Gratitude Wednesday!

It is officially week #6, but I'm dropping the number from my title this week, because every Wednesday from now on will be Gratitude Wednesday!

1- I'm really grateful for Wednesdays, because it gets me to blog a bit. lol. It seems as though we've been so busy lately that I haven't been tracking our experiences here, like I really do love to do. I know this will shift. In the mean time, I've been really grateful for connecting here on Wednesdays.

2- Patience. Patience and I have come a long way baby! It's amazing to me that I don't have to react when things around me are crazy. I can stay connected to what is going on AND stay present and calm. I'm loving that choice!

3- I'm grateful for the wonderful friends that Kathrynn has. It has made our unschooling life very full and rich, because of these amazing connections that she's made. And lets face it, its given me some nice mama connections, and also time when I can do things for myself.

4- I'm grateful for my wee little hoop garden in the back, growing some yummy fall/winter greens for my family. It's magical and amazing to see them grow, when the weather outside their home is cold. :)

5- Perseverance. I'm grateful for my perseverance- without it I would be an insane and stagnant being. With it, i push on in uncovering my triggers, integrating my past, and authentically Be. <3

Gratitude Wednesday, week 5!

Gratitude Wednesday!
For those people who know me, it's easy for me to be filled with gratitude and appreciation about my life. It comes pretty easily, actually, in the sense that often it is happening moment by moment through out the my day. And yet, ever since starting Gratitude Wednesday, I have looked forward to posting on Wednesday... to see what would come to mind in regards to what I'd be writing about.
It's really always a surprise, right up until I start my post.

When I realized a bit ago that Wednesday was coming to a close, I decided that I better get to blogging, before the day was over! At first I was not overwhelmed with thoughts of gratitude.... but in the time its taken me to write the above few sentences, my mood has shifted, my perception has changed, and the gratitude is flowing freely. Another reason why I really do love Gratitude Wednesdays, and will keep on this tradition, even when Thanksgiving is over. :)

1- I am grateful for the kindness and giving spirit of others. I went to a facebook friend's house today to pick up some post cards he was giving away, and i left which a box full of awesome post cards, PLUS a few great shirts, some cool paper, and a box full of awesome martini glasses!!!
Wes and I have wanted to get some martini glasses, and just hadn't gotten around to it. :P

2- I am grateful for the invention of the telephone. :) I have met many wonderful and amazing people via the yahoo groups that I'm on, and this morning I got to talk to my wonderful friend Josha. Yeah for the phone, which allows me to talk to many friends! :)

3- Which leads me to my next moment of gratitude- I am gratitude for my friend Josha. My life is so much richer and full of authenticity because of her. <3

4- I am grateful for the shinning passion of my child. :D

5- I am grateful for my ability to make choices, particularly my choice to be patient, which i've utilized a lot today. :P

:)

Gratitude Wednesday, week 4!

We are in Flagstaff, AZ this week!
My parents gave us the use of their time share as a gift for our anniversary and we choose to visit AZ!
We've really loved being here-it's been full of new experiences for all of us.

My mind is a little AZ preoccupied so I think my list may reflect that ;)

1- I am grateful for my sweet parents, who gifted us with this fabulous place!!!!

2- I am grateful for the hot tub on our deck- I've been using it every morning and often at night too. It has felt great to climb into the tub when the air is chilly and relax in the arms of the Flagstaff mountains. :)

3- I am grateful for the amazing landscape of AZ. We've experienced so many different terrains- the Grand Canyon, the ponderosa trees 7000 feet up, the red rocks of Sedona..... All amazing and unique.

4- I am grateful for my husband, who works so hard so that we can do things like this! :)

5- I am grateful for the honesty of each moment, and for the opportunities each moment brings should I choose to be Present in that moment.

Grand Canyon!

We are in AZ this week- staying in Flagstaff and visiting surrounding areas. Yesterday we went to the GC and it was amazing. I can't wait to go back when Kathrynn is a bit older so we can do some hiking. :)

Gratitude Wednesday, week 3!

A new Wednesda- a new opportunity to focus in what I am grateful about!


