paste painting and the woods

Last week was spring break around here. Ha! Which meant snow, of course, and more Busy for Dan (there was a conference to prepare for), and some much-needed time with friends who were also on break.  The week started with making paste-paint papers (which we did last year at about this time!), using the big well-lit studio on campus. Fancy!

 

 

Mid-week Dan and I got out on a date to see Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn at Stuart's Opera House. Oh wow. We've been going to see Bela for 20 years, starting in a highschool auditorium in Wisconsin, so we knew to expect something amazing from him, but I'd never heard of Abigail, and she was this incredibly dynamic and powerful performer who played off of his straight-man act well, and blew the audience away by singing more than a couple songs in Chinese (she talks about her connections to China on this TED Talk. She may be my new hero). It was wonderful.

Ok, let me slip in this picture of my gorgeous daughter and her new 'do. Gasp.

We finished the week with colds (dangit), and a hike without coats. Yeah, that's right. Take that, winter.  We didn't have a lot of stamina, but it felt so good to slosh through the mud and smell the woods and see so much green starting to peek out.

M and N check out the cave. Still icy and so dark.

I smell you, Spring. I do.

home / school / life magazine and a give-away!

When we were expecting Eliza, I had known exactly one person who had been homeschooled, one incredibly creative, motivated, well-read, confident homeschool graduate.  She made it look good!  We then met a family in our birthing class who was homeschooling their four-year-old and they influenced us in a myriad of ways:  baby-wearing, co-sleeping, attachment parenting, cob house construction, livingroom concert hosting...wow, that is quite the list, but they were beautiful, compassionate and smart people and what they were doing made a lot of sense, so I guess I can say that we started considering homeschooling our kids with the birth of our first.

That was almost twelve (gulp) years ago, and I can still talk for hours about homeschooling.  What we're doing, what we're not doing, what you're doing, what's happening in the community, what I'm worried about, what I'm so excited about...it's endless.  Of course I have other interests, but this is basically my job right now, so I'm a bit consumed.  

Luckily for me, there are other homeschoolers who love to talk and blog about homeschooling just as much, and this spring there is a new resource being born for those of us who can't get enough: home / school / life magazine!  In their words, they aim to be "as creative, playful, and informed as the best homeschool days. "

Well, that sounds pretty good!  In anticipation of their launching, editor Shelli Pablis of the blog Mama of Letters has generously offered me one free year-long digital subscription to give away! 

To enter, leave a comment and we'll pull the winner's name out of the hat on March 14.

a very merry unbirthday tea party

Our friend Z has a birthday in September.  We finally celebrated it together this weekend, and fittingly, it was an Alice in Wonderland party. Perfect for any unbirthday...

the characters

The Mad Hatter(s) 

Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, all in one person.

(She's looking at me in character. This photo cracks me up.)

Alice (with new handmade apron and blue eyeshadow)

Caterpillar, with hookah 

The fabulous Cheshire Cat

White Rabbit

The Unbirthday girl, The Queen of Hearts

the treasure hunt for presents

of course, the teaparty

The kids were so pleased with every aspect of this event, and it was lovely to see them working together on the costumes and the fun.  They are so incredibly creative!  Osha created the treasure hunt, and my favorite part was that he included a second layer of clues which were then used to unlock a computer program that revealed another clue. An awesome way to weave his primary love - computer programming - into a present for his friend.  Good feelings all 'round, Dan and I got in a date (a date!) and the girls came home haaaaaaappy this morning. And it's snowing! Happy March!