What I'm Into (June 2014 Edition)

It's July 1 already! I definitely get all glass-half-empty about my Summer slipping away. I feel like I've only just settled into Summer and here we are in July already. We've relaxed our schedule considerably. I can tell that the kids are just relaxing into Summer as well. The first week or so, I could tell that they were having a hard time shaking off their school schedules. So, what have I been up to? Honestly, I've been doing a lot of the same things I always do! I've got my usual stack of books on my nightstand. This week, however is different. Both my husband and my oldest son Luke are in Arizona doing Missions work on a reservation. So, I'm on my own with my youngest four and I'm exhausted.

This is the week that we move the kids' rooms again. I've mentioned in several posts that my bedroom arrangement for the kids just didn't work. I couldn't bear shuffling the kids around during the school year despite how awful it was. So, this week, my mom helped me paint and move furniture all over the house. It's now official! The twins have been separated. Tess and James are now roomies and Sam and Liam are roomies. What was I thinking having 4 kids in one bedroom? I've moved Luke to the basement and he's the only one with his own bedroom.

Tess and James's new room. It has a fresh coat of paint. It's Benjamin Moore's Breath of Fresh Air, 2014 Color of the year (just in case you're interested!)

I've been thinking about this post from Modern Mrs Darcy for a while. It was just the post I needed to kick my butt into gear about getting serious about decorating my house and making it home. I've lived in my mountain home since the end of 2005 and even though we've put in some substantial work into this house, it's taken me forever to make the simplest of decorating decisions. Perfectionism is just fear. Perfectionism is just procrastination. Okay, I did have three more children once I moved into my house and of course, I just didn't make the house my priority although it bugged me every. single. day.

Today, I hung a picture on the wall. I know. That doesn't sound huge at all, but if you knew me, you'd know that I agonize over every decorating detail and I second guess my own taste. Today (okay, technically July and not June) I made a quick decision and I decided to just go with it. I put something on the wall and guess what? It's making me happy.

It's from Ikea.

In June, I've tried something new. I wanted to get more exercise and my good friend invited me to join her Zumba class. I learned that Zumba is crazy hard. Most of the ladies I've talked with in the class have told me that it took them about a year to really get it. Yikes! After a month of classes, I'm totally frustrated and yet, I totally refuse to give up! I think this could be fun. I don't think it's fun yet, but it could be and I will get this.

I stand in the back and I refuse to even look at myself in the mirror. I'm pretty sure that I'd be horrified of what I saw, but whatever! I'll keep dancing even if I look like Napoleon Dynamite!

I've got skills!

Reading: I'm still reading This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper.  I totally dropped The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks. It's just dull even for Sparks. I'm reading another YA novel (I'm always reading something YA), The List by Siobhan Vivian. It's not dystopian, but it's still set in the harsh landscape of high school. I don't know how I feel about it yet. I'm having trouble keeping up with the large cast of characters. The List chronicles how eight girls react to being chosen either the prettiest or ugliest in each class. I can tell you that it isn't going to be pretty.

I downloaded the Hoopla app this week. Hoopla partners with your local library to offer movies, music, and audio books. Overdrive makes me crazy. So, It thought I'd try this app and I immediately found a book that sounded interesting. Just yesterday, I listened to nearly three hours of Up at Butternut Lake while working around the house. I didn't even realize that I was working so hard because I was enjoying this book.

I'm not really watching anything right now. I haven't really settled into any shows right now. I'd rather read at night. I did go see The Fault in Our Stars and it was really a great adaptation of the novel.

James on a Summer day

That's it for now. We'll see where July takes me. For now, I'm linking up with Leigh Kramer.

Friday Morning Book Post

Ahh, May. You've brought a lot of Spring snow. Tess built a snowman on Monday. Yup. In May. That's Colorado for you. She was in full snow gear building a snowman on Monday. Sam left for school wearing snow pants. By the end of the Spring Storm, we had nearly two feet of snow. I'm weary of snow, but I've learned something living here in Colorado. The seasons are always late to arrive. Spring is really Winter here. The only consolation of snow in May is the warmer weather makes it melt faster. Tess's snow man started melting yesterday. I guess I better go outside and collect our wooden carrot nose and hat.

