Meet the Family: Rylan

Dowdy Lake, near Red Feather, CO. Aug 2010

Meet my beautiful daughter Rylan, age five.  She is my first-born, and is heavily out-numbered by brothers and boy cousins in these here parts.  She has a few females to rely on, but one lives in Florida, another lives in Oklahoma and one is just a baby.  So, you might think that she would have some tomboyish tendencies.  And you would be correct.  As long as tomboys can run around in princess dresses and wear pink cowboy boots at the same time, then we are okay.  Don't forget the tiara.

She is the most expressive and linguistically gifted little girl.  She will argue till she is blue in the face.  She knows lots of big words.  And uses them regularly.  She never forgets... anything.  She loves to play with Legos, Barbies, Disney Princess dolls, playdoh, cars, and fill her fifteen billion different play purses with 'stuff' and leave them all over the house.  She loves to ride her bike (still on training wheels), her Barbie scooter, and on the copilot behind my bike.  She climbs fences and rocks, digs for worms, plays with the garden snakes and stomps on ants.  She also chews her toenails.  yuck.  Her older brother taught her that.  (thanks, Jordan)

Rylan idolizes Jordan.  They make terrific playmates and are able to agree most of the time.  Jordan does a great job of involving Rylan in what he is doing - but he also has the bad habit of making her do the dirty work, like asking if they can play the Wii, after I have already told him "No".  She also loves her younger brothers - she has two now.  She fights like cats and dogs with Owen, except when Jordan is out of town.  Then she is queen bee and the dynamic changes quite a bit.  I often think about the dynamics and the whole 'middle child' syndrome.  With four, how does that work?  If three are boys, and one of the 'middles' is a girl, does that negate the syndrome effect because she gets a different kind of attention being a girl?  Hmmm.  She does dote on baby brother Colin quite a bit.  When I nursed him as a newborn, she would shove a doll up her shirt and nurse her too.  When I burped him, she would follow.  Too cute.  She shares a room with Colin because she is such a good sleeper.  I often hear her talking to him in the mornings, when they are both waking up.  I will often find her in the crib with him.  She will have already filled his crib with lots of books, and will be showing them to him.

When Rylan was about at the 15 - 16 mo. stage, she began a love-affair with books that lasts until this day.  I would place about 10 or so of her favorite board books in her crib at night, after she had fallen asleep, and the next morning, when she woke up, she would spend a good 30-45 minutes looking at her books.  I could hear her shuffling through the stack, making comments now and then... as well as any 16 mo. old can really express themselves.  As soon as I heard them hitting the floor, in a well-timed succession, I knew she was done and ready for some attention.  Funny, that hasn't changed much.

She is learning to read as we speak.  The program All About Spelling has done a magnificent job in presenting the phonograms we use, and she is starting to read simple words like a mad woman.  I predict by Christmas time we will have a full-fledged reader on our hands - yeah!

Rylan loves to dance.  Every once in awhile I will let her watch a snippet of Dancing with the Stars, and she will stand there, mesmerized.  She also loves to sing.  So do cats, but they do a much better job.  She prefers to do a private, operatic performance with her dolls.  She can sing about tragedy with the best of them.  I really, really need to record her on the sly someday soon, because I know this won't last much longer - she will get self-conscious soon enough.  Especially when the dog starts howling.

Rylan is also quite the artist.  She paints just about every day.  I have to buy a ream of printer paper at least once a month.  Lately book-making has been the thing.  I also need to buy more staples.  I constantly face the problem of "Do I save this??".  I've saved a lot of her firsts: a face, a body, first written words, first name, first portrait, first family portrait.  She drew a self-portrait of herself the other day as a grown up.  It was complete with breasts and a baby in the belly.  I told her, "Wow, so this is what you will look like when you are thirty, right?".  Rylan said, "No, that is too old.  I want to have babies long before then.".  Over my dead body you will, Missy!