1- I am grateful for my job. I got this job about 10 years ago, long before I had Kathrynn. It was great then, because it was an awesome way to make some extra money (my full time job was working for the ashram business, which meant that i didn't really get paid :P) AND work at home!
I do have about 2 meetings a month I have to attend, but the rest of the hours are done from home! I am so glad that I am able to help out my family financially (a wee little bit) AND be a stay at home mom so that I can be with my sweet girl. :)

2- I am grateful for my AWESOME computer. Wes is a fervent mac user (and used to sell macs for awhile) and introduced me to the mac world many years ago. I absolutely love my MacBook, and can't imagine not having my laptop. :)

3- As much as I complain about living in Indiana, I am utterly grateful for the city of Bloomington. When I first moved to Bloomington, someone told me that it was like "the Berkley of the mid-west." Well, I'm not so sure about THAT. But I do know that Bloomington is a GREAT place to raise a kid. Its a great place regardless. :)

4- I am grateful for my unschooling yahoo groups, esp. a couple groups in particular that offer me so much support and guidance and love..... I don't know how I'd do it without these amazing internet connections. :)

5- I am grateful for music. I LOVE listening to all kinds of music, and my soul SINGS as a response to hearing music. I am just one of those people who can really be moved by hearing music, and I can't imagine life with out it! Thanks to all those amazing musicians whose passions radiate out and connect with my own passion. :)

Thanks out to Clint, who motivated me to do Gratitude Wednesdays! <3

Elixir drinking Chocolates

While we were in Sante Fe last week (!!!!) we visited Kakawa Chocolate House, where we sampled hand-crafted historic European and Mesoamerican Aztec Drinking Chocolate, made in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
http://www.kakawachocolates.com/

While there I told the owner that my experience there was so marvelous that I would blog about it, and here I am!



This is a shot of the Chocolate House, and unfortunately I accidentally cut the owner out of the picture, and I have forgotten his name as well! I am hoping I can retrieve that information. :)

Check out the home page for details on the amazing products offered at this amazing place. http://www.kakawachocolates.com/
The hospitality at Kakawa was amazing- the owner gave unlimited samples of the various elixirs out to us so that we could get a taste for all the different kinds of chocolate drinks he had available.

After tasting about 6 different kinds, we settled on the Chocolate Chai Elixir. It was soooo amazing. We had our drink with a small sampling of chocolates that they make in shop.
(http://www.kakawachocolates.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=4_6&products_id=35)




I took a couple chocolates and a bag of their top seller- the Mayan full spice elixir.
(http://www.kakawachocolates.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=23)

I brewed up a small cup for Wes and I this morning..... mmmmmm nothing else like these elixirs. So amazing and full of intense flavor.

I'm so glad Missy had been to Kakawa Chocolates before- what an amazing experience!
Check it out!

Gratitude Wednesday, week 2

Gratitude Wednesday!

1- I just got home from the ER- one of my best friends in the world had a DVT and asked me to come sit with her while she was waiting to be discharged. The body is a weird thing, and i am full of gratitude that my friend caught the clot early and is going to be fine. :)

2- I got home from a FABULOUS vacation a couple days ago, and I am still basking in gratitude for this trip..... There are so many layers of gratitude involved.... In short, I am grateful that I made it happen for myself. I manifested an amazing trip, with countless amazing experiences.

3- How can i not mention my gratitude for my wonderful husband and amazing daughter? Every day they motivate me to become a better person.

4- I am grateful for the contrasts that exist in my life.... The contrasting moments of "difficulty" and other such shadow type words illuminate and amplify the Joy that permeates....

5- I am grateful for our two little guinea pigs. They are sweet companions for our family. :)


<3

Breath. Feel. Awareness...... All is well....

Yesterday I had an interesting interaction with a man about unschooling. I was at an open market, just off the square down town Sante Fe. I was wearing a shirt that said "I am blogging this." I man started to engage me in conversation, based on my tshirt. The man was probably in his early 40s- good looking, hair shoulder length, with some grey streaking his otherwise dark hair. He asked me, "Are you really blogging right now?" And that is how we began to converse. He asked me a serious of question, leading up to "What do you blog about." I told him that i blog about my family, and especially my 6 year old daughter. He was curious what was so interesting about our lives that made me want to blog. (Funny question, huh?!?!?) I asked him if he'd ever heard of unschooling.

