tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-356311452011-09-16T07:44:30.885-07:00Welcome to my life. It's a whirlwind of kids, chaos, pets, people, family, art, and being home (most of the time; I like to get out here and there). We unschool, so the unexpected is, well, expected...Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.comBlogger1041100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-53819677580358777712011-04-13T23:05:00.000-07:002011-04-13T23:05:37.372-07:00

I've written quite a bit about kids that run away. I'm more convinced than ever that kids NEVER run away without a reason. One time I was surprised by a kid that ran away and even more surprised that the kid stayed in a youth shelter, refused to come home and told the counselor that her mother abused her. I was shocked and soothed her mother. Her mother was deeply hurt by all of it and

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-19189927034388001322010-12-19T14:26:00.000-08:002010-12-19T14:26:48.779-08:00

I've been thinking and rethinking all that has come out about the girl who ran away and where she's at right now and where her mother is at and the heart breaking sadness of all of it. The tendrils of sadness that emanate from the actions of the mother and her own heart breaking sadness reach out and touch others in really terrible ways. I don't fault her, she's very very sad and hurt and human

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-89431721902192958542010-11-24T22:08:00.000-08:002010-11-24T22:08:23.677-08:00

That is a quote by Alice Miller in a preface from her 2002 edition of "For Your Own Good" Today, we saw the girl who ran away. I thought it was just Chamille being invited to meet up with her, but I found out at the last minute that I was invited too, so I went. I'm still processing that visit. I love that girl, (I'll call her Alex for this story) she's so vibrant, yet here she sat with most

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-50620056520296725742010-11-20T21:12:00.000-08:002010-11-20T21:12:44.444-08:00

Spreading into the world, one person at a time, touching one person here and another there. Changing the lives of our own children DOES change the world! Here is what comes from being a solid and happy person! I copied and pasted a facebook thread that my daughter was in. She is LunaCandy Bloodstroke, and the other person, G A, is someone I don't know. The other girl started it with a status

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-4918303453453707902010-11-06T20:47:00.000-07:002010-11-06T20:47:18.545-07:00

Chamille heard in a round about way that her runaway friend has decided that she's going to try being really nice to her mom so that she can get her life back. We were talking about that. Both of us wondered why she doesn't try being honest with her mother. Chamille said that it wasn't going to change anything, that she wouldn't get her life back, and she still wouldn't be able to see her,

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-32238914519819270352010-10-26T13:32:00.000-07:002010-10-26T13:32:22.249-07:00

I'm reposting this from another blog, written by my friend Jenna.

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-5006157241164269512010-10-21T23:25:00.000-07:002010-10-21T23:25:40.729-07:00

I found this list of ideas for parents of kids that could potentially run away. What I find interesting about it, is that if ALL parents behaved this way towards their kids, their kids might not ever run away! What happens when they have already run? Sometimes parents don't get do overs! If your child has runaway and comes back, really really, follow these directions! Kids who run will often

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-27933012665418097772010-10-21T18:48:00.000-07:002010-10-21T18:48:46.310-07:00

Kids do not run away from homes that are wonderful and full of love and respect! Make your child's life so wonderful that they never want to run from it or you! Don't be cruel or manipulative. Don't yell or nag. Don't lecture and be rude to your children. Be kind and thoughtful and compassionate. Tell your children that you love them, tell them often and then show them in actions. Build

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-65234957519967647672010-10-19T01:03:00.000-07:002010-10-19T01:14:26.517-07:00

I have more than a few friends on facebook who are teenagers. I love reading the things they post, their excitement of life, their despair of things gone awry, their jokes and links, all of it. It's fascinating to me. If only I could have used facebook as a teen! One of my friends posted this on Tumblr, via facebook. This particular girl is a new friend. She writes some really beautiful

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-68727103950501596752010-10-12T12:37:00.000-07:002010-10-12T12:37:29.108-07:00

In all things that a mother can do, the most important is to build a relationship with her children. That relationship can look so many different ways. Just like a mother who shushes her children or soothes them, a mother can create a relationship that is beautiful and lasts a lifetime, or one that is bumpy and difficult. Sometimes it's really bumpy for many years and people change and it gets

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-77092484903417897932010-10-11T18:47:00.000-07:002010-10-11T18:47:18.783-07:00

Open your heart and things happen. Life swirls around and beauty surfaces. Joy is always there pushing itself into the open to shine and breathe in life. Live life. Feel it all, the tears and suffering, the healing and love, and above all let there by joy. Let there be joyous thoughts and joyous life. Let it sit there like a glowing light in the dark waiting for you to bask in it.

