Coming Soon…

Today in Nova Scotia, it may be cold and rainy and grey, but the gratitude comes in the knowledge that ground is being prepped and nourished for spring planting in just a few weeks.

Before we know it, we will have days like this:

 

Buckets, sand, and summer frolic, coming soon to a beach near you.

Blessings on your day, friends.

What School Looks Like Today: Spring Schoolin’

Nothing says “SPRING” quite like taking the books outside,

or rigging a pulley to haul your books up your favourite oak,

so you can hunker down in the blue-sky-sunshine to write,

and do a little reading aloud about Samuel de Champlain with your Brotherly BFF.

It’s all but a glimpse of today’s gratitude.

Wordless Wednesday: For the Love of Murphy

 Murphy and his humans.

When the blurry ones capture the moment, you gotta go with it. 

 

This post has been linked to Wordless Wednesday over at 5 Minutes for Mom.

This Week’s Gratitude

I appreciate the snow and the smiles it puts on the faces of my children.  Need I say more? 

I am grateful for our blinds that were installed yesterday.  We removed our old unrepairable shutters over a month ago for repairs and painting of window casings, and have been living in a fish in a bowl ever since.  Aren’t they purdy?

I am grateful for our homeschooling week.  It may have been one of the best weeks ever.  Happy children, eager to learn, eager to create, and working through their errors patiently and productively = happy Teacher-Mama.

Caleb even asked me before bed last night, “I know tomorrow’s Saturday, but could you please prepare some extra math for me to do?”    Um. YES!  Who am I to squelch any desire to learn? 

I am grateful for the life of my Grampie and the love he had with Grammie.  It was difficult being 2000 km away from his funeral this week, but I am so very thankful for the man he was, the abundant fruit he displayed, and for the knowledge that he is dancing at the feet of his Father… which is exactly where he wanted to be all along. 

Forever and ever,

Amen.

The Season’s First Snow

The kids are doing remarkably well with our homeschooling this week, enjoying the new curriculum, jumping into their work early and without my prompting, working through problems (and even corrections)  — calmly and patiently.  I’m sure David is tired of hearing me talk about how terrific this week has been, but it’s been GREAT!   The icing on the cake, however, was the snow that came yesterday.  It started at about 8:00 am…

…and it continued all day.

 It was a snow day here in our county, but considering the time we took off this fall, we opted to work through the day anyway.  Before hitting the books, we did a bit of last minute yard clean up by removing the pile of gravel from the driveway.  Our front walkway was completed the previous day (nice timing!), and the gravel had to be moved in order to use the snowblower.  The kids were great about getting down to business outside (moving gravel is HARD WORK), and equally good about their school work. 

After lunch, of course, they were back outside. 

David took the afternoon off to watch the kids while I worked, but I did manage to snap a couple photos of them in the yard.   This makes me thankful for the father my kids have.   

I must say I am grateful for the seasons.  I look forward to throwing open the windows on the first sunny spring day, and I look forward to the crispness of winter, drinking apple cider and hunkering down by the fire with books on the day of the first snow.

And that’s exactly what we did. 

And it’s exactly 1 month to my favourite day of the year!  Happy Winter to All!

Day 17: Eye on the Prize

Part and parcel of getting a new chimney and fireplace involves stacking the wood to burn in it.  We had the first half of our wood delivered on Monday, and after getting them started (and establishing the ‘ends’), the kids were really able to pitch in and help get it stacked. 

We do not pay our children for their household tasks, as we believe pretty strongly that much of what needs to be done needs to be done simply because we are a team.  We do it because it needs to be done, not because there is a dollar figure attached.  However, once or twice a year, for unique tasks like this, the kids get a little something for their hard work. 

In this case, they know there is a cash reward.  They are working their buns off to work that pile down to nothing.  Caleb and Eden have always been pretty diligent workers, but this time, Gabe is right there alongside them… WITHOUT me having to suggest it.  The boys were out there for over an hour yesterday morning before I even knew what they were doing.  Good on them!

Day 17: 

Sometimes a little motivation goes a long, long way. 

This has me thinking about other areas of my life that could benefit from a motivation boost.  Should I be giving myself little rewards here and there for journeying along on my path of intention?   

Maybe I should treat myself to a little something for getting some of the tougher things done.   A contribution toward a trip away with my beloved?  A new handbag or a pair of shoes?  Something to keep me from procrastinating. 

But sometimes motivation comes simply in the joy my kids express when I make time amid the busyness to play a game.  

And sometimes motivation is the simple desire of getting things done.  (Ahem.  Laundry.)

But if I could tackle things with as much gusto as my kids used tackled that wood, I’d be laughing.  LAUGHING I tell you.

This post has been linked to the 31 DAYS series.  You can start from the beginning here, and check out the other 31 Dayers here by visiting The Nester.

