Travel time!

Big news was that Josh saved up almost $3000 to travel to England with the boy scouts this summer, he left July 19th and will be back on August 3rd. Only 16 days, but seems like forever!

Josh is packed up for his trip!

 with a St Christopher from Fr Alan

 Adults are good....

 And a picture from Ava!

Happy birthday Josh!

Who knew...from such a sweet little baby would come such a giant, great guy?

I have a 15 year old!

I have a billion pictures of the boy, he was my first ya know! Most of them are in paper books, before digital camera...so I'll have to scan them in. These are good, he was such a cute baby!

Here he is last month, trying not to smile when I said "Say hot cheese"

Friday Foto

"Save me!"

Haircuts today

Edit: Duh, add the pics already. These don't do them justice, they just look so cute!

Got some hair cut today. Not me. Not yet. Mines short enough, although I think I might get it trimmed into something sassy. Maybe some color as well.

But Josh and Bre got their hair cut. Bre's was growing out from the last time she shaved it, and she was starting to trim it back herself (she really cannot stand hair on her face or over her ears), so I asked the lady if there was ANY way she could make it look a little feminine, give Bre some pride AND get it off her ears. So we have....



Josh, who has also always hated hair around his ears, has had a caesar cut for as long as I can remember, opted after his last birthday to grow it out. So it's been growing for nearly ten months and was really wild. Not only bushy thick wiry hair, but frizzy from all the dead parts. So he got his hair trimmed and thinned and looks like....


Sam wants some kind of haircut. I only ask that he wait until after Thanksgiving so I don't have to deal with making all these allergy safe foods and figuring out what he wants. Kind of a mohawky thing and he's the only person I've ever known to request a mullet, with an extra long tail. I'm confused, and he's not quite getting it into words I understand. Maybe I should just give him the scissors and let him go for it, but after Thanksgiving. I get enough crap from family about my kids. :-P

Election Issues and Unschooling

It has been an interesting few weeks as our family gears up for the election. We are a family to discuss just about anything, and I like to think that as parents, dh and I are pretty open to the opinions of each of our children. I'm registered xxx, and dh is registered xxx, and honestly we neither one fit completely into the ideology of any party line. But we have our opinions, and while we neither one like to debate (dh just doesn't bring up anything, and I tend to argue the opposite of what anyone says, regardless of my own opinion, nice, huh? don't you wish I lived closer? I'm sure it annoys friends and family both) I do like to talk with my children and ask them why they believe this issue is more important than that one, or why this candidate fits their purposeful view of government better than the other.

Nothing pleases me more than to hear that they are discussing politics on their local kids' support group. Without outing my children's beliefs, my oldest son has spent a great deal of time researching issues and what each candidate has expressly said or voted for while in office.  I love that he posted support for one candidate based on his economic policies, but when others were dissing the opposite candidate, he asked them for a specific reason why they disliked him. And he specifically requested a reason outside of their parent's regard. :-)

I like to think that it's a good thing, that he's been raised hearing me express doubts about my own position. That he has been allowed to develop his own belief system, one that will keep him in good standing as far as humanity goes. I think I've kindly questioned his statements (even ones that he is parroting from me!), while taking his opinion seriously...maybe a fine line between unconditional support and requiring him to think about it.  I read a question "Why don't children understand politics?" The only answer following stated that children were too simple minded and self-centered. I could not believe it! How about the reason most kids don't understand politics is because the parents don't understand them either, and even those of us with a rudimentary understanding (thanks to college government, which I took TWICE) have a hard time breaking it down into concepts that kids can understand. Those who have a good grasp have a hard time setting aside their personal biases long enough to let their children ruminate on the process. But it goes way beyond knowing politics and how the government works (can you say pork barrel?). It has so much to do with logic and history and also learning to follow your heart. And a lot to do with finding a reason outside of our parent's regard. :-P

He's got beautiful eyes...

Josh has wanted contacts for about two years now, but the doctor wasn't sure his astigmatism and lazy eye would cope well.

Last year the doc mentioned that perhaps since his development was slowing down,

we could try out some contacts. 

I was pretty sure Josh wasn't ready for them. 

But last week at his exam, all three of us, josh, doc and I, agreed it was time.

We picked them up today. He LOVES not having his vision limited by steel frames.

No lenses popping out.

He has a schedule for getting used to them. Six hours today.

Twelve hours tomorrow. Until bedtime the rest of the week.

Barring complications, he can wear them for THIRTY days straight (day and night) after that.

THIRTY DAYS?! This is nothing like the contacts I knew growing up.

plain, ordinary wonder

Josh has found something exciting. Electronics, appealing in the form of a door alarm. We've bought kits off and on through the past few years, which he had been interested in. Usually he requested mom or dad to help, and we did with smiles. At his peer program, they worked for two days on wiring and cutting and pasting cardboard. When it didn't quite work, I offered to take him to Radio Shack (remembering fully how much my baby brother enjoyed that store from age 8 til, hey, now!) So we traveled to the mall, he spent some time digging through the drawers, and talking to the salespeople. He held his own with them, made his choices on wire gauge, LED size, and other accoutrements. At home, he designed his sign, asked me to cut it out, and then worked from five pm to 11 pm. He got a complete circuit, but decided the light wasn't bright enough (although the buzzer can be heard all over our three floor home). So, he wired three more lights in the circuit, explained to me that they were in series, and that there wasn't enough power from the batteries, and proceeded to figure it out. From his scout book, he has learned all the formulas I remember from E&M, and he's functionally using them. He has very strong interests, ones that others may not approve of, or agree with, but that's not their job. My job is to help my children find their interests, facilitate that interest the best way I can, and create with them a life in which they can be happy and one that they fully appreciate.

From Charles D Hayes, at 'CreatingLearningCommunities.com'
"More to be pitied than those who have fallen through the "educational" cracks are those who have been intellectually lobotomized in the name of learning. Marking time in lives of stultifying mediocrity, with no strong interests in much of anything, they put up with jobs they hate and pretend to enjoy the mindless entertainment they pursue to compensate. Holding elitist status in material possessions, and having far more wealth than eighty percent of the human beings on this planet, such people nevertheless complain about how poorly the world treats them. On nearing the end of their lives, those who have viewed their existence as barely tolerable drudgery begin to panic at the realization that they have never learned to truly think for themselves nor felt the exhilaration of intellectual engagement. Would that all human beings could experience throughout their lives the plain, ordinary wonder of existence that comes through active curiosity."