Wednesday, December 31, 2008

~So long 2008~

It has been a wild year. Wild and wonderful. When I look back and see how things have shifted I am humbled and inspired. This life is so exciting!! I just made a video for all our family who live miles and miles away...a compilation of photos from the past year, and WOW did it ever put things into perspective!

I saw our house stripped down to studs and the reconstructed and made into the beautiful sanctuary that it is now.

I saw our beautiful children grow and change, becoming more even beautiful and brilliant as time passed.

I saw the confidence grow in my husbands eyes as he labored to create the home we envisioned...manifesting it so completely.

There have been so many changes this year.

Again I was reaffirmed that our decision to home school is the best for our family. That allowing our children to lead their own learning will take our family on the most amazing of journeys.

This was the year that I finally joined belly dance, something I have wanted to do for years. I discovered how fulfilling it was to actually take time for myself and do something I love and watched how the magic of that reflected in all areas of my life.

There was so little time for community activities, friends and even family that we were able to really see what we were missing and truly appreciate what it is that we have here in our little town in the forest. We were able to realize how much we value the relationships we have built and the way that we have woven ourselves into the tapestry that is this wonderful community. I could feel our roots digging deeper as we realized that we really do want to stay here.

This was the year that music re-awoke within my husband. I watch as he composes and am in awe of his gift.

This was the year that our son was diagnosed autistic. The year I began to teach those around me who work with children on the spectrum a different way to look at Autism. This was the year I was truly affirmed in the amazing brilliance of our son and was able to truly advocate for the empowerment and celebration of Autism as a gift.

This was the year that my heart took flight and soared across the ocean. The year I realized that the time was nearing to manifest our dream of adopting and that somewhere in Ethiopia, at some point in the not to distant future, we would find the children that would complete our family.

This was the year my Heart grew. It excites me to imagine where I'll be when my hair is long and white and I awake with the dawn to do yoga in my garden....so many years of blossoming left, I can't even wrap my head around it!

And so I welcome 2009 with an open heart, full of anticipation, inspiration and excitment!



Thursday, November 20, 2008

~Gestating Elephant Style~

So, is it at all normal to feel such intense swells of emotion? My heart in my throat, my eyes welling up with tears. I realize that in my last post, written just this morning, I talked about patience and faith and believing. And its not that I don't truly feel/know those to be reality....it's just I'm not sure I can handle waiting to bring home our sweet babes from so far, far away.

Here I am, 9:34 at night, kids in bed, hubby in bed, cup of Tension tamer tea in hand reading adoption blog after adoption blog. Every 2 minutes I feel the tears well up again and I think...sheesh!! this is soooooo much like early pregnancy. Or when your pregnant and don't know it yet. I can almost see the rush of hormones any time I even think of our babies. And when I read about these families who are waiting for referrals or waiting for their court dates or waiting to travel I think "it all takes so long.....how can we wait to begin??!!" Or at least how can I wait to begin. It is all so much easier for Dad-e-o. He is not pulled by his heart strings the same way I am. He doesn't gestate in the same all encompassing way that I do. There is so much else going on in our lives with moving/children/work/music that it is easier for him to hold on to the knowledge that we will start once we've settled into our new home and taken our kids on our cross Canada journey. ahhhhh, why can't I jump into his head and just chill in that mind frame for a while??!! Just kick back and live the whole "be here now" loveliness that Ram Dass was talking about.

Oh Ram Dass....where for art thou?? lolol, but seriously, I find myself ebbing and flowing with stormy tidal ferocity. Crashing into obsession and then pulling myself out into distraction. Obsession, distraction, obsession, distraction...

BUT...it really does make sense to wait. Our house is for sale. When it sells, hopefully in late winter/early spring we will move to our new, currently undetermined home. We will take 2 of my sisters kids for 2 weeks in April as she and her hubby travel to Israel. When they get home we will go on our greatly anticipated 1-2 month trip across Canada. When we return home we will settle into our house plant gardens, build a greenhouse, dig a root cellar, preserve loads of food for winter and help our children settle into our new rhythm. By then it will be early Autumn and this is when we can contact Imagine and begin putting together our dossier to send off to Ethiopia.

Makes sense, ci? Now if only I can help my heart to understand that it makes sense. Or at the very least that what is meant to be will be. Maybe I should go and read my previous post.

~The Future is Now~



We are sitting in limbo. That illusive place without definition where form and feature are blurred by the fog of uncertainty.

