12 Project ~ January 2011

Sledding on Art Hill, Forrest Park, St. Louis

January was our second full month in St. Louis.  We are getting routines and getting involved in various activities.  Téadora & Dillon are taking gymnastics at the YMCA, which they love.  Aidan and Coda have run of and joined the circus, no I'm not kidding.  They are taking class with Circus Harmony.  Their first day they did everything, even a routine on the trapeze.  We are all enjoying being involved in an outreach for school aged children.

Téadora turned 5 this month and we celebrated in one of the only ways possible in the 15 degree weather...Chuck E Cheese.  It had to have been the busiest day of the year, the children enjoyed it, Nick & I not so much.  I cannot believe she is 5!  She is writing her name, our names, letters, numbers...she is interested in reading and love to make lists ALL.THE.TIME!  And cutting, wow, can that girl cut up paper into the tiniest pieces ever.

Our house is feeling more like home.  I am amazed at how fast stuff accumulates when I'm not daily/weekly purging because lack of space.  We have no garage and no basement, which basically equals NO storage.  I love it.  We have to keep our storage totes to a minimum, only what will fit in the attic and hand me down clothes in the kids closets. 

There was quite a bit of ice and snow.  I think one week we were "stuck" home for 4 or 5 days.  Nick couldn't work for two days.  We were preparing for major power outages.  Except for inches and inches of ice that stuck around for what seemed forever we survived.  I would by lying if I said I wasn't already dreaming of Spring...I am!! 

The 12 Project ~ Finishing Out the Year

Month 8 ~ August 2010 ~ Seven on the Mississippi ~ St. Louis, MO

Month 9 ~ September 2010 ~ Prescott National Forest ~ Prescott, AZ

Month 10 ~ October 2010 ~ Dancing Fountains ~ Las Vegas, NV

Month 11 ~ November 2010 ~ Thanksgiving Day Parade ~ St. Louis, MO

I think 10 out of 12 isn't bad...actually its awesome.  In 2009 we probably had maybe 3 family photos and in 2010 we had 10.  I am going to continue "The 12 Project" in 2011, striving to beat my record of 10 out of 12, have journaling with every photo and keep them current, so I'm not having to jog my memory to much. 

Previous "The 12 Project" posts here.

The 12 Project ~ Month 6

June 2010

June ended up being much different than we anticipated.  We left Phoenix, AZ heading towards Texas, then in Albuquerque, NM we got diverted to Colorado Springs, CO.  We spent a few days exploring Colorado Springs, such a truly beautiful part of the country.  While in Colorado Springs, CO our plans changed again and we were now heading to Waterloo, IL (just outside St. Louis, MO).  So we headed across Kansas and while in Kansas I broke my foot, which changed our plans for the entire summer.  The children and I went to Texas for a week and then met up with Nick in St. Louis, MO.

The children loved the days of exploring new places, new RV parks, new playgrounds and new pools!!  We are sure suckers for new places and not just new towns or states, we love new rest stops & highways too.  We have all continued hooping, but the broken foot slowed that down a bit.  The night before I broke my foot I was hooping on the prairie in WaKeeeny, KS and mastered getting the hoop from my waist to my neck without using my arms.  It was such a magical moment.

I don't want to guess at whose life changed the most with me breaking my foot, but if I had to I'd say it was a three way tie between Jericho, Nick & I.  Jericho went from being on my hip or on my back almost all the time to me only being able to hold him if I was laying down.  Nick went from a very hardworking man and very helpful husband and daddy to having to do two fulltime jobs - his night job & my job, cooking, cleaning, laundry, dishes, diaper changing and on and on.  I went from being me to being me laying in a bed and all I know is its VERY hard to be me from a bed or a couch.

The second half of the month we were in St. Louis, MO (actually Cahokia, IL, but its close enough).  We have been staying at the Cahokia RV Park which is only 5 minutes from St. Louis.  E flew to Texas to drive the children and I to St. Louis and was able to stay for almost a week.  She was such a huge help and help me stay comfortable, as always it was so hard to see her go, I cried off and on for hours.  We did not do as much exploring we normally would.  I was in a ton of pain and a lot of our time with Daddy was used doing "daily duties" and not the fun stuff.  We did enjoy driving over the Mississippi River and seeing the St. Louis Arch.  It was more two weeks of surviving and guess what we did, we survived.

Previous "The 12 Project" posts here.

The 12 Project ~ Month 5

May 2010
Phoenix, AZ
Seriously, no picture of the seven of us.  Not sure how that happened.  Oh wait, I do know how that happened.  Nick worked almost 80 hours a week for almost the entire month of May.  May was a busy month for us.  Nick and I both turned 28.  E came to visit.  Jericho turned one.  We went to the Downtown Market, became obsessed with Urban Cookie, went swimming almost everyday and started hooping.  When we wanted to escape the heat Aidan and Coda spent countless hours building with Legos, Téadora and Dillon built forts and played house and Jericho crawled around the trailer and put everything but food into his mouth.

