Project Complete, well almost

So for all of you who don't know, we have moved back to MA. Its a good thing. Mike is now working with my Dad. I think they will make a great team. We will probably be unpacking for like the rest of our lives but i can handle it. I was laughing yesterday as it was all catching up with me. See, i have spend two out of the four weeks since Fire was born packing and moving. Nothing like an 18 hour (turned 3 day) drive with two vans, a trailer, and 4 kids one of whom is 4 weeks old. All in all, i have to say it went remarkably well. It seems that things get easier, not harder with each child. I guess we are just adapting very well. It helps that the baby is sooooo good. Mike and i also make a great team. I am definately nervous about being here though. I don't want to get back into the finacial situation we were in before. We have to work hard to make this work but i am extremely motivated and my family is 100% on board and very supportive and helpful. i am definately glad to be back! Thanks everyone!

If My Life Wasn't Chaos At All Times............-M.E.

I'd be bored! this was the original title of my blogspot. i changed it though because i thought people might take it the wrong way. its not meant to be negative, chaos isn't always a bad thing. Especially when it orignates from 4 amazing little men. Right now however.....Chaos! Chaos i can't even really talk about at this point. It's going to be a good thing, but right now we are hectic and stressed. I guess we are in the home stretch here.

I went to see my friends from Starbucks yesterday. I love them and really haven't seen them as much as i would have liked since i left. What a great bunch of people. Everyone has their own important and interesting things going on. i love to talk to them. I wish i didn't talk so much and spent more time listening. its a quality i am working on.

School is on hold for a few weeks while we finish up this major project we are working on. The boys are still reading a ton. In case you didn't see, Water is about to finish the latest Harry Potter Book. This will mean he read all 7 in less than 4 months. What is funny is that i had to force him to read the first one, but then it was all him. I knew he would love them. He keeps telling me how much better than the movies they were. But now the problem is Wind and Water have read Book 7 and Dad and I have not so i have to constantly remind them not to talk about it. I had the last one ruined for me and i can't let that happen again. All in all things are going fairly smoothly. I chalk that up to having children who handle chaos well and are well behaved and helpful. Thanks Boys!

13 chapters to go!

Almost done! Yep Yep Yep! So excited! READ THESE BOOKS! I know this is short , but I just wanted to say it.

BOOKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!-wind

I feel like all I write about is BOOKS!!!! I just cant get them off my mind!!! I will second what water said in another blog. And that is to read the harry potter books. They must be good cuz water is on #7, and he HATES reading!!!!!! I watched some of a nick show called " Tak and the power of juju" and it STUNK!!!! Ireally recommend you don't watch it. I am almost done with " the dark half" by Stephen King and then I will be reading "visions from a fox hole". Anyone who wants to read a very moving speech go to the link at the bottom of the blog.

I came across this pic of Earth and just had to put it on !!!!!! Just look at him!!!!!!! It was last year in April I think ( that is to say April of 2006). I'm kinda tired (I got up early this morning ) so I'm gonna go to bed. Sweet. Sweet. Bed!!!

speech http://www.darrenshan.com/extras/extras/heroes.html

-wind

p.s. Now i will tell all of you who are new to reading my blogs that i am a horrible speller and i don't care so if you don't like my spelling, get out of my blog! thanks :-)

School, when you least expect it!

I am really starting to get the whole unschooling thing. This is the theory of letting your children self lead and self teach. I am still doing some minor "work with them" little things like having them write a letter once a week to someone. I also assign them little research projects, like find 3 facts about cicadas or measure the distance from here to there on the map. I also am teaching Wind some computer skills, he just typed up a master grocery list with prices in excel. things like that. i do intend to do a formal math curriculum but this should only take less than 20 mins a day. Here is my point. First let me tell you i woke up at 8:30 am. Everyone was fed and dressed, the laundry was folded and the washer was running. Everyone was on their way outside to vaccume the pool and sweep the desk. Wish every morning could start off this way. So then they came to ask if there was anything else i needed done. they had something they wanted to try. They are outside right now trying to make plaster casts of cicada holes. i don't even know where they found out about it but what a great science project. its a holiday and i had no intention of doing "school" but thats what its all about isn't it. They are having fun! and learning comes naturally when you are having fun, check out the pics, cant wait to see how it turns out.-M.E.
p.s. i just like the way the diapers look hung out on the line, i'm a dork!

cant think of a title - wind

i am talking to my friend pat on AIM and we havn't talked in awhile. i finished "the dragon quintet" on friday and have started to read a stephen king book called "the dark half" an i'm on page like 189 or somthin. i am also listening to "the chocolate war" on CD. it amases my mother that i cant talk and do someting else at the same time but i can read 5 books at once and tell you what is going on in each (not while doing someting else of course !!! :-] and i have read 5 at once, well in the same day). I have also read "salems lot" by stephen king and "a time to kill" by john grisham. we went to the Cheraholla(?) skyway the other day and it was awesome!!!!!!!!!!!! :-) its a road that goes through a national park and theres little places where you can pll off to the side. we stopped near a river and looked around. earth enjoyed throwing rocks in the water. two really great bands are Blink 182 and Avril lavinge (links at bottom).

blink 182--- http://music.yahoo.com/ar-270522-videos--Blink-182

avril lavinge http://music.yahoo.com/ar-292016-videos--Avril-Lavigne

-wind

The Second Time Around!-Mother Earth

So i wrote this great long blog yesterday and i then proceeded to erase the whole thing by accident! uuggghh! that really erks me! So here goes again. We started our first history unit and we decided to start with the Cherokee Indians and the trail of tears. This area is loaded with cherokee history and the trail of tears starts in Chatanooga. We got a fictional biography of a cherokee boy and his story of the trail of tears. The story is based on fact. The boys think Pa and Gram should read it before they come. So Friday we went to the birth place of Sequoyah. He is the man who invented the Cherokee Writing system so that they could communicate by written word for the first time. Then yesterday we took a ride through some of the Cherokee national forrest and the Cherohala Skyway. Its a road that goes through some of the forest and up on top of the ridges but we didn't get that far. We stoped on the river so the boys could explore and i could feed Fire. then it was time to head back home. The trail of tears is a horrible black mark on our country. This is when the americans decided they wanted the land the tribes had and proceeded to force them to leave and move to the otherside of the mississippi. Over 4000 native americans died on the voyage and this # doesnt include the ones who died in the "camps" waiting to be moved. It is a horrible story but i think it will make for a great lesson. I am hoping to learn more about the cherokee people themselves and their ways of life. i would like to find some recipes and some crafts to do with the kids. Plus i am sure we will visit the trail of tears and some other museums.
On a side note. Fire doesnt seem to love riding in the car allthough we were in it for a long time. On the way home he started to cry, like really cry which he never does. I turned around and Water looked like he was going to be sick. He was so upset that Fire was crying like that. he thought maybe something was hurting him. It was really sweet but i told him it was a good thing Fire wasn't like him when he was an infant or he would never make it!

Now i will tell all of you who are new to reading my blogs that i am a horrible speller and i don't care so if you don't like my spelling, get out of my blog! thanks-M.E.

Deana thinks my name should be Mother Earth, thanks deana i like it!