Now, to pause this for a second, I rarely engage in strangers about our educational choices, and when i do, i rarely use the word unschooling, even though that is what we're doing, if you have to label it. Somehow i choose to use the word unschooling with him, rather then my usual word choice of homeschooling.

Anyway! So he claimed to be unfamiliar, so i told him it was a form of homeschooling. He asked me some more questions, I answered. I felt it to be a lovely transaction thus far, and I was feeling the love of my little girl in my heart so vibrantly, I was feeling the love of our lives so passionately, and as always I was in full appreciation for this vibrant life that i live.

Then.....

He told me that he knew someone who raised their kids like that, and what a DIS-SERVICE it was to the kids..... <> I certainly was not expecting this, and yet there it was, and so the conversation continued. I explained that I personally could not remember anything much beyond multiplication, even though I have been schooled to the graduate school level. Sure, it woul come back to me, should i need to review it. Ie, I could re-learn it if ever need be. I explained that there are a lot of subjects taught that one never uses, "just in case." I asked him if he wanted to learn racquetball, what would he do. He said he'd learn it. Exactly! I said. When a person wants to learn something, they learn about it! No need to make someone learn how to play raquetball, JUST IN CASE they might, by chance, want play it down the road sometime..... He seemed to follow me, but had that doubters look still on his face. That look that he didn't buy it..... My friends, who had been elsewhere, returned to me at that moment, and it was time to leave. I said to this man, "I love my life. And my child loves her life. Have a great day." And off I walked smiling.



I was full of emotion at that point. I was filled with a level of exuberance and passion for my life and the choices we've made. The passion could have been fueled into more gratitude for my life.
Instead I felt anger towards that man. I was angry that he felt the right to turn a friendly conversation into a critique of my parenting. "Who was this man, to question MY parenting!!!!"
Those kind of angry thoughts filled my head. I couldn't shake it....

When I had a chance to relax and feel what was going on, a number of things came to me. Ala Byron Katie, I realized that I too sometimes offer my opinion when it is not asked for. That I too sometimes lack a level of openness to hear new ideas. That I too sometimes lack that trust that *it is all good*. That I too sometimes am not expanded and become limited in my thoughts. This led me to have compassion for this man, for myself, and i started to do some Ho'oponopono: I love you. I'm sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. I saw myself in him, and him back in me, and it lead me to heal those parts of me that needed healing. That part of me that sometimes desperately wants to be understood and accepted, because when I was growing up I often was *not* understood or accepted for who I was.

Over the next few hours I continued to go inward and feel, and I eventually felt hands, as if they were my mothers, or the hands of the Universe, or an adult me. Those hands were stroking though my hair, as a young girl. Those hands were caressing me and loving me. They were UNCONDITIONALLY loving and accepting me, every part of me. :)

I *am* unconditionally loved and accepted by the Universe, always. The key is staying tapped into that, and not in my fears, past, or judgments that separate me from that authenticity of Being.

I am full of appreciation for that man, and for my Self. All *is* well. <3

Gratitude Wednesday!

Clint Stonebraker (http://clintstonebrakerblog.com/) gave me the idea to do this....
write a weekly gratitude post on my blog leading up to Thanksgiving.

I have often thought about this idea- picking a day each week and dedicating it to gratitude. So I am full of appreciation that I came across Clint's blog.....

Today is the day before my big Sante Fe trip. One of my best friends is celebrating her 40th bday in Sante Fe. This was no spontaneous trip- shortly after becoming friends with Kt she told me of this plan... that she was going to Sante Fe for her 40th! Well, years later, and we're going! I can't wait!!! This is the first vacation I've had since Kathrynn was born- maybe the first vacation since our honeymoon, now that I think about it. So, wow!!!