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-59907040240554243582010-10-06T15:27:00.000-07:002010-10-06T15:31:13.773-07:00

My daughter's best friend ran away from home this last July. By all outward standards this girl's mother is a good mom. She lets her daughter go to concerts, buys her clothing that she likes, and pays for dance classes. Sounds nice right? I mean, they have a nice house, and the mom makes nice food, they go to church and have everything looking JUST right. The mom also makes sure her daughter

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-1501994312097628792010-10-05T20:27:00.000-07:002010-10-05T20:27:30.613-07:00

This is a true story with thoughts mixed in. If there were any way that I could persuade all parents to be kind to their kids, I would do it. I would shout it from the mountain tops and sprinkle magic dust on all parents on the day their child arrives. When a baby is born, they are perfect and whole and beautiful. A bundle of joy! Somehow new mothers in the midst of their sleepless nights

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-48091841422229906612010-08-01T23:38:00.000-07:002010-08-01T23:50:29.405-07:00

For anyone who has ever hated math class or anyone who thinks they are bad at math, you should watch this film. THIS is why math, the way that it is taught in school, should be criminal! THIS is why schools fail at helping kids discover the beauty within the world. THIS is why the way we divide the world into "subjects" stifles creativity and the possibility of greatness. People used to

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-71928993082538663602010-07-27T12:45:00.000-07:002010-07-27T12:48:59.716-07:00

I'll play the impromptu blog carnival... inspired by Flo and then Ronnie I'm that mom who... ...lets teenagers come over and climb up onto the roof of the house ...stays up later than anticipated to watch a youtube video that leads to more of them ...goes on bike rides even when I have a pile of dirty dishes in my sink ...asks for grocery requests and tries to comply ...gives either of my

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-12189555073993544872010-07-17T16:24:00.000-07:002010-07-17T16:26:33.646-07:00

Unschooling is about seeing the world from the perspective of the child and taking that into consideration. The day before yesterday the neighbor girl ran away from home. Her mom had sent her to her room and grounded her for being disrespectful. To me, the irony is clear, the mom was clearly being disrespectful of her child by grounding her and sending her to her room. As if somehow, because

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-87790478337929291952010-07-03T14:23:00.000-07:002010-07-03T16:17:38.806-07:00

In the absence of school and all it entails, children can be free to pursue their passion.Our culture has gone the way of certification and qualifications and benchmarks and licensing and degrees and diplomas. Yet, what do those things mean? What do those things imply? That a person has put in a certain amount of time, read a certain amount of required literature, written a certain amount of

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-74487586749424025072010-06-14T23:46:00.000-07:002010-06-14T23:49:07.855-07:00

This is really cool! A virtual Sistine Chapel!

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-33874926233967984822010-06-13T01:47:00.000-07:002010-06-13T15:19:11.654-07:00

On one of my wonderful yahoo groups email lists that I frequent, there is a thread about lying. I haven't weighed in on it yet, largely because it's one of those moments that I have so much to say, but no time to write it all out. Each email I open is one more thing I want to say something on!Sandra Dodd has a page on her website devoted to why people lie. It's here.One quote from that page: "

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-38894330996105899562010-06-12T14:28:00.000-07:002010-06-12T14:34:28.205-07:00

Oh, I'd like to see this! Even though I have already rejected the notion that schools are necessary, I see kids suffer everyday because of it! It's mind crushing, soul crushing stuff! This movie will surely cause me to cry. I'm so glad that there are still parents out there that see that this really does happen and refuse to allow their kids to grow up in that negative soul crushing world.

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-43368324480513336212010-06-11T21:35:00.000-07:002010-06-12T01:50:03.946-07:00

Unschooling is LEARNING! It's about learning all the time. It's about happy learning and fun learning. It's about living, loving, life, every moment of it and soaking it all in!I found this interesting take on learning..."Learning is an act of rebellion or revolution, it seeks to discover the unknown, and is drivenby the desire to do, create, and invent. Learning wants to know the thing, the

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-1595621801552179172010-06-02T00:09:00.000-07:002010-06-04T15:01:35.257-07:00

The world is a big fascinating place! I'm struck with this idea that because the world is so fascinating, my kids will find it that way too! I heard an unschooling parent say that history isn't so important, perhaps the words were taken out of context or perhaps the person meant the subject of "history" isn't so important.Here's the thing though, it IS important. It could be my personal bent

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-39007662800939712362010-05-26T17:13:00.000-07:002010-05-26T17:13:42.291-07:00

Sir Ken Robinson: Bring on the learning revolution! | Video on TED.comI love the idea of human potential. It's something that I find really saddening about the way public schools harbor teenagers in walls and seats. HUGE loss of human potential there!

