Snavley Freebirds

A New Year

2012-01-01T11:15:00.001-09:00

The start of a new year. The day when so many people make New Year's Resolutions. I love that this year there seems to be a theme that it's not necessary to make resolutions, that every moment is a new moment and a time to make changes. I'm not a huge fan of resolutions but I do set some intentions every year. And every year I seem to fall short of all those great intentions. I have some intentions and goals for 2012 but I also, more importantly, want to live fully in each moment. I just want to be PRESENT, to JUST BE. To be with whatever arises in each moment and feel and experience it fully. I've lived most of my life feeling as if everything will be right "when......" or "if.......". This year I will strive to accomplish my goals and work through challenges all while being PRESENT and letting go of expectations.

This past five years has been very challenging for me. It started with having to face the fact that my dream of traveling and living in our RV full-time did not line up with the rest of my family's dreams. We've faced financial challenges that we've never experienced-- not for lack of finances but because of choices we've made that, looking back, weren't the best choices for our family. We are beginning a new stage of our parenting journey as our children begin to transition into adulthood. Because of this transition I've had to face myself, outside of my life as a mother, and reflect on where I want my life to be when my children are all grown. I've had to reflect on my marriage quite a bit as well, as it is so easy to settle into this comfortable rhythm that isn't necessarily serving me or my marriage very well. In short, there has been a lot of "discomfort". Recently someone mentioned that when we are comfortable we aren't growing. I haven't experienced that feeling of being comfortable for quite some time. There has been some kind of burr in my side for a while. As I've been reflecting this week on some of the lessons that have come my way I realize that I'm not really welcoming them with open arms and learning from them. I'm constantly resisting them. 2012 is my year to take all those "lessons" that I've learned and put them to good use. If I don't like something then it's up to me to change that! I can't constantly make the same choices and expect my life to be any different. It's time to embrace some major changes in my life!

I made a big decision (for me) to go to college full-time this year. I'm working on a dietetics degree. I've always been very passionate about health and nutrition and the thought of helping people and getting paid for it is awesome! I've had a lot of ups and downs this semester, along with lots and lots of tears. I've had to really weigh in on this decision and decide whether to go all the way. When I weigh out the pros and cons the decision to get the degree always wins out. That means that I have to take all the challenges that come along with it and ride the waves, and there are a lot of waves. I finished this last semester with a 4.0 and I've been on a natural high ever since the grades came out. It's not the grades that mean so much to me, not really. What is really meaning the most to me is that I faced one of my biggest fears head-on and I won! I broke through old, yucky labels that I've either placed on myself or ones that I took on from childhood --I knocked them on the ground and stomped on them. I feel like some major breakthroughs were accomplished through this last semester of school. And I'm really enjoying school. I enjoy the entire process and I've learned a lot.

This is my starting block for all the other things that I want to accomplish this year. I want to take that same energy, the same determination, the same hard work and put it into all the other things in my life that are important. This is MY year! This is the year of being debt free, of getting health insurance, of re-igniting my marriage, and "re-arranging" my dreams rather than abandoning them. It's time to start living a passionate life again. So here is to 2012-- what is going to be a FABULOUS year full of amazing changes and growth, all while being fully aware and present in each moment.

Blogging Again!!

2011-08-17T11:34:00.000-08:00

It's been quite a long time since I've blogged!

Calista has been browsing the blog and asked me to please blog again because she likes reading back on things she's said and things we've done. At this moment there are so many things swirling in my head that I really don't know where to start so, I think I will blog about the gist of what has been going on this last year and start fresh from hereafter.

Last fall I decided to take an Anatomy/Physiology class, mostly to just get a little extra education for my much-rewarding job as a yoga instructor, but also because it's a subject of much interest to me. I started the class with no intention of doing anything more than that but ended up really enjoying it and deciding to go for a degree.

In the last year there have been shifts happening in our house: Kevin deciding to go to school for the last four years and graduating this last spring, and the kids all growing up and heading off on their own adventures. I have been left alone, or with just Calista, more often than not over the last year. I started feeling like it was time to pursue some of my own things. I've always been very passionate about health and wellness and a dietetics/nutrition degree was the natural direction for me. So, in the spring semester I continued with the Anatomy/Physiology class and added a History class as well. I ended the semester with two A's. I know, sounds so strange coming from an unschooling mom's mouth, right? The field happens to be a bit competitive, to get into the upper division classes, so it is paramount for me to keep the grades up. I have to admit, I was pretty proud of myself:P

This year, beginning on the 29th, I will be taking on 12 credits. At this rate it will take me four years to finish but I'm not on any particular race with time so I will just chug along at a comfortable pace. I already have 17 credits but because I have to take 6 credits this year which will not apply to my degree, it will take me a bit longer than the average person.

Tristan and Calista have continued to swim competitively. Tristan was planning on swimming with the high school again this year but the association that controls the high school sports does not allow independent homeschoolers to swim with the high schools. He is unwilling to jump through the hoops and play the system's games so he will not be swimming with Wasilla High this year. He is still swimming club and has some pretty amazing goals that he is going for. He also has an appointment to get his driver's license on Sept. 6. He really wants to learn Spanish, as well, this year, so we are working on that:)

Calista has really gotten into hooping. We found a group that she can hoop with and learn new tricks so that should be something fun for her this winter. She wants to learn Spanish as well, as do me and Martin, so there will probably be lots of broken Spanish being spoken around this house:P

Kevin is still working at the pool, as a lifeguard. He is going to try and find a job on a boat in the Keys and plans on leaving by middle of November. His ultimate dream is to learn how to sail. I'm so excited for him! It's just the best thing ever, as a mom, to see our kids pursue THEIR dreams and not the expectations that society has of them. He has quite the busy social life so I don't see him very often. I guess this is preparation for him not being here at all:( At 20 I was so ready to be a mom and he was a very planned baby, but at 39 I'm not really ready for my kids to be flying the nest. It just creeps up on you!!

We had an exciting summer this year. Kevin graduated from high school on May 20, and on May 21 we loaded up the Flex and headed down the Alaska-Canada Hwy. Our first stop was Life is Good Conference, in Vancouver, WA. Actually, our first stop was at the Cerullo's, where we enjoyed an awesome dinner and very comfortable beds after driving 47 straight hours:) Then, it was LIG. We had a fantastic time!! It was incredible for me to catch up with people that I hadn't seen in years, including my soul sista, Karen Buxcel, and all her awesome kids!! I can't explain what it's like to spend four days with 700 people who mostly all treat kids with dignity and respect, who are gentle parents, and who treat children as equals and with tons of happy, creative, inspirational children. It's just good for my soul!

From Vancouver we headed south, stopping at both my sil's houses, Lizz and Becky, in Colorado, eventually landing in TN, where my sister, Ren, lives. We spent three weeks in Tennessee and had a blast. We got lots of hot weather, lots of days at the river, and just special time with family. My sister divorced her husband of 21 years this last year but she also found another someone special:) Keith and his daughter, Trinity, had moved in the day before I got there so it was a little chaotic but we all did pretty well. It was really special to get to know them and to see my sister launching into this new, wonderful life of hers.

My nephew, Trevor, had called a few weeks before we left Alaska, and asked if there was any way he could come back to Alaska with us. Of course!! was my answer:) He was just needing a change and has always loved Alaska. We had his brother, Jared, for five months two years ago. I've missed so much of their childhood, with us living so far apart, so it's nice to get to know them this way.

From Tennessee we drove up to Davis, IL and spent a couple nights with the Endres. Fun, fun time! And then to Iowa to spend a couple nights with yet another sil (yes, I have a lot of them), who just got married to a farmer and has moved from the Palm Springs area to a farm in Iowa. Talk about culture shock! Luckily, she still gets to live in the California house during the winter months:) It was so much fun to see her new life and get to know what life is like on a farm. Kevin even got to drive the semi-truck, loaded with soybeans! The next stop was Rapid City, SD, to spend two nights with my good friend, Karen Buxcel. YES! I got to see her twice on this trip!! Another fun time!! Spent the day at the lake and just hanging out and chit chatting.

After we left Karen's it was a beeline for home. We did the first 30 hours straight, from Rapid City all the way to Watson Lake, Canada. We spent the night in Watson Lake and then another 18 hr stretch home. We were gone six weeks in all. As much as it is good to be home, I'm a gypsy and I CRAVE being on the road. I'm choosing to be content, right where I'm at, but I will not give up the dream of someday, soon, being on the road full-time. I would even settle for winters on the road and summers in Alaska if we could figure out a way to make a living that way. Ideas?? I even told Martin this morning that I would give up school temporarily to be on the road. Anyone that knows me well, knows that is huge!!

So, here we are settling back into a schedule. Trevor is here to stay. He went back to TN for a couple of weeks because he was committed to East TN Unschooling Camp, as a counselor, but will be back on the 24th to stay. Fall is approaching and the rainy season has begun. I'm excited to see what this next year brings us!! Bring it on!!

Authenticity

2010-07-27T21:45:00.001-08:00

Calista shared a conversation she had with her friends today about religion. She was a little confused that her friends got so upset when she told them she doesn't believe in heaven or hell, and she was somewhat taken back by the place of fear that they were coming from. She told me she didn't think 10, 11, and 12 year olds should have to worry about such things. She feels like everyone thinks they know everything and they REALLY don't and no matter how much you contemplate such things you will not KNOW the answers. She feels like everyone should just stop trying so hard to find the answers and just LIVE. I listened with open ears and an open heart. One thing that struck me is that her beliefs on religion and God are somewhat different than mine and that's what really started me contemplating tonight.

Most children who come from a Christian background believe what they believe because that is what they have been taught to believe. They don't even know how to make their own opinions about their beliefs because they've never been given that option. I was told by a pastor one time that 80% of Christians became Christians as children. 80%!!! What that tells me is that 80% of Christians don't hold their own beliefs but rather have been brainwashed to believe that. That's just astounding to me! And it always seems to come back to this thing they call hell, and the fear of it. I lived most of my life, well into adulthood, living in that same fear and I'm so thankful to be free from it!! I'm even more thankful that I'm raising my own children with that sense of freedom and that they will never have some of the same silly hang-ups that I have spent the last 8 years releasing myself from.

I have my own spiritual practices and they are different than every single one of my children, for my children hold their own opinions and have come to their separate beliefs on their own. I would never dream of getting in their way or trying to sway them to believe one way or the other.

At the end of the conversation she said, "Mom, if I was going to be any religion I would be Pagan because it makes me feel good and I love doing rituals." It made my heart smile that she is being authentic to who she is and what is speaking to her. That is what I want for my children in all aspects of their life, that is my goal as I continue to raise my children in freedom; that they will be completely authentic and true to themselves.

Summer "Bucket List"

2010-04-12T10:14:00.000-08:00

I have started a "Bucket List" for my summer. I'm sure it will grow over the next month as I think of more things I want to add to it but this is a start:

Finish at least two triathalons.

Visit Homer.

Visit Seward.

Visit Talkeetna.

White water rafting in Denali.

Hike Crow Creek Pass.

Hike Pioneer Peak.

Go to the Forest Fair.

Wine Down Wednesday

2010-04-08T10:10:00.001-08:00

I think Martin and I have found our new Wednesday tradition! Before we went on our motorhome trip we went to Sabai (Thai food) every Wednesday; it was our date night. I love traditions and rituals and miss this one in particular. Last night, one of our favorite places, The Grape Tap, started a Wine Down Wednesday, in which they give you a small glass of wine paired with an amazing appetizer for $10. Usually when we go to The Grape Tap we leave with a $100 bill so we were thrilled to pop in before dinner, have an appetizer and a little wine and leave with only a $20 bill:)

I think with this tradition we will invite other couples to join us every week. A nice hour of small talk over a glass of wine:) Check them out on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wasilla-AK/The-Grape-Tap/94662473582

2010-04-05T10:47:00.000-08:00

With spring in the air I'm on a constant high these days. I don't realize how hard winter is on me until spring comes. It's been a wonderful couple of weeks; seems like my days are filled with fun and surrounded by people that inspire and lift me up.

I've chosen friends wisely. I don't have tons of friends but the ones I have enhance my life in so many wonderful ways! I look forward to each day and the life I'm creating for myself.

The kids are continuing with their swimming. Kev has Junior Olympics in a couple of weeks. Tristan did a time trial on Saturday, to see if he could make some times for JO's, since he has only done one meet and only raced the 50 Free. He tried for the 50 Free and the 100 Free. He only missed the 50 by .2 of a sec. and the 100 by .4. So close!! For someone who has only been swimming since November that's awesome! He is going to be on fire by the time high school swimming starts!

I've been teaching yoga a LOT! A couple of our teachers have been gone so I've been subbing like crazy. I've slowly begun to creep my Sunday and Thursday class to a level II and students have rose to the challenge. It's been a lot of fun. It was also great to get my paycheck, especially after thousands of dollars of dental bills in the last couple of months:) My trip to India has been confirmed; there were enough people that signed up and paid their deposit to make it a go. I'm so excited!! A few of the people going are on that list of people that I was speaking of in the second paragraph of this post, which is going to make it that much more enjoyable.

Well, I know it is a quick post, just didn't want everyone to abandon my blog:) I'm still here, just busy living life. Will post more when I have the chance to sit for a longer period of time.

Hope everyone has as beautiful of a day as I'm going to have today. Off to the pool for my swim......

Hiking season is about to begin for us. Some of us have some lofty goals, such as Pioneer Peak and possibly (for me) Crow Pass, which is a 26 mile hike that takes two days. We also have a family coming to visit us for the entire summer so we have a lot of little hikes that we want to do with them, not to mention the fishing trips, road trips, lake days, etc. I'm really looking forward to this summer!!

2010-02-23T14:15:00.003-09:00

Whew, what a month! I feel like I have barely been keeping my nose above the water. It seems like things are happening, one after another, that makes me feel like I am cursed with bad karma. I've not had a very good attitude about it either. I set aside a certain amount of money that I knew we needed for dental bills. None of us had been to the dentist in a very long time; Calista never has been. Martin and the kids have all had their cleaning and check-ups and it is bleak. The amount of our dentail bills are 5x what I had planned on and I haven't even gone in yet. We also had some medical bills- my scoliosis, Martin's degeneration in his neck and his hip (which he's getting a hip replacement for), and Kev has kidney stones. Our car has broke down twice this month, with a total of $2400 in repairs, and our bathroom has a very bad leak (down into the entry way) and we have to rip it out. Uuugh!

What I really wanted to blog about though was gratitude. I have just been in a dark, dark place this last month and I think it's partly because we are at the tailend of winter, the light is just starting to come back and it's just that February funk. The last couple of days the fog has started to lift. The light is getting more obvious, the days are warmer AND I just made the decision to be happy. This afternoon I took out a book that my Stepmom bought me a few years back: Attitudes of Gratitude. I just needed to be reminded that being grateful is a choice.

It's interesting that I teach yoga and try to live a yogic life, I eat healthy, I meditate but I still fight these human conditions (imagine that:) In the first page of the book she mentions that so often people teach what they most need to learn.......................BINGO! She says, "I do not set myself up as an "expert", but rather a person on a path like the rest of us, each of us becoming the fullness of who he or she is meant to be." That just says it all! Now I understand why I teach yoga. I've always felt a little "inferior" when it comes to teaching, because I don't have the same amount of knowledge as some of my own yoga teachers, but I get so much positive feedback from my classes and students follow me from studio to studio so I've never been able to give it up. I understand now that the reason they may like me so much as a teacher is that I've allowed myself to be vulnerable and they see me as a fellow human being having the same experiences and struggles as they are having. It's easy to see our yoga teachers as something above us, someone who has attained this perfect inner peace that we are trying to attain as students, but all teachers are just fellow travelers wanting to share something amazing. So I keep teaching because I'm getting as much, or more, out of my classes as my students are.

If you look to others for fulfillment,
you will never truly be fulfilled.
If your happiness depends on money,
you will never be happy with yourself.
Be content with what you have;
rejoice in the way things are.
When you realize there is nothing lacking,
the whole world belongs to you.
~ Lao Tzu

So...................I took a walk today so that I could reconnect with nature- I think that's inherent to human beings, whether we realize it or not. It made me feel so much better! Thursday I will head into Anchorage to do a little seed shopping to prepare for my garden this summer. I also need to repair the E string on my guitar so I can get back to practicing. I need to reconnect with those things that I am passionate about.

Today I am grateful because I have EVERYTHING I need and I have the ability to pay all my bills. I have an amazing life that I so often take for granted! I have this incredible relationship with my three children. I have so much!!!

Inside yourself or outside, you never have to change what you see, only the way you see it. ~Thaddeus Golas

2010-01-27T17:17:00.003-09:00

I promise I have not given up on blogging:)

My computer got dropped a couple of weeks before Christmas and the display quit working. I could see the display in the right light but there was no backlight. After ordering a couple of parts trying to troubleshoot what the problem was it ended up being the actual backlight. It's a tiny, tiny bulb that looks like a miniature version of a long fluorescent bulb. We got the part in only to realize that some soldering has to be done. The long story short of it is that Martin hasn't had the time to sit and solder it so I've been doing most everything from my phone, with occasional chances to slip in on Martin's computer.

We had an awesome Christmas, the Christmas of all Christmases that I promised the kids:) My younger sister and her family, and my dad and his wife, came over in the morning for breakfast and gift opening and then in the afternoon we met some good friends (the Eries) up at Hatchers Pass for sledding. After the kids got that out of their systems we all came back over to our house for sandwiches and hot chocolate. New Years we spent with the Eries as well; just a nice relaxing evening munching on food and hanging out.

January has been mostly uneventful. The kids have been swimming a lot and we've had two meets this year. We head up to Fairbanks this Friday for a championship meet that Kev is competing in. We've had some car problems this month and are trying to figure out whether we want to buy a new car or not. Martin's car (the one we are both driving right now) is in the shop right now getting a new clutch put in. Then yesterday, as we were driving Kev's car around, his heater motor went out so we've been driving in a very cold car. When we pick Martin's car up we will drop Kev's car off:) If Martin's car doesn't get done by Friday we aren't sure what we are going to do for transportation up to Fairbanks.

We are catching up on some much needed dental work. Calista has never been to the dentist (11 years old) and the boys haven't been for a very long time. We don't have insurance so we don't go unless problems arise. That's coming to bite me in the butt right now. Thankfully, we are in a good financial position to be able to pay for it all because it's costing us a pretty penny. More appointments tomorrow, yay! We found out a couple of weeks ago that Kev has kidney stones. He's been experiencing some kidney pain so our doctor thought we should go in and have an ultrasound, which revealed stones. We are going through some tests to try and figure out what is causing them and of course, waiting for them to pass. I was also diagnosed with scoliosis after months of a very achy back. Not sure why it's just catching up with me at 37 years old but.... After several adjustments I'm feeling back to my good ol' self:)

I've been busy training for some triathalons. My goal is to do 3-4 this summer. I'm already registered for one and am waiting for another one to open up for registration. I am really LOVING the swimming part and realizing that maybe the kids get their love of water from me! I've mostly been running and swimming; going to add the biking here in a couple of weeks. Ren said I could have her road bike, since she is not planning on doing anymore triathalons, so now we just have to figure out our shipping method to get it up here:)

Other than that, not much new around here. Tonight we had a houseful of happy, spunky kids. Tristan had all of his good buddies over and Calista had some girlfriends for a "movie night". The boys ended up walking to the arcade that is about 2 miles from our house, in 10 degrees! Brrrr!!

#best09

2009-12-01T09:52:00.015-09:00

I'm participating! Anyone want to join?

Dec.1 Trip. What was your best trip in 2009?

I got to meet both my sisters and their kids in Portland and have an amazing 12 days hanging out, going to the beach, shopping at Saturday's Market, visiting with my Grandma and Aunt and Uncle on the farm, and attending the Life is Good Conference. It had been four years since we had all been together (Robin and I live in the same town so we see each other often) so it was a very special time. Here are just a few pics:

Fall Happenings

2009-11-04T15:07:00.005-09:00

I haven't been blogging much lately because I'm always on Facebook! So I will do some catch-up, if I can even remember all that we've been doing:)

September and October are always busy months for us, with highschool swim season in full swing. All of our meets are out of town; Soldotna, Homer, Kenai, Valdez, etc. We only had two home meets this year and two meets in Anchorage, all the rest were out of town. It gets a little crazy to say the least, as we try to attend all that we can. I missed a few this year, as I was in Fairbanks helping my most AWESOME friend, Sheli, transition from the hospital to home after spending a week in Seattle getting a cancerous tumor removed from her kidney. It was a beautiful nine days!! I got to snuggle lots and spend lots of wonderful one-on-one time with her incredible kids!! It was hard to say good-bye when it was time to come home. I miss living in the same town as Sheli when I could pop in whenever I wanted to!

Kev had a pretty average swim season, as he was fighting illness AGAIN!! Every swim season he has been sick almost for the entire two months, either with something like mono or just a constant cold/flu. We see a naturopathic doctor and she has really been trying to encourage Kevin to move just a little away from the vegan diet. Not only is he growing rapidly but he is an athlete, which makes it very hard to get everything you need in your diet. The men that do it are very scientific about it and keep careful track of what they put in their mouths. Kev has a very healthful diet but I don't think he is getting enough of what he needs to grow and be an athlete at the same time. He is slowly opening up to change. BUT, the last few weeks we have been pumping him up with protein shakes, Cultured Veggie's and such. He had the most AWESOME meet ever last weekend so it is making a huge difference! Now that he sees it he is ready to add SOME things that aren't vegan, like egg whites, to his diet so he is getting a bit more protein.

He bested his time on his 100 Fly at 1:00.55, missing his chance for state by .57 of a second. He was a little bummed but fired up to train hard and be at the top of the pack next year. The boys Medley Relay, that Kev swims the Fly for made it to state and got 1st in their region. He also bested his time for 100 back and is really close to a state time in that as well so next year should be awesome!! He will be swimming for club throughout the winter and next summer so he will get lots of training in.

Calista started swimming club two weeks ago and is really enjoying it. She is a hard worker and coach has been pretty impressed with her excitement and hard work. He called her a "beast"! Tristan has decided to try out as well, hopefully by the end of the week. Their coach is also the coach for the highschool so he's pretty tied up with the state meet coming up so it might be next week. Tristan is thinking that he wants to swim for the highschool next year as well, unfortunately, they only allow you to swim as a homeschooler if you are through the correspondence program or Twindley Bridge Charter school. I don't know if he is willing to go through that many loopholes to swim for the school, since it will mean doing curriculum, etc. If he decides that is what he wants to do I will support him 100%, just as I have with Kev.