So on this night, before my departure, I have some serious gratitude:

1- I am grateful for my friend Kt. I know we're going to have an amazing trip. :)
2- I am grateful for my husband, who works SO hard (and is working right now actually, finishing up a project) so that all the members of his family can do fun things. I am also so very grateful for how wonderful a father he is- I know that he and Kathrynn will have a fabulous time while I'm gone.
3-I am grateful for my wonderful 6 (nearly 7!!) year old daughter Kathrynn. She is one of the brightest lights of my life, and every day I get to be with her is an amazing gift.
4- I am grateful for my parents. They are very caring and supportive of my family, and are always doing unexpected things for our family. Today Kathrynn got a big package full of fun things from them, and then Kathrynn had a nice long conversation with my mom afterward. It was very heart warming. :)
5- I am grateful for for a life which challenges me, honors me and nourishes me. <3


Off to sleep I go, with gratitude in my heart, and mind. :)

Dear Trust- we've come a long way baby, you and me :)

One thing that I've been thinking about lately due to some recent conversations is how much I really love living our days together in the way that we do. I have recently been reminded of how much fear people have in regards to homeschooling, and I feel immense gratitude and appreciation that I was exposed to the ideas of homeschooling and unschooling when Kathrynn was less then a year old.

At that time I was learning how to Trust my baby- trust that it was ok to follow her nursing needs, her sleeping needs, her exploring and sleeping needs. I was learning to tune out what others thought was best, and what others expected me to do, and instead listen to my child and listen to my self. I continued to learn to unravel my own issues/conditioning/fears so that I could partner with her. This kept on continuing- my Trust building and building and building. It didn't happen magically for me. It happened through a lot of internal work, and through finding supportive networks that helped me challenge those old fears so that I could continue to build that Trust with my child and family.

I now realize that most people who are AP (attachment parents) have a certain amount of Trust with their babies, but then as they age, and become X year old, they slowly loose the trust that they had in/ with their child..... This is so sad for me to hear, because our children never loose that need to have our trust.

I am remarkably grateful and perhaps even lucky that I have a level of trust that enables me to be with my child on her path. This path has brought me an immense amount of inner growth, and an extreme amount of external joy.

Pizza, tic tac toe, football and sculptures, and a few seconds of pontificating on how much i love our life :)

The happenings around here lately......... :)


We went up to Indy last weekend for our 3rd annual Fisher's Ren Faire!
It was one of the coldest days of the year, and was the coldest Fisher's Ren Faire by far (the first year we went it was 40 degrees hotter, a whopping 96 degrees!!!).
I will hopefully be posting some pix from that soon, but in the mean time will post some pix of what we did after the Ren Faire, and subsequent days...

Now.....onto PIZZA!!!!! We went to Unos pizza after the Ren Faire up in Indy and boy did it ROCK!!!!
They had a gluten free crust, and made her a pizza to order. Believe it or not, this was Kathrynn's FIRST PIZZA!!! She's had bites and the occasional piece here and there, but this was the first time we'd been to a place that made gluten free pizzas that she could also order without cheese.
She was soooooo excited by this experience, and Wes and I were equally as excited to be able to be facilitating this experience for her!!! It really felt great to be giving this experience to her. :)






By the end of it, she'd eaten all but a few pieces, and ate another piece on the way home. :)



Tic Tac Toe joy........ One day Kathrynn and I played some tic tac toe while waiting for some food. She made me laugh when she went from making these rather large grids to this VERY tiny grid. I had to take some pix of it bc it was so funny to me! :)




One thing Wes and Kathrynn have in common these days is there love for the Chicago Bears. One day while eating bruch at The Farm for our usual Sunday Brunch, Wes was able to bring up the game on his iphone and BOOM! They had their game on. :)
(if you look closely, you can see his iphone propped up toward the center of the table :P )


They wound up winning that game, so whatever that's worth! LOL :)


The other day Kathrynn came up with the idea for us to make sculptures. We worked on them for awhile and this is what we came up with:
I am feeling rather emotional as I post these pictures, feeling the extreme joy and love I feel for my daughter and my husband. I am full of appreciation for the wonderful moments and creations we share each and every day. Its amazing how something as simple as a sculpture can lead me to feel a sense of awe for how creative and expansive our days can be, without even "trying," and instead by just following our joys of the moment.
<3

Random moments of Joy :)

Animal fun! :)





Puppet show fun :)





Some fun at Wonderlab :)


Wes' hands were on the top lol!
An animal show w/ some rescued animals. :)



Tea party time!

