B's Internet Documentary

B has been doing some tv over the last year. She loves theater, singing and dancing, putting on costumes and such. But acting really seems to be the path she wants to follow right now. I try to find the right opportunities for her. So one day she was submitted for an open call for an internet documentary where they needed kids her age.
We went to her appointment time and then the subsequent call-back. That turned into the producers and directors coming to our house the next day to 'see B in her own environment'.
The following day we had an entire film crew in our house!!!! Lights, cameras, ACTION!! lol
9 months later, this is the finished product. We think ALL the kids in it are pretty fabulous! An inspiration and it makes us feel much better about the future. Our world is in these kids hands!
GREAT JOB B!!!

Hopping Back On the Ol' Blog Wagon

I'm a bit embarrassed, I'm mostly disappointed in my lack of consistency, and honestly, just kinda bummed. What's it been? Something like 4 years?!?!?! A lot of water under the bridge, a lot of joy, a lot of heartbreak, success stories and failures, stress and sleepless nights, contrasted with beautiful days that we didn't want to end. Such is life. So from today on, my goal to write about our comings and goings starts with great enthusiasm and hopefulness.

A -  went from tween to full blown TEEN!! No longer Rocker Boy but Skater/Surfer Boy. Since moving back to Florida in 2009 his love of all things surf and skate is a full time obsession! Along with...girls!

B- went from pink princesses to neon green fashionista tomboy. Since moving back to Florida, our amazing community of home school families have nurtured her individuality and unique fashion sense!

R- went from wanting to relax in the countryside of NC to taking on more projects in real estate as well as 2 bands! Amazing to me is his new desire at attempting to get a real estate flipping show on HGtv! LOL

Me??? Well, I used to long for chickens and goats, growing all my own organic produce, sewing, crafting and baking.  I got over THAT real quick!!! HA I still love chickens and goats and all that other stuff, but if we want some livestock time we got to the fair and the farmer's market!  I still do many of the domestic 'arts', but it finally dawned on me that I have to have balance! I swung from one side of the pendulum to the other. I do have a tendency toward OCD. I think I'm finally getting to a place in my head that I can do whatever I want whenever I want. I don't have to fit a certain mold. If I want to bake some bread then I'm gonna do it! The next week I'll buy the bread at Costco! I'm not going to beat myself up over it or feel like I've failed my family!! We lost both of R's parents in the last year, they were a huge part of our everyday lives. Their deaths opened my eyes tremendously! Life is short, very short. Cut yourself some slack and enjoy the ones you've chosen to be with. The bread baking can wait.

Useful Information!

Homeschooling by the Numbers [Infographic]



When we encounter individuals who either don't understand homeschooling OR individuals who attack our decisions to homeschool, I like to be prepared with information that backs up my choice. 
I found these stats to be about as straight forward as you can get!

A is HOME!!!

The summer is over and I have my boy back!  3 inches taller and 8 lbs heavier!!! Thank goodness his Grandma bought him a bunch of new clothes and shoes! The stuff he left behind doesn't fit at all. Donation time at the Goodwill:)

B is thrilled/sad to have him home! One half of her is so excited to have her beloved brother back. The other half is dreading the prospect of having to share(toys, food, parents) having to ask for permission to enter his room and having to share the bathroom.

We'll be starting a number of new activites as well. Our first meeting with 4H is next week at a nature center. B has weekly dance classes.  A will be trying an introductory martial arts class to see if its something he'd like to persue. And the animal shelter is anxious for him to come back to the doggies and get back to training new volunteers!

Our plate is full - Life is Good:)

Summer is here

Getting ready for a summer with only one kiddo at home! A is making a huge jump into tweendom. In the past he's gone to England with his grandparents for about 3 weeks.  This year he's going for 2 months!!! I struggled with that for a while. Not for him, but for me!!! LOL 

Thank goodness he's very independent and adapts well to changing situations. He's never been a clingy kid. Never cried when dropped off at preschool, never fussed when mommy had to leave him with a sitter to go to work.  He's got a stong and adventurous personality. So needless to say, he's SUPER excited about his summer in England!

We've also got some plans for B while her brother is gone. Working on her independence and her clinginess!! haha   She does seem to sprout while he's away. She comes out of her shell and feels much more confident. It's interesting to watch.  We shall see what she accomplishes this time:)

Excited for both of them during this exciting time!

Passion, creativity, art, music, team work, talent, friendship, JOY!