We also said good-bye to Jared last month, after having him for five months. It was sad and hard to let him go but I think he was getting a bit homesick. We had so much fun with him and I hope he has LOTS of great memories to hold on to. I would take him every summer if I could:)

We still don't have any snow! Tristan is really wanting to get out and snowboard so he is not too happy. He said, the other day, "This winter sucks!", as if winter was almost over:) We have had lots of high winds over the last week or so but no snow. Weather is calling for sun the rest of the week so it might be a while before we see the white stuff. Our temps are hanging out right between 25-30 and I'm not complaining. It's going to make for a short winter.

Trust

2009-09-25T15:47:00.009-08:00

This is my child who didn't learn how to read until he was 11 1/2 years old. There were a few people that were ultra-concerned. I wasn't concerned at all. I read to him lots, he was exposed to many different, wonderful experiences, he looked at books, and he went about living his life. I knew he would learn to read on his own time and in his own way and I was grateful that we didn't have him in public school where he would be put in special classes and ostracized by his peers. He wasn't stupid, far from it! Phonics was always a mystery to him; the rules always changed and that frustrated him to no end! That's just not the way he learned. And he certainly didn't learn by sitting at a desk. I don't think I've ever read him a book and had him sit still. When he was quite young he would be doing flips off the couch, cartwheels around the living room, or flipping something around in his hand and I would ask, "Tristan are you listening? Or do you want me to stop reading?" He would usually say, "I'm listening! ______ and _______ just happened." I was always amazed that he was hearing anything I said.

So you want to know how he learned how to read? Video games! Hours and hours of video games. I would sit for hours and hours with him, reading the captions at the bottom of the screen. And when I got tired of sitting and reading to him, Martin and Kevin would take their turns. No one got mad at him and told him that he should really learn how to read, they just patiently read to him knowing too that he would learn on his own time and in his own way.

Then one day, it seemed he just woke up and he knew how to read. He reads books now that are considered at "his level", whatever that means. You could have him read you a book and then have another 14 year old read that same book, that maybe learned how to read at 6 years of age, and you would never know which one learned how to read at 6 and which one learned how to read at 11 1/2.

NOW you will most likely find him as you do in the above pictures, with his nose in a book. I often think how much he would like to read if someone had tried to force him to read before he was ready. I know my husband was a late reader too, and in public school by the way, and he really wasn't much of a reader until his adult life. Thankfully, I had his mom to reassure me that Tristan would read on his own time, just as Martin had. Not that I needed that reassurance but it's nice.

Tristan bought the Eragon Trilogy with his OWN money and hasn't stopped reading since. I believe he just finished the second book.

TRUST! If we could only trust our children and not treat them like they are vessels that need filling. All they need is for us to be there, available to find them the resources and materials when they get a spark of interest in something and honoring them enough to know that they will learn what they need, when they need it, in their own way and in their own time.

Pictures from the last several weeks

2009-09-16T14:37:00.009-08:00

The last few weeks have been filled mostly with fun and a little bit of sadness. A few weeks ago the owner of the studio that I teach at, Linda, was diagnosed with breast cancer. Within two weeks of the diagnosis she was in surgery to have a lumpectomy. They were able to get everything and luckily there was no lymph involvement. She will start radiation next week and hopefully she will never have to face this again. She is seeing a naturopath here in town for immune support as well. I'm very lucky to have this amazing woman in my life; she has had a cheerful attitude through it all with a few "F**k's" here and there, as she puts it, and chooses to live in the moment through it all.

A week after she was diagnosed one of the most important people in my life, my VERY VERY dear friend, Sheli, called to say that she was diagnosed with kidney cancer. Okay, now I'm saying F***!! At this point there is a 10% chance that it may not be cancer so we are holding out hope for that. She goes into surgery next Wed. to have part of the kidney removed. When she gets home the week following I'm going to head up to Fairbanks to help take care of her and her family, as she will be unable to drive, lift, etc. WE LOVE YOU SHELI!!! Again, so blessed to have these INCREDIBLE women in my life; she is cheering everyone else up that is feeling sad for her, lol. She refuses to listen to the "Oh, poor Sheli" scenario, which makes it easier for all of us.

And now for the fun that has been happening in our life:) The following tells it all:

We celebrated Jared's 16th birthday. Jared is my nephew who has been staying with us, from Tennessee, since May and we have him until Oct.22! It's been a fun summer and such a great chance to really get to know him. I hope he comes back next summer:)

We took the dogs up to Hatchers Pass to let them run. You can see how much room they have:) And yes, we really do live in this BEAUTIFUL state!

Don't they just look so happy!?

Then on to Homer for Kev's swim meet. We stopped here to see if we could see the Beluga's breeching. Unfortunately, we have not seen them this year- such a bummer! It's still beautiful isn't it? It surrounds us!!

Yes, I do believe someone lives in this houseboat. Very eccentric, I would like to knock on the door and visit:)

And yes, there are beaches in Alaska!! Actually lots of them! I know, not the warm, lay-in-the-sun type of beaches but fun to play on anyway. Homer is one of my favorite places in Alaska.

It was just beautiful while we were there. Don't I look happy too?

Jared says, "I love hanging my head out the window. It's SO refreshing!" Especially when it's fresh ocean air!

We found a driftwood playground!

The boys were having WAY too much fun with this bull kelp!

Always fun things to find on the beach. I think she had just found some crabs here.

Oh, I almost forgot, we were here for Kev's swim meet:) Na, I didn't forget, we were just enjoying the beach in between events. The boys won their Medley Relay, so fun to watch. Kev's butterfly has improved SO much since last year- fun to see!

And finally, we celebrated Kev's 17th birthday! 17!! But I can still pass for his sister so we are good:) I can, can't I? Martin says where the heck did the last 17 years go? I said it went by fast because we were having so much fun with our kids!!

2009-09-02T09:07:00.003-08:00

It's blogging weather again:) I haven't posted much in the last several months because it's been summer! We are just out and about too much to take the time to blog. Weather is cool, we are inside more, and things have slowed down quite a bit so it's back to blogging more often.

This is circulating around Facebook today. http://www.onlinebestcolleges.com/blog/2009/50-eye-opening-unschooling-blogs/ My blog made the list! This is a great list of unschooling blogs! Whether you are just curious about unschooling, want to learn more about it, or are thinking about moving towards this philosophy these blogs are some great resources for more information. My blog made it under "untraditional families" because we were living and traveling in our motorhome. Though we are no longer living that lifestyle we still dream of living that way again, and next time it will be more permanent.

We all went and watched Taking Woodstock the other night. All the kids LOVED the movie! It made me just long for a more simple lifestyle and made me remember how happy I was when we were living in the motorhome. Not that I'm not happy now, it was just one of those times in my life where there was absolute, complete contentment. Calista was reminiscing and longing also. She was the only child that really liked living that way and would like to do it again. She said to me last night that it was hard on her when we bought this house because the motorhome was her house and she was used to it. We've been trying to sell it, off and on, and every time she gets a little teary to think it might not be around, even though we don't use it much. Lots of memories in that motorhome!

Either way I guess we don't really live a "traditional" lifestyle, in many ways, so I guess it still applies:) I've been more thankful than ever this year for our unschooling life and have been posting more on Facebook than I have been blogging. When I watch my kids live the life of THEIR choosing and watch them be so passionate about the things they choose I know we are doing the right thing. It's brought so many wonderful people and experiences into our lives.....................................and JOY, JOY, JOY!!

2009-08-17T19:16:00.002-08:00

Since I've escaped the grasp of dogmatic religion I've done lots and lots of soul searching and research. It's been an incredibly liberating journey! This is an interview with the author of God Without Religion- Sankara Saranam. I really enjoyed it and it reflects a lot of my own feelings.

http://www.godwithoutreligion.com/interview.shtml

2009-07-30T12:49:00.004-08:00

A picture taken of me a few years ago, in between bouts of tanning.

It's another one of those weeks where I am digging deep - trying to get down to my true AUTHENTIC SELF and let it shine through. Not the part of me that I let everyone else see but the REAL me!

This week it has to do with my need to tan all the time. Seems like such a silly thing to spend much time thinking about right? For me it's not about how unhealthy it is or even about how it ages you because I really like being tan and I'm willing for whatever the consequence of that action brings. No, it's about being authentic. It's about the stress of maintaining something that I'm not.

Ironically, I got my Yoga Journal in the mail last night and begin flipping through the pages and one of the first articles in the magazine this month is about a woman struggling with a similar issue- going gray. The last two paragraphs of the article express my same feelings over this tanning issue:

"I like the time and money I save not going to the salon every three weeks. I like the energy I save not thinking about my hair. I think about yogic notions of satya (truthfulness) and santosha (contentment) and realize that I still have some letting got to do: of my resentment that society is ageist, that older men are powerful while older women are invisible.

Going gray was letting go of a way of thinking that had become a burden. Yoga is about letting go of whatever prevents us from being our most authentic self. Just like the experience of yoga, feeling good about going gray has been a loosening of the obstacles to healthy, flowing energy. And besides, how long could I pretend to be someone different from who I am, while teaching others to feel comfortable with themselves."

So here I am, in the letting go process. Celebrating me- pale and beautiful. Accepting it. Embracing it. And when every last remnant of my tan is gone I'm going to do a photo session capturing all the parts of my body that I love so when I feel that discontentment rise to the surface I will look at those pictures and rejoice- for this amazing body and all the hard work it does for me.

Summertime FUN!!!

2009-07-15T11:53:00.032-08:00

We've been having so much fun this summer. We've had awesome weather that has allowed us to do lots outdoors. These are pictures documenting some of the fun we've been having.

Had lunch with my good friend, Leslie, and her son, Garrett, who were in town for a few short hours, from Fairbanks.

Jared and Kev swimming at Bodgett Lake. We met a rockin' unschooling family that live on the lake and have had us over a couple of times to enjoy!

The girls waiting for their turn to launch off the rope swing into the lake.

Calista is flying!

Kev let go of the rope too soon and landed in the rocks. Lani fixed him up with some good Spidey and Batman band-aids. She was afraid it might give his identity away;)

We went to the Moose Dropping Festival in Talkeetna and spent some time hanging out by the river. Martin and Calista are skipping rocks.

Calista searches for some good skipping rocks.

Martin creates some obos.

Some colorful people hanging down by the river. I just thought it was a cool picture.

Enjoying my daughter's friendship.

Calista and I doing tree pose on a log. I love doing yoga out in nature.

Calista doing tree pose. She was here for quite a while. She has awesome focus!

More yoga!

And more yoga!

We leave our mark for others to enjoy:)

My sister, Robin, and her husband, Richard.

Rylee and Calista having fun when the wake from the boats hit them.

Richard and Rex launched their boats on Cottonwood Lake and spent the day pulling us on tubes. It was a blast!! This is Rex's boat that he built in two months. Very talented guy!

Calista and I take our turn:)

Richard pulling Calista and I.

Rylee and Calista.

Robin and I. They tried really hard to throw us, without success I might add.

Martin and Kev.

See! Roxie IS a lap dog!

Rylee, Kev, and Jared after hours of tubing.

Jared enjoying a first for him. He had a blast!! We are trying to give him a good time during his summer with us:)

Jared and Kev take one last run before we wrap up the day. What a GRAND time we had!!! Thank you Rex and Richard!!!

Summer

2009-07-07T10:02:00.012-08:00

It's been a BEAUTIFUL summer! We've had so many sunny days, I just haven't been on the computer too much to have the time to blog.

Martin cleared our entire back yard, about 1/2 an acre total. He almost has my greenhouse completed too! I'm so excited! I will probably just do some tomatoes and lettuce since we are so late into the season. I'm just happy to be moving in the right direction. We have our garden plot ready for next year and it's pretty good size. We are preparing to flatten the front yard (there is a big berm in the middle of the circular drive) and get rid of the circular driveway so that the front is all lawn. Calista just wants a place to run in the sprinkler:) The rest of the backyard will have to wait for next year. Martin has plans back there:) He's putting in a T-box and putting green, a sand area for a fire pit, hammocks (I am going to try and put the hammocks in next week), and spool tables, and the rest will be lawn. A riding lawn mower is definitely in our future!

This last weekend Jared and Kev went up to Girdwood for the Forest Fair and camped out for the weekend. They went up there not really knowing where they were going to camp and I expected them to be back home that night. Kev called me very excited when they got there because a friend of a friend lives up there and invited them to camp out at his house. He has a rooftop deck that they pitched their tents on. We went up on Saturday, just for the day, and hung out. All of the following pictures are from the Forest Fair. Girdwood is about 70 miles south of us. It's a beautiful drive along the inlet and you can often see the Beluga Whales breeching, usually more in August and September.

We are enjoying Jared's company this summer! Thank you Ren for lending him to us:) I know his family is starting to really miss him and it makes me feel bad but I think he is having a really good time and we are trying to do as much as possible before he decides to go home. I want to take him white water rafting before the summer is up and I really hope we can fit it into the budget.

One of the music stages.

The kids getting ready to walk to the fair from their camping spot.

The kids pitch their tents on the rooftop deck of a friend of a friend:)

Pitching their tents.

Painting a spool table. We are going to try and get a hold of a few for our backyard.

The teens: Kev, Hope, Kevin, Stacy, and Tom. Not sure where Jared was when I took this picture. Must have been getting some food or something.

Hula Hooping.

Rylee (my niece,on right) and her friend Joslyn (sp?). It was Rylee's 8th birthday!

My friend, Debbie, and I.

Signs of Life

2009-06-24T21:15:00.006-08:00

If there was one main thing that I took with me from the conference in May it was this: to be okay with the perfect imperfection and the messiness of life. I tend to be one that likes things organized and clean, which is fine to a certain point, but sometimes I just have to change my perception of all that mess. Earlier today I found myself starting to feel that anxiety around me and I stopped myself, looked around, and commented, "Look! We really know how to live!". Here are some signs of life in our house at this very moment:

ps Calista is going by Justine at the moment.

All the kids had a lego marathon today. Every single one of them (minus Kev because he was working) was out in the middle of this for most of the day today, from Rylee (8 years old) clear up to Jared (almost 16).

It looks like plain old mess but I promise it is a sign of creative kids.

Not too clear, but the sign says "closed". This was part of Justine's face painting business. I have a beautiful butterfly on my face at the moment:)

2009-06-13T13:17:00.003-08:00

I think this is a very interesting video and worth taking the time to watch. He is talking about technology but I think it applies to all learning. Unschoolers already know these things because we have seen it happen with our own children- first hand. We know our kids learn when it is relevant to their life, when they are exposed to new experiences and ideas, and when the resources are made available to them

I think what this proves is that children do learn on their own but what they do need are resources. If they have the resources available to them they can learn anything, without teachers and without schools. I'm thankful that there are people who are doing the research and re-examining how we educate our children and how damaging imposed learning is.

I loved these following comments about the video:

"I too, am a home-educating/unschooling parent. I found HITW very fascinating, because that runs along the same theme as what we as parents do with our children. I've heard it being given the term "strewing". Leave something of interest around the house (say, a magazine) and eventually a kid picks it up and reads about it, leading to either discussion, further exploration, if the subject strikes their fancy. We see our role, as parents, as "facilitators", whose job it is to expose them to many things and then follow their leads with what they are interested in.

Nature itself shows the obvious, that we as human beings are naturally curious, and seek out what we are interested in and/or need to know. The wonderful talk by Sugata Mitra was a very informative answer to how children learn." ~Ariannah Armstrong
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" The takeaway is that children learn eagerly and effectively when the content is real and immediately relevant to them and when they have others actively and interactively helping them to master the content in real time according to their immediate needs. Throw into that mix adventure and social sharing and Sugata Mitra has shown us what happens when these things occur together. Additionally, those of the hands-on learning style and those who prefer to observe first are equally well served. Together these things produce a synergy that make the hole in the wall experiment an excellent success story." ~Reid Albecker
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"I would urge you (and all of us) to be more careful mistaking the word education and the word school/schooling. It may seem like semantics but I believe if we really made the internal mental shift to articulate the difference and were really good about calling things schooling when they are schooling and education when it is education I believe we would have a platform for making decisions about what to do next.

Education is a radically different thing from schooling. Education is something that comes from the inside - out. Like what you have shown here. What you have discovered in your research is that learning can and does happen without the need for schooling. As is mentioned in previous comments learning is a natural human trait and does not require schooling.

Schooling is schooling - which means that it is NOT education nor will it ever be education. Part of the reason I think this distinction is important is because many people involved in school reform make this mistake. Trying to force schooling to become education is where a lot of problems lie. Almost all of the frustrations that occur when attempting to do something cool with schooling is because of this distinction.

NOTE: It is possible that education might have some element of schooling as part of it but that would be a choice one would make once one understands the implications of that." ~Michael Kaufman

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"It is of an extreme value that we can interact with you here. Thank you for taking your time to chat with us!

I find your work very important. In my opinion it prooves that learning is a basic function of healthy child brain and it doesn't need any formal methods. It is just natural for a kid to explore and learn. So what we have to do is to provide a healthy and prosperous environment for them to learn. Formal education is full of data but often it is deatached from "real life" and does not give you the proper experience (as opposed to knowledge) to deal in real life and accademic situations. Self organised systems can do the opposite - they are not just the simulation of life (or science, technology...so on), they ARE life and science and technology. They already are what we have to learn as children. They are not just raw data to be memorized.

I hope I didn't go too far with this. Perhaps a well-ballanced mix of both is required, but we have to find such a ballance between formal ("data input") ways of educations and self-organized systems. I for one work as menthor of small workshops and I find your experience very valuable for my work, so thanks for sharing!" ~Marjan Krebelj

Conversation with my Daughter

2009-06-09T12:31:00.003-08:00

This is how the conversation went:

Calista: She looks in the cupboard for something to eat. "Hmmm, cereal, milk, orange juice. That's a breakfast 'normal' people eat."

Me: "What's normal?"

Calista: "People who sit down at the table, with their family, and eat breakfast and dinner together; who go to school; and their parents work all day."

Me: Thinking- well, we are clearly not normal:)

Calista: "But we aren't like that. You guys let us choose what we do and eat. Sometimes we are doing more important things than sitting at the table and eating together. We are together all the time and sometimes we don't want to be together eating dinner. That's what's so cool about being unschooled"

Me: So what percentage of the population do you think falls under that 'normal' category?

Calista: A LOT!!

Well thank goodness that we aren't normal:)

2009-06-04T10:10:00.002-08:00

Quite a few unschoolers have posted this on Facebook. I think it's worth the read.

Unconventional Wisdom: Why Passion Matters

2009-06-03T10:04:00.013-08:00

We have this old barn/horse corral on our property that we have been going back and forth on what we were going to do with it- turn into yoga studio, guest house, green house, etc. A couple of weeks ago I finally decided that it just needed to come down. The roof had to be replaced anyway because there wasn't much left of it and it's just an eyesore on our property. We figured we could salvage most of the wood and build something else and maybe keep a portion of the building to turn into a greenhouse. I decided when the building came down that I would use the space for my garden plot.

We made the right decision because as soon as we started demolition it became clear how unstable the building was and there was lots of rotten wood and very dry, cracked wood. The demolition was a blast! And we were able to save part of the building that I will be working on this next couple of weeks to turn into a greenhouse....................after Martin re-builds the side wall to make it nice and stable.

First the roof comes off. Tristan and his friend's Tanner and Hunter took most of it off.

Then the siding and windows.

Tristan lives on the wild side..........as the building is swaying!

Then out comes the studs and posts.

And down she comes.

Crashing down!

And all that's left behind is my future greenhouse.

Trip to the Pacific Northwest

2009-05-29T15:50:00.026-08:00

I can't even begin to put into words how much fun we had on our trip to Portland/Cannon Beach/Seaside/Manning/Vancouver. Robin, Rylee, Ren, Jared, Sierra, Jalen, our family + Kev's friend, Sara, all went. It was the first time we've all been together in four years.

The trip started in Portland with us and Robin and Rylee for three days. We explored the downtown area, went to Voodoo Doughnuts (several times), Saturday Market, Oregon Zoo, and lots of eating. The weather was in the 70's/low 80's the entire time so we got some sunbathing in down by the river also. Ren and three of her four children flew in on Sunday night, our third day there. On Monday morning we rented two vans and headed over to Tillamook Cheese Factory and then on to Cannon Beach, ending at Seaside.

We then went to Manning to visit Grandma Bidwell and my Aunt Carol and Uncle Ed. We celebrated Ren's 40th birthday there and explored Grandma's 45 acres and played with Carol and Ed's dogs. It was odd being there without Grandpa around anymore (he passed away a few months ago).

After Grandma's we headed up to Vancouver for the Life Is Good Unschooling Conference where we had the time of our lives. Ren and Kev both had talks there, Amy Steinberg did a concert, there was a barefoot boogie dance, and lots of other fun activities. We met lots of wonderful, joyful people!! 425 unschoolers!! It's always so refreshing to be around so many people who share the same philosophies and desire to live joyful, respectful, trusting relationships with their children. There was so much JOY just swirling around us for five days.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention......................When we were at Grandma's we were all sitting around talking and Jared says, "I wish I could go back to Alaska with you." And I replied, "You wanna?" The boy asks, "Really?" Next thing you know we are booking his ticket and he is now in Alaska with us! We get to have him for the entire summer, so exciting! Unfortunately, the last two days since we've been home it's been raining so we haven't gotten out to do anything yet but him and Tristan seem quite happy to be playing the XBox. We are going to take the motorhome up to Fairbanks in a couple weeks so that's something to look forward to. We have all kinds of things planned. I hope the weather cooperates:)

Here are some pictures of the highlights:

Creative marketing!

Tristan attempts the doughnut challenge- didn't quite make it but had fun trying.

Ren's 40th.

Family picture at Grandma's with my Aunt Carol and Uncle Ed. Jalen didn't want to be in the picture so we snapped him as he was walking away.....

He'd just had enough for the day.

My aunt and uncle's boston terriers got plenty of attention!

Hiking Gram's property.

Posing at the Tillamook Cheese Factory.

Cannon Beach.

Happy, lively, joyful people and energy at the Life is Good Unschooling Conference.

Amy Steinberg concert. This was the highlight of the trip for me!

Partying at the Amy Steinberg concert.

Amy cuddles. With Ren, Diana, and me!

Kev's talk at the conference. He did very well.

Ya think they are a little pooped out. 12 WONDERFUL days later!

2009-05-13T12:22:00.003-08:00

Yesterday I was visiting with a friend about unschooling v. public school. This particular individual is extremely supportive of unschooling so we were just discussing pros and cons, the way the government thinks and designs, etc. Tristan was listening to the conversation so Sharon asked Tristan if he was going to join Kev at the highschool next year. Tristan responds with, "No thanks!! I can learn right here!!" As he proceeds to show me all these different kinds of spiders he was looking up.

