Moments From Our Week

***  Posting this late as I was out of town all weekend.  ***

This week was very relaxed.  We started the week with a wonderful family hike at the lake we live near.

We found some neat drift wood houses and had a picnic.

I showed Logan the signs of the lake's drop in water level.

We had a very wet, very dirty, very stinky, and VERY happy dog.

Unfortunately, RIGHT after this swim, Denver's ear got infected again.  We've been battling with his ears for a while.  Guess we found the trigger.  I don't know what this dog will do if he's not allowed to swim.  But his ears just get so bad!  Poor guy.

There was lots of sword fighting, thanks to this purchase from Aunt Miss.  The foam swords didn't survive the week, but I am now intent on making the kids the wood swords I've been wanting to for a while now.

We took many walks down Grammy's LONG, STEEP driveway to visit Papa.  The kids ask to visit Papa every day, and we walk down most afternoons and stay until sunset, when we walk back up the driveway at dusk.

I lost our curriculum.  Yes, lost it.  How does one misplace curriculum?  Well, I transport it between our house (on the weekends) and Grammy's house (during the week while Zac is away).  Anyways, it was so freeing!  If you follow my blog, you'll know that I'm a trained public school teacher fighting with myself because I have unschooling tendencies.  I have to say, I loved misplacing our curriculum and was disappointed tonight when my mom told me where I'd left it.  We worked on word families this week the way WE like to do it.  After finishing the work pictured above, Logan exclaimed "MOM! I LIKED SCHOOL TODAY!".

That, was a victory.

Another victory was that Felicity asked to do school with us and she TOO loved it.  She practiced writing V's and learned about things that started with the V sound.  She did great.

And lastly, this is being posted late because I was off grid all weekend at a womens' retreat.  It was lovely.  I learned a lot, and will hopefully have time this week to reflect on those lessons and post some here.  While there, I took along a curriculum catalog that a friend suggested.  I've looked at the curriculum before and wanted to do it, but have been hindered by the cost.  My friend taught me how to do it for not much at all.  So now I have to decide......do I purchase what would be our THIRD curriculum this year?  Yes, third.  Part of me is embarrassed to admit that.  But you know what?  I refuse to settle.  I refuse for school to be a chore.  If I have to buy five curriculums this year until we find one that is perfect for us, I will.  Yes, I love things about unschooling, and we unschool every day.  But this mama needs a little help to keep things flowing.  So....I've got some thinking and praying to do.

Oh....and as I post this, its raining.  RAINING!!! Finally!

I love Rain.

Old, But New

I made a jumper last year for Felicity.  It was the first time I'd ever sewn something from a pattern, and I used a vintage strawberry print for the pocket.  I was so pleased.  But Felicity didn't want to wear it.  It was too short.  I have since altered that pattern to make it longer for my tall girl, and the strawberry pocket jumper got hung in the closet and ignored.  That is, until last weekend when Felicity wanted to go hiking in a dress.  Zac insisted she needed to wear jeans, and suddenly, I remembered the jumper.  So, with the jeans underneath, and the jumper on top, Lissy felt like she was still kind of wearing a dress, and my jumper was finally worn!!!!

Not only was it worn, it was LOVED.

Happy Mama!

It must be the season for re birthing old forgotten sewing projects.  I made this little......um......creature, last year.  I thought it looked odd, so put it up on a shelf where it was forgotten.  I came across it one day and thought Lissy would LOVE it.  I don't know why I thought differently a year ago. Anyways, I gave it to her on Epiphany, and she was in love.  Its made from an old sweater, and filled with rice.  Before bed, I heat it up in the microwave and tuck it in next to Felicity.  She thinks its the greatest thing since flannel sheets.

So, off we went on our hike....dress shirt, rice baby in a sling....and her jeans.

Hiking Temescal Canyon

We recently visited my Katie and her new husband in Marina Del Rey.  Katie and I have been friends since before either of us could talk.  Our parents were best friends.  I rarely remember vacationing with cousins, but we always vacationed with Katie and her family. 
While we were there, Katie took us on a beautiful hike one afternoon up Temescal Canyon.  It was surreal to be in the hustle and bustle of a city one minute, and then to be hiking into the woods the next.  You knew the city was right there not far away, but you couldn't hear a lingering sound of it.  Once we got high enough up the trail, we could look down the valley and see the Pacific Ocean.  It was beautiful.  I wanted to share a few photos from our hike.

The kids had fun and did pretty good.  They would have done better if we hadn't gone at nap time.  : )

Felicity is named after Katie (they have the same middle name).  Katie and I promised each other when we were small girls that we would be each other's maid of honor and name our girls after each other.  Here's Felicity, Katie, and I on our hike.

We discovered a vine growing over a leaning tree, making a cave.  I want to grow one in our backyard.

Little waterfalls

The kids had fun sliding down a hill of dirt.

Kian complained all the way up the trail, crying to get "dow!" (down).  I didn't want to let him out of the Ergo though since it was up hill most of the way.  But on the way back, I let him down and he was thrilled to hike back down the trail.  In need of a nap Felicity thought that opened up a spot for her in the Ergo.  : )  I thought I'd give it a try and she and I had fun goofing off with her on my back in the Ergo.  She only weighs 7 pounds more than her baby brother. 

And this little one DID walk a lot of the way down that trail.  I think he was offended to have been carried up the trail in the Ergo like a baby.  : )

The hike made me think that once, long ago, the whole Greater Los Angeles area grew beautifully wild.