Let the holidays begin

Inspired by Laura's wonderful writing, I will quiet my self enough to also contribute to the blogosphere this morning ;)

I've had some writer's block going on, don't know why... it's just there.

Although my blog has been quite slow and uneventful, life has not been. I know you're relieved aren't you ? hehe..

We seem to have some wildy busy crazy days and then the calm rushes over us like a comfortable blankie. You know what I mean right? Didn't we all have or still have a blankie? (baby blanket if I'm confounding everyone) OK, so I'm an introvert :)

Right now we have Tim's parents visiting. They are out on an adventure right now. They traveled over to Alabama for an overnight and will be back here this afternoon and returning to MN tomorrow. We'll miss them.

While they were here they had the pleasure of meeting some of our closest friends. A bunch of us gathered together in Atlanta and got our holiday spirit going with a Mannheim Steamroller concert. We had a wonderful night. Enjoyed Italian food first at Baraonda and then sat in inspiration after. Not only inspired by great holiday music but the fabulous Fox theater is just a dream to be in. Especially the balcony... oh my! The ceiling is done so it looks like you are sitting outside on a starry night... just magical.

Here are some pics from the evening.

Delish Desserts

Fantabulous Friends

Wonderful conversings

Lots of happiness

I think she's happy...

And now the show

More happiness





and sweetness

or Love and Joy?

And the fabulous Fox Theater

These are shots looking up. The blue looked just like the night sky. Just amazing. More amazing than my pictures can convey.

As you can see the architecture and lighting in the theater is just beautiful. I loved these hanging lights. This picture is quite dark but I had to include it anyway.

We had a wonderful night and then enjoyed each other's company for a couple more days. The Lovejoys and Higgins bunch stayed the weekend. We played, talked, laughed and thoroughly enjoyed our time together.

Life IS truly Good

It's Everywhere!

http://www.foxtrot.com/


Alec is level 76, Abbi is 75, I'm 71 and Kyra is 38.. but don't worry we are eating and sleeping :)

For those of you that aren't in the World of Warcraft know or (Warcrack as my brother calls it ;) there was an expansion released last week and we've been having a blast.

It's so much fun!

It can't be November

It must only be Semptember!

Out our back door..



And front..



Pinch me...

ARGH: A Gathering

We went to ARGH ( Autodidactic Radical Gathering of Homeschoolers) this last week and it was great. Thanks to Ren for putting it all together.

Lots of fun things to do and fun people to see.

Some moments from our 3 days...

We hung out

We climbed Roan Mountain

And reveled in the beauty

We shared our passions









And we bonded


Yes, Steph (Nic's Mom) was so wonderful as to put dreads in my hair. I kept them for 3 days. A sensitive head and dreads do not go well together. Thank you Steph and Olivia for making my dream of having dreads a reality. Love you guys and miss you already!

The dread heads together

Happy Halloween

Abbi and Kyra Style

Wicked

If you're wondering if we liked Wicked...


It was AMAZING! And let's see, what else comes to mind?

FABULOUS!

We all loved it.

If you ever have an opportunity to see this awesome musical, DO IT! Here are locations of where it's playing.

My Birthday

Look what I got for my birthday.

And my other gift is tomorrow night.


I'm really excited.

Save the pie man!

Say it isn't so...

The pie man can not be in trouble!

http://www.tv.yahoo.com/falltv/photos/shows-in-trouble/370

We love this show! When the first season got cut short with the writer's strike we thought we were going to die. Now the second season finally got going and viewing numbers are down!! eeek! Honestly it's one show that we have to see.

You can even watch full episodes right online:
http://abc.go.com/player/index?pn=index

Watch Pushing Daisies!! Please... check it out...

Wednesday nights!

Going with the flow

A daily OM (from dailyom.com)

Enjoying the Ride
The Flow of the Universe

The flow of the universe moves through everything. It’s in the rocks that form, get pounded into dust, and are blown away, the sprouting of a summer flower born from a seed planted in the spring, the growth cycle that every human being goes through, and the current that takes us down our life’s paths. When we move with the flow, rather than resisting it, we are riding on the universal current that allows us to flow with life.

Many people live their lives struggling against this current. They try to use force or resistance to will their lives into happening the way they think it should. Others move with this flow like a sailor using the wind, trusting that the universe is taking them exactly where they need to be at all times. This flow is accessible to everyone because it moves through and around us. We are always riding this flow. It’s just a matter of whether we are willing to go with it or resist it. Tapping into the flow is often a matter of letting go of the notion that we need to be in control at all times. The flow is always taking you where you need to go. It’s just a matter of deciding whether you plan on taking the ride or dragging your feet.

Learning to step into the flow can help you feel a connection to a force that is greater than you and is always there to support you. The decision to go with the flow can take courage because you are surrendering the notion that you need to do everything by yourself. Riding the flow of the universe can be effortless, exhilarating, and not like anything that you ever expected. When you are open to being in this flow, you open yourself to possibilities that exist beyond the grasp of your control. As a child, you were naturally swept by the flow. Tears of sadness falling down your face could just as quickly turn to tears of laughter. Just the tiniest wave carrying you forward off the shores of the ocean could carry you into peals of delight. Our souls feel good when we go with the flow of the universe. All we have to do is make the choice to ride its currents.