I love unschooling!! But I also love that my kids are capable of making their own choices and that their choices are very different to fit the uniqueness of their lives. It would be torture for Tristan to be stuck in a classroom all day. This is a kid who thrives on being outdoors, building, working hard with his hands, rollerblading, hiking, biking, throwing a football. I can't imagine a worse scenario for him than public school.

Swine Flu Panic

2009-04-29T05:13:00.002-08:00

"Using new and improved statistical models, CDC scientists estimate that an average of 36,000 people (up from 20,000 in previous estimates) die from influenza-related complications each year in the United States. In addition, about 11,000 people die per year from respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a virus that causes upper and lower respiratory tract infections primarily in young children and older adults. "

And why are we freaking out over a handful of deaths from the swine flu? And the above stats are just for the US!

I think the media just loves to see everyone panic.

2009-04-27T13:05:00.002-08:00

I know I'm having a terrible time lately keeping up with my blog, just been busy I guess, other priorities. So I'm sure you will all laugh when I say....................I'm going to try really hard to get my vegan blog back on regular postings. I posted today and will make an enormous effort to post something every week:) There is a new post today so for anyone interested in healthier, vegetarian fare come visit.

Everything I post are things that I make on a regular basis and most of the recipes are not complicated. I don't post recipes either unless MOST of my family rave about them. If you try any of them I would love your feedback about how you and/or your family enjoyed them.

http://veganforamonth-snavleys.blogspot.com/

The address comes from the fact that when I first started the blog I was trying one month of veganism. I went on a few months later to live six months being vegan. I now am back to lacto vegetarian- I only do eggs if they happen to be in a baked good and I try to limit my dairy so it's not every day. All of our dinner meals, for the most part, are vegan as I always seek to honor my children's choices (Kev is vegan).

Enjoy!

2009-04-22T08:34:00.003-08:00

This week has been a very interesting week for me- a week of reflection and some deep digging from within. I was "caught in the act" of doing something that did not jive with the spirit of joy and cooperation that I have worked so hard to create with my children and in our home life. I am lucky to have people in my life that love me and walk beside me through our unschooling journey and who are honest enough to tell me when they see me reverting back to using old tools, tools that I thought I had long given up and replaced with better ones. My mothers voice was loud inside my head this week and I couldn't get it out until someone who knows that voice well (any guesses?) was able to snap me out of it. And I don't mean that as disrespectful to my mother- we had a wonderful relationship once I was an adult but we struggled often when I was growing up and she didn't always use tools that led to cooperation, joy, and a healthy self-esteem.

This "digging" has shown up in interesting ways in my yoga practice but that is a whole 'nother blog. It's just interesting that about the time I think I have it all figured out and my life is perfect the Universe lets me know I still have things to learn and there are still ways I can make my life better and more joyful. It's been a letting-go-of-ego week for me to say the least. But that's what my yoga practice is all about so it's all good:)

Because of all this schtuff I've been dealing with I've been getting online and reading more blogs and trudging back to the basics of unschooling and what brought me to this path in the first place. I just wanted to share these two things that I really enjoyed this week.

A little snipet from John Gatto at a blog I visit every now and then:

http://fourlittlebirds.blogsome.com/

And a piece of an interview that Sandra Dodd posted on her blog recently in regards to showing other parents how to unschool:

"What it takes is the parent has to change. The parent has to learn to see the learning in things. And that's hard. School trains that out of people. School tells you that you need teachers, and you need books, and you need someone to tell you what you need to know, and you need to have proof that you know it by taking a test. I don't think anyone has been to school and taken tests can remember......very little, of the actual facts. And a lot of the facts changed anyway. They changed their minds about this and that, scientifically, and words have changed, and Tanganyika and Soviet Union are no longer worried about.........."

Anyway, not that these things are necessarily directly related to my week of "digging" but connected, as all things are. Good reading though:)

Namaste'

2009-04-17T10:29:00.004-08:00

This is a quote I came across in one of my yoga books, Meditations From the Mat:

The human individual is equipped to learn and go on learning prodigiously from birth to death, and this is precisely what sets him or her apart from all other known forms of life. Man has at various times been defined as a building animal, a working animal, and a fighting animal. but all of these definitions are incomplete and finally false. Man is a learning animal, and the essence of the species is encoded in that simple term. George Leonard

This is exactly what we, as unschoolers, deeply believe- that we were born with an inherent desire to learn about the world around us. We don't need force and coercion to learn the things we need to know to move us through this journey of life. The only thing that compulsory learning does for an individual is zap that natural curiosity right out of him. There are a few individuals who can survive it unscathed but not too many.

There has been a lot of talk lately about the high level of high school dropouts and how do we remedy that? More testing! Ludicrous! They are dropping out because they are bored to death and they are tired of people telling them how to live their lives, as if all the adults in their lives know better than they do what they need for their own, very personal journey.

The kids that drop out are actually the smarter kids! They know when they are being fed bullsh** and decide to run! Yay for them! The government has convinced everyone that if you don't have a high school diploma that you will never make anything of yourselves, yet look at the most successful (based on salary and money making businesses) people in this country and you will see that a LARGE amount of them are high school or college dropouts.

Some other crap that the government is trying to feed our kids is that they NEED college to have successful lives. We tell OUR children that if college will get them to where they want to go, great! Go to college. If there is a different or easier way to get them to where they want to go then do that. College does NOT guarantee a bigger salary and it does not guarantee success. What it does guarantee is a big fat student loan, unless you are lucky enough to have someone else pay for it, and even then they've spent how much? It's ridiculous. And what is success anyway? We measure success on how fulfilled and happy our children are with what they are doing. Unfortunately, most people measure success on how much money a person is making even though so many of those people are pathetically miserable in what they are doing.

My husband has almost always made a very large salary and he only did one semester of college. And beyond the salary, his happiest years were when he was doing something that wasn't making that big of a salary but was doing something he loved to do.

Anyway, just a little venting on my part. I wish the country would wake up and see what we are doing to our children. It makes me sad that from 5 years old most kids are spending their days doing things that they are barely tolerating, what an awful way to live your life. It brings me so much joy and satisfaction to see my own kids living the life I could only dream of at their age, to see them happy and fullfilled, full of zest for living, and so excited about learning new things! They are living the life that THEY are choosing to live, not what someone else is choosing for them. We are not perfect parents, nor do we live perfect lives but my measuring stick is "how happy and healthy are my kids? And how healthy is my relationship with them?" and the answer is almost always the same- they are healthy and happy, and we have a very good relationship with our kids (which always comes first by the way, regardless of what anything else looks like) what more could you ask?

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On another note today:

Have you all seen Yes Man yet? Great movie! I just love this whole idea of saying "yes" to everything! Of course there is a happy medium, which the character in the movie discovers. The whole lesson in the movie though is that most of us say "no" to life far to often and when we say "yes" to opportunities we really start living life.

I have found myself saying "no" to opportunities WAY too much so I've set an intention today to start saying "yes" to as much as I can! When I am inclined to say "no" I'm going to start saying "yes" just for the hell of it and see where it leads. I will post on those things as they present themselves.

One tiny example lately is our weekly homeschool swim session. Usually, I tread water for the entire hour so I can stay warm and still say I went swimming with the kids I guess. They usually don't really want me to do much because all of their friends are in the pool with them so I'm not particularly important at that point but they do like me to be there. Well, the other day Calista asked me to jump and dive with her off the side. Not really my thing, I think in some ways I've temporarily forgotten how to be a kid, I go through waves of that. But on Wednesday I was like "what the heck, sure I will jump and dive off the side with you" It was so much fun! Except for all the water in my ears, but no biggy. It felt good to just play. So my intention is to do more of those things!

So come join me and start saying "YES"!

2009-04-13T17:41:00.003-08:00

It's been a crazy fun-filled week! We got to go to Fairbanks for a few days and stay with the Hajduk's and see all of our wonderful Fairbanks family members. I helped Sheli get some of her house painted and we did some yoga. It was full moon and shining right into her living room window where we were doing yoga so the living room is Heidi's Full Moon Yoga Studio:)

Martin's sister, Jenette, is up visiting. We haven't seen her much so hopefully this next week we will get to see more of her. Lois (Martin's mom) and her have been coming to my Saturday Hot Yoga class and we have had a couple of coffee dates. Everyone is coming over for dinner tomorrow night and we will celebrate my dad's 66th birthday, which is actually today.

We are still working on organizing and cleaning the house after pretty much finishing our remodel project. Martin put countertops and shelves in the home office, which allows him to be a little more efficient. He is working at home so the home office is pretty important.

We had a great Easter at my sister's with a treasure hunt AND an egg hunt and delicious food.

Have I mentioned lately that I love my life?!

And, as promised, pictures of the remodel. This room used to be Tristan's, it was red and now it is four different bright colors and is Calista's room.

And this is Tristan's new room. This used to be one half of a garage. The other half is Kevin's room but I didn't take any pictures as we are in the process of re-painting after adding a closet. We finished his room last year.

This area is in front of the boys room, was part of the original garage also. The back wall is open concrete block so I'm going to put some faux brick wallpaper up and let the kids grafitti all over it.

Dying easter eggs at my sister, Robin's, house.

Kevin displaying his first paycheck! He thought it so strange of me wanting a picture of this. Mommies are just strange that way:)

Betty and Veronica. They got three fun-filled days together but, of course, it's never enough time. Best friends since birth and it's so fun to watch them in action.

Those smiles are at me!! This is Porter who was born 7-8 weeks prematurely. This is my cousin, Jason's, little boy. They were in Anchorage at the Providence Hospital Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit for 54 days!! I got to visit him every week while he was there but now he is a totally different baby than the one that was in NICU two months ago. So fun to hold him, without all those wires and tubes, and to interact with him. He is just yummy!

I think I sat just like this for about two hours. I would have been quite happy to be there all day!

2009-03-30T09:29:00.019-08:00

Wow, almost an entire month since I last blogged. We've had lots going on this last month; finishing up our remodel project, three birthdays, the Japanese language contest, and a few other things. I just haven't had the chance to sit down and blog.

Since there is far too much to blog about I think I will just post a few pictures:) So here goes:

I haven't taken any pictures of the finished remodel so I will take some and post those in a few days.

This kid is on a funky schedule and is known to fall asleep in the strangest of places. On this particular day he was rolling around with the dogs and the next thing you know he is asleep on the dog bed.

Martin with his buddies on his 40th birthday. We had a wine and cheese night with a bunch of friends and family. Sadly, I only took a couple of pictures- I guess I was just having too much fun.

And Suzanne's 36th birthday.

Debbie and Suzanne on Suzanne's birthday- St.Pattie's Day style

And Debbie's 41st birthday! I told you we had a lot of birthdays!

Debbie on her birthday.

Out my living room window a few mornings ago.

Typical day at the Snavley house:)

Our goofy bird, Bandit.

He thinks he's human. He pulls himself up on the glasses with his beak. Crazy bird!

On his new playground that Martin and Tristan built for him. Doesn't he look happy?

Calista's black eye that Tristan accidentally gave her when he chucked a sled in her direction. Whoops!

We've been feeding the birds and they have been flocking. They are so fun to watch. Reminds me of my momma, who used to spend about $60/mth feeding the birds.

Watching the birds from the living room window and ........................lights out!

Kevin's new haircut. I don't think his hair has been this short since he was a wee one.

Kev got the job!!

2009-03-05T20:46:00.003-09:00

Kevin applied for a lifeguarding position with the borough about three months ago-it's a government job and we all know how efficient government employees are (wink). He finally got an interview a couple of weeks ago and then they called this morning to tell him he was hired. So exciting!

Next week he takes the Water Safety Course, which will allow him to teach swim lessons at the pool. That means his starting wage will be $11.60/hr - not too shabby for a 16 year old.

Tristan also got a job! My friend Debbie has a paper route, actually a few, that on some nights takes her quite a while to get through. So she hired Tristan a few weeks ago to go with her to roll and wrap papers and sometimes get out of the car to put them in the boxes. She pays him $20/night. A couple of months ago the boys and I subbed for her and it took us 6 hours! I thought it was the worst job in the world, especially since it is during the night and I'm not one to handle the lack of sleep too well. Tristan, on the other hand, thought it was the best job in the world and thought it suited him well, being that he is up all night anyway. So Debbie hired him! He usually only goes once a week with her, the night that she has the most papers, but since it's been snowing for over 24 hours here and the roads are terrible she thought she might appreciate his help tonight so he will get an extra day in this week.

I'm really proud of my kids! It's so much fun to watch them grow and become independent; each one of them living the life of their choosing- doing the things that make them happy and fulfilled.

Meditation from Dr. Judith Orloff

2009-03-02T20:54:00.002-09:00

"Thank you, home, for allowing me to live within your walls. Thank you for giving me shelter, warmth, and security. Thank you for allowing me to live my life in your womb, for staying strong and sturdy, for supporting me, and for your beauty.

Thank you, earth, for the land that I live on and for allowing me to steward life with you. Thank you for allowing me to walk upon your soil, cultivate you, and live in partnership with you. Thank you for supporting my home and my family.

Thank you, plants, minerals, and animals that dwell on the land that I steward. Thank you for allowing me to experience your beauty, share in your wonderment of life, and for the honor of living with all of you on this earth.

Thank you for the wisdom and joy you bring to humanity.

I honor you."

2009-02-20T11:21:00.014-09:00

Pictures of my mom, the day after the anniversary of her death. We noticed later that the candle had a heart shape on top, just from the way it was burning, very cool!

Enjoying our M.O.M meal:) Saucy dogs, oh ya!

Our veggie version of saucy dogs. They don't look appetizing but we think they are oh so yummy.

Making boxes for their Valentine's.

Sara and Calista making Valentine cards.

My nicely organized room that used to be the dumping grounds for anything and everything. Just a weird addition that doesn't have a lot of usefulness but it's great for the dog kennels and all the mess of craft stuff.

My awesome buy this week, from Debbie's mom. It is an old paper shelf from an old printing shop. It organizes our crafts quite nicely. Especially with the fun orange paint job I did on it.

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Wow, I think I've just been spending so much time on Facebook, catching up with old friends, that I forgot about my blog. It's been so fun to reconnect with people I haven't talked to in YEARS!!

Let's see, February started out with the anniversary of my mother's death. Our family got together with my sister and her family that first Friday and made some dishes that my mother used to make us when we were young, all the way down to desert- frozen yogurt pie. We had chicken enchiladas, saucy dogs and oriental coleslaw, of course all modified to be vegetarian:) We also reminisced over lots of pictures. It was a very sad week for me, as I just miss my mom more and more as time goes by. The horrible, painful, heart-hurting grief is not there anymore but it has just been replaced by a constant sadness for the void she left behind. I dream about her a LOT!

I made a promise to my kids that I would try and make all the holidays Grandma Cheryl-worthy this year. So for Valentines we spent the week making homemade cards and boxes to put the cards in. My sister and I got the kids a couple little presents and we made lots of pizza. Mom usually made an entire heart shaped meal but we didn't feel like doing that. Since pizza is everybody's favorite that's what we did. Our friends, Debbie and Ryan joined us that night and we had a good time. Sara, Kev and a few other friends ended up going to see Coraline and then on to a Rave so it was a little quieter than normal. I woke up that morning to a card attached to my fridge from Sara, Kev's best friend. On the front it said, "My Favorite Place" and when I flipped it over it said, "Snavley family, thanks for letting me hang out at your house and eat your food and all that good stuff! Happy Valentine's Day! Love, Sara". We love her and I hope she is always in Kev's life!

Kev had an interview at the pool on Tuesday, for a lifeguarding position. He thought he did pretty good. He should know if he got the job by next week sometime. The people that interviewed him were the same people that supervised his volunteer time so they know him- that's a plus. He also has several friends that lifeguard there- another plus. So cross your fingers for him!

We are down to the wire in getting this remodel project done. The music room and area in front of Tristan's new room are done except for the trim and Tristan's room is down to sanding and getting the primer on. The craft room/dog kennel area is also done and organized, thanks to an awesome deal that I got from Debbie's mom- an old paper shelf from an old print shop. It fits all our crafts perfectly and they are all organized. We forgot some of the stuff we had. It's an area that used to be the drop zone for anything that we didn't know where to put. You couldn't even walk in the room. Now everything is organized and there is space. It's a breathable area:)

I start a workshop tonight and it will go all weekend. Tonight is our study of the Bhagavad Gita; tomorrow is an Asana practice, experiencing the energy of the chakras in movement; and Sunday is about Bhakti Yoga, exploring the history and practice of the path of devotion. I'm really looking forward to it, as these workshops always feed and uplift my soul.

Today is a beautiful day! Yesterday was cloudy and gray and it snowed all day. This morning, on our way to coffee we realized that there was a circle of dark gray clouds all the way around our little town of Wasilla but in the middle was sunny and blue skies. As the day is progressing that circle has gotten bigger and bigger and it is now a beautiful sun, shiny day. The trees are all frosted and snowy from yesterday and it just uplifts the spirit!

Kev's Essay

2009-02-08T17:24:00.005-09:00

Okay, so I am posting this again. This is Kevin's edited version of his essay that he wrote last summer. He has gotten quite a few comments lately on his grammar so, rather than have him endure any more, I will post this. I'm sure there are still a few grammatical errors so if you are going to comment on the grammar please offer some constructive criticism that will help him be a better writer, rather than rude comments that just hurt feelings.

Education From the Free Eye by Kevin Snavley

All my life I have unschooled; that was just life, how things were. The only thing that could be considered school is the year of pre-school I attended; of course that's all fun and games. Regardless of how good life was I always wondered in the back of my head what it was like to be in a school building all day. Is it really horrible? Do you sit there for hours on end being lectured by crazy teachers and doing hours of homework? Or is it fun, with lots of cool people and what you really "should" be doing with your life? Somewhere in between these thoughts and the influence of my public schooled friends I got worried about "catching up" and being on par with the rest of society. For a while, around age twelve, I always wanted to be on-track with the kids at school. It was probably because I felt less intelligent than them, which really wasn't the case. They just knew more meaningless facts than I did. They knew more of what our SOCIETY deems as "common smarts". It took me until last year to fully understand that and to truly understand the joys and philosophy of unschooling; the things that make it so much better than public school, the key to genuine learning.

For as long as I can remember the only friends that I had went to public school. If they didn’t go to public school, they were usually strict homeschoolers. The only true unschooling friends I have are my cousins, who live over 4,000 miles away. So in a sense I've grown up with hybrid thinking; one side struggling to decide if public school is bad or good and then one side completely supporting unschooling. My parents have always told me the reasons why public school is not ideal. Not only that but I've heard my Mom debate it numerous times. Of course I couldn't understand it like they did. I hadn't had the same life experiences as them. So inside I continually battled with myself. It was slightly neurotic, because I wouldn't care for a long time and then suddenly I'd have a small panic attack and decide I needed to catch up.

In my mind I always had horrible writing abilities. I had bad hand writing (still do!) and really the only people that ever read my writing were my parents or close friends. Which didn't really help a lot because most of my close friends are really good writers as well and my parents are my parents, you know? I guess because I had never been to school I felt slightly inferior and probably had bad self esteem. It took me until I was fourteen to finally decide I needed to see into this unknown world so I could figure everything out. Why is public school widely considered a necessity? Why do my parents and unschoolers everywhere say it's so wrong? And why is unschooling so much better? Can I REALLY survive 21st century America without it? I got all of my answers.

I would be lying if I said I went for one hundred percent personal reasons. I had one friend in particular who was pro-school and thought I was wasting my life. In a way, I wanted to prove to her that I could do it, in turn becoming a reliable resource to say if school is a waste of time or not. To be honest, up until I started writing this I forgot about that completely. I kind of kept the fact that this whole thing was an experiment in the back of my mind. While in school it does feel nice to be "normal". But is it best? For the sake of writing this I'm going to skip through the school year and spare you the details of explaining the entire nine months. School was most of what I expected, the whole face of it anyway; it wasn't quite as horrible as my parents said it was, the days went by fast most of the time, it wasn't intensely boring, and I got to see my friends. However, I noticed how little socialization time there is. I'd expected a lot more because everybody always says, "I get to hang out with my friends!!". This is definitely not my definition of hanging out. It seemed like a stupid reason to want to be there; still, understandable enough.

After a few weeks of school I quickly started to realize who I am; I wasn't stupid, not even close. If anyone was stupid it was the other ninety percent of the kids there. Everybody loved my writing, my Honors English teacher included. I did great in every class despite never having formal lessons. That's when I realized the irony; the kid that an average adult would deem to be stupid due to "lack of education" is doing better at the school game than most of the students in the entire building. It's just funny how much weight is put on something so ridiculous. If I can get good grades without ever being officially taught something, SO CAN EVERY OTHER KID OUT THERE. Grades mean nothing. School means nothing. I'm not trying to sound condescending, because at the time I felt anything but, it's just a simple realization and proof that school is unnecessary.

My favorite classes were Jazz choir, Japanese and English. I looked forward to those every day. Though something I really began to hate about the school day was waking up at 6:30am, staying there for six hours, and then swimming for another 2 hours before going home to do meaningless homework. It felt like a waste of life, time and energy. If I had it my way, I would be there for 3 classes and swimming, so towards the end of the first semester I got pretty lazy and ended with a 3.3 GPA. Still, better than most kids, but not really my best. If I was going to be at school all day long for nine months, I was definitely going to prove to those school nazis that on America's education scale, I am not any less intelligent than anybody else. Second semester I ended with a 3.8. Throughout the whole year I couldn't stand the fact that I was surrounded by unmotivated, stupid (not the academic way, but in the general manner they acted) people. Another trend I noticed was the word "can't". EVERYBODY uses that one - “I can't become this”, “I can't do that because I'm not smart enough”, “I don't have the looks for this”, etc.

I learned why a lot of the kids there are unmotivated, immature or annoying. Most of it is due to loss of motivation, and the fact that they've lived in this world (public school) practically their whole lives. I finally came to the realization that if I had to endure that nonsense for nine years, I probably wouldn't be the person I am today. Friends have told me that I would have been the definition of an honors student, I say, “no”, I would have been a lazy bum that wanted nothing more than a couch and TV in life. I might add that I've learned a lot from TV, but you get my point. The thing that has made me a responsible, smart and motivated human being IS due to my unschooled life. As stupid, annoying, unmotivated (whatever a huge portion of the public school kids are), you really can't blame them. There are some people that can relate to me and a few in school that get annoyed with the same stuff I do, but they don't completely understand either. You never really can unless you have lived a free life. Also, I noticed that my friends were coincidentally some of the lesser annoying people in the building, friends I made BEFORE going to school. Some personalities are strong and can endure twelve years of school plus college, most cannot. Between some teachers telling them they're not good enough and wasting years of their life on something that doesn't really matter, they get fried. Most of the time it goes unnoticed too and you just kind of... evaporate. I started to feel the same thing happening to me in just those short nine months. Every thought you have, dream you want to fulfill, inspiration that strikes you, it all goes on the back burner because you're slammed with everything else, and eventually you just forget how to live any other way altogether.