We're full throttle right now headed straight for the last day of school finish line. Sam spent largely the first half of May in rehearsal for his theatrical debut in The Aristocats! Paul and I also spent a good chunk of our time helping out backstage and guess what? We both found that we really love getting involved with children's musical theater. I believe in theater. I believe theater offers all kinds of new brain skills while also building confidence. I almost wish I could get out there and perform too. After a full weekend of four performances of The Aristocats where Sam played both an alley cat and Private Vichy, the dog, he was exhausted.

Luke is heavily involved in digital audio production classes at school. He's just about to finish his freshman year and I can tell that he's passionate about film making. One of his collaborative film projects got nominated for an award this week. His film didn't win, but I think it was a big boost just to be nominated! He's learning to use all kinds of film-making technology and he will earn some college film school credits in high school as well.

So, life is full, busy, crazy, frustrating, and well, good, especially when I fill every tiny moment with books. A sentence here, a sentence there...

So, onto the books:

So, after I finished reading Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures by Kate DiCamillo to Sam, we took a few days off for a read-aloud break. I mean, he was busy with theater anyway. Flora and Ulysses is the current Newberry Winner, but I was kind of disappointed. It's quirkiness feels forced. I usually love DiCamillo's novels, but this one was just okay. I think Sam felt the same way. Anyway, after scouring Luke's shelves, Sam really just wanted to read the next Harry Potter. (A friend of mine bought me a British edition with the above cover). I was kind of eager to re-read Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban too.

I was also pondering J K Rowling's revelation that she thought Harry and Hermione should have ended up together. I know this is old news already, but as I'm reading these books again, I just don't see what Rowling sees. I can't really get into Rowling's head to understand her reasoning, but I see Hermione and Harry as just too similar in personality making them kind of a bland match. I suppose there's some Myers-Briggs philosophy that could be applied here, but there's something so delightful and wonderful about Hermione and Ron being so different from each other. They make a vibrant couple. I'm glad that Rowling made the choice she did even if she isn't ultimately happy with it.

 As I read through Azkaban again, I'm going to especially focus and hone in on Hermione and Ron. I suppose the story could have worked either way, but I loved seeing Ron's emotional transformation especially in the final book. It may have taken him a long time to figure out how incredibly awesome Hermione is, but we all knew he'd get there. What do you think?

Ok, I read a lot of Jane Austen fan fiction. I can't help it. I like seeing her stories unfold in modern circumstances. Dear Mr. Knightley is a little different. It isn't a re-telling a of any of Austen's novels. It's more of an homage to Jane. This was a quick read, but after I was done, I was ready for another YA Austen-inspired novel. I'm on the look out now.

Maybe this? It's Persuasion, but you know, set in high school. I love it already. It's a Summer read for sure.

Okay, I don't know anything about this one. I just heard some initial buzz on The Books on the Nightstand podcast. Of course, I'm instantly curious. This might just shoot to the top of my reading list.

As for my other kids' reading: Luke is reading The Giver so that we can see the movie this Summer. I'm also reading a lot of Fancy Nancy to Tess. The twins are quickly growing out of our vast collection of board books. Liam really likes this terrible Strawberry Shortcake book that he chose at the library. I can't wait to return it.

I'm on Goodreads all the time. You can follow me there as I review every book I read.

Happy weekend!

Friday Morning Book Post (and some movies too)

 I feel like I lost most of March due to a nasty strain of flu that ripped through my family. I spent nearly six days in bed. Many of those days, I was too weak to even read. Isn't that awful not to be able to read? I would try to read using the Kindle app on my phone, but it would hurt my eyes and I wouldn't get very far. Here I was in bed and I couldn't read. It was so frustrating.

Slowly, I got better, but even when I was getting well, I remained tired for a long time. During this time, thankfully, I was able to read.

I started reading Ann Patchett's The Getaway Car. This is a Kindle Single rather than a full length book. It's a short memoir about the writing life. Here's a quote:

“The journey from the head to the hand is perilous and lined with bodies. It is the road on which nearly everyone who wants to write—and many of the people who do write—get lost.”


In college, I took a short story writing class. I loved that class so much. If my college had offered a degree in creative writing, I would have jumped on it. I would have lost myself in words.

 I've wanted to write a novel for as long as I can remember. I have yet to start one, but I always have stories floating half-formed in my head. Patchett captures the writing life perfectly. It's quite difficult to transfer those images that play like a movie in your head into just the right words. I love reading about the discipline of writing.

 It's been just over twenty years since River Phoenix died of an overdose in front of the Viper Room in 1993. I wrote an extensive review of this book over at Goodreads. So, I won't go into much detail here. After reading this short biography, I've been revisiting some of his movies in the past week.

