~a random update~

  

My last post was kind of cryptic....it needs to be that way but I do hope that one day I can fill you all in on the details.  For now I'm moving on, so as not to go all twitchy here in our motel room;)

I can barely believe how beautiful this place is!  Mountains...so green, so many trees.  This place is lush...ferns and moss.  After living in a semi-arid desert I feel like my soul has been irrigated after being parched!  And rain, actual rain!  I am one of those gals who loves the rain, who wants to stroll, cozy hat on, hands wrapped around a mug of steaming tea, in the rain.  The smell, the way you can almost hear the earth singing its thanks to the sky.  Love it!

We have been hunting for houses...looking online, looking on MLS, being shown house after house by our realtor.  House here are pricey, which is a bit hard to swallow considering what we sold our last, amazing  place for.  (the same amount would buy a shabby apartment here, ugh!)  But this place is so amazing that its worth the house prices!

I discovered a wee shop the other day, recommended by an amazing women that I recently met.  It is a natural toy and supply store specializing in Waldorf stuff.  It is heaven to me!  seriously!  I have been putting together orders through Mercurius and different doll making companies for the last decade.  Having things shipped, hoping the colours are right.  This store is like a well stocked version of my craft space.  And I can just walk down the street and land in the middle of this magical place!  Roving in every colour you could imagine, wool and silk...fabric for doll making (including a darker, more chocolaty brown for my African babes!), they have amazing toys and tones of crafting/ schooling supplies.  They hold workshops on felting and doll making.  I plan to inquire as to weather they would be interested in carrying my dolls.  They have a few in there but the ones I make are a bit different.  It would be so cool to sell some locally!

Today we get back into our home learning groove.  We need something "normal" in our lives right now and have so much time to fill.  I'm so glad to be finishing up our books for the year!  Things have been so crazy around our place and we've been on a 6 week break.  So back to the crunch (lol, this is a funny thought if you knew what we actually do, lol.)  The kids are excited to be getting to work on our Story of the World....they are loving history!

please keep sending us your positive home finding thoughts!!  seems we could use all the help we can get! 

~This little Hamlet of Lovliness~

I'm still here!! really!

Its funny to me how we forget how HARD moving is...It must be one of those magical blessings from the universe because if we remembered would we really choose to do it again?? hmmmm...

So, to update you all, we are now residents of a beautiful, quaint village of a mere 800 or so folks. Lovely, artsy, enchanting and only a few minutes from a large town that has everything we could need right there. No more travelling 2 hours to go shopping!! yay! And the drive?? A whimsical winding road through orchards and rolling vineyards, past stunning winery's and loved homes along the beautiful with a background of mountains and rugged clay cliffs...so much contrast..stunning! Our home is within walking distance of the general store, cafe, library, park, beach, bmx track. My hubby bikes to work which is 5 minutes away. Bliss I tell you. Every day I am grateful that we made the choice to move back here. It has been an awesome homecoming in so many ways. Everything is echoing with "this was the right decision".

Yesterday the kids started dance and marshal arts. I went to a home learnin' mama's meeting to find out whats going on in the area and get involved. The kids are thrilled to have such a great community of families...so many potential new friends and a few dear friends from years ago.

We are living in that odd place of boxes, laundry and life...to busy living life to unpack the boxes. So if you are one of my dear pals from afar and you come to visit this autumn be prepared...one day I'll hang the art and organize shelves, but today it is hot and glorious, the kids want to go for a swim and I am half way through Eclipse....(blush... I can't help it...Twilight is addictive!!)

Speaking of which, I should really go make lunch before my kitchen turns into an oven and I'm tempted to put on the air conditioner!! I think it will take a while to acclimatize...we've become chilly northern folk! lol

I hope you all are enjoying this beautiful September!!

~september brings her inspirations~

I am sooooo in love with home learning (Dad-e-o keeps asking why I say schooling when what we do is so NOT schooling). Our mornings are filled with inquisitive discovery and some how we keep being done at exactly 12:00!! How we managed that I have yet to figure out...but regardless, the flow of teaching all these sweet babes is going so much more smoothly then I expected. I have time for everyones needs and lessons...complete with projects and novel reading near the end.

