My Side of the Mountain

Oh Hooray for Fall!

There really aren't any colorful leaves in South Carolina yet - is this late or normal? Who knows?

But the little crew here found some dead, nearly rotted leaves from many falls ago and grabbed multiple new leaves trying to thrive on our trees and made a tiny pile in the yard. The stated goal was to build a pile to jump in. The actual result was a "pile" that no one even looked at again because they began pushing one another down the hill in a large plastic container instead.

Curious George Visits the Zoo

Last Monday after we dropped Riley off at her co-op class, we headed to the Greenville Zoo.

First we played on the new playground at Cleveland Park - a very cool recycled playground.

After exhausting ourselves at the playground we headed for the zoo. The weather was beautiful and we strolled slowly, listening to the crazy monkeys waking up and visited our very favorite exhibit - Bob, the baby orangutan. He is only two years old and is the same size as Piper. He puts on quite a show and his mom even strolled right over to the window and stared so hard at London that London just began cracking up. Piper Finn did not like the orangutan coming so close to her and her tiny hands were shaking from fear. (I rescued her, of course.)

In the picture - the leopard was stalking back and forth behind his weak-looking glass enclosure. I didn't really care for him so much. But Flat Raven visited the zoo with us and she needed to have her picture taken with the scary leopard. (Flat Phelps boys had not yet arrived in the mail.)

Believe

Oh my - do I have so many new posts tonight.

Kevin was on a staff retreat and Look Up was a wee bit too still for us so the Keigley Girls & Hawkeye took off on a short road trip to Emma and Jon's house. (Riley always teases me because I say "Emma's house" and she insists that I include Jon in the home ownership as well.)

We had so much fun....once we arrived. For some reason I am directionally impaired when it comes to the Joersz house - and I always seem to lose my bearings.

We visited a park with Emma's neighbor - the babies were adorable together. You should really head to Emma's blog for cuter pictures and funnier stories. In fact, just stop reading this now and check it out.

The kids loved the playground and the new playroom at Cole and Beckett's house. London loved the tractor - and in fact was rather bossy in her commandeering of the vehicle. Bergen showed Cole that you can step on the top of his sandbox even though you are not supposed to. Piper gave Beck sweet kisses when she wasn't "patting" his head at full force. She also took at least EIGHT steps!! Riley ran a few miles in the neighborhood - ahhh, her dream is to live in a suburb with paved streets. She likes pavement. Mosely got a balloon at the grocery store and later actually let it fly out the car window - quite a big deal for the balloon-hording child that she is.

Thank you Emma and Jon for a fun day and a wonderful way to celebrate a Wednesday.

Easy Guitar

Piper Finnian loves when Daddy plays the guitar for her.

Of course her favorite song is her namesake...."Little Willow".

Everyone in the house knows the lyrics - even Bergen.

(These family moments made possible by Matt Casey. Thank you!!!)

The Lost Puppy

Dear Beckett,

Today I discovered that we have a dog. No one told me this before. I know you have a dog and that you are allowed to play with her when she comes inside.

I once think I saw this white hairy thing outside the window but I didn't know what it was.

Today I went outside and I touched the dog. She was soft. I liked her tongue and she let me put my whole hand in her mouth. That was so funny.

I wish this dog could sleep beside my crib. I think when I am big I will get my own dog.

I call this one "Bah".

Love,

Piper Finnian

Hands On Nature

Every Friday we take a hike around the lake at Look Up. Some days we take our nature journals and draw what we find and some days we just walk. London loves sketching what she sees and usually fills up ten pages of pencil drawings of mushrooms.

This week Mosely discovered a worm - or "wormy" - and carried it the entire walk. She wanted to take it home so she could "play" with it at a comfortable place. She wouldn't allow anyone to endanger the worm's life and she carefully carried it until, at nearly the walk's end, she saw a fish in the water and suddenly tossed Wormy to the fish, who promptly ate it. "Fish don't say thank you, Mom," she told me.

These Things Have Happened Today


1. Piper Finnian stood up, walked two steps, squatted down and stood back up.


2. Mosely and Bergen and London played on the swingset for an hour, happily, peacefully and joyfully. They even all held hands as they walked to the house.


3. London has mastered dividing items up into correct numbers and sorting by number.


4. Bergen discovered that if you shove your entire fist down your throat, you throw up. "Throat-up" he calls it, somewhat appropriately.


5. I cleaned up the throw-up that Bergen discovered at the base of his throat.



6. I sold the exersaucer on craig's list.


7. Riley finished most of her schoolwork early so she could work at the lodge - hence the reason her discoveries are not highlighted. Plus, she seldom makes herself throw up and her footsteps are not as milestone-worthy as a baby's. Sorry Riley.


8. Mosely kept her adorable braids in even through her nap.


9. The wee kids and I read two books together and explored the idea of buoyancy (pencils float, match box cars do not. legos float, hairbrushes do not.) They even pronounced the word correctly.


10. Piper Finnian shoved all of her peas, cheese squares and cheerios onto the floor at lunch. They fell beside her toast and eggs already on the floor from breakfast.

Little House in the Big Woods

School started this week.

Riley began eighth grade, London started kindergarten and Mosely likes to declare that she is in preschool.

Homeschool is a challenge. I don't get to put my kids on a bus and go have that second cup of coffee or read that magazine that came in the mail yesterday. My house is littered with textbooks, science projects, magic markers and glue sticks.

I am not even trying to imply that everyone should homeschool.

But for us, in this house, the good ultimately outweighs the bad.

London Eli is learning her own phone number and I get to watch her practice making phone calls. Riley sits at the kitchen table stringing together batteries and copper wires and creating some experiment to learn about atoms. And she ends up fascinated by her discoveries and I get to see that look of marvel on her face. She walks into the kitchen to tell me some curious fact about Marco Polo that she had never known until that very minute and I get to be surprised with her. The little ones and I cuddle up to read The Trumpet Swan by E.B. White and they beg for another chapter of this novel. They love hearing about Sam and the cygnets (who knew that's what baby swans are called?) he is befriending. I watch them as they play together and they are reenacting scenes from Bread and Jam For Francis or Streganona and I laugh!

I know that if these five kids were at school from breakfast to nearly dinner, I would miss them. I would miss this. I would miss the fights over the box of Cheerios, sure, but I would also miss the tender moments ...... a crack of thunder scares Bergen and London holds his hand all the way from the playground to the house ...... Mosely claps her hands over her face and teaches Piper Finn how to play peek-a-boo ....... Riley helps London choose a special skirt for the first day of school and even offers to flat iron London's hair ....... Bergen sits on the floor and draws his classic crayon version of "Night on Bald Mountain" .......

I really don't want to miss this. I don't care for coffee anyway and I'll skip the magazine articles. Instead I'll teach the kids how to throw a baseball, dance to "Viva La Vida" one more time and give extra scoops of ice cream on doctor appointment days. I'll discuss The Hobbit with Riley and read E.B. White novels until my throat is dry. I want to know the people that live in my house. And I want them to know me. And for us, this is what that looks like.

Little Bear Has a Birthday Party

Piper was pretty excited about her birthday.

We traveled to the farm to celebrate Sweet Willow's turning ONE!

She looked surprised when everyone began singing, but she didn't lose her cool.

When she saw her cake she just stared at it for a while. Eventually she began eating it, first with her fists, then finally her face (see photo below). In fact, this gradual move from watching to fists to face took so long that only the true fans of Finn stuck around to see it occur! (hehehe)

I think slurping may be most effective. Yes, I'll just stick my face right here and breathe this sugar castle in.

And this is what it looks like after the slurping.