I watched The Thing Called Love (1993) where honestly, River just seems so off as an aspiring country singer and Sandra Bullock steals the show. The Thing Called Love was released the same year he died and I can only guess that his shaky and uneven performance is due to his increasing dependence on heavy drugs. This week, I watched his Oscar-nominated performance in Running on Empty (1988). Quite frankly, Phoenix really was at his best playing quiet introverted characters. Running on Empty is dated, but I still enjoyed watching River in this movie. I'm still waiting for Stand By Me (1986) to arrive at the library. I haven't seen Stand By Me in a really long time. Unlike Running on Empty, Stand By Me has a timeless quality and I look forward to sharing this film with my oldest son Luke this time around. I hope he will find the film soulful like I did at his age.

 I'm not going to re-visit all of his movies. Strangely, as a fan, I haven't even seen most of his movies. There was just a small handful that spoke to me. Despite his self-destructive behavior, River Phoenix is worth remembering even I've deliberately skipped several films in his filmography.

 As a side note, The Body, the short story that inspired Stand By Me is the only Stephen King I've ever read.

Here's a still from Stand By Me. Wil Wheaton, Corey Feldman, River Phoenix, and Jerry O'Connell

I've really only just stared Shirt of Flame, but since I've come to terms with the fact that I cannot read just book at a time, I've been much happier. I'm not going to fight the urge to read many books at once. I'm a binge reader and I'm proud!

 Anyway, I've always admired St. Therese and this book keeps showing up as a recommendation. So, I added it to my Kindle and started reading. Even happiness guru, Gretchen Rubin admires St. Therese and I thought that reading this book would help me understand this wise French nun.

My husband, my oldest son Luke, and I all finished Divergent recently. I took Luke to see the movie over Spring Break. Luke and I have a long tradition of reading the book before the movie is released and I really love discussing books and film with him. Reading the book before seeing a screen adaptation always builds the excitement of seeing the film.

 I didn't love Divergent, but it's probably not Veronica Roth's fault. I couldn't help it. I kept comparing it to The Hunger Games and that's so unfair. I'm not in a hurry to read the next installment, but I'm sure I'll get around to reading Insurgent when the next movie is released, because, you know, we have a tradition of reading the book before seeing the movie.

Next up on the page-to-screen adventures for me and Luke: The Maze Runner. Is it me or do most YA novels right now have menacing covers like this? The YA world is stuck in dystopia right now.

I'm also reading the current Newberry Medal Winner, Flora and Ulysses to Sam (almost 9). I usually love Kate DiCamillo, but I'm having a lukewarm response to Flora and Ulysses so far. Flora is obsessed with super hero comics and some unlikely circumstances make her a sidekick to a super squirrel. I've chuckled a few times and I appreciate the short chapters, but I'm not loving it. We're about half-way through this short novel. So, I may have to re-evaluate my current sentiments. The thing about DiCamillo is that she doesn't keep writing the same novel over and over just varying her formula. I really appreciate that.

That's it for Books this week. Have a great weekend. I hope you find time to curl up with a good book.

Friday Morning Book Post

Book pressure. Do you have it?

 I feel pressure all the time. I know it's entirely of my own doing, but nevertheless, I still feel it.
 I have books (700 page books!) to read for book club. Well, I don't have to. I want to, but I have other books that I have to read quickly because I can't renew them. I am now reading two books to Sam. His school has an all-school book club every year and this year, the selected book is The Incredible Journey. This is a book that I didn't read as a kid myself. I'm not even sure I've seen the movie. So far, I'm enjoying reading this book to Sam and we're still reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I'm inundated with reading, but that's a good problem.

Right now, I'm reading Unveiling Grace by Lynn Wilder. Most people know that I'm fascinated with Mormonism. I'm fascinated by their strange doctrine and their secretive ceremonies that somehow are supposedly compatible with Christianity. I've read many memoirs about the FLDS, but this time I wanted to concentrate on the mainstream LDS Church.

This book is about how one family found their way out of Mormonism. Lynn and her husband entered the Mormon church in 1977 after missionaries knocked on their door. I didn't even know that those missionary boys could be successful with their door-to-door proselytizing. I guess the church wouldn't continue to do it, if it didn't work though. It's a works based religion that has just enough Jesus to sound Christian. After decades in the church, Lynn found enough cracks and fissures in her faith to lead her away from Joseph Smith and to a very different Jesus. The Jesus of the Bible.  It's truly fascinating, if a little overly detailed.