I am so thankful to have at at least one girl.  I hate packing away her old clothes.  I cried and cried when it came time to pare down the baby clothes and give some away, donate some, sell some, and save the rest for a keepsake quilt some day.  I had such attachment to those clothes.  The boy's baby stuff I'm like, "meh", but the baby girl stuff really gets to me.  Even walking through a store, I gravitate towards the baby girl section and feel all sad.  Silly I know, but true.  She is growing way too fast.  I constantly tell her to stop growing, and she says that she wants to be a parent (her word for grown-up) so that she can drink coffee with me.  She is such a sweet and affectionate little girl.  She still climbs into my lap, she loves to listen to stories, and she will stroke my face or arm while I am doing so.  I know that the day will come, all to soon, that she won't want to do that anymore.  And that makes me very, very sad.  But it will also mean that we can do all sorts of other things that an older kiddo can do, so I try to just focus on that instead.

Rylan also comes up with the funniest, sometime bizarre things to say... if you have time, read the posts under the heading The things kids say...  That will give you some great insight into the way this little girl's mind works...
I love that girl!

Meet the Family: Jordan

Parked along the sea wall in Galveston, TX. Oct 2010
I look at this picture any time I need a laugh - Jordan's expression says it all...

Jordan is my eleven year old stepson.  He moved out to Colorado with his daddy, Dean, when Dean's company transferred him.  Dean has had sole custody of Jordan since he was two.  I first met Jordan when he was just a couple of months shy of his fifth birthday.

Jordan's number-one strength is that he is adaptable.  A lot of serious life events have happened in his eleven years so far... a divorce, a move, a new preschool, a new step mom and a move, a new elementary school, a new sister, transition to homeschooling, a new brother, another new brother and perhaps the most upsetting of all was his mother's diagnosis of stage 4 colorectal cancer 14 months ago.  Through it all, Jordan has managed to weather it all fairly well.

Jordan has several unique gifts (although sometimes they are a burden as well).  Jordan has ADHD.  The symptoms are manageable for the most part.  His ability to focus on ONE thing is compromised, he is impulsive, jittery, outspoken and interrupts constantly.  Kindergarten was a nightmare!  His classroom was situated just one room away from mine, and the way our school was configured (no hallway), I would have to walk through his room with my class to travel elsewhere in the school.  I hardly ever saw him in there.  Where was he??  Well, for the most part, he was spending time in the 'refocus room', where students who are misbehaving are sent to stare at the wall  pull it together.  He was sent every day, several times a day.  First grade was not much better.  We had high hopes at the beginning of that school year.... he would have a veteran teacher, be in a class of just 14 students, and had an intervention plan written out where he could go to the Moderate Needs room when he needed time to focus - away from the hub-bub of the regular classroom.  As it turned out - the 'veteran' teacher (who should have been able to redirect him when he needed it) sent him to Moderate Needs for most of the day, every day.  He got to participate in very short-lived doses of all the super fun things that first-graders do.  By the end of the year he was miserable.  To top it off, he was witnessing some off-the-charts behavior from his fellow students in the Moderate Needs room.  Students who were there for emotional/behavioral stuff... if you catch my drift.  After receiving some particularly graphic drawings from a psychotic disturbed little boy, Jordan was beginning to dread going to school.  When the year was over, we decided that both of us were officially 'done' with public school.

