This space...

Its been 18 months since I have written in this space and I don't even know where to start in order to catch up.  Perhaps a top 12 from 2012? I stopped writing for no reason at all except we got busy and life got messy and it was hard to write without sharing the mess.  New jobs, sad days, missing my friends back home, vacations, family brokenness.  Pictures are better for now!  :) So if anyone is out there, here a few favorites from 2012:

So nothing fancy or edited...just slapping it on here to maybe get a fresh start.  Tomorrow, 2013?

A New Year

A new year brings feelings of hope, a time to start over...we all think about the things we want to do better in the new year.  365 brand new days to do something completely different than we did with the previous.  I am a sucker for new beginnings.  I love a new calendar, a new school year, birthdays and of course a new year.  Last years was so new to us as a whole, new state, new church, new job and new friends.  This year will be much of the same.  Our state is still new to us and there is still so much to see!  Our church is experiencing lots of new changes as our pastor and his family are relocating to Georgia, they happen to be one of the families we have been the closest to here so we are sad for the loss but so thrilled for their new adventure in a new state.  Bloggers all over the internet are establishing a word for the year: "What is your word for 2012?" I don't have one.  I can't pick just one for fear of hurting the other ones feelings...they are all so good!  I even found it hard to pick resolutions...aren't they the same ones we have each year?

Exercise more
Eat better
Get out of debt
Have fun as a family
Read the bible
Do school everyday
Organize
Live Simply
Grow a garden
Read more books


Yep, pretty much the same ones.  So it wasn't as fun to sit down and make them...this time.  Maybe next year will be more fun?  It's been a hard few years with job losses and all that comes with that.  It's been hard to trust that it will all be okay and I find myself falling into the thoughts of a pessimist, salted with some optimism to make sure that I don't fall all the way to the bottom of the pessimist trap.  That's not where I want to be.  My mother lived there and she suffered in her life and relationships because of it so I fight everyday, when we aren't sure where the work is coming from, when we are not sure of anything at all...I keep remembering the good.  Giving thanks for all, each and every little thing.  Because isn't the little things that make up this whole thing we call life?

I don't know what this year holds for us.  That's the hardest part.  The not knowing can be a wicked place.  At one time for me the not knowing was an adventurous place but the adventure has repeated itself so many times that I have tired of it and I just want a solitary place for us to dwell.

Dwell.

verb: to live as a resident.
synonyms: abide, exist, nest, remain


How's that for a word?

Class Dismissed

an upcoming documentary that I am very excited about.  

Twirling Ballerina: this is what my head
feels like most days.

We all wear hats.  These are mine:

• Wife
• Mother
• Daughter
• Friend
• Teacher
• Housekeeper (don't laugh.)
• Cook
• Nurse
• Seamstress (a beginning one.)

and the list could go on.

With our move my hats have been so jumbled and I can't decide which one to wear at any one time.  I think I look like a crazy version of the Caps for Sale character and his encounter with all those monkeys.  On top of that I am suddenly opposed to clutter and not so sure how to combat it.  We are in, have been in a perpetual cycle of purging, simplifying and the saga continues.  But, where to start?  It's all in chaos and I was looking for a starting place and somehow a rabbit hole led me to this website, a place called Zen Habits and he has written an awesome list!  It's long and overwhelming and he gives a simplified version for those that can't look at all 72.  But I wanted it all so I started at number 1....

1.  Make a list of your top 4-5 important things. What’s most important to you? What do you value most? What 4-5 things do you most want to do in your life? Simplifying starts with these priorities, as you are trying to make room in your life so you have more time for these things.  

Leo Babauta, Zen Habits

 So I am not thinking about the garage and all the organizing that needs to be done (we have done enough for now), or the quilt that remains to be finished (it will be).  I am starting at the top, getting my goals down, the important things with which I can then base other choices on.  How awesome is that?  I have been making a weekly schedule so that the house stuff doesn't loom and a daily schedule so that we fit it all in, the important stuff.  The creating, the togetherness...the stuff that matters to me.  It all goes by so quickly and I don't want to miss it, and I already have so my goal is to miss less.

Right now I am sitting somewhere between four and eight on the list, working out tasks for the day, shredding my inbox down to a manageable size and trying so hard to limit my time on the computer.   I feel less overwhelmed, like I have a plan in front of me that will take me through the steps needed to get a grip on this thing called LIFE.  The last few years has taken a toll through unemployment, family health issues and now a huge move...I am trying to get my groove back, although I am not sure I possessed it to begin with.

Water fell from the sky!   So we needed to catch some, since it may be awhile before it happens again.
So thankful.

:)

Some of the photos are fuzzy due to the salt on my lens....

A Little Something I Believe In

I am not a political person AT ALL, let me say that first, but I do have a husband who is a skilled worker and I am proud of what he does.  So I am happy that Mike Rowe is doing what he does for the blue collar workers in America and speaking on behalf of all of them!

