Heather's Moving Castle

Sandra Dodd's Always Learning LIVE! 2011- III

2012-01-02T20:38:00.000-06:00

Holden and Adam quietly playing hide and seek during one of the talks

One of the last nights just hanging out with their new buds.

Sandra Dodd's Always Learning LIVE! 2011- II

2012-01-02T20:31:00.000-06:00

Daniels from England and Sandra Dodd on the right

Melissa from Wisconsin and one of her beautiful babies

Half of the music circle. It was a great time!

The people in the music circle changed every 30 minutes or so. We took turns picking songs to sing and Sandra played the guitar and Milo and a dad from Mississippi took turns playing.

Renee from Oregon and one of her twins. ;-)

Adorable girl dancing to our singing.

Young adult teen panel on Friday afternoon. That was one of my favorite parts! I loved the young adults and teens!!!

Sandra Dodd's Always Learning LIVE! 2011

2012-01-02T20:10:00.000-06:00

Adam D, Holden, and Xander C.

The second day and all the kids were very interested in playing Minecraft together.

Zoe S, Meg P, and Luke D (Luke made these cool hats)

Cam and Adam D from England

Pam S and Rose S (mother and grown daughter) on the right

Jill P--her first time speaking and she was awesome!!!

Carlsbad Caverns Photos

2012-01-02T19:56:00.000-06:00

Yes, we went and YES, we LOVED it!!! We went on December 28 on our way to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Thank you for all the input about our pending trip! It was very cool there and very simple to get around since we opted to ride the elevator down to the caverns and the walkway is very simple and safe. The kids loved it just as much and will never forget it. ;-)

~Heather

Christmas of the Sock Monkey

2012-01-02T19:42:00.000-06:00

Christmas of 2011 will always be the Christmas I will remember as the time all Camden asked for was a sock monkey. And that was practically all he got since part of our family Christmas was going to Sandra Dodd's conference from Dec. 27-31st and paying for the 5 nights in a hotel (one of the nights was a stop at Ft. Stockton, TX to get to ABQ, NM). It was still a really good Christmas since we were with family. ;-)

Carlsbad Caverns

2011-12-20T10:37:00.000-06:00

We have a travel dilemma. Should we go to Carlsbad Caverns next week on the way to Albuquerque, NM? It is a 13 hour drive to ABQ from where we are in Texas. We could stay in a motel in western Texas and get up and go to the caverns the next day. It is kinda on the way for us to go to the caverns. I really wanted to hit White Sands and Carlsbad, but if I am not sure that is doable. Anyone out there have any suggestions on any of this?

Thanks for any advice or thoughts. It is going to be out of the way for us to go there later. We will be staying about 5 or more hours away at another date and then heading west or north from those locations. It is almost too much thinking for me. LOL. I hate to add more expense to our trip, but I think it may be a fun side trip worth considering.

~Heather

A good weekend

2011-12-19T18:42:00.000-06:00

It was a busy weekend but it ended with a visit with my special Aunt and cousin. We hang out at a park in Spring which had nutria rats, which are are like beavers and are from South America. The weather was very nice and Santa even showed up to say hello!

More horsing around photos

2011-12-19T18:27:00.000-06:00

All is going fine here in Texas, as you can see. We went off roading on on our mountain bikes a few times and have been soaking in the fresh air at least a little bit each day. Our time with family is coming to an end soon and we are keeping Christmas very basic, as always.

Love to all!
~Heather

Holden is 10!

2011-12-09T22:12:00.002-06:00

I'm so proud of my sons and Holden is having a great birthday today! He has changed me in so many ways and I look forward to many more wonderful adventures with my sons and husband!!!

Just us ghouls

2011-10-31T09:32:00.000-05:00

It was a really busy, but fun weekend! Several kids in the neighborhood went with us to go door to door and to see the haunted house at the lake. I felt ill so I missed most of the trick or treating, but I had a nice dinner in the oven when they got home. Cliff, Tammy and I went to a party on Saturday night. That was a lot of fun! Love to all!

~Heather♥

Howl o'ween fun

2011-10-30T13:38:00.000-05:00

On Friday, my sister-in-law, Tammy (here from Seattle) took the boys to Howell's Pumpkin Patch for some fun! I usually take them, but she offered to so dear husband and I could have a much needed date. They had a great time with her and she got them to pose for lots of photos for us. It was a great idea she had!

Last night the adults got dressed up for a Halloween party and tonight we will all dress up for trick or treating and a neighborhood party at the lake. It is going to be a fun filled night here.

Tammy (sister-in-law) is also helping with the Jack o lanterns and she is doing a great job with her creativity. She had the idea to have the kids do their own design on construction paper and then she drew the design onto their pumpkins. Very neat!

Also, we are gathering boxes for our impending move. We plan to be in Texas for Thanksgiving weekend. Cliff is giving his notice to his job this week. We are getting excited and trying not to think of all the friends we will be missing here. Everyone is being so supportive and loving to us. It makes this transition so much happier and easier.

Love to all!
~Heather

Maybe today!

2011-10-12T12:42:00.001-05:00

We are keeping our fingers crossed that we get an offer tonight on the house! In the meantime, we have a website we are working on. It is helping us to stay focused on our future goals and where we want to be as a family. We are all very excited. We have worked really hard to maintain our ideals. The kids are happy and can't wait to see where the future leads. But they are happy in the moment as well. They are our little zen masters.

Here's the new website (click for link).We are still working on edits, but it is coming along. We hope it makes you smile! Feel free to share it and check back in a few months to see changes and check out the calendar. We have a plan for the next 8 months or so. There's a guest book as well. It is located at the bottom of all the pages. If you have any suggestions, please let us know.

Love to all,
Heather

My baby is turning 7

2011-10-01T17:20:00.000-05:00

A rose for this rose

2011-09-27T12:42:00.000-05:00

Man, has it been a long time since I sat down to write a blog post. I have lots of things I want to write and detail. Just can't seem to get it down here. I have been doing lots of writing in other places though, between friends and my husband and I. Lots of things are going on here. The for sale sign is in the yard. We have had people coming thru. We are just going with the flow and slowly going thru more stuff. We are dreaming and gathering lots of ideas for what we will do next. We found a great website with lots of ideas for where we could head to: http://www.caretaker.org/ The video is really cool also and it is not just caretaking jobs, but house sitting stuff. We are also reading some books about Gap Years. The dreams are really endless for us and we are very excited and hopeful.

Camden is turning 7 a week from today. He is so much fun and full of life. His spirit and happy energy is a force for good in our life and the lives of many others he touches everyday with his smile and laughter and love. Holden is also a joy and always full of wisdom and ideas. Their eyes sparkle with love and joy. It makes me feel so proud to be their mama.

My husband gave me the rose in this photo the day our house went on the market. He is so proud of the choices we are making and direction we are going with our lives. He is supporting my dreams fully and making them his dreams. It feels good to be on the same page after awhile of him not totally understanding. I was patient and it paid off big time. We are still fighting some inner demons, but overall we have made a lot of progress in our marriage and in other areas of our life. We know the next year will bring about some new challenges and things we need to focus on. We are ready for it!

At the moment we are plotting the direction we would like to be in the next year. We have decided to head south and west first. There is a conference in NM we would like to go to the end of December. We have not been to the SW U.S. and can see some inner growth happening for us there. And then we would like to be at the LIFE is Good conference in May. And if all works out we would like to be in the NE part of next summer. We will see how everything plays out. And then hit the east coast on the way to Florida and wind back around to Texas for Christmas 2012.

Love to all and may your days be filled with love and light!
~Heather

We love animals!

2011-09-16T18:50:00.000-05:00

This black swan should really try out for a live action Kung Fu Panda! It had some moves!

Holden and our princess, Shadow

A huge moth on our back porch

Me and the princess. She made herself very comfy on the bed!

A very old tortoise at the zoo. We weren't really supposed to touch it, but it was friendly. Hands were washed afterward.

Boys and girls

2011-09-11T12:32:00.001-05:00

Holden will be 10 in December--
H: Mom, why do all of Camden's friends, who are girls, hate me? (Camden has three to five girls in the neighborhood who really like having him around.)
Me: I bet they think you are a cute boy and don't know what to say to you. Plus you are older than them.
H: Oh.
Me: You know how you may have a hard time talking to a girl you like who is pretty and cool? It's like that.
H: No, I don't know what you mean. I just talk to the girls I like.
Me: O.k. It is kinda like how you may have trouble talking to an older girl you like or think is cool.
H: No, I don't know what you mean. I just talk to them like people.
Me: Well, some girls don't know how to relate to boys and act like they hate them when they really like them.
H: O.k. I see.
Me: If you want to talk to so and so who says they hate you, try saying, I like your rope swing or your fish pond.
H: I tried that already.

I am loving this stage of parenthood. I'm loving having them come to me and talk about girls they have crushes on and the questions my boys have for me. Both of our boys can talk to their dad also. So far all the parents of the girls have had really good things to say about both of our boys and love having them around. Camden is a really cool friend to his girls and I love how caring and sweet he is to them. It makes me so happy we have parented the way we have. I love how Holden stands up for his little brother and younger kids also. He doesn't like a cute girl his age (who lives near us) because she is mean to a neighbor boy who is 5 years old.

Bathroom is done!!! Well, mostly

2011-08-28T21:06:00.000-05:00

We started remodeling our bathroom last October and it is finally complete! I LOVE IT!!! The kitchen is done also (trim work is all we had left), and the basement is just about done also. We have a few minor things to finish this week and it is ready sell. I am calling the real estate person this week!!! Woo hoo!!!! Yippy!!!

~Heather ♥

End of Summer

2011-08-28T21:00:00.000-05:00

Moments in time this summer

2011-08-08T08:58:00.000-05:00

Swan family at the zoo

It has been a beautiful summer! We haven't done a whole lot this summer compared to summers past, but we have made a ton of progress toward getting our house ready to sell. We hoped to have it on the market by now, but it will be next month for sure. We don't have any plans set in stone, but we have lots of dreams and ideas. All of them very doable and interesting. We are keeping things simple and dreaming big. I will blog more as things evolve. At the moment we are just taking things day by day and treasuring the summer sunshine! Hope your summer is all you hoped it would be.
Love, Heather

Cam's butterfly friend for a day

Before a date

Hike with the kids at Walnut Woods

Cam riding his bike home from Walnut Woods. He didn't ride much farther since we didn't have his helmet.

