my family

My family. This summer.

The True name of the King

"The true name of the King must endure from Birth to Death"

"Watch my child, the path of heart, For Darkest night will soon depart.

Then sparkling sun will touch his wand As red and gold fill path and pond."

AH

"We are busy little fellows, Working way deep, down below,

Crystals, jewels, gold and stone,

We tend with care our earthly home"

O

"I am a stream so swift and clear, As down the rocky rapids steep.

I sing my song for all to hear, Watch the gleaming tears I weep."

E

"Bloom and root, Root and Bloom. Bright and True. But gone so soon"

U

"Then with all is might and main. The blaze rose high in raging flame. It rages and blazed until the day, and then the flames did fade away"

A

""with Royal cloak I stand on high.

And raise my spear to pierce the sky

The Answer does within us lie

The True name of the King is, I"

I

Cedar and I have been finishing up our third block of Enki. We took a break from consonants to enjoy a story all about the true sounds of vowel letters. It was a nice change of pace. We read a 5 part story, stopped daily to re-call and water color paint about the story and the letter came out in the name! A fun way to introduce vowels!

yes we have been schooling!!

A little glimpse into Cedars world!!!

Cedars drawing from the story "Mud Pony"



Cedars drawing from Wokokwotonko, a great Native American story about the great WIND GIANT!!!



A peek into Cedars writing. With every verse he still gets excited to write the entire thing!!! He loves writing.




Benizara and Kekezara, a fairy tale



Our last Fairy tale over this block The Golden Stag

Cedar continues to journal about his weekends and nature stories. Here is his picture post Halloween and earning his Junior Ranger badge. He drew the badge and himself in his outfit!!

Our family vacationed at Glenwood Hot springs, here is Cedar and Orien playing with their rings in the pool.

Cedars first Verse Reader. He has been re-visiting all his stories from Block one and drawing on the same page as the typed verse. This is his complete book that we now try to read daily.

It seems November cruised by with holidays, celebrations, vacations,extra woods wandering... and yes school! Cedar has been cruising through his third block of Enki First grade.  He has been working on a great Language Arts block and really seems to enjoy all the Fairy tales. There seems to be something extra special about the Native American stories that resonant in both of us. We had 2 more weeks of Language arts where we worked with stories of strong winds, courageous boys and girls, and of course Kings and princes and princesses. I decided there was no way to review all his work but continue to find his art work worth peaking back on. 

catch the glow

I try to capture EVERYTHING with a camera. I want to have memories that last a lifetime. I regret that I haven't printed a picture since Truthy was 8 weeks old and wonder how I can ever catch up on all those digital pics. But non the less I have thousands of pictures of my family....from our first holidays to the little sweet candid shots of life. Finally tonight I had to let that go. I didn't get one single picture of my family,  great friends, or anything!!!!! We were celebrating the holidays at the "catch the glow" parade in Estes. We had one of those great. jam packed days. The kind I cherish as we don't do them too often because well....tomorrow wont be fun! But today it was worth it. The post Thanksgiving ( which was perfect) day. We woke early, headed to Eldora for some bunny hill snowboarding and skiing with our buddy Jackson and his papa. We rode as the snow fell....and then dined till our belly's we too full again! Played at our friends home, got to town in time to watch the parade with arms over bodies in boy hugs, and sipped Bailey's and coffee as the floats cruised by.

And I don't have a picture to prove it. Maybe it is nice to not be able to capture today past the slight shots in my brain. I know in years to come Cedar will be able to tell me about today as it was moment to moment...and sadly I will have forgotten it all together. For now I am thankful to have listened to the giggle from Orien as he skied down the hills, watched as Cedar and Jackson cuddled in a chair together, and secretly peeked as Truthy rocked her baby to bed far after 9pm at the Hurley's home...I will have caught friends wide mouth smiles, laughed at Bergen's BIG grin hours before his 1 yr birthday,   heard Jody tell and laugh at stories with Mike,listened and laughed with Julies loud happy laugh, watched Orien hide with a grin from Mike, noticed the silence and wide eyes as the police and firemen drove though to start the parade,  and held Truthy as she sips another bottle of milk.  And so I am thankful for a full day. A day only captured in the now...and as I re-charge the camera I look forward to millions more caught with and without the flash of memories.

