Date with Dad

Yesterday Lydia had a special date with her daddy! It was one of the "prizes" she requested to be on her reading chart. Lydia loves to go bowling so that was their main activity. French fries at IN N' OUT Burger are something she and daddy enjoyed also.

Ever since Lydia saw that her friend Kayla had a chart she had to have one too! So for every 15 minutes of reading out loud she gets a sticker. Lydia does fairly well but because of her trach tube she can only make 30 minutes tops each day before breathing becomes an issue. Now she can talk to Kayla on the phone for an hour and not have any problems at all... so if anyone can figure that out; let me know.

Chaiya has a job at a bead shop downtown. Lydia and Daddy went to go see her at work. Chaiya was so surprised. This is like a dream job but we tease Chaiya about it just funding her habit. Beads can be so addicting. Chaiya also gets to teach and help people learn new techniques in the workshop area of the store. She only works there a couple of days a week but I think she really loves it. Lydia wanted to see where Chaiya worked and it is always a treat to go downtown.

Yeah for reading and dates with daddy!

snow and such

Our week has been filled with activity for school such as rune rock making. Lydia loved writing the runes on the rocks. She is really enjoying studying the Norse. Although she was really frowning a great deal when I told her the story of Ymir's body being turned into the earth. Honestly , I do have more children than Lydia. I think I need to take more pictures of the others and post them since they haven't seemed to be around lately.

Lydia received an American Girl doll for Christmas. Now before you think I spent an ungodly amount for a silly doll, I did no such thing. It was the item I alluded to before when I posted about Mrs. Claus. There was a brand new one at Goodwill for only $4.99. Lydia has really wanted one for awhile. She was quite thrilled to receive it. Okay she screamed really loud when she opened it. I honestly love the Waldorf style dolls so much more and she asked for one of those from Santa. I have wondered which would become the favorite.

So far the simpler doll has won her heart more. Lydia sleeps with her and has tea parties. She named her Ruby (after her great grandma). Her friend Kayla has the same doll named Rosie. In real life Grandma Ruby's sister was named Rose, so it all is so very fun.
The snow has been falling, drifting and falling some more. We have had some flooding around town and our home was without power for all of Thursday. I actually really enjoyed having the fire lit for heat and all the candles. It was a great deal more peaceful to have school huddled around the fire. I am so very grateful for the conveniences that we have every day. My heart and prayers have been with the people of Haiti. We have so much abundance in our lives and it is hard to only be able to give monetarily and not to be able to do much more.

Quayde has been in the kitchen working on learning to cook more. His favorite dish right now is potato salad. I think that he would probably eat it every single day. Cooking in your new hat is apparently very in style.
Chaiya is taking SARK's advice and eating mangoes with her bare hands. She is learning to start living again and letting stuff go! Maliea has been working on taking the first draft of her novel and typing it into the computer. I think this is going to take much longer than she has anticipated. It seemed to be a very full week. There is still so much snow. We can not leave our neighborhood in the van, it just will not make it up the hill. Michael has 4 wheel drive on the truck and Chaiya has chains for her car so they are able to get to work. My heart is so grateful for the moisture and the children love the snow. I am believing that it might be a hearty winter after all.

this morning.....

Yesterday we were telling stories and discovering Norse gods and goddesses. Our electricity had gone far far away and we were gathered around the fireplace for warmth as the snow and rain came plummeting from the sky. It was a perfect environment for weaving stories. This morning Lydia crawled into bed to talk to her daddy about everything that she was learning. She wanted to know if her daddy knew who the main Norse god was and his answer was.......

I was laughing so hard I almost fell out of bed. Michael was really serious until he realized that he was really wrong.

Quayde is 14!

Today we had an amazing time celebrating Quayde!

Happy birthday my first born son. I love the person that you are becoming and I love being your mom.

QOTD

Sweet words!!
From Thayne: "me love you mommy"

Our state

Lydia would like everyone to see some reasons why we love our state please go here. Enjoy!

back in the saddle again

It has been a week of trying to get back into rhythm. Christmas is all put away and school has restarted. I had everything planned well except the weather. We are studying a little about this man and our weather has been perfect for Spring!!! A balmy 58 degrees almost the entire week so far and that is not what I had expected. Lydia is convinced that winter is over and the trees should start budding green any day. Hopefully next week will give us a little of what we need, moisture. Maliea and I took Lydia on a field trip to Sharlot Hall museum today. Studying local and state history is part of Lydia's curriculum this year. We had to wait until all those rose bushes behind her were free and clear of roses. Unfortunately she is truly deathly allergic and it would have nearly killed her if we went any other time. The statue she is in front of is of Corn Mother. As we live in Az, a great deal of cultural history is from the native people.

She really enjoyed going back in time to see how the pioneering families in the area lived. All of these items in the drawer she knew except wooden curlers. We ended up spending about 3 hours there. There are lots of buildings to tour and it was nice to see how much it has grown and improved since I was younger. There was one item that really fascinated her and it was a braided rug. I am playing with the idea of having her make a small one of her own.

I learned of a new art that I have never heard of before. There was a frame with intricately made flowers that looked like metal, it hung above a fireplace in one of the houses. I studied it and couldn't figure out for the life of me what it was. The docent said it was made from hair. Victorian hair work is quite an interesting craft. It was just amazing how detailed the flowers and vines were. I unfortunately couldn't take a picture. Quite frankly I can not imagine having that much time to spend. It was a craft for wealthy ladies for sure.

We had a delightful afternoon learning and enjoying each others company.

play

One of my favorite stories when I was little was The Bremen Town Musicians. When I found these little animals just sitting by my computer (not where they were supposed to be) I just naturally started to play. It is very very good for the soul, you know! Then Michael managed to balance the dolls on top. Oh what fun we have here.

Motivation?????

Ever had one of those mornings when your bed feels oh sooo good? You don't want to get out....you just want to stay in lounge around and be lazy. That is exactly how I feel right now about this new year. Everyone else is out making great goals and resolutions. Everyone is hyped up with excitement of everything that is coming their way. Me.....well I just want to lounge around a little more. We will be starting school again next week and I have planning to do. Our home needs to be shifted out of Christmas mode. There are probably one hundred things that need to be done. I just want to lounge...maybe with a good book.

First Night!

English Crackers with crowns, jokes, and toys

Italian sodas and Sparkling apple cider

shrimp cocktail

games

candles and clocks

Rudolph's shiny New Year

Jetsons

Happy faces

kiddos that only made it to 11:40

good-bye 2009

Hello 2010!