Neighborhood party this weekend

2011-07-24T15:57:00.000-05:00

Holden playing volleyball with his new buds

Sand volleyball in our neighborhood

Summer Snapshots

2011-07-14T18:36:00.000-05:00

Holden and Cameron, a friend, on the Space Shot at Adventureland in IA

Tea Cups at Adventureland

Camden just being Camden and showing off for his friend, Mellie. LOL

Two baby birds found within an hour of each other in our backyard.

Summer photo moments

2011-07-03T17:19:00.003-05:00

Sending out summer love to all! Hope it's a great weekend for you all! ~Heather ♥♥

June is almost gone

2011-06-29T21:36:00.001-05:00

Well I had good intentions of blogging this month at least once with photos and now this month is almost over. I have had some really good ideas for blog posts too and now they are all gone, like water thru a fish. Both boys are doing really well and have made more friends this month. We are missing the road a great deal this summer, but are hell bent on getting our house ready to sell. We are still plugging away on that. I won't plan to take photos of the house again until we are all the way done with the updates. It is all coming along slowly, but surely.

We are going to visit friends in Minnesota this weekend for the 4th and looking forward to that. It is just a short road trip. I have the car all cleaned out and ready to go! I am itching for it!

Cliff is working full-time and has a part time job as well to help fund our home maintenance projects. We are about 3/4 done with the home mtc. projects! Yay!

I won't promise to blog again soon or with photos, but I really want to blog more detail at some point. My free time has been spent meditating in the mornings with yoga and a few weights, going on walks, gaming, cleaning, talking on the phone, hanging with the kids, or just being lazy. It has felt good to be lazy and let ideas swirl in my mind. Being a perfectionist or productive has been so far from my life lately, that I am not sure I can ever go back to blogging weekly. I let the blog ideas come in and then leave. My mental state hasn't exactly been kid centered though. Now that my boys are getting older I don't dwell on parenting thoughts as much. I try to just "be" more and just enjoy what is now. I have my many moments of imperfection, but I learn from it and try to move on without guilt.

Sending out much love into the world!
~Heather♥

Graduated

2011-05-25T08:38:00.000-05:00

Now what? A big sigh of relief that my husband is done with college, again! We are still plugging away here to get the house up for sale as soon as possible. We have big dreams to get on the road and travel as a family. Our patience is going to pay off one of these days. The kids are also excited and we are all well. This small Iowa town can't hold us much longer. We will miss it and the sweet people here. Of course, I am happy at the moment and am being as content as possible. We still have a lot to do. Thankfully it is almost summer and very nice here. For my husband's graduation we went out with friends, had a bbq, canoed with friends, and did not attend the ceremony! We are so past the stuffy and formal gatherings of yesterday. It was nice to just do what felt fun for our family. And we did!

Love to all!
~Heather

Mother's Day Weekend 2011

2011-05-09T20:00:00.001-05:00

I hope it was a great weekend for all you mamas out there! We had a beautiful weekend here in Iowa. All is well and we are happy.

Love to all!
~Heather

Easter Weekend

2011-04-25T22:00:00.000-05:00

We had a lovely Easter weekend and Cliff started a new job today. We are still working on our house and staying busy. All is well. Love to all!

~Heather

Archer dude

2011-04-25T21:55:00.000-05:00

Oldest at Happy Apple Archery. He got this starter bow in December and still loves it! He wants a better one though. He has some sharp arrows to go with it, at least.

Climbers never grow up

2011-04-25T21:50:00.000-05:00

They just climb higher...
This was our family at Climb Iowa a few weekends ago.
Great place! And good workout too! Both boys had a blast! The instructor was very knowledgeable and patient as well.

April days

2011-04-12T09:40:00.000-05:00

A sunny weekend

2011-04-04T10:09:00.000-05:00

Spring is here

2011-03-22T06:49:00.000-05:00

Well, it has been so busy here I haven't even thought about blog posts. Every day goes faster than the one before. We are living in the moment and enjoying being home. We are having an early spring here, which is wonderful. I am actually all traveled out right now after two years of going all over. The kids seem really happy and all is well right now. We are still plugging away on stuff around the house. Hubby has a new part time job and is almost done with college classes. He is still trying to find the perfect job and that is proving to be elusive at the moment. We are still eating healthier and staying active. I don't eat restaurant food anymore (as of last fall) or processed food and my body fat is quickly depleting after months of this lifestyle now and my energy is thru the roof. I will be posting photos---hopefully soon after all the illnesses are thru with us. I will try to do monthly updates for awhile, until things seem to slow down a bit.

Love to all!
~Heather

Glowing remarks (shameless bragging)

2011-02-28T10:41:00.020-06:00

I honestly don't need to hear praise about my kids. But it is really cool to think about some of the things I have been told lately about them. Holden and I play World of Warcraft on the same guild and last week the guildmaster (an older gentleman) went on an on to me about what a great job we are doing with our son. Such as--how good his manners are, how smart he is, how good he is at the game, how well he can talk to adults, etc. He also went on to say that other guild members really like us. They know we are are homeschoolers and one of the schoolteachers (a parent of several) in our guild really admires us as well and is very supportive of us. We have been in this guild since December and these are just some of the comments we hear all the time.

I recently heard some cool comments about Camden from a neighbor as well. I'm really proud of both of my boys and I love being with them. I can't imagine life any other way! End of shameless bragging.

~Heather

Cha Cha Changes taking shape

2011-02-26T09:17:00.008-06:00

Basement walls and ceiling are coming together little by little

Back splash is almost done and the kitchen trim is almost done.

And I got my hair whacked! :P

Winter moments

2011-02-25T18:14:00.001-06:00

2011-02-25T18:10:00.001-06:00

Things that make ya go hmmm...

2011-02-25T18:08:00.002-06:00

Clouds have always interested me. But have you ever noticed these kinds of clouds over the sun or on the south side of the sky? Some people believe this. I'm not saying I believe that. But it does make me wonder. By the way, I took these photos myself about two weeks ago and saw three jets making the trails in the sky. And then about an hour later it turned into a bunch of little clouds that made a cloudy blanket that blocked the sun. I have also been learning about solar flares. There was a solar flare(s) that caused the warm weather last week. Some people believe the trails help block the sun's flares. Pretty interesting stuff.

Left side of the sun.


Further to the left (continuation of first photo).

A mom on a mission

2011-02-03T21:06:00.000-06:00

After spending the last two or three years going all over the place to social gatherings and having kids over all the time, it is time for me to buckle down and get to work! I am on a mission to declutter and detail clean my house. It feels great not to be in charge of anything. I am focusing on my family, my health and my sanity---as well as our goals for the near future. It has been a heck of a year and a half for me personally anyhow. Losing my grandma and my cousin was quite a blow to our family. We have big plans for this year and a lot of work to do! So, I am on a mission. I am not going to be giving blow by blow updates, but when something concrete happens, I will blog it. I am not going to blog what our goals are, because those goals change and evolve every week.

Also, I have officially deleted my Facebook page in order to be more focused. People know how to get a hold of me if there is an emergency. Facebook is a great way to keep in touch. I miss that. I do not miss the constant needing to check it because I love all my friends so much! Maybe one day I will have time to get back on, but it may be a few months or another year. One thing I have learned about the internet is that you don't really know people like you think you do. It is a false perception of reality. I met a lot of people over the year who I adored and I hope to see again. But for now I am enjoying my real life and my children. It feels great to be here and in the moment. I feel very content 99% of the time and feel no desire to be anywhere else right now.

I love making dinner, reading, digging through drawers I have not cleaned out in years. Other than the dust issues, of course. I love helping the kids with their endless questions and not being distracted with 20 other things. I have really cool kids and I feel so grateful to be their mom! My husband is really awesome too. We love to joke around and dream about what this year will bring. We also talk a lot about world issues. It took us about 18 years to get this content in our marriage and it is nice! We have our moments, but they are few and far between now. It took us a long time to realize that life will throw us a lot of distractions and things that can complicate life. We have learned how to simplify life by saying no to things or people which are toxic and damaging to our marriage or family.

I feel I am setting a good example to my boys of how to lead a happy life. They are always sure to set me straight anytime I stray off course. And that is a good sign! Even better is when I listen and hear them.

~Heather

Finding a surprise and making a snowman head in the woods

2011-01-31T21:31:00.000-06:00

On Friday we had another perfect hiking day, so the boys and I raced off again with the dog. The snow melted just enough to spot a letterbox that had been hidden under a huge fallen tree by the waterfall. We signed the pad of paper inside and noted that no one else had signed it since the end of November.

The letterbox was a recycled Skippy Peanut Butter container.

The boys ran up and down the snowy creek and on our way out we decided to leave a surprise for someone.

It was like pulling teeth to get this shot. They did not want to stop working on their masterpiece.

The snowman head was near these broken up and bent tree branches.

We are anticipating a lot of snow this week. It will be fun to head back to the woods another day to see what it looks like with even more snow!

Happy winter!
~Heather

Something we should know

2011-01-28T07:46:00.007-06:00

A winter hike

2011-01-27T15:40:00.000-06:00

The boys and I went on a hike at one of our favorite spots today. The weather was very decent! Best it has been in a few weeks, temp-wise. It was about 35 degrees. We were curious to see what our favorite places looked like under the snow and ice. We also went to the bird blind at WWSP and saw lots of nuthatches, black capped chickadees, woodpeckers, and cardinals.

Holden is sitting on some drift wood which is buried in sand and snow!

Raccoon River at Walnut Woods. S.P.


After Walnut Woods we went to Brown's Woods for a quick peak.

The water fall is frozen

water fall area at Brown's Woods Forest Preserve

The creek bridge at Brown's Woods

I love the snow running up or resting on these fallen trees.

