Our First Friday Rhythm (and Fourth of July)

Those curls! Swoon
Found these images on my camera. Looks like K was playing around when I went to get the watermelon wands:

This year's Fourth of July celebration may have been our best yet (although I don't know that I will ever be able to top the first year). I think spending all day with the chickens helped (and watching them eat watermelon). It was simple and low key as always with plenty of room for play. Each year we basically spend the entire day outside and the kids get to stay up way past their bedtimes to watch fireworks and roast vegan marshmallows over the fire. I always look forward to this day. Time spent as a family with no computers, no phones and no distractions I think we need to have more summer days/nights like this.

I have been playing with the idea of getting a projector so we can watch movies outside in the evenings under the stars. While we still do not do very much screen time, we started a tradition of having a movie night on the first Friday of each month. Don't tell anyone but we even eat some junky food like pizza and ice cream for that one day a month. *gasp* We call it First Friday Family Fun Movie Night.  A good long name to bring about giggles among the children trying to say it. So far the Sound of Music, Mary Poppins, Narnia and some Shirley Temple movies have been enjoyed. It is so hard to find wholesome family movies now - we really struggle with just finding one good one a month! Any suggestions?

Our First Friday Rhythm (and Fourth of July)

Momentum

rhythm - /ˈriT͟Həm/ noun: rhythm; plural noun: rhythms : a strong, regular, repeated pattern of movement or sound.

Rhythm is one of those topics I love talking about (as you can tell by all my posts about it in the past. I still particularly like the one I did for Donni at The Magic Onions). It is something that saved me when I went from one to two children and has really helped my family to thrive. Without it we all feel lost. It's nothing short of wonderful in my book. But I haven't touched on the subject much since we moved to Idaho. I haven't wanted to, honestly. I am just going to put it out there - this rhythm loving Mama has failed. The fact of the matter is just this - our rhythm has gone out the window. I can blame it on a new baby, I can blame it on my lack of vitamin D induced depression (my levels were in the single digits until a few months ago), I can blame it on Kevin's sporadic work schedule, hey - I can blame it on the (lack of) rain. But the truth is, it's all on me.  I am the one who sets the tone for our days and the example for my children. Since we didn't have a school to drive to, I let us slip into a no bedtime or set wake time schedule, the beginning of a downward spiral. The children have been sleeping in until ten or eleven each morning. I feel like we never accomplish anything in the day and no wonder - we lose half of the day to sleeping in so late! Each day is completely different from the next with nothing linking them all together.

The loss of our rhythm has been detrimental on all of us and I have been feeling it's impact even more so since Baby F was born. We haven't homeschooled at all since his birth and the feeling of overwhelm has taken over me. Last week after reading a bit in Lisa's Simplicity Parenting 101 course (that week focused on rhythm specifically), it became obvious to me that I had to take the plunge and get us back on track. I feel like I am starting all over again at the beginning, and in a way, I am. I knew what the first step was but I was fighting it, knowing it would not be easy. Then after talking with Lisa she kindly and wisely reminded me:

 "Even if little F is not “going to sleep”, have a regular time for all of you for lights out, quiet (except for baby screaming) and a regular wake-up and breakfast time. These two touchstones of rhythm, on either end of the day, will really help this chaotic time feel a little more grounded."

That was what I needed to push me to reestablish our rhythm pillars. Yesterday, I sat down with my children and explained to them that we were going back to a set time to wake up in the mornings. Of course I received a few groans from this but I don't blame them. I have always been a night owl and late sleeper myself. I promised I would ease them into it so it wouldn't be a dramatic change all at once (and to help prevent the crankiness that I knew would come from early rising). I started today by waking them at nine in the morning. They resisted at first but came around. We got so much accomplished in our day - I even picked homeschooling back up with C (K to come soon!). I feel alive again and like I can tackle all that is put in front of me, just after one day! Now to just keep this momentum going and get our full rhythm back. Ha! I find it ironic that as I type this I hear my children out of bed when they are supposed to be sleeping. *sigh* Always a work in progress, right? I even feel inspired to work on a better housekeeping rhythm. But one thing at a time. Of course I need to mentally prepare myself for set backs (and there will be some) and our new rhythm will be very different from how it was in Oregon. Rhythm is always changing. I look forward to seeing how it will all come together for us in the here and now and taking responsibility for where we go from here.

Sorry, I am just rambling on and on but I feel better getting all of that out there, even if it is in a bit of a chaotic manner. Do any of you have (or have had) any rhythm set backs? How did you overcome them?