I usually don't like limbo. Generally speaking I LOATH it, but... I am learning a new kind of patience. The kind of patience that is birthed of necessity. The options: become more patient or end up in the "green bed". (losing my mind) I am not such a fan of feeling like I am on the verge of insanity and so, patience it is.

Our house has become a sanctuary. A place to relax...yes, relax. (we have time to do that now...well, kind of anyway) A space in which we can ponder the future. Wonder at the undefined possibilities. Re-evaluate our needs as a family and as individuals.

Its odd to be feeling so very contented about the whole thing. Faith has wrapped itself around my doubtful heart and warmed me from the inside out. Doubt melted away to reveal the core of me...the core that really, truly believes.

I believe that what is meant to be will be. I believe that we attract to ourselves exactly what we need. I believe that the future is a beautiful thing. I believe that faith is key.

I know I needed a break. My hubby needed a break. We needed to reacquaint ourselves with ourselves. And now, with this pause in our lives, we have been gifted the opportunity to do just that. To find our place on this path. To journey forward with sure steps. Affirmed that this truly is the direction we are meant to go without needing to know where we will end up.

The future is full of music and creation. Dance and friendships. Travel and adventure. Roots and branches. Of babies and children....our ever growing family. Home and Heart.

The Future is Now.






Friday, October 10, 2008

~my Libra boys~

Dad-e-o and Sweetie Boy...my Libra guys...celebrating the gift of their lives!!

mmm....cake!!



a HORSE!!!! "Mine howse!!??" Sweetie Boys new favorite thing


a saddle and everything!



~cousins~

~L is for Learning~

Finding moments to write proves more challenging then I anticipated!! Not that I really expect to have oodles of time to write daily or anything...just maybe a few more moments then I have found so far. I suppose I need to make spilling more of a priority. After all, isn't that the beauty of a blog?? To have a place on which to spill the overflowing happenings of a life such as this??

but TIME.....where does it go??!!

I've gotta say, trying to do reporting on 3 kids is a heck of a lot more work then doing reporting for 1!! I have Honey registered with a program that requires really minimal reporting. Basically just the technical "she did pages this and that from this book, went on a field trip, did an art project...done" I LOVE it...so easy. It takes me all of 10 minutes to do her weekly report and I get the SAME amount of money as I get for Beena and Mr. Bop!! Their program requires a weekly hours log (min. 25 hour of learning) plus and O4L (observing for learning) which is basically a lil' essay on what they learned, how the felt about it....challenges and triumphs. All in all a much more soulful way of going about things, which is why I signed up with this program in the first place. I love that my children aren't measured and compared, that they appreciated for the multifaceted people that they are, BUT...it takes me an hour to do each of them, which may not seem like much but I've got to say trying to pull an extra 2 hours out of every week when I swear there aren't enough hours to begin with is challenging to say the least.

So why, you might ask, do I stay with the program that asks so much of me?? Well, Mr. Bop is kind of on a test run with them this year. They have a great special ed program and he is registered as a special need guy, which means I have access to a whole shwack of extra funding and lots of support. I'm not sure if I'm really going to need all this extra funding and support yet...thus the test run. But I can say that having someone to bounce off of and seek reassurance and resources from is a VERY good thing...especially someone who respects our rather unconventional way of doing things.

As far as Beena goes, she has been with her LC (learning consultant) for 4 years. Over time we have developed a rather close relationship. Having a female mentor for Beena who has been a part of her life for so long is really important to me, especially as she gets older and begins to do more of her own O4L-ing. Her LC is someone that she can turn to as she goes through the challenges of shifting into women hood.

For these reasons I continue to make the sacrifice of my time and head space. We'll see where I'm at by the end of the year...you never know, maybe it will just take a bit of time for me to get into the rhythm of it all.

Its no wonder I have a hard time finding a moment to write when I am finding it challenging fulfilling my mama/teacher reporting duties!!

On the flip side the actual homeschooling aspect of life...the part that actually matters...is going wonderfully. (oh if only I had loads of $$ and didn't need the resource funding so much!!) I am in love with our new curriculum!! (Sonlight) and am finding the flow of working with all 3 children to really work for us. I guess its just the natural flow of our life. I am facilitating their learning needs just as I do from birth...providing them with what they need to reach that next developmental place. I love the affirmation that comes through the twinkle in the eye of a child who is empowered and fulfilled. There is no greater joy a mother can experience then to see her children truly happy...loving life and learning because that's what we humans do...learn.