Previous "The 12 Project" posts here.

The 12 Project ~ Month 4

April 2010
Phoenix, AZ
- We started out the month celebrating Coda's sixth birthday.
- Nick and I both got new shoes.  Nick got these Keen's and I got these Vibram Five Fingers.  We are both wearing them all over and loving them.
- Then we had an awesome visit from Papa Bud & Grandma Betty Lou.  They came all the way from Texas to visit.
- Next up was a weekend trip to the Grand Canyon and Sedona.
- We spent most of the Tuesday's and Thursday's at the park with other unschooling families.
- We took a hike to Hole in the Rock and then cooled off at a local splash pad.
- The children and I were invited to go to the Phoenix Zoo with Jen and her two cuties.  We all had a blast! We hope to meet up with them in California sometime this summer.  
-Each Sunday was spent worshiping at Hope Church.  If you are ever in the Phoenix area and want to check out an AWESOME group of JESUS freaks, who love to rock out and study the Word, then make your way to Hope Church.
- One Sunday after church we went to explore the Pioneer Living History Museum.  (Blog coming soon)
- All that, plus spending hours upon hours having so much fun at the Deserts Edge RV Park.  There is never a shortage of things to do around here; playing with new friends, swimming, basketball, biking, playing on the playground, searching for bunnies, bird nests and  lizards.

WOW!  We had a busy month.  May brings three birthdays and the end to our Phoenix adventure. 

Previous "The 12 Project" posts here. 

The 12 Project ~ Month 3

March 2010
For the first part of the month we were still in Eureka, finishing up the trailer renovations and spending time with friends and family.  We left Eureka to heading for Phoenix, AZ on March 15.  Along the way we stopped at The Avenue of the Giants, then in Santa Rosa, next was Solvang and our last stop before getting to Phoenix was Quartzsite, AZ.  We arrived in Phoenix on the 20th and immediately fell in love with the RV Park and the weather.  Our first week in Phoenix we were able to attend an Oakland A's Baseball Spring Training Game, such a wonderful day. 

Nick is getting back into the groove of working.  He is getting somewhat addicted to skateboarding with the big boys and enjoying that his guitar is always within arms reach.

I began running a few weeks ago and am loving my "me" time.  I, too have been getting back into the groove of Nick working, boy could I get use to him being around more.  I have been working extra hard at being really "present" with the children; listening to them when they talk, playing with them and just exploring life with them, what a blessing it is, to see this vast world through their eyes.

Aidan is still drawing and loving riding his skateboard.  Coda has been hard to peel away from his bike.  Téadora & Dillon are riding their balance bikes constantly.  All four of them are obsessed with chia and beg for it daily.

Jericho is 10 months old and began crawling last week.  He is such a sweetheart and loves his big brothers and sister, especially Aidan, they have a special bond and have since Jer was born. 

We are going to be in Phoenix until the end of May and are looking forward to all the things there are to explore.  We are planning to see the Grand Canyon and go down to Tuscon to the Desert Museum, along with many other little adventures. 

Previous "The 12 Project" posts here.

The 12 Project ~ Month 2

February 2010
We have been in Eureka for a couple of weeks, renovating the trailer and spending time with beautiful family and friends.  For the first two weeks we backed our trailer into E & Sergio's (Stephanie's sister and husband) back yard.  The children spent countless hours climbing in the tree, riding bikes, running away from Franklin the puppy and just enjoying the magical time with E and Uncle Serg.  In February, in Eureka the weather is not much to be desired, pretty much a mix of rain and fog and then more rain and fog, every so often a little blue sky and sunshine peak through.  But in between all the dreariness there are beautiful cherry blossom trees blossoming all over town.  The children love when it is windy, all the blossoms fly around and make it look like its snowing.

Previous "The 12 Project " posts here.

The 12 Project ~ Month 1

January 2010

We left Eureka and headed to San Jose, CA where we picked up our new "home on wheels".  We continued south for Nick to finish a job in Oxnard, CA.  We stayed at two campgrounds in Santa Paula, CA.  We fell in love with Steckel Park, might have been the fact that we were one of 3 or so campers there during our whole 3 week stay.  We ended the month by going even further south and exploring Santa Monica and Malibu.  And then began our week long trip back up the coast of California.

~For the next 12 months we will be participating in "The 12 Project", basically "Take a photo of your family once a month.  Write a few things about that month.  Make it into a book at the end of the year."  Learn more about "The 12 Project" here and here.