It was a great hike! We also saw about 10 deer. As we pulled up to WWSP we saw about 5 deer and then we saw about 5 more when we left. It felt good to get out into the sun. We have been sledding a few times this winter, but the sun was not out. Holden went ice fishing last weekend with a friend and their grandpa at our lake. The friend's grandpa has a fishing tent and heater. They caught some catfish and the grandpa filleted the fish on his tailgate and let us fry it up for the boys. I don't think there is anything tastier than freshly caught fish!

I'm hoping this is the first winter I don't get the winter blues! Cliff and I started walking when the weather is decent enough out. Yay!

~Heather

"I have 1,005,000 kisses in my pocket"

2011-01-25T20:09:00.003-06:00

That's what Camden told me this morning as he ate his cheese omelet and orange slices. He told me I could have one out of his pocket and blew me a kiss! He got all those kisses from his dad and I. What a lucky boy and how lucky we are to spend everyday with our kids. Some days and weeks are easier than others, of course.

We made it home from Texas through a nasty winter storm. We stayed a really long time and planned to come home sooner. We decided to stay to help celebrate my nephew's birthday. On the 14 hour drive home, which we break down into 2 days, we went in the ditch an hour from home! The weather was much worse than we expected or we would have delayed our drive home. It took us about 20 hours on the road to get home because the roads were so awful. But thankfully the car suffered no serious damage and we were not hurt. The kids and dog were amazing on the way home and we were glad to be out of the car when we finally did get home.

Not many days after getting home we all starting getting weird spots on our bodies. They looked like ringworms and were itchy. We guessed the dog probably rolled in something. I have a nasty red scar the size of a pea on my wrist where one has healed but I have tiny bumps around it that itch. We took the dog to the vet last week and he said whatever is going on should go away on its own. Although he did try to talk me into getting her on some meds just in case, which were going to cost over $900. He thought the pharmacy would have them for about $100 and the cost had changed. He took some skin cells from a sore spot on the dog to see if it is anything. We are all boosting our immune systems and using anti-fungal cream we got from our awesome doctor. I've been doing lots of laundry in hot water and cleaning as well. We are mostly healed up but keeping an eye on our bodies for new areas of spots.

Cliff is back at work part time and looking for full-time work while he finishes his last two classes of college. He is really busy hitting the pavement and writing papers again.

I wish I felt like taking photos the past few weeks. Hopefully I can get some good shots this winter here in Iowa. I do adore my kids and the clever and adorable things they say! It makes the difficult moments in life much easier to endure. Capturing Camden's sweet words and joy are as important to me as any photo. Despite the trials and tribulations we have been through this month, we are grateful to be together--and mostly in good health!

Love to all!
~Heather

Savoring the sun on a picnic and celebrating

2011-01-11T19:18:00.000-06:00

It was a really wonderful weekend! We were able to celebrate (although about 11 days early) my nephew's 13th b-day.

Love to all!
~Heather ;O)

New Year's Eve Weekend 2011

2011-01-04T18:11:00.000-06:00

Yin and Heather--7 Acre Woods zip line

Heather and Aunt Wilma at Heidi and Brian's house

Yin and her cousins

Holden and Camden with Aunt Wilma's kitten she is looking for a home for.

Heather and hubby in front of the tree at sister's house.

Yin and a pony at 7 Acre Woods.

Heather and Yin at Grandma and Grandpa Livesay's grave at Houston Veterans Cemetary.

It was a really good weekend and really busy, too! We made lots of happy memories this weekend and made time to go see my my Grandma and Grandpa's grave on Sunday.

My sister and brother in-law made some very tasty meals for us this weekend and have been very kind and patient with us. I wish I could get a photo of them together, but we have all been slumming it. So no decent photos of them.

All is going well here and the weather has been good to us. Camden has been practicing riding his new bike as well.

Lots of love to all!!!!!!

~Heather

Photo update--7 Acre Woods and relaxing

2010-12-30T18:44:00.000-06:00

We are still having fun and not ready to head home yet. Here is a little bit of the past week:

Just hanging out and being silly.

7 Acre Woods

Happy New Year to all and lots of love!!!!

~Heather ;O)

Christmas 2010

2010-12-25T17:03:00.000-06:00

Christmas is about family.

And maybe a few presents as well.

Sending out love to all, safe travels, and warmth.

~Heather

The finger incident, fort and tooth fairy visit

2010-12-23T08:57:00.002-06:00

Camden lost one of his lower front baby teeth last night. It was wiggly for a few days and with no drama it came out when he was eating an apple.

The boys have been having fun in this fort lately! It is an upstairs bedroom. Holden and his cousin have slept in it two nights in a row. So fun!

And now for the finger incident: Cliff was playing basketball with the kids and one of the basketballs hit his pinky finger and bent it out of place. Needless to say it looked quite painful. Thankfully my sister got it back into place. When she heard what happened she jumped into action and got him fixed up! She's so good in emergency situations like that. I almost passed out when I saw his finger. He got ice on it and it is doing well.

We started wrapping presents last night and we don't have much more to wrap. We don't buy gifts for the adults and we kept gifts to a minimum since we give gifts all year. We try not to spend over a certain amount of money. We probably spent at least $150 per kid and that is more than we usually spend. But it is so easy to go overboard. And this year they are getting things like socks, belts, and clothing--as well as a few other fun things.

Sending out love to all and wishes for an uncomplicated holiday!!!

~Heather

Let it snow...

2010-12-22T15:13:00.001-06:00

It was in the mid-80s here yesterday! The dog took a few naps after going on a walk with Cliff and I. I couldn't resist getting her picture under the tree. We will start wrapping presents today or tomorrow. Cooler weather is headed here soon. Not that I am complaining. We went on an evening walk at dusk last night and we saw a herd of deer and several bats. We have seen a blind dog walking with guinea hens and the kids have been outside hanging out with their favorite cousin. We made tamales last night and we have had lots of laughs.

It will be cool to see snow when we go home though. But for now, we'll enjoy the humidity down south!

Lots of love!

~Heather

Texas in December

2010-12-15T15:31:00.000-06:00

A special visit from my cousin, Yin (3) and Aunt Wilma. We were exploring the flower beds and she was fascinated with a caterpillar.

We arrived here on Saturday afternoon and missed some nasty weather up north. We were REALLY lucky we were able to leave town a week early. But experience has taught us that winter usually hits hard right around the 9th or 10th of December in Iowa, so we were prepared. At least, Cliff was. He asked all his teachers if he could take his finals a week early. He is a great student, so they were happy to bend the rules for him. We are with family and we are really happy to be here. The day we arrived it was sunny and 75. The temps have gone up and down, but overall it has been sunny and decent. We don't mind highs in the 50's.

Holden found this in the woods with Shadow. We have no idea if it is a coyote skull or dog skull.

So glad to have Daddy's company!

Holden loving his new boots and gloves--an early Christmas present. He lost his other leather gloves.

Loving up the sunshine and warm air.

Doesn't everyone love to skateboard and eat apples at the same time?


Morning snuggle time!

Spoiled by my sister and her husband! "Beer rocks" and "pizza pockets."

Sending out lots of love to all!

~Heather

Golden Holden is 9!

2010-12-09T18:58:00.001-06:00

It is Holden's golden birthday (9th b-day on the 9th) today and the boy is awesome! We baked a Rumble Cake (chocolate cookie dough with brownies, walnuts, and dried cherries) together and it turned out very yummy. We also made a nice lunch. We are headed south for the holidays tomorrow, so it was a day of packing, cooking, gaming, and eating. Cliff is taking finals this week and we are going to dodge a winter storm bullet and leave before the storm gets here this weekend.

My birthday was yesterday and it was just nice to be spoiled at home. I went to the chiropractor and Trader Joe's afterward to get a few b-day essentials. Holden made me dinner, Cliff gave me a sweet card in the morning and he had night class. He bought me new tires for my car and is taking me to see family for the holidays. Yes, I know I am lucky and loved.

Sending everyone lots of love and holiday time cheer.

~Heather :O)

Changing Education Paradigms

2010-12-06T15:35:00.001-06:00

This has almost 2 million views on Youtube and is one the best short videos I have ever seen regarding why schools need to change their paradigm. It is wonderfully illustrated and visual as well. I love the ending, too!

I saw this on Miranda's blog.

~Heather.

"Always here for you"

2010-12-06T14:04:00.000-06:00

I heard those words spoken by my six year old, Camden to our lovely dog, Shadow. They were said with such kindness and love that I was taken back. I know kids behave in ways that are shown to them by people around them. They are barometers and mirrors of their world. So out of curiosity I asked him if I say that to him and he replied, "Oh yes, Mom. All the time." I know my husband is very kind and loving to him and me as well. So it makes sense to see the them being giving and loving to each other. Sometimes I see Camden giving his brother a quick shoulder rub or giving each other hugs. We are not always kind though, but we strive for it 98% of the time. We have our tired days and off days as well. We live by the mantra that we need to be here for our kids. They are our future. They need our support and they deserve to be loved and cherished. I have long forgiven my mother for not always being there for me. I want to be my children's mother, not my mother's child, as I have heard countless times from wise mothers.

I heard that every year gets easier as a parent. I have to say that is true! I'm glad to be in the place we are as a family. We like being together and we like each other. And I am extremely grateful for all the people in my life who have always been there for me! You know who you are.

Love to all!
~Heather

We have birds and we have ice!

2010-12-03T15:46:00.000-06:00

Our back porch bird feeder. The clothes line is behind it in the background. We had to make it squirrel proof. So far, so good. It is hanging by a long, skinny single wire, which you can't see in this photo. That's a house finch. One of my favorite visitors!

Frozen beach water at the lake near our house.

More frozen lake.

Lovely ice!

I took this photo from a fishing dock area above the lake.

Happy mama.

Holden and Shadow on the icy shore.

A warmish day here and doggie dress up

2010-11-30T07:35:00.003-06:00

Frozen ice on the edge of the lake. we saw lots of this and sheets of thin ice also.

Some of nature's best playgrounds.

