Balance for Rejuvination

As a mother, we have so many things that call to our attention each day. It can be quite overwhelming some days. As they say, if mom isn't happy, no one is. Taking time to relax and recharge yourself each and every day is essential to being your best and providing your best for your family. I hope these affirmations will help to remind you of that.

I balance my night time with rest and enjoyment so each and every morning I may rejoice in rejuvenation.

I wake up alive and revived because my life is balanced with a reprieve from the daily routine. The moment the sun's rays shine through my window and touch me awake, I am psyched and prepared for the day.

As I stretch and slide out of bed, I celebrate my awakening with a breath of fresh air. I hop into a comfortable shower singing a melody to match the birds outside my window. I take the time for a good quality breakfast which nourishes my body.

I can scarcely wait to bounce into my day! Today is a good day and I am ecstatic to be a part of it.

I arise so alive because in the evening I take the time to rest and fully relax. I permit myself the down time I need to shake off the strain from the day, as well as do the things my body and mind require to wind down.

I run a shower of warm water to relax my muscles and quell my mind. I make time to reflect on the day and let go of my anxieties and worries, visualizing them evaporating away from me as the steam rises from the warm water.

I feel my body's tension release and I unwind.

Today, I choose to make relaxation time a priority, understanding that my reward awaits me the next day when I awake.

Ask Yourself:

1. How do I feel when I wake up each day?

2. How do I relax at night?

3. Do I make this time to care for myself a priority in my life?

Calling Me Home

It seems that I have always loved the mountains. Perhaps the were something that played in my dreams as a child growing up in the flatlands... Perhaps they have simply always called to my heart, to my soul.
The mountains that Heidi grew up in, running wild and free among the goats. The family stories that I grew up listening to. The pictures of family in Norway.. ancestral homes built right into the side of mountains with green grass growing on their roof, ancestors standing in front of their mountain yards...
I hadn't realized how my heart longed for the mountains until now. Returning home from a visit of the flatlands where I grew up, I watched out the window of the airplane. The patterned fields slowly passed beneath me. I marveled at the hundreds of windmills strewn along in seemingly empty, and maybe unwanted, space. I watched as ripples started to appear in the land, the patterns of them fascinating me with their complex simplicity.
I was not prepared for the happiness, the pure joy that filled my heart when we came upon the first mountain range. Watching that fade and then build into the next larger range, until the entire window was filled with the craggy hills that I had spent the last seven years surrounded by.
I had cried as I left the flatlands of my childhood..as I left my mother and grandmother again. These were not the green hills that Heidi had run through, nor were these the green hills that my ancestors had built their homes in. These were the mountains of the southwest, painted  in their own glorious shades of pinks, and blues, and reds. The colors of the sunset captured by the rock to be seen throughout the day or night. The colors that stayed even through the rain and fleeting clouds. Now tears filled my eyes again as I felt my heart, my soul, speak to me. They said, "These mountains are home."

It's About Dedication

How many times as home schoolers have we seen people pointing at us and whispering? How often do people question why we would would ever want to be home all day with our children? How often do you feel like you have to defend every choice, every decision, you have made to homeschool?
As unschoolers, it seems we have even more people question us. They want to know how we can be sure that the kids are learning. They want to know how the kids can learn without textbooks and workbooks, without desks and classrooms. They want to know how we can possibly think we can replace teachers for our children. They tell us that we are doing something wrong, that we are weird, that we must be crazy for our choices.
Well, let me tell you...
Life learning, unschooling, is not about being crazy or weird, it is about dedication. It takes a dedicated parent to be willing to provide what their child(ren) need. You are dedicated to providing the best learning experience you can for your children. It is about being respectful, and understanding that even the youngest child is an actual person with real thoughts and desires and needs of their own. It is about love and faith, loving your children enough to put their needs ahead of your desires and faith that it will all work out great at the end.
When you stop defending and start allowing, it is amazing how much more happiness you find, how much more fun there is to be had!

Enjoy life.. Enjoy learning.. Enjoy Life Learning!

The Road is a River

Today has definitely been the most exciting day of our week of rain so far. It seems that the entire state had water falling from the sky over it today. That meant an exciting day of weather warnings.. flash flood warnings, blizzard warnings, tornado warnings.. wow!
I want to start by saying that I am so grateful that we were able to move out of our old rental.. not only did water leak in through every window, and run down the inside of the door, but it was at a low point in the block. We would have been flooded inside and out in this storm. Thank you to my love for making our move possible! The new rental is thankfully dry.. no leaks. The best part of today was realizing that we live on the high spot in the area. Even with the rain beating straight against the side of the house, and running down the window panes blurring the view outside, we stayed dry.