Luke is reading 1984 in his English class. I remember reading this my senior year in English. I bought this book in the Kindle edition for Luke. He's still adjusting to reading on a Kindle. Luke should like it. He's living in an age where almost all the YA fiction right now is dystopian.

As for Tess, she is really enjoying Don't Wake the Royal Baby. 
This is the cutest book. The new royal baby just can't sleep with all the noise in the palace. It's adorable. The queen even takes the royal baby on a plane ride and then parachutes out with the baby to get him to sleep. The illustrations are delightful and it's one of my little girl's current faves.

That's it on the book front this week.  See you next week with more book adventures.

LEGOS

Less than three years ago, my inner control-freak fought desperately against the influx of those tiny little plastic pieces pouring into my house. Luke begged for just one Star Wars Lego set. He told me that if he could have just the one Brickmaster set that he would be completely happy and would never ask for another. I relented not because I actually thought that he would never ask for another Lego set, but because I know Luke. When he gets into something, he dives in completely to the exclusion of every other activity. I've always like his intensity when it comes to his interests in hobbies.

So, he was surprised when he did get that Star Wars Brickmaster set a few years ago. He was pretty sure that I was adamantly against the Lego and I just wasn't going to give in. I know that I unleashed more of his obsession by opening the door just a little bit. Of course, he started collecting mini-figures and then he started making cute little stop motion films with his Legos. We became overrun with Lord of the Rings, Avengers, Star Wars, and Castle Lego sets until the beginning of last year.

As quickly as his obsession started it, it ended. He stopped asking (begging) to go to the Lego store. The other day we found ourselves at the Lego store hoping that they still carried Hogwarts Castle, but it seems that all Harry Potter themed Legos have been discontinued (at least for now). He didn't seem excited about these little plastic pieces anymore and after all my fighting against them, I found myself hoping he would use that gift card that had been sitting in his wallet for almost a year. I hoped he would get inspired to build something and make another movie. He didn't.

I knew that it wasn't about the Legos. I knew that I was desperately just trying to hold onto what's left of my not-so-little boy which is about as easy as finding all those rogue Legos in my house.

Last night, Sam asked Luke if he would help him put together the Lego he got for Christmas. It was nice to see them working together even if it's sad that it's an end of an era for Luke. This is not unlike when I saw his four year obsession with dinosaurs wane or when his obsession with collecting Garfield and Calvin and Hobbes books ended or when he ran out of ideas for his own comic strip.

I wonder what's next for him.

The Great Room Shuffle Debate

I've planned a super big, possibly overwhelming, and challenging summer undertaking despite my need for hiatus and renewal, but I think that this change might actually facilitate some good transitions for us all.

Here's the thing: I have 5 kids, 3 bedrooms (on 3 different floors) for said 5 kids, and out of those 5 only 1 girl!! I've been thinking that it's time for a room shuffle for a long time. When the twins first arrived, I knew that I would be losing my guest/sewing room. After the twins moved from their co-sleeper in my room to the guest room in the basement, I just let things be. They slept magnificently in their basement room until recently when they decided to climb out of their cribs. Despite frequent after-midnight trips to the basement bedroom (two flights of stairs), Paul and I continued to let things be. We didn't want to disrupt Luke and Sam and their shared bedroom right across the hall from us. They've shared a bedroom since we moved into this house in 2006 and I just didn't want to break that up until now.

After removing everything (and I mean everything) from the twins' basement room for safety, I realized that their room was going to waste. We recently removed the toddler beds because they kept taking the mattresses off and moving the bed frames around the room. Yup. They do things that my other kids would never dreamed of doing.

As Luke gets older, I decided it might be time for him to have his own room in the basement although my heart breaks a little about it since I think this will impact Sam deeply. I suggested to Paul that we move Luke to the basement, move the twins to Tess's room on the main floor, and move Tess upstairs into Luke's old spot. Tess would now become Sam's roommate. It's a massive change. (Didn't I say change was coming?) I'm still not satisfied with this plan either. Sam said he'd rather have the twins in his room than his sister. I kind of agree with this sentiment. (Currently, Sam and Luke have the biggest room.) It can easily fit 3 kids, but frankly, I don't trust the twins and their crazy whims. I can't remove everything from Sam's room to ensure their safety either. Honestly, I don't think that I will be able to make these changes and have them be optimal. I'm just trying to work with my parameters. I realized that Sam and the twins are the same age spread as Sam and Luke. Luke is five years older than Sam and there's been some growing pains among those two for some time now. I guess it'll never be perfect, but as I feel that change is in order, I'll proceed with the plan.

