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 :)