These photos were taken on Sunday. It was in the 50s here and we made sure to get outside, although it was quite windy! But we also had some fun once evening hit and it was pitch black again. Having kids provides lots of laughs! We have the photos to prove it.

All is well here and we are immersed in lots of interesting learning. I have lots of books I am reading, mostly nutrition and cook books right now. There is a huge selection of books being published about why low carb, low fat and high protein diets don't work and have failed us since their inception. I have been fascinated to learn about how hormones work together in harmony or disharmony with certain foods, exercise, sleep, sunlight, and other factors like weird food and drink additives. All of these things play a huge factor in our health, including our mental health and energy levels.

Me with Camden and Shadow in the background.

I've also started getting very interested in politics. Don't get me started. Cliff and I have a lot of fun talking about ways we can help make our country great again. Like getting rid of computerized voting machines, how we vote, career politicians, and more. Cliff has been interested in politics for a long time and I used to roll my eyes. But now I try to listen and throw my opinions in there. We get our info from different sources, so it is always fun to see where our talks take us. We usually have great talks on our almost daily 30-45 minute walks.

Canadian Geese here for the winter.

Shadow with her "come on do I have to smile?" face.

The kids are doing great. Lots of cool things happen with them as well. Holden told me the other day that he is really grateful to have such a nice mom. I love to kiss and hug both boys because I know the days of smothering them with love will not last forever. I love to spoil them with new recipes and healthy foods. I hit the jackpot the other day with a turkey taco with avocado, cheese, and homemade salsa. Camden was not a fan, but Holden ate several. I have been making copies of recipes I want to try and putting them in a three ring binder. I keep the recipes for the week at the front of the binder and move them to the back after I make them. It is great for getting out of a meal rut and trying new things. Most of the recipes are very simple and with little prep time. So far I have about 50 recipes in my 3 ring binder.Last night I made a fried brown rice with veggies and scrambled eggs. It rocked! But I put too much grated ginger and Holden couldn't eat it. Camden wouldn't try it, which is typical of a six year old. It wasn't greasy though, and I can't wait to eat the leftovers for lunch.

Well, this is a lot more than the title, but there you go anyway. :O)

Lots of love to all!

~Heather


Shadow and her clothing specialist.

Not chasing our tails...

2010-11-27T12:25:00.000-06:00

But Holden does love to make up games for the dog which cause her to chase a toy near her tail. We didn't leave the house at all on black Friday and our Thanksgiving was cozy and content. Well, Cliff left the house because he had to work and he is grocery shopping today (with Holden) for his first time at the new Trader Joe's in Iowa! And Holden left the house Thursday and Friday to play outside, even though it was cold out. He took friends to play with some frozen lake water, which was quite exciting for them. He accidentally dropped his walkie talkie in the lake though and it shorted out. They lasted a year at least. Boo hoo.

Holden turns 9 in a little over a week and my birthday is the day before! It has been a really fast year! I had photos to share, but they are MIA.

Sending out lots of love to all!

~Heather

Flying machine and sick bugs

2010-11-19T16:40:00.000-06:00

We are passing around a cold here this week and I have it the worst. Wahh. But on the upside I have a flying machine on my WoW player now! Both boys thought that was really cool and Camden is having fun flying around with it. I made it with 300 engineering and lots of mining stuff I saved.

We are having a good week here. It has been pretty busy. Cliff's brother was here four nights in a row to help put in the new bathtub/shower. We just got the new shower curtain up yesterday. Now we just have a ton of drywall work to do, but at least the shower and tub are usable. I'll wait to post a picture of the tub when the drywall is finished.

Both kids are really happy and content lately, which is really nice. I'm loving that! They are getting along about 95% of the time and I love seeing their relationship grow. I know they won't always get along, so I will savor this moment in time.

Love to all!
~Heather

The Money Scam

2010-11-15T20:11:00.001-06:00

I love this! We discuss politics and economics on large and small scales in our home. This is worth thinking about for sure. We are well on our way to getting debt free and we stopped using credit cards about 5 years ago. Please people, think before getting yourself into debt. Paying with cash is the way to go.

Here's the actual link to the video: http://scamschool.blip.tv/file/4377903/
I found the video from Miranda's blog.

~Heather

My Dream-Wing Helm and the doings report

2010-11-12T21:04:00.001-06:00

It is really fun to play WoW now that the days are so short and the weather is dreary again! This helmet was a sweet surprise from a dungeon drop and something different. I am almost a level 70. Yay! I have a flying rider now and can make a lot of gold by selling things in the auction house. I paid Holden back for all the help he has given me on WoW. I'll try to get some screen shots of us together playing the game.

It was a really strange week, but mostly good here. We got out a lot and had a lot of comings and goings with school conferences this week. Neighbor kids were coming and going, but one the most frequent visitor to our house is grounded. I took a little friend on a hike this week to my two favorite spots and she loved it! She said she had never been to a state park before. Of course the dog (Shadow) went with us and it was a lot of fun.

A new and awesome grocery store (Trader Joe's) opened this past week and we have had fun trying new brands (mostly the Trader Joe brand) and recipes. I even have Cliff hooked on their products! Their prices are very decent as well for foods that are chemical free and all natural. Holden and I made clam chowder today and did some experiments with fire. It was a lot of fun! We are going to learn to make some foods that are covered in flames.

We are really excited that this semester is almost done for Cliff. I am starting to feel dazed and confused and Cliff is looking and feeling quite worn.I have been trying to pick up the slack this week by doing the yard work, which he usually does. The last of the leaves came down this week. Holden cleaned out a neighbor's gutters because they were full and she is a widow with not much family close by. He's a cool guy. I am terrified of heights so I supervised from below and held the ladder for him. He had a blast up high and came down via a tree. A friend of his tried to get on the roof to help him and was like me...chicken!

Happy weekend all!

~Heather

Lordy, lordy look who's 40 and late night free running

2010-11-09T07:25:00.000-06:00

Add caption

Banana ice cream pie with Trader Joe's vanilla ice cream and Midnight Moo chocolate syrup!

It was a really great weekend! Cliff and I had a little celebration at home with the kids and then we went dancing with friends. The kids did not protest us going out without them. Our sitter is really sweet and pretty, too. Cliff and I really needed to get out together and we had a lot of laughs. The banana ice cream pie was a huge hit! I didn't get any photos of the dancing, but trust me, it was a blast!

Holden and Camden watched some free running videos last month and have been practicing basic moves at home and when we are outside. They are quick learners!

Love to all!

~Heather ;O)

The Bald Eagle, other birds, and chipmunks

2010-11-03T19:18:00.000-05:00

Holden claimed a bald eagle flew right over his head on Monday while he was in the backyard. We were both glad he did not have his coon cap on. I asked him if he was sure it was a bald eagle and he said he was sure. So skip to today: As the boys and I are leaving our neighborhood I spotted a bald eagle! It was flying across the highway toward the lake in our neighborhood. The wingspan was amazing and confirmed to me that Holden knew what he was talking about on Monday!

It inspired us to pick up a new bird feeder and seeds to do some backyard bird watching this fall and winter. Every day we see new birds on our back porch looking for food.

On a totally different note, we have chipmunks living in our crawl space. I could hear one in the vent by the back porch. Holden peeked into the vent and saw it! Cliff and Holden investigated it and that will be their weekend project---exterminating them and sealing their entrance.

Fun times here! I'll try to post some pictures from Cliff's b-day this weekend.

~Heather :O)

A friend is a friend...

2010-11-01T08:00:00.036-05:00

...no matter how small. That's my version from "Horton Hears a Who." This is our friend Elliot last week painting with Camden at our house. His big brothers and Holden went to the lake to play at the park and I stayed at home to hang with the younger guys. I love how Camden's eyes light up when he sees Elliot.

I made a video of Camden explaining something about WoW to me, a game he likes. He explained it to me a second time so I could take a video. I got a tiny part of Elliot telling me about his painting. Before I took the video I did oooh and ahhh over his painting. He is quite the artist for 2! He didn't paint the couch or himself at all, as my boys used to at that age.

Happy November!
~Heather

Halloween Daze

2010-10-30T22:23:00.002-05:00

Halloween just never gets old. Holden decided he wanted to be a sniper, so we went to work making a ghillie suit. We didn't get it all completed, but we put in about 12 or more hours on it. Here's the definition of ghillie suit from wikipedia: A ghillie suit, yowie suit, or camo tent is a type of camouflage clothing designed to resemble heavy foliage. Typically, it is a net or cloth garment covered in loose strips of cloth or twine, sometimes made to look like leaves and twigs, and optionally augmented with scraps of foliage from the area. We had a lot of fun talking while making the suit and even listened to some fun music and took breaks to dance around the room. But by the third day we were pretty bored of it. We made it using burlap which we had to take apart or we used jute string, but either way was a lot of work.

Camden borrowed a friend's white ninja costume and he looks really adorable. He did not want to wear shoes, even though I got him some cool camo boots to wear.

On Friday night Holden and Cliff went to a haunted house and to shoot pretend zombies with a friend while Camden and I stayed home to carve a cool pumpkin with a neighbor friend. It was a lot of fun! Saturday is our night in Iowa to trick or treat and that was fun as well. The weather was perfect for it. Both boys collected enough candy to last a few months. Cliff and I took turns taking them door to door. I passed out candy for an hour. Mellie, a neighbor friend came over to see if I needed help or wanted to go with her door to door. The boys were out with Cliff and when they came home we took off with the dog and left the candy on the steps with a note for the kids who came by for candy. Cliff was tired so he stayed in to take it easy. He had to get up for work at 3am this morning.

I'm really pleased how well our Halloween weekend went. I love fall and all the traditions we have. It was fun to see neighbors, yard decorations, and the haunted places people make in their garages or yards. One thing we noticed this year that was different were all the people not home or not passing out candy. Candy prices were really high this year and with the night to go door to door being on a Saturday a lot of people were busy. For the 20% of people home, it was fun anyway! Also, our dog, Shadow loved going door to door with the boys and she helped me greet people when they came to the door. She made it really special, even though she did not wear a costume. I wore my witch hat and did my best to get into the spirit of Halloween.

