tree time
after we finished unpacking from being away for a week, we headed out to get our Chrismtas tree! The first year we lived in Pine Lake, I asked around for where we should get a tree and heard about Hall’s Nursery. We headed over there and found a great selection of trees and some very
tuba christmas
today we headed downtown for “Light Up Blue Ridge.” Barbara had been practicing quite a bit to join the “Tuba Christmas” performance…. Not only did we attend the Tuba Christmas concert, Chloe got a balloon animal (of course) and we watched Santa come in on the Blue Ridge Railroad. Overall, it was a nice time
light up aska
after going for our hike, we headed to Shallowford Bridge to the “Light Up Aska.” Santa arrived on a Fannin County firetruck; Chloe didn’t want to talk to him, but finally did go up to him and said she wanted a dog for Christmas. From there, we headed to the Lily Pad. Rob and the
“hiking,” north georgia style
after spending the morning in the cabin, we headed out to go for a “hike.” With the slowpoke dog and the gimpy sister, we didn’t do much hiking, mostly just a long drive and a tromp on about 500 feet of the Appalachian Trail. Camille enjoyed writing runes with charcoal from primitive campsite fires. Chloe
happy thanksgiving!
as most people know, Thanksgiving is not high on my list of holidays. I don’t like the production of cooking a big meal (especially not the turkey). I’d gladly give up the meal and the football. My favorite part of the meal is having apple pie for breakfast the next morning. fortunately, the day was
playing in the park
on this my first day of a five day weekend, we (Phil, Barbara, Camille, Chloe and I) headed out for the afternoon. After lunch at the general store by Shallowford Bridge, we headed out to the county park for a walk. Big rocks are so fun … the girls didn’t want to go for the
at the cabin
days working at the cabin are often much nicer than working at home. Even if there weren’t others around at the cabin to help with the kids and the cooking, I feel more relaxed. I suppose I don’t feel the pressure of having to work on straightening out the numerous piles in the storage room
in the woods
today, I finished up my work and other tasks by mid-afternoon and headed out for a short walk despite my back still hurting from when I threw it out last week. Once I left, I realized that the grey skies and my beige coat were probably not a great combination, given that it is deer
Pappy’s Trading Post
As I’m sure she’d say, one of the reasons my mom likes to geocache is that is gets her to places she would not normally go. By heading off the beaten path to look for the caches, we end up in places we never would have thought to go. Today, we headed out to a
looking for family music?
if you are a regular reader, you’ll probably already realize that I follow the “kids and family” music genre fairly closely and maintain a radio station and blog, Gooney Birk Kids (gbk for short). This weekend, the results of the Fids and Kamily Poll have been released, so if you are looking for some good
innocence of children
are discussions of death appropriate for young children? moreover, what young child has never seen death? is it possible or even appropriate to avoid discussing death with young children? yesterday, I read a facebook comment from a mom who expressed her opinion that she did not want to listen to a kids’ radio station that
last day of classes
this session of homeschool classes, camille took Latin (her fifth year!) and fencing (her first time) and chloe took robotics and greek drama. yesterday was the last day of thursday classes. Chloe’s drama class demonstrated for the parents some of the skits that they had worked on over the past ten weeks. they enjoyed the
all i want for christmas
is my two front teeth. yep, she lost another. unfortunately, the tooth fairy went broke on the last one, so some piggy banks will have to get broken for this one. and I just wonder what Chloe will quiz the tooth fairy about tonight???
it’s done!
as i wrote last week, I have been working on a scarf for a couple of years now. And, at long last, I have finally cast-off! It’s done! Maybe the next one won’t take quite so long…. nor be quite so long….
dear tooth fairy
at the concert yesterday, chloe lost a tooth. As usual, she put it under her pillow. In the past, she has been known to leave a note, asking the tooth fairy something about herself. Chloe has learned that her tooth fairy’s name is Penelope. Well, last night the tooth fairy arrived and found not just
YAKMC
yet again today we headed to YAKMC (yet another kids music concert). A shorter drive than most of our concert trips — this one was only about 20-25 minutes away in midtown. We worked our way through the traffic to the Park Tavern by Piedmont park for Grand Day Out. On the bill were The
personal choices
as a parent, I prefer to have my kids use crayons and colored pencils — not markers. play with simple, wooden toys. you know me. i was the cloth diapering, baby wearing, breastfeeding, birkenstock wearing mom. flash forward to the time past diapers and nursing. to the time when the kids get allowance. not allowance
three weeks of autumn
how does that happen? isn’t autumn 13 weeks long like all of the other seasons? apparently not. my autumn/thanksgiving decorations, what few I have, only get to escape the storage room for a couple of weeks each year. On September 27th or soon thereafter, we decorate the house for Halloween (the rule is we wait
astroboy
while in Japan last year, we stopped in a huge bookstore in Kyoto. Camille had been interested in manga for a while, and I figured I might as well test the waters myself. I picked up two different books. One was the manga version Tale of Genji, a classic tale written in 1023AD. The other
handwork
through a few strange coincidences, yesterday I learned that there is a handwork class for homeschoolers being offered right here in our little hamlet. Mostly, it is Waldorf homeschoolers attending the class, but both of my girls have started knitting projects, and I find that I just am not experienced enough to help them when
GBK Gwyneth
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