Monthly Archives Jan 2008
Intentional Parents
January 31, 2008
Came across an interesting website through the Simply Charlotte Mason.com blog. Damien & I have talked at length about being Intentional Parents. I liked the way this family summarizes their child raising goals with the 5 Gifts of Intentional Parents. Although I cringe at acronyms I think it summarizes, rather ...
Now It Is Winter
January 28, 2008
I pity the poor souls who don't get to regularly read a good children's book. Reading good children's books, especially illustrated short stories (picture books) is a daily joy of mine. I learn so much about the world around me and myself when I sit down with a good picture ...
Soup - The stuff of life
January 28, 2008
In the winter our family doesn't just eat soup, we are soup. Ok, that's to say we eat soup almost everyday. So, I love FatFree Vegan Kitchen blog today. Read and be inspired - eat soup!
Appreciating... life
January 27, 2008
January isn't so bad when you just get out the door and into the woods. Our weekly family hikes/snowshoe treks are helping me keep sane. They help me appreciate the beauty of the season and the joy of my children. Both of which I need to purpose in my heart ...
January
January 24, 2008
January by John Updike January sunrise by Cloudysky The days are short, The sun a spark Hung thin between The dark and dark. Fat snowy footsteps Track the floor. Milk bottles burst Outside the door. The river is A frozen place Held still beneath The trees of lace. The sky ...
Celine in reflection
January 23, 2008
Celine was making a hand held mirror out of shiny mylar film and cardboard. Made for an interesting picture.
Indoor sunshine
January 22, 2008
Desperate for a little beauty in my life I started working on curtains for our front porch today. Sadly, until we get the porch painted the entry will still look dreary but at least it will have pretty curtains. I washed, dried, ironed and cut the fabric. One of these ...
Bradbury Mountain Snowshoeing
January 21, 2008
Snowshoeing Bradbury MountainPhoto album from our snowshoe trek at Bradbury Mountain. It was our first trip out this New Year and it was great to be in the woods. While we were out there I actually let it slip that I might consider winter camping if there was a way ...
Yarn
January 18, 2008
I'd like to become proficient at crochet and eventually knitting so I can justify buying beautiful yarns. I'm like a kid in a candy shop when I'm around farm grown and homespun wools. After seeing the mounds of wool at the farm in December I needed to come up with ...
Viking history
January 17, 2008
On Thursday afternoons I pay bills, balance the checkbook and attend to financial matters. It is the one time during the week that the kids can watch TV (not including family movie nights). I've been renting educational DVDs from Netflix for this weekly TV time. Right now we're studying Vikings ...
Winter Carnival
January 17, 2008
Tonight was Winter Carnival at Bates. It's a fun indoor play time for kids - big & small. The kids bounced, ran & climbed on "blow up" structures. And we all enjoyed the chocolate fountains with mounds of fruit, marshmallows and graham crackers. A fun break in the mid winter ...
Quote of the Day
January 16, 2008
Everybody thinks of changing humanity and nobody thinks of changing himself - Leo Tolstoy
Yes... and No
January 16, 2008
I've been thinking lately about how for everything I've chosen to do there is something I'm choosing not to do. Mostly these are not difficult choices to make but it is hard when saying Yes to a good thing means saying No to an equally good thing. I'm currently struggling ...
losing time
January 16, 2008
I lost an hour this morning. I checked the time at 9:30 and then the next time I looked it was 11am and oops we were supposed to do school stuff from 10-11. I don't remember exactly how that happened or what transpired during that hour but I do recall ...
making lotion
January 11, 2008
My latest attempt at making beautiful and natural skincare products is body lotion. I literally whipped up a batch this afternoon. It looks and smells good enough to eat, which you could without any harm. No toxins, anti-bacterials, preservatives or unpronouncables. This is a new experiment for me and I ...
so NOT figured out
January 11, 2008
I'm in a week of parenting struggles while at the same time trying to balance all the priorities & expectations of the New Year. I feel like I really DON'T have parenting, homeschooling and home management figured out. Some days I do but not this week.... In December I purposefully ...
Living Life Large
January 9, 2008
Thanks to my friend Marc for posting this manifesto: Quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death. Set God-sized goals. Pursue God-ordained passions. Go after a dream that is destined to fail without divine intervention. Keep asking questions. Keep making mistakes. Keep seeking God. ...
Stardust
January 7, 2008
Since I'm on a blogging roll tonight I thought I'd recommend Stardust, a movie we saw recently. Excellent movie (not for young kids) with all the elements of a great story - adventure, dreams, romance & love, comedy, danger, villains, etc... Not to mention great actors, cinematography, directing and all ...
Why I love Maine, reason number 36:
January 7, 2008
The term "off the grid" comes up fairly often in conversations & media (at the least with the people I know). And when you bring it up people know you aren't talking about drawing your line off the graph paper. If you know what I mean. I have fantasies of ...
End of Christmas
January 7, 2008
We celebrated the last day of Christmas tonight at our friend's Twelfth Night Celebration. It was a nice way to end Christmas. Brad & Dawna left this morning after visiting for 2 days. And during their stay we celebrated Dawna's birthday. So between the 23rd of December (my brother's birthday) ...
on our the street
January 2, 2008
Our neighbor, who I've never met till 15 minutes ago, just finished snow blowing the end of our driveway. We've shoveled a couple times during today's storm but the city plowed our driveway shut so to speak. So our neighbor is out at 10pm snow blowing his way down the ...
In between space & the Christmas that proceeded it
January 1, 2008
Life is in between right now. Christmas traveling and celebrating are over. The New Year is yet to come. Officially it starts tomorrow but for me I won't be ready to start the winter routine till next Monday. Damien is off work till Wednesday. We've had some lovely relaxing and ...
Happy New's Year Eve
January 1, 2008
Pictures from sledding late this afternoon near our house. A great way to celebrate New Year's Eve!
