Sweet Sisters...

...here are the items they picked out at the toy store with Grandpa Jack's Christmas money (Vivian's is a bow and arrow so they can play Narnia and Sabine's is a "potholder" loom).



Just a sweet shot. Sometimes it seems they spend a good deal of the day bickering about things...it's nice to remember that they can be so very lovey, too!

We've been keeping busy at home and out, will post more about our active life soon! :)

Sweet doggie portrait

Street Roots is an organization I like. I try to buy the paper from vendors whenever I see them. This past October they held a silent online auction and I bid on and won a custom pet portrait by artist Renee Hartig. I sent her several photos of Catalina, and surprised Bret with this lovely rendering of our sweet friend. It's now hanging in our kitchen, where Catalina can keep an eye on everything (sadly, no longer licking up my cooking spills!)...

Designing girl

I forgot to take a photo of the centerpiece Sabine made for the New Years Eve party -- with plastic shiny ornaments, a string of white lights and some plastic fish...very cool...but here is one she made out of greenery from our yard and snips from the Christmas tree. She found the glass bowls in descending size, and set it all up...



The flowers below were given to us from our friend who works in the floral department of our local grocery store -- she gave us a BUNCH of flowers that were on their last legs and Sabine arranged them like this (while friend Marley and Vivian played bride with the two "bouquets" of tulips):

Xmas, New Years

These were from Christmas morning, girls in their matching PJs...





Vivian sporting the Hula Girl outfit from Uncle Erik and Donna Sue!



Sabine is way into designing things, including outfits...(I admit to watching What Not to Wear and Say Yes to the Dress with her!)...these were the New Years Eve outfits she picked out for Vivian...


And herself...

Happy 2010!

We've been enjoying settling into our new house...

We even had some snow, a few days after Christmas...

As long as we've been together, Bret and I haven't been big on presents for each other...but this year with the sale of our house in Wyoming we treated ourselves to a used pop-up camper (to replace the Airstream)...

We found it on Craigslist...bought it from a family who was upgrading to a small RV. Can't wait to explore more of Oregon in it! (Sabine and Vivian are happy exploring it in the yard!)



And a piano...

we bought it from The Piano School for the Blind -- the only school in the world that teaches blind and visually impaired people to tune and repair pianos. They take donations of pianos that their students fix up then they sell them -- partially to raise money for the school. The piano we got used to be a school piano. I've wanted a piano for a long time, and am looking forward to learning and playing with the whole family.

We went to the farm of some other homeschoolers to cut down our Christmas tree (reminding us of Wyoming)...




We had a small New Year's Eve party (at which I completely forgot to take pictures!), and enjoyed roasting marshmallows in the wood stove when the snow fell!

All in all a lovely end to 2009 and beginning of 2010!

New holiday tradition

I love Chinaberry.com. When our house sale in Wyoming closed, I ordered the perpetual advent calendar pictured below. The box sizes are varied, so you could put actual small treasures in them, but we've been doing it like a treasure hunt. Each night after Bret gets home I put a note in the appropriate date and give the girls clues to where they can find that day's prize (an edible treat/holiday book/tickets to see a holiday show/a $1 bill for each girl/etc...). It's been a really fun way to count down to Christmas, and to get to know some of the nooks and crannies of our new home.



Of course, we've also enjoyed the chocolate-a-day calendars that Uncle Brian and Aunt Livia sent...Vivian ate all her chocolates on day 2...not Sabine, she takes this stuff seriously.

Economics of Unschooling

Great article by Ren here. A couple of my favorite sections:

Food should be a celebration of life. Ideally, it is a source of pleasure and connectedness, not stress. Even with a smaller budget, approaching food and nourishment with an attitude of abundance will do so much for the level of calm and peace in a family. Portioning and worrying and talking about what one does not have isn’t going to help children feel the warmth or joy that a family exploring food with an open mind can create.

Peace and joy are more healing than any food of which I know. Healthy relationships, in which all members of the family are respected and given choice, create enough harmony to overcome any ill-effects of the “junk food” so many parents worry about constantly.

and:

For instance, when Jalen is passionate about a movie and all the toys or characters that go with it, all I have to think about is the cost of preschool. The monthly school fee is far greater than all the desires he could have in a month. His world is expanded to a much greater degree by having his choices supported than by being sent to some institution.

and:

Natural learning does have a cost attached to it. So does school. In choosing this unschooling path, we are choosing to put our money into people, into interests, into passions, into the things that really matter for each of us. I look at myself as an investor. I invest time, money and creative energy into helping my children explore their world more fully. I am investing in them as human beings. Human beings who have the potential to affect change in this world. Human beings who aren’t crushed by school thought and the paralysis it can bring. Human beings who will have the ability to see their passions as the most important path in life and who possess a deep inner knowledge that learning is a life-long endeavor. Along the way I am also investing in my own passions and interests alongside them. My children know what it means to honor those inner urgings because they see it played out from day to day as we all learn together and apart.

I think she's brilliant!

Oh, and I have a few posts labeled inexpensive fun...if you're interested. :)