It is interesting that the 'inappropriate' behaviors that Jordan exhibits in the classroom are what makes homeschooling such a successful option for him.  He is curious, inventive, and he will doggedly pursue his interests.  That being said, we would not be able to make homeschooling work for us if we didn't actively work to suppress his symptoms to a manageable degree.  I was all for using drugs in Kindergarten and first grade (just to make his teachers happy), and then I backed off.  I thought that a change in environment (learning in the home) and dietary changes would be enough.  I do believe his diet plays a part in it.  For almost two years now we have been tinkering with dosages and different meds to find the perfect balance.  We avoid artificial food coloring - Yellow #5 seems to be particularly problematic.  Give him some orange soda and he will go completely nuts.  Well, after the better part of a year, I realized that the combination of his behaviors and my frustration level with him was damaging our personal relationship.  I have always chosen to deal with him with a heavy hand, mostly because he can come across as completely obnoxious if he isn't on his meds, and I am super-sensitive to how he behaves in public.  I have this hang-up that my children's behavior is a personal reflection on me and how well I am doing my job as a parent.  A completely selfish and controlling aspect of my personality.  that's why I am in therapy, people!!  Yet, I am sure, that others would interpret his behavior as just your average kid.  I think that you don't really 'know' what it is like until you live with the behavior, day in and day out, weeks, months, and years on end.  So be nice and don't judge me.  :)  In the past six years, the symptoms have dramatically improved.  I do look forward to the day when he has enough self-awareness that he can manage the behaviors on his own.  Do the drugs interfere with his creativity?  Nope.  We have a good combo (20mg of Vyvanse for the day and .5 mg Risperidone and 3mg of Melatonin at night) that helps take the edge off of his inattentiveness and helps him to filter out the plethora of stimuli that comes his way each day.  Does it make him a zombie or change his personality???  Not a bit.

If I were suddenly in the throes of divorce and lost custody, I would live where my kids live.  I could not imagine living without them or not being an intimate part of their lives.  But life happens, and that is not always possible.  In Jordan's case, his mother lives in OKC, where all of Dean's family resides as well.  Her parents live there, and since she is an only child, they depend on her as they advance in years.  Picking up and leaving is not an option.  Jordan goes on visitation with his mother (and stepfather) three times a year - rotating holidays (Thanksgiving or Christmas), Spring Break, and six weeks in summer.  The visits go fairly well, but there is always a very rough 'reentry' period of time after an extended visit.  Life there is, umm..., much different then it is here.  To help bridge the cultural gap, I constantly strive to help Jordan 'connect' with his mom.  She calls every day, which is a very good thing.  The conversations though, are typically short.  You can tell that both parties are asking the same, tired questions.  I feel like an intruder, but I try and guide Jordan to tell her the more interesting aspects of his day (which he typically forgets) and to have deeper conversations with her.  I want him to get to 'know' her, and more importantly, for her to get to 'know' him.  She needs to know that he likes going to museums.  He likes to read.  He likes watching interesting science/history/geography stuff on TV like NOVA Science Now, Mythbusters, Nature, anything on Nat Geo, and so forth.  Follow your children's interests and you can form a real bond and have fun at the same time.  In this case, it will be difficult.  Even I could hear the disdain in her voice through the phone the other day when he told her he was watching NOVA.  "You watch that?"  (face palm)  I have my work cut out for me.

Jordan is smart.  He learns best by doing.  He pulls down the microscope at least once a day to look at something he found outside.  He will make five new friends within minutes of arriving at a playground.  He is funny.  He must have at least a handful of Lego pieces with him at all times.  His hands can be busy with the most complicated of things, yet he will listen to and repeat back all that you say to him.  (that can be infuriating when you think he isn't listening...)  He constantly wants to be a part of whatever you are doing - cooking especially.  He loves to make funny movies with his siblings on his camera.  He loves Sponge Bob.  And he has a crush on a girl (Naomi) in his karate class.  He is affectionate.  He insists on hugging every family member at bed time.  He helps around the house or with his siblings without complaint.  He is my right hand, and I couldn't do what I do without him.  I just need to tell him that more often.  And be less strict.  really, I'm trying!

Muffin Tin Monday

The kids have been eating absolutely nothing lately (I would swear they survive on air), so it was time to do another MTM meal.  At least that way they actually eat something.



Clockwise from the top: cherries, grilled ham & cheese sandwich slices, cinnamon Teddy Grahams, peas and strawberry yogurt with mini marshmallows in the center.

