serving for 4!!!). It's funny b/c I have a george that only holds 2 servings so often I would have half a dinner ready, getting cold, while I was trying to get the other half ready. Last night I was able to get all 4 turkey burgers on at one time! What a luxury!

So, trying to connect with friends that are around and in town, and working on CCAP as well as getting the carrier business going. I did not have luck with ebay in the last few weeks, so attempting to get myself together more (ie. an official carrier name, copyright and website up and running) before I start selling on ebay again. I'm eager to get that going and do hope that things take off soon.

Next week we have a second ultrasound.... OH! I guess I did not add that to my first list of what's been going on! But we had our 20 week ultrasound and that was so fun and exciting! Baby's spine was facing outward, so the dr's could not get the shots of the heart that they'd like to have at this point in time, so we need to go back in on Monday to get those pic's. Fortunately they did see a very strong heartbeat and 4 chambers, so nothing looks concering. Nonetheless they'd like to have some more shots to complete the full ultrasound screening. Soon after that, we will be trying out a new practice, of which I am very hopeful about. I am sure the switch just has to be worth it at this point in time! It's hard to believe we are more than half way through this pregnancy! Where does the time go?!

Study group is in our hands in the next week and half, and we are sort of lagging in getting things together. The kids have picked topics and seem quite happy with their decisions... Kaidin is doing cavemen and Dahlia the t-rex. We just need to get moving and out of the holiday/vacation fog that we've been pondering in and enjoying quite a bit!