Here is a the statement he read before the Senate and here is a video of that statement.

Turning Pages

We have been doing some reading around these parts, which has been so nice, like a little piece of normal life has been put back into place.  Trying to find the time to do all the reading I would like to do with the kids is tricky.  There is so much reading to do for school {history, science and geography} and then we have the books that we just want them to experience reading because we enjoyed them too.



I have started reading to the kids at bedtime and I am so glad to have that back into our routine.  We started reading the Redwall series last year and finished the first book with the audiobook version that was read by the author, Brian Jacques.  I love these books for a read aloud.  The vocabulary is above what Caeden could read now independently so it's nice to be reading it to him and we can go through it together as necessary.  The vocabulary is what makes the writing so good though.  Mr. Jacques wrote Redwall for blind children and wanted the vocabulary to be as descriptive as possible so they could "see" using their imaginations.  That's my kind of writer...and he does it.  We have started on the second book, Mossflower and we are loving it!






For Maleiah we do lots of picture books at bedtime and also we started Milly-Molly-Mandy which is the first chapter book that we have started reading just to her.  This is a sweet story about a little girl named Millicent Margaret Amanda, Milly-Molly-Mandy for short and she lives with her family in a little white cottage.  She helps her family and has a sweet friend she calls Little-Friend-Susan and she is only four years old so the adventures she goes on are something Maleiah can relate to, like blackberry picking, a sleepover with a friend and gardening.

For his own reading, Caeden has been reading the How to Train Your Dragon series which are quite funny, a couple Choose Your Own Adventure books and The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.



As for me...I have been reading Water for Elephants {which I LOVE, can't wait to see the movie!}, cookbooks {which I hope to post about}, books about homeschooling {to get me pumped up for next year!} and books on gardening in Texas {for I know nothing, nada, zero, zilch}.

Happy Reading!

Mother's Day

This has always been one of those holidays that was hard for me but this year it was a good one spent exploring new places, eating at favorites places (already!) and spent a little time dreaming.  It all started with breakfast in bed and this sweet card.



There is something to be said for first drawings but when the kids can write out their own thoughts it could be even sweeter.

We cleaned bedrooms, hung a few items and took the extra, homeless items out of the house so they will stop staring at me.  :)

I got some more cutting done for Maleiah's quilt and that feels wonderful!


And I watched shooting practice in the backyard at the end of the day.

We started back to school this week and it has been so awesome to get back to some normalcy.  We started out the week with a science experiment from our Swimming Creatures book (I love this curriculum...love, love, love...).  We have been reading about whales, dolphins, sea lions, seals and walruses.  Our experiment was to see how blubber keeps these sea creatures warm.  On one hand Caeden put two latex gloves on and on the other hand he also put two latex gloves on except that in between the two gloves was a lot of Vaseline to act as a layer of blubber. He only made it 30 seconds longer on the "blubber" hand but he did say that right away it was warmer.  We didn't have a lot of Vaseline and I am sure if we had used the recommended amount (1-2 inches thick!) the results would have turned out differently.  In the end it was worth the slippery mess, Caeden loves science and loves the experiments.

Also for science, we finally made an ocean box!  The instructions were to cover a box in blue paper but I thought painting it blue would be more fun and Maleiah could participate more.  After each lesson, of which we have already had 2, we will make a sea creature that we have learned about and add it to the box.  In the end, we will have a sea creature diorama.

And there was writing, fractions and lots of reading.  We have backed up a bit in our studies of the Middle Ages and I love the book we are using for that too.  We went to the preschool park day through our homeschooling group and there are a lot of kids, boys and girls of all ages so both of the kids are making friends.  I like the moms at the group, they are friendly and a few of them sew which makes me feel like I may find a place to fit.  Tonight I am going to meet some other moms from the same group for dessert at Fuddruckers here in Katy.  Never been before, but I am looking forward to both: a new place and new people.

Late but grateful...

Adding ropes to the front yard tree 

Climbing

Singing

First time in the tree!

Learning to play chess.

Ocean Eyes

:)

Fort building

Love

0131.  Skype.  Can't get enough of faces I love.

0132.  Pandora.  I love hearing new artists and all I do is type in one I like and I get a nice soundtrack to my day that plays in the background. Right now it's Adele and Ingrid Michaelson. Love them girls!

0133.  Pinterest.  Have you been?  I know a few girls who have because we are on their daily sharing what inspires us and what we are going to make in the days, weeks and months ahead.  It connects us.  

0134.  New adventures and places to see.

0135.  Strangers who bring meals.

0136.  The sweet voice of my niece.

0137.  Family pictures drawn by a four year old.

0138.  June bugs and geckos.

0139.  Movie nights.

0140.  New cookbooks.