The whole nine months all in all were good for me though, negatives and positives. I learned that with unschooling you can learn MORE than most public schooled kids do. I learned that the things my parents have told are not complete heresy. I experienced something that I had never done before. The mystery was gone. Best of all, I can now defend the unschooling philosophy without any doubt in my mind, while being credible in my accusations against the system.

Would I recommend sending a kid to school their entire life? Absolutely not. It's much too easy to lose your way, too easy to become just another drone without that spark; dreaming of "success" and money but failing to be creative in achieving it. One thing I would advise though is to find fellow unschoolers because support is important. I'm a perfect example. Would I recommend a current unschooler attend school? If it's going to do them good as it did me, sure. If they want to see what it's like, sure. Otherwise, it's going to seem like a shit hole, plain and simple. It would be beneficial for everyone to see what it's like, but not everyone can go through it with the same view point. So like everything else in our unschooled lives, it's up to us to make that decision.

I can't say I had a bad experience, probably the opposite. Like I said before, I learned a lot about myself and the philosophies I'm submerged in, negatives and positives. But it's also great to feel like you're a part of something. There's this building full of 1200 kids that will be there right alongside you, people to relate with, interesting and amazing people as well- some you might never meet otherwise. It's fun occasionally and there ARE opportunities. And of course, the classic "my friends are there". At this point, I think it would just be easier if I moved so I could break all of my attachments. As ridiculous, unneeded and meaningless as school is, parts of it tend to grow on you. So here I am, the year I thought would never end completed and I have to decide what I want to do for the remaining three years. Over the last few days I've really been reflecting about what I truly want. Is it to finish high school, deal with everything I don't like and benefit from the things I do? Or stop, maybe go straight to College, and just start focusing on what I want to achieve in life? That's something I'll be thinking about for a while.

2009-01-13T23:08:00.002-09:00

A few days ago it was -20 degrees. Currently it is pouring down rain. Strange to live in a place like this, coming from the far north of Fairbanks, Alaska where it is frozen for six months with no chance of anything warmer than about 0 degrees. Unfortunate for Martin and about 20,000 other commuters that live here and travel the 40 miles into Anchorage for work. I have a feeling that Martin will be working from the home office tomorrow.

My computer is finally working again. The fan went out a few weeks ago and I had a heck of a time getting the part here. I could only get on the computer for 10 minutes at a time to make sure it didn't overheat so now I'm catching up on all my favorite blogs.

The last two weeks have been pretty uneventful. It's been pretty quiet around here and we've gotten to be pretty lazy. We had a three week cold snap that kind of zapped the energy right out of me. We don't often get sub-zero weather but we had -10 to -20 for three weeks. All I wanted to do was sleep and I did a lot of it! I'm anxious to get out and walk the dogs again. They have a bit of stored up energy in need of an outlet right now and so do I.

Tristan and I are starting a little project- a playground for our parrot. I will post pictures upon completion; could be interesting:) Bandit gets a little bored so we are trying to remedy that with a playground that keeps him entertained. We couldn't really find what we wanted so we decided to make it ourselves. Tristan loves to build things so this is right up his alley.

Well, I don't have anything inspiring today...............sorry. I'm just not feeling too inspired. I'm sure as the light returns and the weather stays warmer I will come out of hibernation and find inspiration again.

The last two weeks in pictures...........

2008-12-30T12:55:00.018-09:00

My niece, Rylee, curled up with her dog, Roxie.

I was a little ba humbug about the holidays this year and Kev was bummed that I didn't make cookies. I came up one night and this is what I found. Kev is vegan so he had to find a recipe online for vegan cut cookies. I think they are beautiful!

Calista's birthday. She wanted ice cream sundaes instead of cake so here are the creations of her and her girlfriends. Maija is missing from the picture because she was in the car driving down from Fairbanks. She arrived a couple of hours later.

Uncle Tony was giving the girls a hard time about make-up so guess who got a make-over? He was a good sport about it and the girls had a great time. The room vibrated with the giggles.

And Maija arrives to a VERY happy Calista!! Calista and Maija, aka Betty and Veronica have been bosom buddies since the womb. Her mom and I are very dear friends and we shared our pregnancy. They have been attached at the hip ever since, at least when they are together. We try to see each other at least every other month. This last spell apart was a long one so they were pretty excited to see each other.

But OH SO SAD when they had to say good-bye. Makes you want to cry!

Our Solstice Party. Tristan is walking on FIRE!! We burned an old coffee table that was really trashed and unsalvageable and Tristan had to walk on it over the fire. Just so everyone knows - it was Martin who was outside supervising!

One of Tristan's Christmas presents. He is a big gamer and spends lots of time on the couch so this was appropriate.

Daddy's "princess".

Martin and I on Christmas Eve.

Kevin and me on Christmas Eve.

Rylee and Calista on Christmas Eve.

I love this picture. I don't know what I was telling them but look at their expressions of disgust on their faces. We were opening some Christmas gifts.

And my HIGHLIGHT of the week- visiting my new baby cousin, Porter, who is in ICU at Providence. Jason (on right) is my cousin. His wife delivered two months early, due to some health issues she has so they knew he was going to come early and were prepared and living at the hospital a week prior to delivery. They will probably be in the hospital until around Feb.10 so I will get lots of visits in before they get discharged and head back home to Fairbanks.

2008-12-23T10:29:00.002-09:00

I am currently having some computer issues; my fan went out due to the kids leaving it on the couch ALL the time to overheat. I have to order a new fan today so I can replace it. I would like to post pictures today of our marvelous week but I can't because I'm using Calista's computer. Maybe I will post pics next week.

Last Thurs. we celebrated Calista's 10th birthday! Hard to believe that I have no children in the single digits anymore. As the years go by it just speeds up faster and faster. I spent that morning looking at pictures of the day of her birth. My mom was in most of the pictures holding Calista and shshing her as she snuggled her closely. I spent the morning in tears, missing my mom horribly and smiling as I remembered her absolute resolve to be at every one of her grandchildrens births. When Rylee was born she was extremely ill but was determined to stay up through the night with Robin until that baby came. I remember so clearly watching through the window of the door, anxiously waiting Rylee's coming into this world and seeing mom fly through the door with a big grin on her face annoucing to everyone that she was finally here. You would have never guessed that she was only 7 months away from her death. Birth and death..............the cycle of life.

We had a wonderful day though! We took Calista to Chili's for her birthday dinner and gave her our gifts. Friday she celebrated her birthday with the rest of the family and her girlfriends. Uncle Tony was giving the girls a hard time about one of Calista's gifts; a little case full of make-up. So Uncle Tony got a makeover from all the girls (I will be sure to post pics later). He was a good sport and the girls had a blast.

Back up to Thursday night; when we got home from Chili's there was a package in the mail from my aunt. It was two ornaments; one with a picture of my mom and the other was the cancer ribbon. The tears came quickly! Funny how the universe just knows, all that connected energy. I think my mom was just letting me know that she was there.

Sunday night we had a Solstice Party but hardly anyone showed up. We still had a good time with a big bonfire outside, s'mores and all. Sunday we had 5 hours and 28 minutes of daylight so we are definitely celebrating the return of the sun. Fairbanks only had 3 hours and 41 minutes so I don't feel too bad. And Barrow (a village way up North at the top of the state) hasn't seen the sun since Nov. 18 and won't see it's return until Jan. 23 so try to imagine living in that kind of darkness. I would go crazy!!

We were also really excited because we have been working with the dogs on some off leash training, taking them up Matanuska Peak where they can't run off except to go up the mountain where they will dead end eventually. So Sunday night was our first night letting them outside to hang out without any restraints. They stayed right with the crowd around the bonfire and had a grand time. It's finally paying off!

And the best news of all.................................my cousin Jason just welcomed his first child into this world last night!! Welcome to this world Porter Layton Tinsley!! They are in Anchorage so we will be going into town on Christmas to see them and give them big hugs. The baby is in NICU so we may or may not be able to see him yet. Molly has some kidney issues and was a high risk pregnancy. They new she would deliver early and were actually expecting her to only make it to between 26-29 weeks gestation. She made it to 31 weeks so we are happy about that. The baby is 3 lbs. 1 oz so it's all looking pretty good. Baby cried and is breathing on his own and I guess Molly was actually able to hold him for a few minutes before he was whisked away. I'm really glad that I went into town last week and spent the day with them before all this craziness and am looking forward to meeting my new cousin! So exciting!!

Christmas morning we will be sleeping in, being lazy all day and playing our new Wii that we will be opening up on Christmas. We will probably try to make it into town to give the new parents a big hug too. We may even go see Marley and Me. Happy Holidays to everyone! However you celebrate.

2008-12-09T10:05:00.002-09:00

Day two of 20-40 mph hour winds with gusts to 70 mph. It sounds like our house is going to fall down. I love the wind!! I know, I'm one of those strange creatures that LOVES the wind. I'm not sure what it is about it; the way it feels when it blows my hair away from my face, or the way it takes my breath away, or maybe it's the way I feel all cozy in my nice warm house while it is banging away outside. I just love it!

We lost some sleds that blew away, probably sitting in some neighbors yard. I'm sure there are a few other things missing from the yard too. The one bad thing about the wind is all the trash that gets blowing around, makes for a big clean-up day in the spring.

So here is to a beautiful, gray, windy day!! :)

2008-12-03T17:51:00.003-09:00

Wow, that was a long dry spell! Kelli just posted at her blog about not blogging also, writers block she said. Or is that bloggers block? She mentioned that just because her blog was quiet didn't mean her life had been quiet; ditto!

It seems like we've had a real good balance of busy/fun to quiet/chillax. We have had plenty going on but plenty of down time to wander around in our pajamas.

Kev is busy with his usual activities; swimming, youth court, teen political talk, model UN, etc. He keeps himself pretty busy and all I can say is thank goodness he is driving himself now. I thought it a privilege to take him to all his wonderful activities but driving taxi took up a tremendous amount of time so I'm thankful for the relief.

Tristan and Calista are thankful also, as they were tired of either being in the car or at home waiting for me to get home. They started a homeschool open swimming session once a week. Calista is also doing swim lessons three days a week for the next few weeks. She has decided to join swim team and the coach is encouraging her to learn the techniques of the strokes before she starts. So she is hoping to be on the team within the next couple of months after she gets the strokes down.

Kev, Calista, and I are continuing with our guitar lessons and having so much fun with it! Martin is talking about maybe taking up bass guitar and with Tristan playing drums we might just have a family band coming up:) We've been going to the weekly concerts at Make-A-Scene. Our guitar teacher and good friend, Josh Fryfogle, owns a music venue for local (and some non-local) musicians. He holds weekly concerts that are great fun.

I'm starting two new yoga classes come January; one is a teen/parent partner yoga class - encouraging trust and harmony in that particular relationship, and a kids yoga class for 8-12 year olds. I'm really looking forward to it, especially the partner class. I'm also looking forward to some advanced training workshops that are coming up after the holidays.

Our family vehicle finally bit the dust, for good, here last week. We have a Windstar that has gone through 4 transmissions in the last three years and it gave up again. We aren't going to put any more money into it so we are sharing Martin's car and the Cadillac that my grandparents gave us. Two days after Kev got his license one of his friends backed into him in another friends driveway so that has to go in the shop this next week to get fixed, which takes us down to one car. It's a little inconvenient, especially the days Martin is commuting into Anchorage, but we will manage until there is enough cash to buy a new car. Next summer we will be enjoying our bicycles more than usual.

On the plus side, our year-long remodel project in the basement is finally coming to a close and if everything goes right the kids should be in their new bedrooms before the holidays. Yay!! It's been a slow project, as Martin only has so many hours in a day, but we are at the end of it now. The kids have a pretty nice setup down there to hang out in, just keeping our eyes open for a decent priced sectional on Craigslist and it will be complete.

We've also been planning a Winter Solstice party for all of our friends. We aren't big on all the commercial holidays and Christmas seems to get worse every year, with all the consumerism, so we are making our own holiday traditions. Getting back to good old pagan traditions, the roots of which Christmas actually grew from. If most Christians new what they were celebrating they would be horrified but then again most religions wouldn't exist if people knew how to think for themselves. Anyway, we are having a party into the night with LOTS of candles and a big ole bonfire. I may even try to talk Josh into some great live music:)

Hope everyone is enjoying life as joyfully as we are!!

Namaste'

2008-11-05T07:31:00.005-09:00

There was an article posted at The Root, on MSN about what white people shouldn't do and what black people shouldn't do, now that Obama has been elected President.

Have we not learned that this just widens the divide? Can we quit separating people by the color of our skin for goodness sakes? We are all part of the HUMAN RACE................period!! What is wrong with people!!!??

And for those of you who just cannot get past the color of peoples skin, what makes the color of your skin so superior? Aaaarrrrggghhh!!! I'm now venting! If we are going to get past this racial divide in this country we are going to have to start looking at people, as people, not constantly separating people because they have more or less pigment in their skin cells!!!

I voted for Obama because I thought he was the better man for the job, I wasn't even thinking about the color of his skin. Can we please move forward?

PS- On the other hand, the open letter to Obama, written by Alice Walker, was beautiful! Worth the read.

2008-11-04T21:13:00.003-09:00

I just have to add a short blog about how proud I am to be Kev's mom. He has been at the Begich campaign office for the last two days doing cold calls to get people out to vote and spent 7 hours today doing calls and knocking on people's doors. It is not something I would have ever done, especially not at 16. He is standing up for what he believes and staying informed about what is happening in our state and our country.

Go Vote Today!

2008-11-04T10:20:00.002-09:00

I placed my vote today!

I'm really thankful that I have the right to do that, thanks to all those "naughty" women in history! I know some people think it's all rigged, and it could be, but as long as I have the right to voice my opinion, by voting, I will.

And may I say that I'm really proud of Martin for voting his conscience today. Neither one of us is really gung ho about either candidate; I voted for Obama because I would rather have him than McCain and I didn't want to split the vote. Martin didn't vote for either one but instead voted his conscience and told me, "I am being the change I wish to see in the world! If more people voted their conscience we wouldn't be in this mess." Amen. But ouch, since I'm always preaching, Be The Change You Wish to See in The World. Good for you Martin for taking a stand.

I'm listening to NPR right now, all the people calling in and voicing their own opinion and, no matter how we feel about the candidates, it is a blessing to be able to call a radio station and let people know how we feel. Sometimes we get so caught up in being disappointed as to where the country is headed we forget all the freedoms that we do have. I've been watching a lot of shows and reading some on some of the laws of other countries and I begin to realize how many freedoms I really do have.

Because of all the differences in opinions I have been giving a lot of thought to where those opinions come from, realizing that it is all based on our own experiences, filters, the way we view the world. I keep thinking about a quote I heard years ago; "There is no reality, only our own perception." There is always a reason that one feels the way they do about this or that. I have a LOT of my own filters, bad and good experiences, etc. based on how I was raised, my parents opinions and beliefs, societal expectations, etc. My cousin mentioned the other day that we are all actors.....................SO TRUE!! There really isn't a reality, it's just how we perceive our world and how we choose to act it out. We are just in a play:)

No matter who is chosen to be our next President I hope they can veer our country back in the right direction. I will keep voicing my opinion and writing letters to our Senators and Representatives (actually Martin does all the letter writing but I'm vowing to do more) and let them know where I stand; hopefully they will listen. So far Martin has received a reply from every letter he has written and they have voted the way he wanted ,so some politicians do listen to the people if there are enough people that are willing to stand up and have a voice.

2008-10-28T09:13:00.015-08:00

I did it! My first ever winter hiking/camping trip. My cousin, Jason, and I hiked into a undeveloped hot springs (can't remember the name of it at the moment). It was a 3 hour drive to the trail head and a 7 mile hike in. It was totally exhausting but completely worth it! We hiked in on Friday (the dogs hauled our gear in on a sled), set up camp, soaked in the hot springs, and slept in a tent at 0 degrees or colder! Woke up Saturday morning, had breakfast, soaked again, talked and napped all afternoon long, and slept another night in the tent. Woke up Sunday and cleaned up camp, hiked back out and drove back into town. It was a fabulous weekend!

I've met my cousin lots of times at the coffee shop for a visit and have visited him at his house and him at mine but we haven't done anything just fun together since we were in high school. It was great to just be with him and get lots of visits in! I learned a lot about camping, especially in winter. This is piddly stuff to him since he has done hundreds of these trips in his lifetime, ones extremely more difficult and longer. One of the last ones he did was for 100 days! He is a true outdoors man!

Here are some pictures. I would have taken more, especially of the hot springs but 0 degrees and lots of steam really isn't conducive to pictures, on top of the fact that you don't soak with clothes on. At 0 degrees you don't want to be messing with trying to take off wet clothes and then trying to get them dry, not to mention that there isn't another person around for miles.

Hiking in. Got the camera out to snap a few pics but that didn't last long at 0 degrees.

Pretty pooped out and we still have 3 miles to go!

Finally make it to the campsite and the dogs are just as tired, or more tired, than I am.

Setting up camp, just made it by dark.

Home safe and sound.

Be The Change You Wish To See In The World

2008-10-17T10:34:00.003-08:00

There has been a lot swirling in my mind lately but something that has taken up a lot of space is how my lifestyle and the things I purchase and eat effect the world, or at least effect my conscience.

Most of you know that Kev is vegan and a big animal rights activist so I hear information all the time about how our choices effect other beings. For some reason this last couple weeks it is weighing on my mind quite heavily. I choose to be vegetarian, partly for the HORRID way that animals are treated, partly for the effect that raising that many animals has on the earth (environmentally), and partly for the fact that it just grosses me out to eat dead animals, especially when we have so many other food choices.

The thing that has been weighing on me though is that even though I don't eat meat I eat cheese and some other dairy products, I have a down jacket, and ewwwwww, even leather furniture. All those choices add up to the same horrible treatment of animals that eating meat does. I just want to become more aware of EVERY choice I make, the products I buy, etc. We quit feeding the dogs IAMS because of their reputation for inhumane treatment of animals, yet I'm wearing a down jacket; just doesn't add up for me. I'm warm, I'll give you that, but at what cost?

Just to clarify, I don't judge others for eating meat but do you know where your meat comes from and how it is processed? I believe that most people would be vegetarian if they were forced to watch their food be processed. I understand that people have been eating animals from the beginning of time but I also believe that every being has a right to live a life free from pain and suffering until they die. I understand that nature can be cruel but to purposely treat another living being so horribly just because they are animals? Do you really believe that they don't feel pain? Do you honestly believe they don't have a right to live a good life just because we are more powerful than they? And it's funny that most people would find it disgusting to kill their pet rabbit or dog, for that matter, to eat but what is the difference? That you have a more emotional connection to them? Maybe spend some time researching where your food comes from and how it is processed and see if it changes how you feel about your food.

Getting back to the vegetarian thing; dairy farms treat their animals just as cruely as the slaughterhouses, so every time I take a bite of ice cream, eat cheese, etc. I am supporting the industry that treats these animals so horribly. I can choose to buy organic/free range- that would help. I could also buy from local farms that farm humanely. I just want to be more conscious of the choices I am making.

Sometimes it seems that the choices I make, as an individual, don't really make that big of a difference and it probably doesn't but I keep coming back to my favorite quote, "BE THE CHANGE YOU WISH TO SEE IN THE WORLD." Ghandi I want to make my corner of the world as joyful and peaceful as possible. It might not make any difference at all but I do it because, as my sister once said, "It's the right thing to do, damnit."

2008-10-16T11:50:00.002-08:00

Well, we are on to the next phase..................

Kev got his license yesterday morning! It's a strange feeling to have a child driving himself around. I'm not prone to worrying but I have to say that it has crept into my being. The roads aren't slick yet but when they are it's going to be tough to not worry all the time. I guess that is what we are supposed to do eh?

He is a good driver and I'm really proud of him. I'm mostly proud of the man he is becoming.

Life is just grand, most of the time!

2008-10-06T08:18:00.009-08:00

Well, another fabulous weekend. I know everyone is probably going to get sick of me singing the "life is grand" song but it honestly is just good!

Friday night we went into Anchorage and had dinner with my bosom buddy, Sheli, who rode a bus down from Fairbanks with 45 or so swim kids. Her daughter is on the West Valley High School swim team (the school I graduated from) and they were down for a meet on Saturday. It's always good to see her!! Calista was a little, no a lot, disappointed that Maija couldn't come with. Calista and Maija have been BFF's since birth and Sheli was just a stark reminder of how much she missed Maija. So we had to listen to her ALL weekend long, scheming how she was going to get up to Fairbanks and visit Maija:) We are going to try really hard to get up there in the next two weeks.

Saturday Kev had the swim meet in Anchorage so after my yoga class we went and watched that. He didn't do all that great ,so he was a little bummed, but they've been pushing the swimmers pretty hard in practice this last week and I think they were all a little broken. This week they are supposed to get a bit of a rest. After the meet we came back to Wasilla and did some chores and then went up for our weekly hang-out at Pandemonium, the coffee shop that I work at. They have music every Saturday night so we go hang out and heckle the musicians (mostly Chris Alvarado) and hang out.

Sunday I had an Acroyoga Workshop. I was very hesitant to go since I don't really care for all these things that people create, based on yoga. It seems like hype, marketing, whatever you want to call it, to me. But I went anyway and surprisingly I had a wonderful time!! It was pretty cool! This couple has taken their love of acrobats, yoga, and thai massage and melted them together. It was so much fun and such a good exercise in trust. There is a "base" who basically flies you like an airplane, they way we did it with our children when they were small. It's a little more technical than that but not much, and instead of just flying you do yoga stuff and then when you come off you get thai massage. If you are interested watch acrolicious, pretty incredible. I've also posted pictures of our group (I'm the one in the pink tank-top and black pants).

After the workshop I met one of my sisters friends, from Pensacola, at Pandemonium for lunch. Bonnie lives in Pensacola where my sister, Ren, and her family lived for eight years. She was up visiting another friend who used to live in Pensacola. She knew Ren's family lived here so she got our info and called. It was fun to get to know someone that I've heard my sister talk about so much but have never met.

This week is going to be a busy week, as I'm filling in for some shifts at Pandemonium; one 2:15-10:15, which is going to be hard on Calista, and one evening shift. The great thing about being a fill-in is that I can always say "no". I won't do the day thing too often, this week being an exception. My yoga classes are picking up also. The studio opened in April and we never did any marketing, just word of mouth, so we have just been chugging along, not knowing whether we were going to be able to keep all of our classes. We did an open house last weekend and, during the month of September, did a 7 days for $7 special. It just took off! I've had 15 people in my Saturday class the last two weeks and my weekday classes have had 4-5 people. Before the open house I had a month of no-shows to my weekday classes so that is exciting. I may not have to cancel them after all.

