Showing posts with label Stamps Academy of Art and Science. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stamps Academy of Art and Science. Show all posts

Wednesday 28 May 2014

Making Fun


Sometimes we have to get things done for the farm. This means hours and hours in the farm truck, hours of beautiful days that the kids long to use for adventures, exploring, and soaking in sunshine. It is unfair, but it is part of our life. This is how we homeschool, how we run our business, and keep home. They come with me, work along side us. I usually use the long car rides as an opportunity for a "captive" audience and tell them stories or play podcasts about science and history (because I love them!) and make up alternative lyrics to songs on the radio, or even talk about the body politics ever present in the popular songs. Let me tell you, explaining Blurred Lines was NOT fun and now they pay attention to lyrics and call out when they hear something that is disrespectful to either women or men. This week t here is a song with the lyrics, .....Don't go crying to your mama, sung by a women and Lily was outraged that this woman was telling someone that his mother shouldn't comfort him when things get tough. Humans need comfort! They need someone who loves them to support them when things are hard!

That's my girl.

This week was no different, except that it was Holly's birthday. The weight of the unfairness that she should spend her sixth birthday running errands on a gorgeous Spring day, bothered me for the days leading up. So how to make this work? Ah ha! Just add water.

I try to break up our car trips with short park breaks, something fun, or a food break. Luck for us, the first stop, an enormous load of firewood, was at a house that had BABY TURKEYS. And C. let the kids pet and hold them. Oh, that was fantastic!

Next to the nearby park with splash pad! Isaac had not been to one this year and last summer he was really too little to play in them. He wasn't even walking at the time, remember that! He laughed and played and even floated on his belly to try swimming in the 18 inch deep center part.

Then it was 2pm and she wanted crab rangoon. The two places of choice were CLOSED. Oh the injustice. We will attempt then, to get her special food later this week, maybe before recital rehearsal.

Today was a similar chore, taking us 3 hours from home. At the half way point, a friend invited us for a play date AND she has a kid pool! Oh the joy of being water babies. This one was too deep for Isaac, but she had baby goats, chickens, and a cool playground so he was fine. He also decided that riding a push car down a steep hill was a fine idea. I let him, he was so happy and proud of himself.

We made it through our work days, and they ended up looking a lot like our at home play days. It is all about perspective, choosing joy, and making our own fun as we go. Taking time to make dandelion crowns and enjoy the blue sky, the green canopy of trees, the laughter and dreams of our children.

That's the cool thing about life, it is full of choices and opportunities for friendship and joy. I am really glad I know the two women we visited this week. They are inspirations to me, doing interesting things, and embracing the dandelions in our fields.

Tuesday 27 May 2014

Critters and Crawlies

 Chad was gone to a Permaculture conference this week. Leaving me on my own to run the farm, start summer semester with my job, take on three children, and right at the time of some other deadlines I had going too.

It was rough.

So, I unplugged. We camped. We invited friends over. We tromped in the woods. We made food, hauled buckets, got dirty, laughed a lot, ate so very many strawberries, and the time slipped away joyfully.

Mostly. Mostly enough.

Sometimes that is all that is needed to get by.












Tuesday 20 May 2014

Summer Bucket List

Berry picking
Swim at the Pond
Watch the metorites while camping
Fishing
Build a pirate ship
Trail Ride horses
Sleep overs with friends

Go to Adventureland
Zoo
Mushroom hunt
Be in a play
...or two
 Eat ice cream at a park
learn to doggie paddle (Holly)
Go down the water slide at the local chlorinated pool
4th of July parade
see bunnies
....go to bear country (um, maybe)

Go to Dolphin country (seriously kids?)
.....but I really want to do this, so maybe. I miss my aunt. I like adventures.

Take the kids bike riding on trails (need to gather bikes, I gave mine away years ago).


I think this is all reasonable. I will add my own:

Book plane tickets to Europe. For September. I have no idea where the money will come from, but this is a priority for me.