A random gymnastics jump during open gym!






Sewing class, where they made a backpack!




Learning some songs on her xylophone/piano!

The Scotish festival, Skye's bday party, wonderlab, and some sewing and:)

Wow! We've been busy!!!!!

The Scottish Festival in Columbus was lots of fun..... Kathrynn went as a pirate. :)



She had so much fun dancing the Scotish dances.



We love the bagpipes!
The highland games were so much fun to watch!

The woman in the above clip was AMAZING!
Oh how Kathrynn loved this hat/wig, lol!



Skye's 5th bday party!!!

Pinata..... Cake!!!!!

Presents and swimming!

Wonderlab!!!!! Oh, how we love Wonderlab :)















Sewing Joy! Kathrynn has been practicing with her sewing skills, doing mazes, dot to dots, creations of her own.... even sewing on random pieces of paper she finds, including the below receipt, lol!

Last days of summer...... :)

We've been so busy that I haven't been blogging as much about our busyness! Here are some random shots of what we were up to the last days of summer.....

Kathrynn's new favorite thing to do... sewing! At the class she is taking she gets to use a $1500 sewing machine.... not quite like the simple one we have at home :)

By the end of the summer she figure out how to get across the bars.... Serious muscle power!

Our friend Dani reading to the kids at the library.... where we spend our Tuesday mornings :)

Kathrynn putting on a puppet show at the library...


Cora and Kathrynn squealing with glee at our local roller derby bout..... The kids LOVE going to roller derby- not always for the bout but for the great gymnasium where they run around :)

Kathrynn dressed up as a flower super hero!


More play time at Delilah's pet shop..... oh how we love the puppies!!!

Kathrynn practicing her moves at open gym, where we go every friday before her gymnastics class......
Hanging out at the pool on the last day they were open... :)

Hanging out w/ Cornelius the snake, at Wonderlab, our local science museum.

Joys of radically unschooling......

Anne, the list owner of shinewithunschooling (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/shinewithunschooling/?yguid=281150272) asked this question the other day on her list:

"What did you *used* to think was True (but is not)?"

I answered this question in a round about way, maybe writing more about "what I never thought was true for", rather then what i used to think was true....
This is what I wrote:


I think for me it is how kathrynn grasps hold of her passions and just moves so effortlessly because on an inner force inside herself..... this simply AMAZES me.
Like when she woke up one day about a month ago and sat on the floor and started writing out math equations in crayon on a pice of paper..... I looked at her, wondering WHERE DID THIS COME FROM?!?!? And it came from with in her.... an innate desire to learn and process and figure out her world, which involved numbers! How amazingly natural it was for her.... how i never would have thought that would be something a 6 yo would do for fun!

How today when we went to her "quilting" class, which is more like a sewing class and she spent time after class to continue working on her own projects on the machine.... after all the other kid were done and packed up..... and she declared today that she would be a sewing astronaut bc she has a new found passion for sewing on the sewing machine, and an old passion for space....... :)

Anything and everything has potential to be a passion for her.... the world is her oyster.... and she tastes and dabbles and just loves the buffet that life has for her to try out.......

Living this radical unschooling life, has led me to understand how much passion can exist in a being, who is free to be who she wants to be.......
-------------------------------

I think that last sentence says it all.... I never understood the passion that can exist in kids...
And this passion can show itself in all kinds of ways- in sports, in quiet solitude, in art, in watching tv or movies, in music, in PLAY! I think more then anything, those passions are alive from moment to moment. Because I do not (to the best of my ability!!!! hey, i'm not perfect yet!!) squash, shame or limit Kathrynn's exploration of her world, she continues to move through the world with these passions.
Maybe its just coincidence- maybe i just have a kid full of passion! I'm sure that's partly the case. AND I think that her uninhibited movement through the world keeps those passions alive and truly accessible to her. In either case, I know one thing is true...... I love this unschooling journey we are on! :)

Lake Griffey Joy on Labor Day

What to do on a Labor's Day afternoon....... We headed over for a canoe ride and short hike.....