 I looked at some of the other meals that are featured on the Muffin Tin Mom site today, and I inwardly groaned at my lack of creativity, but here you go.  And it only took me five minutes to do, so I guess that would be a plus!  Owen generously gave Colin his bears and cherries, so I had to fish the cherries out of Colin's mouth before he bit down on a pit or even worse, choked on it...  So it was a moderate success as far as Owen was concerned.  He didn't finish his peas, and he asked if he could take them to bed when it was time to go down for a nap.  Nope!

Meet the Family: Dean

Pumpkin Patch, 2010

Meet Dean, my dear husband of five years and 352 days.  Dean hails from Oklahoma, so I had no choice but to become a Sooner fan.  Dean has a son, Jordan, from a previous marriage.  Almost all of his extended family lives in Oklahoma, so we travel there 2 -3 times a year.  Dean and Jordan moved to Colorado almost eight years ago, when the company he works for relocated his entire division. (Dean is an electrical engineer).

Dean is incredibly handy, and it seems that there is no repair job he can't handle.  He has replaced the brakes on our old Subaru Forester, replaced our water heater, dishwasher, kitchen sink, garage door opener, backyard drainage system, air leaks in the basement...  whew!  He also built me a roll-around lectern that could store my teacher manuals (when I was teaching public school), three raised garden beds, a giant sandbox (post to come soon), a TON of electrical wiring, and probably some more things that I have forgotten about (sorry honey, there are just so many!)  I am so thankful that he has the skills and know-how to be able to do this for our family.  It is also nice to know that our kids will grow up knowing how to do these things as well.

True to my wish list for a perfect partner, Dean loves to travel, hike, bike, camp, go to concerts, museums, movies, restaurants and sporting events.  He is an awesome dad - quick with a joke to help a grouchy kid turn it around.  He doesn't shirk from a poopy diaper or a snotty nose - although I am pretty sure he has yet to produce a ponytail for Rylan  He is the ultimate list-maker and planner (like me), yet at times it can go to the extreme - like when we are packing for a trip and he goes on a two-hour tangent to assemble the cables, charge cords, batteries and what-not and gets completely wrapped up in it and forgets that we are on a schedule.  Such the engineer...

Dean is also incredibly thoughtful.  I remark that I like a certain music artist, and he produces their latest CD or iTunes download within a day or two and surprises me with it.  He treats me to a cold drink, a dish of ice cream, a cup of hot tea, ect.. when needed... he made all three pregnancies that much easier to bear by all the little things he did for me.  Thank you honey!   One of the most awesome things he did was help the kids make me breakfast in bed this past Mother's Day.  They brought me breakfast and then left me alone for another couple of hours and I got to sleep in and read in peace for the whole morning.  It. was. wonderful.  The absolute perfect gift!

I am so blessed!

Simple Woman's Daybook



I have wanted to do this for over two years... what took me so long?

I am thinking...  that I follow way to many blogs.  My husband would agree.

I am thankful... that my good-natured husband allows me the time to write on weekend mornings.

From the Learning Rooms... well... technically we are in the midst of a five-week session of school.  But.  Too many activities have held the ability to get work done at bay.  The best we have been able to accomplish is getting in some reading time, and workbooks during swim lessons.  When swimming lessons are over in four more weeks, we can get back to our regularly scheduled program.  :)

In the kitchen...I have a turkey defrosting in the fridge.  Well, um... it was officially defrosted about five days ago.  Now it is sitting in a puddle of bloody water - I forgot to put it on a pan.  Thankfully the shelf is lipped, so it hasn't spilled anywhere else in the fridge.  I have been watching roasting turkey episodes of America's Test Kitchen on the DVR to learn how to cook a turkey.  They recommend placing pieces of salt pork over the back, to baste the chicken with flavor and fat during the cooking time.  Great.  But no grocery store around here sells salt pork.  So there it sits.  Do I dare cook it?  I am going to take it out of the fridge, after I am done writing, to look at it, and more importantly, smell it.  If it is off, out it goes.  It won't be a financial loss, my dad gave us 4 frozen ones around Christmas time, when the charity he and my step mom were volunteering for had way too many donated turkeys...  I just happened to have freezer space, and the wild-n-crazy idea that maybe it was high time I learn how to cook a turkey.  We'll see.