Happy Halloween!
~Heather

Changes and some things that don't

2010-10-25T00:52:00.005-05:00

Looking back at last year's blog posts for this month, and the years prior for October, make me see changes I don't remember on my own. It is funny how the seasons change more slowly than I remember them in my mind. The kids seems so little last year and I realize how much they have changed this past year. As the kids get older I have more time between busy moments to see how fast parenthood goes by and how much I want to appreciate it all.

Some Canadian geese are in our neighborhood for the winter. This is about a third of them here.

Loving the fall colors and leaves that are on the ground. The kids are not too fascinated with playing in the leaves as they were in years past.


Camden on the new swings at the park nearest our house. I miss the old playground equipment, but we do like the new swings and climbing wall. My kids still prefer digging in the sand by the beach more than playing with the very expensive new equipment. Of course, we have swings in our backyard, so swings are nothing big to them.

They dug in the sand for about an hour. Nothing beats sticks, rocks, water, sand and fire! That fact will always remain for boys throughout time. You can count on card board boxes as well.

Brotherly mud, hike, & the coon skin

2010-10-24T23:11:00.003-05:00

The good weather just keeps on coming here in Iowa! As soon as I was over my cold, off we went for a hike on a sunny fall day last week. On the way there we found a newly dead raccoon (hit by a car, but not badly disfigured). Holden asked to take it home to skin. As you can see by the photo below, it was a good sized raccoon. He does not know how to skin it with the head fur yet. He is learning though. Next time he may get it right.

Camden has been very interested in gaming this week. He can find trainers on WoW, read the maps, and lots of other things he has learned over the years by playing the game and watching others play. I have enjoyed taking a break from "the game" since Camden has been more interested in it. That gives me time to help them with questions plus I have been doing a lot of reading, listening to books on tapes while cooking or cleaning. I have a few shows I like to watch as well. Thank goodness for DVR's. I record the shows we like and we watch them commercial free when we have time.

We have been taking a break from working on the house because of lack of time and money. But we hope to install the bathtub and shower next month. It is sitting in the garage! Yay! Cliff worked his butt off to make that happen. I love that man! We had a good anniversary last week and now we are excited about Halloween this coming weekend and then Cliff's 40th is the next weekend. We have some fun planned, but nothing extravagant. He has been working a lot and I am looking forward to him being home a bit more the next few weeks.

The boys are still really busy all the time with friends coming and going or they go to friends' houses. It is neat to see their friendships evolve and how they manage to maintain friendships through hurt feelings and other issues that arise. Some of these friendships have been going on for over 5 years now.

XBox rocks!

Holden's first best attempt to skin a raccoon. Not bad for learning from Youtube videos.

Walnut Woods by the Raccoon River

Shadow was happy for the lovely romp by the river and woods. Across the river from Shadow (above her) you can see a speck. That is a person contentedly watching us the entire 45 minutes or so we were there. We could barely see a tent in the trees. I wondered if it could be a homeless person, since there is not a campground there. I heard the homeless shelters are already full and it is not even winter yet. Scary!

Checking out the new climbing wall in our neighborhood.

Planning their blind walk to the car.


They were taking turns hiking back to the car with their eyes closed while holding hands.

It is always nice to see them nurturing their relationship as brothers as well. I am really happy they have the time to be children together. I notice the more time, respect and patience I give to them as individuals, the more loving and kind they are to each other.

Love to all~
Heather

Surprise!

2010-10-18T13:37:00.000-05:00

Don't wanna show you!

O.k. that's a little better!


Notice anything different?

Holden's two front teeth were very wiggly, but it was a minor bike accident that got them out. Thankfully it was nothing serious, his teeth hit the middle bar of his bike. He hit a bump and that is what caused the accident. His permanent teeth were already coming in, but not by much. So no damage done, we hope. He's not in any pain today and we are relieved.

I'm still a bit shaken up today by some of the accidents the boys have had this month. I miss having Cliff home more and not so busy. Accidents and misunderstandings happen a lot more when we are all over the place. Being parents of two busy boys who are branching out more, is not for the faint of heart. But we will survive and have learned a lot through our experiences.

Happy trails all!
~Heather

Social Butterflies

2010-10-18T13:21:00.000-05:00

This is one of Camden's buddies. He has been hanging out here a few hours about every other day the past few months. His brother was in a near fatal car crash in August. He lives down the street and is very boisterous and energetic. We met him through another neighbor friend.

Friends are good!

Anniversary Date

2010-10-18T13:15:00.000-05:00

Our 15th wedding anniversary is on Thursday, October 21st, so we went out on Saturday evening, despite us both having colds. Cliff has a 4 hour night class on our anniversary and works several afternoon plus evenings this week, so it was good to celebrate early. It was a fun date! We went to the Cheesecake Factory, Hessen Haus to have a beer and watch the Polka band, and shopping--for what I can't say. It is top secret. Only my sister, Heidi, knows. The kids stayed at home with a teen neighbor and had their own little party.

At the Cheesecake Factory


At Kohl's, Cliff couldn't resist getting a photo with this cute bib he saw. Such a funny man!

Happy anniversary, Honey! Thanks for all you do for us!!!

~Heather

Fishing, hat boy, and new friend

2010-10-14T01:59:00.001-05:00

Nothing fishy going on here!

He actually asked me to take this picture! He is a very confident and happy little boy. Never thought he'd love hats as much as I do, either!

Camden is a really good caster for 6 years old. Cliff bought him this fishing pole when he was 4. They just catch and release.

The new friend is in orange. They have a lot in common. They met at the pond behind them, which is near our house.


Hubby and I on our mostly daily walk checking in on our fishing men. The new friend lives right by the pond and both my boys can swim. So we just check in on them every 15 minutes or so. It is great fun to see them branching outside of the normal routine of having friends over everyday.

Seriously, this week has been near perfect. I want to remember this week. I feel happy and content, the kids are getting along, too. I am sleeping well, kids are sleeping well, and we are pretty used to our routine now. No one is sick this week, well except Holden and Cliff, but nothing serious. Cliff has mid-terms this week and we have a lot going on all the time. But it feels normal now that we are getting used to it. Cliff's eyes are droopy a lot when he has to work at 3:30am at his part time job. He takes a lot of naps and he is grumpy a lot. But we manage. He is so close to graduation, we can taste it!

Our 15th wedding anniversary is in one week. Cliff starts a new night class that day, so we are going to celebrate our special day sooner or later. I am excited! We haven't had a date in awhile. We are overdue.

Happy mid-October! And love to all!
~Heather :O)

The local pumpkin patch and corn maze

2010-10-08T10:27:00.000-05:00

The goat fort.

Camden had to pick the corn. He wanted to give some to the goats. Later we realized that corn can bloat goats and they may have to have their stomach's pumped. Oh boy. :O( Some rules are not meant to be broken.

The goats were so sweet and cute!

See the little square cup? You can put goat feed in it and crank it up to their fort above.

These pedal go-carts rocked! I even went around a few times. Holden and I raced and bumped into each other for fun. It was a blast.

Heading out to the corn maze and pumpkin patch via tractor pull. There was another family on trailer with us.

It was a candy apple kinda day! So on the way home we picked up some! What a lovely fall and October.

October sights

2010-10-05T17:32:00.001-05:00

It is turning out to be a beautiful fall! I have taken a few photos around our neighborhood and home just to show a few bits and pieces of things going on here. Of course, there's a lot more going on than this, but this is all I have photos for:

This is in a lawn down the street.

Same lawn as above, but the pumpkin and ghosts are deflated.

Holden walking Shadow with her Halti (gentle lead). That keeps her from ripping our arms off when she tries to run after other dogs or sniff every tree and mailbox.

Holden going ga ga over a cat he notices. We see lots of cats and dogs on our walks.

Holden helping Camden set this game up.

Holden skinning a small ground squirrel they found in the road that had just been hit by a car. My boys have a natural hunting and gathering instinct. They would like to provide all our own meat, if they could. They did keep the skin, by the way.

So happy I finally got my haircut and highlighted again. I stopped dying my own hair this summer. I'm gonna go gray in style. Of course, I got it done at a discount through a local beauty college. I will really miss my girl when she graduates.

We have been pear and apple picking 3 times this fall. Pears are really yummy in fruit smoothies.


This is the bag of pears we picked last week. It is amazing to see all the insects on the ground eating the leftover pears and apples. So far we have escaped harm.

Camden has been very interested in Bakugan balls lately. He has been trading them as well. He is a very interesting little person and I am enjoying seeing him grow and change everyday. He has made a new friend this month and it is really neat to see how easily he makes friends and nurtures relationships. Cliff has made a list of items to focus on around the house. We plan to install a new shower and vanity in our bathroom this fall; this month is possible. Cliff has also started researching penny stocks. It is something he has been thinking about for awhile. It was neat to see him explaining stocks to Holden today. Holden is interested in learning more about that. We are celebrating our 15th wedding anniversary in a few weeks and then two weeks later Cliff turns 40. So lots going on here and for us to be grateful for. I hope everyone out there is well and having a wonderful fall.

~Heather

Camden's Six!

2010-10-02T20:14:00.000-05:00

Well, almost! He turns six on Monday. His party was today though and it was a lovely day.

I made a strawberry Jello cake with Cool Whip frosting. It was really tasty! Not too healthy, but that was not the point. ;O)

Kids with their bags of candy (candy from the pinata). That was really fun!

September sunshine and update

2010-09-26T12:56:00.001-05:00

It's been a good month overall despite a lot of rain, we have had a lot of sunshine. The kids played in the rain one day and I wish I had made a video of them on the trampoline. They jumped in the warm rain for about 20 minutes with friends. I didn't get any photos of the little books we made about 5 days ago. But we did have fun with that for a few days. We are celebrating Camden's 6th birthday next weekend and we are all very excited about that! Cliff has been busy with school and work, but we make time for daily walks together. It gives us a chance to exercise, talk dreams, catch up and plan. We even had a date this week at home. It was nice. I'm still on a cooking spree all the time and loving trying new recipes almost daily. Some of our photos this week:

A cool find that we let go.


