8 years ago the sweetest little red head came into the world.
Chatty right away, liked things just so -- as in Daddy had to lay on the couch, hold the bottle just right so she could go to sleep, happy to be in the sling, happy to have cloth diapers.. no nursing thank-you-very-much, very snugly


happy to use a binky for two years, but when she was done, she was done.. bit holes in them and tossed them. Several years later we found one in Jonathan's shirt pocket and we were thrilled that we still had one.
She was very loving with her baby brother right away. He arrived 14 months after she did and she called him "doe-doe".
The three of them played the three little pigs all the time. Halloween 2002 was a no-brainer.


Lucy at 5, beautiful.. still holding on to some curl..


Lucy is ~ an artist

at 6, Lucy is dedicated to her best friend


and to her siblings


and to her Savior


She looks up to her sister


Lucy is Silly ( and a tad bit related to Gene Simmons!)


and sillier


Lucy is always ready for fun


especially if she can team up with her dear brother


She's completely beautiful and I am blessed to be her mother. She wants to be a builder, farmer, vet and pediatrician. She loves to read (The Buttons, an old series from the 50s are her favorites), play with her dolls, webkinz, ds, swim, swing, play anything with Parker. She's curious, engaging, intelligent, and caring.
Lucy means LIGHT. We chose her name because of the character Lucy in the Narnia series. Little did we know that her Light would be so infectious.
Lucy should mean JOYFUL LIGHT because this child can light up a room,
and spread joy, instantly.
Happy Birthday my dear ~ I love you!

May 2007
An afternoon of finger paints at our table with GG, a stripey, sunny yellow kitchen, one of my favorite photos ~


August 2008
a glorious Thursday morning at the table with Aunt Donna (who visits every Th bearing cinnamon rolls from McDonald's)playing a game of Zeus on the Loose (thank you sooo much Holly! We love it!!), having Reese over, doin' the laundry, all while Elmo plays on the laptop. Seriously it is mornings like this that warm my heart. It's not tidy, might not look productive to everyone, but I love it.

Parker is hidden behind Grace, probably trying to steal Zeus, even though it isn't his turn! Our shells have been pulled down and sit on the table as well as, A Book of Sea Shells. They've been sorted and named.
And it is the second full week of school here... we've not yet cracked open a book. There have been violin and cello lessons, there will be co-op classes next week, there has been letter writing, scales memorized, math games played, many mornings and evenings of exercise, lots of drawings & collage work.. but no "school books" opened.
It is our official beginning of "unschooling" or shall I say, it is the official beginning of me biting my tongue when I want to say, "Hey Grace, why don't you get out your math book?" Or "Hey Lucy, wanna start your reading?", it is the official start of me saying "yes" to more letterboxing, more trips to the children's museum, saying yes to more baking with Parker.
It is not really the official beginning of unschooling.. it is the official beginning of not schooling. The kids ~ they haven't even noticed.

~ The Pooh Way ~

Things just happen in the right way, at the right time. At least they do when you let them, when you work with circumstances instead of saying, "This isn't supposed to be happening this way," and trying hard to make it happen some other way. If you're in tune with The Way Things Work, then they work the way they need to, no matter what you may think about it at the time. Later on, you can look back and say , "Oh, now I understand. That had to happen so that those could happen, and those had to happen in order for this to happen..." Then you realize that even if you'd tried to make it all turn out perfectly, you couldn't have done better, and if you'd really tried, you would have made a mess of the whole thing. ~ p. 80, The Tao of Pooh

all that to say, folks ~ it is faith, it is trust.

My little girl, above, is finding her way this year. Finding her way in her faith, taking ownership of her faith walk.
I'm learning to be in tune with the way things work and look forward to the day that I look back and see all the connections I am struggling with now.
We had talked about many options for confirmation, but she wanted to go the traditional route. And after a few days of my being a bit cranky about the commitment, the demands, and the "traditionalness" of it all, I told her I'd stop being cranky and start supporting her on the beginning her confirmation journey. She just came home aglow from the first night of a confirmation retreat this weekend, telling me all about their activities, training and this evening's devotion. She also mentioned a girl who was being picked on and said, "I think I'll talk to Clay (a distant cousin and fellow confirman) tomorrow and see if he'll get his peeps to back off of her."
Yep, she's finding her way.

are you back to school?

choosing
Originally uploaded by hsmom2luge

No, I mean yes, well... my daughter answered a question like that today with a shrug. We simply don't have a back to school date, day or moment. Our family lives our learning.
These are photos from Wednesday, which was a pretty typical day ~
8:00 ~Grace went to my grandmother's and spent the morning there. They make breakfast, read together (currently Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott) and watch T.V.
While she was gone the three of us had breakfast, played around on the computer, cleaned up a bit, read aloud, practiced instruments, and I showed them the Ed Emberley book I'd picked up at the library book sale.

