Kanoa loses his second tooth...literally!

About two weeks ago, Kanoa had a second tooth that was loose.  It was his other big bottom front one.  It moved very forward as the adult tooth pushed up behind it.  I told him I suspected it would come out in a day or two.

A couple nights later I asked if I could check his teeth.  I wanted to see how loose it had become.  It had hurt for the past few nights when I brushed his teeth, so he hadn't been keen on letting me peek. But he did that night and I noticed it was GONE!  Where did it go?  I asked him if he knew when it came out.  He did not.  I wonder if he swallowed it!  Or maybe it is mixed up in the bed covers or on the floor somewhere!

Well, it's been like 2 weeks and I still haven't found it...and I still don't know!  And so it goes....

Kanoa's 6th Birthday

December 28th was Kanoa's 6th birthday.  He woke up and was so excited to have an Easter Egg hunt!  That was what he wanted most of all.  He didn't want cake.  And he asked for Twix bars and Kit Kat's to be inside the eggs.  Easter Egg hunts are THE best thing to him!  So yes, we did that and he was so excited!!

It was like a combination of holidays when he sought out eggs in front of the Christmas tree...putting them into a Halloween pumpkin to make it easy to carry!

VERY excited to receive 2 GIANT Kit Kat bars from Jene!!!

Green crocs!  He needs a new pair of crocs and only wanted green ones.  We haven't seen any up here in Maine, but Jene found some in NJ.  Kanoa still hasn't tried them on.  Too excited to do other things for now.  I think they look just his size!

Grandma sent some gifts - his favorite was in the box with the comics on it...a remote control snake!  (Interesting that he noticed the comics and asked if it was a book...he realized they were to read!)  And Nanny sent a card with a check so he could pick out a special gift or put money in his bank account.  

Overall, he had a great day! 

Five Nights At Freddy's LPS and stage

Kanoa loves watching videos of people playing Five Nights At Freddy's.  Makana got the idea to make him a special surprise for his 6th birthday related to the show!  She made him a Five Night's At Freddy's stage with Bonnie the Bunny, Freddy the Bear and Chicka the Chicken.  It came out so good!

 

Start to a good day (and it's my 46th birthday too!)

Katie was thrilled to get a renewable scholarship to the college she most wants to go to.  Arcadia in PA!  It's still a very expensive college...so we don't know if or how that will work yet, but she would like to visit it and hopefully find a way. :)  

Katie made me a birthday breakfast.  Chai tea (TZAO...my favorite brand!), french toast, eggs, and bacon (shaped into a heart the best she could)....much appreciated and enjoyed!  

Us this morning. 

When I got back from the YMCA, the crows were enjoying the labyrinth. 

And....Makana played "They say it's your birthday" on the ipad for me!  And Li let me choose what to watch while we ate breakfast.

Today (if we make it there in time), we'll enjoy a free children's holiday movie in Belfast and then go to the juice bar, co-op and browse the shops in Belfast for fun.

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We saw The Boxtrolls in the old theater in Belfast, I got a juice (carrot, kale, parsley, and apple...the person who made the juice forgot the lemon, but I said it was fine just as it was...mmm mmmm...tasty!  And felt SO good going down!  Just what my body needed!) and Makana got a smoothie with almond butter, almond milk, bananas and blueberries and maybe more stuff in it (I forget what else), we had pizza for a snack (except for Li) and stopped at various little shops downtown to take a peek.

On the way home, we stopped for a visit at the Windsor Chairmakers.  That was neat!  I have always wanted to visit there, but so far had not!  Next time I will check out the Shaker Shop which is next door (maybe part of it?) as well.

And.....some pics taken so far from our day....

Nelson Mandela bring peace to the Daleks and Cyberman....

Got our juice and smoothie!

Workshop was so clean and well light.

