When most kids are out for summer break, we’re still busy doing “school.”  Even in our temporary state, it’s a beautiful thing to live in such a way that learning and life are one in the same– where a new boxed set of Roald Dahl’s books bring delight and an explosion in Jonah’s budding reading abilities, where all we really need for daily entertainment are a box of legos, some wooden blocks, and a good supply of paper and crayons– where the baby learning to imitate sounds and say some words is the funnest “toy” to play with.  We’ve learned what mocking birds look like, we’ve listened to them ramble in Robin and Warbler and Cricket.  We’ve swam in warm, turquoise ocean and learned first hand what it feels like to touch jellyfish (ouch!).  We’ve see a snowy egret catch and eat a fish right before our eyes, spent an afternoon with an American Green Tree Frog sticking to us with his miraculous toes, swam every day learning to hold our breath underwater, dive, and venture from the safety of the steps.

But, here, far away from anything familiar, in between places we can really call our own, the most important lesson we’ve learned is that home is where we are together.

(Photo by Barry.  For more pics of our Alabama adventures click here.)

We’re big Tom Chapin fans here.  I just found this video.

AMEN!

We have been in the throws of a very gross stomach virus over here.  I had it all week, last night Barry came down with it, and today I had Jonah and Ian puking along with other gross stomach virus-y things.  Hence the blog neglect, which is sad because we’ve got an Easter dress to talk about and a birthday, not to mention the homeschool convention I attended this weekend!  Geesh!

But, today I will leave you with this:

Poor Brenna was desperately bored without her constant companion (Jonah) by her side.  She worked hard on this to cheer him up.  I think he’ll be excited about it tomorrow.  In his delirium today he didn’t have much to say.

(Mush-mush is a little toy mouse.)

Click here for details of the birds.

Once a week or so we lay out our yoga mats and start our day with some breathe and movement. Yoga, you see, is my excercise of choice. I feel so centered and aware and gleeful when I practice regularly. My kids like to be in on that.

Who wouldn’t be happy after starting the day like this?!

(There are more pictures here. )

I have a friend who grew up in a huge family– 12 kids I think. or 15? Anyway, her mom made yogurt and they would eat it by the gallon. We got talking about the fine points of dairy culturing, so I thought I’d give it a whirl.

It was surprisingly simple. I filled a sterilized quart jar with almost hot (110-115 degrees Fahrenheit) tap water to within 2 inches of the top. I poured about 1 cup of that water into my blender, added 1 cup of non-instant powdered milk (which I need to rotate through my food storage anyway) and 1/4 cup plain yogurt (that’s the starter). After that was all blended nicely I poured it back into my jar of water, put the lid on then put my jar in a little picnic cooler filled with 115 degree water to incubate. 5 hours later it was done!!

We mixed in thawed frozen berries as we ate it and downed the jar in one day. We’ve even polished off the second batch. Plain yogurt from the store is usually too sour for me, but this is so mild and tasty. I don’t think we’ll ever be buying yogurt in mass quantities from the store again.

It was also a good experiment with bacteria. A “science experience” as Logan would say.

There’s been some awesome photo projects finding beauty in everyday life out in blog land. Today I’m summing up our school week with these photos and joining in with the mamas at six one way.

Here’s some more lovely finds of art in the ordinary.

Soule Mama is posting a photo a day for 30 days. (This is my very, very favorite. I just can’t get over all the emotions it floods me with.)

the noticing project

3191

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend. Try looking at the gray skies with new eyes. There is beauty all around…

I was so taken with the gourd birdhouses that Courtney made for Christmas.  Then Barry reminded me that we had 2 gourds that had been drying in the garage for a long time.  My yoga teacher gave them to my kids  last growing season (in 2006).  Anyway, the kids painted them and now they’re ready to be lived in.

They were pretty easy to make.  Once they were painted and dry we just drew our 1 1/2 inch circles for the doors where we wanted them.  The we drilled 1/4 inch holes in the middle of the circles and used a little coping saw blade to cut the holes the right size. Hollowing them out was fun.  The stuff was all styrofoamy and the seeds are a crazy shape.  (We saved seeds for future gourd growing.)  I reached in with my fingers to loosen things up, but it mostly just shook out.  Then we found some good perching sticks, drilled holes just smaller than the diameter of the sticks and glued them in.  I’m sure it will be awhile before we have residents, but just the shape and color of these make me smile.

I will live in a tree house.

Jenny linked to Small Magazine page 32. Wow! I have always said that when I grow up I would live in a tree house. We’ve tried to get near that ideal with Croker Heights and the beautiful Japanese maple out our kitchen window. But, the Tree House Workshop has set the bar much, much higher. Now that I am getting closer to that grown-up status (I will be 30 in 2008, which is starting to freak me out) I’m thinking part time tree-house living might be more realistic than really living in a tree house, but I don’t know, after seeing this and this. I may be ready to go back to my childhood dream of permanent arboreal residence.

The cool thing would be that my kids would know the names of all the birds. We had friends over for lunch yesterday and as we sat around looking out the window at the bird feeder my kids were so excited to tell everyone about the chickadees and juncos, and a Carolina Wren made a rare appearance clearly because we had company. There are some days I’m afraid I’m not doing enough for “school.” It’s good for me to have days like that.

They know all the birds, and in my book that’s way cool. Almost up there with living in a tree house.

(Oh, and about the Blog Husband Appreciation Club. The official kick off will be this weekend. That will be appropriate and get us all grateful in time for Thanksgiving. Stay tuned!)

“If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.”

“When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than any talent for abstract, positive thinking.”

~Albert Einstein~
Scientist
(1879-1955)

Today was a big day for Brenna.

Here’s a new quilt and pillows for her doll house. She learned to sew on the sewing machine. Not only that, she had to measure and do math with fractions to figure out how big to cut her fabric allowing for seam allowances. She seemed like a natural. I think there will much more straight-line sewing in the days to come. She has patchwork plans for this little dollhouse, and wants to make a blankie for the new baby. We’ll see how interested she stays in this sewing thing. Using the machine was certainly a thrill. A girl after my own heart

After playing in the snow this afternoon she came up with something missing…

FINALLY.

Her top right front tooth has been hanging by a thread for days. That would have driven me crazy as a kid. I would have pulled it out a month ago. She just wanted to wait until it happened all on its own– “That’s the more natural way to do it, Mom.”

Well, she swallowed it, naturally.