Sick Days

Musa and Retta are both sick. Fever, sore throats and coughs. We have had some in bed sick days. We will back up and running soon.

Off to watch the Wizard of Oz, snuggled in bed with two little hot bodies....

                                                  

Super Heroes, Stickbugs and other large treasures

Loretta came to me out of breath and in a hurry, "Please Mom can I have a piece of fabric, I need it quick." I let her look thru some piles, she found what she wanted took the scissors and cut it in a few places and hurriedly left. I came upstairs a few minutes later and saw her creation...Super Dad. She even made a super hero watch for him. It is always good to have a super hero nearby.

                            

 

 

 

I noticed Retta playing on the sidewalk this morning. She had made herself a hop skotch. Notice the 1-100 number chart on the sidewalk. More examples of John Holt's theories in action. Love it!!!

                                       

Retta remains convinced there is a dragon living in the woods. She swears she saw him again today and begged Dad or I to please come with her to find the dreaded thing. We put her off for a bit, so she bribed Musa. After a short expedition the dragon slayers returned empty handed. It is good to have a big brother.

                                        

Musa and I sat on the deck this afternoon and played Skip-Bo. I WON! YIPPEE! psst....don't tell Musa but I cheated....I was sooo bored, the game had gone on for 1.5 hours...I am not kidding...we needed an end!!! Skip-bo is much more fun with more players.

This evening I walked into the kitchen to find Retta watching Rachael Ray's 30 Minute Meals. Rachael was making soup and so was Retta. Retta did a slight variation of the recipe, she added egg shells and ginger and nutmeg. Ummmm, comfort food.

We went for a nighttime bug hunt with flashlights. We found three daddy longlegs, a cricket, a small fly and one moth. Retta was very brave and checked the barn for monsters. She didn't find any but did hear some strange scratching.

                                                

                                              

                       Another Saturday at the Coleman's.   

                                      

Busy November

Wow, what a busy month. We start our Feeder Watch Project. We are setting up all the supplies next to the window that we use to view the birds. For the most part we have identified all the species we have, we just need to count.  

We just launched a new language program, Rosetta Stone, that we are getting free through the Montgomery County Public Library. This is a very expensive software program that we have always wished for but could never fit in the budget. The library received a grant to offer it free. Felt like we won the lotto. Both kids and Mama are learning Spanish. We are going to treat ourselves to a 9 day guided tour of Guatemala in two years. Really. I knew when I left Guatemala I would be back someday, I didn't envision at the time I would be returning with two small children, life is full of surprises.  

We are also participating in a virtual quest, The Blue Zone, with National Geographic. We are curently leading a team of investigators around Japan (participants get to vote each day where the team will go the next day) and learning why the resident's of Okinawa,Japan live to be so old and healthy. Today we actually got to attend (virtual) a Buddhist Funeral. It was remarkable. The man that died was 104, he was creamated and then in a sacred Buddhist ceremony they unearthed the cremated remains of his wife, who had preceded him in death. The family lead by a Buddist Monk opened both urns and mixed the remains together so the couple would be together in eternity. It was very moving to observe. Tomorrow we are going to meet with a chef and learn how to cook Tofu. We made a special trip to the store and have Tofu waiting in the frig to try out some recipes.

We are also making books and gathering new and gently used books for the Memory Project and are doing what we can to get theword out about a documentary about Uganda's 17 year Civil War and the children who are the casualities. The documentaryproject is called The Invisible Children.  Click here to preview some clips.

We are also sort of revamping the house. We are working on making it a little more cozy for winter. We have set up a "reading nook" in our library room. I am trying to make areas that promote comfort and security and lessen housework as we continue on our life's journey.  Loretta is very into dance and theater/dress up so I am making her a stage for her room with a curtain.

I was contacted by NPR and asked to do two more interviews with Bobbi Conner's Parent's Journal Program. They allowed me to choose the topics (which was very cool), so I will be talking 1st about Mother/Daughter journals and secondly about children being natural learners and with just simple, inexpensive things like magnetic alphabet letters on the frig and a 1-100 number poster at eye level,children will teach themselves how to read, spell, count and perform mathematic operations. The interviews will happen next Tuesday, I am not sure of the air dates,when I find out I will post them.

We also have several festivals and special performances that we would like to attend. We will see how the energy holds.

Retta and I did a fun art project last evening. We dribbled bits of paint onto a piece of paper and then placed another piece over the top. Then you roll over the paper with a rolling pin. It is so exciting to pull back the top piece and see what has been created. We had so much fun that we made about twenty of them. We had to string a clotheline in the kitchen and hang them all to dry. Some of them turned out so beautiful we might use them when we make books for the kids in Uganda. I will post the pictures tomorrow.

Halloween Pictures

Trick or Treat was a hit. Lots of candy, fog machines and scary sounds. After trick or treating we drove thru the Haunted Firehouse. It is soooo scary. I swore they wouldn't get me this year, but they had two chain saws, I was expecting the one from the passenger side, but they got me from the drivers side. Too funny.

I thought Retta was gonna poop her pants when the crazed machine gun monster came at her. It sounded like a real machine gun. Musa of course, just wanted to borrow the gun.

Another successful Halloween. I realized tonight I have been doing Halloween and costumes for 29 years....and I have at least 7 more to go.

                                

Please Help Us

Pre Halloween

The above plant is called the Dog Bur Bush...also called Beggars Lice, Glovewort, Sheeplice or Woolmat. Avoid this plant if you have animals. This time of year they are brown and all the brumbles lie over on the ground.

We have been busy today preparing for our Trick or Treating adventure tonight. I will be sure and post final costumes tomorrow. No jack-o-lanterns this year. We went to take the dogs for a riverwalk yesterday and then on to the pumpkin farm, but we had a dog emergency and had to come home. Elwood got into a bur bush, REAL BAD. They embedded into his beard, all up into his fur around his nose, his eyes, his ears and his front legs. I have never seen burs this bad on a dog. He was crying so hard. We had to zoom home and spent several hours with Elwood on the kitchen table cutting burs out. Our hands were stinging so bad from all the thorns, his poor skin was so inflammed. Those darn things caught in that hair of his like crazy. I cried I felt so bad for him. So....needless to say. No pumpkins.

We read a great scary story and then just hung out talking about things that scare us. Musa made up a great Halloween story about a bloody woman with 5 gunshot wounds. (the whole gun and gunshot thing runs in the family, doesn't it Carla)

Retta has been in a engineering phase. Has been giving the legos a real workout. I sat them out to get ready to sell on eBay as Musa doesn't use them much anymore and Retta took over. She has been in a building frenzy. Dance is also very big in her world right now, she puts on several shows a day.

Musa and I have been playing lots of Skip-bo. He is REALLY good. I just keep losing.

We are off to Trick or Treat....

River Walk

We went for a river walk this morning (with Anna who is here for a visit) and saw a big Great Blue Heron. We were able to get quite close to him and twice saw him fly over the river. They are such lovely birds to watch fly and they stand they so still and quiet.

They appear so peaceful.

                                   Great day.