Visitors are coming!

Our first visitors from Minnesota are coming today!


Yep, these two! My dad has a Korean War Veteran get together in Charlotte so we're going to travel over there for that. Anyone know of fun stuff to do there?

We also have some fun projects planned, which is important for my dad, he's quite the worker. So for him ;) we're going to start framing up the basement and finish a loft for Kyra's bed.

Kyra worked all day yesterday on this,





it's going to be a high queen bed loft.

This will free up some space in her room. She's planning on putting an artist's/drafting type of table under it. She's really excited and was really pooped last night from working on it!




For my mom.. sewing and crocheting projects. Kyra loves to sew but I'm a bit inept at it. I can use a needle and thread but when it comes to a machine.. let's just say it's not good. So we're hoping Grandma can help Kyra work on a skirt that she has going in her head.

She's hoping to make something like this:


Should be fun!

Happenings...

We've been taking
walks and runs

to the lake

Making new friends...*gulp* (anyone know what this is? Looks like some kind of ant, it was HUGE) ... I just looked it up and I think it's a velvet ant, which it says is actually a wasp? You should have seen me chasing it around the shore of the lake trying to get it's picture. I'm glad it ignored me. Maybe it's not a stinging wasp/ant?..

Painting Abbi's room.

Which... I've grown to like painting since I will put a movie or 4 in and listen while I paint. As I took this picture the song Falling Slowly was playing as the end credits from Once were running. I just love the movie and the music. When we painted Kyra's room I got the whole extended version of Lord of the Rings in... nice.. :)

Painting more on Kyra's room
Kyra's design

Loving the new drum set.

This is with Rock Band 2, but later this month the brain of the set comes so it can be played on it's own.

Enjoying eating steak on the deck,

which is grilled to perfection by the Tim-man. Look at Abbi diggin' in. We ate earlier, she wanted to get a run in before so Tim waited to do her's, did I say "perfection" ? Grilling a steak is serious business to Tim.

Happy Saturday everyone

Happy 14th Birthday Abbi!

Happy Birthday Abbi!



What an amazing gift you are, we love you and hope you have a great day!

And for those of you who are wondering what this 14 year old is going to be doing on her birthday...







You can check out Kyra's tribute to Abbi at her blog.

Autumn is coming

It's cooling off. We can really feel a change in the weather. I think fall is near :) As we were walking the dog last night I mentioned to Tim that I thought it probably wasn't this warm in Bemidji right now. It was around 65-70 and it felt nice. Yeah, I know, pretty obvious but you kind of forget when you're away from it.

We were able to enjoy our deck too. We ate some dinner out there and I put a mum plant out. In Minnesota the leaves would be turning quite a bit by now, they're just starting a little bit here. These next seasons are going to be something that I've never experienced. This fall and winter will be something totally new. I can actually plant in the fall. People put out pansies and they live until it gets too hot! I can't wait, I love pansies. When I was in Norway, so many of the houses had window boxes with them. They were the biggest pansies I'd ever seen! Maybe we'll make some flower boxes.

Usually at this time of year it does seem like the earth is getting ready for a big sleep. For us this year it seems like it's just going to take a brief rest.

Playing and playing or Secret Boyfriend?

We've been...

playing with friends.
playing with new games.
and Alec is playing his new drum set! He just got it today and he loves it.

It's really cool because it's one you can hook up to Rock Band or play on its own. (and if you didn't know... Rock Band 2 came out and there are tons of new songs on it ;)

He's still waiting for the "brain" which allows the drum to be played on it's own but until then he'll keep our heads bangin' with songs from Rock Band.

I've quite enjoyed Spirit in the Sky and We've Got the Beat. My right arm is now aching from playing Rio by Duran Duran.. and Hungry Like the Wolf is on there too!





yes, I loved Duran Duran...ok, I still love Duran Duran








Wait you can't see John Taylor very well in that picture.. let me help you. Oh and I think he got better with age..



Whoa.. I think my 16 year old self made a resurgence...

And now back to our regular blog programming...

Breakin' Boys

Fun always ensues when we get to see our friends.

Check out the boys

courtesy Abbi

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It's not just Pong anymore..

People are starting to see what type of thinking goes into video game playing.

An article from Wired magazine (brought to you from Always Learning)

http://tinyurl. com/5tcfme

This article reminds me of the time Abbi decided to make a graph showing the prices of something she was selling at the auction house on WoW. She wanted to see when during the day would be the best time to sell her item. Yep.. economics at it's best.. when it's fun! :)

This writing by Mark Prensky is very applicable also. He talks about how gaming has changed in the last 20 years or so.

http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky-Complexity_Matters.pdf

I don't really like labeling certain games as educational, of course I believe that we are continually learning, but I know what he's saying ;)

Live and Learn 2008

We're home from the Live and Learn and basking in the glory of it all. Yes, we're exhausted, but it was so worth it.

We had a great time. Here are some highlights:

The drive....only 3- 3 1/3 hours this year (depending on the route ;) ... Yay!



There's always jokin around in the vehicle. "I wasn't picking my nose! Really!" For Seinfeld watchers...




The snuggle bugs.. we all know how Peter Jackson made people look different sizes. Abbi's head is tiny in the real world. And who knew Nic could do drama?


Gail and I hosted a "make a sign for your door" funshop. We thought it would be both fun and helpful.


And then what did we get to do that first night???

You know it! We got to listen to Miss Amy Steinberg! Love her.
She was in her amazing form again. Of course, you can't help but dance with her soulful music.


Did I say we love her????


Since this was the last Live and Learn, several people made wonderful tributes to Kelly and her family. Thank you so much Kelly, Ben, Cameron and Duncan!


There were wonderful speakers, as with other years, Anne O returned and I really enjoyed her 'Get out of your head and into unschooling' speech. Also this year there were several first time speakers, and they were amazing also--- Ronnie, (aka Dragonfly), James Coburn IV, Cameron Lovejoy, and Brenna McBroom. All of them were so inspiring. They had us laughing, crying and thinking in wonderful ways about this life of ours.

Some of my favorite people.

The shining light, Gillen

Breakfast with Sierra, Kimi and Sophie (it was early!)

Sierra, Sadie and Kyra

Kimi and Shelby
We love sharpies!

Mindy and Abbi
Our 2 massage experts



Rachel and Laura
They live close to us now!



Our Blues Brothers
Broc and Ben

uh... yeeeaaaahhh, Chloe...



The real Chloe, perhaps. and MJ


The mini mes of me, Ren, and Rue
aka, Kyra, Sierra and Rowan

So yes we had a great time and we're so glad we participated in the wonderful world of Live and Learn. I have more photos from the conference and you can view at Flickr.

I will close with this sweet photo. Love to you all!

On the road again..,

Looks like it's that time of year again.

Hair is colored.






The house vehicle is decorated.







And the stuff is almost all packed.

We'll be leaving in the morning for the last Live and Learn. We're pretty dang excited to be driving there. Pretty excited because other years we've driven up to 24 hours to get there; this time.. 3 1/2.. YES! Let the fun begin!

Can't wait to see everyone!