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-74863049293963714642010-05-14T12:43:00.000-07:002010-05-14T12:57:56.329-07:00

Unschooling is finding a way to create happiness. When a kid is down and out in life, and can't see the forest through the trees or the sunny side of life, or they can't see the happy side of the situation and it feels bleak; THAT is when it's a parents job to step in and guide them to the happy side. Unschooling is helping a kid see the sunshine and the positive side of the bleak situation and

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-11061267733894730102010-04-29T21:50:00.000-07:002010-04-29T21:52:06.741-07:00

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-2981479181051173502010-04-28T18:07:00.000-07:002010-04-28T18:41:25.939-07:00

Unschooling is seeing children as real people. It's seeing teenagers as real people. If a parent can take the idea of that real person right in front of them and see their ideas and insight as valid, then they'll be one step closer to truly respecting their children. There is a shift that happens when a parent is down this path of unschooling, where the comments of more traditional parenting

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-72344939131039620282010-04-27T15:45:00.000-07:002010-04-27T16:32:02.184-07:00

I've decided to keep a semi regular idea post about this topic.So perhaps once a week or so, I'll do a continuation of this.If I had to sum it all up right now, I'd say that unschooling is trusting children to learn from their environment, what they need to know when they need to know it. It's knowing that everything, every idea, every action leads to something else, to something new or

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-3842468492983366542010-04-23T21:15:00.000-07:002010-04-24T11:21:44.971-07:00

It seems everyone has their opinions about unschooling this week!Rather than doing all the work over, I'll rely on my friend Ronnie... Thanks for compiling all that! I had considered doing it, then saw that you had done it already, so I'll piggy back yours!I liked this one too. ...and of course, who could talk about unschooling and NOT talk about Sandra Dodd, who was kind enough to do an

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-16597903475925302222010-04-21T00:21:00.000-07:002010-04-22T15:34:19.674-07:00

I recently set my facebook page on private, prompted by a parent sending me a message thinking that his son shouldn't be reading my status updates because it wasn't helping him do well in school.I waited a week to write back. I wrote and edited and wrote and edited and finally wrote something I was willing to send. Chamille suggested I ignore it and pretend I never received the message. For

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-58866105164866532492010-03-17T00:31:00.000-07:002010-03-17T00:32:36.279-07:00

http://handschooling.com/To all others that may potentially read here... I will write soon-ish, promise!

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-85852300054590874622010-03-03T18:49:00.000-08:002010-12-19T13:48:43.210-08:00

Watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ev7Y-XbapLc Then read about it here: Invitation to an Open Conspiracy: The Bartleby Project Now if only I could convince all the school kids I know! There is too much fear there, I'm not sure if any of them would do this...

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-9140473285866461792010-02-26T13:11:00.000-08:002010-02-26T13:20:42.443-08:00

Here's his newest article...Children Teach Themselves to ReadI'm really glad that more people are looking to natural learning rather than lock step teaching. People are born learning and thinking and they never stop! John Holt wrote a lot about it, and somewhere along the way, those ideas of open classrooms and such got shoved aside for more testing and more insertion of knowledge. As if

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-4368445614333874392010-02-14T13:48:00.000-08:002010-02-26T13:21:11.594-08:00

The Dramatic Rise of Anxiety and Depression in Children and Adolescents: Is It Connected to the Decline in Play and Rise in Schooling?It is from this blog called Freedom to Learn"Rates of depression and anxiety among young people in America have been increasing steadily for the past fifty to seventy years. Today five to eight times as many high school and college students meet the criteria for

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-76456630675783538432010-02-12T11:57:00.000-08:002010-02-12T11:59:21.783-08:00

My oldest daughter, now 15, learned how to read real books for real reasons at the age of 11. Before that time everything she did led up to what she is and would become, same as now. Here's how that looked: Chamille has always been interested in good stories. She's told more than a few yarns herself and all of her playtime consisted of elaborate stories. To feed her love of stories we watched

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-45728550687510307222010-02-11T18:10:00.000-08:002010-02-11T19:20:32.704-08:00

So here goes! Margaux didn't go to her class today. We got all the way there and she changed her mind, so we came home. She's busy doing "nothing".Last friday, there was a chat and the general topic was doing "nothing" and what that looks like.Since that talk I've been looking around at all the nothing we've been doing here lately, and rather than make a lengthy post, I'll make a list that

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-76520679483087555792010-02-04T18:47:00.000-08:002010-02-04T19:03:57.823-08:00

Not that anything special is happening on Friday...Margaux and I walked to her ooey gooey science class at the rec center 3 blocks away. It was her second class. It was raining and cold, but it was nice walking with Margaux. We got there late because Margaux wanted her babydoll ready to go with us. Some things are worth being late for a class!She had fun, then we bundled up and walked home.

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-18108441634125816442009-10-08T12:48:00.000-07:002009-10-08T12:55:24.493-07:00

I've been promising for a while that I'd add stuff to my Etsy shop, so here it is. I decided not to put up my colored pencil stuff, and put up some hats. I love making hats and I've made a lot of hats over the last 2 years, but I tend to give them away. I decided to put the few I never gave away up in my shop! If you look in there, there is a hat entitled, the best hat in the world, and it is

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-25071377248903906252009-09-06T20:47:00.000-07:002009-09-06T21:29:48.344-07:00

Yay! We just started in with Fright Town this year. It's fun to see all the same faces and know the same people from last year. Chamille and I have been tasked with several cool projects already. We are helping with some costumes and props this year as well as doing make-up and scaring people.AND, the really best news... Chamille gets to do a mentoring thing. The woman who ran all the

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-43706612917795045362009-08-30T11:39:00.000-07:002009-08-30T12:33:59.877-07:00

Bob Collier found this. He's good at finding stuff like this and he puts lots of those findings at his website and on his facebook, which is where I found this one.The World is OpenHere are a few of my favorite excerpts from the article about the book..."The primary thing to realize is that it is informal learning which is skyrocketing. Informal learning has rarely had credits attached to it.