The chairmaker explained about the different kinds of wood and why some are better than others (Ash sounds like a great choice) and how they use epoxy glue which holds even in homes that use forced hot air or otherwise take the moisture out of the glue and leads to cracked chairs over time.  They guarantee their chairs for life, so they make them right the first time. The chairs cost about 700 - 900 dollars or more, depending on what features and what wood you choose.  (I'm imagining Ralph Kramden gesturing with his hands, "...a mere bag of shells!" ) 

Large workspace in the back.

Li made me a vegan birthday cake (It kind of crumbled when the top layer was put on and when the icing was spread....Li wished it stayed together better...but it still tasted delicious!!!!)

Makana made chocolate covered strawberries and decorated the outside of the plate with mandarin orange slices.  I love it when the orange slices sit out for a while and get crispy on the outside...they taste like candies! 

Kanoa lost his first tooth (naturally) on 11/28/2014

I thought it would be sentimental to video a little about Kanoa losing his first tooth and how he felt. However he wanted me to tell the story.  But I wasn't there when it popped out and fell on the carpet and couldn't remember all the details he explained. So I asked him to tell his story of losing his first tooth.  He told me, "It's not a story.  It's real!"  He didn't explain how it fell out on video, but I loved how cute he was saying "It's real!"  (video will appear when uploaded)

Makana and Azure selling warm tea on a cold winter day!

Makana and Azure wanted to set up a lemonade stand yesterday, but it was so cold that they thought warm tea would sell better.  They realized that there was not much traffic on our road, so asked if they could move to the stop sign two houses away. I said okay.  After about fifteen minutes, I asked Li to watch Kanoa so I could go buy some tea from the girls and check on them. They weren't there.  I was nervous about where they could be and go in the car to drive to look for them. They were on the next street going door to door with their tea, selling for fifty cents a cup at first, then increasing the price to 1.00 per cup. They were excited to make $3.20 each as some people gave a little extra.  What teamwork!  

I'm glad they had a great time, though I did tell them it is important to tell me before they go door to door next time!  And if there is a next time I'd give Makana a cell phone and reminded them that although I do know most of our neighbors, it still is a good idea not to go in anyone's home in case they are invited or call me to ask me first, before doing so.

Misc pictures from the family camera - October and November 2014

Keely, Nya and Wolfgang hanging out. 10/25/2014

Homeschool Group Halloween Party 10/31/2014 at Appleton Library

Beautiful fall colors in the grass on the way home.  Appleton, Maine 10/31/2014

Walk through the Woods hosted by the Waldorf School.  10/31/2014 at MerrySpring Nature Center, Camden, Maine

11/3/2014 - Makana standing out in the back yard.  Big Snow so early in the season!!  This was the first time Nya ever saw snow...and wow..she got to see a lot and a power outage that lasted from Sunday through Wednesday night! 

I like this shopping bag. :)

Well.....I did clean out the fridge after a few days of not having power.  I'm writing this on 11/26 and the fridge still isn't back to being full as I got rid of a lot of things we never used.  Hey..more space for cool air to circulate!  :)  Plus it is easier to find things!

I know you can't see them, because I can't in this photo either!  But one day we were getting ready to head out and Makana saw two deer in the backyard!  One in our back yard by the garden and the other just a wee bit in the woods. Makana, Li, Kanoa and I kept watching them for a long time.  I swear they could hear us though and were very cautious.  Finally they did run away showing their white tails.  11/18/2014

Notes re: possible meeting places for Homeschool Gym for Jan/Feb 2015

Various gyms to consider in the area:

Point Lookout - Was going to charge us $60/2 hours, but then changed their mind.  They won't be renting out the gym space at this time.

Pitch - $5/pp or 50 for 1 1/2 hours or $35 for a 10 punch card

Thompson Center, Union, Maine (I didn't take photos...but she showed me a large room on the right side when you first come in.)  Laurie was the contact person there.

Dave's World, Rt 220, Liberty, ME 589-4780 - $50/2 hours 50 x 100 space, has tables, chairs, floor space to run, floor is made of concrete, has bathrooms and heat.