Got Camden's bike tire fixed. This 20" bike is a bit too big.			He is not into bikes much at the time anyhow.

Hunting for toads at a pond in our neighborhood.

More toad hunting...missed it by that much.

Saw lots of butterflies. It rained a lot the day before. The waters were high.

Camden's new haircut.

The boys in the coziest spot in the house playing Clan Wars. Holden is getting over poison ivy on the face and still wears his raccoon hat daily.

Loving our new rocks and lack of weeds.

On our way home from the pond. Holden rode his bike home.

The first toad and the spider lover letter

2010-09-20T14:41:00.000-05:00

I found an email I sent in late September 2004 with this spider photo attached. I don't want to loose these memories or this photo. The letter freaked out some family members. And since then we have seen black widows, a coral snake and scorpions when we were in Texas. We talk a lot about various insects and what is safe to touch and when to research further. he was over 2 1/2 by a few months in this photo:

Yes, Holden is a total bug fanatic. He has come into the house on many occasion with a spider (and many other bugs) cupped in his hand wanting to show us. This is a spider he found in the yard today. The second photo is of the spider crawling up his arm and he is stopping it, but obviously not worried. He has been bit (or says he has) but I've never seen a mark he has never cried. Luckily we live in a cold place and so don't have any poisonous spiders around...believe me I have researched this for a year now. This spider freaked a neighbor kid out so much that he puked in our yard. Holden wanted to pick it up and the other boy was trying to get Holden to leave it in the bug cage. I was in the kitchen and missed most of the hoopla. Cliff and I are afraid of spiders and many other bugs and guess he has a natural attraction to them. He was walking around with a locust and a beetle last week. Most days it's just crickets or earthworms. He told me the other day that he found a snake (sure it was just a grass snake...Iowa remember) by his swing set and tried to catch it but was sad that it got away.

Well I guess you may not be visiting our house in the near future, if you are squeamish about insects or spiders. But maybe one day you'll need a bug catcher guy and he can help out. I hope you are all well and we'll let ya know when this baby comes!! I hope he or she is not afraid of bugs. And if not, that they don't torture/tease me with them one day.

Love,

Heather

And I love the photo of Holden with his first toad! I remember the day we found this beauty and we released it the next day or so back to the same pond we found it by. This was taken when he was about a year and a half or two years old.

Holden and I are making little story books with drawn pictures of family pets from the past and future, and next we are thinking of doing one about his first toad or about spiders we have found. So lots of cool memories are being thought about. I tried to find a book I made when I was about 10 and I couldn't find it. But I showed him my poetry book from about 20 years ago. I'll try to share some photos of the books we make.

Have a great week all!

~Heather

Crepes, rocks, and other stuff

2010-09-17T23:21:00.000-05:00

I always wanted to know how to make crepes! So I learned how this week. They are super easy to make! Cliff and Holden thought they were awesome. I have the batter all ready to go for breakfast tomorrow. I have been baking and cooking a lot the past month. Mostly trying new recipes and trying to keep everyone fed. The boys are growing and hungry all the time. That is a lot of work, but I truly love it---most of the time! We've been making our power fruit smoothies with bananas, blueberries, kale, ginger, lemon or lime, and flax seed daily. It helps to give me a lot of energy! I have been taking some really awesome multi-vitamins and calcium, magnesium too. When I don't take my vitamins right my upper back hurts a lot and so do my legs and I don't sleep well. I am just terrible at eating properly.

On another note we finally finished our flower beds with rocks. It looks wonderful! I am going to be sore tomorrow. We all sweat our butts off on that project. Now onto a few other outdoor projects, like paint, and trying to decide if we want to build a small front porch. The one we have is very tiny and not too safe in the winter due to ice. After that we are replacing our 30 year old bathtub! It has been on our to do list for about 5 years. It is simply gross and we can not sell our house with that thing here. Well, we could, but you know...

The boys are having a great fall. Cliff found out this week that he only needs to take 2 classes from January to mid-April to graduate in May. He is very busy with school and comes home with papers to write everyday. It is mind boggling some days to imagine how he can keep it all straight. He had to go rent a certain movie for his ethics class, watch the movie, then write a paper about it. So it is about a 5 hours process for each paper sometimes. And on top of that all the neighbor kids (7 with our kids) were at our house in and out with our kids. It makes me dizzy, but we make it work! He is still working about 25-35 hours a week at a local gas station that makes and sells pizzas and donuts. He works in the kitchen and enjoys it. It is a nice change from industrial or desk jobs.

It was beautiful weather here this week and I will miss these outdoor days when we can go on walks and work in the yard without coats and hats. The leaves are all going to start falling soon. It is a good time of year to start thinking about our vision for the future again! Cliff and I were talking about all the exciting places we want to go and experience with the kids in the next 2-5 years before we settle down again. It will be really cool to look back at these days of planning and dreaming to see how far we actually made it. We have a lot of planning left to do and nothing is set in stone yet for 2011. So we are certainly doing a lot of dreaming and thinking.

Love to all!
~Heather

Selibo is baaaack!

2010-09-15T16:51:00.000-05:00

That is my World of Warcraft hunter, level 51.9999. Holden has been asking me to start playing again for about a year. So far he has bought me a new bow and a new rider and we are headed to a dungeon. We are having a blast. I told him part of the deal is that I go on walks daily and take care of household chores and can't ignore youngest. All of that is in check today after their help. And my hayfever is behaving today! So yay! Just had to mark this day somewhere.

Love to all!!!
~Heather

Rainy night fun, Facebook, and Future

2010-09-13T23:29:00.000-05:00

Shadow has been promoted to the lead dog! Her uniform? A cammo bandanna, of course! Both boys have graduated to coonskin caps (made of fake coonskin, I believe). When I can catch a photo of Camden with his cap on I will try to add it to a blog post. We seem to always have an extra kid or two here and tonight was no different. We played a game of "Sorry" Spongebob style and then the boys ran off to wrestle.

And to follow up about my cousin's birthday last week: I did not cry on his birthday. I did talk on the phone to family a lot more than usual and it was nice. Also, just to let you know, I am doing fine without Facebook. I have finished some non-fiction reading and have started a few other projects and have a long to do list this year with the kids, hubby, and house. The kids have appreciated having me be more present as well. So, I am really proud of myself!

We are set to have our house on the market next spring, we hope, and are working on our plans for next summer, after Cliff graduates. Next year is full of promise! But those plans can only happen, if we set them in motion, dream, research, collaborate, and not waste time wishing---or procrastinating. We have a lot of work to do until then.

Love to all!
~Heather

My Facebook deactivation

2010-09-11T18:19:00.000-05:00

Yes, it is true! With little hesitation I deactivated my Facebook account today. It was a bold move to take back more personal time. I had been thinking about it for a few months. I plan to spend more time blogging, getting our house ready to sell, and in reality. Yes, reality!

Love to all!
~Heather ;O)

Just keep swimming

2010-09-09T17:26:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow my cousin Michael would have been 40 years old. He took his life a little over a year ago in a terrible murder suicide. He is missed and we wish he was here, but we are still living and following our bliss. I am sorry he is not here to share it with. So all this makes me feel all funny inside and makes my cheeks burn. I push back the tears today, but tomorrow they may flow thinking of all the fun birthday parties I spent with him over the years. So that is where I have been all week, but I haven't stopped living and being hopeful. I am not wallowing in pity or anger. Just trying to live my life and missing my cousin. It still seems like he is around here somewhere, but he is not anywhere that I can call him or see him. I talk to his mom as often as I can and she is doing well---other than missing him, too. Funny thing is, tomorrow is her birthday as well. I sent her a card and have been in touch with her all week. Life does go on and we find ways to just keep swimming.

Love to all!
~Heather

I ♥ September!

2010-09-07T18:21:00.000-05:00

The mosquitoes were a bit oppressive on the trail to the river at Walnut Woods State Park today, but it was worth it when we got to the river! There was a beach to walk on. Last time we tried to hit the beach at the river, there was not much of a beach due to the rainy spring. As usual, we had the beach to ourselves. We didn't see any toads this time or any water fowl, but it was still a beautiful time in nature. It was just a short visit, about an hour--the boys were pretty fried from the busy weekend and we are still adjusting to being home again after the summer of travel. We're still finding our balance with Cliff back in school and working part-time. Both boys have been on a bandanna kick, thanks to "Survivorman" and "Man vs. Wild" shows. Holden also had his pocket knife and flint, just in case.

We are only going to be in the 70s for highs this week and I am excited. Fall is here and we have a lot to look forward to besides the usual: We are going to visit friends in SE Minnesota we haven't seen in over a year, Camden turns 6, Cliff and I celebrate our 15th Wedding Annie, then Cliff turns 40 in November.

Happy September, everyone, and love to all!

~Heather

P.S. I'll try to come back to write more of an update this week.

NBTS Picnic--8/25/10

2010-09-05T15:04:00.001-05:00

It was a perfect day with lots of sunshine and a nice breeze! The food everyone brought was very tasty as well! It was a day the kids will never forget. There were about 80-90 adults and children at the picnic and everyone seemed to make a friend or two. Yay!

I'm still here

2010-09-03T14:34:00.000-05:00

I'm taking a blogging break, or have been anyway. Seems I am focused on life and living it more than writing about it, at the moment. I am not giving up blogging and want to continue to document our journey. I prefer documenting with photos, but that requires more time than I want to spend on the computer. After being gone all summer, I am finding lots of things around here to keep me on my toes and in the now. When things slow down and the weather turns less desirable again, I will try to blog more of an update. The weather has been wonderful, we've all been pretty healthy, and Cliff is back in school--his senior year. He is working about 20-35 hours a week and drives to school 5 days a week for classes. For now, that is all I have time to say. Love to all!

~Heather

P.S. I have fallen in love with baking, going on evening walks with Cliff, and the boys are both in cool stages of life, as usual.

