Ceci's Baptism

No pictures of Ceci's actual birthday, although the house was decked out with fun signs from her sisters, streamers and balloons, and we went to gelato.  The real fun began a few days later in Salt Lake on Saturday, September 22nd when we gathered with family for her baptism.  Here are a few pictures of her dressed in white.

Ceci with Geoff's mom 

Ceci with my mom

 With Geoff's parents

With my dad and Babs

With Geoff who baptized her 

The cousins sang beautifully

Geoff's dad, Davey and Trent sang while Ceci changed after her baptism

It was a beautiful event.  Afterwards we all headed to a nearby park for a big birthday party.

Kitchen Help

This was my Sunday dinner dishes help...two punks (with their bobbi pin pierces).

A Bit of Tennie

Tennie sent this email out last week and it was so full of her personality I had to share it:

Ok, friends, acquaintances, and people in general, heres the idea:
you send this email to everyone in your contacts (yeah, i'm gonna get this a ZILLION times). deal? deal. Ok, here's what your dealing about:)
i want to start a movement, a trend, a habit, to say ''oh my Zeus'' in staid of oh my gosh or oh my g*d.
i would like that! actually, once you start saying it, it becomes a habit. lets try and get this around the globe! (well, not EVERYWHERE because some tribes in Africa don't have computers...:) Ok? this is going to be fun! don't just say ''oh Tennie is so funny and put this in your trash. i want ACTION or else i wouldn't have sent it to you.
the fate of the 'oh my Zeus' movement may rest in your hands...
Ok, lets do this!

ps, dont send this to creepers who will track my email... ok?

~Tennie loves you~

Adele's Caesar Salad

Adele had her first cooking class this past week and made Caesar Salad, one of her favorite dishes.  It was delicious!  Homemade croutons, homemade dressing, BBQ chicken...she worked hard.

These cooking classes are just one on one with me in the kitchen.  Unless I set out with purpose like this I get to overwhelmed with the girl's help in the kitchen, and I prefer to cook alone.  But the skill is too important and this was a way I could teach them some basic skills.  I admire my friends whose kids sit on the counter and have their hands in the batter.  I wish that my personality could do that, but it can't, so this is my solution.

The girls pick a recipe (right now their cookbook of choice is a cookbook called Teens Cook), write the ingredients on my grocery list, and then make it on their own with me in the kitchen giving them tips as they go.  They cook enough to feed the whole family lunch.

Fashion Design Workshop

Both Adele and Tennie are very interested in Fashion Design.  I found an art studio that was having a 3-hour workshop and signed them up.  This little art studio had a great energy about it, and due to the success of this workshop there will be more in the future.

The teacher is an art instructor with a personal love of fashion design.  She worked for Liz Claiborne to pay her way through college.  She is passionate and great with kids.  A great find.

We've Caught Soccer Fever

We've jumped on board to what so many parents have done before us...soccer.  All the girls wanted to play this year and at the last minute we signed them up.  Adele's age group was full until this past Thursday.  That makes six practices during the week and three games on Saturdays.  Geoff is one of the coaches for each of their teams.

We had our first round of games yesterday and the girls have most definitely caught the fever.

Adele's game was first.  Her teams name is The Neon Bananas (the girls get to choose their own team name).  Adele is playing defense and can easily outrun any girl on the field.  Man that girl is fast.  Now we just need to work on what happens when she gets to the ball...  It will come in time.  Her team won 4-1.

Tennie played next.  Her team is called The Dominoes.  Tennie also plays defense and that kid plays with all her heart.  She is hustling around and giving a good fight, and is constantly yelling encouragement to her teammates.  Her team has a lot of first time players, and the team they played against has played together for years.  The lost 6-0. 

Ceci's team, the Pink Bulldogs, won 6-2, and Ceci, who plays forward, scored four of those goals!  She would take it all the way down the field and kick it in over and over again!  She was so proud of herself, and Geoff and I were so happy that she saw the greatness within herself that has always been there.

Here is to a great season!

Dinner Schedule

For the record I am posting what we are setting out to do this year.  Sorry if this bores you to tears.

Dinners are a magical hour when everyone in the family is together.  I would like to make it more ceremonial, but by the time I get a nutritious meal on the table I'm ready to sit.  However, we are recommitting to have a little theme each night in an effort to take advantage of the learning opportunity.  Here is what the week looks like:

SUNDAY

Polite Cafe (We practice good table manners and read a section from A Smart Girl's Guide to Manners by American Girl - awesome books.)

MONDAY

Critical Thinking (using Critical Thinking Activities and Red Herring Mysteries)

TUESDAY

Moral Choices (using the weekly discussion at www.thefamilydinnerproject.org)

WEDNESDAY

Poetry (Lots of good poetry books out there, but a few we have are Dover Thrift Classics: 101 Great American Poems, Favorite Poems of Childhood and A Child's Garden of Verses.)

THURSDAY

Dinner Cards (Using Family Table Topics to encourage better conversational skills each person at the table asks the person who responded to the question a question or two about their answer.)

FRIDAY

Game Night (There are fun game ideas online, and several in the book The Family Dinner.)

SATURDAY

Doodles (The place-mats at the table are pages from Doodles at Dinner or Doodles at Lunch.  We draw and tell.  Kid's favorite night by far.)

It is easy to get knocked off track (we dropped the dinner schedule completely this last year) but I'm committing to try again!