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-68708526466370199092009-08-22T22:05:00.000-07:002009-08-22T22:26:31.005-07:00

I really like Flight of the Chonchords right now and I'm watching them over and over when I get them from netflix. Chamille is gearing up for Fright Town, and so am I. Margaux is almost 8, and she's about to lose her first tooth. John is focusing on his business. I'm going to get a dummy head from the thrift store to take pictures of hats, they had styrofoam ones there last week. Chamille is

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-63351218150109351072009-08-17T17:23:00.000-07:002009-09-06T22:00:56.661-07:00

I heard this interview thanks to Schuyler who pointed it out in a chat. After hearing the interview, I read the book. Just now when I tried to find the link for the radio program, I found this interview.I'm curious what others think of these sorts of issues, so I read a large handful of the comments. I was surprised to find more than a few that shared the same thoughts as I had.The interview

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-32745791308987531682009-07-12T13:24:00.000-07:002009-11-07T00:27:33.354-08:00

I've been thinking about trusting kids and what that means. I trust my kids absolutely. It doesn't matter what kind of choices they make, or whether or not they make mistakes, I will still trust them.As Chamille has gotten older, I find the trust divide very big, between the way I trust her and the way other parents trust their teens. Here's the biggest difference, in the way I see it: I

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-87306554678084703362009-06-11T14:33:00.000-07:002009-06-11T14:41:42.408-07:00

...good dance music videos! It's the same song twice, but both are equally engaging for their dance qualities!

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-81809265651394616772009-06-10T10:49:00.000-07:002009-07-13T11:42:39.392-07:00

Wait! I think I've told you this before!But, yes, she does really love numbers...Here's what she did yesterday:She had a pile of pennies and was counting them. She brought them over to my desk and I assumed that she'd want me to count them for her since that is what she's always wanted when plopping down a pile of change. I start counting and she says loudly and firmly "NO! STOP! That's not

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-90496085391231525232009-05-31T14:03:00.000-07:002009-07-13T11:43:39.986-07:00

**She said that she thinks this happens in most families at one time or another and that it’s either nipped in the bud quickly or it’s allowed to grow like in her case.**I was leading up to something in reply to this but jumped up to the next point.Some parents can use authoritarian parenting and their kids obey. Most assume it's because the parents have some special trick. Or assume their own

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-38853401851027729252009-05-29T15:42:00.000-07:002009-08-17T17:18:15.403-07:00

i fucking hate school it feels like prison but we didn't do anything fucking wrong ugggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh i hate being forced to come here i hate being forced to do work i hate being forced to play football or soccer or baseball its all so fucking stupid life should be about fun not fucking learning a bunch of shit we'll never fucking use and then getting yelled at

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-76082270413211094052009-05-11T10:40:00.000-07:002009-08-17T17:18:57.316-07:00

That photo was carefully and lovingly edited by my daughter! The other day we were talking in the car about road kill, and Chamille said that she doesn't care as much about animals that have died along side the road. I asked her what she meant by that. She said that seeing road kill always caused sadness, because of the loss of life, and that sometimes it would just eat her up inside with all

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-76395559559707077312009-05-09T20:23:00.000-07:002009-05-09T22:12:23.931-07:00

After our exhausting week, I'm left wondering what's next for us!It seems to me that this isn't going to be the last time a kid shows up at our house needing love and help and protection. It's heart breaking, and at the same time heart opening. Chamille seems to attract broken hearted kids, kids with problems, kids that need help. I know why. Chamille is a secret keeper, a person with

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-8412440050711477992009-05-06T10:21:00.000-07:002009-05-06T10:59:06.063-07:00

Wow, what a day yesterday! A friend of Chamille's decided to run away from home. Chamille has been talking her friend out of it for a little over a week now. The problem is, that the friend decided to go ahead with her plan anyway. Her plan was dangerous and the only person she was informing was Chamille, whom she specifically asked to not inform me.That must have been incredibly difficult

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-55813991709164853302009-04-25T15:16:00.000-07:002009-04-25T15:34:17.603-07:00

This is such a cool bridge, the Steel Bridge, that crosses the Willamette River! The MAX train, that the kids will be riding, is on the upper level, the regular train runs on the bottom. Both levels will lift when a large ship goes through. There is also a walk and bike path on it that connects the waterfront on the downtown westside the the waterfront on the eastside. We've done that loop

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-31689633815712211072009-04-24T08:49:00.001-07:002009-04-24T08:56:39.170-07:00

NOW THAT'S LIFE COMIN' AT YA!I woke up this morning thinking about the interconnectedness of everything! I love how everything we love and know and do is all connected and at the very core is who we truly are as a person. What got me thinking about it this time was the way the love of Pokemon inspired so many things for Chamille. I was reading about someone else, who's children's love of

