You Got the White Stuff, Baby

December 13th, 2010 | Posted by Alison Spath in Parenting - (12 Comments)

This was one of those “Homeschooling Rocks the (Gingerbread) House!” kind of days.

Clipboard

For the third year in a row, the girls and I hit up the annual Gingerbread House exhibit at The George Eastman House – a local museum that hosts this high fructose architectural extravaganza every year.

Gingerbread days of yore, we’ve come to this event with friends – but this year it was just us three Weeds gals, which meant we were all a bit less overstimulated, not quite so bossy and a lot less screamy to boot.

Tribe

November 14th, 2010 | Posted by Alison Spath in Life - (7 Comments)

This spring I had a fellow Stay-At-Home(schooling)-Mom friend propose an idea to me that she called Tribe. Basically, the idea was that we’d pack up our respective broods and head on over to someone’s house one day each week to spend a few hours getting some real work done. Painting, cleaning, cooking, organizing, gardening, yard work – whatever anyone needed to get done, we’d get it done.

A Time for Fish

November 3rd, 2010 | Posted by Alison Spath in Dinner Time - (14 Comments)

Earlier this week we met up with some of our unschooling, nature loving friends for a salmon run adventure.

We were the first to arrive,

Salmon Run

so we figured out how to keep ourselves entertained as we waited for our friends to join us.

tongue

Smile

One by one a colorful gang of kids showed up,

Fall Day

and then the creek walking and fish stalking began.

Colorful Friends

SVA

Right around this time every year, the salmon make their way back up the creeks and streams in this area to spawn,

Dear Blog

December 22nd, 2009 | Posted by Alison Spath in Late Night Craziness - (17 Comments)

Dear Blog,

Hi. How are you? I am fine.

That’s a big fat liiiiieeeee I ammmm insssssaaaaannnneeeee!!!

*ahem*

My Dearest Blog, I’m terribly sorry that I’ve been neglecting you in recent days – please know that I am here and still love you. We’ll be moving into a new house together in just a few days so please hold tight and know that I still love to run, eat healthy food, write crazy posts and return library books late. My daily insanity will return when real life insanity subsides – I promise.

Like a School Girl

December 16th, 2009 | Posted by Alison Spath in Late Night Craziness - (18 Comments)

I have to be honest. For the last week or so I feel like I’ve been walking around with my head in the clouds. I barely recognize myself or my life right now. I’m so distracted it’s almost like I’ve got an innocent little crush. Moving to the new house seems more real now that we’ve been spending more time there. As our official Moving Day draws closer I find myself daydreaming and thinking about the new house more and more.

Didn’t I just write a post this morning about living in the moment? Hypocrisy thy name is Alison.

Sweet Tooth Fairy

December 13th, 2009 | Posted by Alison Spath in Parenting - (13 Comments)

Guess who’s coming to our house for the first time tonight?

The Tooth Fairy is Coming Tonight

That would be the Tooth Fairy!

(You try and get a 5 year old to smile in such a way that she holds her lip out of the way! Go ahead! Just try!)

So yes, Ava lost her first tooth today! It came out just a half hour before we left for an OrKIDStra presentation of The Snowman this afternoon.

Holding Our Tickets for The Snowman at the RPO

The Snowman by Raymond Briggs is a children’s book that was made into a short animated film. Like the book, the film is wordless – but has an orchestral score.

Stock Tip

December 7th, 2009 | Posted by Alison Spath in Dinner Time - (12 Comments)

With an active day in store for us, I used my workout time this in morning to make some head way on packing and other turning-our-lives-upside-down prep work. I got my heart rate up a couple hours later during an outdoor homeschooling mid-morning adventure with 28 extra pounds strapped to my back.

Monkey On My Back

She looks thrilled, no? Let’s let this picture be a little cranky pants foreshadowing.

We met up today with our friends for a hike through the woods and to build a shelter made with sticks.

Take Me to the Other Side

Say What You Mean To Say

December 5th, 2009 | Posted by Alison Spath in Life - (12 Comments)

I was scheduled to work at the fundraiser today and my shift at our homeschooling table began at 9:30 AM. I was off on my run as soon as it was light out because I didn’t have much time to spare.

I was back about 45 minutes later with what I believed would be enough time to shower and have a quick breakfast.

Except when I say “quick breakfast”, I apparently mean throw in my bag and eat there because I am fairly consistent at underestimating how long it takes me to do something.

Don’t You Eat that Yellow Snow

December 1st, 2009 | Posted by Alison Spath in Breakfast - (22 Comments)

We take December 1st very seriously ’round these parts.

December 1

When I closed my eyes and laid my head on my pillow last night the grass was green! It was also November, so it must have been the flip of the December switch that did the trick.

I had a date with the pool this morning, and for a moment I entertained thoughts of how fun it would be to run in the snow today instead.

But then I cuffed myself upside the head and reminded my overly ambitious snow running self I’ve got all. winter. to run in the snow. Let’s not rush things.

Not Chili

November 30th, 2009 | Posted by Alison Spath in Dinner Time - (9 Comments)

Where’s the place to be on a cold, dreary day?

Dreary Day

The beach of course!

Cold Splash

We met up with our “Get These Kids Outside Or Bust” homeschooling group and today was a true test of our pledge to get outside even in the crummiest of weather.

It was cold. It was rainy. There was whining.

Walk in the Park

Ava happily played with her friends but Maxine clung to me like a marsupial and said “I want to go home” about 100x in my ear, throwing in the occassional “I’m hungry” despite having just eaten breakfast 30 minutes earlier.