Hope everyone has an AWESOME week! I know I'm going to, starting with guitar lessons tonight:)

2008-10-01T09:21:00.002-08:00

Wonderful week, as usual! Lately it seems as life just couldn't get any better!

It's nice to be home again. I forgot how wonderful my life was at home! I'm a little spoiled, I have to say, and I can thank my husband for giving it all to me. He has been so willing to work hard and ensure that I can be home with the kids. I know it isn't always easy and I know it's hard to watch us having all the fun. And kudos to all you working moms out there. I honestly don't know how you do it!! I certainly wasn't able to find the balance. Well, maybe I take that back because I have been filling in for sick people and doing some training with the new people in the evening hours but it isn't anything like working full-time. I don't think it can even be considered part-time at, hmmm, let's see, this week was a total of 9 hours and most of that time the kids were hanging out at the coffee shop with me.

Kev has been participating in a teen political talk, at the coffee shop, every Tues. night. He has been very impressed with how informed these kids are and how respectful they are of each others' opinions. We live in a very conservative area with some pretty conservative, fundamental Christian views so his views aren't always welcomed with open arms but he says it's been very nice. He has done it for two weeks now and plans on continuing.

We've all been continuing with our guitar lessons. My left hand fingers are totally numb at the tips but it's all good:) I'm really enjoying it!! Calista gets a little frustrated at times but our teacher is SOOOO encouraging with her and that helps. Josh is an incredible human being, in my book, and plays into her dreams and aspirations as if they are very real. She always leaves with a big smile on her face!! It helps that he home educates his children and is very relaxed, seems like an unschooler.

Winter is quickly approaching! The snow is coming down the mountain and is going to be on our doorstep soon. We went out, this last weekend, and started gathering up winter gear. We still have a few things to get but we are mostly ready for the cold weather. The kids are excited that I'm all geared up because, pathetically, I've never had really warm gear. I've lived in Alaska all my life and really never got out and enjoyed it. We are trying to arrange for a trip, with my cousin Jason, up to a hot springs in which you have to hike 7 miles to get to it. He brings his yurt on a sled. I guess it is best to do it right after the first snowfall, when there is enough snow to pull the sled but not so much that it makes for difficult hiking. I hope we can arrange to go because I've been dreaming about it for a few years now and want to make it happen. His wife is pregnant now though so we will see how it goes.

Subway Commercial

2008-09-25T13:12:00.002-08:00

This is the new Subway commercial.................verbatim!

A young girl, 13/14ish is narrating:

"Everything is decided for me- when to get up, what to wear, what to read, and, of course, when to go to bed. But, at Subway I have the power to choose and I EAT IT UP!"

Sadly, this is the reality for most kids. And we wonder why teenagers rebel. I can't imagine how I would feel if my husband tried to make those same decisions for me. Why is it that we think kids feel so much different than ourselves and why, even more, do we feel that kids aren't capable of making their own decisions? Especially when it comes to their own bodily functions! I hear so many parents state that if they allowed their teens to make their own decisions that they won't make good ones. The problem is that these same kids have never been allowed to make their own decisions so they have no self-control or self-discipline to pull from when they are allowed to make their own decisions.

My kids have been allowed to make their own decisions about their lives. The only decisions that they don't have a lot of control over is things like going places when they can't drive, etc. On those things, we decide together so that everyone is happy, at least mostly happy. We try to come to a middle ground on all things. I don't deal with teenage rebellion, thank goodness! True democracy exists in our household and it works pretty darn good.

I'm thankful that, through a series of life experiences, I begin to examine how I was doing things, how it was when I was a child; how I felt when I had decisions made for me and was treated unfairly, and how I wanted them to be different for my family. And, starting with my sister, Ren, thank you to all you wonderful people (mostly unschoolers) who challenged me to think outside the box. Because of you, and my willingness to listen, I enjoy a joyful family life and I REALLY, REALLY enjoy my teens!!!

I'm sorry to everyone out there dealing with "teenage rebellion". Maybe you should back up and start living in their shoes for a day and see how it feels. Remember how you felt when you were a teen and all your life decisions were made for you, down to sitting in that prison we call school when you had to ask to even go to the bathroom, when you were told when to eat, how to learn, when to learn, what to learn, and all those other decisions that the adults in your life made for you. Think how different things could have been for you had the adults in your life trusted you and allowed you control of your life. Just imagine!

Another Fabulous Week!!

2008-09-19T14:39:00.003-08:00

It's been a little bit of a crazy week!

We started out the week celebrating Kev's 16th birthday! I feel so blessed to have this child in my life. It's just crazy how fast time just flies by. We were reminiscing about the day of his birth, gets me a little emotional:) He's this incredible human being that I thank God for every day. He has brought balance into this family. Martin and I are both fairly high-energy, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants type people and Kev is this very methodical, deep thinking, chillax-type person who has to bring us back down to earth on a regular basis. I've learned so much from him. He is also a very passionate individual with a very clear idea of who he is and what he is here for. He is very up on politics and is passionate about the rights of animals, veganism, photography, history, writing, and music. There are a few other things too:) It's hard to keep up with him sometimes. Happy Birthday Kevin!!! We love you!!

For the last two months I have been working at our favorite coffee shop, Pandemonium, owned by some friends of ours. Martin was in between jobs and we were 7 weeks without any income and I really needed to fill in the gap, at least to cover groceries. I had SO much fun working there that I thought I would just keep working, even after regular paychecks starting coming in. I was mostly working in the early morning hours and getting off by 11:00 but the last two weeks I have been putting in 32 hours each week. Calista has been having an increasingly difficult time having me gone and something just snapped last week and I gave my notice. I made a committment to my children the day they were born and they will always come first. The house was also falling apart around me and I just can't function in chaos. The kids weren't getting regular meals because they tend to get a little lazy about eating when I'm not around and it generally just wasn't working out too well. I will miss working at Pandemonium but not as much as I miss being with my kids 24/7. I have two more days, just working a few hours each day and then I am back home full time.

Kev, Calista, and I also started taking guitar lessons from my friend, Josh Fryfogle. If you ever want to listen to his music he is on my friends list on Myspace:) Calista and I bought new guitars last week with our Permanent Funds, the money that the state of Alaska gives every resident each year. So I've been practicing like crazy and can't wait until I can actually play something. I know that I have to be patient, which I'm not so much by nature, lol. We learned a couple of cords this last week so at least it sounds like something:)

PEACE

2008-09-11T18:42:00.001-08:00

Progression

2008-08-19T14:40:00.005-08:00

Kev, Sarah, and Kevin (K Sam) Dec. 2005

Kev, Sarah, and K Sam Nov. 2006

K Sam, Sarah, and Kev August 2008

Gratitude

2008-08-19T14:22:00.002-08:00

I am just completely overwhelmed with gratitude this week! I just have this amazing life that I am so thankful for.

Working at the coffee shop has been just the medicine for me. It gets me out of the house, socializing with people, serving people, and just being in an amazingly positive atmosphere. I love it! I work early, get home just as the kids are getting going for the day, and they don't even notice that I've been gone. It's just been so fun!

I've really been so aware at the things that people sometimes complain about that others would be so thankful for. I wake up every morning feeling safe and loved, I get into my car and have this AMAZING view of the mountains surrounding me, and I have everything I need + a whole lot more. I have these three incredible kids that just make my world go 'round. I am just SO grateful!! Funny thing is that, as far as challenging times, this has been one of the most challenging in our entire married life. We have had a rough year financially and things have not been easy but it isn't even worth comparing to all the wonderful things that surround me!

Something I've noticed this week, that makes me really sad, is this attitude in people now that the kids are back at school. I can't tell you how many people have come into the coffee shop celebrating the fact that their children are back in school. It makes me so sad that more people don't enjoy their kids. I would be so sad if my kids were going back to school. I honestly enjoy being around my kids and we have a grand time together! I don't ever feel that I wish I had my days without them, quite the opposite really. I have moments when I need alone time and that is when I retreat into my bedroom and have my alone time but I can't imagine them being gone all day long. They are often wrapped up in their own projects and games, so it's not like we are constantly interacting, but just having them near me is grand!

"Sometimes we must pause, in our pursuit of happiness, and just be happy."

Vegan Blog

2008-08-11T20:21:00.002-08:00

So for anyone interested: I've decided to start blogging at my other blog, about being a vegetarian and my effort to adopt a more vegan lifestyle. I haven't blogged over there at all since last fall so I'm blogging once again. If you would like to stop by I would love to have you for company:) http://veganforamonth-snavleys.blogspot.com

Unschooler Blog Carnival; What does an "average" day look like for you?

2008-08-04T21:37:00.012-08:00

Hiking the Butte, what we lovingly call the Butt.

After a looonnnngggg night of questing.

Typical Alaskan sunset. We do live in a beautiful place!!

Calista and Maija experimenting with different smoothie recipes.

Teens rocking out with Rock Band!

Tristan's building project.

What does an "average" day look like for us? That is a good question because I don't think we necessarily have an "average" day but..........................

We definitely try to leave ourselves open from day-to-day. None of my kids, with the exception of Kevin, really like to have "scheduled" activities; meaning they don't like piano lessons, organized sports, etc. My kids really just like to ride with the flow of the day. Kevin is VERY community minded and likes to be involved in community activities. He is involved with AYEA (Alaska Youth for Environmental Action), Youth Court, volunteering at the recycle center, etc. He loves to take music lessons, photography class and other scheduled things.

Tristan is the outdoorsy type so he often wakes up in the morning and heads outside and we might not see him until dinner time. He will build things, rollerblade, dig holes, and anything else you can think of. Sometimes I will take off with him on the rollerblades and we will be gone for an hour or so. He likes to do anything that involves working with his hands and likes to tinker. He is starting to take the roof off the barn, as we are going to turn it into my "yoga retreat". For several weeks he spent many hours in the afternoon doing research, online, about parrots, which led to the adoption of a Caique that we have all fell in love with. Lately he has been doing a lot of online games through X-Box live and sleeping all day.

Calista is kind of in between those two. She likes to have weekly schedule events and talks about joining basketball but likes to be outdoors with Tristan too. She tends to need lots of down time, just reading quietly, watching her favorite TV shows and cuddling with mom. She loves to have friends over too! Probably 4 out of 7 days we pick Rylee up in the afternoon and she will be here until 7 or 8 and often spends the night, or Calista will end up at her house for the night.

I'm not really sure how to answer what a typical day looks like for us. I usually get up a few hours before anyone else and answer my e-mails, drink my coffee, and just putz around. Calista is usually the first one up after me and often gets right on her computer to check up on all the games she plays and send e-mails to Maija. She has recently become interested in writing paper letters to Maija and sending them snail mail. We often will go take hikes, walk the dogs, go to the coffee shop or other such things. In the afternoon the crafts will come out, the books, questions come up and we look things up on the computer. As the boys get older things change but Calista and Tristan used to spend hours playing "bank", "store" or other dramatic play. Now it seems the bird comes out to be played with and conversations ensue in the afternoon. The afternoon seems to be more reflective than the rest of the day and our conversations end up on the computer looking up fun facts. Much of our conversations lately have been based around the Presidential Campaign and environmental issues.

We have a very lively household and usually by 4 or 5pm friends start stopping by and often I end up making dinner for a few extras. The kids will come in and start chopping and helping with dinner and usually the "extra" kids will hang out until late in the night. A couple times this summer Randall has brought out the fire poi and given us a show or we build a bonfire and just hang out. On the nights that friends aren't over we always spend a couple hours, right before bed, watching TV as a family. Our favorite shows right now are The Supper Club; a show where several guests have conversation about environmental issues and there is always a cook on the show to cook a "green" meal, Greenburg; a show about a town that got knocked out by a tornadoe and they built it back up "green", Miami Ink; self-explanatory, LA Ink; self-explanatory, Criss Angel Mindfreak; illusionist, Locked Up Abroad;about stories of real people that comitted a crime overseas and got put in jail abroad. We record lots of shows and the fun thing about it is that one of the kids will see something that is really interesting or intriguing and they will record it so we can all watch it together.

We are a very spontaneous family, because we can be with our schedules so free. The kids will find out about a book they want to read and we will just head over to the book store. Or they get an itch to go bowling or something of the sort and we will drop everything and go. Sometimes we just spend the entire day in our pajamas watching movies and we've been know to spend hours at the coffee shop too.

It really depends on weather, work, etc. as to how each day goes. Up until very recently I didn't work at all but now I'm teaching yoga and working very part-time at a coffee shop, which makes us less spontaneous than we have been in the past but we still have enough freedom to come and go as we please and we are still able to put everything down and move onto something else as things come up.

Post note: I wrote this blog yesterday so I could come back today and maybe add a few things. This morning they gave me a permanent work schedule that has me working every day from 6:30am-11:00am, maybe just until 10:00 am in a couple of months. So our typical day is changing quickly. No more slow mornings, sipping coffee and putzing around for me:) Although, I work in a coffee shop, that isn't too busy the first hour, so I get to sit around and sip coffee anyway! Martin works from home now so he takes me to work in his gas efficient car:) and stays at the coffee shop for a couple of hours working on his computer. I'm really enjoying having the extra money without the kids really noticing that I've been gone. When I move to 10:00 am they literally won't notice that I've been gone because they usually wake up between 9 and 10.

Unschooled V. Schooled Comments

2008-08-01T17:52:00.003-08:00

I just wanted to say a HUGE thank you to all of your wonderful comments on Kev's blog about his experience with public school, after being unschooled his entire life.

He is completely BLOWN AWAY by all the positive comments, as he thought that the essay was more for me than anyone else. He had no idea that many people were going to be reading it. He is a little embarassed because he just typed it out real quick and never even read through it a second time, so there was absolutely no editing and not a lot of thought put into it.

He is working on a more in-depth essay that is well written and edited, starting from the process that he went through, to decide whether to go to school or not, to his current feelings and what he has decided to do this next year.

Stay tuned:)

Yoga Girls Camping Trip

2008-07-29T14:24:00.008-08:00

Had a blast with the yoga girls, this last two days, camping! My first camping trip of the summer because of the stinky weather. We decided to do it rain or shine; we had shine the first day, rain the second but still had a blast.

Sat around by the fire the first day, shooting the breeze (literally) and playing that crazy "bang,bang" game. One of those games that you have to "figure out" as those that already have it figured out play. It was driving me insane! BUT I did figure it out!! One of those great games to play with a big group of people so you can drive them insane trying to figure it out:) When the sun was setting it was sending a reflection on the lake that was stunning and the clouds were following the silouhette of the trees. We took a bunch of pictures of us doing yoga in front of the lake.

On Sunday we spent the first part of the day doing palm reading from a book that Joanne got. I find it all very fascinating and, for the most part, right on. I loved that the book she had was able to separate the "superstitious" part of palm reading from that which is actually real - well, I suppose that is all open for interpretation like everything else.

Sunday night we sat around by the fire, drinking wine and playing truth (haven't played that since what? 16 years old, lol). For some reason the wine didn't sit well with me and I ended up very sick last night and wasn't a whole lot of fun. We went skinny dipping in Nancy Lake (again, haven't done that since, hmmmm, 6 years old?). So refreshing and liberating!

Packed up this morning and headed home. Fun, fun, fun! It was a great weekend!

Back to Work

2008-07-27T14:11:00.003-08:00

Well, I just took my first "real" job in 16 years.

I started teaching yoga last fall, and I guess that classifies as a job but for me it is more about sharing yoga with others and it is really only a handful of hours during the week. I guess it was a good transition though. What started out as half a joke, kinda, turned into a job.

It's been a rough year financially, with real estate being pretty flat and we have struggled through it like troopers. Martin took another job, that will start on Aug.3, a good job that allows us to breath and not have to worry about money anymore. The problem is that he will probably only be getting paid once a month, which means that technically we are about 7 weeks without any income. So I thought that maybe I should take a job part-time, to at least give us groceries every week. Some good friends of ours just opened an uber cool coffee shop in town, called Pandemonium. In passing, a couple weeks ago ,I told them that I might be looking for a job and then was in the other night when one of their employees had asked for the night off; he turned to me and asked me if I would like to work and I said, "sure!".

I had a hard time sleeping that night thinking, "what in the hell did I just get myself into", but it is all good. I will mostly be working early morning or late night shifts so my kids shouldn't notice too much that I'm working. I worked a 71/2 hr shift last night, since they are opened until 11:00. It is really fun and doesn't really seem like work. I was pulling shots all night, talking with people, listening to live music, I mean how much better can a job get? And the great thing about it is when money starts rolling in from Martin's job I am going to have a wallet full of cash from my job that allows the kids and I to just play with! And shop with:) And maybe put away some for retirement, haha.

The great thing about last night also was that all my good friends, my husband and kids all hang out there for a few hours, listening to the live music. It's not like I could sit and visit or anything but just having them there was awesome!

Kev's Blog

2008-07-23T11:35:00.002-08:00

So, everyone seems to enjoy Kev's writing as much as I do so I thought I would post a link to his blog. He was laughing because he really didn't think the following essay was that great; he said he didn't edit or spend much time on it, but it did a good job of expressing his feelings about his experience. Warning to meat eaters: He is a STRONG advocate for animals! Just so you know ahead of time:) He does post some great stuff though so enjoy!

Unschool v. School

2008-07-21T17:37:00.003-08:00

I've been asking Kev, for a few weeks now, if he would write a blog about his experience with school, after being unschooled his entire life. This last year was his first year in the public school system, as a freshman in highschool. So the following is his perspective on the matter. I regret that he felt that I talked about public school as a "bad thing" because I really didn't mean to portray it as "bad". I often countered (or defended) my stance to unschool and often mentioned some of the negatives about public school and he took that as my thinking it was ALL bad. But, in the end he made his own decision anyway, which is exactly how we expect him to live. We honor and support our children and know that they are capable human beings and can make their own decisions.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Education From the Free Eye
Written by Kevin Snavley

All my life I have unschooled. The only thing that could be remotely considered school that I attended was pre-school, and of course, that was all fun and games. That was just life, how things were. I always wondered in the back of my head what it was like to be there, in a school building all day. How horrible it was to sit there for hours on end being lectured by crazy teachers and doing hours of homework. And then somewhere in between most of my friends going to school and me wondering, I got caught up in "catching up" to everyone else. For a while, around age 12, I always wanted to be on-track with the kids at school. It was probably because I felt stupid or less intelligent than them, which really wasn't the case. They just knew more meaningless facts than I did. It took me until last year to finally realize that, and to truly understand the reasons and joys of unschooling. Why it really is so much better than public school.

For as long as I can remember I have had friends that have gone to public school. Always. I've never actually had true unschooling friends aside from my cousins. So in a way, I sort of grew up with slightly hybrid thinking. One defending or longing to be in public school, and one completely against it all with pro-unschooling opinions. My parents always told us why public school is bad, but of course as a kid I'm not really going to understand. I never had the experience to. So I just kind of accepted that it was a bad place that I shouldn't be until I was about 14. Because I didn't go to school I always thought I had horrible writing abilities, and a bus load of other things. I finally made the decision to go to my freshman year of high school so I could figure it all out. Why is public school widely considered better? Why do my parents and unschooling parents everywhere preach it's a bad place to be? Why is unschooling so much better? I got all of my answers.

I would be lying if I said I went 100% percent for personal reasons. I had one friend in particular who was pro-school completely and thought I was wasting my life. In a way, I wanted to prove to her that I could do it, and if/if not it was better than unschooling. I guess up until I started writing this I had forgotten about that completely. I kind of kept the fact that this whole thing was an experiment in the back of my mind. I mean, it did feel nice to be "normal". But is it best? For the sake of writing this I'm going to skip through the school year and spare you the details of explaining the entire 9 months. School was exactly as I expected. Well, the whole face of it was anyway. It wasn't as close to as horrible as my parents said it was. The days went by pretty fast, it wasn't horribly boring, and I got to see my friends. The one thing I noticed the first day though, was how little "socialization" time there is. That's one thing all the kids say, "I get to hang out with my friends!". Definitely not the kind of "hanging out" I was used to. At that point it seemed like a stupid reason to want to be there.

After being there a few weeks, I started to realize the being I truly am. I wasn't stupid, not even close. If anyone was stupid it was the other 90% of the kids that were there. Everyone raved about my writing, my honors English teacher included. I did good in all my classes despite NEVER having a formal lesson in anything. That's when I realized that me, an unschooler, never been "taught" anything that these kids have, is doing better at the game than they are. Pretty ironic, no? Some of my favorite classes were Honors English 1, Japanese 1, and Jazz Choir. Those were the best.

Something I really began to hate about the school days was waking up at 6:30 am, staying there for six hours, then swimming for another 2, before going home to do meaningless homework. The first semester I got pretty lazy, and ended with a 3.3 GPA. Still, better than most kids, but not my best. Second semester I ended with a 3.8. I couldn't stand the fact that I was surrounded by unmotivated, stupid (not the academic way, the general manner they acted) people. Another trend I noticed was "can't". EVERYBODY used that one. The whole 9 months all in all were good for me. Negatives and positives. I learned that what I was doing before was BETTER than what kids at school get, I learned that what my parents told me wasn't completely heresy, I experienced something that I had never done before, the mystery was gone, and best of all, I can now defend the unschooling philosophy without any doubt in my mind and be credible at the same time. I also understood why public school kids act like they do. It's called loss of motivation.

I quickly realized that if I had to endure that shit for 9 years, I probably wouldn't be the person I am today. Friends have told me "you would have been a complete honors student!". I say no, I would've have been a lazy ass bum that wanted nothing more than a couch in life. (Which, I might add I learned a lot from TV. But you get my point. ;P) The thing that made me responsible, smart, and motivated was my unschooling life. And as stupid, annoying, unmotivated, whatever most of the public school kids are, you really can't blame them. While the other public school kids that can relate to me somewhat complain about them as well; they don't understand either. You never really can unless you have lived a free life. (Something else that I realized were the people that I was already friends with, were some of the most intelligent people in the building. How's that for coincidental?) Some personalities are different and can endure 12 years of school plus college, most cannot. Between teachers telling them they're not good enough, and wasting years of their life on something that doesn't really matter, they get fried. Most of the time it goes unnoticed too, you just kind of evaporate. I started to feel the same thing happening to me just in those nine months. Every thought you have, dream you want to fulfill, inspiration that strikes you, it all goes on the back burner, and eventually you just forget how to live any other way altogether.

Would I recommend sending a kid to school? Absolutely not. It's much too easy to lose your way. One thing I would advise though is to find unschooling friends. Would I recommend any other unschoolers go to school? If it's going to do them good like me, sure. If they want to see what it's like, sure. Otherwise, it's going to be a shit hole. Plain and simple. It would be beneficial for everyone to see what it's like, but not everyone can go through it with the same view point. So like everything else in our lives, it's up to us to make that decision. But now here I am, the year I thought would never end completed, and I have to decide what I want to do for the remaining 3. Over the last few days I've really been reflecting about what I truly want. Is it to finish high school, deal with everything I don't like, and benefit from the things I do? Or stop and go straight to college, and focus on what I want with life? That's something I'll be thinking about for a while.