I am wearing...rumpled shorts and t-shirt.  And a messy pony tail.  And bright pink nail polish on my toes.  Colin likes the polish... he keeps touching my toenails.

I am creating...a to-do list for me today because I can't seem to focus on any one item.  There is too much to do!!

I am going...nowhere today.  Nice to have a day where we have no particular place to be or an errand to run.  The boys however are going to see the movie Cars 2 later today.  Rylan and I went yesterday - it was wonderful!!

I am wondering...how on earth I am going to complete this to-do list.  Also - how long turkey can stay defrosted in a fridge and still be safe to cook.  I think I will google it......I'm back.  Butterball says four days after it is defrosted.  It also said defrost it in a tray.  Geesh.

I am reading...Watermelon by Marian Keyes.  Super book.

I am hoping... that I don't have to come up with plan B for dinner tonight.

I am looking forward to... bookclub on Thursday night, and seeing Kenny Wayne Shepard in concert Saturday night.  Date night!

I am hearing... Dean using the compound mitre saw to cut lengths of pipe for our new drainage system.  I am hearing Owen using his tractor in the dirt pile that Dean excavated from the drainage 'ditch'.  Rylan and Colin are also playing with cars.  Jordan is providing sound effects.  Now they are arguing.  Typical.

Around the house...Dean is working on the new drainage system.  We have had an on-going issue with draining the water that comes from the downspouts on the back side of the house away from the foundation.  I am running a load of laundry.  I will also be disinfecting the entire fridge.

I am pondering...what the next-door-neighbors must think of the constant bickering that emanates from our backyard.

One of my favorite things...is the fresh-laundry smell that comes from our dryer vent by the back door (that is currently open and a breeze is blowing)

A few plans for the rest of the week...session three of swim lessons begins tomorrow, although I have no idea what time.  They are supposed to call and verify the time.  Both Rylan and Owen will be partaking.  Jordan has scouts tomorrow and a cooking class on Wednesday afternoon - snacks and drinks.  Jordan also has a swim meet scheduled for Wednesday morning, and another on Friday morning.  I am already tired.

Here is a picture for thought I am sharing...

Excavating can be tricky business...

To read more entries and visit a variety of other blogs, go here...

Meet the Family: Kirsten

I am going to do something new... write a series of posts!  I thought that it would be fun to introduce you to our family, one member at a time.  The little 'About Me' section doesn't quite cover who exactly we are or what our family dynamic is like...

I was born in California, joining my mom, dad and older brother, Kirk.  (My dad got his doctorate in veterinary medicine, with a specialty in immunology.  My mom got her Master's degree in music education.  She taught for 25 years in our school district.)  We moved to Canberra, Australia about 4 months later.  My dad was doing post-doc work in veterinary medicine.  We stayed for about 2 1/2 years, and then moved to Madison, WI.  We moved again, just a few days shy of my fourth birthday, to Colorado - where we all still live.  Most of my extended family still lives here in Colorado.  My parents divorced when I was eight, and they both live here in the same city as me, just a few minutes' drive away.  My brother lives with his wife and three boys in the outskirts of Denver.

I attended public school and graduated in 1989.  The experience was pleasant enough - yet I could have done without the social bullsh!t.  It is crazy how, after all these years, the same social cliques are still present - on Facebook of all places.  I struggled through two years of college, and then left to take a break.  When I turned 21, I went to stay with my dad in Brisbane, Australia, while he was doing some experimental work at the University there.  I stayed 4 months.  It was the absolute most blissful time in my life.  Every day was different, and I had absolutely no agenda.  I got to know myself very well.  It is hard to wrap your head around this thought, but in the midst of the day-to-day bustle of family and work life, you lose yourself.  You never have those quite moments to just be with your thoughts.  I had that opportunity, and I will treasure it always.  My creativity just absolutely flowed.  I taught myself to quilt.  Paint with watercolors.  I wrote poetry and did extensive journaling.  It was wonderful!!