**************************************************************************

In some parts of life it's easy to go with the flow, in other parts it's hard. I like how unschooling has shown me that the flow can lead to good and wonderous things. I'm glad my kids are living a life where this isn't a foreign concept to them.

Creative flow

Man I love creating things. It's interesting though, if I spend a lot of time not making or creating things I start questioning my abilities. I start having doubts about my creativity.

I had been thinking that I wanted to participate in a Day of the Dead art trade that is being held at our ARGH get together next weekend, but I hadn't settled myself down enough to do anything. Do you ever feel like things are just moving too quickly along to sit and create? :) I guess that's when it's time to breath.

So... yesterday I must have finally breathed because the girls and I sat together and felted wool. It was a great afternoon.

I made this for the trade:


I really like it and it was really fun working on it. Plus.. Corpse Bride came on TV right as I was making it so I had perfect inspiration :)

Abbi made some cups

And Kyra made a house

Everyone needs some Love and joy

Some good friends came to visit this weekend. They were kind enough to help us do some yard work :)

Ben helped us put in 2 magnolia trees. I'm so excited for these beautiful trees!



Here's Kelly and Tim enjoying the yard, it was a beautiful day.




It's very cool that Kelly knows a lot about dogs and southern plants. She's been advising me on things I want to plant. Here she's showing Kyra the best way to brush our hairy Saddi.


They've left now, but we kept one of them! Bwaaa haaa haaa.....

The right Palin?

Thanks Mary!




Heck yeah!

Girl's Day at the Salon

Before:

Kyra, Abbi, Kelli

And After:

Kyra, Kelli, Abbi

Pretty dang fun, but I changed my mind after this picture and went back brunette. I don't know why.

Here I am now. I was so happy to take out my ponytail ;)

New patch on WoW

A huge patch went through yesterday for World of Warcraft players.

You may ask, "what does that mean?" It means all sorts of changes and new things for players. It's pretty exciting.

For Alec and his hunter it means his damage went up, which is always good, and lots of other technical stuff that I can't even begin to explain. Also, his guild will probably now be able to get the last bosses down before the expansion. He's pretty happy with all of it.

For the girls and me it means---


A BARBER SHOP! ok, so we'll call it a salon ;)


This is very exciting for us :)

Here is Destinycloud, Abbi's character before her new do


And here she is trying on a long style



And a braided one


Guess what we'll be doing today?

This is why Blizzard games are so dang popular. They know what people like and give it to them.... imagine that.

A Rainbow

It's raining this morning. And it rained all day yesterday, thank goodness... we really needed it.

But there was a break in the fronts to give us this little treat last night.



I took the top one first with my smaller camera. Then I ran and grabbed my big Rebel and took the bottom one. I don't know which I like best. In the first one you could see every single color.


When I came back to take this one it had changed. The pink was now so vibrant. It was amazing.

A cool thing about living in the south

I get to plant and grow things outside .... ALL Year :)

I just finished planting an Azalea plant... outside.. and I've put out pansies, daisies, marigolds, mums and rudabeckia. We also have Gardenia shrubs to put out in the back. Gardenia.. plants.. they smell soo good.

Some of these may die when the temp drops below freezing but a lot of them live to 20 degrees, so there's a chance! I found out yesterday that the mums will bloom twice in the year, spring and fall... crazy.

Yeah I'm on a plant high right now and it's great.

Next week I'm going to call someone about putting in some Magnolia trees. I have to have some of those!

Anyway, I just wanted to share some of my excitement, it's quite a change where in Minnesota my flowers would have all been gone now. I heard it was 36 degrees near Bemidji last week. Although the cool temps sound nice, my 70 degree day is quite perfect for me right now.

Live Science article

Jill Parmer, another unschooling Mom, and myself were interviewed for this online publication.

They're talking about the learning that takes place within online role-playing games. I'm hoping it can lead to people seeing how interest led learning is a good thing.



http://www.livescience.com/technology/081003-school-games.html

Charlotte

Kyra and I went with my parents to Charlotte NC. We had a really nice time. Saturday we went to the Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens and were in awe. We love flowers and butterflies, and the place wasn't lacking in either.


There were butterflies all over in the Orchid Conservatory. The flowers were amazing. I just love orchids.



Look out.. I turn into crazy picture taking lady when I'm around flowers!





They were just beautiful.



We also enjoyed walking around the grounds.


Of course, right here my mom is working on thinking of the name of that plant. My mom and I love naming the plants and flowers we know and guessing on the rest *g*. It was quite a challenge in this place!

We loved the plant animals.


Kyra enjoyed the fountains. Especially the one where she could get herself all wet.
Here's my dad and her enjoying the spray.



This picture is for my brother, Kurt, the fisherman.




I think the purplish fluffy plant was one of our favorites. (we never did figure out what it was called) We couldn't stop from commenting on how we loved it.

We enjoyed Charlotte, missed Tim and the other two kids, but still enjoyed ourselves.