In memory of memories

It is the season of celebration, creating traditions, and making memories. As Jody preps the cranberries, pumpkin ice cream, whipped sweet potatoes, and many more. I can't help but remember my childhood days of Thanksgiving. In my world it was cold, snowy, full of McDonald's in Ankeney Iowa, long car rides in the snow, stalling, cars sliding as we traveled along the back county roads to get to Fort Madison... Fort Madison, my favorite place to visit as a little person. I grew up in the cities. The norm was malls with escalators, a million stores, dramatic news, and plenty of people.  On the other hand my mom grew up in small town America, and my Grandma and Grandpa stayed there as well as my Aunt and Uncle and 7 cousins. This was my favorite place to visit. I loves the small town, the tiny cold movie theatre, the sub shop, tiny stores down town, walking to the local Ron's grocery store that we were all;owed to go to without parents. I  was in love with my family, in love with leaving my home, and playing with my cousins. I loved my Grandmas warm house, my Grandpas silly playing cards, his headstands he would indulge in and when he took out his fake teeth I was shocked every time.

I loved the feast, the kids table, the grape juice, my mom sipping wine with her sister. I loved watching the Macy's day parade as we prepared the feast. I loved the canned fruit tray, the banana bread, sloppy stuffing that only my Grandma could make, the loud TV, the neighbors, the bowling nights, bagging my mom to let us have sleepovers at my cousins, the glow parade every Friday night, the dollar movie, the drive tour of the Mississippi River, the crazy driving from my Grandpa. In a nut shell I loved my crazy, lovely, loud, silly Masters Thanksgiving. Makes me miss it.

And now we have our own traditions. Since Cedar was born we have been fortunate to have our great friends the Trumbower's up to the house to celebrate. No we don't have family with us be we have traditions. The kids playing, running around the yard, papas frying the Turkey, wandering to the top of the mountain to cut Christmas Trees, eating and more eating. Mamas sipping wine, kids begging for a sleepover, and time simply spent together. And so as we prepare for another year I am thankful. Thankful for the warm memories and of the new traditions years and running.

xoxo

Our first Thanksgiving with our FAMILY

Cedars 3rd Block of school week 2

Cedar has been busy with his second Language Art Block. I have apparently not been keeping up. He continues to keep me on our schedule, loves his drawin and journal time and is stoked to be finising our first "verse reader book"

Cedar journaled after Mimi and Grandpa were here. He choose the pig race at the Harvest Festival.

This is Cedars Friday Journal from the nature story " Mischief Mouse"

This is Cedars drawing for the Fairy Tale, "The Bear Boy"

The Bear Boy was working with the letter B

Cedar continues to be motivate at his writing. He writes the entire verse each week. I think he is doing great!

Cedars led drawing from the fairy tale " The Search for the Magic Lake" The girl is gifter magic feathers (in her hand) to save a sick prince.

Cedars S

and F

Cedars writing for Search for the Magic Lake Verse

Cedars Junior Park Ranger Booklet,he loves this Book

Halloween a bit late!

The Eamonn Clan

Orien Sideways! oooops

Trthy diggin into the suckers

The kiddos picking the pumpkins

The kiddos with their Jack-O-Lanterns





Park Ranger Cedar

Our family seems to favor Halloween over most holidays! We love costumes, live in costumes daily, and can't wait to plan for the next halloween! This year we had a mix Cedar wanted to be a Park Ranger, worked hard on his Junior Ranger Pin for Rocky National Park with his buddy Jackson. His buddy Emmet it worki towards his badge so this year there were 3 Park Rangers!! Orien loves Police, Fire and other helpers. He decided to be a Policeman and sported it well. Truthy seems inpartial and at the costume store picked a Fairy costume. Jody and I decided to spice up life, venture far from the real world and be Hippies. We had a great time trick-or-treating in Estes Park....here are a few pics!