Who you be

I've been thinking about how awesome it is to just be able to BE who you are. You know? Sounds so simple, but imagine it not even occurring to you to have to try to be something or some way? Imagine not even having a clue about all of these societal "rules". Imagine not feeling the need to fit into a category, like "I am totally emo so I can't possibly like that new Miley Cyrus song or delight at the taste of a fresh strawberry, that just doesn't fit."

And equally important, imagine not rebelling against these rules by trying to be "different", going out of your way to make the opposite choice of the majority, just for the sake of going against the grain. That isn't being true to yourself either. That is still painting a picture of yourself based on society, on everyone else, on those "rules" we profess to hate.

I've always been really aware of the mainstream and the right wing and all of the dogma and hate and bullshit that goes along with trying to fit into that mold. But now that I'm older and wiser, I can see it everywhere, on both sides (as if there are only two sides, but you know what I mean). I would never go on a feminist forum and mention how much I love being taken care of. I would never talk to the whole foods community about the joy of the Wendy's frosty. I don't talk about how much I love Costco with my anti-multinational friends.

So that brings me to my kids. I love how much they are themselves. Just the essence of them. I love that Nate's favorite outfit is head to toe rainbow tie-dye, and he wouldn't even have a clue what the word hippy means. I love that rambunctious Eli's favorite pajamas involve Tinkerbell and lacey edges. And as a woman, I can really appreciate that Maya has no preconceptions that a girl should be weaker or slower or quieter or daintier or shorter or thinner. She loves Disney princesses and yes, I found disappointing at first, I'll admit it, because it didn't fit into MY parenting category. That, of course, has nothing to do with her. She is what she is. They all are.

Maya took this of herself and I love it:



This morning we walked over to Village Home to pay for our membership and the kids' classes. It is crazy close. Awesome. Maya said this morning, "I wish we could just start our classes NOW." I don't blame you, kid.

It's a pretty good thing we've got going on.

Music at the library

Today our library hosted Greta Pedersen, a local musician with a literacy slant, lots of songs with word play and such. It was aimed for 1-5 year olds so I was thinking Nate might get a bit bored, forgetting who he was for just a moment and thinking by numbers. I was wrong. He totally loved it and participated in everything without caring that he was the oldest kid there. I love that about him.

And just because we're talking about Nate, here is my current favorite picture of him:



Awwww. I love that kid.

She brought along a beautiful Appalachian dulcimer:



and played "Cat Goes Fiddle-I-Fee" or "Bought Me A Cat", not sure of the title. But we have been enjoying lots of folk CDs from the library and that song was on one of them, so it was fun to recognize it.

She was great and the kids (and parents) loved her!

Finally, some pictures of our place, now that we have furniture! The walls are bare - our stuff is still en route from Australia so we should have some pictures to hang up in about three weeks. Use your imagination.

Here is our spacious, full-of-natural-light kitchen that overlooks a city block of community garden:



Our brand new awesome red couch. Eli is a testament to its comfiness:



Nick hard at work (about to upload these photos for me!) in our computer room:



View of aforementioned community garden from the computer room. The library is visible (brick building behind the big tree in the upper right corner) and the park with the fountains next to the farmers market (well, you can see the patch of grass and some flowering plants in the upper left):



Nate and Maya's domain:



Our ginormous bedroom with the bathroom through that door on the right and the walk in closet to the left:



After getting the couch and the two little ottomans (that double as storage cubes and tables), it finally feels complete! I love home.

Preparations

Tomorrow is our housewarming party. We haven't had a huge response so it might be a very quiet day. Nevertheless, I want to have everything looking all beautiful and perfect.

So where's our couch??

We found an awesome red sectional couch that was marked down from $999 to $699. Then it was $499, and an additional 10% off. Now that 10% has turned into 20%, so we're looking at $400 for a $999 couch. But the couch isn't in stock, and we keep hearing that it will be Wednesday, now Friday, now Monday, now "the middle of the week", and now the official answer is "Friday night or Saturday morning." Geez, I sure hope so! It would be very nice to actually have our couch before our housewarming party.

Classes

This morning was the registration for the place the kids will be taking some classes this fall. Nate chose organic gardening, cooking, science labs, chess club, and lego club. Maya chose "animal junction" (an animal-inspired song and storytime for littlies), knitting, science explorations, science labs, and lego club. Eli can tag along for animal junction and lego club, and there is a play room too if that's what he wants to do. In addition, they'll take a few classes through Tualatin Hills Parks and Recreation District: ballet for Maya, gymnastics for Nate, and a sibling dance class for Maya and Eli which Maya's ballet teacher recommended after seeing Eli's interest in Maya's ballet class.

Hardly a stressful, academic schedule, but it is a whole lot of structure compared to what we're used to. I'm hoping that their enthusiasm for their chosen classes sticks around once the fall term starts. I so don't want them to feel burned out at all. I can't imagine that they would. What they'll be doing sounds like a dream - I would LOVE to take a bunch of interesting electives at a community college. Their classes are Monday through Thursday, and nobody ever has more than 2 classes (each class is an hour) a day. The earliest start is 10:15. The campus is two blocks away which is so awesome - I love walking where we need to go, not having to pack food, not having to anticipate what we might need so that I can pack the car up appropriately. In Sydney, we were at least 40 minutes from any sort of homeschool outing, so it's such a difference to be so close to the action. I love it.

Home!

We have moved! We found a townhouse, two blocks away from the Beaverton Library, two blocks away from the Village Home Education Resource Center, two blocks from the spectacular Beaverton Farmers Market. It is unreal. We have been very, very busy. Shopping, furnishing, Ikea-ing, list-making, building, Goodwilling, Freecycling, stair-walking (we have three levels!), designing, dreaming.

I feel so excited that after 8 months of limbo (travelling and staying with wonderful, generous friends and family), we are finally in our own place. Now I'm planning a housewarming party.

Ahhhh. Life is good.