Holden's Slideshow

2010-08-10T11:31:00.004-05:00

Holden asked me to help him make a slideshow from our visit to the Houston Museum of Natural Science on Sunday. He took almost 200 photos there and most of these photos are the ones he took. I had a lot of fun watching him soak up all the sights. I can't wait to take Camden in a few years! This is the science museum I grew up with. Next time I want to go to visit the planetarium. Holden chose to see the Butterfly Center at the museum vs the planetarium. I was impressed with the Butterfly Center. They also have a nice IMAX theater. It was the first IMAX theater I ever visited...that was in the late 80s.

Love to all...

~Heather

2010-08-08T22:04:00.001-05:00

The past few weeks have flown by! It is is hard to choose what to blog about because every day there is something going on. And it is easy to be on and present lately. The older my boys get the more I realize how fast time is going by. They are really interesting and full of questions. Holden wants to do so may things with his life. It is mind boggling some days trying to keep up. But we love it! Camden is changing so much everyday I can hardly remember a time when he wasn't talking and walking. He will be 6 in October and I am amazed with him. He has stolen a special place in my heart and I am so grateful to each of my boys for pushing me to be the best mom and person I can be.

We have been going swimming almost everyday, enjoying family here, reading, watching dvd movies, biking, helping out around the house and trying to stay cool.It has been super hot here in Texas.

Holden and I went to visit one of my aunts today near downtown Houston and then we went to the Museum of Natural Science. It was a great day!!!

Both boys are getting along well. They seem to get along better when they are together without other friends around. It is kinda nice to see.

We'll be headed home in a few weeks or sooner, depending on if Cliff can find some temp work. Cliff went on a ride along with my brother-in-law last night and that was really cool! He is a Houston Police Sargeant. They came home laughing with funny stories. My sister and brother-in-law don't seem to mind having us here and we enjoy them! I have been out several times with my sister and it is fun to relax with her when her husband is at work (when she is home).

All is well! I am needed now...

Love to all! And thanks for the comments this past week.

~Heather :O)

Looky what we have here

2010-07-28T11:11:00.001-05:00

Taking a break from dodge ball (Cliff, Holden, Camden, cousin Robbie--my nephew)

Camden with a cicada (locust) shell we found

The cicada shell we found

Still smiling even though she has to be a conehead for awhile.
She has an owie on her cheek you can't see in the photo.
It is almost healed now. She has what dog owners call a "hot spot" from allergies and/or heat.

Camden found some mating butterflies outside my sister's house.
They have many tropical vines and flowers to explore right outside the front door.
S.E. Texas is a sub-tropical climate; humid and hot--near the Gulf of Mexico.

Staying cool is easy with a hose!

Fort building using big clippers and Holden's machete. This is the wooded lot next to my sister and B-I-L's house.

The garden we helped B-I-L build two summers ago. It is doing well.

Can you see the sweat? This was right before a rain shower we were waiting for. It was humid out!


All this can make a boy tired!

We are having fun here and Cliff has been job hunting via temp agencies. We will be able to go to a water park and do some sight seeing, if he gets some income coming in. Otherwise, we will head home soon and have some fun there! We are grateful for this time with family and the mosquitoes are not too terrible.

So that is the update I promised! Sending love to all!

~Heather

Southward bound

2010-07-18T09:16:00.000-05:00

We are heading south this week, unless Cliff gets a job offer here for the summer in the next few days. It has been nice to be home, but we aren't ready to end our summer travels and adventures away from home. I'll blog some photos next week!

Love to all!
~Heather

Seven weeks ago...

2010-07-14T20:22:00.001-05:00

...we left on a wild adventure! I had full intentions of trying to blog our experiences along the way, but lack of reliable internet and time kept me from doing that. And when I did have time, blogging was not what I wanted to do. So here I am back at home in Iowa dreaming of all the places we went and all the people we met. It was a trip I will never forget and am truly grateful for being able to take. These photos were taken on our last week of our trip from Montana to Mt. Rushmore and to the Badlands (South Dakota)--which was on our way home to Iowa. The boys had a wonderful time and we are all ready to take off again, but a longer trip will come next year.

Not everything went according to plan. People got sick, my allergies were terrible, we had the grumpies, we got frustrated at times. But what we got was a chance to see and do things we never thought possible! Last summer I was so thrilled to make it to Yellowstone!!! This summer we made it to Alaska via Colorado, Idaho, LIFE is Good Conference, British Columbia, and then home via British Columbia, Alberta, Jasper National Park, Banff National Park, Montana, Mount Rushmore, and Badlands National Park. We saw more black bears than I can remember and met more nice people than we can count. We saw a lot of dreary days and cold nights as well. And now we are home to heat, fireflies, moonlit nights with sunsets, and lots of familiar.

We are grateful to be home safe and sound! Now Cliff is looking for a job. We didn't count on that, but we are glad for the family time we had this summer! It was worth it and we'll never regret it!

Love to all...
~Heather

Gone fishing

2010-07-01T22:30:00.000-05:00

Blogging has taken a back seat the past month, as you can tell. Once I get home and have access to better internet connection and my desk top I will be back. We are having a great end to Adventure 2010 and I am eager to continue immersing myself there.

Love to all!

~Heather

A Message from Shadow

2010-06-12T10:25:00.000-05:00

I am having a great time here in Alaska! When I got here there were 3 dogs. One of them was really grumpy. Every time he growls at me I hide by mom or dad's legs. He can be pretty scary. His name is Dante. He gets the muzzle when he growls at me. When we go on hikes and walks he is really sweet to me and I am able to kiss him on the cheek with no retaliation. The other two dogs are Billie and Deana and they are both girls. Don't ask me what kind of dogs they are because they are all rescue dogs and I can never remember their breeds mixes. They are really cool! Deana can be really silly when she gets Kleenex stuck to her gums.

We are going to Fairbanks tomorrow and I am really excited! The other dogs have to stay home and I will miss them. But I know they will be happy to see me when I return, except maybe Dante.

Happy trails,
Shadow

Butte climb, Bandit, and BB Gun

2010-06-07T19:20:00.002-05:00

We are getting settled in fine with the Snavley's. They are letting us stay in the nice RV parked outside their house. We live in the house during the day and share meals and kitchen duty. Cliff has gone on two hikes already and Holden and I went on one yesterday. The boys are loving it here. They have 3 dogs, a bird (Caique parrot) named Bandit, and 3 kids. Their oldest son, Kevin is in Japan and my boys are loving the Snavley's two other kids, Tristan and Calista. Tristan has been playing Xbox and showing them the ins and outs of the bb gun. It has been a wonderful few days since settling in. We are getting over the conference crud (colds/flu) here, but we will be well soon. We are all going to Fairbanks in a week and will be there for a week. We're going to to the Midnight Sun Run and we'll live in the RV. It is going to be a roaring good summer and it is off to a great start!

Love to all...

~Heather

From LiG to Alaska

2010-06-04T12:11:00.001-05:00

LIFE is Good went by in a blur!!! The kids are ready to do it again! They made friends with lots of interesting and awesome people and Cliff was so social he got asked to help assist with the talent show. It was cool to see so many happy, enthusiastic and beautiful people in one place. We met many inspirational people like the Yoblonski-Bieglers. Camden adopted a really nice family (Chris and Kelly Wilson--Cooper and Frankie) from Vancouver Island, BC. We almost went to visit them on our way to Alaska, but decided we better not do that yet. We will for sure visit them in the future.

We left the conference on Monday morning and drove thru British Columbia, the Yukon, and made it to Alaska on Thursday around 1pm. It was an amazing ride. Cliff and I were in awe of all the wild life, the mountains, rivers, and lakes. We saw many black bears, trains, a brown bear, moose, wild horses (some with cow bells???) elk, bison, foxes, coyotes, rabbits, black birds, wood ducks, wood carvings, log cabins, and met lots of nice folks on our 3 and half day trek here to Alaska! The roads were really curvy and full of dips in places. They were a lot better than I expected though!

Now we are at the Snavley's house and all is going fine. Heidi had a yoga class to teach last night. She invited me and of course I went. She teaches at a lovely studio in Wasilla, not far from her house. It was a wonderful class! I felt so relaxed and centered afterward. Her daughter, Calista Is really good with the boys. She is 11 and very adorable. Shadow is happy here and other than peeing in Calista's room she has been a good girl.

We are really grateful to know so many wonderful and kind people who support our dreams and inspire us to be better. Thanks to all of you who don't think we are crazy and to everyone who has supported us a long the way!!! We love you all very dearly. We also love all the wildlife that smiled at us along the Alaskan Highway and stayed off the road for us. What a joy to see them happily prancing about and living in freedom. We see eye to eye with those creatures.

~Heather ♥

Well that was fast

2010-05-31T00:40:00.000-05:00

We are leaving tomorrow for our next adventure, and believe it or not I am homesick and tired. But hopefully I will rally when we get to our final destination--or someplace in between. The weekend was a huge success for our family and it went pretty fast. I was quite out of sorts all weekend due to PMS and lack of sunlight. Considering all that Cliff and the boys had a blast and I enjoyed seeing them in their element. Shadow did amazingly well herself! I did break my camera today, but I have a loaner and I hope to back to blogging with photos again in a week or less. I have been too busy with other things to worry about blogging, to be honest. I have taken lots of photos, but not as many as last year.

Love to all!
~Heather ♥

LIFE is Good: Day 1

2010-05-28T20:02:00.000-05:00

Today is the second day of LIFE is Good. Yesterday was emotional and happy and busy. We have met so many people and the kids are really busy here making friends. I have taken lots of photos, but I won't take time to post those for awhile. I just want to enjoy this weekend as much as possible since we have been waiting for this for a long time and there is so much going on. I want to be present and learn as much as I can from all these amazing parents and kids. Cliff is spending a lot of time getting to know people here and helping with the kids. He is very present here and that brings me a lot of joy to see.

Love to all!