~Sweetie Boy learning to propel himself on the hammock swing~

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

~Sweet lil' Honey~

5 minutes for mom is hosting a fab contest that I am so totally entering....mostly because we are supposed to post a pic of our lil' ones sleeping and I had the perfect pic in mind.....and hey, the prospect of winning a beautiful bedroom suite (we would opt for the Summer Breeze set in Vannila cream, a match-everything-color for our little lady who loves to dress things up!) for Honey is an added bonus!!

So here's the pic...Honey just couldn't make it to her bed....to sweet!!

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

~time for change~

I have a hankerin' to go shopping. A need for some snazzy new clothes....a pair of shoes. Something for me. There is only one problem....money and the lack there of. And so I have decided that since my *money for mama to spend on herself* is negligible I will update other aspects of my life.....this blog for instance. Sure I only had the other rather lovely template for a few weeks, but when the season calls for change, change we must. So here it is...my snazzy new *dud's*...me, fully decked out in the latest blogger fashion..lolol. Hope you like my new look!!

xo

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

~The BEST Birthday cake EVER~

Well, I turned 30 a few days ago. I LOVE being 30....I love aging. Is it odd that I look forward to the days when my hair is long and gray??...peppered with the memory of brown. When the wrinkles on my face trace the lines of my experiences. I long for well defined smile lines...crows feet at my eyes that show the bliss I have lived even when I sleep. I look forward to doing yoga on my deck in the early morning light with my hubby, something I am way to busy to do now. Baking bread with my grandbabies. Watching my children continue to grow into the amazing people that they are.


Speaking of which, our awesome son Mr. Bop made me the best birthday cake I have ever had....

~10 things that....joining the land of lists~

~10 things that make me blissfull in the morning~


1~ sunshine....the way it angels through my windows, through the towering trees the separate our house from the road.....(Eazee...what a great name for a road...)no matter the season...oh, but especially in the winter when a heavy frost fog comes through and everything is covered with ice...OMGosh, like being surrounded by a cathedral of diamonds.....truly breath taking.


2~the sleepy smell of my sweet babes.....lingering coziness, warmth that seems to cling to their hair. I love to hold them and inhale that morning smell, mmmm. especially when they rather sleepily tell me of there dreams....oh~oh the sweetest thing.


3~tea...I LOVE my morning tea.....speaking of which I must go grab my freshly steeped mug, uno momento....ahhh, thats better. my mug, steaming, filled with an organic Rooiboos with a touch of sugar(organic...I ran out of honey) and a splash of soy milk. other favorites: masala chai, licorice spice...which is kinda odd since I really don't like licorice...tea, early gray, hot....lol...lovely red raspberry leaf...oh heck...just toss some herbs and spices in a cup and I'll probably love it. I do have a rather expansive tea collection.


4~ oatmeal.....I LOVE oatmeal and no, not quaker quick oats (ewww, glue like nastyness) my precious organic, slow cooking oats....thick cut and fragrant. I love the ritual of it...going into the pantry, reaching up to the shelf covered with glass jars filled with grains/pastas/nuts. Boiling the water, turning it down, adding the oats...letting them simmer, unstirred until they reach a state of perfection. Filling my bowl, adding raisins and hemp hearts...maybe sliced apples and cinnamon....drizzling pure maple syrup and adding the ice cold soy milk. mmmmm. (okay, I realize that this may seem a bit excessive, after all it is just breakfast, but I'm a passionate person and this is FOOD we're talking about!)


5~ sitting on the couch with my man for a few minutes of chatting, he with his coffee, I with my tea. a bit of calm before the whirlwind of the day.....pure bliss


6~ hearing the phone ring and knowing that its my sis C declaring that she is coming over because she absolutely MUST get out of her house. saying that we will be productive...maybe fold laundry or paint something...but knowing full well that we will sit and drink tea (yes, more tea) and get engulfed in amazing conversation whilst we watch the babies play and referee the big guys outside.