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-66827717244652133992009-04-23T13:42:00.000-07:002009-08-17T17:21:06.338-07:00

I was just sitting here doing a wee bit of research on teens ditching school. It's amazing to me how much information is out there about how to get kids to do what the parents want without any regard for the kid.I don't know why it still amazes me, but it does!The main points are always to get a teen to comply. I did a google search on "ditching school" and came up with this outrageous

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-87617380731115272642009-04-17T08:07:00.000-07:002009-04-17T08:36:38.082-07:00

The last 2 days have been spent with Margaux on my lap looking at this site, all about illusions. It was sent innocently to me in a chat with Mary Lewis. Little did she know how hugely Margaux is into optical illusions! There's some great stuff there. I love my unschooling friends!And the reason I'm laughing so hard, is because some things you can either laugh about or cry about, and well,

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-83070826659504775562009-04-15T11:33:00.000-07:002009-04-15T11:37:34.988-07:00

Crazy I know, 2 posts in one day!She said to me; 7 + 7 is 14 and I know that because 8 + 8 is 16, so 2 down is 14, which is also 7 + 7 because you take away a number from each 8.She's playing Bratz rock angelz PS2 game right now. She's been playing it for the last 3 hrs. She's reading most of it on her own. Who would've thought she'd be doing calculations in her head at the same time?

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-21573234161397000762009-04-14T10:37:00.000-07:002009-04-15T11:27:48.491-07:00

Sometimes it's really the small things that keep life going! I went to the craft store yesterday to buy hair clips and safety pins. Chamille really needed something to occupy herself with. She's been making the coolest hair things lately! She uses scraps of fabric and puts bows together and sews them onto hair clips. Here's a picture of one...It's the same bow that Hello Kitty wears...and

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-37354134580808372412009-04-12T23:09:00.000-07:002009-04-12T23:20:20.878-07:00

I had to be quick to catch this shot before they (meaning Chamille) wouldn't cooperate with the picture taking...This is Chamille's pink haired boyfriend. Aren't they sweet?

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-41848441279155869902009-04-11T16:55:00.000-07:002009-04-11T17:01:37.539-07:00

It's very exciting around here lately! Chamille has finally found friends! It's been a while, looking and hoping and wishing for some like-minded others.We've had our house infiltrated by teenagers and it's been loads of fun, even if they eat all our food! I love my kiddos so much, and it makes me happy when they are happy. Chamille is definitely happy!Margaux has even found friends as well,

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-76350810565521865382009-03-30T10:12:00.000-07:002009-03-30T11:13:24.532-07:00

I have awesome kids! Chamille does some cool things with make-up, hair, which she cuts and colors and creates herself, and clothing, which she often makes, like the shirt in the picture with pink hair.Margaux got an American Girl doll for Christmas this year and it has almost exactly the same color of hair, which is cool, since Margaux's hair color is very unique.Chamille's a good photographer,

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-42227589671383010472009-02-12T15:19:00.000-08:002009-02-12T15:21:31.202-08:00

While perusing a local paper, I found an article about what to do when, as a mom, you get angry with your kids. It led me to this article.I read the whole thing thinking for sure there would be at least one good answer. I got all the way to the end and the best answer was to punish your child by removing a priviledge.The whole time I kept thinking, well, the answer is obvious, you treat your

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-33089866659970716792008-12-16T14:21:00.000-08:002008-12-16T19:47:39.122-08:00

I'm puting a link instead of going through them all again... fright town pics We just had the cast party and a very nice person took about a million photos and made cd's for all of us there, so I actually have some really great photos now!We were so glad to be done with it, by the end, and now we kind of miss it, so it was great to see the fright town folks again and get some cool pictures.And

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-49814002697411080972008-10-29T15:31:00.000-07:002008-10-29T15:34:56.534-07:00

Just thought I'd share this because I got an email from the folks at Frighttown with a link to the Willamette Week Online edition. I clicked and was pleasantly surprised to see Chamille's face, the very first picture!http://wweek.com/wwire/?p=14905It's a proud mom moment!

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-44489015445420472652008-10-26T22:01:00.001-07:002008-10-26T22:09:03.991-07:00

To me, this picture doesn't even look like me, so COOL! I look absolutely nasty! I was a generic monster person, so that I could go through and relieve actors long enough for them to use the bathroom and stuff.We have 2 more nights, so I will try to get some more pictures that are a little better than all these kind of fuzzy ones. I wish I would've gotten a pic of Chamille last night, because

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-61475230735950007272008-10-25T12:54:00.000-07:002008-10-25T13:37:02.260-07:00

Well, yes my excuse is that we've been busy... yeah I'm sure no one's heard that one before!I'm just doing a quick up date...Chamille and I have been busy with http://www.frighttown.com/It's been exhausting and we only go twice a week. There are a few people that actually go every night it's open! Chamille would probably go more often if our family could swing it, but alas, I must go with as