Kathrynn says she loves canoes because they are so relaxing and easy..... <>. We had a nice canoe ride that day- the sky opened up and the sun came out while out on the lake. My strokes improved and we actually went forward most of the trip! lol




We went for a hike along the lake bank......



Found a cute little animal on our way..... a little boy who came by called it a tree frog, but I'm thinking it might have been some kind of toad.....

Hikers need their energy! :)
A lovely little adventure, 5 minutes outside of Bloomington...... Lovely! <3

Sometimes you just have to sneeze!

One day Kathrynn couldn't stop sneezing!!!!

This went on for about 15 minutes total, and I just couldn't resist not getting a bit of this on video.
The first clip is the funniest to me, but because of the way I was holding the camera you couldn't actually see her much, just the outline of the book she was reading. The second clip was a bit toned down, probably because she noticed that I was holding the camera , lol!

Girls sleep over :P

When our husbands are out of town we get together for a girls sleep over (ok, Liam is a boy, but he was in bed already and usually stays out of the girls way :P)

We all gathered around on the floor and painted our toe nails. :P



Kathrynn and Virginia came up w/ an elaborate production- unfortunately my camera was about out of batteries so i only got a few shots, but it was amazing to watch the girls put on their show! It was kinda Laurel and Hardy meets clowns from the French circus. ha!


Our families always have a ton of fun together. :) xoxox

Visiting Luke Rhode's Family Farm

Luke Rhode's farm is about 45 minutes southwest of Bloomington. We get our eggs, beef and pork from Luke as often as we can. Kathrynn has a dairy allergy, otherwise we'd probably be getting his awesome raw organic milk as well!
Kathrynn loves visiting this farm so much! We went last year and we were the only visitors due to the weather! We had a personal tour of Luke's property. :)
This year the weather was perfect and it was crowded with Luke's patrons. :)

Luke has two areas for has 2,000 chickens. One area is for the youngest chickens, and the other area is for the older chickens. Both sites were filled with eggs! Kathrynn had a great time gathering the eggs. :P
You can see the school buses in the shots- that is where the majority of eggs were laid, and where one of the clips was recorded.





I loved how the cows and chickens lived together. :)



Here is the guard dog for the chickens, who was all for hanging out under the bus while we checked out Luke's farm. :)


Next it was time to see how Luke's cows are milked. First the cows are gathered down to the milking building, and then they are brought into the milking room. Their utters are cleaned and then the milking machines (whatever they are called!) are attached to the utters.


The hoses go to a large tank in the next room where the milk stored in a cooler until ready to be sold.

Our future bacon.......


Thanks to Luke and his family for sharing their farm with us for a day! :)

Gymnastics!!!!!

Oh how we've waited for her new gymnastics class to begin!
She started fireflies last week and loves it!
The best part about the time of her class is that there is open gym beforehand, where she can run around and do her own thing. :)

The following pictures are of open gym joy!
She loves the trampoline, and practicing her "moves" on it.



Kathrynn setting up her obstacle course.....




Here is a little video of her showing me how we're going to do the obstacle course......
We took turns setting them up and then showing each other the various steps and moves....
and practiced sharing this space w/ all the kids that come to have fun as well. :)

Some more summer Joy :)

Our summer fun continues!!!!



Lots of time at the pool this summer.... we love how close we are to the pool- just a 5 minute walk!




Wes' bday was August 13th. We had a lovely family party and Wes had a great adult party at his favorite restaurant Farm. :)


Kathrynn has been really enjoying our membership to the History Center that my Mom bought for us.

Kathrynn is being the teacher in this pix, and we are counting to 100 together. lol
Kathrynn as the student.....
We love playing checkers while here!

This is Kathrynn's time machine/clock- she drew pictures of different things we do during the day, from taking care of our guinea pigs, to watching tv, to reading...... :)


Roller derby is so much fun for many of our kids. Sometimes they watch the bouts, other times they run around willy nilly the whole time! This bout had an intermission of a band which caused lots of dancing!