This plan involves a lot of painting,  packing, and moving furniture. It won't be easy, but it's time for some transition in this house. It just might be the thing to kick start some renewal for everyone in this house.

Suggestions and ideas are welcome.

A Sense of an Ending

Last Friday night, My husband and I were at a Rockies baseball game. We were there celebrating a birthday  of a friend. Luke was our babysitter. We hadn't been at the game very long when I get a call from Luke. I started to panic. What happened? Did one of the kids knock out a tooth? Did someone fall? Is there blood? Yes. I go there very quickly. Well, none of those things happened. Simply, the twins escaped the cribs. They finally figured out how to get out. I knew this day was coming as they've stayed in their cribs longer than most babies do, but I'd been praying that they stay put even if only for a few more months. When they're in their cribs in their shared bedroom, I can breathe a sigh of relief that they are safe. Unlike my other kids, the twins, little tornadoes, get into everything. Anyway, I knew in that moment, that I could no longer contain them. The very next day, Paul took down the cribs and we moved them to toddler beds. Now, it's a whole new routine. They won't stay in bed. They now know that they are free!  Up until now, They've been excellent sleepers. We're all in transition again...

I wish this was the only transition I'm facing. Recently, Paul and I decided that it's time to send Luke to school. After nine years of homeschooling, we made the difficult decision to enroll Luke in high school come mid-August. It's truly heartbreaking for me as I'd hoped we be able to continue on, but the sad truth is that he's the oldest of our five children by five years. He lives in a house with much younger siblings. I can't stand that he doesn't have a study buddy at home. It just didn't work out that way. The other thing is I liked high school. No. I really loved high school. Part of me doesn't want him to miss out on some of the good rituals of  high school.  I tell Luke that you will get only what you invest into it. I think that he might benefit immensely from the high school experience. On one hand, I'm devastated because letting him go to school also sounds like I was a failure at educating my own child and I know that isn't true. He's smart and well-read and he's thrived at home. But, on the other hand, there's something to be said about acknowledging that it's time for both of us to move on to the next adventure.

 Life with twins has been somewhat chaotic and I hate that I sound so pessimistic about it. The other day I was reading Arwen's blog about  how her identical twins are almost two. So many of the sentiments she shares, I'm feeling right along with her. She wrote, " I am not Mom Enough for two babies. I'm barely Mom Enough for one at a time. It's the truth."  Wow!  That's how I feel every day. She sounds overwhelmed, but there's this hope in her words. 

 I believe my entire family is suffering from our inability to find a good rhythm over the past two years. So, a sense of an ending is where I find myself.

This is total and complete burnout. Lately, when Paul and I talk, it's about how we can't seem to get back on track. I recently read Rebekah Lyons' new book, Freefall to Fly and it's largely about how once she stopped trying to avoid the discomfort, the pain, and the frustrations of life, she found renewal. She leaned in to the hard stuff. I suppose it's time to lean into the chaos, accept the changes, and find a way to set a new course. Is there renewal on the horizon? I hope so.

Yes, it's hard, but in tiniest corners of my mind, I find myself standing on a precipice for the next adventure, hopeful. I will still have three small children at home this fall. I will miss Luke fiercely and I hope we will still get to talk about books together. This chapter may be ending, but let me turn the page and find out what's to come. I bet it's good.

Our Big Summer Results!

Western Tanager

Luke and I had a good time birding over the summer. After watching the film, The Big Year with Jack Black and Steve Martin, we agreed to do a Big Summer. We knew that we would see a ton of birds we don't see in Colorado on our trip to the Outer Banks. We carried this book with us all over the Outer Banks. We flipped through this book constantly. I think I missed a chance to see an osprey because I was looking in this book. Luke knows his birds way better than I do and thus, he was able to distinguish between similar looking birds much easier. On the day that we were at the Kitty Hawk Memorial, I saw an interesting bird that I knew wasn't on my list. I asked Luke what it was. He wasn't feeling well that day and he barely responded. Little did I know that he was getting Chicken Pox! I'm still bummed about missing that bird at Kitty Hawk!