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-38553746146725251212008-08-04T13:33:00.000-07:002008-08-04T13:44:26.566-07:00

Based on your drawing and the 10 answers you gave this is a summary of your personality:You are sensitive and indecisive at times. You are a freedom lover and a strong person. You are shy and reserved. If you've drawn a cross on each of windows, you always want to live alone. Once you have a problem, you need a friend with you. Your life is always full of changes. You will avoid being alone and

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-53482380473365771912008-07-12T16:16:00.000-07:002008-07-12T16:49:13.824-07:00

Yesterday, we took Margaux to ice skating lessons. Usually we all spend the evening skating together, it's sort of a family night out sort of thing. However last night, Chamille really didn't want to go ice skating. She had tried unsuccessfully to invite a friend to come with her, but since that didn't pan out, she really didn't want to be there at the mall or ice skating.So, we decided that

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-13057523834371473722008-06-30T12:11:00.000-07:002008-06-30T12:49:48.790-07:00

Margaux has been taking ice skating lessons. She really likes going ice skating. We all like it. We go every friday night when they play music during the public skate session, they call it rock and skate, but it's not really rock music it's more pop/country and pop/wanna be hiphop. Chamille takes her mp3 player because the music isn't so hot. Still it's loads of fun. Marguax made a friend

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-59748149078851661542008-06-09T13:24:00.000-07:002008-06-10T14:25:19.232-07:00

What makes some people normal and not others? Watching Chamille I've been struck with the idea that some folks really strive for normalcy, which Chamille does not. I'm not even sure what normal is, but it sure sounds boring!I guess I've accepted normal to an extent in my own life. I wonder when that happened? Then I got to thinking that an artist can never ever be truly normal, they can only

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-8064836357869001212008-05-30T12:49:00.001-07:002008-08-28T16:23:37.790-07:00

This is for Denise... or for anyone else who finds it remotely interesting.A new friend wanted to know how dance was educational. My first response is that everything is educational. An interest is an interest, a passion is a passion, and that is awesome in it's own right. In light of unschooling and the connectedness of being alive and interested and engaged, a passion leads to everything

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-66178904489025963272008-05-29T14:22:00.000-07:002008-05-29T14:27:08.612-07:00

I'm one step closer to my etsy set up. My dad finally sent me a disk with all my art on it. It was part of my b-day present! So, I set up my paypal account and waiting for my bank approval thingy, then I will load pics and prices to my etsy shop. I'm thinking by this weekend everything will be up and runnin!I'm hopefully optomistic about my art shop! I'm also working on 2 more pieces. One

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-89482548260892729822008-05-28T20:54:00.000-07:002008-05-28T21:08:32.256-07:00

So both my girls like to paint their faces!These are pictures from the Life Is Good Conference last weekend. It was so much fun!I wrote a note to the hotel director of sales to tell him how great the hotel staff was and this is what he wrote back, and it pretty much sums up how I felt too."Hi Jenny, I must say, I was so impressed with your group. I had a wonderful feeling being around families

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-46012017804933716562008-04-03T12:18:00.000-07:002008-04-03T15:12:26.074-07:00

I decided to start an Etsy shop. Nothing is on it yet. My dad has all my art work on his computer. I'm waiting for him to send me the stuff digitally. I could do it myself, but my scanner is a lot smaller than his, so it would be a lot of work putting together each picture with lame art software. So, I will just wait for the ones that are already done with a really nice scanner and a really

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-67768570455446218912008-03-11T16:49:00.000-07:002008-03-11T17:21:34.605-07:00

These are pictures of Portland, Oregon. It's a nice city actually. I like the trees and the huge river that runs through it. I've just come back here after being in New Mexico for almost 4 mos. What a difference there is. Large water, big trees, clouds, rain rain rain, lots of green and brown.I love New Mexico though. It is really the colors that I love. In Portland it is very

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-14256949917754561382008-02-15T11:11:00.000-08:002008-02-15T11:42:40.962-08:00

I just read this article "Learning to Lie"http://nymag.com/news/features/43893/What I find fascinating is how they talk about how parents and schools teach kids to lie. Since my kids don't go to school and aren't punished for misdeeds, including lying, they just don't. There is no reason to lie. The article suggests that parents let lies go because they believe that kids will tell the truth

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-32466617693470310262008-02-07T16:02:00.000-08:002008-02-07T16:24:18.616-08:00

You know, its weird living in a small town. Everyone knows everyone. I've been staying in a small town for a few months now and I'm considering moving here. Why this town? Well, my great great grandfather invested his life in this town and my parents and sister live on land that was owned by him and passed down from family member to family member.I'm greatly torn however, because there are

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-70353437919310453712008-01-06T19:23:00.000-08:002008-01-06T21:02:42.796-08:00

My friend Schuyler http://waynforth.blogspot.com/ tagged me.The game is to talk about your past week through these 4 questions:What did you accomplish?Did anything not go as expected?What was the highlight of your week?Did anything exciting happen you did not expect?What did I accomplish this week.....Hmmmmm....well, I finally finished doing the back side prints of some t-shirts that the local