When I arrived home, life abruptly changed, kind of setting up a tail spin that lasted twelve years.  I moved back in with my roommates, and got my dog, Kai, back from the family that kept her while I was in Oz.  I broke up with my long-distance boyfriend.  I started a new job, waitressing, which I had never done before.  Those first few months were pretty comical.  I went back to school.  I started dating the bartender who worked at the same restaurant.  A year later we moved in together and got another dog, Yuki.  I dropped out of school again.  I took on an additional job at a day care.  I took on another additional job cocktail waitressing.  (That's right - three jobs!).  We bought a house.  I left the day care and became a nanny and left cocktailing job.  A year later I took on a string of waitressing jobs at a few different restaurants to supplement everything else.  (Yep - back to three).  Dropped the additional waitressing job when I was promoted to assistant manager at initial job.  Began taking college classes again in the fall of 2000.  I was determined to get my degree in Elementary Education.  I got my first ever 4.0 GPA.  Every semester thereafter (six total), was a 4.0, save one.  I will never get over that A-.  The professor was a bitch.  Women's Studies....go figure.  I was never an 'A' student before.. mostly a just-scraping-by average student.  A new leaf was turning!! In the meantime, my boyfriend was going back to school as well.  He was attending law enforcement academy.  He graduated about ten months before I did.  He took a job with a police department in the outskirts of Denver, about a hour commute each way.

I graduated, but had no teaching job yet.  I was still with the restaurant, and I was still watching the kiddos during the summer months.  I had been with the restaurant for ten years now, and with the kiddos for six.  I juggled a lot of responsibility during those three years of school - but I survived!  That spring that I graduated (2003) we got engaged and sold our little house and bought a bigger and better one.  I landed a teaching job that August, with about five days to spare before the school year started.  A rough beginning for a first year teacher, but it was the most rewarding experience.  It was a small, rural district about a 30 min. commute from home.  I loved, loved, loved those kids.  They were exasperating, challenging, funny and full of life.  Several were migrant kids who spoke only Spanish, some had a relative in prison, some were abused at home or lived with an alcoholic, and some were perfectly 'normal'.  It was tough, but I was given a long leash to teach as I was able, and so I did.  We performed plays, had contests, picnics, reading circles, and long discussions about the realities they faced outside of school.  I got married that spring, in April.  (April again!!!)  No sooner had I opened a joint bank account, changed my name on absolutely everything and opened all of the wedding gifts, the honeymoon was over.  Sixteen days.  We had dated for 10 1/2 years and only managed to stay married for sixteen days.  But that is what happens when one of you is having an affair with a coworker.  And it wasn't me!

Now we enter an especially brutal and dark period.  Even though I had been renewed at the teaching job I loved, I sought out a position within the district I lived in, because it would pay more.  I had this new bigger, better house to pay for.  On my own.  I got the job.  I packed up my schoolroom and I packed up his stuff (thus discovering the affair).  In June, my beloved dog Kai was escorted across the way to where all good dogs go.  That. Sucked.  That was almost enough to push me over the edge.  Enough loss!  I did some therapy.  I wrote a little.  I rattled around a big house, and felt very lonely.  I still had Yuki for company, so we walked.  A lot.  Well, as much as an older dog can handle.