Paul took the big boys on a jeep trip on the beach to see wild horses and that's where Luke got way ahead of me on his bird list. He came back from the wild horse tour more excited about how many new birds he had seen than about the horses. At that point, I knew he was going to win. So, I made up a crazy rule that whoever saw a Western Tanager, no matter how many birds on one's list, wins. Of course, Luke thought this was entirely unfair and well, I thought this rule made the Big Summer a little more exciting. It could be anybody's game.

Western Tanagers are native to Colorado, but I haven't seen one where we live. Neither of us has a Western Tanager on our list. Luke wins!

Here's my list:

1. Red-breasted Nuthatch
2. American Robin
3. Common Raven
4. Mountain Bluebird
5. Red-winged Blackbird
6. Canada Goose
7. Scissor-tailed Fly Catcher
8. Black-billed Magpie
9. Common Grackle
10. Downy Woodpecker
11. Ruby-throated Hummingbird
12. House Sparrow
13. Laughing Gull
14. Brown Thrasher
15. Rock Pigeon
16. Northern Mockingbird
17. Herring Gull
18. Eastern Bluebird
19. Northern Cardinal
21. Brown Pelican
22. Purple Martin
23. Great Black-backed Gull
24. American Crow
25. White Ibis
26. Great Egret
27. Ring-billed Gull
28. White-breasted Nuthatch
29. Cormorant
30. Mallard
31. Steller's Jay
32. Mountain Chickadee
33. Black-capped Chickadee

Western Tanager

It's hard to believe that the winner of the Big Year competition saw over 700 different species of birds.  A serious birder could get my list in less than a day!

Now for Luke's list:

1. Crow
2. American Robin
3. Common Grackle
4. Canada Goose
5. Mallard Duck
6. Common Raven
7. Red-winged Blackbird
8. Scissor-tailed Swift
9. House Sparrow
10. Red-Winged Hawk
11. American Kestrel
12. Red-breasted Nuthatch
13. Mountain Chickadee
14. Herring Gull
15. Brown Thrasher
16. Bald Eagle
17. Laughing Gull
18. Rock Pigeon
19. Northern Cardinal
20. Northern Mockingbird
21. Eastern Towhee
22. Black Vulture
23. Osprey
24. Forster's Tern
25. Great Black-backed Gull
26. Ring-billed Gull
27. Boat-tailed Grackle
28. Brown Pelican
29. Barn Swallow
30. Brown-headed Nuthatch
31. Gray Catbird
32. House Finch
33. Purple Martin
34. Mourning Dove
35. White Ibis
36. Great Egret
37. Ruby-throated Hummingbird
38. Black-capped Chickadee
39. Brown-headed Cowbird
40. European Starling
41. Red-winged Blackbird
42. Fish Crow
43. Turkey Vulture
44. Double-breasted Cormorant
45. Black and White Warbler
46. Downy Woodpecker
47. Hairy Woodpecker
48. Northern Flicker
49. Black-Crowned Night Heron
50. Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher
51. Eastern Bluebird
52. Steller's Jay

Next up? The Big Winter!

The Summer of the Bear

This summer was certainly the summer of the Bear. I saw a lot of our bear this summer. If the bear wasn't knocking over our (bear-proof, of course) garbage can, he (or maybe she) was out all times of the day. Our neighborhood bear got very bold this year showing up in broad daylight.

It's been an odd summer. Our garden was almost an epic bust. I have a small enclosed garden to keep the critters out, but this year, no matter how many breaches we sealed, the chipmunks got in and ate almost everything. It's been a dry summer and I suspect that the animals are hungrier than usual. I planted several varieties of sunflowers, but they never had a chance. I found bear prints in the sunflower patch and I caught the foxes eating the seedlings. I live in the middle of a wild animal park! My highest hopes were for the strawberries to grow abundantly. Every year, I dream of strawberry shortcake and home made strawberry jam. They might have flourished, but those pesky chipmunks devoured the flowers before the strawberries could even bloom. Needless to say, I kind of gave up this summer, but as I am always hopeful, I am already looking to next year. I plan to relocate the garden to get more sun. Next year, I will have my strawberries!

This was my garden at the beginning of the summer. It had so much potential. I bought a single Concord  grape plant thinking that at some point I could have grape jelly along with my strawberry jam plans, but the grape plant doesn't look as if it grew at all. 