Keep submitting work.
Keep writing new work.
Keep revising new work and old work.
Get my camera cleaned and get it in a to go bag so I actually reach for it.
Print and hang at least 5 photos from my recent collection. Hang on wall.
Add new tab  to blog
Write at least 3 blog posts every week, and publish at least 2 of pictures (5 total).
Start cooking again. Something other than pasta and jarred sauce.

(Chad can edit to add his own here, but it is probably permaculture oriented)


A Week in Pictures













We had friends visit the farm, camped at the pond, Lily bridged to Juniors in girl scouts, library trains, last ballet practice for Holly before recital, Lily taught Isaac how to climb trees, and lots of unplugged time just connecting with each other.

Wednesday 7 May 2014

Spring at the Farm in Pictures

 Nice thorns on this one!!!


 Spring Cleaning. Conditioning the wood stairs.
 First snake caught and cuddled.
 Duckling hatch!
And Dandelions and violets and buttercups and green, green grass. Hello Spring, we missed you.

Tuesday 6 May 2014

Holly's Ballet










This weekend was super jammed packed with all the things I wanted to do.....and Holly's ballet pictures. The reality was that I could not go to a writing workshop in Perry, DemiCon, the ballet pictures, Sample Sunday, book club, and Youth Sunday at church.

My friend Diana sent me a lovely letter a few months back, to sum up, it said......choose her. Choose your girl. Choose your child. They won't be a child long. It was longer and more lovely than that summary, but that is what came into my head while trying to make the logistics of the weekend work.

Holly's ONLY chosen activity is ballet. She trains all year, practises at home all week, it is her chosen identity. The pictures matter to her, a LOT. Last year I had her grandma take her while I did DemiCon. She had fun, but was squirrely which is Holly's outward sign that she is emotionally stressed.

So this year, I chose Holly.

No workshop. No DemiCon cosplay. No dinner out with friends. Just Holly. Grandma watched Lily and Isaac and I took just Holly so I could really focus on her.

Saturday night the girls said they were super sad I would miss church and I told them I planned on going and skipping Sample Sunday as a vendor, because they matter to me and I know they worked hard on the songs. They jumped into my arms and hugged me long and hard. Holly had tears in her eyes.

I chose them.

Sunday I stayed for the children's choir and bell performance at church, left late and just visited Sample Sunday, then on to Book Club, home by bedtime for tucking in and story reading.

I have no regrets about slowing down and just being with them. I choose them while they still want me to, while it is still an option. If I don't? That will affect our relationship exponentially as the years go on. What is the saying? Listen to them now, every little thing. Later they will come to you with the big stuff. Why? The little things now ARE big to THEM.

I choose them. I choose to stop and listen. I choose to be with them, mindfully, when I am with them. It may seem silly, it is just pictures, right? I could take them myself after all. That's not the point. Picture day is part of ballet culture and I chose wisely when I picked this studio for the principle of modesty and the training that allows them to actually and safely train children in ballet technique.

Holly was not squirrely this time. Maybe it was another year of maturity, maybe that I paid attention to sugar intake that morning, or maybe it had to do with her feeling emotionally grounded, secure, loved, and heard. Her big grin every time she looked for me and met my eyes, not seeing me staring at my phone, but seeing me see her....that's how I know in my heart that this made a difference.

I chose right.

Saturday 26 April 2014

Lily's Clay Work

 Lily takes a clay class downtown every Tuesday for 6 weeks, three times a year. She loves it. LOVES it. Amy, the teacher, is so good with her and the sensory of the clay calms her. She is learning skills that help her idea come to life and each session learns something new, either about clay work or leadership.






 I love taking the class with her. I also love the building. I love junk, I love tools, I love the dirty of creating architectural elements. I love the lines and the smell and the feel of the old building.

Perhaps, Lily isn't the only sensory kid in our family.