One thing I am finding so serendipitous....our Africa study. Beena decided last April that she wanted to study Africa. This was way before Dad-e-o and started talking about possibly adopting from Ethiopia. And now, with my heart so open to the possibility of more children in our lives I am finding myself emersed in a multi-faceted study! It is so cool!! Even the novel that I am reading to Eden is set in Ethiopia in the 1840's.( http://www.janekurtz.com/books/saba.html ) Written by a white women who grew up there, the story comes from the perspective of a 12 year old girl...and it is beautifully and poetically written, which speaks to Edens heart. At the end of the book there is a whole section on a girls life in Ethiopia then and now.

Shifting directions....I am almost done with our application for Mr.Bop's special ed funding for "school". How this program works for me is yet to be seen. It is a bit more work then our already somewhat labor intensive Self Design program http://www.wondertree.org/ but there is a lot of support and our Learning Consultant is very open/unschooly and has loads of experience with autistic kids. I do believe that I might have found a mentor for Mr.Bop as well....someone to do 1 on 1 work in his line of passions ~ nature and all her splendor. http://www.earthwisetours.com/ I have talked with her about the possibility and will talk more after Mr.Bop and Beena have taken part in her Nature Journeys which starts next week. I think the idea kind of intimidated her a bit...the whole label of Autism can be freaky for some people. but I am sure that will shift once she meets him and is able to see his passion and focus in the field. Mr.Bop is also very "high functioning" which is so different from peoples "rain man" perspective of Autism. I am so excited that we might have found something for him!! Now there is something for everyone here, which really does effect our deliberation as far as to move or not to move goes.

Speaking of which, we are going to look at a place this weekend. 30 acres with and old house on it about 30-ish minutes from town in an area that we both really love....huge mountains, beautiful lake, thick forests that are not all pine. The draw behind this, other then its obvious beauty, is that there is a house that might be good enough to live in while we build. It also has power, septic and a well already in place which saves us a huge amount of time and work....we're feeling pretty done in the work category right now!! I'll keep you posted!

Here are a few pic's of our adventures in the greenbelt with Jess.

Me bellydancing at the fall fair with my new orange costume pieces that my mama got me for my birthday!

~the freedom of home learning~

This morning it is chilly. I woke up snuggled under my duvet, wrapped in 2 small children who giggled with glee at the coziness of it all. There is something so special about cuddling up under loads of blankets in a room that is so chilly you can almost see your breath. (I know, its august, but at this high elevation Autumn seems to come early). These low temperatures and dismal skies bring me a feeling of comfort. Its time to make pots of hearty soup, ( herb and Chicken tonight!) warm muffins, loaves of nutty spelt bread. I am so excited to actually have time to do these things again! This summer has been such a whirl of activity that I was actually compelled to order pizza a few times...and for me, Ms. make-it-from-scratch, that is really saying something!



I also love the preparation for the coming school year that seems to dominate my head space these days. This year both Alden and Willow will be joining us in more official "morning lessons". Because we are "unschoolers," (as in we used no set curriculum, but rather do what interests the kids, shifting as their needs/interests shift) I find that the best way for me to facilitate our children's learning is to designate the morning as mama and kids time. Basically this means that during the morning I am all theirs...no chores, laundry, yard work, phone calls, visitors....nothing to distract me from my guys. I used to just leave it open but I found that it was so easy for me to get lost amongst my to-do list and chores, and them amongst the play loft and yard that we would get to the end of the week and find we hadn't accomplished half of what we had wanted to. And so morning lesson was born. We leave our afternoons open for hikes, lessons (skating, riding, music), visits to the library, play dates, etc. It works really well for us. I think we all have a hunger at this time of year for the calming rhythm that this season brings.



This year will be a bit different in that there is a good possibility we will be spending a big chunk of the fall travelling. As soon as our house sells we are loading up a travel trailer and heading across Canada. This is so exciting! Last year we spent the autumn studying Canadian history/geography/politics and this year we get to actually LIVE what we learned! How cool is that??!! We are planning to take our time and visit all the historical/scientific/natural land marks along the way. I soooooo love the freedom that home learning allows us. Lets take it to the road, into the tangible.....living our learning in a way that neither the children or Adam and I will ever forget!