I thought that the garden was a total failure, but I looked in the other day and I found six small pumpkins! I've been trying to grow pumpkins for almost six years! I am so excited! So, no strawberries, but I have these miniature pumpkins to decorate the house for Fall! I guess chipmunks don't care for pumpkins! I also found some garlic chives that the critters left alone! Even in disappointment, there's much to be thankful for. We're leaving strawberry season behind and moving into pumpkin bliss!

Summer ends a little sooner up here in the mountains. Around mid-August, I hear the first rustling of the aspen leaves and that seems to signal the end of summer here. School begins in August and as I have one child in public school, we find ourselves scrambling to wrap up summer, change gears, and get ready for the new school year. I know I'm not alone in thinking that September is really new year's. I will always feel that the academic calendar more accurately fits the transition into a new year. I'm okay with the end of summer, but I am not okay when I see the leaves on the aspens and maples drying out, turning brown, and falling too soon. Like I said, it's been a very dry summer! Autumn, I look forward to you every year and I will be bitterly disappointed if I don't get spectacular golden yellows and magnificent complex orange leaves to look at every day.

Today, we started our home school year. Luke is in 8th grade and he will turn 13 this Thursday.  I can't believe we're getting so close to high school. We've got some big decisions to make in the coming year. I haven't written much about home schooling on my blog in a long long time. More on that soon...In the mean time, here's a picture of Luke with Rhodie, his Rhode Island Red. He's become somewhat of an expert on poultry in the last year. Some of his chickens started laying eggs this Summer and he usually brings me an egg a day.

Well, here's to the end of the Summer of the Bear and to the beginning of a challenging and exciting academic year. It's time for pumpkins, cool nights, apple pie, and reading under cozy quilts.

I will reveal the winner of our Big Summer tomorrow!

Happy September Friends!

Legos and Learning

This is how my oldest son, Luke spent his summer. He made movies with his Legos.

 Every day, he's creating what I've learned are called "Brick" films. The big boys have amassed a substantial amount of teeny tiny Lego pieces and as much as these little bits of plastic make me insane, I have to admit that they are really creative with them. At first, I thought this was a silly past time, but I realized Luke had to have a great deal of patience to create a minute long film. To create a film, he has to take approximately 300 to 400 stills.  After taking the pictures, he uploads them to Windows Movie Maker. He also learned how to add sound effects and music as well. I'm pretty impressed with the results. Now, he's learning about cameras and photography as well. He's learning to tell a visual story in a limited amount of time. It's amazing how one thing can lead us on the path to so much discovery. Legos, once the bane of my existence, have turned out to play a huge role in my son's learning. I under-estimated the value of the Lego. 

Our Big Summer

A few weeks ago, Luke, Paul, and I watched The Big Year featuring Steve Martin, Jack Black, and Owen Wilson. It's a delightful little film about extreme birding. I haven't read the book on which this film is based yet, but it's on the GoodReads to-read list! The Big Year is an annual contest where participants count how many different species of birds they see in a year. It's not a cheap endeavor. Extreme birding involves a ton of traveling to remote places to see rare and hard-to-find species.

 Luke used to love birds. For a long time, he never went anywhere without Stan Tekiela's Birds of Colorado. His copy is in tatters. I still buy him a bird book from every state that I visit and he has collected many bird field guides. We are heading to the Outer Banks for our Summer vacation and fortunately, we already own a Carolinas bird book!


  Anyway, after watching the movie, I challenged him to a Big Summer. I thought this might be a fun way for both of us to get back into bird-watching. Instead of a full year, we would count the birds we see just this summer. I showed him how to use the list function on his Ipod Touch and I'm keeping track of my birds on my phone. I even downloaded the free Ap of the Sibley Guide to Birds on my phone. Unfortunately, it's only a demo and it only has 30 birds species on the free version. I have never bought an ap for my phone, but I am considering buying this bird guide because I'll be able to see all the birds of North America!

We'll see who wins at the end of the summer. He won't tell me how many birds he's already seen. For the record, as of now, I have 11. It's a big bummer (not a big Summer) when I continue to see the same birds over and over.  (If you haven't already seen The Big Year, the winner had well over 700 bird species on his list.) I'll be lucky to hit 50!

 

Star Wars Day

First of all, May the 4th be with you. It's Star Wars Day! Luke, my oldest son, loves everything Star Wars and now he's learning to make stop motion movies with his Star Wars Legos. I thought I'd share one of his short movies on this holiday. Enjoy!