Back to School Dinner

Years ago I was inspired by a post on nieniedialogs about a back-to-school dinner she did for her kids. I decided to try our own and I came up with our own theme and made crowns. The girls loved it. Last year we did the dinner. No crowns. This year Adele must have asked me 5 times if we could have crowns, and around 4:00 yesterday afternoon I figured I would try to pull some crowns together. I decided to check out what nieniedialogs (August 20th) did this year and stared in awe at what that woman pulls off! My dinner and crowns, by both desire and necessity, area a "good enough" version. The character traits we are focusing on this year are Hard Work, Commitment & Responsibility. After taking these pictures we talked about why we didn't have Silliness, Fun, Creativity and Imagination on the crowns! Developing character is hard work in and of itself, and this year we're going to strengthen our character muscles. 

Ceci has been figuring her way around not having pierced ears, and not getting anywhere with Geoff and me about getting them pierced before she is ten...(yes, that is masking tape)

(Luckily my girls don't know about nienie's blog. They thought our dinner was perfect!)

Clark's Hole

Yesterday afternoon Geoff took the girls to Clark's Hole for a last-day-of-summer-swim. 

Maybe it is a good thing I didn't go...

Kipper went along and scaled up and slid down rocks, as well as ran himself ragged.  He couldn't walk today because his paws are literally raw.  He's had plenty of nursing...

Revv Up the Z School Engines!

Year #5 of homeschooling started today.  I have spent a good amount of time trying to organize myself, and am committing to be more prepared for my week and day ahead.  And even with all of my preparation, my biggest personal goal this school year is to let go of the project manager in me that really wants me to keep things on task and pay attention to the interests, attention and rhythms of my kids.  While my posts this week are Declarations of Intention for the year, they will likely look very different by June.  As my dad has often told me, "Let go of the outcome, Darcie."  I'm trying to do just that.

I met with each girl individually to find out what they wanted to learn this year.  Here is the breakdown of what we are starting with:

Tennie (7th Grade)

All Girls Coop (Jr. High) - Writing From Your Roots, Latin & Greek and Logic, and Shakespeare

Khan Academy

Online Rosetta Stone, French - Level 2

Voice Lessons

Piano Lessons

Typing

Cooking (at home class)

Soccer league

Dramatic Moments (TNT Jr.) - theater and play theory

Additional interests: creative writing, imovie, photography and photo editing, architecture, and drawing

Adele (5th Grade)

All Girls Coop - Don't Forget to Write, Latin and Logic

Saxon Math and Khan Academy

Online Rosetta Stone, French - Level 1

Reading

Writing - Journaling; copywork

Piano lessons

Nature Drawing Class

Cooking (at home class)

Sewing (at home class)

Working on horse lessons

 

Additional interests: fashion design, modeling, watercolor

Ceci (2nd Grade)

All Girls Coop - Don't Forget to Write (she'll dictate to me), Latin & Logic

Reading - Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons

Saxon Math and Khan Academy

Online Rosetta Stone, French - Level 1

Writing - dictation of creative stories

Nature Drawing Class

Cooking (at home class)

Sewing (at home class)

Soccer league

Additional interests: "Does anyone want to play with me?"

All together we are studying Early American History (with hopes of a trip East around Thanksgiving).  We will read books together aloud, and Tennie will read books individually, on this theme.

We will have a science experiment together once a week. 

I try to be the wind in their sails with the things they desire to learn, and the balance is to allow them the space to change their minds and/or choose something new.  Time to do what they love most is a big value, so backing off on the "schedule" to allow that time is where I want to be better.

Here is to a great year!

 

Utah Trip

Last week we returned from a week in Salt Lake.  It was a pretty packed trip as we tried to balance lots of different people and commitments.  Adele Ceci and I drove (the very very long) 10 hours.  Geoff had a meeting in San Francisco, and Tennie didn't want to miss her first two soccer practices, so they stayed behind a few days and flew in.

Geoff's sister Emily is pregnant with twins and on strict bed rest.  The girls and cousin Bailey kept occupied with all sorts of games and adventures.

 All three fit in to a very large pair of jeans found in Bailey's dress-up box

We went to my brother Mitch and his wife Joann's friend's indoor pool.  Check this place out!

We spent a few hours in the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point (look at the girl's little cousin Tag...

he's wondering if he should run!)

 
All of our comings and goings kept Emily entertained from her couch position.  We tried to help with a little cleaning and cooking, although her super hero husband is holding things together beautifully.

 

Look at that beautiful mama!

I didn't get any good pictures of my little nephews so I copied a picture from my brother's blog...

Are they cute or what?!

The main reason we made the long road trip is because my dad's health continues to decline and he wanted to pull together the Brinton family before the end of summer.  My mom came in to town (bless my noble parents for remaining civil, even friends, after their divorce) to spend time with us, and to attend the reunion, as well as my brother Nate and his wife Kim who live in Colorado.

 My beautiful mother, and my older brothers Nate and Mitch

The reunion was great.  It was great to see aunts and uncles and many cousins, all of whom laugh easily and often. 




We spent time with my dad who, despite his pain and weakness, remains one of the most optimistic people I know.  He was so alive during our visit, which is evident from the pictures.  There are always "funny face" pictures taken, and in my opinion Tennie wins 1st PLACE every time.  My brother Nate is a close 2nd.

It was such a treat to see so much family in one week.  We'll be going back in just a few weeks for Ceci's baptism!

Donner Lake

Geoff's Young Global Leader friend, David, and his girlfriend Becca, from New York, were visiting their cabin in Donner Lake and invited us up for lunch and the afternoon.  It was an absolutely spectacular day.