Great Day!

Today has been a great day! Yesterday we met some fellow unschoolers; Connie and her daughter, Hannah. We spent the afternoon at their house and were so inspired. Just a great kid-friendly, fun, creative house with fun, creative people living in it, which is exactly what I needed to get my head out of the sand. They have a swing, trapeze, and climbing rope right in the middle of the living room! So guess what we are building this week? You got it! A swing, trapeze, and climbing rope!

We woke up this morning to a little bit of snow on the ground. Winter is officially here! I was surprised at how well I handled it. It actually felt very refreshing. It always makes the air smell and feel really clean. Connie and Hannah came over to our house this afternoon and the girls had a blast. Lots and lots of noise filled our home today!! Tonight we had our puppy class and then we came home and had a snowball fight. All that running and cold air burns the lungs I tell ya but it was fun!! We came in and made homemade hot chocolate and now the kids are watching Smallville (one of their favs).

We ordered, and received, some woodworking books and are going to get started on some projects tomorrow. We also have a sewing project book on the way so we will have plenty to do over the next couple of weeks. Martin almost has Kevin's room and craft area done; we just have to get it mud and taped. It will be so nice to have a craft area that we can leave messes out in. We have lots of projects in mind but all our project stuff is still in boxes waiting for that area to get completed. My sister, Ren, just unpacked their last boxes, after one year of living in Jonesborough so I shouldn't feel so bad :) .

AhhhhHaaaaa

Last night was one of those AhhhHaaa moments for me. Tristan was beckoning me outside where I thought him and Calista were playing football (at 10:00pm). He had actually been out there showing Calista how to shoot his BB gun. He taught her how to scope it, aim and shoot. She was hitting the cans they had set up every time. He would say, "Calista, be patient, if it takes ten minutes it is okay. Make sure you get your aim and then shoot." She would shoot and hit the cans and Tristan would say, "Good job Calista!! Isn't she good Mom?"

Now, this might not seem like such an AhhhHaaa moment for most of you but for me it was huge!! You see Calista and Tristan are the exact opposites of each other and, consequently, they get very frustrated with each other and spend an incredible amount of time bickering and criticizing. Sometimes I go to bed totally exhausted from it. So to see the two of them being so sweet and patient with each other; encouraging and cheering one another on was HUGE!!! I went to bed with a BIG ole' grin on my face!!!

Betty and Veronica

Calista's bosom buddy, Maija, flew down this weekend to spend some time with Calista. It has been almost one year since they have seen each other so this is pretty special. We dubbed them Betty and Veronica when they were quite young and you can see from the picture why. They have been singing, applying make-up, watching TV, and all the other things girly girls do. We are going neon bowling tonight. Calista is going to feel the void when Maija leaves tomorrow night but, thank goodness, we aren't too far away anymore and can see her pretty often. Her mom is my bosom buddy and she couldn't come this weekend :( so I will be anxious to get up to Fairbanks soon.

Some fellow unschoolers, the barenaked family, were on Nightline last night. They have lived in their motorhome for five years now and they were featured on the show for that reason. I dreamt about being back in the motorhome last night and it is just starting to sink in for me that I am going through a grieving process of sorts. I know that sounds a little much for just moving out of a motorhome but I REALLY love the lifestyle and I am longing for it right now, wishing all my kids were still on board. There are some good things about owning a house but I am quickly discovering that I would much rather be in the motorhome. I refuse to allow discontent to settle in again though so I am choosing to be happy and saving the road living for another day, hopefully not too far in the future. It might work out that we can still keep the house and travel in the motorhome in the winter months so that everyone has what they want. I think we have decided that we will actually try to sell the motorhome and maybe in a year or two buy a bus, which is what we have always wanted. After doing some searching online we are very sure that is what we want to do.

Something else that is really bothering me right now is the over-abundance of STUFF that we have. I went through so much when we left last year and thought I was getting rid of SOOO much but I am finding out it wasn't near enough. When we were in the motorhome we had exactly what we needed and it was so freeing to not have a bunch of stuff to take care of. So, I have decided that every day I am going to get rid of two things. It is easy to part with two things every day and I will do that until I am down to just what I need, and what the kids absolutely think they need. It was so easy to keep focused on the simple life while we were traveling and so easy to get caught up in the not-so-simple-life while living in a house. So I have to constantly remember that I am comitted to living a simple life because it is so much less stressful and so much cheaper!! I want to spend my money building relationships, not decorating a house. Not that there is anything wrong with making your house pretty, I just don't want to get focused on that. There are a lot of better ways I can spend my money, for sure.