~Heather ♥

LIFE is Good begins

2010-05-26T15:54:00.001-05:00

We arrived at the LIFE is Good conference hotel last night. We drove to Twin Falls, ID from Boulder on Monday. All went fine on the drive. Shadow is doing wonderfully and she even enjoyed the blizzard we drove through in Wyoming on Monday. We had a wonderful visit with the Burton family on Monday night. We spent the night at their house. They made a delicious dinner and breakfast they shared with us. They will be arriving here today. We have met several very cool families so far. We put a name sign up on our door and Laura Endres (from Illinois) is down the hall and knocked to say hi. It was really fun to meet her as I came down the hall with groceries and saw her at our door. Chris Sanders and I went to Fred Meyer and Trader Joes for groceries.

Camden is taking a nap at the moment and it is pretty dreary here, but so good to be here still! Holden is wandering around with new friends and Cliff is in the lobby visiting with people. All is going perfect.

Can't wait for all the real fun to begin, but first I need a quick rest and some yoga to center myself. ♥

~Heather

Boulder and Eldorado Springs State Park

2010-05-23T07:47:00.001-05:00

We arrived in Boulder, Colorado on Thursday night and we are having a great time. We couldn't have planned it any better! We drove through hours of rain and dreariness to arrive to sun! And we were told it had been cool and dreary in Boulder for weeks. Talk about lucky! We were greeted with lots of hospitality and yummy food. Shadow did great in the car and when she had her eyes open she was grinning from ear to ear. Both kids are so happy she is here. I went on a long walk with Shadow yesterday and she is loving it here as well. We went to Eldorado Springs yesterday afternoon with the Holcombs and had a wonderful hike. As if this is weren't amazing enough we still have miles and miles of adventures to have...I am extremely grateful to so many kind people who have let us into their lives.

I wonder what we will see next and who we will visit? Ya just never know. I'll just leave it at that.

Love to all!
~Heather ♥

All is unfolding perfectly

2010-05-19T08:29:00.001-05:00

When we started planning our adventure 2010 last year, we just had to trust all would unfold as it is should. So now that we take off tomorrow morning it is amazing to see how things have shaped up. It will be fun to see how everything plays out...

I will have surprises to share along the way.

Love to all!
~Heather ♥

More brother adorableness

2010-05-17T10:53:00.001-05:00

I am amazed at how entertaining cutting paper can be! This all started last week when we got on-line for some intricate snowflake design instructions which we printed onto paper from our printer. After making about a dozen snowflakes they decided to use some of the same folding methods to make other designs. I am impressed with all their creations and the little paper gifts they have been making us and each other.

Have an awesome week!

~Heather ♥

P.S. This video was take late Sunday night.

Joyous moments and our betta fish couple

2010-05-16T14:25:00.002-05:00

There aren't many days when we don't have friends over or we aren't with friends, so it was really cool to see them just enjoying each others' company on Saturday. I tried to capture a content moment, but what I got instead was not horrible. It showed them trying to work out a plan and no one was terribly upset.

I tried very hard to get a decent photo of our lovely betta fish couple hanging out together, but instead I got two separate photos that came out well enough. The female is a blue green color and adorable. The male chased her around for about a week and now they seem to get along for he most part. I haven't seen him hurting her or being too mean. Our male has been with us since July of 2008. He was in a medium fish bowl. We decided to try an experiment while we are gone this summer, and that required a larger tank which we found for $10 at a garage sale. We will have someone checking on them while we are away. I hope they enjoy each other and are happy and well when we return!

Other than all this we have been having a nice weekend and are looking forward to a great week ahead! Part of our plans include seeing friends in Colorado. Can't wait to share more next weekend...

~Heather ♥

"Crazy unschoolers crash school picnic"

2010-05-13T14:57:00.000-05:00

O.k. so we didn't ruin the picnic or anything, and we really aren't crazy. We showed up at park day and saw two school buses parked by the playground today at 1pm. My kids got out of the car with the dog and I asked them to try to keep her by the playground, and away from the picnic shelter. Before I could get out of the car I heard a roar of laughter. Shadow entered the picnic shelter. It was pretty funny! I bet she went in there with her tail wagging and she probably had a huge grin on her face. I called her and she came right out. The teachers smiled at us and Shadow did not go back in there again until they left. She had to taste all the crumbs the kids left behind. She wagged her tail goodbye to all the kids as they headed to the school bus in their single, file line. She begged them to come play with us and they begged to play at the playground, but it was way too muddy for them after days of rain. That is what the teachers told the kids. We were grateful it was not too muddy for us and we had the park all to ourselves.

We left the park at 2pm because no one else showed up and we were ready to go. We still had fun and I am glad we went. Shadow needed the run and so did the kids. We went swimming at the YMCA the hour before and it would have been fun to stay there a little longer, but Shadow was in the car waiting for us. Thankfully it was a very cool day and she is patient.

That is all I have to say about all that!

Peace to all!

~Heather ♥

Making new friends everyday and everywhere

2010-05-08T06:05:00.001-05:00

The world is like a mirror, you see? Smile, and your friends smile back. –Japanese Zen saying

My heart is filled to the brim today. We were out an about running errands and going on little dates. I had a date with the boys. We met with Holden's supervising teacher. Then the the boys had a date with their daddy. And then I went off on my own adventure. I met a lovely young woman named, Daniel from Israel. She had long black hair, kind eyes, and small seashells in her hair. She works at a place that sells beauty products. I really wanted to buy what she was selling, but I was in search of a new bathing suit, so off I went. It was fun to listen to her sales pitch anyway.

“Life is partly what we make it, and partly what it is made by the friends we choose.” --Tennessee Williams American playwright. 1911-1983)

And the boys and I had a server named, Sixto on our date. We asked him about his unusual name and he said it was also his father's name and it means sixth child. He was a first born though. He looked Hawaiian and he was a big guy. When we finished eating, and the boys were ready to go I said we needed a box for their leftovers (they still eat like birds). We waited a bit for Sixto to come around again so we could ask him for a box. Camden must have been excited to go because he stood up on our booth bench, made eye contact with our server from the other side of the room, smiled and joyfully announced: "Sixto, we need a box." "It caught me by surprise and I started to laugh. Startled Camden, buried his head into my arm and I told him how cool he is. Sixto said, "O.k." and we had our box in a few seconds. It was one of the best times I had had with them in a long time. They both discussed their meal choices, side by side, and told me they picked those items so they could share. They told Sixto that and he smiled and said, "It is nice to share."

"You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you." -Dale Carnegie

Story 2: We went to the bank to get some papers notarized. We had to wait a long time for a banker since it was the noon hour. Both boys went into the cubical with me when it was our turn. It was an older woman who helped us. She was very jolly. Most people I meet are really nice, not sure why that is. Anyway, she found out a little about us and she went on and on about all the cool things we will see this summer in Alaska. She went there on a cruise 2 years ago and her face lit up when she spoke about it. She hoped we could see whales, and moose, and elk. She and Holden could have talked for another half an hour about all the things they have seen and all the adventures we will have or have had. It was if we were not in a bank, with people waiting in line behind us. I had to gently pinch Holden's back to hint it was time to go. Camden was half way out the door. It was like pulling teeth to break Holden and the banker's intent gaze and excitement.

"Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer."

Story 3: Holden has been learning to play Halo 3 this week with a new friend, Ben. I put a note on an unschooling_gamers group about wanting more friends and Ben's mom wrote to us. They only live 6 hours away and they both love WoW and Xbox 360. They have been playing a lot this week and really clicking. Ben is 10 and he has been a lot of fun for Holden to get to know. I had fun talking to his mom on the phone about various things our boys have in common. We hope to meet Ben and his family one day in the future.

"Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?" -Abraham Lincoln

Story 4: "Camden and the toy frog." We went to Dollar General to pick up some supplies this week and for Camden to spend some of his money. He had been asking to buy something with his money for a few days. So finally we had a chance and off we went. I grabbed my two things I needed and then he we got in line with a toy car he wanted. When the cashier rung up his car a message came up letting the cashier know it was recalled, so they couldn't sell it to us. I told her that was the second time that has happened to us recently. Camden didn't freak out or anything and I told him he could save his money. He just said he would go pick out another item while I paid for mine. I tried to talk him out of another toy, so I whispered something in his ear. Instead he ran off on his mission. He came back and patiently stood in line behind a nice lady who had apparently been watching us. She said she liked his attitude so much that she wanted to buy the toy frog he went to pick out so he could save his money. I was surprised he was o.k. with that and I allowed it to happen. I let the transaction happen and did not intervene.

"A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words." -Unknown

I think the thing that people like the most about my kids is how the talk openly and make eye contact. They are also happy and social. I have been taking them with me everywhere with me their whole lives, so they know how to interact with all age levels, opposite sex, and other races-- without fear or prejudice. I don't pay for a sitter everytime I have an appointment; they come with me. They are also friendly with the neighbors and say hello to them using their first name. The neighbors know them as brave and confident. A neighbor lost an expensive frisbee up in our tree and they were all too scared to climb the tree (even the two 19 year olds). They knocked on our door to ask Holden (8) and he gladly tried to help. But it was in a branch no one could reach. So then Holden tried to knock it down from our roof with a tennis ball. That didn't work either, but I thought it was sweet of him to try.

Life is full of sweet surprises everywhere...."The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched – they must be felt with the heart."

Love,
Heather ♥

Hopelessly in love with spring

2010-05-06T08:25:00.001-05:00

"To be interested in the changing seasons is a happier state of mind than to be hopelessly in love with spring." ~George Santayana

I'm in love this spring! I can't help but feel alive and energetic when the sun is shining and we have so much to be grateful for. I don't care what season it is, if it is filled with joy and promise, I am usually in love with it! As for today, I in love with the cool mornings, breeze, and sunshine. I am in love with sound of kids playing outside. I am in love with the flowers and green grass. Nature's playground is my heaven.

Love,
Heather ♥

Boys with homemade bows and arrows

2010-05-03T07:45:00.003-05:00

This was a cool project for us over the weekend. First we watched an eHow.com video on how to make bows. Then the next day we went to work. It was mostly a lot of fun. Camden let an older neighbor friend try his out and the bow cracked because it was meant for a little person to be pulling on it. So, we started a new bow for him last night. They are for fun and not to kill with. They would like a real bow and arrow one day, for now this will do. I had fun making these with them. The weather was mild and it was nice to be outside carving and stringing.

~Heather ♥