The Cousins Came to Visit

We had the best ten days of summer earlier this month when Mark's sister and her family came for a visit.  The weather was hot and sunny and the tides were low for the first few days, so they all went to the beach! (I stayed home with Jason because heat and rock eating).

One of the best beach event was The Toddler Races where you race piggy-backing a kid on your back.  Ian came in first with Daniel and Melanie came in second with Fiona.  Not too shabby!

Every seat was filled in our BWV!

Mark didn't bring a camera with him on these trips, so I'm going to have to wait until someone sends me pictures from their phones of Lula and her Stinky Crab from the second beach trip (hint, hint)...

After a day of rest, Mark ran them up Mt. Ellinor. This time Ian had to stay home with the three littles and I because of football.

This was Daniel's first trip!  He is so excited that he is now old enough for Cub Scouts.

Lynne and Opie didn't make it to the top of the mountain, but the rest of the kids did.  Yes, that makes Mark a kid.

You can see the famous goats on the snow field in the picture above.

The group reunited.

Sledding down!

At home, we just had a great time hanging out together.  The little kids loved their cousins and aunt and uncle so much!  Everyone connected with everyone else in their own special way.  Uncle Opie would tie knots and lift weights with Ian, the older kids would stay up late and play card games...

...Aunt Lynne would push Lula on the swing, Kayla would get Fiona and Daniel set up on her tablets playing Minecraft.... Shane got to go camping with them at the Ape Caves and go to Mount St Helens.  the fun went on and on and on....

Aunt Lynne getting a Jason snuggle

The Main Event was a Family Reunion.

The Barbecue is on its last leaning rusty legs...

Ami brought Charlie and Erik down!  That right there is a miracle!  I love those boys so much.

Erik and Great Uncle Opie

Olives on the fingers are a thing of the past!

Jason and his nephew.  Erik and his uncle.

Charlie on the Tire Swing

No Downen Family Reunion is complete without volleyball!!!  We have some seriously competitive people in our family and some super athletes as well.  And some not so super athletes too...

But the main reason for the reunion was to surprise Melanie!

Melanie graduated from high school just before they came out.  She joined with Air Force and will be the third generation of women to be in the Armed Forces. All us grownups had been planning the surprise party since before they got out here and the day of the party we were busy with cake and balloon hiding...

....buuuuut she was sent into the shed to find the volleyball net and found her balloon, so we all decided to surprise Mark and not tell him she already knew instead.

We just had too much fun and made too many memories to fit everything into one post.  Everyone misses everyone else and we wished we lived closer together so we could see each other more often.  I'm glad I had to go straight into a vaulting competition weekend to help me deal with the post-vacation blues.  Because we love them that much.

When the Boot Fits

This has been A Year of Grace as far as homeschooling goes.  A few weeks (months?) back, I hit another wall and needed to just call it quits.  I couldn't continue with what I thought I should be doing verses what I was actually doing.

I started reading books on Unschooling.

Yep. I sunk that low.  I, the person who thought unschooling worked fine for some people, but not for me, started thinking that I should just call myself an unschooler.

I was just finding an excuse or any reason to justify my failures.  Because I don't actually like the idea of letting my kids be in charge of their days.  I know without a doubt that they would be the kids that choose video games over all academics.  And I can't go there. No.

And then I stumbled upon Thomas Jefferson Education.  This is how: a person I didn't know posted on the vaulting facebook page that they were collecting textiles for a homeschool group fundraiser.  Now, I know all the homeschool groups out here, so of course I asked which group it was for.  The group is new and an offshoot of an established group in Tacoma.  One requirement in joining is reading A Thomas Jefferson Education.  I read it.  And researched.  And read the next book in the series.  And joined the Facebook page run by the authors.  And I'm hooked.

It turns out I've been homeschooling the right way for our family all along.  With my change in thinking, I've seen an amazing change in my home.

Whew.

Twin Firs Farm

Spring is in full swing over here and Mark has projects galore.

Bubba Chunk up there has discovered he too loves the outdoors and a closed door is a fate worse than naptime.

The big Family Project this year was expanding the garden.  Mark divided up the goose/turkey/meatbird yard and turned the back half into veggie growing space.  This man needs to plant two whole seed packets of beets I tell ya.

He has no time for square foot gardens, trellis gardens, or straw bales gardens.  He is as old-fashioned as he can get with his string and stakes.

The kids were a big help, from rototilling (teen boys are great) to rock raking to seed planting.  Mark also got some Frankenturkeys and has an order in for more Frankenchickens.  He and Evie hatched out five chicks in addition to our eight new layer chicks.

Of course I'm busy raising my own little flock...

And you know what else is coming 'round the corner?  Here's a hint...

This Guy

This guy, who is very dear to my heart, can be considered a Homeschool Success. 

I officially consider Ian a graduate of the Downen Day Academy, completing grades Kindergarten through 8th grade.  He is done with his 8th grade school year and earned A's and B's on his report card.  We registered Ian for high school yesterday and he is already working out with the football team twice a week.  (The school counselor didn't know the homeschool laws for our state and questioned why I had Ian take standardized tests every year.  She is also accepting any transcript I create and will give Ian high school credit for Algebra 1, 2, and Washington State History, no questions asked)  Those of us who continue to be educated at home will miss him and his jokes next year.  No one can make me laugh like he can (except for maybe his dad).  I am so proud of him and his accomplishments.

Swinging

...so much fun when you have a sister to hold your hand!

Bye-bye Butterfly

Daniel isn't one for forming attachments to things, so a butterfly kit was a perfect birthday present for him.  Over the last few weeks, he watched his caterpillars eat and grow, form crysallids, and then emerge as painted lady butterflies. He is a natural born scientist, so when I let him know we needed to let them go so they wouldn't starve, he asked how long they could live without food.  I don't know the answer to that question, so he wanted to experiment and find out.  Sorry, starving animals to death is not something we do in this family.

He wasn't trying to be mean, he just wanted to know.  He planned on burying it with a full funeral when he was done, just like Fiona did when she found a dead frog.

Action shot!

Once upon a time, I planned elaborate unit studies around these kits.  I have a book with projects and everything.  The first time we had caterpillars, I got the flu.  The second time we had more fun, only because my kids were older and I got greedy with the school's money.  Now, I'm over organized learning.  I'll write about that some other time, I promise.

And just like that, all the butterflies flew away! Enjoy your freedom!

Fiona's Birthday: Eight is Great!

Fiona is eight years old! She is an amazing girl and had quite a year.  She has taught me a few things...

Like patience.  Kids learn at their own pace.  You can't rush them into learning things they are not ready for.  We've tried for two years to get Fiona riding the bike we got her for her 6th birthday.  No matter how many time over many many days Mark stood at the top of the driveway and let her loose, she would just crash and crash.  A few days before her birthday, she hopped on and pedaled off.  She's going to do this with math too, you'll see.

And creative thinking.  I told Fiona that instead of taking her to the dollar store and letting her spend $18 on whatever she wanted (which was her only birthday request), I would take her to Michael's and she could pick out whatever craft activity she wanted and we would have a craft party.  She chose the house above, some paints, and some little dogs to live in the house.  It was a great night and everyone loved their projects.  I didn't have to guide them to do anything.

We had a lovely little celebration, just the...seven of us.  Ian and Shane gave Fiona the best present of all...leaving on a camp out.  I'm really looking forward to this coming year and watching Fiona's accomplishments!