Life Interrupts

I interrupt this color week schedule to say that I'm taking a media fast.   My sweet husband and I rarely fight, but lately, as life has sped up, we have found ourselves becoming short with each other more.  We need to spend more intentional time together, yet we tend to both plop down at the end of the day and "zone" on separate computers.  We want to spend our evenings REALLY together.  We'd like to meet some goals (refine our budget, get the school plan for next year ready, plan a family vacation, home DIY projects, and refine our family routine) and use our evenings together to be intentional in that area.  I do so love this space, and all of YOUR spaces, and I will look forward to coming back here and catching up with you when the timing is right.  Until then, I do plan to keep my Instagram feed going as that's how a lot of my pictures are taken these days.  Easier to pack a baby on my hip with the phone in my pocket as opposed to my big camera.  :)  Anyways, if you'd like to follow my Instagram, you'll find me under "peasncarrotsmama".  Its a private account so just ask to follow and if you wouldn't mind commenting on a photo to just let me know you came via the blog, I'd appreciate it.  Just trying to keep it somewhat protected from the big world, if you know what I mean. 

 

I'm off to be intentional and that starts with a shower while my kiddos rest.

 

Catch you on the flip side.

Color Week - Day 2

Orange

&

Yellow

 

In the garden.

 

 

Processing my home made Calendula oil....

 ...to make Calendula salve.

 Always bringing the outside, in.

 A love note.

Fresh from Grammy's tree, and amazing in tea!

His favorite color!

 

Joining in with Kim on a little Color Week blog fun.

Color Week - Day 1

Purple


In the garden.

 Drying on the porch.

Waiting at the machine.

****************
 



Joining in with Kim on a little Color Week blog fun.

Pockets

I never knew why there were pockets on aprons.  I mean really, who ever stuck a gooey spatula in their apron pocket for safe keeping while cooking?  I figured pockets were a poor attempt at accessorizing the apron, and never added them to any aprons I sewed. 

Well....one night while cooking dinner, I remembered I'd seen a few ripe green beans earlier that day in the garden.  So I rushed out to the front yard, in my apron, to pick a few to add to the veggies I was cooking.  Once out there, I found that there was more than the handful I was expecting!  I was about to go back in for a bowl when I remembered my apron had one of those silly accessories.  :)  So I started shoving green beans in my pocket and the light bulb went off!  AHA!  Pockets on aprons weren't for the cooking wife, they were for the HOMESTEADING wife!  Now I want pockets on all my aprons.  BIG pockets.  And.....I feel quite silly for never understanding the apron pocket before.  :)

Sum it Up Saturday Break

I decided to take a break from my Sum it Up Saturday posts.  Mostly, because I decided to take a REAL Summer break.  Since we jumped into homeschooling, 3 years ago, I have never taken a break to just "be" and plan.  All our breaks were forced due to health issues; a crashing thyroid, a healing thyroid (that in itself was a year and a half process), 2 miscarriages, Arrow's first trimester, bed rest, postpartum....phew!  I'm tired just thinking about it all!  After coming out of those breaks, I'd jump right back into home schooling, feeling behind and stressed.  We have never taken a Summer break.  I have never taken time to sit down, think about our home schooling goals, and try to find a program that fits those goals.  Well, correction, I would TRY to do that, but always in a rushed fashion.  I bought boxed curriculum that I thought looked good during rushed research.  Then as soon as it arrived, we'd jump into it without much prep time on my part because I was so worried the children were behind.  That left both the kids and I muddling through the foreign territory of the new curriculum together, and it always failed. 

Still feeling behind, I was planning to again School through the Summer.  It was causing me great stress though as really, I was just completely burned out.  I randomly stumbled upon a method I thought would fit us well and was cramming to figure it out enough to just jump right in when I got to my breaking point and realized I just couldn't do that again.  I needed a break!  The program suggested really prepping yourself first before starting up with the kids, as its more about implementing a methodology than completing a program.  That night I decided to throw schooling through the Summer to the wind and take our first official, HEALTHY break!

So I've been reading through every link, rabbit trail and related blog I can get my hands on.  I've made Pinterest boards to keep things organized, bought books, made notes of what our library has on hand that we'll need, made goals, and am working on sprucing up our home school work area.  Zac is also jumping in with me, reading up on the methodology of Charlotte Mason, and helping me form plans and goals.  We are planning to use Ambleside Online, Year 1, with both Felicity and Logan next year. 

I will plan on coming back to the idea of Sum it Up Saturday posts when we start up again.  It really helped me stay accountable. 

And since this was such a wordy post, I'll leave you with a few random, cute pictures.

 

Happy Summer (almost)!

Ari

I realized tonight that there hasn't been a lot of Arrow on the blog.  I've been focusing a lot of energy into home schooling, which I think shows on my blog as my posting has gone down to only once a week, and its home school related which means Arrow is not involved.  I'm VERY excited that my passion for home schooling is really taking off.  Its certainly an answer to prayer.  But I thought you'd like to see a bit of Arrow too.  Here he is.

