During the photo shoot, I wanted to be sure that I got a picture of me with each of the kids (and Dee with each of them as well!).  I know some of my most treasured pictures are ones with just me and my mom, me and my dad or me and my brother.  Hope our guys feel the same way someday and if not, they have great pics to throw darts at, right?!

 These are the more posed shots – still capturing the kids in the moods they were in (Carlos is never going to live his snarky attitude pic down!).

Random family pictures from our photo shoot with Cameron Karsten.
Love that he captured the kids in action!

We have been so busy with baseball and school events this last month, that the poor garden has been neglected.  Have I mentioned that our garden space is bigger than both our house and Mary’s house square footage put together:?!  Yeah, it’s that big.
Yesterday we set aside to work, work, work and I am proud to say that it now looks fantastic!  After repainting the decorative ladders, replacing the bird netting to cover the strawberries, restringing the peas and reweeding all of the beds (boys each took on one) we now have peas, carrots, lettuce, strawberries, beets, celery, 2 kinds of pumpkins, 2 kinds of zucchini, artichokes, 3 kinds of tomatoes, beans, fennel, dill, cucumbers, tomatillos, rosemary, raspberries and a million flower seeds and bulbs.  I can’t wait to see it all grow and look forward to the hours of playing in the dirt and just sitting in the amazing space.

 Every year about this time, I reflect on how lucky our boys (and entire family) are to be a part of The Island School community.   It’s a hard place to explain to people, the sense of community, the closeness of families and how tight the kid’s friendships become over the years.
At both Levi and Carlos’ birthday parties I saw this in action when I watched these kids just play together, no drama, no “cliques” but just good old fashioned playing outside.  And the parents really get to know one another as well and we enjoy eachother’s

 company.  Even I look forward to other kid’s birthday parties because I will get a chance to hang out with the parents.
Anyhow, each year about this time we get our financial aid letter in the mail.  It’s stressful, each and every year, because I can’t imagine not being a part of this community and our kids missing out on their teachers truly knowing them each year and caring about their ideas, activities, and lives outside of school.
We are humbled and grateful for the gift of financial aid we receive.

 We feel deeply blessed and know that our kids are becoming better people every single day they step foot into this amazing school.
I was talking to a parent today, who is considering The Island School, and found myself working every angle to try to convince her to (at the very least) go in and see for herself what an incredible place it is.  I may have even begged.  If you can make it happen, I can’t imagine not!
So here are some pics from the school year…pretty fun place, huh?

Carlos’ class did a little in-school fundraiser this last week to help raise money for Mayan Families (in particular, the Guatemalan family that Carlos has been raising money for through his Living on One fundraising).
They set up a plan to sell birds nest cookies, set out order forms to all of the classes, then set to work making the cookies.  They had 406 cookie orders (at $1/cookie) and a generous family offered to match the amount they raised.  You have no idea how much $812 dollars will mean to this family.  I am so proud that they are moving forward and doing something so great for others.
Also, Carlos is still doing his fundraising for this family so if you are interested, he can make/deliver more caramels for a donation!