I sort of understood the boys wanting to get outside to run around a bit, and thought they would do so on the covered car port that serves as our back porch. Even pouring rain can't keep two active little boys sitting still for long!
I did not expect to hear them running up and over the front porch, and yet that is where they were shortly after going outside. I figured they would stay in the yard, and since we are in a high spot, I decided to let them enjoy themselves. I was quite grateful to not be the neighbors, whose yard and driveway was one huge lake of water with their house sticking out of it.

Next thing I know, Ber is looking out the window and asks if the boys are going to get the mail. She asked because she saw them were half way down the street.  Living out in the country does have some advantages. The boys wandering halfway down the block is just not something to worry about out here. We shrugged it off and let them continue playing. When I asked later, the J-man told me that they were trying to stop the water from going into the neighbor's yard. Incredibly sweet, but just NOT going to happen! That bush in the picture is on the other side of the street from us.. notice how the street has been replaced with a river. That is what happens during flash floods out here. Some times it is not the street that becomes a river, but a wash that crosses the street. If there is a flash flood warning, you NEVER want to drive across those washes.. you just might find yourself riding the wave in your car as  a wave of water comes and carries your car down stream.
For pictures of the boys when they came in from their second foray of the day into the wet wilderness, visit my Project 365 blog. I made them take the shortest route to the bathtub and get in to get out of their wet clothes. That first time out, they had chosen to wear their snow boots. They tell me that they dumped the water out of the boots on the porch before they came in. I can tell you that those boots currently weigh a ton.. it seems that the lining decided to pretend it was a sponge today and absorb as much water as possible. I really do wonder how long it will take for those boots to dry... For now they are residing in the bathtub.
As for the road.. we aren't going to be going anywhere for a couple more days as I don't have a boat. I hope to get pictures of our road turned river, but I'll wait until the rain stops. That just might be another two days though...

And The Day Goes On...

It had been one of those days that is full of mixed emotions, where things start to go one way, then plummet, before slowly starting the gradual ascent to happiness again. It was my youngest baby's seventh birthday. You would think that would be a happy occasion, but when siblings are involved that is not always true. My boys are only two and a half years apart, and it seems that birthdays are a trigger point of emotions. They are happy for each other on their birthdays, but at the same time jealous of the attention the other is getting on their special day.
For six years we celebrated birthdays and half birthdays alike.. so that the boys each had two joint parties in a year, one on their birthday and one on (or close to) their half birthday. This was the first time we didn't celebrate my older boy's half birthday.. and it was a disaster! It started out seemingly okay. The boys got their own breakfast, watched a movie together, and went outside to play together. It was somewhere about then that things started to decay. They started fighting.. not over anything is specific, but over anything and everything. Then they would start playing happily again. It was driving me nuts!
We finally managed to pull it together and get ready to go shopping and get Little A his birthday present. He asked for his first two wheel bicycle, and he had chosen which one he wanted from pictures online. As long as we were going over the mountain and into town, I put together the shopping list.
The rest of the evening went as expected.. tired kids, tired mom trying to get the shopping done. With that finally out of the way, we went to get my baby's new bike.. and found out it was $10 more in the store then it had been online.. figures. Well, I certainly wasn't going to be responsible for disappointing my baby. After all, I had told him that we were coming to this store that was a little farther away because they had the bicycle in stock. As we start walking to the front of the store, I reach for my camera to get photographs of Little A walking his first two wheel bike.. and realize it is in the car.. figures. I told the kids to take a break on one of the benches while I ran out to the car to get the camera.
You can see a few of the pics of the new bike and the trip over the mountain over at my new Project 365 blog at http://sparklechi365.blogspot.com/2010/01/day-four.html 
Getting the new bike into the car was more than a bit challenging.. remind me never to try that again! We finally ended up putting part of the back seat down, and making the boys squish together, to get the bicycle in.  I started to wonder if we would be able to get it back out again... The trip back home was long and dark, and the boys fell asleep.
I was so proud of my boys when we got home. They woke up and started carrying things in from the car.. wow, when did that happen? I go to open up the back hatch of the car to get the rest of the groceries, and.. it won't open. Yup, you read that right. The back hatch wouldn't open. The brand new birthday bike was stuck in the car.. figures.
Yet, the day goes on...