7~ hearing the phone ring and knowing its my other sister, S (I always seem to know when its them calling) calling to fill me in on the happenings in her life way the heck out in Manitoba, which, by that way, is WAYYYYY to far away from me!!! (notice the pout.....(stamps foot)) we chat between her clients (she's a hair dresser) and I hang up longing to sit and share tea face to face (again with the tea....) and hold my sweet Monkia, who is getting so big and soon might forget that her Auntie Jenn is the next best thing to her momma.....(I can't actually think about it to much because my throat and eyes fill with the pain of it all)


okay....dry eyes.....back to bliss


8~ fresh air. I so rarely get outside first thing in the morning, when I do I swear I can hear a chorus of lil' fairies singing praises to the sun. I can't wait until we move and have our main living space on ground level and I can walk outside with my tea (okay, enough with the tea...I might be obsessed, not addicted.. I very rarely drink caffeine...really!) wander through my garden...dew on the toes of my woollen slippers....collect the eggs (I'm gonna have chickens!!) have a conversation with my cat who tends to walk along with me and tell me of all her mid-night adventures.


9~listening to my kids play....they always seem to get along so well in the morning.....ooh....yeah (ignoring the yells of eldest daughter aimed towards littlest brother as he takes down her fabulous something or other....sigh) well.....they light up my life even still.....see, and now there is peace again...problem solved and I didn't even need to get my tooshie off this chair!


10~getting ready for the days activity while listening to melodies that set the tone.....right now I'm listening to my lovely friend Kim's play list...a tune I've never heard before and am loving...Love Song by Sara Barellies. thanxs Kim darlin'!

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

~september brings her inspirations~

I am sooooo in love with home learning (Dad-e-o keeps asking why I say schooling when what we do is so NOT schooling). Our mornings are filled with inquisitive discovery and some how we keep being done at exactly 12:00!! How we managed that I have yet to figure out...but regardless, the flow of teaching all these sweet babes is going so much more smoothly then I expected. I have time for everyones needs and lessons...complete with projects and novel reading near the end.

One thing I am finding so serendipitous....our Africa study. Beena decided last April that she wanted to study Africa. This was way before Dad-e-o and started talking about possibly adopting from Ethiopia. And now, with my heart so open to the possibility of more children in our lives I am finding myself emersed in a multi-faceted study! It is so cool!! Even the novel that I am reading to Eden is set in Ethiopia in the 1840's.( http://www.janekurtz.com/books/saba.html ) Written by a white women who grew up there, the story comes from the perspective of a 12 year old girl...and it is beautifully and poetically written, which speaks to Edens heart. At the end of the book there is a whole section on a girls life in Ethiopia then and now.

Shifting directions....I am almost done with our application for Mr.Bop's special ed funding for "school". How this program works for me is yet to be seen. It is a bit more work then our already somewhat labor intensive Self Design program http://www.wondertree.org/ but there is a lot of support and our Learning Consultant is very open/unschooly and has loads of experience with autistic kids. I do believe that I might have found a mentor for Mr.Bop as well....someone to do 1 on 1 work in his line of passions ~ nature and all her splendor. http://www.earthwisetours.com/ I have talked with her about the possibility and will talk more after Mr.Bop and Beena have taken part in her Nature Journeys which starts next week. I think the idea kind of intimidated her a bit...the whole label of Autism can be freaky for some people. but I am sure that will shift once she meets him and is able to see his passion and focus in the field. Mr.Bop is also very "high functioning" which is so different from peoples "rain man" perspective of Autism. I am so excited that we might have found something for him!! Now there is something for everyone here, which really does effect our deliberation as far as to move or not to move goes.

Speaking of which, we are going to look at a place this weekend. 30 acres with and old house on it about 30-ish minutes from town in an area that we both really love....huge mountains, beautiful lake, thick forests that are not all pine. The draw behind this, other then its obvious beauty, is that there is a house that might be good enough to live in while we build. It also has power, septic and a well already in place which saves us a huge amount of time and work....we're feeling pretty done in the work category right now!! I'll keep you posted!

Here are a few pic's of our adventures in the greenbelt with Jess.



Me bellydancing at the fall fair with my new orange costume pieces that my mama got me for my birthday!