 

He naps in his own crib now, in the boys' room.  Just the fact that he's napping is huge.  He's only been doing that for about a month and a half.  And he's doing a good job at it too!  It sure is amazing how things flow so smoothly when a baby takes regular naps.  I'd forgotten.  :)

 



"I sing he a little song and he go to sleep."

Boy was she happy to have him asleep and STILL in her lap so she could inspect his ears, his downy hair, and his chubby rolls.

"Look at his tiny hands Mama!"

 I very reluctantly let this happen.  :)

7 1/2 months I had being the sole food provider for this boy.

And I loved every second.

Now I share this job with solid foods, and I feel a bit displaced.  :)

Arrow is joining us just for dinner right now.  He usually only manages to get a small portion of what is served to him, in his mouth.  The rest goes onto the floor, much to Denver's delight.

So far he's tried banana, peach, avocado, yellow squash, carrots, zucchini from the garden, potato, artichoke, applesauce, and O's.  Oh, and he and I shared our first raspberry find in the garden tonight.  So far he's very go with the flow about it all.  He accepts it all, keeps it in, and just rolls with it and likes it all.  He hasn't balked at anything yet.  Mostly, I think he just thinks its fun.  And though I miss being his sole source of nutrition, I have to admit, it IS fun having him at the table.

 

 He started cruising this week.  That box there is his favorite toy right now.  In the morning I carry him into the living room and he lunges for it while still in my arms.  He LOVES to stand and cruise so much that we wondered if he'd skip crawling.  But tonight he got up on all fours for the first time and did the belly flop thing.  He wasn't too happy about it, but it got him to his toy a few feet away.  I have a feeling he will be an early walker.

 

Being the fourth baby, Arrow benefits from the fact that I've learned over the years just how fleeting these days are.  This baby is babied well.  He is kissed and squeezed all day long.  He is worn nearly whenever he wants.  He sleeps next to Mama.  He has a routine but when he needs to switch it up, no one bats an eye.  I don't worry about creating bad habits yet.  Just last night he nursed all night long.  Yes, I woke very tired.  But he woke with crusty eyes and there have been germs in the house.  I think his body maybe just needed to bulk up on immunities last night, and I'm happy to let him.  I was so nervous about forming bad habits with Logan and Felicity that I wasn't this relaxed.  I am so very much loving and hanging on to his baby days.

Tonight, he didn't nurse down like he normally does.  Kian bonked his head and so our nursing session was interrupted to tend to Kian.  Arrow couldn't quite calm down after that.  So when he was done nursing, we rocked.  I rocked him so much his first few months of life.  I'd sit on the porch for hours, watching the big kids ride bikes in the street, while rocking baby Arrow until my back was stiff and sore.  Now days, he's usually too busy to rock.  Tonight, though, we rocked.  He was just tired enough, and just milk drunk enough, to settle down on my lap.  I hope I never forget how the dusk light fell across his face, coming in through a small space in the curtains.  I sang him "It is Well, With My Soul" and "10,000 Reasons" while we rocked in that peaceful light, on my Grandnana's old rocker.  Every few minutes he's sit up and look at me, smile, and give me his classic LONG blinks that just look like he's saying "I love you" with his eyes.  Then he'd put his head back down on my chest and just melt into me.  It didn't take him long to fall asleep.  I hope I never forget rocking him tonight.  He is my joy.

Sum it up Saturday

This week, we learned about the ancient citadel cities of the Indus Valley in Story of the World.  I was going to move on to the next chapter mid week, but the kids were so enthralled with citadels that I decided to follow their lead and just focus on that this week.  MANY citadel cities were built with blocks this week.  Many "bad guys" attacked many cities and many citizens (and star wars characters....ahem) ran to their citadels for protection. 

I've been spending most of my down time getting a plan together for next year.  Right now, I'm planning on using Ambleside Online.  Its a free plan using the Charlotte Mason approach.  I decided to put some of Ambleside Online's practices to use this week, just to see how the kids responded to it.  Quite honestly, we naturally have a Charlotte Mason feel in our home school, so I'm not sure the kids noticed a difference.  We started reading Bedtime Stories by Thornton Burgess.  The kids love these sweet little stories.  I love how each one has a moral.  Logan did copy work from the Burgess book, for handwriting, while Felicity worked on what we call "rainbow letters" (letters with arches, such as r, p, b, and h). Both of them did fantastic handwriting this week.  Some of their best work ever. 

Thornton Burgess, copy work, and Sweet Child o' Mine on repeat.

I love how he has his own unique taste in music.

On Friday we had our last science group of the year.  We went to one of the family's homestead and learned about goats.  The kids made goats' milk soap and goats' milk ice cream, and the Mamas enjoyed home made chevre and goats' milk cheese cake.  The Mamas also had a milking competition.  It was my first time milking a goat.  I lost, big time, but oh, it was so much fun!  I'll be back to improve on my skills for sure.  :)

How was your home schooling week?

Leave a comment if you wish, or feel free to write your own Sum it up Saturday post and link up.