Possible Acceptance?

Mary shared the following video at her blog. I wanted to bring it here too. I see so many people who try and fix/change their kids. What a wonderful thought that our children are just perfect in what they are. We can be right there helping them when they want help, yet also accepting of who they are.

Watch the whole thing.

(I couldn't figure out how to put this message in with the video so this is as close as I could get. :)

In My Language

Got snow?

We do now! Yayy!



And we're having fun!

Kyra and Saddi this morning.


Tim and Kyra
And we're very glad that this tree decided to fall that direction~our house is to the left (eek)

a year

My heart is tearing
The snow is falling
I sit here

I think of the joy
The happiness in those hazel eyes
The laughter between the girls

My mind goes back to mommy and the satsuma
The sweetness
The bitterness
The tears
The sounds, the silence
Anger outside in the cold

Breathing now
Sending my love, our love
You are amazing, you are divine
This storm cannot stop my wishes for you

Wishes of love
Wishes of comfort
Wishes of joy, and good memories
Wishes of happiness to come

~my love, our love, to you my friend~

Last night on the radio

I got a call from my father-in-law last night. He thought I might want to turn on MPR (MinnesotaPublicRadio) at 9:00. He had heard that there was going to be a show on about homeschooling/unschooling. He wanted to listen but had something else going on so was going to miss it.

So after our fix of American Idol I let all the kiddos know that there was going to be a show on the radio about homeschooling and maybe about unschooling. :) We tuned in and much to our delight it was all about unschooling and even more to our delight it was Valerie Fitzenreiter and her daughter Laurie Chancey. Valerie wrote the book _The Unprocessed Child_
and we were lucky enought to meet her at the Live and Learn a few years ago.

I thought the interview was great. The host of the show was new to the idea of unschooling but the whole interview went pretty smooth. Great job Valerie and Laurie! Here's the link to the interview.
The Story
If that isn't working, as far as when they do another story, the interview was ran on February 21 2007, if you need to search.

Beckoning Spring

So, yeah, we're pretty ready for winter to end. The last couple of weeks were pretty harsh, -20 to 0 degrees F. Its warmed up now, gonna be in the 20's so we're joyful over that fact! :)

I have to see the beauty in this cold weather. I love the trees when they're frosty, the pine needles look so cool.


Saddi loves the snow and loves to run away from me.... she's over in the neighbors yard here..ah hem.
And Kyra decided it was cool skateboarding in the snow, you can do tricks and you don't fall. (hehe, you aren't moving,, so that helps ;)

Alec and Abbi have been spending time together conquering Final Fantasy X. Alec has beat it before but Abbi has never done the whole thing so they've been having a really nice experience doing that. The storyline is pretty cool on that game. Alec is so excited to get up in the morning just bursting to play with his sister. Its really sweet seeing these 2 hanging out together. Can't believe he's gonna be 14 soon! Wow. His video games amazed me again this week, (yeah, it is continual *g*). He was reading the game guide for Final Fantasy and showed me that with one of the bosses, as you're fighting it, if your level is divisible by a prime number you get hit by this super high percentage of damage. I'm like... whoa, discussion of prime numbers followed. Crazy, mathematical stuff going on in those videos games that a lot of people aren't even aware of. So if your kid likes video games get those guides! It really can enhance their game playing, its amazing!

Tim is in Chicago for the week so the kids and I are going with some friends to Thief River Falls today. They have a hotel casino up there that has a huge water park, so time to go enjoy warm water and tube rides!

I'm not feeling well. I've been sick for a few days now. Thought I was feeling better yesterday but last night was up a lot, coughing and blowing my nose. I'm sure I'll be fine but just sick of being sick. Ya know.

Kyra and Abbi are at my friend Beth's house. They're over there making Valentines, so I'm bummed that I'm missing out on that. Yet I'm feeling fortunate that I have friends who will go out of their way to come and get my kids when I don't feel up to it. Beth met me in town, (half way to her house) so Kyra could go over there, and Patti came and got Abbi later so she could join in the fun.

Alec is still sleeping he had a late night,(early morning) last night. He's been working the past week, very hard, to get his epic flying mount. He succeded last night at doing that. Yayy! He came and got me at about 4:00 and was sooo excited. Its sooo cool,, and so fast! This was a huge accomplishment in the World of Warcraft world. I'll post some pics of him with his new griffon when I get some on this computer. :)

So I'm happy today for my friends and family, both in real life and online.

Here's a picture of my friend Patti with her son, Michael. I love the joy in her face.

Isn't she great? She was Santa for Halloween! Gotta love her!

Wool

We've been felting-- dry felting. I bought this felting tool quite a few months ago and have been meaning to get some wool to try it out. When I saw Julie Person's wall hanging I was tempted to try it but still didn't get out. Then we watched Lady in the Water and there were some amazing images at the beginning. I then got out and got some wool. :)

The girls have made these various pieces:


We've made these with scraps from Bemidji Woolen Mills. A store right here in Bemidji that we were able to buy the scraps from for $.90 !


I made this with the person Abbi made :-D (the person is me, so the wall hanging is "Story meeting Kelli")
We're planning on making lots more with wool. I've ordered some needles to work with and some colored wool roving. Can't wait!

When you can't find the red on the thermometer..


And you have to bundle up this much just to get the paper..



And your windows look like this in your bathroom....inside..



This is my friend..