Day 8: A Hard Deadline

Yes, I am late with Day 8. 

Sure, it fits with my tendencies for procrastination, but it also fits with my desire to be more intentional about what we do as a family.  Fact is, yesterday was an early morning… up and at em to go deep-sea fishing.  

We have lived in Nova Scotia, dubbed “Canada’s Ocean Playground” for nine years now.  For nine years, we’ve talked about going deep-sea fishing with my dad.  Well, this was the year.

Groupon had a crazy deal on a 4-pass (only 4 would be interested in going) so I scooped it up back in May.   I had to get in this week, or I’d miss the boat, literally and figuratively.    So I booked it. 

Day 8:

Setting a hard deadline can be an extremely helpful tool in accomplishing goals.  Booking an activity (especially if you pre-pay for it) increases the likelihood of actually doing it.   

It was a wonderful day, filled with great memories for all of us. 

This post has been linked to the 31 DAYS series.  You can start from the beginning here, and check out the other 31 Dayers here by visiting The Nester.

Day 5: Warm Anticipation

Living in a small town means that we have the privilege of having lunch as a family almost every day.  David works only a few minutes from our home, a 20 minute walk or a 3 minute drive, so barring any lunch time meetings, it’s very easy for him to be here in the middle of each day.  I love that!

However, there have been one or two days in the recent past where I have actually called David at work to suggest he not come home for lunch.  He keeps a couple frozen meals in the freezer at work for situations like that, so it wasn’t a big deal on his side.  On my side, I didn’t want him to come home to the pure bedlam that was under way.   On those days, I was feeling pretty miserable as a result of the attitudes and bickering of my kids.  There was no point in two of us feeling miserable. 

That experience had me thinking about what David comes home to at the end of each day. What does he see when he opens the door and steps into the foyer?   He can open the door to screaming, crying, time outs and an obviously overwhelmed and frustrated wife.  OR he can come home to a wonderful greeting, happy children and a wife excited to see him (out of love, rather than the “wait till your father gets home” necessity).

Now, I should clarify:  I don’t think that we should hide all our frustrations and keep everything pent up.  That will only make things worse at some point.  No, what I’m talking about here is allowing my husband to be happy to come home at the end of the day, to be given the time and space to decompress after a busy day, to feel greeted and loved. 

He works so hard to provide for this family.  It’s the least I can do to honour everything he does for us. 

Thought for Day 5:

Greeting my husband with a kiss and warm smile (…or a smile and warm kiss?) makes him feel loved and anticipated, and who doesn’t want to feel that?  

This post has been linked to the 31 DAYS series.  You can start from the beginning here, and check out the other 31 Dayers here by visiting The Nester

Fall Rhythm

Fall.

I’m not sure how we got here so quickly, but here we are again.  

We are just home from a 16 day road trip ~ visiting, meeting a new baby in our family, exploring, and enjoying one another’s company (most of the time).   It was good to get away for a bit, and great to get home too.  I’m a homebody.  I LOVE my home and all that happens here. 

We returned to a real bite in the air, and I like it!  

With fall comes a renewal.  It’s like New Year’s to me.   I guess it’s true for all families of school-aged children, but homeschooling really causes me to look at things in a new light at this time of year.  I have a new list of responsibilities as a Teacher-Mama.  Things are being kicked up another notch, and it’s a fresh start, a new season.  

I’m excited about starting our first term in a couple of weeks.  I’m excited about getting the family back on track.  Routines tend to fly out the window in the summer, so finding our rhythm again will be wonderful ~ our chore rhythm, our meal planning/ bread baking rhythm, our learning rhythm. 

It will take a few weeks to establish our footing again, but I do so look forward to it.   

Until next time,

~T.

PS  The beautiful fall flowers were from my husband.  (Points for sure.)

Ingenuity

Lastnight I made a lovely beef, eggplant and carrot stirfry over brown rice, complete with fresh herbs from our garden.  I LOVED it, but then, I love eggplant so I knew it would be yummy …to me. 

My kids, on the other hand, suffered their way through it.  We have ‘exemptions’ in our house and have had from the beginning.  The kids are each allowed to choose three items they will not be made to eat until they remove it from their list in favour of something else (but never on a day that the ‘something else’ is being served.)  Since eggplant isn’t on anyone’s list (though I do use it from time to time), they all had to eat it up. 

At some point along the way, Caleb had a mouthful of food and a super-disgusted look on his face.  I reminded him it was best to swallow quickly, to get it away from his tastebuds.  

A few minutes later, the boys had finished their portions and excused themselves to clear their bowls. 

Then, I turned to Eden and saw this (–it’s blurry because it was just a quick iPhone picture):

“I’m getting the eggplant off my tastebuds Mama, and onto my cheeks instead!”

Seriously. 

Where’d I find this kid?