Oh, What A Spectacle!

Oh, oh The LA County Fair

We woke up yesterday, a bit late. For some time we have had a scheduled field trip of sorts to the LA County Fair. In the past our family has participated in this, although it has been some time. It was foggy, a bit chilly and humid as we scurried to get ready and I for some reason only curled the back side of my hair....umm yes I was may have been sleep curling. My lip was 1/2 swollen for some odd reason but, we made it out the door, to the donut shop and off in record setting time.

The drive was about an hour and fouty-five minutes. It did not seem that long as we had a dance party in the van, safe distance from the driver though. The kids told puns and talked about what they wanted to see once we got there. Quite an amazing trip!

We got there, checked in and walked under the street. The kids echoed and has a blast with that. We saw goats, sheep,cows, llamas, alpacas, pigs, horses,sharks,moving dinosaurs, birds and bees. We walked through a garden and saw the ducks in a pond. The kids pet animals and Maggie came face to face with a cow, followed by cheek to cheek. A goat jumped up and rested it's hooves on my chest and licked my faces, I tried to think of how I could take her home. Nursing pigs and a corn maze was part of the fun.

We were there only two hours but, an amazing two at that. The kids met Peter Rabbit!

County Fairs are fun for unschoolers and families in general.

 

Love and County Fairs,

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Oh, to the library we go....

We have been in the house way too much. So I checked our local libraries schedule and found some fun free activities for today. Jimmy had the van at work so we walked, scootered and wagon pulled. It was pretty hot outside but, we lived. Here are some pictures.

 

Hezzie holding our big cup of water.

Joaquin reading a plaque at the Veterans Park on our walk.

The kids got to pet this desert tortoise, a rosie boa and a stick bug! How awesome is that? There were kids of all ages there and it was great.

Then the older four took an art class. they will be going every Thursday!

And this was just another day of unschooling....

 

Love and Libraries,

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Oh, What a Wednesday!

Dexter and Joaquin cleaned the room REALLY good. A great way to start the day.

After much coaxing and a knot the size of my chubby fist, Waylon let me braid his hair. He was afraid that I was going to cut off his beautiful brown curly locks. No way babycakes!

We lounged outside and I read them some Gary Soto books. I love his Chato series.

This is Hezzie's set up. He was playing while I was reading. Those are my chubby little Betty Rubble feets.

BayLee enjoyed the book even though, it was about cats.

Hezzie and his teacher. She comes to help with his speech delay. See the tear in the couch...BayLee is still a puppy. That holey blanket was bought when Joaquin was a newborn. We needed a new one that wasn't so heavy and this is what I found.

Dexter on his way to Jazz and Blues guitar lessons with Jackson. It went amazing and he is even more stoked about music. His life is amazing right now.

This is Hezzie attacking me when I was trying to get up from the papason.

Waylon joined in. Dog Pile on momma!

D-Rex in the HOUSE!

P.S. Joaquin always hides when the camera is out. I'll get him yet.

Love and Wednesday's

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Oh, What a Tuesday!

Took Miss Maggie to mail a card she made for her friend Gabi. She was excited and picked out a pretty heart stamp.

We took the change and went to buy some foods. As you can see we do enjoy eating beans of all types.

Miss Maggie took this of me. Don't you love the dress? I do.

This is Mr. Dexter AKA D-Rex. He was reading this today. He's 11.

Waylon had his first official drum lesson today. His teacher was quite nice and patient.

NINTENDO vs. Sega

This was our day.

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Exploring: Science Saturday

The kids love science. They all do. Saturday, they wanted to go to a local musems Science Saturday. They all had fun, well really even us grown ups did. The theme was water...the kids however took to these toys. They are called Frigits. Let me just say we are trying to devise a way to have these in our house, big white boards and all. It was great watching them all find ways to make them work just they way they wanted them to.

Then we watched some soda bottle rockets launch! It was a good morning floowerd by a picnic lunch in the park.

Love and Science, Button

Weekend Wrap Up

We gathered a bit of food for Stamp Out Hunger.

Some of this food was given to us. Even with slim times for us we like to pay it forward.

We rode the bikes down to Estudillo Mansion for the Green Coalition's Bike Fair.

I can honestly say it was fun. All the kids except Hezzie got a new helmet. Nobody had one prior to that. There was a fun safety course that even I did. Clowns, music and some food.

There is a bit of a nature preserve and water garden we explored. It was wonderful and beautiful.

Love and Weekends,

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Saturday

Got to say it has been good. When with my mom and brother for a mothers day brunch. It was nice and ran into some old friends from school.
Came home and relaxed. The kids found a lizard skin out back. Waylon took the most interest in it. He knew it was shed because the lizard grew to big for the skin.

 

It always amazes me what kids know. They learn and discover so many things and I am here to help them along the journey. The journey so far has been really amazing.