Kathrynn loves performing in the UU choir. Wes took videos of the songs on his iphone, they are posted here: http://gallery.me.com/productionhouse


Our fun continues!!!!! :)

Zoo Joy!

First stop was watching Tomby get washed. We've been visiting the zoo for many years, and know Tomby quite well. :)


After seeing Tomby, we headed over to the rides- First stop was the roller coaster!

This was taken while on pass #2 (the roller goes 3 passes) of the roller coaster ride. We sat in the very back, which was what the ticket person recommended for a very fast ride! Turns out, it was a bit too fast for Kathrynn, but she liked it anyway. :) She said that next time we'll not go in the back. :P



Some shots I took while we were on our ride! I lucked out w/ the aim. :P

The first shot was kinda heart breaking to see.... my sweet girl was a bit wigged out by the roller coaster ast times!!!

But then i saw this picture and I remembered how much fun she had with it. :)


Onto the train!!!!!!


You can see how beautiful the sky was that day- it was in the low 80s or hight 70s, big fluffy clouds moving w/ a nice breeze... perfect zoo weather for us! :)
Oh Carousel, how we love you!!!




Feeding the giraffe is also something we do every time we come to the zoo. :)

((haha! for the record I have to say that all the "good jobs!!!!" that you hear in the video were not from my mouth, as anyone who knows me understands that I do not appreciate the constant offering of "good job," especially for tasks that are quite manageable by the child. After all, I am raising a child, not a puppy. <>))


The meerkats.

Pony ride is always fun for Kathrynn.....




Bear cub....




Another favorite of Kathrynn........Dolphin show!





This is actually a room underneath the tank where you can see up to all the dolphins swimming around. Its very cool!



The aquarium and sea life exhibit......


Cute little sea horse :)






This is not an actual walrus, but Kathrynn really wanted me to take her picture with this "walrus."
The papa was sunning himself, and the mama and baby were swimming around, sometimes bothering him enough so that he'd have to reposition himself. lol


This is a fairly new exhibit- where you can touch this small variety of sharks. Kathrynn was able to actually touch one this time- it came right up to the top of the water right in front of her. :)



We always have fun at the penguin exhibit. You can see from the video that the exhibit has 2 sections that are connected underneath the floor, so the penguin's will swim back and forth, going underneath you. I tried to capture them playing chase with each other but was not so successful with that. :)


Our last stop was at the Butterfly House. Kathrynn took a very long video of the butterfly house, so long that I can't actually post it to this blog. But come take a peek here:
Life of a Butterfly: http://gallery.me.com/weslasher#100052



This was one of our favorite days at the zoo- it was such a great day! :)

Sewing/crafting class!

www.shiisaquilts.com
We went to a great homeschool group quilting class, although i'd call it a sewing/craft class. :P

First they did a cool kind of tie dye craft, using permanent markers and rubbing alcohol, on treated fabric. They all turned out so cool!

Tie dye!














Next the kids choose fabric to make pillow cases!
It was fun for Kathrynn to use a sewing machine for the first time, and how cool that our family friend Annie was there as one of the teachers!




Kathrynn can't wait for the next class! :)

New water display at wonderlab :)

Oh how we love Wonderlab!!! http://www.wonderlab.org/ We hadn't been there in awhile, so what a great discovery for us to find! Kathrynn spent a long time at this exhibit, making her way through all the different components. It was great fun to watch. :)




This part was super cool to watch. This boy had been there for a long time and was so excited about how it worked. Kathrynn liked to try to obtain as many balls as possible and then quickly put them into the cylinder.



This was also fascinating for me to watch. Even though she is 6 and a half, she still has this base level of curiosity, innocence, creativity, and playfulness- she spend quite a long time filling up the beakers with water from the one section and dumping the water out in the other section....
She started w/ one beaker and then by the end of it she was doing 2 or 3 at a time to be more efficient. :P




My artsty attempt of a photo. :)

Our amazing life!

