my two pumpkins

Today we went to Horner Park for their Pumpkin Patch Day.
We did the pony ride, petting zoo, pick-a-pumpkin and decorate it, and face painting.
It was a full morning.

etsy treasury

Roya has good taste! Check our her Etsy Treasury That toy box is stunning! What a nice collection.

Ive been wandering around at the etsy site when I have a spare computer moment. I’d love to set up a little shop and make cute baby pants and reusuable bags and jewelry…….

new stuff

zibby has been starting all her new classes, tap, ballet, gymnastics, spanish…and she has been starting to write! she asks us how to spell a word and she writes out the letters.  a lot of the time the letters are upside down or backwards, which frustrates her. I suppose I thought she would *read* first, but I think it makes sense this way, too. Its super exciting to see her develop new skills! 

Live and Learn, 2008

We picked up our rental RV on Tuesday afternoon (after an endless wait at the rental office) and drove home to pack it up and pick up our traveling companions, my friend Barrie and her two kids. We didnt get started until almost 7 pm, I think. We got to Indianapolis, to our KOA site, and passed out immediately. Wednesday morning we woke up and hit the road right away. The kids were great roadies and we finally made it to Black Mountain around 7 pm. We dropped of Barrie and fam and headed over to our KOA campsite.

Thursday we headed over to the Blue Ridge Assembly YMCA to start our conference experience! We got our registration stuff and I found Beth to hand over all the donations I had brought. I made a scrapbook Passion Basket for the silent auction, plus TONS of stuff for the raffle and immediate gratification table. I decided to enter Zibby for a Fairy God Parent which turned out to be so much fun. Her lovely Fairy God Parent gave her some great items that Zibby was so happy to receive, including a pink crown and a glow toy.

I drew a name, too and I ended up having a total blast bestowing gifts in secret to my Fairy God Child, George (aka Moira)Her ticket said she liked crafts, reading, philosophy, and Obama.There was a Goodwill store between our KOA and the BRA, so we stopped in and I found a fabulous 80s era knitting/crochet book, Alice in Wonderland paperback, and a t-shirt that said, My Next Boyfriend Will Be Normal.I thought it would be really funny to get her that, since her boyfriend used to have a mohawk and is decidedly (and happily) not normal. (I forgot to mention that I am friends with the boyfriend’s mom!) I also found some fun things at the dollar store, like orange pop rocks candy for halloween and a tiny sewing kit (went with the crafty theme)The next few days I had secret agents deliever her gifts to her, so she wouldnt know who her FGP was, until the big reveal at the picnic on Sunday. I was always able to be close by when she got her packages, and it was super cool to hear her talking about how much she loved the gifts and speculate who it could be! When we finally met on Sunday it was really nice to chat with her and see how nice and sweet she was. yay George! It was fun to be your fairy god parent! 

John had been worried that there wouldnt be enough to do all day long while I was listening to speakers, but I think his days were pretty full. He pretty much hung with Zibby in the dress up room (thanks Deb!), and the pool. I even made it to the pool one day!

I got to hear a lot of great presenters and go to some funshops. Of course I went to the ATC one and got some great cards from Kathryn, Deb and Ren. I even let Ren have one of my most favorite cards that I ever made! It was a tree that I painted with acrylics. Since Ren totally inspired me to start making ATCs in the first place, I figured she would take good care of my special card.

Hearing Beth Fuller talk about Peaceful Partnerships was a highlight of the conference. I have been finding it very difficult to keep a warm, loving connection with my partner-stress, busyness, toddlers, lack of sleep, lack of coping skills, etc all are distractions and can make marriage stressful. Beth had a lot of words of wisdom and inspiration to get back to basics and strengthen those bonds.

It was also great to hear Brenna McBroom and Cameron Lovejoy talk about leaving home (step by step) and beginning their lives on their own. I loved Ronnie Myers talk about teens and I got a lot out of Barbara Splett’s chat about creative earning techniques! Many of us unschoolers are on a single income or on multiple streams of income, and many of find creative ways to trade, barter, or get stuff for free! I got a lot of cool ideas.

Another awesome part of the conf. was the Untrapreneurial Fair. Thats a fancy way of saying that a lot of unschoolers brought their wares and set up a table and sold stuff. I made some necklaces and charms and earrings and magnets and guess what! I sold almost 200$ of my own creations! It was so cool. All the conference superstars stopped by and many left with a necklace that said Live Now or Think Big Of course, I basically put that money back into the LnL economy — I spent plenty of money on raffle tickets and Usborne Books and a couple of items from Cris and I bought things from the Un Fair, a couple of needlepointed pillows, jewelry, bellydancing skirts …. cool stuff.

It was nice to see some familiar faces and meet  people in person that Ive known from various online lists. Of course, I met lots of new folks, too. All in all, we had a really fun time and I am so glad we went. I think, for me, the main message I got, time and again, was Trust and Respect. If I am trusting and respecting others, and myself, good things happen. If I trust and respect, there is room for good things to happen. If I trust and respect, I feel good, and I do good things.I really appreciate all the work that went into making the conference a spectacular success and I cant wait to participate in more unschooling get togethers in the future.

peace. 

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update part one

We’re back from our family vacation in the RV to the conference!

We got back on Tuesday afternoon, but arrived home to a bit of a drama. My cousin ended up in the hospital (in town from WA for a convention) and apparently had a very bad asthma attack that sent him into respitory arrest. He was taken to the hospital via ambulance, unconscious and not breathing. He was on a ventilator and everything. My aunt and other family flew in on the red eye since the Drs didnt even know what was wrong with him at first. Cousin regained consciousness the next day, but they held him until Thursday to run tests and make sure he was ok. It was scary and of course, we wanted to visit with our out of town relatives we dont get to see that often. I didnt even get to unpack for a few days after getting home!