Monday, September 1, 2008

~manifesting the dream~

I can barely believe how full my heart is! Bursting in fact.


~~~A dream is a wish your heart makes, when your fast asleep~~~




my heart made a wish when I was fast asleep, snuggled into my sisters bed. our tiny forms cradled beneath the weight of blankets and happenings too intense for ones so small. the heart of a child is a resilient thing...inspired by pain and troubles with a need to change the world.

I think both our hearts made wishes all those years ago. Wishes that would motivate us to push beyond our circumstances. Wishes that would force us to become more then the layers of our history ever expected.

Dreams of childhood can reappear when you least expect it. As a vision in the most grief stricken times.....a vision that pulls us through and propels us beyond that moment. As a mantra that becomes so much more then a dream as adulthood's experience shifts dreams into reality.

I am a shifter of dreams.

So often we hear people declare, as they reach the end of their lives, that life passed them by. We humans get so caught up in then happenings of every day life; bill payments, mortgages, job advancement, saving for retirement, making crazy amounts of money...or at least trying to, amassing mountains of stuff. We forget that we need soulful fulfillment. We NEED to take time to manifest our dreams into reality. We NEED to experience miracles....wondrous and beautiful....unexplainable. We NEED to listen to the wind and answer when we feel called to do more.

In my dreams I was in a desolate place....enveloped in poverty and grief. I heard the cries of babies....hundreds of babies, desperate to be held, to be nursed....to be Loved. And I Loved them. I Loved them so much that I thought I would burst. So much that I felt the very core of me change with it. Love. so much Love.


And I held them. All of them, nourished by my breast and the heart that beat beneath. Bathed in the light that true Love radiates.

The crying stopped. solace called and a peaceful calm replied. we were together, we were healed. by Love.

So here I am, so many moons later. My dream, my mantra beating within my heart. And now the Love that was conceived by my childhood dream sees the potential for a shift into reality.

I am humbled. exhilarated. frightened. inspired. moved to tears. overwhelmed. propelled. focused. elated...Brave.........

I am taking it slow, for on this journey I am not alone. My husband humbles me with his faithful support. There are moments when I doubt that he will be with me here on this path, but I am endlessly warmed by his presence beside me. His steadfast belief in me...even when my dreams bring me to a place so far from anything that resembles "the norm", finds me reassured.

We have talked about these dreams since we first met and even when I am doubtful of my path he reminds me of the truth within me and my ability to answer this call with Strength and Love. Love. regardless of the judgments laid upon us or the opinions of others. He knows my heart and soul. He knows that we NEED to follow our dreams to fruitation, to find fulfillment in this fleeting life.

And so the shift has happened.....dream, wish, reality..... and this leg of the journey begins.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

~stradeling the fence~

My mind has been on one thing for so long......renovation. Its been going on for 3 1/2 years now but its really been in the last year that we have done NOTHING else. Being immersed in a project this large has really engulfed both Dad-e-o and I. I am however, glad to announce that we are beginning to think of other things!!! You know what this means??? We really ARE almost done. Things left on our to-do list: fill pinner holes in woodwork, tung oil plugs in woodwork, finish painting the deck (which is 75% done), finish putting on trim in and out, wash windows, install shelving/rods in closets, seal grout in entry, put screens on windows/doors, cover bathroom vent w/wood beam, get eavstrough's installed on deck extension. Other then that its clean up and yard maintenance....thats it!!! Holy Kershomly!!

We've been talking a lot about what we are doing with our future. Weighing heavily in on the subject of moving. We really need to make sure that what ever decision we make is THOROUGHLY thought through...every pro and con weighed, every detail addressed. In so many ways where we live provides us with everything we need. Close friends and family. A community that I have really made an effort to be actively involved in. Work for Dad-e-o as well as a need for my skills as doula and childbirth educator. ( I can hear you thinking, Why would you ever move??) But....the big question is~ Do we want to stay here forever??

When we sell our house we will be buying land. We will build our dream house~ a passive solar timber frame straw bale, as well as Dad-e-o's shop in which he can work from home. I will plant huge gardens, have chickens and a year round green house...maybe even goats if I can get my kids to drink the milk. We do not plan to ever move again. I want to have a nursery in my house in which my children and there children will play. I want to put down serious roots...see my perennials flower year after year. I want my children to be able to frolic in the forest as children and re-visit those forts and pathways as teenagers. This will be our forever home.

And this, dear friends, is why it is sooooo important to us that we make the right choice for our family. We will not be moving later on down the road if we find that Nelson wasn't quite what we'd hoped it would be or if we find that there just isn't enough to offer our children in this tiny little town.