These are all the things that I was priviledged to experience while working on and performing the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

After 15 years of being away from theater, I found my voice again! It never left of course, but my life had taken a different path. Being a wife and a mom will always be my number one role, but to have the opportunity to express myself creatively has renewed me. It also showed my children that Mommy is A LOT more than what they see every day.

This was a goal that I had been waiting to achieve for 20 years. But I also believe that had I played the role back then it probably wouldn't have been as fulfilling or as multi-dimensional. There's a lot to be said for 20 years of life experience that one can bring to a character.
I also reconnected to a group of people that give me so much joy. 'Theater People':) People who 'get' you. People who have the same love and respect for the craft. These will be life-long friends.

This will not be the last production I do. The fire has been sparked and this time I won't let it go out!

Mom & Dad's 50th Wedding Anniversary Celebration

For the last 6 months my brothers and I have been planning a celebration for our parents 50th wedding anniversary. We decided to all gather in Southern California and surprise them with a cruise to Mexico.

We really wanted to do it up for them. We planned the cruise, we rented a limo for the ride to and from the port, we ordered them a special cake, crystal champagne glasses and I created a photo book of their life together. It was really fun surprising them. And also it's been about 10 years since ALL of us were together. That was probably the most touching thing for them, having all their kids together - getting along!!!! haha

There were a few issues with sea sickness. My dad, my brother and my husband all got sick the first day. It was really bad. The weather was crazy. The ship was all over the place. They even had to change the cruise itinerary because it was unsafe to get into one of the ports. It was also very cold. So we spent most of our time indoors. We never even unpacked our swim suits!

Before the cruise we also had the opportunity to go out and spend time with my birth-mom, Marina and my grandpa Del and his wife, Helen.
My brothers had been wanting to meet them for a while now. So Grandpa Del took us all out for dinner. Mom and Helen really hit it off too. Helen told my mom the story of how she was the first person to give me a bath when I was not even a week old. My brothers, SIL and niece all thought that Marina was really nice and bubbly and they could see where I get my outgoing personality from! LOL

All our planning was a HUGE success. The parents will never forget their 50th Anniversary:)

Lots of stuff going on

So we're already at the end of February!!! Unbelievable! I thought that after the holidays things would slow down or get back to 'normal'. I'm finally starting to see that THIS IS NORMAL! LOL I thrive on organized chaos I guess.

Since the last time I wrote, we've continued our learning journey with all it's ups and downs. A is coming along nicely with his math. I kind of got off his back about the times table situation and moved on to division concepts. It was a good move, because he's seeing how division is the opposite of multiplication. And isn't that what I want anyway? I want him to understand and use the concepts!
B is reading, on her own schedule. Her math skills are progressing to doing actual addition problems. She enjoys adding EVERYTHING! haha

One day, out of curiosity, I was googling local theaters to see what's going on around town. And up pops an audition notice for the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat!! I was up for the lead role of The Narrator about 20 years ago in L.A.! I didn't get it then, so it's always been in the back of my head that I would someday do it. Well, I got up enough nerve to actually go to the audition and ---I GOT THE PART!!
YAY! This was actually a huge hurdle for me to overcome. Having been out of the game for so many years, my confidence was, shall we say, lacking!
But, just like anything, if you love it, it comes back to you. It feels like I never stopped. I'm having a blast at rehearsals and can hardly wait to open in April!

One of my dreams has been to have my kids and husband see me on stage in a musical. And now it's going to come true. I couldn't be happier:)

John Francis Walks the Earth — YES! Magazine

John Francis Walks the Earth — YES! Magazine

Learning update.....

I'm amazed at how well our learning has been going! OK OK, it's only been 2 days back from Christmas break!!! But really it feels like there is a renewed sense of goal setting and accomplishment. On everyones part. B pretty much asks to do 'school' every day. A on the other hand is usually pretty resistant. But yesterday and today he was totally into it!
We're still working through Story of the World which we all really enjoy. It covers a lot of subjects. History, geography, social studies, literature, cultures and art. Right now we're on the chapter of Ancient Africa.
A has been writing thank-you notes to everyone who sent him presents. Which is awesome, because for a while now he's been hating anything to do with writing. The gratification of receiving responses helped too. It's nice when someone writes back, isn't it?:)
He also asked to do fractions and is getting into his own little routine of independent reading first thing in the morning!
OK, I better stop right now before I jinx it.....LOL

2010 -HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!