And then, we had planned to have Henry’s first birthday party on saturday in our courtyard. But the weather did NOT Cooperate! In fact, even the highways flooded and were closed down so many of Johns family couldnt even come! I had to scramble on Friday to find an indoor space to have the party-luckily I was able to rent a room at a local park district building. We had fun, but we had houseguests and we havent really had time to recover from our vacation yet, let alone this last week of craziness!

This next week I am going to Michigan to spend a few days with some friends and kids, and I have camping on the calendar for the weekend, too. I am really on the fence about camping….it may just be too much.

and the week after that fall classes start, which zibby is very much excited about. we are doing a bunch of park district stuff, more on those later. we also started spanish this week. I was really impressed and it is going to be fun. I was happy to find that I remember lots of high school (and restaurant) spanish. Henry loved the class and ZIbby warmed up to it pretty quickly. I think we are going to have a fun and busy fall

Henry’s First Birthday (not counting the day he was born, of course)

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Sweet Baby Henry turned one today. Here is a photo of him with sister Zibby and cousins Devonney and Bella.
What a wonderful year it has been! Honestly, I think it has been such a smooth transition from one kiddo to two kiddos. Zibby is great with Henry and they usually get along very well. (toy scuffles not withstanding). Henry is a super chilled out dude who goes with the flow (except when teething is really bad) and we all just love to have him around.

Henry is now trying to stand on his own (lasts for a millisecond), crusing around very well, makes the sign for milk, claps and dances with music, shakes his head no, makes tons of noises, loves kitty and sister and nursing and PAPA! can put things in holes (pegs and such) and can turn on zibby’s leap pad with ease! he likes balls and cars and trains and things that go and make noise. he loves music. he loves to make music. today he found a wind instrument and was blowing into it and making music. he likes to cuddle and give hugs and pull hair. he is very friendly and likes to be held by lots of people. He also likes to sleep Today he mauled a brownie and yesterday he sucked on a zucchini spear. His palate is expanding! LOL He still likes his cornflakes and veggie booty, too. He does like to stab things with a fork, also. And he got a sip of water today from a cup and was very surprised! its such fun to watch him learn and grow and explore his world.

I am so grateful every day to have two beautiful, sweet, amazing kiddos. And that I get to be home with them and share their worlds and be their mom is such a gift. (for me!) It is made possible by my hard working husband and my tribe of supportive friends and family. Thanks! and Happy Birthday, Henry!

plans

tomorrow begins our vacation adventure involving an RV and an unschooling conference.
I am eager, anxious, excited, nervous, and mostly packed.

Recent happenings:
I got my hair cut by a friend at her house. She lives in a loft downtown chicago, right near the loop. It was really cool. We left one of zibbys shoes there and when we went back to get it the next day, we passed by Blommer’s chocolate factory. Naturally, we stopped in to the shop and bought some locally made chocolate. they also had a variety of old fashioned candy for sale, including gum cigarettes. hunh. I didnt think they made those anymore. I was tempted to buy them, out of nostalgia, but nostalgiac purchases have been whupping my butt on ebay, so I restrained myself. I did buy three packages of chocolate, one lik-a-maid and one pop rocks.

We had another sewing party and I got 3 bags, and then I made several more at home. Then I made yet another one for a bag trade with Imagination Tribe. Its been at least a year since I participated in a trade, what with new baby and all, so its great to be getting back into it. making stuff feels good. I made a big batch of necklaces and zipper charms to sell at the conference too.

lets see, what else…well we screwed up the date on buzz’ dad’s birthday party and actually arrived on the wrong day. yay us! well, the kiddos got undivided attention from the grandparents and a mcdonalds dinner. good deal.

we attended a tie dye party, took our last chinese class, and hit the beach on friday. we went to a bbq on sat, and of course we leave tomorrow on vacay. and then summer is over and fall classes start and I have to get crackin on making all my xmas prezzies…

and of course, little baby henry will turn a big fat one year old and we will be in awe and amazement and then give him a hair cut because its getting really out of control!

Henry turned 11 months old while we weren’t looking

Baby Henry turned 11 months old when we weren’t looking!

He is now signing milk a lot, seems to say mama and dada, cruises around like crazy and stands up only using one hand to hold on. Buzz says the other day Henry stood alone for a couple seconds! He just got his 8th tooth (and it was a doozy) He likes to play with cars and balls and Zibby. He likes to eat cornflakes and veggie booty and not much else. He does like to pretend to eat with spoons and forks.

He nurses great, the EC pottying is going well, and he is generally a happy, bubbly lil guy. Today he actually tried to get off the bed the safe way, on his tummy, feet first. Usually he just wants to go head first (ay yi yi!) He is learning!

He is also very dextrous. He can get cans of soda out of the sixpack ring. He can get into any cabinet. He almost got his shirt off himself the other day. He can put coins in the piggybank (with supervision of the coins not going in his mouth)
He can play with his tupperware shaper sorter toy

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We love you Henry!

conversations with zibby

Today Zibby sat on an egg to see what would happen.
It broke.
I was nursing Henry back down to his nap while this took place.
I came out and thought the cat barfed on the rug.
No, ZIbby says. Its an egg. I was a mother hen and I sat on it.

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The other day, as we are leaving for my LLL meeting:
Zibby: I sure am glad we are going to LLL meeting
Me: You are? Why?
Zibby: I am having some breastfeeding problems.
Me: Oh, really? Whats going on?
ZIbby: When I nurse my baby at night, she bites my nipple.
Me: Mmm. Yes, that is a problem.

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