2008-07-10T12:27:00.006-08:00

Wow, I just don't seem to be inspired to blog for the last six months or so. It seems like I just blogged and I look to see that it is always 2-3 weeks or more in between blogs.

Everyone seems to have adjusted to Socky being gone. It seemed very ghostly downstairs for the first week. He used to pop off the couch and meow at anyone that came downstairs and now when you go downstairs there is just a hush.

Our weather continues to be cloudy and gray. We had a few days around 70 degrees but that is it! It's tough when you wait all winter for this beautiful summer and then you don't get one. It still feels like spring around here. We've hardly done any hiking although, it's not because the weather, because this is great hiking weather (besides the mosquitoes coming out when it is cool). We are talking about maybe hiking up a few miles up Pioneer Peak today with the dogs.

So, I am on day four without coffee. I've done this before for up to a week and just couldn't stand it because I really enjoy the ritual of coffee drinking. I've decided that I have a "jacked up" personality without coffee and I'm just getting tired of the constant ups and downs throughout the day. I feel "jacked up" all the time and just felt the need to be a little more even keeled. I do feel a lot better, a lot more centered and mellow. I'm trying to replace my coffee ritual with a tea ritual and so far I feel fine without the coffee. I had a terrific headache up until yesterday but today I am headache free. It actually really scares me when I experience a headache like I did on Tuesday because you realize how addicted you are to it and how toxic it really is.

So, not a whole lot of excitement around the Snavley house. We had a 4th of July party and bonfire. Debbie bought a bunch of fireworks that we lit off - fun, fun! It's always fun to hang out with friends and the teens always come to hang out too. They like hanging out because we are "chillax", according to them. One thing that was really enjoyable for me this summer was when Randall, a friend of Kev's, came over and gave us a fire poi show. I didn't know anyone here did that. I just happened to have a pair, that I got as a gift a few months ago, and gave them to him so at least someone is using them. I don't know when I would ever use them! The following is the video of him doing fire poi. It would have been really fun if it was dark. We don't get dark here in the summer though so it definitely puts a crimp on things like fireworks too. This video was taken around 11:30 pm, just to give you an idea of Alaskan summers.

Summer, you call this summer!!???

2008-06-26T21:16:00.003-08:00

I'm really, truly trying to stay positive here but apparently, in Wasilla, summer has decided to not make her appearance. I'm not entirely sure what we did to her to deserve this kind of treatment but we haven't had but maybe three days over 60 degrees. It's the end of June for goodness sakes!!! I've never, in my 36 years of living, experienced a summer like this. I was so cold at music in the park tonight that I had to come home so I could take a hot shower. Aaarrrrgghhhh!! I know, I know, at least we aren't having any tornadoes or floods but there are lots of places in the US not experiencing tornadoes or floods but at least they aren't shivering their arses off!!

Breathe......................breathe........................inhale, exhale...............................OMMMMMM. I will survive but I'm sure going to be complaining when winter decides to hit us. I think I will go stay in my aunt's guest house, in San Antonio, from August until November when my grandma gets there and kicks us out. At least I will feel like I got a summer.

Exhausting Weekend

2008-06-16T17:25:00.004-08:00

Well, we had quite the weekend!

Grandma Sally came down to Anchorage to have her Pacemaker replaced so we spent three days in Anchorage with her, keeping her company. On Thursday Martin and I went in, after all of her pre-op paperwork, and took her shopping. She wanted to go to the furniture stores so that's what we did. It's always fun to have a look around! We went to dinner and then got her back to the Hickel House, where she was staying, on the hospital grounds.

On Friday Robin, the kids, and I went in again and was with her at the hospital while she came out of recovery. The awful thing was that they left her in the recovery area ALL DAY LONG!! There really wasn't enough room to sit and visit so we mostly sat and waited, going back to the room every so often to make sure she was doing okay. They didn't get her a room until 6:00PM!! What a drag! The kids were getting pretty cranky by the time we headed back home for the night.

Friday morning, before we left for Anchorage, Kev had brought the cat up to me, concerned that something was wrong with him. He set him down and Socky wouldn't walk. I was afraid that maybe he had a stroke. I went to pick him up and I could feel every bone in his body. Something was seriously wrong. I told him to lay him down in my room and if he was still looking bad when we got home that we would take him in. When we got home at 8:30 he hadn't moved an inch. He was in the exact same position as when we had left at 7:00 am. We rushed him to the Animal Hospital where they confirmed our worst fear- renal failure. They could have done diuresis but in the shape he was in he probably wouldn't have pulled out and even if he did it would have just bought him a little more time and hundreds of dollars in cost. The vet said that either way he would die, there is no cure. So we had to make the awful decision to put him down. I called Martin to bring Tristan and Calista down since Kev was the only one with me. It was absolutely heart breaking to see my 15 year old sobbing so hard that Socky was literally soaked by the time we even sedated him. And then to have the other two come in, uugghh! They all snuggled around him as the doctor sedated him and then gave him the injection. We got home at 11:00 and, of course, no one was going to sleep. We all snuggled in my bed until there were no more tears to cry.

We paid the extra money to have him privately cremated and they will give us a little print of his paw. Each of the kids will have a little urn of their own with a copy of his paw print. It may seem ridiculous to those of you who don't own pets but it's HUGE for the kids. We have had that cat for 13 years and they really just become part of you. It's a tough, tough deal, losing a pet.

Then on Saturday I had to teach a class, which I didn't think I would get through but it was actually a great distraction and I felt much better after class. After class Robin, Martin and I went back into Anchorage and sat with Grandma until she was discharged. We got her back to the Hickel House and then came home. Some friends picked her up on Sunday and brought her to the airport. It's the first time she has had to do something like that alone, since Grandpa has Parkinson's and is to the point that he can't manage. Auntie Karen stayed in Fairbanks a little longer (she is visiting from San Antonio) so Grandpa would have some care. Grandma is definitely moving into another phase of her life but she has a great attitude. People can't believe she is almost 82 years old because she acts and gets around more like a 40 year old! She is a really amazing human being!!

Meme

2008-05-28T16:12:00.002-08:00

I stole this from Heather's blog. I like this one:

Accent: People say that some of the words I say make it sound like I'm from North Dakota, I guess that is because my grandparents are from there.

Breakfast or No Breakfast: Breakfast. Piece of toast and coffee, every day.

Chore I Don’t Care For: Laundry. Just not my favorite thing. Sometimes I will leave a load that I ran in the washer for days and I will have to wash it over a couple of times to get the smell out.

Dog or Cat: Dogs. For sure. I have a cat but I'm not especially fond of him. I have three dogs that I adore!

Essential Electronics: I really love my computer. Don't know how I got along without it:)

Favorite Perfume: None. I really try to live a toxic-free life. I use Scent of Samadhi, a powdered incense, when I want to smell good.

Gold or Silver: Silver.

Handbag I Carry Most Often: Changes with my mood.

Insomnia: Almost never. I'm at peace with myself and my life and don't stress about things unless I can change them. If I can change them I take care of them before I try and sleep:)

Job Title: Domestic engineer and yoga instructor. Wouldn't change a thing!

Kids: Kevin 15 years old and male, Tristan 12 years old and male, Calista 9 years old and female.

Living Arrangements: Happily married for 17 years, living in a house, on one acre, with my three lovely children, three lively dogs, 1 stuck up cat, 2 cuddly hamsters, 1 talking parrot and 1 fish.

Most Admirable Trait: Very giving and making people feel at ease by my talkative/outgoing personality.

Naughtiest Childhood Behavior: We will not talk about that. As a young child was not "naughty" (I hate that word by the way) and we won't talk about the teen years.

Overnight Hospital Stays: Tonsillectomy and first two births. The third birth I smartened up and gave birth at a Birth Center.

Phobias: Rodents, yes that includes hamsters. I observe a lot but don't get too close.

Quote: "Be the change you wish to see in the world." Getting ready to have that tattooed by my butterfly.

Reason to Smile: This could be a whole 'nother blog. Mostly my kids, husband, sisters, friends, the sun that is shining today, the liveliness of my house.................................

Siblings: 5 - four sisters and one brother.

Time I Wake Up: 7:30 - 9 a.m.

Unusual Talent or Skill: Unusual? Hmmm, don't know.

Vegetable I Refuse To Eat: Beets. Yuck, yuck, yuck! I am not a picky eater by any means. I eat foods that some people would not even try. But I cannot eat beets. I will gag every time.

Worst Habit: Chewing on the sides of my cheeks. I know, weird.

X-Rays: More than is healthy I'm sure.

Yummy Stuff: Oh..........coffee, Thai food, chocolate truffles

Zoo Animal I Like Most: monkeys

Our Summer List

2008-05-23T10:39:00.002-08:00

So last night we went into Anchorage for our nephews birthday and on the way in Tristan and Calista were fighting like cats and dogs. I was about ready to lose my mind! On the way back home they started in again so I distracted them with "What kind of things do you want to do this summer?" It worked fabulously and we came up with a GREAT list! Of course most of this is pending finances:) As always! So here is our list:

* White water rafting in Denali and the kids want to either take a tour bus up or the train. They are feeling envious of all the things the tourists get to do that we never do:)

* Tristan wants to float down a river either in a kayak or canoe and camp out "in the middle of nowhere", it doesn't count if it's a "touristy" thing. He would like to do a 2-3 day trip.

* I want to make wine. We have a place here to do it and you get 25 bottles for every batch. We are going to get together with a bunch of friends to do a few batches so that we all get 5-10 bottles of different kinds. So be expecting wine for Christmas this year!

* We want to hike, of course! But we want to do several new hikes that we have never done before. We live in hiking central and there are hundreds of hikes that we have never done. One that Martin and I would like to tackle is Pioneer Peak but we aren't sure if Martin's hip can handle it so we might have to wait post-hip replacement. It's a 12 mile hike and fairly challenging so it is going to take some training up and down Lazy Mountain and maybe Mat-Su Peak.

* The kids and I decided we are going to go into Anchorage one night and feed all the homeless people we see. We are going to buy like 25 sandwiches at Subway, granola bars and oranges and pass them out. Tristan suggested it might be a nice gesture to pass out blankets. Him and Kev's friend, Kevin Sampley, slept outside the other night (I know, I have crazy kids!) and he said, "Mom, it's cold! I feel really sorry for the homeless people now". So that turned into, well, maybe we should start getting people to donate their old backpacks and stuff them with blankets, food, and some other treats and pass those around. Could be a fun endeavor!

* Martin and I want to get down to Homer for a motorhome camping trip. With the cost of gas we won't be doing much of that but Homer is only 3-4 hours away and a very fun place to go. And they have a beach!! A real beach, not just an Alaskan rocky beach!

So these are our goals this summer. Along with MANY trips to the lake. We have DOZENS of lakes EVERYWHERE here in the valley. You can't drive one mile without passing a lake, literally! So we usually hang out at one of them most of the summer. Both my sister and us have lake accesses in our neighborhoods too and we are on opposite sides of the same lake. We are going to cross the lake to my sister's house a few times this summer just for kicks.

And of course, I need to get up to Fairbanks at least once to see Grandma and Grandpa, Dan and Brenda, and my cousins. And SHELI, of course!!! We haven't been able to go much since returning from the motorhome trip so I'm long overdue.

Happy Summer everybody!!!

2008-05-13T10:00:00.006-08:00

Here are the recent "going ons" in our life lately......

Tristan has been talking for some time about really wanting to get a macaw and has done a bit of research and saved quite a bit of money for the endeavor. He (or should I say we) signed up to be a foster family for the rescued birds from the Alaska Bird Club. We got a call a couple weeks ago that a bird needed fostered and, of course, we jumped on the opportunity. They brought the bird to us last Wed. He is a beautiful green, orange, and yellow Caique and if we want to keep him he is up for adoption. He talks all the time, whistles, and laughs. We haven't figured out everything that he says because it is a little robotic sounding, kind of like trying to figure out someone's strong accent. Some of the things that we can hear are "pretty boy", "pretty bird", "I'm a good boy", "what are you doing?", and "hello". I'm sure eventually we will figure out the rest, along with the new things that he is learning in our house. Any time the dogs get too close he will kind of peck their nose and then burst out in laughter; it is quite entertaining. Martin and I have decided that we will go ahead and adopt him, being that it is only $50 and he comes with a $500 cage!

As usual, we had a bunch of friends over on Saturday night for a good time. It seems lately that almost every weekend we all get together somewhere; either here, my sisters, Debs, or somewhere else. It's one of the things I love about my life here- all the wonderful people that surround me.

Mother's Day was fairly uneventful, as we aren't too fond of all these stupid commercial holidays. I tease that Mother's Day is for mothers who aren't appreciated every day of the year, as I am! My kids do special things for me all the time, love to hang out with me, and tell me how wonderful I am so I don't really need Mother's Day. I do enjoy spending time with family though and we went over to Martin's parents for lunch with Martha, Tony and the kids and another couple that are friends with his parents. Martin worked most of the day but sold a nice priced house so that was nice. Lord knows we need it right now!

We've been enjoying some warmer weather, although the last two days have been a little chilly. It's always nice to drive without slick roads, to see the green on the trees, and to spend time outside. The kids are looking forward to some lake weather so hopefully it will warm up a little more soon.

Our basement project is coming along. One more wall to put up (the boys closets) and then we will be sheetrocking. Martin is going to come home this afternoon and spend some time down there getting it done. Tristan is ready to move into his new room and Calista is REALLY ready to have a room, as she has been sleeping in the loft. I'm looking forward to not having to step on Barbie's and clothes on the way into my own room, lol. When it is done I will also have a yoga room so am looking forward to that!

I am also no longer teaching at Blue Mountains Wellness Studio. Things got a little weird there before I left and I am sad that I don't have the best feelings towards the situation but it is time to move on to better things. I will be teaching at the new Studio, The Anjali Yoga Room, starting June 2. I'm going to be teaching two Astanga/Vinyasa style classes. The nice thing about it is that there we are sub-contractors so it is our own business. I get to work on building my own classes and making my own money, rather than make an hourly rate. The name of my business is Dharma Yoga- surprise, surprise! For any of you that don't know, there are several meanings to the word Dharma in the yoga world but some of the meanings are "truth", "virtues" , "righteousness", "to fasten, to support, to hold" (my favorite), and "something established or firm". It also refers to the teachings of Buddha, which any person of any religion has to agree that his teachings are beneficial to the human race. Good energy to all those definitions so I think it is a good name for a yoga business. I'm still teaching my classes over at the SportsCenter too. All my classes are on Mon. and Wed. night so I will have lots of free time to play with the kids this summer!

My Daily Affirmation

2008-04-30T08:25:00.002-08:00

It's been a rough week and it's so easy for me to spiral down to a very low place. I got my affirmation cards out last night and here is my affirmation for the day, written by Louise Hay:

Every thought I think is creating my future.

The Universe totally supports every thought I choose to think and believe. I have unlimited choices about what I think. I choose balance, harmony, and peace, and I express it in my life.

2008-04-28T11:24:00.003-08:00

She decided to free herself, dance into the wind, create a new language. And birds fluttered around her, writing "yes" in the sky.

Monique Duval

2008-04-25T15:31:00.002-08:00

For the last several months I've developed a passionate interest in dreams and the meaning of my own dreams. Realizing that the meanings and symbolisms of dreams are going to vary greatly from person to person so you can't really go by all those dream dictionaries and such. I've been journaling my own dreams so that I can begin to connect patterns and meanings.

So last night I had this dream that a tattoo artist tattooed an armadillo over the sun on my forearm. He tried to convince me that the armadillo represented the sun so it was all the same. I remember the feeling that I had in my dream - a deep sadness that my sun was gone because I LOVE my sun and moon tattoo's, and that I was stuck with this greenish/bluish armadillo for the rest of my life! I found it interesting that I dreamt about an armadillo since I have only seen a couple in my entire life, and as of the last two years I haven't thought about them, I haven't seen a picture of one, nothing about an armadillo has entered my life.

So I looked up the symbolism of an armadillo today since "when we come across certain animals in our lives it can be an indication that they are put in our path to give us messages from Spirit about what it is that we need to focus on in our personal healing at that moment in time." (taken from one such website). So here is what they say about an armadillo:

ARMADILLO - putting up boundaries. We learn from the armadillo - which, by rolling into a ball, can be completely armored against attack - how to consciously define our own emotional and physical boundaries. Carrying our protection with us and using it when it is necessary for our well being.

I won't get into detail but there have definitely been some things in my life where I definitely need to put up that shield of protection. Very interesting.

2008-04-24T15:41:00.000-08:00

This will brighten up anyone's day!! Incredible!

korean baby singing hey jude

2008-04-23T10:04:00.004-08:00

Well, I decided to scratch the Meme because I can't think of anything wild and crazy about me. I know some of you are thinking, "what? Everything about Heidi is wild and crazy!" I know, I know, but most people that read my blog don't think those things are so different from their own lives because I have a bunch of wild and crazy friends, lol. I asked Kev's friends what they thought was wild and crazy and they all came up with things such as our unschooling lifestyle, our relaxed parenting style, my funky fashion style (I don't think it is that funky), I didn't look like a mom (translation: you are really cool! :) ), and some of the guys thought I was hot (didn't really think that was appropriate to blog about). So anyway, I guess I will just have to start blogging more regularly for those of you that love to hear what is going on with our family.

So today the thing that is on my mind.......................... I have had several things happen in the last several weeks that has taught me to 1) not make assumptions about ANYTHING 2) Don't judge a person by what someone elses experiences with that person are. There are always two sides to every story, always someone's perception on the situation or the person. 3) Stop talking about people and talk about dreams and ideas. I was reminded again that there is NO REALITY, only one's own perception. I want to remember this as I continue to go through life and just simply LOVE!!! To let go, accept, tolerate (people, not necessarily behavior, as there is a difference), learn how to separate the person from their behavior, to truly understand our connection with one another.

So that said, in the last couple of months some of the things that have been going on in our family life: Martin turned 39. Tristan made an absolutely BEAUTIFUL cake for him while we were at yoga. He is becoming quite the baker. He figured out that if he pours hot fudge over the cake that it is impossible to eat only one piece! So we now eat chocolate cake with hot fudge, forget the frosting:) And Martin has one more year to enjoy in his 30's.

I gave my notice with the Blue Mountains yoga studio. I really want to have a less chaotic summer so I can focus on my kids and there were things happening that caused me to want to leave before I began to feel too much resentment. I still have two classes at the new SportsCenter and it looks like I may pick up two more classes at a new studio that just opened. I meet with the owner today to discuss details. We (yoga teachers) have had the privilege of meeting a Swami that works in an Indian restaurant here in town. He has offered to teach us meditation and we will meet with him for the first time tonight. I am very excited, especially since I have asked the Universe to bring me a teacher. Not sure if he is the one but I am excited to meet with him.

Kev got to go to the Jazzfest in Fairbanks, with the highschool Jazz choir. He had a BLAST and said that home seemed boring after that. He is really enjoying the choir and Japanese at the school. He has competed in two different Japanese speech contests and had a great time. He has decided that he is going to do correspondence next year and just take the choir and Japanese at the school. He still is able to swim on the swim team at the school also, so all the things that he likes best about school. The great thing is that he gets an allotment with the correspondence that will pay for him to take college classes that will apply to both his highschool and college transcripts. Basically, he could have his first semester of college done by the time he reaches his senior year. He is pretty sure that he is going to take English at the college and possibly his geometry class there, as it is going to be a little harder for me to help him in that arena.

Tristan has decided that he is going to get a macaw. He has saved $700 for the endeavor so far and is pretty determined. He has spent a lot of time researching and even learned that non-stick cooking pans cannot be used in a house with a macaw, as it is extremely toxic to them. Wow, wonder what it does to a human. It is fun watching him fix his attention on a goal and go for it. He is a good saver and we have even talked about handing the bills over to him because we would probably have a lot more money if we did. I may start working on showing him how to do everything over the next year and then possibly giving him a small salary for taking care of our finances. Now that is something school doesn't teach them!! I love unschooling!!

Calista used some of her money to buy two hamsters last month. I swear were starting a farm here! She has been taking full care of them so I'm okay with it. As long as I don't have to touch them! I'm not a big fan of rodents, although they are fun to watch. They are a little humanish. She also bought herself a computer, with her Alaska Permanent Fund money, and is learning how to navigate around the internet. She also ended up buying herself a camera so she has her own little setup. It has definitely helped with fights over computers so I'm happy about that. She likes to play Club Penguin, Toon Town, Ty Girlz, and Simms, especially when Rylee, Haley, Jalen or Sierra are on there at the same time as her.

I know I've blogged about Christa before but she is my adopted daughter. We were introduced to Christa back in September through friends of Kev's. She has slowly made her way into our hearts and home. She has been in and out of the house all winter and is now living with us full time. She will be living with my sister, Robin, this summer to be her nanny. She comes from a split home, lots of alcohol problems and mom is completely emotionally detached. I think it is a bit of a challenge for Kev but it seems to be working out okay. Rylee adores her and I'm sure it will be a great summer for her not to have to wake up so early to come to my house in the morning.

Oh, and my sister, Robin, had a big bonfire this last weekend that was loads of fun. Robin invites her friends and people that she works for and then those people invite friends and we invite our friends. It is an eclectic group of people and it just works. We all stayed until midnight and it was full moon, just beautiful!! I'm lucky to have so many wonderful people in my life!!! The picture above is some of us at the bonfire. I'm in the middle, top row, in the tan sweater and my sister is the one directly in front of me, as if you couldn't have guessed. My best friends Debbie and Tanya are to the right and left of me and the others are my sisters friends and friends of theirs.

Well, this has gotten a little more lengthy than I had intended. That is the gist of what is going on at the Snavley household. We are definitely enjoying our warmer spring weather!!

2008-04-17T08:43:00.004-08:00

I realize that I haven't been blogging too much for the last several months. It's about all I can do to keep up with stuff around the house, much less blog. I've really been having a hard time lately staying in that place of contentment. I'm sick of winter and really wanting to be back on the road; sad that we ever came back to Alaska. On that note, I decided today that it is time to get back to making my list of gratitudes, coming back to that place where I can appreciate all that is good in my life. So today some of the things I am grateful for:

* The sunshine! Haven't been seeing it as much, with all the snowfall, and it just feels really good to have it beaming down on my face.

* My kids! Of course! They just continually amaze me with their creativity and their independence. Tristan has voluntarily begun to do his own laundry! He starts running out of clothes and just gathers them up and puts them in the washer. I never asked, never nagged. I really don't mind doing their laundry at all but he's decided he likes doing his so..........