Momentum

unorthodox

Our dearest friends will be here soon so that means I am up to some last minute re-organizing of random things, cleaning out closets and other other places that they are more than likely never to see, and other ridiculous antics. Makes total sense, right? That's just me. I have this tendency to use  company coming over as an excuse to work on things that I should have done months or years ago,
instead of focusing on what really should get done. I get distracted by little things like our basket for dirty wool items and decide it needs a little label.

I mean that little label really could have waited until after our friends arrived, truly it isn't even needed at all. Yet these are the things I do. I think it's my own way of controlling my own excitement somehow. Although I do rather enjoy personalizing even the smallest things and making our home more child friendly. Even Little L can now understand where to put his dirty woolies. But again is now the proper time?

Time to do something a bit more constructive, like thawing our "roast". And on a side note, I had no clue you could buy cases of them. Hmm, but where would I store a whole case? Maybe I should research that.

And so it begins again...distractions

Thank goodness for my little helpers. They were reading about Saint Zita in this book and decided to dress like her and mop the floor (scooting around on rags, of course. Isn't that how you mop?!) Their methods may be a bit unorthodox, but they get the job done and have fun in the process!

p.s. - My girls had just washed off face paint prior to me snapping the pictures of them in the sunlight. Just in case you were wondering what those remnants of blue and red were around their eyes.

unorthodox

Shifting

The morning and evening air here is becoming crisp and lovely, reminding me of Oregon. I am finding myself outdoors in the day even more now that the blazing hot sun is beginning to cool off.  My summertime cabin fever is passing. Yes, I get cabin fever in the summer instead of the winter, I just simply can not handle the heat here in the desert. Ah yes, my favorite season is upon us. But before we leave summer behind us, (and K will be the first to remind me that the summer season is still with us until the end of the month) we will play in the pool one last time, even if it means that the dogs hog most of it. We will create balancing butterflies for the umpteenth time, still marveled by their magic (we have been enjoying making these since C was two, they have become an annual summertime craft.) We will enjoy a few more slices of watermelon and corn on the cob to soak in those flavors of summer. We will harvest our peppermint leaves and dry them for tea which we will sip in the winter to bring back the memories of the hot summer sun. All the while we are singing:

Summer good-bye

Summer good-bye

You may not longer stay,

Autumn is on its way,

Summer good-bye

Summer good-bye.

On a side note - Don't do wet on wet watercolor painting outdoors on a hot day! Our butterfly paper dried before the girls could finish painting! You can see the difference in the last photograph. The bottom butterfly (K's creation that I love!) was done first and the one above it was painted after the paper dried out on us.

Shifting

Making snow of our very own (& last minute St. Valentine's day ideas)

When it's the season of snow but King Winter refuses to pay a visit, what do you do? Why, make your own snow, of course! Perfectly logical, right? Trust me, it works.

This week on our craft day in homeschooling I told C we would be making snow. Her eyes lit up with wonder and amazement quickly followed with "How on earth will we do that, Mama?!" I promised her she would see when the time came. I do believe that was a looong moment full of anticipation for her.

We made some special "snow dough" using our regular play dough recipe (found here). It had been so long since we made play dough that C had no clue what we were doing (that seemed to help with the mystery of snow making).
When I took the dough off the stove I put it in a bowl for her to mix. She seemed confused but still excited. Then she asked when it would turn into snow. I told her we needed one last magical ingredient and I left the room to get it.
I came back with silver glitter and sprinkled some on the dough for her to knead in (in the same manner that we add the glob pigment to make colored play dough). She got to work and as soon as the glitter started appearing through the dough she proclaimed, "Mama, it is snow, it sparkles just like with the sun shines on it!". She wanted Little L to share in the great discovery she made and sat him in her lap to continue kneading.

Then he decided he needed an apron on just like his big sister, so she grabbed his and put it on him...
hmmm
on second thought, let's forget the apron!
C helps him back out of the apron and then they get to work playing in their snow.
Little L was so very happy that he was singing at the top of his lungs as he worked. In these pictures he was singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, but his version is with the single word "owie" repeated over and over again to the tune of the song. He knows it makes us laugh.
It was some serious snow play, lasting over an hour. I actually think it only came to an end because we had to leave to pick up K. C told K about our snow as soon as she saw her and we rushed back home to let the magic continue...

*Giving credit where it is due! I found the snow play dough idea here.
--------------------------------------------
On another note, I planned on doing a St. Valentine's day project post but time is running short so I thought I would share some of our favorites from the past:


Wool acorn heart necklaces

Beeswax hearts amongst other things

And speaking of St. Valentine's day - Sparkle Stories is offering a free Junkyard Tales Valentine story! You can listen to it here. They are also offering a one month subscription to At Home with Martin and Sylvia for free! Sign up here by the 14th. We love both of these stories and I bet you will too!

Making snow of our very own (& last minute St. Valentine's day ideas)