On Being The Youngest

When you are the youngest kid in the family, you probably grow up a little faster since you have to keep up with your big brothers. However, in your mom's eyes you still seem so young, you are after all, the youngest, and it's very hard to see you grow so fast. You also feel very slighted at times, when your brothers are doing all the fun things and you have to stay home. What you don't realize though, is that at the end, if you would add it all up, you will probably be ahead. You get to do many things as a "tag along" and will keep going after your brothers have left. But that's too much to grasp when you are 7 and one brother just came home from a fun scouting adventure, and the other is at his friend's house and will leave early tomorrow for the mountain. Tonight he feels like he is at a big disadvantage.

How Much Fun Can a Physics Class Be?

Why would you make something easy into a difficult, complicated & long task? Most of the times it's because we might be stubborn and not willing to learn from mistakes, but sometimes it's because it's fun and educational. In the latter instance it's called "Rube-Goldberg". This was Christian's final assignment in his physics class. He not only had to build it, but also draw a diagram explaining all of the physics involved. What a fun way to finish his semester. Kudos to Mrs. Bash! I did not get Christian's on video but someone else got his, so you can be entertained by it. Ours wasn't quite as complicated.

Safe in the Center of God's Will

There is this beautiful young lady that our church had the honor of blessing as she headed to "her life long dream to serve the kids in Haiti". Her story was inspiring before that earthquake, but now it's beyond words. You should just check it out for yourself. P.S. The title of this post were her words even before the earthquake.

That Friday Afternoon Feeling

Most people look forward to Friday afternoons and it's no different around here. It's the day we wrap up our studies, which usually means a shorter school day (on good weeks). It's also the day we do our house cleaning, and I just love to start the weekend with a clean and organized house. Must be something I bring from my childhood. Friday was the day "Dona Dalvina" came to clean the house and my mom put everybody to work. As a normal kid I did not enjoy the cleaning part, but loved the end results. Unfortunately I do not have a "Dona Dalvina", but I do have 3 strong able body boys who are recruited to help with the chores. We now are enjoying the fruit of our labor and looking forward to the weekend. Sure this picture is a little outdated (and so cute), but we are all cozy and ready for a movie.

In the Lack of Snow

one goes hiking! Which is just fine with me, it felt so good to get out there, in the mild 55 degree weather and wake up our hiking muscles. We were joined by some good friends and following an afternoon in the outdoors, we were rewarded by a huge pot of "zuppa".

The Age of Cinnamon

The other morning as we were having our oatmeal, Christian was analyzing the cinnamon container. Soon he says: "Ah, I'll be 15 years old when this cinnamon expires." WHAT!! Time can't be going that fast! Having a 15 yo son seems like something of the far (very far) future. But it will be here before this cinnamon expires!! Although by then this cinnamon most likely will be long consumed. Please tell it's still a ways off!

Spontaneity & Solitute

I'm one of those people who loves lists, and loves to scratch off accomplished things on the list. I like routines, organization, goals, achieving goals and so on. It was all well until the kiddos started arriving. I got an introduction in flexibility with the arrival of the first. By the time our second son was born I had moved on to "Flexibility 101". With three kids you are automatically enrolled in a crash course of chaos management. When we moved to Washington I learned to adjust our schedule to the weather. You go out and enjoy the outdoors when its sunny and catch up with chores during the rainy stretches. I was again enrolled in a class of adaptability when we started homeschooling. I'm glad I have learned a few of these things along the way or I might not have agreed to go up to the mountains today. I had, after all, a list of household chores and schools goals for the boys, but look what I would have missed.

While the boys were skiing I went for a hike and found a place with complete solitude and silence. It was such a treat to my senses, soul and spirit.

We adapted the school work to be done in the car. I'm now home, doing some laundry, (gotta scratch off some stuff from the to do list) and getting ready to cook some meals to add to the freezer, (gotta add a few things to the meal list). I have changed some, but not that much. Maybe I'm just getting a little closer to some kind of a balance.

Gone with the Old and In with the New

Well, not so fast! We did get rid of some old stuff and made space for the new, but there are somethings that we will keep forever. We started to re-organize some stored boxes, not as a result of a New Years resolution, just because it needed to be done and the time and opportunity were right. One thing lead to another and I believe we spend more time traveling down memory lane than organizing. Once Shawn stumbled upon his old toys, it was all over; at least the work was all over, but the playtime had just started. It might look like this Indian is holding the horse hostage, but that's a photographic illusion. He is quite a nice and friendly fellow. The little cot in the background was something Shawn crafted himself and his mom sowed that sleeping bag, you can also see the end tip of the canoe that his dad crafted from some tree bark. Simply priceless!

Enjoying Celebrations & Friends

When you mix good friends, a nice pool, lots of energy and all the free time in the world, you just can't go wrong. You get lots of fun, kids smelling like chlorine for 3 days, happy moms who didn't have to cook for 24 hrs and dads were able to kick back and relax. We sure had some good time with the Davis' in Seattle. The four boys had had their own room which quickly became know as the "mans cave", no further explanation needed.

We ended the year by celebrating with dear friends and good food.

We all made it to midnight and beyond, but as you can tell by this picture, some were a little tired. Still quite a feat since he arrived from Brazil the day before.