* The mountains! They never cease to amaze me. It's just incredible to look out the window and find yourself completely, literally, surrounded by these majestic mountains! I don't know many other places quite like Alaska, as far as how beautiful the scenery is.

* My house. I really love my house. I can't explain why exactly, except that it fits my personality and fits the way we live. I complain at times about having so much to take care of and really wishing for an ultra simple lifestyle but there are good things about having more space and I just really like my house- did I already mention that?

* Our three dogs. They add this great energy to the house. And they love so unconditionally. I can learn a lot from them. I love it at night when all three of them crawl up on to our bed and snuggle for an hour before we kick them off to sleep. Then they go snuggle with Tristan because he will put up with being crampled all night.

* My friends and family. And all my "adopted" children. I have wonderful people that surround and support me. The thought of not being able to see them every day is not a pleasant one. Something I need to keep in mind when I wish to be somewhere else.

* My yoga practice and the new yoga studio that just opened up. My practice makes me who I am and makes me much more able to deal with the ups and downs of life. I am much more than this body that I happen to dwell in.

Well, that is a pretty good start to having a good day today. So now I have to work on the Meme that my sister, Ren, tagged me with. I will give it some thought first and post a little later.

Namaste'

Just some thoughts...

2008-02-28T10:24:00.002-09:00

Taken from Body, Soul, and Angels website by Rudolf Steiner:

How often have we judged something bad and reacted with negative emotions, only to find later it was one of the best things that had ever happened? Equanimity is important as you progress in your spiritual development for with greater abilities come greater responsibilities. Said Rudolf Steiner: "The equilibrium we already appear to possess is less important than practicing what we lack. Though life may have taught us much in this respect, the abilities we gain by our own effort are what count. "

An old Chinese tale might be of help here. The Old Man had a horse which ran away and the neighbors said “How sad, how bad.” and he said, “We’ll see. We’ll see.” Three days later the horse returned with four other horses and the neighbors said, “What good fortune!” The Old Man said, “We’ll see. We’ll see.” The next week his son was breaking one of the new horses and fell and broke his leg and the neighbors said, “How sad, how bad.” The Old Man said, “We’ll see. We’ll see.” The next week the young men in the neighborhood were all drafted, but his son could not go due to the broken leg. Their group was totally killed in action one month later.

It's Official!!!

2008-01-31T16:05:00.000-09:00

It's official!! I just received my RYT (registered yoga teacher) status, from Yoga Alliance, this morning! It was the completion of my goal and it feels great! And to top it all off I may have another teaching job at the new sportscenter that just opened up earlier this month. It will be more evening classes so I'm not away from the kids during the day and it gives my family a monthly membership for $30 a month!! Can't beat that. If it all works out Martin will just bring the kids in to shoot hoops and work out while I'm teaching so it will be a family affair. My kids will probably even take my yoga class at that time. Life is good!!

2008-01-27T18:14:00.000-09:00

My heart just hasn't been into blogging as much lately so I apologize to those of you who like to know what's going on in our lives. I feel so euphoric most of the time lately that it seems overwhelming to try and blog about all of it.

Life is very good in the Snavley home It's been a very quiet winter and we haven't been doing anything all that exciting but it seems everyone is truly settled down from the six months of traveling; I know that seems ridiculous being that it has been a year and a half, but it has taken some time, especially for Tristan, to get used to one more change. As much as I hated being away from the kids so much during my yoga training, Tristan and Calista really learned how to work things out in a more civil manner, without mom to interfere too much, and have been getting along so well lately. I'm settled into a nice routine with my teaching, Martin is still really enjoying his job, and we have wonderful friends and family that we spend lots of time with. Of course, Rock Band has been an extra bonus this winter:)

Last weekend, my very dear friend, Sheli, flew down from Fairbanks with Maija and Kayla. Maija and Calista are bosom buddies and since they were very small we have called them Betty and Veronica. Maija has blonde hair and Calista has black hair. Kayla had basketball games so she stayed with the team in a hotel ,but Sheli and Maija stayed at the house with us. We went to lots of sporting events since Sheli also had two different nephews here playing hockey games also. We had lots of time to catch up with all the gossip and we laughed til we cried so many times that my stomach was sore after the weekend. It's always hard to say good-bye when they leave but I cherish every moment with them. We will be driving up to Fairbanks in three weeks for Maija's birthday so it won't be too long until we see them again.

I've been doing lots of self-exploration and reflection lately. I'm learning a lot about myself; some things that are wonderful and some things that aren't especially pretty. One of the things that I have been doing is keeping a journal of synchronicities in my life; those "coincidences" that aren't coincidences at all, rather very loud messages from the Universe. The more I journal and take note of these things the more they are happening, or maybe it is just me being more aware of them. One of the main things was that I have been trying to find one of my very best friends from highschool. She moved out of state after highschool and we lost touch, reunited at our 10-year reunion and then somehow lost touch after that. I looked several places online and nothing was coming up so I decided I would probably have to wait until our 20 year reunion, in two years. Well, ironically, she found me this week! She had been looking for me also, not realizing that my mom had died, we had moved and my dad had moved also, so no Bidwells in Fairbanks anymore. Not only did she find me but our lives have taken very similar paths, on a very deep soul level. I can't wait to talk with her on the phone and catch up on the last ten years!

I'm teaching five yoga classes a week and am thoroughly enjoying it. I love to watch people transform before my eyes, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I am taking two different workshops the end of February to further my training and delve deeper. One of the things that has been a challenge is keeping my own daily practice healthy. I've kind of had to rededicate myself to my practice this week, as I've been a little neglectful. Am currently waiting for Yoga Alliance to process my application so that I will have my RYT status. Hopefully, that will come in the mail this week.

We are once again going to try and sell the motorhome this spring. It's hard to let that part of our lives go, as Martin and I still would like to be living that lifestyle. It's not practical at this point in our lives so we have chosen to be content where we are at. We still dream of traveling full time and someday living somewhere else but we are here right now and I am choosing to love my life. We are probably going to have to pay thousands of dollars to get out from under it but we really need to do it. It will get rid of 1/3 of our monthly expenses so it will be worth it. Finding a buyer will be another challenge! Two trips that we have in the making, over the next three years, is Italy and India and those don't require a motorhome so we are good!

Daily OM

2008-01-11T13:06:00.000-09:00

I loved today's Daily OM for a few reasons. One is that our society puts so much emphasis on intellect and "smarts", pushing academics and senseless information on our children when what our hearts are telling us is so much more important. No wonder why adults lose that connection with their souls. We are constantly told that that "inner voice" either doesn't exist or it doesn't know what it is talking about.

We also tend to listen to our brains more because of messages that we are told since childhood, ways in which we were "domesticated" by our parents, aggreements we made with THEIR beliefs and opinions; they did it sometimes knowingly and sometimes not. I feel like I'm am just beginning to understand how to REALLY listen to and be connected to my soul. We have all the answers inside of us but our brain tends to override them so often.

I am thankful that I had the courage to start listening and responding to that inner voice and begin to build intuition. So here it is.........................

January 11, 2008
Inner HierarchyListening With Your Heart

Most of us were born and raised in cultures that value the head over the heart and, as a result, we place our own hearts below our heads in a sort of inner hierarchy of which we may not be conscious. What this means is that we tend to listen and respond from the neck up, often leaving the rest of our bodies with little or no say in most matters. This is a physical habit, which sometimes feels as ingrained as the way we breathe or walk. However, with effort and awareness, we can shift the energy into our hearts, listening and responding from this much deeper, more resonant place.

The brain has a masterful way of imposing structure and order on the world, creating divisions and categories, devising plans and strategies. In many ways, we have our brains to thank for our survival on this planet. However, as is so clear at this time, we also need the wisdom of our hearts if we wish to continue surviving in a viable way. When we listen from our heart, the logical grid of the brain tends to soften and melt, which enables us to perceive the interconnectedness beneath the divisions and categories we use to organize the world. We begin to understand that just as the heart underlies the brain, this interconnectedness underlies everything.

Many agree that this is the most important work we can do at this time in history, and there are many practices at our disposal. For a simple start, try sitting with a friend and asking him to tell you about his life at this moment. For 10 minutes or more, try to listen without responding verbally, offering suggestions, or brainstorming solutions. Instead, breathe into your heart and your belly, listening and feeling instead of thinking. When you do this, you may find that it’s much more difficult to offer advice and much easier to identify with the feelings your friend is sharing. You may also find that your friend opens up more, goes deeper, and feels he has really been heard. If you also feel great warmth and compassion, almost as if you are seeing your friend for the first time, then you will know that you have begun to tap the power of listening with your heart.

Meme

2007-12-25T19:09:00.000-09:00

I got tagged by my sis, Ren, which is probably a good thing because I haven't had much time to blog and my last two blogs are definitely not extremely exciting. I also got tagged by Katy and Vicki (myspace) on another one that maybe I will do in a day or two.

So here's the meme:

1) Post a note about a blogger you would like to see something wonderful happen for. Maybe one whose posts have touched your heart in one way or another. Include details as to why you admire them and what you wish for them. Be as supporting and affirming as you can.

2) Post your favorite memory around selflessness, giving,or doing for others. Something that has actually changed you.

3) As a postscript, name one thing you will actually do for someone in your life before December 31 that is born out of joy.

4) Tag 3 other bloggers who will play the game and find the spirit. Don't forget to leave a comment on their blog so they continue to share the good feelings.

1) Wow, I feel like a copycat but I too was thinking of Diana Jenner; a woman I really don't know except for the little communication that we've done through unschooling lists, Myspace, and blogger. An amazing human being who lost both her husband and daughter to cancer and is raising her son alone; although, now has the help of a boyfriend. I'm sure she has some very dark hours but keeps living an abundant life, full of spunk and rebelliousness (the good kind). She celebrates life, celebrates her daughter's life and is just an incredible inspiration to me. I wish her a prosperous life in Corvallis and LOTS and LOTS of good luck.

2) I can think of several off the top of my head. The most recent one that keeps coming back to my attention was when I was in a metaphysical sort-of-store a couple of weeks ago and a woman was admiring a piece of quartz, or something of the sort, that was tagged at $125. She asked the store owner if she gave Christmas discounts to which the store owner replied, "Tell me one thing that you have done for humanity this year." The woman answered that she worked for hospice and the store owner gave her the piece for $75. It just touched me and I can't exactly explain why. I find myself often asking myself the same question, "Heidi, what have you done for humanity today?" Lovely, just lovely! Sometimes even a simple little smile can be a selfless act for others, especially when we don't really feel like it, because of the ripple effect that it can have, not only on the people immediately surrounding us, but on the rest of humanity. We often feel so different from one another but we are all very much connected by the same energy; we all experience the same emotions and are much more the same than we think. Everything we do has a profound effect on the rest of mankind. That ripple effect!

3) I will continue to be the rock in Christa's life; the young girl that I blogged about in my prior post. Almost every adult in her life has disposed of her when they can't deal with her anymore. I will continue to let her know that I'm the rock, I'm here and I'm not going anywhere. There is nothing she could do to make me go away. I will support her financially when she is in need of something and I will be here to give her a hug when she is sad and lonely. And along the way we will continue to have fun. She has brought so much positive energy into my home, has such a positive outlook on life, and is SO interesting and creative!

I will also continue to be the ever present person in my children's life. I will give them everything I have to give and I will take care of and love myself so that I have something to give. I will teach them about joy and peace by having joy and peace in my own life. I will continue to honor them as fellow and capable human beings, by letting them be who they were born to be without interference, and being their soft place to land when they make mistakes. I will choose to use words and actions that build them up, not break them down. I will love them unconditionally!

I will let my friends and family know, out loud, how much I love and care for them and how much joy they add to my life. Off the top of my head- Ren and Robin, my husband and children, Sheli, Debbie, Tanya, and many others who make my life as wonderful as it is. I seriously couldn't make it without you guys- you are the bomb!!

And last of all, I will strive to be the best yoga teacher possible. To offer the gift of learning to be present, breathing, and getting to know and accept ourselves. Again, I will use words and actions to build people up and help them to be better human beings.

4) I'm tagging my son Kev, Kelli, and Karen.

2007-12-23T09:41:00.000-09:00

I think this is the longest I have ever went without blogging. So much has gone on this last month it is hard to know where to begin. I will try and keep it brief.

The first part of December was spent putting together a gingerbread house for the yoga studio. The City of Palmer had a contest with the downtown businesses and Heather and I volunteered to make one for the studio. It was a lot of fun and VERY time consuming. We figure we have about 14 hours total into the house.

I finished my yoga teacher training on December 14!! I am officially a certified yoga instructor. The only thing left to do is to send my certificiation, along with my fees, to Yoga Alliance and I will be registered. It has been a very positive experience and a time of some major personal growth. I'm working with some incredibly wonderful people and am very happy in where I am at in my life.

Around the same time I was finishing my teacher training our septic backed up and flooded our basement. What we thought was going to be a simple carpet cleaning and a day digging up our septic turned into a major remodel project in the basement. Turns out we had a mold problem and everything had to be ripped out, including some sheetrock and studs. The good thing about it is the insurance paid us enough money to finish our entire basement. We had started on a remodel project that we were unable to finish because we ran out of money so now we can finish it!! So..... blessing in disguise. It hasn't been fun but in the long run we will be thankful.

Calista's birthday was Tuesday so I took her, Rylee (her cousin), and Haley (her good friend) into Anchorage for the day. We went to Red Robin's for lunch and had the crew sing to her, shopping at the mall, and then to the theatre to watch Enchanted. Last night we had the family over for cake and ice cream. It was also Dina's birthday (her dog) so we had a puppy party.

Of course, we have had the normal last minute shopping trips, trying to make Christmas a special day for the kids. I'm not a big fan of Christmas but it is enjoyable to watch the kids get excited. We've had this incredible young girl that has been spending much of her time over at our house, including overnight most weekends. Her home life isn't exactly peachy keen and we wanted to make this Christmas memorable for her. We (our family, Murphy family, and the Walker family) filled a stocking, plus a bag full of things that she loves, and at the very bottom of the stocking we had an i pod. She wouldn't have dreamed of even putting something like that on her list because I don't think she could have even imagined something like that was within her reach. She lifted it out of the stocking, was a little stunned, almost as if she thought it was a pretend one, and then it sunk in and she started to cry. It was so fun to make her smile and excited about the holidays. Those are the kinds of moments that I live for. She couldn't quit saying thank you the entire evening and we definitely made her year special.

Today I'm off to my sisters to do laundry. My laundry room is in the basement, unfortunately, so it won't be put back together for at least another week.

Merry Christmas to everyone!!

2007-11-24T09:26:00.000-09:00

Wow, I haven't blogged in a while! I don't have a lot of time for computer stuff lately. I don't see my kids as much as I would like, due to the yoga teacher training that I'm doing, so when I'm home I'm either cleaning house or being with my kids. The one thing that is keeping me going is knowing that it is short-lived. I actually am only three weeks away from being certified, yay!! I've been teaching four classes a week and Georgia just gave me another class to teach.

I'm enjoying teaching Ashtanga the most, I think in part because it is my own practice; the glove just fits better for me. It has been so rewarding to see people come into my class that are tight and unsure and just completely open up, and sometimes in just a few short weeks. Heather and I are also working on a Kids Yoga Camp, putting together games and activities and somewhat of an outline. We will be doing the camp over the Christmas Holidays. The City of Palmer also puts on a gingerbread house contest for local businesses to participate in. We decided to participate so we will be getting together next weekend to build it. We are making a yoga studio and Martha (Martin's sister) agreed to make us clay figures for it. She makes these clay figures and makes them into pins and magnets. The local stores buy them to sell to the tourists and she also does quite a few bazaars over the holidays. So she is making us figures of people doing yoga!!

I have also been dealing with a neck issue that I have been trying to ignore and it finally kicked my butt. I injured it several months ago, which usually causes major problems because I've not had any curvature in my neck for quite some time. I just kept working through it, expecting yoga to eventually "fix" it. I teach my students to honor their bodies and here I am COMPLETELY ignoring my own. So I went to see a chiropractor this week. I don't like the ones that just pop and crack you because all that is doing is releasing the gas in your joint; I want someone who is going to actually line me back up. So I got some recommendations and ended up at Dr. DeSalvo's office. Great choice!! He has done two adjustments and I'm feeling 70% better. I have another adjustment on Tues. morning and as soon as I am mostly pain free he is going to put me on a Posture Pump, a piece of machinery that will put the curvature back in my neck. We are pretty sure that the curvature problem stems from a bad car accident that I was in about 18 years ago. I should have had this taken care of years ago!!

So most of you know that my family spends a lot of time dreaming and planning our dreams; sometimes we actually live them and sometimes not. Usually when we don't it's either because our dreams have changed or the Universe didn't see fit to give them to us for whatever reason. My sister's husband, Bleu, refers to our dreams as the fruit-of-the-month because they are always changing and revolving. So MY latest dream that I have started actively planning is a two month trip to India to practice my Ashtanga with Masterji Viswanatha. Viswanatha is the nephew of Patabhi Jois, Guru of Ashtanga yoga who studied with Krishnamacharya,. Viswanatha studied with Patabhi for 15 years and now has his own studio in Bangalore. I may change my mind and actually go study with Patabhi, who actually has pretty much turned everything over to his grandson who has studied with him most of his life, but for whatever reasons I seem to be more drawn towards Viswanatha. The goal is to go within the next two years. It is a very family-friendly place and they welcome families to join. I will actually be going to get certified in Ashtanga yoga. My goal before I leave is to get to Series II. Ashtanga is split up into series and you master one series before moving to the next. Most people practice each series for a couple of years or more before moving on. I have practiced Primary Series for almost one year and I expect that within one more year I will have it somewhat mastered. I have two workshops/conferences planned over the next year so that will help in my goal also.

So what's happening in my normal day-to-day? Not much out of the ordinary. Kids always in and out of our house, which I love!! The other night a group came over with a Risk game with the goal of staying up all night and finishing a game. I went and got them a bunch of food and Rockstars and that is exactly what they did. I think the last one to go down fell asleep around 4:30 or 5:00. I love it that there are kids that still like to have good, "clean" fun. And the funny thing is that if you judged some of them by their looks a lot of adults would think they were just "punk" kids. I think it is time that our society started honoring these teens because they are incredible human beings with so much to offer the world!! Calista has found Club Penguin and has been playing it non-stop for the last week. Rylee and Hailey are also on the game so they call each other and play, while they are talking on the phone...............for hours! Tristan is doing a trial month of X Box Live so he is on another gaming spurt too.

Tonight will be another night of a house full of friends and food! We have been having friends over quite often to eat and play! I love having a lively house with great energy in it!! We have been trying to do some crafty things to make gifts for the holidays. We made bath salts a couple of weeks ago and then Debbie bought the stuff to make candles.

The weather has also been terrific!! I usually have a very difficult time during these long, dark winters. For at least a week now we have had 45-49 degree weather and quite a bit of rain. Actually I don't think we have dropped below 25 degrees but once this entire winter. It feels like fall to me! We got a little bit of snow but that has all melted now. It is going to make this winter extremely short. I'm still planning on taking the motorhome out in the spring, or possibly the fall, it kind of depends on Kev's schedule. It is looking like he might not return to public school next semester so we may be able to leave whenever. He really wants to continue with the Japanese at the school so we have to look into his options. He feels that school is wasting his time on meaningless busy work and that he could be doing better things with his time. He has also struggled with the immaturity of so many of the kids and the basic "teenage drama" that goes on. Of course, most of it is due to teens that aren't being honored and trusted but that is beyond our help.

Me

2007-10-31T15:48:00.001-08:00

My sister, Ren, posted this on her blog. I thought it was kind of fun so I will give it a shot.

You can play by finishing the following sentences about yourself:

“I am.......... wife, mom (the best ever ;), sister, aunt, clogger, yoga teacher, recycler, vegetarian (currently vegan),a free spirit. I am creative, beautiful, complicated, loud, talkative, spiritual.

“Right now I am in............... a state of complete contentment, satisfied and grateful."

“Most people do not know that I................ am a certified ghost hunter. Really, truly. I got certified by Allen McGee in Erwin, TN. Do you have a house being haunted that needs investigating?”

“I am passionate about.................. yoga and all that it entails. It is so much more than a physical exercise but unfortunately, that is mostly what it is here in the Western part of the world."

“Decades from now, when my children think of me, I hope that they remember ................that I completely supported them in all their endeavors; that everything they wanted to do, ask, inquire about, pursue, or delve into was acknowledged and supported fully; that they were respected as fellow human beings, not puppets to be controlled; that there mom was truly their best friend, their soft place to land, their cocoon of safety; that I let down my hair and had fun with them; that I let them be exactly who they were without trying to change or mold them into something that I wished they were.”

“My soul feels warm and I have a big smile when I remember........... our six month trip around the USA in our motorhome. We took huge risks and lived our dream and we didn't let anybody or anything get in our way.”

“If I could go back in time and give one piece of advice to myself when I was 18 years old it would be to.............. stand up and question everything! It was so easy to accept everything as truth. It limited me in being who I really am deep inside. To not be afraid of what other people could do to me. In my younger years I was so concerned with pleasing others instead of living what I was put on this earth for. And to really live, to do those things I was passionate about and not be afraid to try new things.”

“I think that the most important thing about life is....... JOY, it's all in the joy. The joy of living, doing, being.… And being authentic!”

Food For Thought

2007-10-30T19:47:00.000-08:00

This article was posted by my friend, Cara, on her blog. I thought it was such an excellent article I had to re-post it. I read it to some public school kids who thought it was SO true! Food for thought!

This article was written by Jason Holm:

Imagine this:

You wake up one morning, pour yourself a bowl of cereal, and turn on the morning news. As you lift your spoon to your lips, you hear the newscaster announce that, starting today, the American government has declared that the nutrition of its citizens is a very important issue. Poor nutrition results in decreased productivity, increased healthcare costs, and additional cost for the airline industry due to seating redesigns. In its infinite wisdom, the government has decided that from now on, it will take responsibility for your personal nutritional intake.

Glancing down at your bowl of Frosted Flakes, a twinge of fear enters your heart.

As the report continues, you hear that each state will be responsible for setting up government-controlled restaurants, and that all adults over age 18 will be required to spend a certain number of hours (generally 8am to 3pm) in these facilities for about 9 months out of the year, for 12 years, eating at these restaurants. Naturally, this upsets you. Turning off the television, you start to get ready for work, hoping you simply swallowed some mouthwash earlier and the alcoholic content was causing hallucinations.

Just then, you hear a knock at the door. To your surprise, there is a police officer standing there.
"Excuse me, sir/ma'am. Would you mind explaining why you aren't in restaurant today?"

