We continue to be delighted with the inspiration and wisdom our Carnival of Natural Parenting participants share, and we hope you'll join us for the next carnival in August 2015! (Check out July, June, April, March, February, January, and summaries of all our 2014 posts, 2013 posts, 2012 posts, and 2011 posts if you missed any.)

Your co-hosts are Dionna at Code Name: Mama and Lauren at Hobo Mama.

Here are the submission details for August 2015:

Theme: Life Learners: How do you continue to educate yourself once you are out of “formal” schooling? Are you inspiring your own children to be lifelong learners? Do you wish you had time for more? Share tips, tricks, advice, or wishes with us.

Deadline: Tuesday, August 4. Fill out the webform (at the link or at the bottom) and email your submission to us by 11:59 p.m. Pacific time: CarNatPar {at} NaturalParentsNetwork.com

Carnival date: Tuesday, August 11. Before you post, we will send you an email with a little blurb in html to paste into your submission that will introduce the carnival. You will publish your post on November 11 and email us the link if you haven't done so already. Once everyone's posts are published on August 11 by noon Eastern time, we will send out a finalized list of all the participants' links to generate lots of link love for your site! We'll include full instructions in the email we send before the posting date.

Here's what's been going on around here lately.

Karsten is 8 months old & almost crawling:



He's got those ninja moves
where we don't see him making any efficient or particular forays,
and yet when we turn around,
he's in an entirely different location.



Alrik is learning how to write Superherocatpony(his choice).That E is epic. It's got, like, fourteen lines across.Every E should be so lucky.We got this little lap board at Target in the $1 bin, fyi. Homeschool gold!



Oh, right, and Karsten learned how to drive.Forgot to mention that.They grow up so quickly.



We went to a movie for Family Day.All my cute boys.We saw DreamWorks Home, as Alrik always correctly titles it,at the cheap theater.My favorite line was "High hand touching!"which I will now say instead of "high five."

Welcome to the July 2015 Carnival of Natural Parenting: Summer Fun

This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama. This month our participants have talked about how to get out and enjoy the warmer season as a family.

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Several years ago, I wrote an advice post asking how in the world to get a kid to want to walk. That child was my oldest, Mikko, and … he still hates to walk. Note: I do not mean “walk long distances” or “walk fast” — I mean, move his tush at all. So, apparently, it was just who he is!¹

But, three years ago, when I was figuring out how to change from someone who hates running and is terrible at it to someone who could maybe, very slowly, run a 5K race (not well! obviously! but finish it!), Mikko was intrigued by my efforts and expressed his own interest in competing in a race.

Technically, kids can enter a lot of races, and there were plenty running (full out) alongside their parents in the 5K I eventually conquered (at a snail’s pace, but I kept moving the whole time!). However, I knew Mikko wouldn’t do well for a whole 5K (about 2.2 miles), even walking. So I kept looking and found the Seattle Children's Kids Marathon, and it was perfect for us.

We went camping for the Fourth of July weekend.

And, full disclosure, we meant to stay two nights
and made it only one
(though we spent our last day to the full).

But if you watch this Auto Awesome video from G+,
you'll think we had a golden time.

So that's nice. Thanks, Google,
for shining it all up for us!



Don't get me wrong, it was lovely in its way,
just also uncomfortable (said Sam & I),
and a little boring (so said the oldest),
and with too many bugs (according to both older kids).

So maybe we're more indoorsy than out, but …

it was still a good weekend for

beach play in the sunset,

fireworks across the water,

scampering up a slide,

hiking through the ferns,

looping ourselves with glow sticks,

improvising s'mores through a burn ban,

and making memories as a family.

I came across these gems in my unending
photo-editing quest.

Three brothers in their Easter duds:

Looking sibling-sweet
in Nana-smocked outfits.

Now a little behind-the-scenes glimpse for you:

We continue to be delighted with the inspiration and wisdom our Carnival of Natural Parenting participants share, and we hope you'll join us for the next carnival in July 2015! (Check out June, April, March, February, January, and a summary of all our 2014 posts, 2013 posts, 2012 posts, and 2011 posts if you missed any.)

Your co-hosts are Lauren at Hobo Mama and Dionna at Code Name: Mama.

Here are the submission details for July 2015:

Theme: Summer Fun: In the Northern hemisphere, the dog days of summer are upon us. Share your favorite summertime outside games, let us know what your family's go-to summer products are, give us tips on how to beat the heat, or write something else inspired by the sun.

Deadline: Tuesday, July 7. Fill out the webform (at the link or at the bottom) and email your submission to us by 11:59 p.m. Pacific time: CarNatPar {at} NaturalParentsNetwork.com

Carnival date: Tuesday, July 14. Before you post, we will send you an email with a little blurb in html to paste into your submission that will introduce the carnival. You will publish your post on July 14 and email us the link if you haven't done so already. Once everyone's posts are published by noon Eastern time, we will send out a finalized list of all the participants' links to generate lots of link love for your site! We'll include full instructions in the email we send before the posting date.