Baptist Church, 29 Chestnut Street, Camden, ME (see pics below) 236-2195

Lincoln Street Center gym, Rockland (see pics below)

Belfast YMCA - Contact Karen: 338-4598, 1 hour $40 for 1/2 gym is the normal rate, but she will give us the whole gym for $60 or half the gym for $30 (If we do the half gym, if no one is there, we could use the whole gym.  But if someone comes in, go back to half the gym while they shoot hoops or otherwise use the space.).  Thursdays are not good.  Friday's from 11:45 - 1:45 are good though.  In the future, if we ever wanted to rent the "Community Room" it is 25/hour.  The therapy pool is 75/hour.  Stephanie is the aquatics person and we could check with her to see if it would be okay if anyone wanted to swim laps.

Pen Bay YMCA - Contact Paula Williamson at 236-3375 - Just found out that they WILL match the Point Lookout price! Great!!  Now to figure four dates/times and send an email to see if we can still get 12 families for twenty dollars for those four dates (comes out to five dollars per family per date).

The upstairs gym at the Baptist Church on Chestnut Street, Camden, ME
236-2195

Pictures from the gym at the Lincoln Street Center in Rockland, ME.
Contact: Keith Mackenzie
24 Lincoln Street
207-594-1100

Fall Photos of Shirttail Point, Camden Maine from 10/30/2014

Modeling and Kindness - a post by Amber Stippy

I really liked this post by Amber Stippy on the Radical Unschooling Facebook group. It was posted on October 18th. I wrote to her to ask if I could share it because it was such a great example of modeling and kindness!! It's a perfect example of why how we treat our kids and others is so important. Read on...feel the karma!

"Two weeks ago, I had to cancel a lunch date with my daughter. We're buying a house and the bank asked for a document. Then they asked for another and another. It took over an hour of searching, scanning, emailing, and feedback to get everything done. During this time my daughter slid me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. She didn't say anything, didn't get any recognition, she just quietly put it on the desk and left. Later I come down and apologized for missing lunch and thanked her for the sandwich. Her reply was "I know what it's like to be very hungry and not be able to stop". 

How does she know that? Because at 2, she was coloring so intensely that she didn't stop and I brought her cheerios. At 5 she was studying leaves and couldn't take a break and I brought her apples. Now at 8, she's so into Penguin Club that she doesn't take a break and I bring her that same peanut butter and jelly sandwich. 

It doesn't matter if it's coloring, being outside, play video games or getting documents for a mortgage. It is all equally as important from the perspective the activity is being done from. 

Has she learned mindfulness with me bringing her food? I'd say so. She was very mindful of my needs at the time. 

When I went into the kitchen, the peanut butter, jelly, and bread were all left out and open. She was in such a hurry to take care of me, everything else was second on her mind. According to the statement above, I should make her mindful of the food that was about to get stale. I didn't. I cleaned it up. Why? Because one day, I'll leave the bread out and her reaction will be "oh no, the bread is about the get stale, let me take care of that". And she will. Isn't kindness the best lesson?" - Amber Stippy

If you knew everything in the world...

This afternoon Li (age 13) was talking about how he likes games to be challenging.

He said, "If you knew everything in the world, life wouldn't be as fun because you wouldn't learn anything."

Guess he likes to learn and enjoys a challenge!  I agree - it does keep things interesting!

  

If you could be anything....

This evening, I asked Makana (9 years old) if she could be ANYTHING in the world, what would she be.

She said "That's a hard question"  She thought a few seconds and stated, "Happy."  Then thoughtfully added, "Loved and appreciated.  Appreciated.  Because that makes me happy."

Wow.  Like!

Popcorn popped from nuking a dried corn cob!

We went to Beth's Farm Market and bought a dried corncob.  Instructions said to place it in a paper bag and nuke it for 2 minutes - 4 minutes.  Man, that was cool!!!  Yummmmm!!!  I bit off the remaining popped corn right off the cob!