"I beg your pardon?" you exclaim, suddenly coming to grips with what is taking place.

"According to state law, you are required to be in restaurant at this time. If you don't comply, there will be legal ramifications."

"Why can't I just eat what I want, when I want?"

The officer explains that, technically, you can. But this new shift in the power structure has had some interesting effects. Due to the fact that there are now a large number of government-run restaurants, and that the majority of the population will be required to attend them,nearly all other restaurants have been put out of business. Those that remain are required to follow government-set menus, cooking methods,and more. For the most part, the only privately-owned restaurants left are so expensive only the elite can afford to eat there -- and are still required to be there all day.

You ask "why can't I simply buy my own groceries, read cookbooks and nutrition manuals, and cook my own meals at home, on my own schedule?"

The officer rolls his eyes, then replies "Well, I suppose, but we'd still have to monitor you. We can't trust that you wouldn't just eat junk food all day, so you would still be required to follow government standards, and we have rules about the qualifications of the people who cook food for you, and you'd have to see a government-set nutritionist every year -- to make sure you're following the rules. You'll have to provide them with a daily meal plan, just so we can be sure.

"He then adds "But everyone you know will be in the restaurants. You'll be home all alone. How will you get any socialization?"

You start to mention all the teenagers running the grocery stores, the folks at the cookbook store, not to mention the folks you'd interact with at the bank, post office, library, your job, and all the other places all day. "It's not like I'd be sitting at home just cooking and eating all day -- there's a whole world out there.

"But eventually, you give in to pressure from friends, family, neighbors, and government officials. While you'd rather cook at eat your own food, it hardly seems to be worth the hassle anymore.

Getting off the restaurant bus, you step into the building. It's obvious most of the other people you see don't want to be there, either. They had plans of their own today. Some people seem to be truly happy - they were very hungry and actually like the menu.

For efficiency, 20 to 30 people are stuffed into a single booth. You start to introduce yourself to your booth mates, only for the waitress to approach and say "I'm going to have to ask you all to quiet down, please." So much for socializing.

You ask the waitress for a menu, only to be told your order has already been made. "Don't we get to choose what we want to eat?" you ask. She informs you that if there is any funding left, you can pick a dessert at the end.

The meal comes - it's some kind of casserole. You take a taste - no flavor whatsoever. Everyone in the restaurant has been given the same meal. Seeing as how it is only 10pm, you're not really hungry yet.

The waitress comes by. "You need to eat that." You explain that you aren't hungry yet, and ask if you can save it for lunch. "No, you'll have another plate at lunch. And you'd better hurry -- the eleven o'clock plate will be here before you know it."

"I have to eat a plate of this every hour?!" you exclaim. She assures you that the contents and portions have been measured by government nutritionists, and they know exactly what and how much food the average American adult needs to consume to be healthy.

You look around the restaurant, failing to see any "average" American adult. "What's in the food, anyway?" You ask the waitress.

"I'm not sure," she replies. "I don't cook it, I just serve it."

Jump ahead twelve years. Americans are even more unhealthy than before, especially considering whenever they see food in real life, they shun or mock it. You avoid eating whenever you can, after having it shoved down your throat for over a decade. You still don't understand why the food you ate was nutritious, and tend to gravitate towards junk food when you are hungry.

Sounds ridiculous, right? Now why, when we apply this same story to education, instead of eating, does it sound like normal, everyday life?

Halloween Party

2007-10-30T17:38:00.000-08:00

Don't be fooled, he is the devil in disguise!

The DJ (Ryan) and his sidekick.

My sister and I, the fortune teller and Queen of Atlantis.

Kev's bestest buddy, Sara.

Part of the gang and Calista, er, goth cheerleader.

Sarah gets down.

Tanya, Debbie, and myself.

Martin, 80's rocker maybe? and me.

2007-10-23T12:08:00.000-08:00

Most of you know how obsessed I become with the weather this time of year so here we go:) We got our first snowfall on, hmm, I think it was Saturday. Not very much and it has mostly melted off but still patches on the ground. Temperature has been sticking right around the 30 degree mark but no more snow yet. Today is sunny and beautiful! For some reason when there is no snow it feels warmer, psychological I know. There is just enough snow in the backyard so that the sleds will slide. Calista and Tristan have been out there constant since Saturday and Calista is REALLY sore. It's quite the workout I guess:)

I forgot to mention that my cousin, Bill, and his wife, Danielle came out on Saturday too. They are storing their motorhome on our property, until spring, so we had lunch and chatted for four hours. We had a lot of catching up to do! They are planning on some more travel this winter, duh! Danielle said the other day that they have been to 42 countries!! Amazing!! The life that I want to live someday. I would actually love to do some of that with my kids, too bad I don't have travel benefits like they do. That's what you get for working for Alaska Airlines.

I taught my first Ashtanga class this morning; I think that is going to be my favorite class to teach. That is my home practice so it just feels so natural for me. I have been officially hired and will be teaching two Ashtanga classes a week and two hot yoga classes. I'm really, really enjoying it, just in case you didn't get that already. I'm sure everyone is sick and tired of hearing about my yoga classes.............sorry. It's become such a huge part of my life and a huge part of who I am now. If you haven't ever tried it you should!! Life changing!!

Tomorrow my friend and I are hosting a Halloween party at the Palmer Depot, 6:00 pm for anyone who wants to come; family friendly. Bring food to share and come in costume. It should be fun! I'm going as a fortune teller. I'll post pics later on that.

Awesome Week!!

2007-10-21T15:56:00.000-08:00

I had the last two weeks off from yoga teacher training. Georgia (our teacher) was on vacation this last week so Heather and I taught all her classes. I had four that I taught this week and it was awesome!! It is such a rewarding job! The first two classes were a little awkward but by the third and fourth class I had a rhythm going and it just felt very comfortable. The thing I love about teaching yoga is that it doesn't have a teacher/student feel, rather it's more like sharing an experience with others. You are just there guiding them through their own practice, and at the same time learning so much from the students and even improving your own practice. I really enjoyed this week and can't wait to teach more classes. I have two more months in teacher training before I'm certified but am pretty sure Georgia is going to let us continue teaching through our training.

We took the kids to a haunted house last night. It must have been pretty scary because our group of kids and the group behind them were all huddled together when they came out. It seemed to be a well thought out haunted house. After the haunted house everyone ended up congregating at our house (some of the kids and Debbie and Ryan). Martin got to mixing some drinks and we had a little too much fun; doing yoga (I know, not very smart), listening to Saturday Night Fever, doing slides through the living room, lip sync, and dancing with the kids. We didn't wind down until around 3:00am! The teens crashed here, as usual, and Martin woke up and made them a big batch of vegan pancakes this morning...................................well, afternoon :) It was just a FUN evening!! I just can't say enough how blessed I am to have kids that enjoy playing with us and hanging around.

I woke up to a TON of dishes covering my counters. It took me three dishwasher loads to get them all cleared off. And the entire time I just kept thinking how great my life is!! I guess I need to tackle the office next. I've really let the house go, especially since I started teacher training. Some of it is on purpose because it's not worth it, you clean and the next day you start over, so why bother. But I do get tired of dirt and grime and I'm almost to that point where I will do a marathon cleaning. We still have remodel projects in the basement, which doesn't help with the mess. There is never enough money to get it all done at once, oh well.

2007-10-15T14:53:00.000-08:00

Well, not feeling very inspired to blog but will give a short update.

We have had some cool weather, definitely headed into winter. No snow yet but temp.'s have definitely dropped and we have had enough wind that all the leaves have dropped. It's clear and sunny today but the snow has come all the way down the mountains so it is just a matter of time before it hits us. I know some people that live up the hill farther that got a little yesterday but none at our house. We got the motorhome winterized and parked so it won't be coming out until spring. There are plans to take it south this next spring but we will see how everything falls into place. Seems like for every ten things planned, one actually comes through for us. But that is why we dream all the time!! You gotta put it out there into the universe and see how the universe responds.

Robin hosted two bonfires, the first two Saturdays this month. She had pretty lights hung up on torches and a nice little crowd, not too many but enough to make it fun. The first time we got rained on towards the end of the evening but it was still fun. The picture is of my sister and her good friend, Suzanne. Little too chilly this last Saturday so we ended up going over to the Murphy's for family game night. We all played Pictionary until the kids lost interest and left to go jump on the trampoline. Actually, they ended up hauling blankets and pillows out there and all curling up together and chit chatting. Debbie, Sharon, Calista and I played a game of Life, Simpson style. It was a great evening!!

I've had last week and this week off from school so am getting lots done around the house. I taught one class last week and this week am teaching 4 or 5 classes while Georgia is out of town. It will give me some good practice and hopefully everyone will give me good feedback as to how I can teach better. I got some good feedback from the last class I taught so I know what to work on for this week.

Other than that, not much new around here. Feeling a little angst, as I always do at this time of year. It's a time of transition and for some reason it's always a little difficult for me. I'm not too much of a cool weather person so it's very challenging that way, on top of the fact that I have a hard time finding things to do in the cooler weather. It's good I have teacher training to focus on but could definitely use a trip outside this year.

Yoga Teacher Training

2007-10-09T14:54:00.000-08:00

Well, I taught my first yoga class last night! I co-taught with a fellow student, Heather. I did all the cueing and she did all the poses off my cues. I think it went really well, I felt very comfortable and at ease and look forward to many more classes. I will get a little evaluation from Georgia (my teacher) some time this week to see how she thought I did. I got lots of positive feedback after the class so that felt good.

I really feel like I'm on the right path for me. I just have this sense of peace and contentment being where I am at right now. I have been blessed to meet Heather, who I have a tremendous amount in common with. We have had some fun discussions and I'm sure she will end up being a good friend. She is vegan, as Kev is, and so I'm going to give it another shot. Just remembering how good I felt, along with the fact that Kev needs a good support system. I remember how many tries it took me to go vegetarian, just trying to figure it all out, and that was 12 years ago so here I go! I will be posting on my other blog again, I know it's been a while, so if you were reading over there go ahead and pick it up again. The address is veganforamonth_snavleys.blogspot.com.

this and that

2007-09-24T15:04:00.001-08:00

Haven't had a whole lot of time to blog lately. I started my yoga teacher training class last week, which is three days every week so that has been eating a lot of my time up. It's exciting to be moving towards my goal of being a yoga instructor. My kids are handling it really well and being very supportive of my endeavor. Martin has been going to work as late as he can get away with, which usually only leaves them alone for two hours on those three days. I will be teaching classes by the middle of December so it is pretty short-lived.

It's been an interesting month, getting used to being in the public school system and being on their schedule. Lots of adjustments, some good/some bad. Kev went on a rant last night about how school is such a waste of time. He feels like some parts of it are fun but that it is just such a waste of good time. He doesn't have time for the things that he is passionate about, those things that are relevant to him as an individual, those things that he is actually going to do something with. He also feels like he really hasn't learned anything new. Even in his English class, which is his favorite class (next to Japanese), he feels like he isn't really learning anything; he is writing some awesome essay's but not really getting much feedback on his writing. He just gets A's but doesn't really know what he needs to work on to write better. He also is realizing that the social part of it, the part that he thought was going to be the biggest plus, is really not social at all. He is finding out that you can't really socialize during school and that he had a much richer social life out of school. At this point he knows he is not going to continue in the public school but he isn't sure whether he will pull out after semester or after the year. I think he would like to pull out now but he says that he wants all of those people, that thought it was going to be such a great experience for him, to know that he did a year and that "it sucked".

The funny thing is that he has 4 A's, 1 B, and a C (in math). He has never had formal schooling before this; so much for the notion that you have to "prepare kids" for this sort of thing. Apparently, unschooling has equipped him just fine! I think grades are a joke anyway, but that is a subject for a different day:) I think school is unatural for many, many reasons but again, that is a subject for another day. Kev definitely thinks that it is not real life, in fact he made the comment the other day, "If people think that school is a mimic of the real world, why not just LIVE in the real world? Why bother with school if you can just LIVE?!" Amen, it's what I've been trying to tell people but not everyone gets it!! At least he knows now what it is all about right?

Happy Birthday Kev!!

2007-09-16T16:39:00.000-08:00

My firstborn just had his 15th birthday. He happened to have a swim meet, in Soldotna, on his birthday so we all drove down for that and yelled happy birthday at him all day:) Yesterday we took 7 of his closest friends in to Anchorage for dinner at Red Robins and a movie. Debbie and Ryan came with and helped haul in kids. We had a great time, movie was kind of stupid (Dragon Wars) but we had fun anyway. Five of the kids crashed at our house last night. I love hanging out with his friends, I wish I could adopt all of them. I'm just glad they all like to hang out here. It's a little strange having a 15 year old, since I remember almost everything about that year in my own life, sure doesn't seem like 20 years ago! Happy Birthday Kev, we love you!!!

My little brother got out of prison yesterday too. Robin picked him up and we took him into Anchorage, fed him, and put him on the plane back to Fairbanks. All day I just had a pit in my stomach. It is so frustrating that we can't do more to help integrate these prisoners into society. He has fetal alcohol syndrome, which makes it a little harder for him to function in this world, and he has nowhere to go once he gets to Fairbanks. And to make matters worse we can't really take him in because he is on the sexual registration list, due to a conviction of statuatory rape, because he was caught having consensual sex with a girl who was under 16, when he was 19. My sister, Dana, picked him up yesterday and gave him a warm place to sleep, for a couple of nights, and then first thing tomorrow morning I am going to go on a mad search for some kind of assisted living for him. We just want so badly for him to make it but he also has to want it just as bad. He has found it easier to be in prison though because he always has a warm place to sleep and food in his belly. It's the easier route, ya know.

2007-09-12T19:33:00.000-08:00

My sister, me, cousin Jason, family friend Sarah, and all the kids.

"Grandma"

2007-09-12T19:32:00.000-08:00

My aunt Karen with Tristan, Rylee, and Calista. Kev stayed home because he wasn't feeling too well. She is more like grandma to my kids.

Cousins

2007-09-12T19:30:00.000-08:00

This is me and my cousin Jason, who is exactly, to the day, two months older than me. We grew up more like twins, always together and often living within a block away from each other.

Fairbanks

2007-09-12T19:24:00.000-08:00

Had a wonderful weekend, with my family, in Fairbanks. It's been a while since I spent an entire weekend with just the family so the trip was overdue for that. My aunt, who moved to Texas last year, was up visiting, which made it extra special because we hadn't seen her in two years since we were on our trip when she left. It was just good to be surrounded by my mom's immediate family and to have that feeling once again that my mom's spirit still lives in others that loved her so much. It was good for my kids to be around a "grandma" that loves and adores them without judgement.

The picture of me was taken tonight. I know it might not be as cute as the last haircut but it sure is EASY, especially with all the yoga I do. Martin likes it so I guess that is all that matters.

New tat

2007-09-01T10:58:00.000-08:00

Here is the latest. My good friend, Tanya, got it first and then I decided to get a matching one.

Aarrggghhh!!

2007-08-31T15:35:00.000-08:00

The transmission went out on my van................................again! This is the fourth time in two years. I was getting ready to turn into an intersection when it happened so my three kids had to push me off to the side. That has got to be the worst thing you can do to a teenager; making him push your car out of an intersection. Too bad we didn't take a video of it, lol.

Good thing is that our transmission was under warranty so hopefully they can fix it and we can baby it another 10,000 miles.

Another Daily OM

2007-08-28T11:14:00.000-08:00

August 28, 2007Exploring An Alternate UniverseWhat Makes People Tick?

All people have their own way of being in the world. It is easiest to comprehend this basic yet profound fact when we consider that every human being on the planet occupies a distinct role in the universe. We grow up in different environments, affected by a unique range of influences. The preferences, values, and beliefs we embrace are frequently related intimately to our origins. And the need to individualize our experiences is instinctive, as doing so enables us to cope when we must face challenges on our own. Consequently, each of us has developed a perspective that is uniquely ours. Interacting peacefully and constructively with people from all walks of life is a matter of first understanding where they are coming from. Then we can adjust our expectations so that we avoid making undue assumptions about what they are about.

In the face of emerging interpersonal conflict, it is easy to assume that others are being difficult, unreasonable, or stubborn. We are apt to grow frustrated when someone in our environment does not share our opinions or feel compelled to support us in our endeavors. It is likely that the individual or individuals before us may simply possess differing notions with regard to what is and what is not important in this life. We can ease the tension that exists between us by reaffirming our belief in the fundamental right of all beings to determine their own destinies. To foster a harmonious relationship, we need to do our best to relate to the unique universes they inhabit. And as we discover what makes them tick, our ability to find a mode of interaction that is pleasing to both of us is enhanced.

When there are barriers keeping you from connecting with someone else, think of questions you can ask them to gain a more thorough understanding of their point of view. You may discover that in addition to the differences in perspective dividing you, they are subject to insecurities and other personal issues that influence their way of seeing the world. It is likely that you will never fully grasp the myriad complexities embodied by humanity, but you can go a long way toward encouraging mutually satisfying relations by reaching out to others in the spirit of sympathetic comprehension.

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Sighhhh. I'm working on it.

School Update

2007-08-22T10:26:00.000-08:00

We are on day three. I have so many mixed emotions it's hard to blog on it. The female hormones are a little out of whack this week too so that doesn't help.

I wouldn't say Kev is excited about school but getting through it. I expected for him to have a little more emotion on the whole thing, whether bad or good, but he seems a little blase about all of it. He thinks he is really going to enjoy Japanese, Choir, and English but really couldn't care less about the rest. And he HATES science; hates the teacher, thinks the curriculum is boring, really doesn't like anything about it. The curriculum is stuff he already knows lots about so it's a little mundane. He thought he was going to see his friends a lot but he doesn't have lunch with any of them and he only has a couple of classes with two of them. I will have to say though he is very organized, which isn't a characteristic I have seen much of. He gets home, gets his stuff done and goes to bed.

Dropping him off at the school the first day was extremely eery, that is really the only way I can explain it. All the things about school that just make me cringe was right there in front of me. Like a bunch of bees swarming to their nest, into the box they go. And all day all I could think of was him sitting in this classroom, listening to a teacher talk about stuff, of which much he will never take with him on his life journey, and then shuffle on to the next classroom. It just made me sad. And then he heads to swim practice and I don't see him until 5:00!! When he gets home he barely has the energy for his homework and then he crashes. He absolutely has no free time to pursue the things that he is so passionate about, and he has a lot of passions. He hardly has the energy for youth court, which is something he really enjoys. And I feel like there are only two children living at home right now.

But this is what he wants to do so he will never see me tear up when I drop him off and he will never hear all those voices in my head that say, "please don't go". I will be very surprised if he does another year. We have a homeschool/charter school here where he can do most of the classes at home but has the option of taking classes at the school if he wants. If he wants former schooling I hope he takes that path next year. At least that way he still has the freedom and still has time to pursue other things.

this and that

2007-08-19T10:06:00.000-08:00

Wow, I haven't blogged since the 8th of August! It's been a little crazy around here and it's nice to have everything calmed down and somewhat normal.

Martin had family here all of July and the first part of this month with the ENTIRE family here for a week. He has four siblings and with all of their spouses and kids there were about 20 of us. We had a grand time; did some hiking, shopping, eating, and just hanging out. A good friend, Karen Demmert and her son, Nicholas, were here too. Karen provided loads of entertainment, as she is quite comical. We hiked Lazy Mountain, a fairly difficult hike, and she mostly slipped and slided both up and down the mountain. We had a bit of rain before the hike so it was pretty muddy and then Karen had no traction on her shoes. I think my stomach got more of a workout than my legs because I was laughing so hard.

The last week ended with Lois and Merle's (Martin's parents) 50th wedding anniversary. Lots of their friends showed up to wish them well and it was touching to see the legacy that they are leaving behind for their children. My parents were also married for almost 37 years at the time of my mother's death. I think it is special that both Martin and I were left with great examples of what a marriage can be.

After the family left last week I headed up to Fairbanks with Tristan and Calista. Kevin just started highschool swim team so he couldn't come with us. We stayed with my good friend Sheli and just hung out and had a good time. Her daughter, Maija and Calista are bosom buddies and it had been six months since they had seen each other so they were attached at the hip the entire four days. Milo and Tristan are pretty good friends too so everyone was pretty happy! I spent an afternoon with my grandma and grandpa, who are getting ready to move from a big house to a condo. Grandpa has Parkinson's, which is progressing and they just can't handle the house, the stairs, and everything that goes with caring for a house and landscaping. Ironically, Sheli's sister and her family are buying the house so I will be able to see it once in a while.

This weekend we went and got the rest of the things that Kev needs for school. It gives me a really odd feeling to enter into the system for the first time. There are a lot of arbitrary things that the system has in place that gets me going once in a while but somehow we will get through it. He always has the freedom to come home if he hates it, just as he made the choice to go in the first place.

One of the things that was a little frustrating is the whole immunization thing. We choose not to immunize our children, although Kev has mostly been immunized because I didn't question much when he was little. We found a WONDERFUL naturopathic MD in town that signed his opt out form. At first we were told that we just had to sign a opt out form but when it came down to finishing the registration process we ended up having to either sign a religious opt out or medical opt out. The religious one didn't work because you have to actually be a member of a church that practices no immunizations. The doctor that we have been seeing wouldn't sign it so we had to go in search of an MD who practices naturopathically. I can't believe we found one in Wasilla!! He is a younger doctor, probably right around my age (35 or so) who doesn't care for the way doctors approach medicine. Kev has been eating vegan and is pretty committed to living that way so the doctor gave him a list of supplements that he needs to be taking and talked a lot with him about things he needs to have in his diet. He also talked about the slight acne he is dealing with. I was just so excited to find someone that thinks like us! We talked about things totally unrelated to medicine too because we have so much in common. We will definitely be establishing a long-term relationship with him as our family doctor.

Anyway, Kev has everything he needs to enter his freshman year. He is a little nervous but also excited. I think the thing he is most excited about is that the school offers Japanese, which was a big motivation for him to go to school. He is nervous about the math thing, as he has had very little written math but I'm sure he will be fine. He won't have the pressure from us to have to perform and get good grades so it's not a biggie. For him school is a tool he is going to pick up and use.............period. It's not the end all, be all for his life.

I have lots of pictures that I may or may not post later. It seems that I have less and less time to be on the computer, or should I say less time that I want to spend on the computer. Part of it is because we are all sharing one computer. Martin's computer even crashed this last week. He had to get a new hard drive so he lost EVERYTHING. He didn't have any of his realty stuff backed up so it was a hard lesson! I ordered myself a new spring green Dell but it isn't here yet; can't wait! Calista has decided to spend part of her Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD) on her own computer too so we will have enough computers in the house for everyone to use. For those of you who don't know what the PFD is, it is the oil money that is in a fund and every Alaska resident gets some of the interest from that fund. This year the checks will be about $1575.00!