I dug into my new teaching job when school started back up that fall.  I got a puppy, Abbi.  Things were looking up.  I was still working nights and weekends at the restaurant.  Keeping busy felt good.  That November I decided to try out eHarmony.  I was never going to meet anyone otherwise.  I had a long list of deal-breakers.  I was going to be very specific, because I was not going to make the same mistakes again.  Within the first week, I was sent the profile of the man that would later become my husband.  But, I had to wade through a lot of other riff-raff first.  I had worked my way through my prospects, getting to the stage where I would meet them in person.  There was the weirdo engineer from IBM that checked out all of the other women who passed by our table during dinner.  There was the hockey player from Denver.  We went on two dates.  I insisted on going dutch both times.  I think that pissed him off because he never called again.  There was the city engineer from Boulder who was steadily dating someone else, but was still trying out another possible prospects.  There was the mama's boy who wanted me to meet his family as soon as possible.  With the exception of the hockey player - they were all first (and only) dates.  I began to lose heart in the process, and gave up in February.  I didn't renew my membership and left it at that.  There was one guy (Dean) that I chatted with a lot through the eHarmony message system, but he hadn't written back since January.  He would have no way of contacting me (I hadn't given out my personal email or phone number), but I figured that he was no longer interested.

In March, I got a cryptic email in my school email account.  I knew in a second that it was Dean.  He had only three pieces of my personal information to go on to have found that email address.  1. My first name.  2. I taught second grade.  3. He knew the city (and thus the school district) that I lived in.  He did a search and found me.  Just to be sure, he sent a rather ambiguous email that only I would understand.  I remember that moment so well.  I had just set my class to read for 20 minutes because it was DEAR (drop everything and read) time.  I traditionally checked my school email during this time, to stay on top of anything I needed to address.  There it was.  I smiled so big... my heart started to pound.... Could it be??  I wrote him back an equally ambiguous email.  He responded almost immediately.  I extended DEAR time another 15minutes... The messages flew back and forth fast and furious... and by that evening, we were on the phone for the first time.  I can't describe the feelings here... to some it may seem 'creepy' that he was able to figure out how to contact me because he no longer had the ability to do so through eHarmony, but to me it was awesome.  It meant that I had made enough of an impression on him that he was determined to find me through the only other means he had. 

We met face-to-face about a week later.  I met his son, Jordan.  We went out on dates every week.  We went skiing.  We went hiking.  We went to concerts.  I introduced him to my family.  We drove to Oklahoma and he introduced me to his family.  We got engaged.  We moved all of his and Jordan's stuff into my house.  It is now 'our' house.  I quit my restaurant job, ended my long time nanny job (the kids are now in high school and college - I miss them!!), and we got married that July.  Yeah, that's right.  Five months!  That was six years ago!  We had three kids, got a cat, escorted Yuki to her journey beyond, flushed a few fish and got several more.  We are now a very happy family of six, with a dog, a cat, and several fish.

We started homeschooling four years ago, after Jordan finished the first grade in public school.  We rarely go to church, for a variety of reasons, but it doesn't mean we aren't a family of faith and spirituality.  We love to go on bike rides, go camping, hiking, skiing, snow boarding and we love, love to travel. 

I love to quilt - I have about five different ones all in various stages of production.  I am *sort of* learning how to knit.  I love to garden and work in the yard.  Except when it is hot.  I love to write, I love to read and I love teaching.

Life is good!

Normal without following the norms

We are still enjoying our 'New Normal', that isn't so new anymore.  The sentiments are still the same, but the kids are older and there are now more of them.  :)  Even though I may sound like I am lamenting the loss of my teaching career, I'm not.  Really.  The change, as abrupt as it was, has been the best thing to ever happen to our family.  I love our homeschooling life as much as I did the day we started four years ago, if not more.  We have grown into it quite assuredly.  I scoff at the socialization comments, I sneer (on the inside) at the suggestion that my kids might be missing out on something and I celebrate every day that we can do what we do in peace.  Here is a photo essay of our reasons to celebrate homeschooling....

This lovely gem is from the Explore Zone at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.



I love that we can go on field trips as a family.




We can explore new concepts...




Follow the beat of a different drum...




Ask questions...




Solve a puzzle in our own way...




Share what we have learned...




Do further research...




Work together as family...




Take a rest when we need to...




Explore our feelings...




Satisfy our curiosity...




Help each other...




Create...




Get some fresh air...




Enjoy home-cooked meals...




Explore our community with close friends...




And most of all... HAVE FUN!