I am Shauna (30) and Ricky (28) is my husband. We live in the country and enjoy the "simple life" with our five children. We live on a river front cabin/campground resort in the Midwest along side some of my family. We are a natural minded family. I created this website to share our family's child rearing and simple living philosophy with friends, family, and strangers. I also created this site to support and educate about normalizing childbirth in todays world. Though we have a blended family, all the children are "ours" and we are mom and dad to each of them. I had Charlotte and Sage, and Ricky had Ethan when we met. We joined forces and soon created our super size family in 2003. Layla and Penelope are our newest additions. Update winter 2008: I'm pregant with our 6th addition to our family! Due late this August!
Charlotte born 9-30-96 is the oldest. She is a sweet and wild child who loves games, magic, science, math, art and swimming. She can eat her weight in fruit. She is the greatest big sister and moms helper around. She saw Sage, Layla, and Penelope all be born. She's a little homebirth advocate already.
Sage born 12-17-99 is the next oldest. He's always trying to invent or build some contraption. He will glue, tape or tie anything together. He's a quiet observer and acts much more like a Virgo than a Sagittarius. He does not like attention focused on him and may embarrass easily. He loves numbers more than letters and is taking his own time learning to read. It's his life work to make me nuts :)
Ethan born 01-28-00 is only younger than Sage by a month. The boys have fun bickering over that fact though. He fancy's dinosaurs and knows quite a bit about them. His imagination knows no bounds. He is a dreamer and an artist. He can eat his weight in junk food or snacks so we have to hide the chips. Ethan has a splendid memory and free spirit.
Layla Sunday born 07-01-04 Layla is like no child we have ever seen. She is 3 going on 6. First of all she is hilarious and witty (TOO smart for her own good). She is so happy, moody, wild, cute, brave and picky. Layla Sunday is also an adrenaline junky. Oh, and she colors on EVERYTHING and anything - like every wall and toy in the house. (Mr. Clean's brand magic eraser is my friend. And it really works.) Layla is a free spirit and a tornado of happy or angry energy, depending on her mood. She is an excellent caregiver for her younger baby sister. (Total fire sign)
Penelope Juliet born 10-17-06 Penelope loves to laugh. She has bright eyes and a warm heart. She looks up to her siblings, following in their footsteps and copying everything they do. She really looks up to Layla. She is content nursing and sleeping close to mom. She also loves one on one story time with daddy. Since she is heading towards two she has learned some new favorite words like "NO!" and "Stop it!"
Shauna loves being a wife and mother. I adore Ricky like no other and in general we are inseparable. I am generally compassionate, silly, loud, stubborn, sarcastic, moody, and always looking for something to entertain me and the children with. I am a super busy mom and housewife, I also homeschool (unschool) the kids. I am a (non working) ALACE trained Doula. I embrace traditional "gender roles" and think there is nothing wrong with a man supporting his family while a woman stays home. I am proud to be a desperately happy housewife. I find my domestic role rewarding. It helps that my husband values me as a stay at home mom, who works hard. :)
Rickyis sweet, analytical and laid back. Aside from those traits Ricky is sarcastic, hard working, and often times a perfectionist. His commitment and love for his wife and children is unsurpassed. Next to being a full time husband and father he is a graduate student getting a MS in finance. Ricky worked part time at his parents farm as he earned his bachelors degree in economics from UMR the past several years. We now live full time on student loans as he enters full time graduate school. He graduates June 2008.
Hope you enjoy learning about our family! Have a beautiful day :)
