Tea with Gammy (and big girl Gwyneth)

We took my mom to her first tea house experience this last week for her Christmas present.  She loves tea, has a teacup collection from her mom, and has tea parties every time the girls go over for babysitting.  Our day at the tea house was a perfect day.  The weather was sunny and nice.  We weren't rushed.  The girls were all fancy and felt pretty.  We sat at a pretty table with pretty tea sets and yummy, girly food.  Agatha had impeccable etiquette and manners.  Gwyneth ate quietly and didn't break anything.  My mom got to enjoy her girls and a beautiful tea.  It was everything I dreamed.  I wish everyday of parenting was this shiny.  Today, on the other hand, was back to reality.  Homeschooling in PJs, messy house, tons of chores, busy outings with late arrivals, pee pee accidents, a minor burn on my 1 year old's hand, screaming for two and half hours afterward (yes, you read that right-she was inconsolable), late bedtimes and work on the couch late into the night instead of sleeping.  Each day brings its own color and my world is rainbow.

Side note:  Gwyn is not a baby anymore!  She does flips at her Little Gym class, goes pee and poo on the potty, communicates with ASL and verbal words, sleds down huge hills in the snow on her own inner-tube, makes valid jokes and knows she is funny, refuses high chairs and sits on a normal dining chairs and even has a preference toward purple everything (what to do with all the PINK hand-me-downs from her big sister-RIT dye here I come!).  I am excited for this next stage of toddler!  Gwyn is precious.

Fall Fun

Fall is a fun time to be a kindergartner-or maybe a kindergarten teacher! There are so many fun themes to teach on and since we are homeschoolers-so many fun field trips. We have gone on sooo many but these two were really fun and Fall picturesque.

We went to Tanaka Farms pumpkin patch and I love the big black wheelbarrows you get to take through the patch. We all got the perfect pumpkin and are going to carve them tomorrow night at our annual pumpkin party while sporting out tye dyed jack-o-lantern tees from Family Fun.

We also went to an educational farm called Centennial Farms on the OC Fair grounds. They had all the traditional animals, crops and red barns. We saw a cow get milked and pet chicks. It was GREAT!

I hope you are getting out there in the community this season. As much as the short days and change of weather bring on my seasonal sadness, I do love the outings and colors and walks of autumn. Having a 5 and 1 year old are a fun time to be a mommy. I will cherish these memories forever.

I know...where have I been?

I really hate that my blog has said "I have so much to do!" since August 16th! It is just that with homeschooling a 5year old and taking care of a 1 year old I have little time to sit like an adult at the computer. And what time I do have I am working...for River Springs. I barely get my personal email checked or glance at facebook. But, I love blogging and reading so here I am.

We have been up to so much fun stuff with homeschooling! I figured it out and we are doing like 8 field trips a month! And with regular outings we are out in the community alot. We have gone to Disneyland with cousins, gone to football game fore Adam's cousin at which Agatha was invited on the field to cheer with the cheerleaders (so cute), Legoland with the Foors (we sorted over 1000 legos and graphed them by color and type for a follow up to that one-whew!), a Family village festival on cultures, the San Bernandino Museum with the Foors, the Huntington Library/Art Galleries/Gardens with the Speirs, a pumpkin patch trip with The Grove Homeschool Group, the Riverside Museum for dissecting owl pellet and making clay scat (poop-yes it was fake) of types of animals, Riley's Farm for apples and colonial farm life tour with The Grove group again, the Chinese Moon Festival and Chinese Food (the pic), and on and on. We are having so much fun.

Aggie is really learning to read and write and I am so proud. She reads to Gwyn all the time and Gwyn can't get enough of books. Aggie is doing great things at Gymnastics and did a flip on the uneven bars that even I was impressed by! She is so curious and really becoming a lifelong self lead learner which is a big objective with me for homeschooling. She and Adam especially dive into subjects with such fervor and have done projects on pee and volcanoes and other fun ideas.

Gwyn loves Farm animals and says more sounds than words at this point. She is a non verbal communicator and has no problem getting what she needs with grunts and facial expressions! She starting using the sign for thank you and it is so cute. She is kinda potty training and is so proud when she is successful. She has starting smiling like this picture when we say "say cheese" and is really becoming a little person. I love to watch her bouncy little trot as she pokes curiously around the house. She is very meticulous about art and already draws her version of the family and dogs (which she loves).

Life is good-but I am really trying to find a balance. I have so many hats at this point. I know I should get rid of one-but which? I like each one in its own way. I just wish I was slower. I wish I had more time-but don't we all?

where have I been?

I have this little saying that I say when I sit down at my computer- "I need to make money before I spend it"...so I seem to have work stuff to do rather than blogging...esp. because my time is more and more limited with my 9 1/2 month old who hates it when I stare at the screen instead of her and who is also sleeping less and less nowadays. Ahh...being a working mom! So I have to catch up with all I missed! Here is a pic post (that took me over 48 hours!!! see what I mean?) about the last month of my life. Then I can post meaty things again...

Gwyn loves the sandbox-don't worry we have a CatScram to keep out the cats...but I think she eats more than she digs.

Agatha and I have taken to tea for Snacktime. It is so fun.

