The Weekend Edition ~ February Break

February 25, 2012

It's snowing this morning (more about that in tomorrow's post). And it's so beautiful to watch out the window. 

This is not a photo of this morning, but of another morning this week. This is when I write each day, as the sun is doing this to the clouds. And yes, it's terribly distracting and inspiring all at the same time. Write? Photograph? Write? Photograph?

It's not even 7:00am and the kids are already awake (on a Saturday?) I think they like the snow too. I'm listening to their murmuring voices, drinking my water, while dreaming about my morning coffee.

Ok, enough morning preamble. Let's get right to it then, shall we?

Inspiring Internet

A few things that caught my eye (or my heart) this week.

• Seriously! The Movie We seriously want to see this movie on play. I do hope they raise the funds to finish it. We believe in play, lots of it, for children and adults. I love living in a stage of life where we play, collectively and individually, more now than we ever have before. It's fabulous.
• Sh*t Barefoot Runners Say I met Steven Sashen at OR last summer. This video is funny, especially for those of us weird minimalist footwear people. I know some of you are runners (I'm not) and if you're a part of the barefoot craze you'll like this. If you liked that, there's also this one.
• Holistic Dental Health and Herbal Mouth Wash. I need to spend some time on this article. I love the idea of herbal and holistic dental care. I do it for my body, why not my teeth?
• Hodge Podge Potatoes I love this kind of supper. On Monday I'm talking about spending less time in the kitchen. This is a perfect recipe for that. Whole Food Mommies is also an interesting recipe blog along the lines we like to eat - plant based, whole foods.
• Strawberry ice "cream" - dairy-less, sugar-less, flavour-ful. This is one of our favorite ice cream recipes.
• Collaborative Homeschooling. Our own family homeschool is quite colloborative and I'm so thankful for that (I would say I'm still the "educational director").
• If Your Routine Doesn't Bring You Joy, Toss it. This has been a strategy of mine for years now. I love routine, but if it's not working, out it goes and we work out something new. This has served us very well for living and learning in joy.
• The Magic of Light. Oh yes! I get it.
• Answering My Question. A friend of mine questions if she can be a good mom to her kids (expecting her fourth). I love Naomi's honesty. Haven't we all wondered this?
• Ski Photos from Yellowstone. Traveling Mel shares the beauty of her "backyard". I am in a ski space right now so all skiing stuff appeals to me.
• Winter. Bring it on Jill! I know some of you are longing for spring, or never even experienced winter this season (poor you). We are living winter to the fullest and it's been my best winter season ever.
• Ira Glass on the Creative Process. So good! And less than 2 minutes. This is so encouraging to me. 

A mixed bag of everything. Just the way I like it. I have more crafty and other inspirtation on my kinda-sparse pinterest boards (I don't spend much time there).

The Weekend Story

This week we had to go shopping for pink beads. Brienne "needed" them and somehow we missed adding them to our online order at DeSerres (a Canadian art & craft store) earlier this month. Our community is sorely lacking any Micheals, Jo-Ann's or any other franchise craft store you can think of. So the dollar store it was.

Who knew all the crafty stuff that can be found at the dollar store? Not me.

There was a misunderstanding as we drove up to the Dollorama and Laurent asked "Dalai Rama?" This added some much needed humor to the situation as dollar stores are really not my scene, an overload to my senses and just, well, too much for me. Too much, cheap stuff.

But we got the beads (and a few other items for Laurent's birthday this weekend).

It's Laurent's birthday tomorrow. He's turning eleven. The birthday "party" is probably the easiest I've ever had to prepare for. The boy wanted telemark ski lessons for a birthday gift (he's also getting new ski goggles and a marker case) so the birthday activity is skiing. Daddy is in charge of all of that.

All I have to do is bake a cake (this afternoon's task), and do all the other special mom-loving stuff through the day to make my boy's day special.

The kids are up now and Brienne has measured and reported on the snow - 10 inches and it's still falling heavily.

I think that I may have to change my morning plans. I had scheduled a morning away at the cafe in town to finish the draft of my e-book.

Finish the draft of my e-book. Oh yes, I just said my e-book.

This month I finally pulled my thoughts together and took the time to write something that has been on my heart to share since last summer. Something bigger than a blog post.

My first e-book. It's small (and therefore really affordable) but I not letting "smallness" stop me anymore.

This little project is one of my first "offerings" as I create a path for myself. A path congruent with who I am, how I function best, and what I value. I'm so excited.

Be watching for it the second week of March.

Celine felt a little under the weather this week, not enough to be laying in bed by any means, but not completely well. I've been using astragalus root this winter to make a miso-astragalus broth. It's an herbal remedy that actually tastes good. Some herbs are just too bitter for children (or adults for that matter).

This past week was a homeschool break. And it was so lovely and relaxing. I haven't felt this relaxed in my daily routine since December, when we also took a break! Oh, I do love breaks.

It was a wonderfully refreshing week for me (and the kids), complete with a phone chat with a friend (I'm so thankful for the friends I've met online) on Friday afternoon.

The kids worked on creative projects all week. Pocket pixies, an art commission for Laurent, Celine's blog and castle reconstruction.

Our kids make a lot of their own toys and one favorite is their medieval castles. These have been stored in the trailer since moving here, as we don't have room in the chalet for them to be all spread out, or even stored under beds somewhere.

The castles really needed to be downsized, like everything else in our life. This was the week for doing that. I'm happy to report it went very well (phew!)

My time is definitely up. I need my coffee, gotta' get apples in the oven for breakfast. An e-book to finish, a cake to bake...

Happy weekending.

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