Another New "Do"

A long hiatus.
Another new do.
Beautiful Sophie, looking very much the emerging young woman

New Hair

Ella decided to go short. No more online hair fixing tutorials for me...woo-hoo :)

First Meet

Ella had her first competitive meet as a level 4 gymnast. I thought I'd be a wreck, watching her and her teammates, especially on the beam and bars. Thanks to Madeline's recommendation for some homeopathics, I was fine. It might have helped that this was a meet strictly for the judges to get their ducks in a row, and the gymnasts weren't officially scored. We did get their results at the end, and Ella did fantastic. I was so surprised by how calm and confident she was, and at her skill level. It blows me away all that she has learned in this past year. It's interesting to me how she needs me even more in daily life lately, but goes out there on her own and does her thing. Maybe that's why she's been needing me so much. I'm glad I can be here for her everyday, as much as is needed.

More Inspiration From Sophie

Inspired by Sophie being inspired by Food Network.

Again.

The muse?

Broccoli.

In particuar, Spicy Broccoli. A creation by Todd English , chef at Olives in the W Hotel, New York City.

Our Newest Neighbor

Licorice, Christy's calf, at about 3 hours old

Making Sushi

Sometimes the kids have passions that are easy to facilitate. Other times, it can be more of a challenge finding ways to explore and expand upon something they love. Alex and Sophie both love cooking, and we are all huge fans of the Food Network and its myriad of great cooking shows. Sophie has mentioned wanting to attend culinary school, and we try to present her with as many opportunities as possible to cook and create in the kitchen. Last weekend, the Chattanooga Market was having it's own version of "Iron Chef" where local chefs were presented with a mystery ingredient and had to create an entre. This allowed us to follow her passion, and see professional chefs in action. Yesterday Alex and Sophie had the opportunity to learn how to make sushi at a local restaurant. They had a blast and learned a lot about sushi. They both tried new things and brought a smorgasbord home for the rest of us. It seems like opportunities are presenting themselves more and more when we open ourselves up to new experiences. While Alex and Sophie were busy with their class, Max, Ella, and I played around North Shore. We discovered a few new sights and had fun revisiting Coolidge Park.

Haworth Homestead is on...Etsy!

Finally :)
After much more work than I originally anticipated, our little shop is up and running on Etsy. I've been making backdrops, white boxes, light boxes, ordering dress forms, editing photos, writing descriptions, and getting everything in order. Whew! In addition to my stuff, Alex and Ella both have items in the shop. We're anxiously awaiting our first sale. Very exciting stuff :)

We're also preparing for our next market day as vendors at the Chattanooga Market. We've been researching displays, racks, etc. to try to make our booth fabulous.

We are at www.howiff.etsy.com. Come check us out!

TELLUS

We finally made a visit to the TELLUS Museum in Cartersville, GA. It has been on our list of things to do for quite a while now. We had a great time. I was pleasantly surprised by my willingness to just go with the flow, not concern myself with making sure we saw everything there, and rushing to get it all done. After my performance at Disney in January, this was a big step. I think we had the best time setting up shots like the kids were escaping the dinosaur bones. Well, that and the mining for gems and hunting for fossils!

Treasure

I came home from a fabulous trip to Madeline's and a visit with other GA Unschoolers to find this treasure waiting for me...

It's my growing Brenna stoneware collection!

I'm so happy :)

It's 11:34. Do You Know Where Your Kids Are?

What are the kids, ages 14, 12, 10 and 7 doing after John and I go to bed?

Watching tv.


And what are they staying up late to watch?

You guessed it. Angelina Ballerina.

Fabulous Florida

We were extremely fortunate and grateful for a trip down to Florida to visit our old haunts. First we met up with a whole slew of fabulous unschoolers at the most awesome Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center. We ate, drank, and were very merry. Then we headed over to the incredible Ichetucknee Springs to swim and float the day away. As if that wasn't enough, we proceeded to the rope swing of all rope swings and played in the Swanee River. The rope swing was the only adventure I captured on film, so that will have to suffice as far as recording our memories. Bar none, one of my favorite get-a-ways of all time :)

New Skills

When an obviously sick raccoon appeared near the house the other day, I couldn't even figure out how to load our shotgun. After having to call our neighbor over to shoot it, I decided I needed to know how to load and shoot the shotgun. John gave me a quick primer, I hit my intended target, and that was it. Until yesterday. Another raccoon appeared, this one not looking sick at all. She was at the compost pile, right by all of our chickens and our back deck. For those of you who don't know, raccoons are notorious chicken killers and egg stealers. After nary a moments thought, I called for Max to bring me the shotgun. I took aim, and sacked my first coon. We did some research to decide if we thought the raccoon might have rabies. Other than being out in the daylight, it showed no other signs of being rabid. Deciding it was safe to preserve the hide, Alex got busy with his new found camp skills. He gutted and skinned the raccoon. We spent the afternoon discussing various aspects of anatomy, hunting vs. killing, etc. while we watched Alex work. And work he did. He's going to tan the hide when we get back from Florida.