Lucy is already a reader, but Parker's not quite there yet. Ed Emberley helped him learn letters, spelling and reading while drawing pirates, evil villians and super persons! Doesn't get better than that.
We picked Grace up at noon and stopped by the local toy store to find some new coloring books (Grace likes these by Dover Publishing). After quick lunch and stop by the library to return a stack of stuff, we were back home so Grace could get a bit of practice in before her lesson at 3:00 that day.

While she had her lesson Lu, Park and I sat at a little neighborhood park and they played Wizards, Giants and Dwarfs (such fun) while I doodled a bit in my journal. Once we got back home (after dropping G off at a friend's house) we had a quick dinner, then P went off with Jonathan to help stain wood floors at my mother-in-law's house and I took Lucy to Awana. A friend brought her home at 8, when P & J were back home. I meet Grace at church and she babysat while I had band practice at 7 and we were home by 9.
A full day of learning...

An award & meme from Holly ~ thanks!!



(A.) attached or single? Attached.

(B.) best friend? Jonathan ~ 21 yrs of friendship!!

(C.) cake or pie? cake

(D.) day of choice? Monday!!
As all my local friends know ~ it is Holy Time!
(meaning no commitments, just time for me & the kids to do anything we want and they better not call unless their in serious need)

(E.) essential item? Bible ~ a close second- pen & journal

(F. ) favorite color? green

(G. ) gummy bears or worms? only bears and only once in a blue moon

(H.) hometown? Evansville

(I. ) favorite indulgence? Starbucks

(J. ) January or July? July as it's my birthday month!


(K. ) kids? yep!

(L.) life isn’t complete without? chocolate?

(M.) marriage date? March 21st 1992

(N.) number of brothers & sisters? zero :-(

(O.) oranges or apples?apples

(P. ) phobias? grief

(Q.) quotes? "I've decided that people are as happy as they've decided to be."
~ Abraham Lincoln
'"Children who engage in creative play in early childhood tend to do better in all spheres of life as they grow older. They excel not only academically but also socially, emotionally, and physically. They tend to be more harmonious and less agressive, and they show a better understanding of other people." ~ Heidi Britz-Crecelius

(R.) reasons to smile? Today's reasons ~ I had lunch with my friend Annette whom I haven't seen in nearly a year, and Parker swam the entire length of the pool today! (more Olympic inspiration)

(S.) season of choice? Autumn

(T.) tag seven peeps! I don't even know if I have 7 readers! Eh, if you're reading this, consider yourself tagged.

(U.) unknown fact about me? I didn't start drinking coffee until I was well into my thirties.

(V. ) vegetable? corn

(W.) worst habits? piling books on any available flat surface, finishing people's sentences
(X.) x-ray or ultrasound? Neither!

(Y.) your favorite food? pizza

(Z.) zodiac sign? Cancer

six one way week thirty
Originally uploaded by hsmom2luge

look ~ they can be sweet too! enjoying a quiet morning with comics, looking for a letterbox near a HUGE tree, and creating his own bubbles. yet, we all know that the story that will always be remembered is the evening they torn down the ceiling!
I even told Lucy that night that one day this will be funny & a great story to tell her children, that it just wasn't funny right then.
So here's what happened~ we were watching the men's gymnastic team and Parker was way excited. He loved it ~ adults were playing!!
Soon he and Lucy disappear downstairs and while I knew Lucy said,
"Let's go do gymnastics downstairs" it never occurred to me that they would try to make still rings!!
Apparently he even was able to hang on that rope for a second before it all crashed down. Oh.. could have been so much worse.
The noise was so scary, the dogs were freaking out, the kids were scared to death (Parker bawling hysterically, afraid we'd have to move). Yet, Lucy only had a scrap on her leg & P had no injuries!
I yelled at them once, to get their attention because they were so hysterical. L finally told me the ceiling had fallen, which I couldn't even comprehend until I saw it. (cursing did follow the seeing)
I ran back upstairs and told them to calm down, and go wash their faces. Called Jonathan (who was incredibly calm, I guess I was upset enough for the both of us) who assured me it could be fixed and not too expensive.
I then got the kids into bed and we talked, then prayed. Lucy's sweet voice, full of tears, asking Jesus to forgive her and Parker for tearing down the ceiling was enough to extinguish the fire of anger that was inside me. After praying I told them both that they were forgiven, that they'd have to help daddy with cleaning up and maybe pay for some of the tiles (they didn't), hugs and kisses and a peaceful night sleep was the result.
Now, the ceiling is fixed, the clean up has been done and I know they will tell that story for the rest of their lives. It is funny now, already! Which I sure didn't expect :-)

~Results of Olympic inspiration at our house~
any guesses what frick and frack were up to??