I certainly brought in the new year with a bang! I got back on stage and sang in front of an audience for the first time in eons!!! LOL Well it felt like eons:) Since moving back to FL my friends who I used to perform with all the time decided to put our 'little show' back together. A Broadway review that we can pretty much perform anywhere. We use recorded tracks and honestly we don't even need a real stage! It's mostly comprised of solos, duets and a couple group numbers.

When I was pregnant with B, I quit singing with the rock band, because I had some small complications. But really, I was just SO DONE with the stress, the hours, the people, the time it took away from my being a Mom! AND I didn't love it anymore. I could have done that gig in my sleep, in fact, I think I did sometimes!

Now that A & B are getting a bit older, I found that I was begining to miss the creativity, the excitement, the joy really, of singing and performing musical theater. It's totally different than singing with a band. I enjoy expressing the story of a song, portraying a particular character.

Another very funny aspect of this whole show thing is how the kids are responding to it! I had to go to a few rehearsals and I would get home late at night. That took a little getting used to, because since they've been alive, I've always been home at night!
Also, I found out they told their friends that "Mom's a singer and she's in a show on New Years Eve." I found this out when the neighbor boy who is 10 asked me what kind of music I sing! haha (I then found myself discussing my career with him:))

I'm more than a bit happy to see that A & B realize that Mom is more than what they live with everyday! This particular show was private, but the more we get booked, they will have opportunites to actually come and see me in action! We'll see what they think THEN! LOL

2010 is going to be a year of setting goals and doing our best, as a family, to reach them. Personally, spiritually, educationally, and all the other -allys! I feel really good about this year. I'm sure it will be full of a lot of music, many blessings and good fortune.

Just because:)

Lyrics

Glee Cast - Don’t Stop Believin’ lyrics

Another year older

Both of them!!! A & B!!! 10 and 6. Where does it go? 

We had a very fun-filled birthday week.  Since the kiddos were born 2 days apart it makes for quite the exciting week of festivites.  Shopping, wrapping, hiding so they won't find things, planning, inviting, and CELEBRATING!   Since we actually have friends now (lol)  they decided they wanted to have group party at the ever-famous Chuck E Cheese.  Notice I said "they"!!!  Not my first choice of venue but hey, it's their day.   It turned out to be a smart move.  15 wild and crazy kids running around, playing games, getting tickets and prizes with pizza and cake on the menu. Everyone had a BLAST!!!  A says that "Chuck E Cheese is the BEST place EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  B shared the sentiment.

So despite all the chaos and craziness that comes with having 2 kids born at practically the same time, AND a few days away from Thanksgiving,  I loved every minute of it and wouldn't change a thing!

My Thanksgivings are always filled with gratitude for the joy that those 2 beautiful children bring to my life.
Happy Birthday A & B. May this life bless you with all the happiness, love and excitement that you've blessed me with.
xoxoMommy

A major goal accomplished

One of the main things A wanted to do when we moved back was to volunteer at the Humane Society.  He is absolutely passionate about animals, dogs in particular.  He has such a way with them, that we call him the Doggy Pied Piper!  Well little did we know that the Humane Society has an insurance issue and will not allow anyone under the age of 18 to volunteer!!!  I know!  But I guess I understand:/
So I went on a google search for some private rescue organizations around the county.  Low and behold, the first one I emailed, we got a response from!!! 
Animal Aid, Inc. is a not-for-profit, no-kill, rescue shelter.  One woman started it years ago all by herself and has literally found thousands of animals forever homes.  She's very cool, too.  She could care less that A is only 10. She said "he's bright, capable, learns quickly and is not afraid to get in there and get his hands dirty!"  Well, amen to THAT!
So he's on the schedule.
  
He thanked me tonight  :)

While I'm at it.............

Since I'm here, I should write a bit about how our 'at-home, learning-time" is going.  FYI, we call it that, because ANYTHING that remotely resembles 'school' just will not happen, (without much protesting anyway:)   And we don't want to go down THAT path.   SO...........

Story of the World is going really well.  Both A & B love the stories, the art projects, the maps and the extra literature that the activity book suggests.   Since we can now ride our bikes to the brand new library down the street, we get as many extra books as possible on the particular chaper we're on!  This week we started Ancient China!

Our Literature program has been working quite well.  It's Junior Great Books. I got it at a yard sale from a retired teacher. She highly recommended it.  We skip around a lot to fit our needs.  Each lesson will either be a folk tale, a classic story or a poem.   We take turns reading it may times throughout the week and there are corresponding art projects,  comprehension questions, even skits for the kids to act out.  It's very similar to SOTW, so that's probably why they're enjoying it so much.