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-15951181137710786122008-01-05T11:25:00.000-08:002008-01-05T11:53:06.572-08:00

We've been very busy and loads has happened since last October. Perhaps I can relate things over a few weeks. For now, though, the biggest thing, is that we are currently in New Mexico, temporarily. I will perhaps write more on the matter later.That's about all I want to write, right now. The girls are doing okay, although Chamille isn't really thrilled with being in the middle of nowhere, so

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-31730665875192469112007-10-29T15:36:00.000-07:002007-10-29T15:54:26.320-07:00

I know I post a lot about Chamille and her best friend, but it's so ever present in our lives. The daily frustrations and hurt feelings are a lot to go through. It's hard sometimes to just be happy when circumstances beyond your control continually bring you down.Chamille is doing pretty well considering. It definitely impacts her well being though. The letter brigade is helping and I've

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-70724125791344512042007-10-23T11:57:00.001-07:002007-10-23T12:05:04.508-07:00

Remember those owl posts coming for Harry Potter, the first time, when Hogwarts was trying to invite him to school? Boy, that Uncle Vernon was in a bad way with all those letters.Chamille and I would love to replicate that in real life. I would be pretty costly in the form of stamps. Chamille sent a letter to her best friend, which included a self adressed stamped envelope for returning a

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-31004973086000797932007-10-22T13:50:00.001-07:002007-10-22T13:50:42.854-07:00

BANNED BOOKS???!!!Do people really ban books? That's what Chamille asked the last time we were at the library. Upstairs in the teen room there was a display of books that had been challenged at various libraries in Oregon. Of course this proves my theory that everything forbidden is immediately more alluring than need be. Chamille was VERY interested in checking this out, this idea that there

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-37153534553264316182007-10-21T23:24:00.000-07:002007-10-21T23:27:46.431-07:00

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-55525310251952535262007-10-16T13:26:00.000-07:002007-10-17T18:18:32.336-07:00

I consider myself a partner with my kids. We are on the same team and work together to get what we want in our lives. I don't think this could be possible if I were to implement control in any form over their lives.There are all kinds of control based relationships, some of them really icky, like how my daughter's best friend has with her father. Some of them are subtle, like coersion, giving

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-25199277036876810162007-10-14T16:18:00.000-07:002007-10-14T16:20:35.103-07:00

This little quote was taken from a message board then I answered it:>> I believe that TV is addictive and as such it should be treated with> care. Most parents would not allow their children unending access to> other addictive substances. I was addicted as a child.A lot of studies say TV is addictive. Frankly I just don't see that being true. My kids have free access to the TV and free access

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-23231667586284375562007-10-05T14:53:00.000-07:002007-10-05T15:54:16.892-07:00

After much debating and thinking and discussing, Chamille has decided to hold off on trying out school and give another effort at making some friends in another way.She came to me one day about 2 weeks ago and informed me that she wanted to go to school. It's her choice of course. It is natural that she'd be curious about it, as she's never been and it's such a huge part of our culture.The

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-77306919570680445832007-09-26T12:11:00.000-07:002007-09-26T13:01:34.918-07:00

Here are some pictures from our mini vacation. We ended up going to the beach instead of Crater Lake. The beach was nice and it didn't rain the whole time we were there! We stayed at a campground near Lincoln City OR, but we went to several beaches, including Cannon Beach where we got up early and looked at the tide pools at the hay stack rock. I love the picture of Margaux with the blue

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-86541017683475618272007-09-19T13:52:00.000-07:002007-09-19T14:14:20.562-07:00

Chamille spends a lot of time at the computer. She's writing a story on quizilla. I don't know why she wants that format, but it's what she is doing. She wants to write a Naruto story and has loads of ideas that she's been collecting.Last night she was showing me all the Naruto stories on quizilla. She's been reading them all and doing character analysis, specifically how the characters are

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-34856825491917828272007-09-02T18:17:00.000-07:002007-09-07T18:53:17.157-07:00

Here goes an attempt to write about recent events at our house.In a recent blog I wrote about the parents of Chamille's friend and how they find reasons for our kids to not hang out and spend time together. Just in case any of you are wondering if Chamille ever got to hang out on that particular day, the answer is "no" because they never got back to me.They moved, they split up and moved. The dad

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-48377392362086355392007-08-31T09:03:00.000-07:002007-08-31T09:16:12.472-07:00

Today is the first day of our vacation! Now that school is about to start, we can go and do something fun while the campgrounds aren't crowded. I think we are going to Crater Lake. Of course we'd like to go to New Mexico, but we just don't have enough money for that. Crater Lake should be fun. We are going to camp for a few days, however we haven't decided which campground to use. I have a

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-8438197658355636872007-07-30T13:30:00.000-07:002007-07-30T21:16:56.303-07:00