Love and Lizardskins

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Unschooling "Special Needs" Kids

A while back I was asked if I could write something on unschooling "special needs" kids. Then that was it. Nothing else. So I have been trying to rack my brain around just how I do it. Really, I don't. It was a slow gradual process fueled by our sons Autism that got us here. So, I will work on something explaining that how and what's of it. Love all my kids because they are all so special.

Love and Specialness

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Ladybug on parade

One of the many things I love about unschooling is that we get to dive into things on a whim. Turn a childs natural curiosity into something more. Maggie likes most bugs and has no fear of playing with them, actually she loves most living creatures. She ones caught a baby feild mouse in our apartment and took it out to the field to release it. Well, today she found a ladybug outside. She was out playing in the backyard picking "fairy blossoms" and can running in after she had already brought me a small bouquet. "Mom look at my ladybug. She is tickling me", she said while she smiled her toothless smile. She held out her hand to me showing me her new friend. She put it on my hand then took it back and let Hezzie experience ladybug tickles.

The two sat upon the family table and were giggling and smiling as they enjoyed the ladybug tickles. Maggie wanted to know more. So we found out that ladybugs are sometimes called ladybirds. We found out they come in different shades. We learned that most ladybugs are good but,  some terrorize gardeners feasting on crops. We also learned more things about the wonderful ladybugs.

oh boy she wants to know about bees now....last time she caught one it stung her brother Waylon....

much love and life long learning,

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more rambling and bad grammar

some days i just had a bad hour or two. some days they are horrific. seriously, not sure why i have allowed my emotions to be so out there in my almost middle age.

i have had a lot of self doubt today. for some reason i feel like i just fail! fail as a wife, mother, daughter, friend and all around human being. my husband comes home a knit picks what is wrong or undone. my family criticizes my parenting and housekeeping. friends stay at arms distance. maybe i carry the loverly ordor or supreme failure. maybe the lack of degree on my crayon colored walls or the fact i don't conform to the wal-mart standards of society does it. my 2.5 kids has turned into five and they are unschooled, unsocialized and can be unruly. mostly, they are just like any other unbrainwashed kids.

i know i have chosen this life. the life of kids all day and all  night. the life of a domestic hippie and wife. but, you know i feel somehow punished for it, that seems unfair. my heart is so full of love that when it breaks...it shatters. i fall to pieces, and it comes it big waves. tears, words and emotions take me into the abyss and back above water rapidly. it can be hard for jimmy hearing my shakey tearful voice on the phone.  sometimes i feel like holding back the details of my thoughts with him because of his health. can you imagine if my lack of self esteem was his demise. one way or another he finds out how it all is in my head. but, we are very different souls tangled in love.

i am very blessed i have a friend i can turn to who has similar emotions and thoughts. helps make things clear and even has helped me see jimmys side on things. gotta say between the two i am still breathing and loving my world. bi-polar much? maybe, maybe not.

some days i think my kids hate me despite what i do for them. it's like nothing is good enough. just like with my husband and numerous relatives. wish i could snatch them up and live in a rv of sorts for a year. on the road traveling, learning, loving and living life.   being away from all that consumes and frustrates me. connecting again and remembering why i chose to make a family with kids who can misbehave and speak their minds. kids who go barefoot and eat food from the earth that we planted. kids who sing, dance, paint draw and make music. kids who read and write. kids who get dirty and say what they man and mean what they say. kids who wear tye dye with camo and fedoras with vans. kids who pick their noses and pull each other hair. kids who eat frozen grapes and carrots. kids who lay across me and ask me about the day they were born.

i also have chosen to stay married to someone with an on again off again drinking problem. someone who i am sure has some mental issues as it runs in his family. someone unsatisfied with life and who still carried the wrongs of his exes. someone who looks at me and sees all the things he dislikes in his own mother. someone who questions the things that matter to me the most. i have chosen this because i know he loves me still despite my eccentricities and all that consumes me. he protects me from those who come to harm me emotionally. sounds weird i know, sounds somehow abusive i know. but, it's not. and i am no angel. i can be physical when emotional. somehow hoping he'd leave and live a life that satisfies him. maybe have new wife, new kids with disney channel wardrobes. a house that looks likes his neighbors and chance for american normalcy. because, i want none of those things. he assures me, that is not what he needs....but, is it what he wants.

my life is colorful and fragile at times. i always kind of knew it would be this way. but, i never knew it would involve a family. just thought it would be me in a one room apartment with cats and maybe some fish. in my own thoughts laying upon a cold bed with books and music to feel my emptiness. riding a bike to get from here to there and living on nothing. taking warm showers to make me feel loved living in a place where i knew nobody.

it's funny because i can still feel empty, i can still feel my bed is cold but, i know i am loved. i leave near people i know. but, i am still at a distance from them. be it me or them...it's still there. then the sun will come out and life is wonderful. i have friends and family. i am smiling and in my head i think "how soon will this end?". life is a rainbow of emotions for me. my only hope is that my kids don't suffer the same way. that they can learn to love and accept love early on. that they can be happy in life with a little or a lot. that they can break the mold and not fall into mundane patterns of existing and not living....

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