But there has been a shift in my heart....I no longer feel fearful of making the wrong choice. When I look to the future it is with a light heart and an open mind. Being here, in a place where I can think about more then just renovations, I find my heart looking towards various other aspect of our future. I suppose its kind of been like pregnancy. When your pregnant you think about your tiny baby. You obsess over the eminent birth and the rather short post partum period. You might skim over childhood/adulthood lightly but real the focus is the immediate future. Once you give birth however, the child, the amazing, ever evolving, completely unique child becomes the focus. And as time progresses you look back and laugh at how, during pregnancy birth seemed like the culmination of your existence, but now it was just a blip (be it a life changing/soul altering/earth shifting blip) in the vast landscape of parenthood.

So this house is our baby...born beautiful and awe inspiring. And now as we sit here and our focus shifts to everything the will be wrought through the painful birthing process that has been these renovations. (by the way, as time passes you'll come to see that nearly everything relates back to birth in my mind)


well....the purpose of this post was suppose to be the things we have actually had time to think about lately. I guess I will have to wait until later as my time for blogging has drawn to a close this morning. I will however leave you with this.

My heart is full of babies!

more on this when next we speak....or write/read.

Saturday, August 23, 2008

~the choices we make~

There are points in our lives when the choices that lie ahead seem to hold in their grasp the weight of the entire future. In all reality every choice we make, no matter how small, has the potential to cause the pendulum of our lives to shift to an entirely new rhythm. Why, then, do these large choices seem to lay so much more heavily on our hearts?


Here we sit....at the precipice of change. Why does it feel like that? Like the "wrong" choice could cause some kind of horrible chain reaction that would leave us shattered in some unthinkable way, falling into the abyss of the unknown.


I know that I am an adaptable women. That I have the ability to create my own reality, and thus find a way to fulfill my needs and the needs of my children regardless of our surroundings or circumstances. Somehow I must find a way to remind myself of this in the moments when I fear making the wrong choice. It may seem as though so much lays in the balance, but I think in truth the one thing I fear is loss.


I fear the loss of something that I spent years working towards. I fear the loss of friendship, companionship. I fear being alone and unsupported, being somehow unable to handle my life and having no one to turn to for guidance.

When I really sit back and think about it I KNOW that the connections that I have made that run deep will continue regardless of time or miles. I know that across time and space I have surrounded myself with a intricate tapestry of loving support. People to whom I have given my heart and who, in return have shared theirs with me.


I feel so thankful for this and I know that once I truly come to the place where I can embrace the idea that these things will not just fall away if my path leads me else where, I will be able to find contentment with this choice and see it not as a precipice but rather a wide open space full of beautiful potential and opportunity for growth.

Now if only I had a pool of clarity that I could gaze into when I have my moments of insecure doubt.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

~the freedom of home learning~

This morning it is chilly. I woke up snuggled under my duvet, wrapped in 2 small children who giggled with glee at the coziness of it all. There is something so special about cuddling up under loads of blankets in a room that is so chilly you can almost see your breath. (I know, its august, but at this high elevation Autumn seems to come early). These low temperatures and dismal skies bring me a feeling of comfort. Its time to make pots of hearty soup, ( herb and Chicken tonight!) warm muffins, loaves of nutty spelt bread. I am so excited to actually have time to do these things again! This summer has been such a whirl of activity that I was actually compelled to order pizza a few times...and for me, Ms. make-it-from-scratch, that is really saying something!



I also love the preparation for the coming school year that seems to dominate my head space these days. This year both Alden and Willow will be joining us in more official "morning lessons". Because we are "unschoolers," (as in we used no set curriculum, but rather do what interests the kids, shifting as their needs/interests shift) I find that the best way for me to facilitate our children's learning is to designate the morning as mama and kids time. Basically this means that during the morning I am all theirs...no chores, laundry, yard work, phone calls, visitors....nothing to distract me from my guys. I used to just leave it open but I found that it was so easy for me to get lost amongst my to-do list and chores, and them amongst the play loft and yard that we would get to the end of the week and find we hadn't accomplished half of what we had wanted to. And so morning lesson was born. We leave our afternoons open for hikes, lessons (skating, riding, music), visits to the library, play dates, etc. It works really well for us. I think we all have a hunger at this time of year for the calming rhythm that this season brings.



