Measure me!

In the last few months, Sam and Eric have been growing like crazy! Every few days they ask me to measure them again. Wow, my boys are getting so big. Just a few more inches, and they will be taller than me! They tease me about being taller than me. Sometimes they will just walk up to me and stand really close to my face, showing me how close they are to being my height. They don't say anything, they just get a funny smirk on their face, giggle, and walk away. I feel so grateful that I get to spend so much time with them. I feel like they are getting older so fast that I want to be with them as much as I can. Unschooling has given us the opportunity to be together as much as we want to. I feel so lucky when I think about our life.

Shopping for a friend

A friend of ours sprained her ankle, and is supposed to stay off of her foot. She needed some things at the store, so we volunteered to help her out. We felt good knowing that we were helping someone. We delivered her food and supplies, and got to visit with her and her very sweet doggy. Eric wore his heelys, and was enjoying the very smooth floor at the store!

How about these?

We needed to pick up some party supplies for our friend, so Eric and Sam thought they should try things out! They are so much fun to be with, they were making me and each other laugh so much!

Sam pitching

Sam had a baseball game today, and he got to pitch. He really likes to pitch, and he really loves playing baseball!

Fall creeping in

I was walking past the bookshelves, and noticed this leaf. I wondered where it came from. Eric said he thought it was a really cool leaf, and decided to display it on the shelf.

Park with friends

Today we met some friends at the park. Hi Holly, Riley, Maya, and Seth! It was a beautiful day outside and we had a lot of fun.

looking for critters

Eric is always on the lookout for critters of any kind.

Rinsing feet

We always stop to play in this pump. It is so much fun rinsing our feet.

Bridge

Heading out to find a path.

quack quack

The ducks were so calm just walking across the ledge.

a tiny frog

Eric loves frogs, and tried hard to catch one today. We saw quite a few, but they all got away. Here is a tiny one.

a snake

We noticed this snake when we were walking in the creek. It was happily sunning itself.

Two boys with sticks

Right when we got to the park, Eric and Sam found nice big sticks to swat at things and poke around. We had alot of fun in the peace and quiet.

Park with Owen

We went to a nearby park to see if the creek was dried up. It was mostly dried up, but there were still some pools of water left. Owen liked splashing through them and sniffing around.

Inflatable jumping fun!

We went to a place that has huge inflatables to jump and play around on. We had a blast! We were the only ones there for awhile, so we had the whole place to ourselves!

This place was fun, but I think alot of parents miss out on the fun with their kids, because they have the "sanctuary", which to me implies that being out in the "kid" section with your kids is not fun. Oh well, I had fun out jumping around with my kids!

Obstacle course

I think I had just as much fun as Eric and Sam. Eric and I had a race through the obstacle course!

The Diet Coke Mentos experiment

Even though we have done this many times, Eric and Sam are always up for explosions of some sort. So, we went to get our supplies-lots of Diet Coke and Mentos. We also bought some cans of coke to shake up and throw as bombs. They had fun watching and trying different combinations.

Wow!

Run!

What happens if we put more than one Mento in the bottle?

Fingerboarding with Nana

Nana and Bepa were visiting this weekend, and Eric was teaching Nana how to fingerboard. She and I had trouble getting the board to move off of the table. Eric makes it look too easy!

Pretty candles

It was very peaceful using candles for light. Good thing we always have a bunch of candles around.

Things to do when you lose power

We had fun with candles and flashlights! Here is Sam making scary faces. We got very creative with the shadow images on the ceiling!

Who turned out the lights?

The wind storm knocked out our power for a few days. Here is what it looked like for a few days! heehee

A hurricane in Ohio

Wow! We were hit today with 70 mph winds. The weather forecast said we would get some wind from hurricane Ike. They were a bit off! It was so windy! We lost power, trees, and debris was flying everywhere! Before we knew how bad it was going to get, the kids were having a blast playing in the wind! Grab a garbage bag and a skateboard, find a small hill, and you will practically fly! Eric's dream is to be able to fly (not in a plane, that is), so he was hoping for a take off. He got one too! It was hard to slow down once they got going.

it's a bit windy!

garbage bag parachutes and skateboards

more fun with wind

A picture of the huge spider

Here is a not so good picture of the spider. I swear, it was 100 times the size it looks on your screen!

catching uninvited guests

In our house, we try really hard not to kill any univited guests, ie spiders, bugs, etc. We are always nice to humans. heehee. Here is Eric capturing a very large wood spider so that he can be released outside. Owen was his helper!

Ping Pong

We have been playing Ping-Ping so much lately, I thought I would take a picture!

Vision Board

We have been talking alot about vision boards lately. We have heard two people recently say that they have a vision board, and so many of their visions have come true. One was Shawn Johnson on her Olympic dream, one was the singer Charisse, the 16 year old who was discovered on YouTube, who is unbelievable! And, my friend Lyn who just moved into her new house a few weeks ago said that her house was part of her vision board. I love the Law of attraction! Here is my vision board.

The quiet, non polluting way to cut the grass

Here is Sam using our good, old fashioned, human powered lawn mower.

Eric's tootsies

Eric was taking lots of pictures today-a self foot portrait!

Fall beginning?

Eric took this. Hard to believe it is getting cooler out already. Where did this summer go?

Picture in picture

Eric was taking a picture of himself taking a picture in the car mirror. I love all of his freckles!

Sam's game

Sam playing third base at his game today.

Clouds

The sky was so beautiful today!

The Cincinnati Reds game

Tim and Sam went to the Reds baseball game against the Cubs.

Owen's new toy

Owen pranced around like he had the best prize ever!

Monster Golf

Today we decided to celebrate the fact that there were no "back to school" activities for us! We went to a really cool new place called Monster Golf. It was all glow in the dark and lots of fun! We felt so fortunate to be in an air conditioned place when there were so many kids that were sitting in schools with no air when it is 95 degrees and very hot! We were wishing that every child could have the choice of going to school or not.

Look out behind you!

cake time

Sam wanted to make a cake with no icing. Here is his cake baking.

assignment for the rest of forever!

This is the newest addition to our kitchen. (Thank you for the idea Anne!!) This is the ONLY official "assignment" my kids have ever been given. Yeah!