We went to Disneyland with the Foors. They are so easy to be with. I love them!

We are getting involved in the Grove Homeschool Group. What a wonderful group of women and kids! Aggie and I have made new friends and connected with old ones. I am so excited to connect with families that will be around when our other friends go off to school all day.

I made name cookies for the preschool class party. Not exactly sugar free (nice job with the rules Room Mom)-but I felt like SuperMom in my daughter's eyes.

Adam and I ran together in a 5K. Not an impressive time-35:10-but we ran with no real stops. I loved running beside my hubby!

And we ran a 1K with Aggie. She was amazing and I think sucked up the time with just Mom and Dad. Gammy was with Gwyn-thanks Mom!

My mom got her own place. I miss having her around daily and so do my girls. It is a great next stage for all of us, but we are all excited when she drops by to borrow the clothesline.

We met Baby Audrey Rodriguez. A little ball of blessing. They are quite a beautiful, new little family and making great, concious parenting decisions!

Mike helped me get Adam into a sling. Gwyn loves them and though he uses other baby wearing carriers well, he neverfelt comfy in these. Yay!!! Isn;t he a cute Daddy?

We have been outdoors with the beautiful weather, hanging clothes and swinging. Gwyn has gotten so she expects it...pointing and grunting if it does not come!

Date night with just Agatha! It was amazingly easy with just a 4 1/2 old! Whew-life is different with two and a baby. I felt like I was missing an arm half the night! (And I carried a purse instead of a diaper bag!)

We attended a ChuckECheese party! That place overwhelms me-and my quiet little Gwyn. She lost it at one point and would not come out of the sling. Aggie (the extrovert) had a blast, but did comment that it was loud. We have such a quiet life.

All in all, life has found a bigger kid rhythm. The girls are playing together a bit more. Gwyn is crawling up on things and standing. She wants to walk with our hands everywhere. She is showing interest in the potty so we are experiementing-with great success. I think her love language is Words of Praise-cause she will pee and/or poop everytime for a clap and a YEY!...She has pooped almost everyday for a couple weeks! We are getting out more and getting more schoolwork done. Agatha is maturing so much I see the changes daily. Kids are so beautiful. I love being a Mommy. God gave me the most precious girls. They make me smile.

I love being outside...

Saturday was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, we played outside, we had nowhere to go, I hung the clothes on the line, watered my compost, Gwyn ate leaves on the grass, Aggie played in the sandbox and I got to wear my fun little pink garden shoes from my little sister instead of my big black UGG knock off boots (that I usually have to wear to keep my toes warm). What a beautiful day. Wish I could have shared it with my hubby. Ministry calls.

a full day of homeschooling

We had an amazing day of schooling today. We are structured unschoolers-in that we do unschooling which is childlead with a bit of structure to make sure we are doing something. Today we were so productive...we visited Great Gramps McIntyre and discussed how to look people in the eye while responding, how to behave in an older person's home, and how to be polite.

...we reviewed our five reading books and learned a new one with the words WE and HAVE. She shared it with Gramps to great applause.

We did this awesome research project and diagram report on a Sea Kelp Forest. Let me digress a description because the teacher in me is proud of this one-we researched Seaweed on Wikipedia and made kelp with waterballoon leaves and floaters on a string tied to a rock. They are in the aqua water in our punchbowl and there are fish taped to outside as the fish living in the forest. She made a diagram on a photo I took of the original find in Carpinteria that inspired this all. Then dictated a report of all we learned including that kelp is actually an algae! OK digression finished.

She "jammed" for her baby sister and played Twinkle Twinkle and Ode to Joy with harmony. Whew. It was a great day-I triumphed-I balanced a teething 3 month old and did all this with my hard to focus, very energetic 4 year old while Dad was at work...but can someone come over and fold my clean laundry?...all 7 loads of it. :) Too bad I am not a wonder woman who can do it all, hey?

My Girls

Ok, so this is not the most glamorus shot of all of us. We are still in PJs and camping with more kids than adults-but that is why I love these women. Aside from our diffent personalities, parenting choices or opinions we are there for each other through anything. Whatever life brings my way I always lean on these women. I would trust any of them to discipline my children and feel comfortable doing the same with theirs. The old saying goes...it takes a village to raise a child-these girls are my village. I value their opinion and love above all others. We have spent nights at hospitals together, supported through lengthy adoptions, been there when pregnacies would not come or were lost or came as a suprise, helped pack and move homes when ministries changed, celebrating the new year, camping with our growing families, and just spent hours talking and loving and supporting at playdates, lunches, dinners, on the phone, thorugh notes and gifts and tears and hugs and bible studies and life! We were originally drawn together because all our husbands became pastors and worked on staff at The Grove Community Church. We were the young pastor's wives. (I don't think we can claim that anymore:) We are now middle-not young or old!) But, that original bond of pastor's wives as faded as God has called some of us on to other things and now we are bonded for life. I would do anything for these women and I know they feel the same. We are best friends and I love their support. I love our camping trip every year with our familes-and we are talking of a Spring trip with just the girls. I long for these times with my girls. I hope you find some friends as wonderful as these to surround yourselves with-I couldn't get through life without them. I am glad I won't have too. They are precious treasures!