A is working on mastering his times tables.  He's also discovered that he loves fractions! And he's going through a sudoku phase:)
Animals are such a huge passion of his. I found a great Animal Encyclopedia. He reads it freely and writes facts that he didn't know about each animal in his notebook. 
Lauguage Arts, grammar, etc. are all touched on and explored with his curriculum workbook.

B is enjoying learning her sight words with flash cards and a bingo/rhyming/word game I found. We do phonics pretty much every day.   Daddy works on math concepts with her since that's now my strong suit(hehe).  I picked up a copy of Teaching Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons from the library. I wanted to see if it's something we'd use before purchasing it.  I'll try it after I've read the Parent Guide.
Oh and, B makes these special cookies from France with her Poppy every time they get together!  She's getting so good at it, she'll be able to make them on her own soon! 

Catching up on the blog!

The business of facilitating my childrens learning has taken quite the busy turn! Man, it seems like we have not stopped since moving here. Rick and I were calculating the days and it turns out we've only been here 43 days! That's not a whole lot of time when you consider unpacking your family's entire life, dates with friends and extended family, dates with my husband (:)), field trips, the library, park days, parties and learning-time at home. 43 days goes by really fast!

I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!This is EXACTLY why we moved back! Our homeschooling journey went from: "what are we going to do?" to "which activity are we going to pick?"

And honestly, we have met some of the coolest moms and kids, ever! My daughter has girlfriends!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm exstatic for her. Here are pics from our field trip today with the group.

Treasure Hunting

That's what it feels like! Opening each box and discovering what we packed is like discovering it all over again! haha I'm not about the materialism of 'stuff', but I do have a lot of memories attached to my things. All the places we've traveled, all the little things my parents kept for me from my childhood, my kiddos special do-dads from their 'baby days', beautiful items given to me from my elderly or passed-on relatives. All that energy is right there in those special trinkets!
So unpacking hasn't been the drudgery that I thought it might be. It gives me a chance to remember and appreciate the path that has gotten me to today.

Welcome Home

It's crazy! The last 3 years we've lived in NC, trying to make a go of things and it just never really happened for us.

Here we are, back in Florida only 2 days.......I'm feeling like we just took a 3 year break and NOW we're HOME. The familiarity is comforting. Having my friends back! Having opportunities to work and create again! I don't regret the last 3 years at all. I believe we needed to be there at that point in our journey. But it also opened our eyes to what is important to us, as people, as parents, as social/creative beings.

Now we have the task of getting unpacked, organized and comfortable in our new house. Baby steps is my new mantra! It will get done. I'm happy to know that this is where we'll BE.

Take Back Your Education by John Taylor Gatto YES! Magazine

This is an amazing article. Makes me passionately believe that the decision to homeschool my children is the right decision - for us:) So many of the things I see going on in our society today can be attributed to the very things John Taylor Gatto speaks of in this article!



Take Back Your Education by John Taylor Gatto YES! Magazine

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Homeschooling, packing and moving.....OH MY!!!

Yes, you heard right! We've decided to pick up our little family and MOVE AGAIN!

I guess it was only a matter of time. As I've written about in past posts, we've been going back and forth to Florida for about 8 months now. The drive has not been a problem at all. We've actually gotten so good with our little system, that it was pretty easy a trip.

Our dilemma would come when it was time to come back to NC. We'd look at each other and convince ourselves to "stay another week (or two)!" We'd be at the beach or at our favorite restaurant, or hanging out with Nanny & Poppy, or going to a home school group field trip....and we'd say the same thing...."let's just stay another week (or two)!" LOL

We really had to be honest with ourselves. We had to decide what we wanted and where we wanted to be! We came to the conclusion that the opportunities down in FL are more plentiful for us. The access to anything really is so great! We were able to find a house that suits our needs and its in an area that will be fantastic for the kids. Parks, library, museums, the list goes on.

So in 3 weeks we will be packing our life onto a moving truck and going back to the very city we so badly wanted to get away from!!!! Its ironic. Bu we can also admit when something is not working. When we left FL, our situation was completely different. Especially financially. Our expenses were growing with the real estate market and we felt we better get out before it was too late. Also, A was in public school and it was grueling! Kindergarten felt like college, or prison for that matter...take your pick! I guess we needed to come up here to let go and gain courage to jump into our homeschooling journey. So we're returning with a different lifestyle, a different perspective and a better financial picture too!

And it'll be awfully nice to have the grandparents close by!!!!!!!!!! It takes a village. Well, I'll settle for a couple family members:)
Until later.