Facesuck...errrr, I mean Facebook

Okay, so I finally bit the bullet and joined Facebook. I was waxing nostalgic as I looked through old photographs for a birthday blog I'm working on for next week, and decided to look up a few old friends. As soon as I joined I was pleasantly surprised to see Shanna, hilarious as ever, refer to the whole Facebook thing as Facesuck, which I LOVE!!!! I resisted joining because I felt it would take away from the blogging world. I know it already has, because some of my favorite bloggers have been less than prolific in their blogging since they became Facesuckers. Sigh. Oh well. I will try my hardest to not let it blindside my efforts to record our life here in blog-land.

On that note :)

We had mussels last night. Need I say more? Oh yeah...homemade ice cream too :)

Living Large

We began our week long family vacation at Madeline's. We celebrated Alex's 14th birthday there with an absolutely incredible meal. Although that is par for the course at their house, this was extra special because we dined on one of Gillan's turkeys. I have never eaten turkey like that in my life. I love that kid, and that family! Thanks guys! However, my kids took out my sd card so I was not able to capture any images of the beginning of our holiday. I took loads after we arrived at the beach, just to make up for the prior lack!

Edisto Beach is charming. We had a blast sharing our holiday with my parents, John's parents, and John's sister and her husband. More great food, lots of beautiful weather, and more fun than you can shake a stick at.

Sophie's Detritus

The preferred activity of the week
Cool rainbow
Old farts watching the kids play in the surf
Playing games with Nina

My Parents

Me and Ella

Playing in the surf with Grandpa Mike

My beautiful children

John and Max

Sorting things out in the kitchen

Running from big storm waves

Alex in his favorite spot all week

Water spout during the big storm

Secrets

Sophie's pure joy

Ella riding the waves

Sophie

Ray and Nina

Me with my mom and dad

Max chillin'

John's parents

Ella with her constant companion

Alex with John's parents

The kids with Nina

Playing in the surf

Ella and Max

Grandmas..with the apron I made for Mother's Day

The motley crew celebrating Alex's 14th Birthday

Alex with the cool butterflies from G.Mike and G.Midge

Alex with me and John

Alex with my parents

Final Fantasy Passion

The kids have been engrossed in Final Fantasy these past few weeks. Thanks to the Traaseths for setting us up and letting us borrow their game and gameboys. It's been fascinating, really. Alex, Sophie, and Max will spend hours working together to beat the "boss" and songs of exclamation and joy ring throughout the house as they celebrate their joint victory. I have truly never seen anything like it. Max will wake up and anxiously wait for hours for Alex and Sophie to get up so they can continue the game. It is way cool to see them working together so passionately.

The Biggest Damn Spider EVER

I was weeding in my day lilybed and reached down to pick up what I thought was a pine cone. NOT!!! It was the biggest damn spider I have ever seen that was not behind glass at the zoo. And all those yellow things on it's back are BABIES! Which means potentially MORE of these things lurking in my garden, or gasp, what if they get in the house???!!!! I'm not particularly squeamish about such things, but I definitely wanted this bad boy OUT of circulation. I know it's hard to tell, and we're all too freaked out to let it out of the jar it's in to place a size comparison next to it, but this spider is almost 2 inches long and 1 inch wide. sssshhhiiiiivverrrr

Mother's Day at the Haworth Homestead

We spent Mother's Day at the Chattanooga Market. This time we were vendors and had our own booth, Haworth Homestead. It was awesome! It was all Alex's idea, and the plan grew from his desire to share and sell his amazing embroidered pillows. Ella joined in the creating, and made the cutest little decorative button pillows. I sold my crafts...retro aprons, hand painted note cards, and reusable cloth gift bags. Sophie was the accountant, tracking sales, revenue and costs through spreadsheets, and Max was our main salesperson, working his charm and magic to talk to attendees and get them interested in our work. John was the driving force behind getting everything loaded and food prepared for our long day. As I sipped my mimosa, watching these amazing children shine, I was truly the happiest mom in the world.

Birthday Fun

We went to TN to celebrate a bunch of May unschooler birthdays. A joint birthday party for 5 fabulous unschoolers. How could it get any better? We love seeing lots of friends and reconnecting with a group that is like extended family. Spending time with friends has become pretty important in the kids' lives. As unschoolers, it's our job to help the kids get what they need. Right now, it seems being with other kids is tres importante, so that's what I'm trying to incorporate into our lives. It is a balance though. Money, time, differing kids' needs. Fortunately, gatherings like this met all our needs and filled us up until the next time.