I often look through my uploaded photos to figure out what I want to blog about, and most of the time I am just overloaded with how amazing our lives are- every single day!- as we follow our joys and passions. I am filled with so much appreciation and gratitude that Kathrynn and I have the time and space to lead truly free lives- following our hearts desires and being true to who we are. Doing this and being this has brought so much authentic joy to our lives! :)

Here are a few pictures of our past week. :)

Kathrynn was super excited by the pirate costume Wes brought home from Vegas.....







Sugar cookies..... Thanks for this gluten free recipe: http://glutenfreegirl.blogspot.com/2005/12/may-you-have-house-full-of-laughter.html








Carrot from our garden!!!!




More fun at Delilah's pet store.....


:)

Paolo and Diego's bday party! :)

Paolo (5) and Diego's (8) birthday party!!!!

This shot of Kt really showed the excitement of the day!!! :)

Little Ruby... awwwwwww <3


The kids had so much fun bowling. They were so cute, keeping track of their score, and yet not caring who was "ahead" or winning. :)




Oh that goofy peanut gallery!


Its a double header!!!!




Presents!!!




Wes and his stick........ He spent a considerable amount of time trying to get a frisbee out of a tree, unsuccessfully, but with much fervor and comradeship. :)

Such a great afternoon! :)

Farwell to our friends Nyah and Heather xoxo

I'll admit that I was too busy relaxing and swimming to get too many good pictures, but here are a few pictures from a sweet going away gathering for Heather and Nyah.



Kathrynn was super excited to decorate the cake. :)



Nyah is holding her guinea pig in the towel..... that guinea pig had a busy day! lol

On the way to roast marshmellows- kathrynn was SO excited. She nabbed the camera and decided she needed a pix of wes and my butts. ha!


getting ready to roast marshmellows!
YUM!!!!!!



We'll miss you Heather and Nyah!!!! xoxoxox

llama joy and life at rhondas :)

Going to Rhonda, Scott, Virginia and Liam's house is always a blast for us! The girls play for hours, and if we're lucky the adults do too! :)

Swimming in the pond and dress up are often two important components- on this particular day the two were combined! Kathrynn wore an old dance recital outfit of Virginias and it was such a funny site to see kathrynn in the pond wearing it!
On that particular day they were playing "rescue Liam" lol





On this particular visit (Full moon) it was a cool evening and Kathrynn was not keen on getting into the pond!
After some good times, which included champagne and what not......


Rhonda and I decided to pay homage to the full moon and go for a dip in the pond! :)
We were SO cold upon exiting that a bubble bath was the perfect remedy! :)
Thanks to Wes for being on standby to capture the giggles. :)



Fast forward a month, and the weather was warm and the sun was bright!
Rose had her little baby llama Velvet, who was so tame right from the get go. :)

lol, Kathrynn standing on the cement deer. :)

Little Storm is also so lovely and tame. :)

Fun swimming times!


We always love our times at Rhonda's farm! :) xoxoxoxo

Matthers Museum Joy

A random visit to the local Matther's Museum.....

Always good times in the "70s house"- where kathrynn loves to raid the kitchen and set up meals on the tv trays. lol







Then onto the area they have set aside for creating works of passion!


And a little fun the native huts, where Kathrynn decided to take a brief nap in a box. lol!

Fun days of summer :)

Here are some random shots from our summer thus far!!!!

Home made cupcakes! :)

Sprinkler joy in the back yard. :)
More fairy houses at Leslie's house. :)
Kathrynn is trying on one of the aprons my mom used to wear when i was a kid. She thought it was super cool that she was wearing on of the aprons i'd occasionally wear when my mom wasn't. :)
Fun times at the park! :)



A series of pix of Kathrynn making on of her famous soups:












A ride to bryan park after dinner. :)





Our summer has really been full of Joy Joy Joy!!!! :)

More Library Joy!

Love for our library strikes again! "Music Re-use It" was a huge hit with Kathrynn. The librarians brought in "trash" and the kids made musical instruments from it! She made a drum set, two tambourines, a rattle, and an oboe (the tube like picture is kathrynn working on the 'mouthpiece'). She's been playing her instruments all week. Yeah library programming! :)