A little red string

Last week the little people and I got to go spend some time with two of my very closest friends, Lila and Anya. Both of them moved this past summer *sob* so we're further apart now and visits are a treat! The bulk of our time was with Anya outside of DC, but halfway in between her house and mine, is Lila's Homestead. As you can see we all had a blast there. I wish I could just move in. It made me miss our animals. Her home is one of those special places that you just palpably feel enveloped by love and good vibes when you walk in. It's a special place. Not to mention, her sweet little one has a special place in my heart. I am hoping I can be his adopted auntie since I LOVE him so.

After our respite with Lila, we headed north to DC to stay with Anya. I don't quite think I can put into words just how special my friendship is with her. Soul sisters I think is a good way to describe it. Not to mention, our kids are all best friends and the same ages, ha! The way we met and the way our friendship has developed, and continues to grow, just sorta blows me away. It's kinda hard to argue that fate doesn't exists with friends like the ones I have. On my dark days, clinging to those undeniable links in my life have helped tremendously. But I digress!

DC was great. It was busy, crazy, and wild with 6 kids between us and 3 adults. At one point all 3 of my kids were sleeping on top of me. But oh how numbered my days of this are. I can take it. Being with Anya, who has literally walked me through all my dark hard times over the past 16 months, was a good reminder of how far I have come, how strong I am, what I truly want out of life, and that I got this.

I won't lie though. I am going on 2 months of this single parent gig and it's intense. Like non-stop overhead sets. Bam. Right now I am sorta glad I did have my kids young because I can still jump out of bed at 3am and run downstairs because Brynna ripped her diaper off again. Or play wrestle and subdue all 3 of them and then pop up to make dinner. Or take all of them on a roadtrip and keep my cool amid the "she's looking funny at me again, MOMMY"!

"Seriously guys? Deep breaths and look out the window!!" PHEW!

But being in this better place where I am right now is so good for my soul. I feel alive and connected to myself and my life again, versus mostly going through the motions and treading water. Things just seem brighter. More vivid. It's kinda crazy really.

Being on call with the kids 24/7 is intense, but for me it's better to actually be physically and emotionally alone in this than to be with someone and still be alone. And for me there is a peace in that. A deep sense of contentment and warmth right in the center on my being.

A lot of things that happened in my past have been coming to mind of late, things I did not quite understand at the time. All of which seem to have been growing and equipping me for this current stint in my journey. I love being able to connect the dots right now, as much as it also hurts.

So yeah, I got this.

I'll see you all on the other side :)

My sharky boy who is about to be 4! Ah!

A male Cooper's hawk right in downtown DC! 

Love & Light,

At Last!

At long last King Winter paid us a frosty visit and left us with a few inches of lovely snow. It's a rare treat here to have snow period, but as it stands (4 days later) we still have some! The temperatures here have been very frigid and windy- which is not something we are used to. However we've still made it outside everyday this week- go Waldorf and my stubbornness- even if only for a little while. On the first day it snowed, we were out for five hours total. Let's just say I am one tired Mama. 

On the school front we have been having fun with the snow and birds. We painted snowflakes and made lots of snow cream. We also made the birds some millet treats the day it snowed (because Deirdre was so worried about them). One book that we're really enjoying right now is Susan Jeffers' rendition of Robert Frost's poem "Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening". It is just a beautifully illustrated book period, not to mention Frost's poem is one of my personal favorites. I am using it to introduce the kids to poetry and how to experience stillness in nature and our lives. "Be Still" is one of our seasonal verses as well, so it fits in well. We even all painted our versions of 'stillness' together. I am loving our art times all together (not just them with me hovering). 

Last weekend on our Saturday hike we got to do some birdwatching and saw a male and female pileated woodpecker! The kids were thrilled. It was a lovely hike. So beautiful and peaceful. Halfway through the hike it randomly started to snow. We all just stood there in silence with big grins on our faces. It was truly magical. 

Male

Female

Other than that we have spent lots of time indoors. Since I set up our artelier, the kids have been making ample use of it. Many afternoons, while Jonas and Brynna are napping, all Deirdre will do is quietly make art for 2 1/2 hours. This is what she did just today! I am really impressed with the doll crown and paper cut outs she's been doing. 

So all in all we've been having fun. Thank you all again for the support and continued concern and love. Your emails and messages really brighten my day! Life is good and I feel like we're in a good place despite the many gray areas looming in our future or my life. Oddly enough for me (since I am very black & white as well as a super planner) I am OK with that. Incredibly, happily, peacefully OK with it in fact. I have felt this past week very much at peace, calm, and warm. Kinda like a week long surf session. My mind keeps trying to talk me out of feeling this way, but I have just been ignoring it (which is not easy to do). I guess I also feel a bit free and empowered to deal with some of the junk in my life, grow from it, and revisit what it is I am doing and want to do. It's led to some great realizations (things I sadly died to long ago) as well as fun rabbit holes. Plus it can't hurt to take a long hard look at all the ugly bits, right? :)

Until next time!

Love & Light,

Snow Play...well sorta!

 

So after my last post I tailored my monthly plans a bit. If you're new, I have written a few posts about how we 'do' our Waldorf homeschooling (I think at this point we end up being more like Waldorf unschoolers though). This year I wrote my own curriculum of sorts. You can find more about it here. While I am sure that we'll get snow at some point (we keep just missing it but not the frigid temps), I am going to stick with it this month and combine it with February's theme, winter animals. Not only does it make my life easier but there are so many rabbits holes to go down. Arctic animals, migration, hibernation vs. turgor, survival, winter fairy tales, weather, what makes it cold, ect.

Our larger science theme for Winter is birds. All Autumn we focused on trees and I am happy to say that we can walk anywhere in our neighborhood and tell you all about every tree. It's neat now that when we drive places, even though the foliage is gone- the kids can point out different trees just by their shape. By far though my kids love willow and beech trees the best. Anywho, I'll share more about birds later on but we got 2 new feeders, a guide, and window feeder, and a bird log- so we're ready! I LOVE our window feeder. Our local cardinal couple love it too, so it's nice to sit with them and eat breakfast together. They don't seem to mind us bouncing around inside either :)

So in keeping with snow, we are making our own snow today with the kits above. I also made a little sensory bin for the kids to play with and some 'snow' dough. It was a big hit today. So much so, they dragged their new fairytale cottage down to make the ice palace from "The Story of the Snow Children". Two years ago I made peg people to go along with the book, you can how to do it here. It amazes me how well they've held up and how much the kids both still love to play with them.

Our nature table and house are now fully in January mode. I continue to struggle to do chalkboard drawings though, ha! I was never good at drawing, but thankfully my audience it forgiving. Hopefully Deirdre will surpass me soon and can take over, ha!

I also on a whim got to take some really lovely photos of the kids during lunch today. Their eyes are starting to turn from blue to green (Deirdre's are already green like mine and my brother). It was a sweet surprise. On the downside, my paperwhites are beginning to die. Alas, Christmas really is over!

Until Next Time,