This year will be a bit different in that there is a good possibility we will be spending a big chunk of the fall travelling. As soon as our house sells we are loading up a travel trailer and heading across Canada. This is so exciting! Last year we spent the autumn studying Canadian history/geography/politics and this year we get to actually LIVE what we learned! How cool is that??!! We are planning to take our time and visit all the historical/scientific/natural land marks along the way. I soooooo love the freedom that home learning allows us. Lets take it to the road, into the tangible.....living our learning in a way that neither the children or Adam and I will ever forget!

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

~all you need is love~

just a quick note to say....

I love my fam so darned much. I just saw pic's of my sister's new homeschooling room. (who is also mama to a whole heap of kids) my sweet nephews and niece all taking part in the action...baby D delicious and playing with flour.
I'm going to bed feeling so happy and smitten...with silly Beatles songs about how "all you need is love" running through my mind. mmmmmm...so true!

love is all you need......

Sunday, August 17, 2008

~Sighs of Contentment~


We have been working hard.....really hard.....I am tempted to write fricken, fricken hard, simply to express the level of craziness to our hard workin'. Dad-e-o and I have been, as many of you know, working on our house in preparation to sell. This complete remodel has included taking down walls, rebuilding spaces, building the cabinets for the bathrooms and kitchen, building and installing all the doors and windows, laying hardwood floor and tile, painting....oh...and that lovely and utterly disgusting task of drywalling, plumbing and electrical work, lighting, creating a new bathroom, building stairs for the deck as well as a roof extension and railings...which in turn required painting, landscaping.... I must be forgetting something but you get the idea. We have done this all ourselves and 90% of it since March. Needless to say we are getting a wee touch exhausted.

But...we are nearly done!!! The excitement that is building is electric. Soon, so soon, we will have sold this house. We will be on the road, traveling with our beautiful children across Canada for around 2 months. When I look around this house I find it almost hard to believe that WE did this. Designed and created such a exquisitely beautiful space. There is no doubt in my mind that this house will sell as soon as it hits the market. And when it does....AWAY WE Go!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway...the whole purpose of this post was to write about my blissfully relaxing day yesterday. We took a break! (I can hear all you jaws hitting the floor) yes, we, as in dad-e-o AND I along side our children. After spending the morning hard at work painting the deck (me) and working in the shop (Adam) we put down our tools, rinsed of the sweat and headed off to the Garlic festival. Our intention was only to stay for the duration of my performance (did I mention I'm a belly dancer?) and then head back home and back into the grubbies. The performance was awesome! Astrid, Celine and I shimmied our hearts out in the blazing sun....wow, was it HOT!! Afterwards as we were driving home Dad-e-o declares that we need to go to the beach. Its far to hot to work outside anyway, he says. Alright...I'm in.....whoops of glee and delight from the back seats tell me that the troops are thrilled with the idea so home we go to put on bathing suits and grab towels and snacks.

We decide to check out Green Lake, which turns out to be a fabulous choice and only about 45 min from home. The beach is sandy, the water clear, and, you guessed it, green! We spend an afternoon blissed out in the sun, refreshed by the water and the simple pleasure that being together brings. Man, I do sooo love my family! We hadn't been there 5 minutes and Mr. Bop had a jar filled with fresh water shrimp and some kind of crazy water beetle....my budding biologist.

As the slant of the sun shifts everything to orange we head home. Everyones need for water and lovin's fulfilled. I can hear sighs of contentment as we drive, sand between our toes, hair and tangle of wind and sun. And I wonder if we would be so thankful, so truly grateful for this gift of an afternoon, had we not been working so hard for so many weeks.
Next we just need to remeber the camera!!......although I'm sure the image in my mind will stay with me as long as my heart beats!

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

~A tune of their own~


And so begins this account of a wild and crazy life. A life filled with the squeals and screams of small children, the barking of a dog who takes her job of guarding the children very seriously, the sound of construction as we remodel this house and prepare to sell, and, always, melody.

I am filled with melody, filled beyond full to overflowing, unable to hold it in. I sing all the time, tunes from childhood, old gospel, crazy jazz, opera, funk, R&B, folk, blues, roots. I make up words when I can't remember how its "supposed to be sung". I improve and scat, and hummmmmm. This is a gene I seem to have passed on to my lil' guys. I hear their voices. Sometimes distant and sweet, lilting on a breeze. Sometime bold and loud, obnoxious, infectious. Its amazing how there voices can, at times, drive me beyond insane. When a lyric becomes so incessant ("I like big butts and I can not lie" for instance.....thanks Shrek!!) that I it replays even in my dreams. Or, better yet, when I am at the grocery store, by myself, and I'm not only swaying (yes, the baby is at home and still I sway) but I find myself humming that o-so-catchy tune. ((sigh)) ah well, at least I have infused them with a love for music. I am sure as they grow they will continue to broaden my musical horizons.

I wonder I'll be humming in the grocery store 10 years from now??