365:26 thinking..
Originally uploaded by hsmom2luge

Grace found this frame I made for my mom when she helped her sort things this weekend.
In the photo I'm 12, and the teacher (Mrs Guagenti, still a dear friend) had us make the frame during Sunday School then took our photos. This is right outside our church in the courtyard.
I think it is one of the few photos of me that I really like.
(aside from the ginormous frames!)
That Grace found it when she is 12, that I was so sure of myself (as she is) at 12, and that the years following that shot weren't so great all swirl around in my mind.
What would I say to my 12 year old self?
Well, I would start with:
keep up the music (at this point, organ and clarinet)
campaign for the guitar lessons
ignore your dumb ass teachers
read the classics
save money
I'm willing to guess just about anyone would say those same things to their 12yo self. There are other things that would have to be said..even things I find myself not wanting to go into here, on my now private blog. I bet we all have those things too. I guess I would say ~ pray a lot, protect yourself, and surround yourself with good trustworthy friends. That seems to be what I do now, and what I share with Grace. We talk about the value of good friends so very often.
So what about you? What would you say to your 12yo self? Feel free to share here in the comments, or link to your own blog post (with a picture!!!!)

toad's wizarding service ..click for larger view..
Originally uploaded by hsmom2luge

I can't just stick with one storyline...no way, must keep coming up with new ideas. It's the curse of a big idea person. The ideas rush upon me day and night (mostly night). I would say I probably loose more than 50% of them because I don't write them down.
Anyway ~ this watercolor painting came about because of a prompt ("poof") from Illustration Friday. I thought of the wizard's hat right away, then the snail and toad made their way on the page. I'm not sure it's finished, but close.
So now I not only have the Tree
story rolling around in my brain, I have Toad's Wizarding Service sitting on my desk.
I also have a painting for my dad waiting for attention, and some music ideas floating around, and oh yeah...today is my hubby's 38th birthday. Hm. (looks like a quick trip to the grocery is in order.) He would love this ~ So many choices... so little time!

Unschooling at it's finest ~



Yesterday we were at the pool and Grace and I were having a discussion about UV rays penetrating clouds. All three kids were making some comments about clouds and I asked what are clouds made of. Parker responded first, "water!". I was so excited that he knew that. He's had science class with a friend's mom and my first thought was, "Great! He took something away from that!". I was really kind of surprised because he usually lets the girls answer everything. (well, mostly he doesn't get a chance.. you know) So I asked him how he knew that and he says, "Remember that Avatar episode when Aang flies into a cloud and comes out wet?"
(Katara: Those clouds look so soft, don't they? Like you could just jump down and you'd land in a big, soft cottony heap.
Sokka: Maybe you should give it a try.
Katara: You're hilarious.
(Cut to Aang, whose head pops towards the camera, almost smashing into it, a wide grin on his face.)

Aang: I'll try it! Yehhhh!

(He jumps right off Appa's side, laughing and hurtling down through the clouds with his staff. Sokka and Katara look over the side of Appa as he plunges through a cloud. A moment later Aang lands next to them with his glider. He is soaking wet.)

Aang: Turns out clouds are made of water!

Do we even realize how often our children learn without being "taught"?

tiny tots camp 2008

tiny tots camp 2008
Originally uploaded by hsmom2luge

Lucy, Parker, Jonathan & I take on Camp Lakeview for the weekend! It was an incredible weekend for us all.

inspiration
Originally uploaded by hsmom2luge

Creative clutter is better than idle neatness. - Anonymous

I shooed the kids to grandma's today so I could crank up the music and break out the paints.
I've often thought, I wish I had an inspiration wire, like I read about in the Creative Family, but realized the inspiration was sitting all around me. Click on the picture to go to Flickr where about 10 items are noted. Above the shot are several links, the "all sizes" will bring up a larger view and you can be inspired too!

potato chip bread sticks

365:24
Originally uploaded by hsmom2luge

Grab one of your littles, toss him a small baggie of sour cream and onion chips, have him crush them to bits and you have a perfect topping for bread sticks! ( pillsbury, which have been coated with egg first)