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not a rockstar . . .
On our adventure there were times the six of us received some looks, some comments, some stares. Questions from strangers. This one older gent in Cracker Barrel in some state I can’t even pretend to recall was quite determined to learn our life story. He wanted to know where my husband was and how on earth “all those kids” could be mine and was I really traveling alone with them and his wife literally slapped his arm and begged my forgiveness but he kept on asking question after question. I don’t think five kids is all that many really and I have no idea how we look to passersby, but…
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Making Our Trail: KOA Kansas City East, Oak Grove MO Review
We’ve been a camping family for a long time, actually. But somehow we have never stayed at a KOA. Until our giant road trip adventure this summer. And pretty much, all the way to Colorado and all the way back, we stayed at KOAs. KOA stands for Kampgrounds of America and the very handy thing about a KOA on a road trip is — they are everywhere! (And yes, my friends who know me well know that the “k” in “kampground” is a tricky one for me, as I prefer words to be spelled correctly. But I decided to just let this one go – and it was a good…
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Ranch Thoughts
I peer down from my cabin porch and I see two matching cowboy hat heads. And. Oh my goodness. They are whittling. I know this experience is a genuine gift to our entire family, but it seems like it’s something a little extra to my sons. A wildness. A freedom. A bit of rowdy goodness. Otto looks even more miniature than normal atop a giant horse named Ace and the boy is all serious, a cowboy instantly. And it’s as if being indoors is his kryptonite and He Must Go Free. Piper Finn cannot stop talking. Physically she is finding it impossible to stop talking and I think she might…
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The Journey Home: Making Our Trail
“I don’t want to ever come home. And I am ready to be home.” This is the text I sent today to my friend. It’s about all I have for you guys tonight. Goodness, it’s hard to come back down to sea level when you’ve been frolicking on the mountain top. Yesterday and today the sea level problems included miles on the road, the perplexity of figuring out the best way to handle bathroom breaks with young sons in this current culture traveling as the only adult and trying to decide via telephone how to care for a little wound Ryder the dog keeps reopening on his leg. Ah, but…
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Lost Valley Ranch: At The Beginning
An Immediate Disclaimer: This isn’t going to be the “real” Lost Valley Ranch post. I mean, I probably cannot do this past week’s experience justice in one blog post anyway. (Also. My internet connection is rather shady so it can’t handle lots of photos and links tonight.) Also. Re-entering the world of Instagram and Facebook and even opening up my computer is all a little overwhelming tonight so I can’t get my act together right now. And – although I have missed all of you guys – I have not one bit missed social media as a whole nor have I missed screens in any shape or form.…
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Five Finds Friday: On The Road
Is it really Friday? Like, for real. Is it? At least a half dozen times today someone in our car said, “Seriously, you guys – what day is it?” (Mostly that someone was me.) Because when you have been on the road for a long time, all the days blur together. I don’t know how my dad does this regularly. Maybe he never knows what day of the week it is or even what time it is. Anyway, just for fun, let’s see if I can muster up a Five Finds Friday from the road. FUNNY The microphones full of bubbles that I bought from the dollar store before this…
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Making Our Trail: At The Beginning
We are en route. On the road. In the car. (Well. Not currently. That would just be dangerous.) We’ve been in the car A LOT. And these blog posts will just be on and off and when I can find an internet connection and when I can have a millisecond to type. (Thanks so much for your patience.) So far we have driven very very far. And we still aren’t there. We saw an armadillo on the side of the road. Many red winged blackbirds. I won the alphabet game for maybe the first time in my life. We played twenty questions until I couldn’t stand the questions any longer.…
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a “did you know” kind of Monday.
Monday morning the kids and I spent nearly an hour driving from shop to shop looking for homemade bread. For Otto’s birthday lunch he had requested the simplest and sweetest of lunches. (It’s a birthday tradition in our family – you get to pick all of the meals.) The perfect peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Homemade jam. Homemade salted caramel peanut butter made locally and sold at our weekly farmer’s market. Spread on homemade bread. With chocolate milk. I thought about baking the bread myself. Well. Actually, I thought of having London bake the bread for us. But the weekend was full of birthday and trip preparation and Maddox’s first birthday…
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happy birthday otto fox. you make seven lucky.
Half past midnight. I’m rolling over, reaching to turn out the light when I see it. A six-year-old elbow with a substantial scratch. Unfamiliar to me. I don’t recall kissing it or tending to it and that somehow hurts me a little. Gently I lift that sleeping arm, hold it to the light, examine it for a minute. I place my lips on that scratched boy elbow and kiss his boo boo. I shift around so I can stare at his boy face in this soft night time light. Today, this exact day, he grew up a bit. Today, he changed. He’s already tan for the summer. Hair already…
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Five Finds Friday (27) (guess what Trader Joe’s carries now?)
(drum roll.) It’s Friday. Some weeks I think about skipping these posts. But my friend Walter says he likes them. So. I mean. I’ve got to keep Walter happy. . FUNNY This wig. And what it apparently brings out in people. Also. This dog in this hat. FASHIONABLE (See above.) I hope it’s fashionable to wear cowboy hats in Colorado – and every stop between here and there – because my boys are pretty stoked about their hats. (Which is good, since I am pretty stoked about how adorable they look while wearing them.) FLAVORFUL It’s a small thing really. But there we were last Sunday, completing our weekly food…
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Teaching From Rest: A Book Review
Sarah Mackenzie. Mother. Writer. Homeschooler. Blogger. Speaker. Etc. She’s like the homeschool mom I would want to be if I wasn’t already the homeschool mom I actually am. (What I really mean by that is — I really like so much about Sarah Mackenzie and what I read and hear from her. Our styles (and some of our weaknesses) align well and I find her inspiring and interesting. I also want to be free from comparing myself to other women so in my effort to NOT compare, I want to say – I’m fine with me – but I really like Sarah Mackenzie’s words and writings and thoughts.) My friend…
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scars. and healing.
My eyebrow has this little sliver of a space where no eyebrow grows. It’s a scar. From nearly forty years ago. I fell right out of my bunk bed when my younger brother was born and he was handed over my crib and I was forced to move to a top bunk bed. I fell right out of that bed in the middle of the night, directly hitting the hard wood floor far below on my wee little eyebrow. I needed middle of the night stitches and my head still bears the mark and my memory carries the story and it’s all right there, written on my face in a…
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Crazy Aaron’s Thinking Putty: A Timberdoodle Review
The kids and I still love checking the mail. I thought maybe I’d outgrow that daily hopeful walk to the mailbox. But as it turns out, I have not. Even when I am not anticipating any letters or packages, you just never know what you might find in the funny shaped tube at the end of the driveway. Receiving the opportunity to be a Timberdoodle blog reviewer – thanks especially to you guys! – has upped the fun factor in our mail checking days this year. I’ve got a pile of great curriculum and such to work through with the kids before I analyze and ponder our experience with each…