Here is a picture of my daughter and her friend...Sometimes it is really hard to be an advocate for your children. Over the last week and a half I have been put into a position of acting and speaking on my child's behalf in a way that was uncomfortable for me. It was uncomfortable because I tend to be shy and non-confrontational, not wanting to rock the boat. However, when my kids really need

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-36768883814731132412007-07-17T16:20:00.000-07:002007-07-19T16:26:11.849-07:00

What a muddy lake! Well it's not really like that except when there are dogs tearing through the shore line and drudging up the sludge. About two months ago all that area was under water, and the shore line went right to the edge of the picnic area. You can see it in the picture with Kaipo running where there is a sort of bluff behind her, that's where the water went up to, and then right where

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-91468069243794436432007-07-04T14:23:00.001-07:002007-07-04T14:44:37.519-07:00

Yesterday we went to the mall, actually two malls. We don't go very often, just sometimes. We happen to live down the street from a large mall. However, we had to go to a mall across town, because I needed to exchange something from a store that was in that one and not in the one next to us.I got to spend all of ten minutes in the store I needed to go to, and I'll have to go back because I

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-30146791869108424962007-06-26T16:22:00.000-07:002007-06-26T16:45:12.171-07:00

Well, this is a little after the fact, but here it is, pictures from the Naruto movie that we got to see. I bought tickets in advance because I knew they'd sell out. Not only did they sell out, they had so much response they had to open another theater, and it sold out too! We got there 2 hours early and were one of the first people in line. I wish I had a picture of the crowd, but it disappeared

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-4492370779430633952007-06-18T10:21:00.000-07:002007-06-18T10:59:09.431-07:00

This was so much fun! We got to sail on replicas of merchant ships from the late 18th century. Chamille wants to be a sailor now, but not just any sailor, she wants to sail on one of these kind of ships. She could if she's still interested in a couple of years. They have full time crews on both of their ships. The smaller one, the one we went on has a full time crew of 14. The

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-21503014842542081532007-05-11T14:32:00.000-07:002007-10-06T16:34:37.219-07:00

Well, Chamille has finally agreed to create a myspace for me. She is soooo good at this, and I just don't have the time for it. She is going to make it extra cool for me. Hers is so amazing. She has it set on private, but you all know our last name now that you've visited this page, so here is a link to it. (link gone sorry...)I will leave it up for a while, so that people may view how cool she

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-34957067908085433602007-05-09T16:04:00.000-07:002007-05-09T16:16:48.966-07:00

It's a vague title, I know. There is just so much that has been happening that I haven't posted in a while. I would take about 5 pages to go over everything, so I thought I'd just stick to how awesome my kids are.Chamille just got a DDR game with her leftover birthday money. Then our family got nice dance pads to play together. It's been so much fun dancing, competing, and getting excercise

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-23758817628256411212007-03-22T16:32:00.000-07:002007-05-09T16:04:02.735-07:00

It's been a while since I've posted anything. I guess we've been busy! In response to the needs of my kids, mostly Chamille, we've been doing things and meeting people.Chamille is going through this phase where she keeps going back and forth about going to school. Largely this is due to wanting to meet people, not just any sort of people, but like minded people. We haven't been enormously

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-45457847179525426352007-02-14T11:03:00.000-08:002007-02-14T12:19:25.668-08:00

It's really funny how life works sometimes. I have so been wanting to go to OMSI lately. We've always had a membership there but we haven't had one for about a year, partially because we just seem to be broke all the time and partially because they raised the prices, and partially because we went there so much that Chamille was starting to get tired of it.We met a nice family and went to OMSI.

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-57272865606998802832007-02-05T20:29:00.000-08:002007-02-05T21:46:01.006-08:00

I just have to say to all that Margaux learned how to swing. It actually didn't happen overnight or anything, she's been trying to figure it out for a while. She could even go through the motions with her legs moving in the "right" way, even though it didn't make her go any higher. She now has it down though, the whole thing, using the momentum of legs going each direction that you want your

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-74992090878890689172007-01-26T10:35:00.000-08:002007-01-29T13:58:42.578-08:00

Here is our family spending time together. For a long time I thought spending time together as a family was sitting around a dinner table eating. It's a fun way to spend time together, and certainly the media sure tries to push that message upon us. However, it's not the only way to spend time together. In our family it certainly isn't even the ideal way to spend time together. We do generally

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-31126656806093838862007-01-22T11:35:00.000-08:002007-01-22T12:15:36.301-08:00

Today is a beautiful sunny day. There is still a huge pile of snow where our cave used to be. The girls had a tremendous time smashing it! John and I watched, both secretly wishing that we could've just watched it slowly melt, but hey, snow doesn't come very often and smashing things is sooooo much fun!Yesterday Margaux spent almost the entire day over at the neighbor girl's house. She's in one

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35631145.post-47004301094404758322007-01-18T15:02:00.000-08:002007-01-18T15:04:21.264-08:00

Well, just one more all right? Me and hubby in snow cave.

Jenny Cyphershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617177968798413772noreply@blogger.com1