When I told Ollie we wouldn’t see Uncle Brent and Aunt Jessica this summer because he was too busy launching his site, his question:
Is it launching into space?
(With any luck, the answer would be, yes, Ollie! It will be out of this world, we are sure!)
Remember when Lily said she wanted to learn to draw? We did a lesson today. Ollie joined us and she was so thrilled with her pictures she led Sam in a lesson when he got home! Here are the pretty birdies: (Lily, Ollie, Lily, Sam)
On January 7, 2015 I committed to writing one entry per day on the blog, every day, for the entire year. That was 6 months ago! While I don’t have a perfect record of daily entries, I can count on only ONE hand how many times I missed the mark and didn’t publish. And never was there a day that I put it off because I was trying to; each “miss” was purely my forgetfulness. When I realized in the morning (early, early morning), I usually chose to double up my published pieces. There were also a few times, whether on vacation or exhausted, when my entry was something like, “Just wait until tomorrow!” but since something was written, it counts.
I have never been a goal-setter. I have decided to do things (run a marathon, get my M.Ed, buy a farm) and then followed through but never with a systematic approach, not with a thoughtful plan of attack. I think without setting goals I have been lucky to accomplish many things; I suspect it may have been easier had I chosen to tackle each with a goal and actionable steps. I often thought I needed to set goals but never follow through. Somehow I felt if I set a plan in place, I would ignore the plan and quit in the middle. Since I feel like I am a pretty hard worker and accomplish unique things, I still wonder why I resist setting it out in a step by step plan. Could it be the same reason I resist setting up schedules or committing to lots of activities? In the back of my mind I believe something better is about to come along and if I have a schedule or plan, I won’t be able to join in the alternate fun.
Hmmmm…
Which brings me to goal-setting. And brings me to intentionality. Three days ago I blogged about our summer intentions. It was a detailed piece about what fun activities I hope to set up for the kids this summer. And a lightbulb started to dimly glow in my mind. Within that same week, online I noticed buzz about an 14 day online course called Make Over Your Mornings, and then there was the book lying on my desk that I had not picked up since returning from California. I signed up for the course, set about finishing the book and learned about goals. The course pointed me to this post from one of my favorite books bloggers and the light finally went ON!
I view goals as working toward this giant accomplishment. Instead, and what makes sense now, I should be focused on the PROCESS or the habit-forming. I suspect that is why blogging each night has been successful for me. I didn’t set out with the goal of “record family memories on a blog”. My goal was simply to write each night so that I formed the habit of recording something of my day. It wasn’t the product, it was the process. And I have found that in the process, I have joyfully and honestly created a loving family memory-filled product.
Happy Anniversary to you, 3littlewees!
…reading Monkey and Me to herself then falling asleep on the floor
…giving me a big hug as I left his room at 4:30AM, settling him back to bed
…trying hard to keep birthdays secrets from me
…partner reading The World According to Musk Ox (flawlessly)
…chasing voles around the yard
…building Ollie’s Rockin’ Spaceship
…listening to all 3 eat space slime because they are stranded somewhere out of this world
…eating popcorn and watching The Brady Bunch together
…giving a kiss and wishing her sweet dreams…her reply^^^
Our family faced a choice this week. It was tricky to decide where each loyalty might lie. Who would one stand beside? Does one go with place of birth? Side with your Dada? What about extended family? Should those interests have anything to do with it? For better or worse (or a big win or loss), we are siding with Cleveland. The Golden State Warriors will be a fond memory I hold but the Cavs are something special to watch. Go Cavs!!
Its SUMMERTIME! I’ve been pinning and brainstorming and asking the kids what they would love to do this summer. Each of the older kids have two main interests we will tackle in the summer and then we have a whole bunch of little weekly activities we will explore.
early June garden , strawberry jar
Lily would like to do messy science the whole summer and I am more than happy to oblige. Most of the activities we will check out have a science-y spin. She would also love to learn to draw. Last week I picked up Drawing with Children and that looks like just the thing for both of us (and Ollie) to use to learn about drawing step by step. Even though she will at first resist, I am going to require her to read aloud for 15 minutes to myself or Sam or her brother and sister.
Ollie would like to learn to write his letters beyond those he uses in his name and I am going to add in letter sound recognition. As our animal lover, I hope to do some more animal-centric things including a trip to the zoo or zoo park and Soergel’s for the petting zoo.
House Helpers and Routines
Summer is also presenting the opportunity to train some household chores. We have started with emptying the dishwasher and the older kids trade off on top or bottom emptying each day. Both are clearing their places after dinner. Since I have been doing one load of laundry a day to completion, they are given a small pile to put away each day and that is especially helping Lily not be overwhelmed. She is the person with the most clothes in our family:-) And last but not least, we are experimenting with a routine to start our day. So far response has been favorable and every person can be in the playroom dressed, fed and raring to go by 9AM.
Read Alouds
Currently: The Whipping Boy by Paul Fleischman (together), Kittens in the Kitchen by Ben Baglio (Lily at bedtime), 5-Minute Marvel Super Hero stories (Ollie at bedtime).
Up Next: The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynn Reid Banks
Tinkering, Science and Art Explorations: If I have supplies for these on hand, the following fun will be easy to pull off on a day we don’t have other things planned.
Constellations and More constellations and even more
Giant Bubbles {Can I just say that I have wanted to do this forever and ever and I am determined to do it this summer!}
I can’t wait for Ollie to be all done with school so we can fill our summer days with lots of FUN! Sprinkle in a few weeks of vacation and another few of camp, we have a great summertime ahead of us!
A perfectionist needs to know what safe failure looks like. ~Susan Wise-Bauer
I’m looking at you, kid! How can you teach this when you struggle with it so mightily yourself? Its a tricky thing to consider. (sigh) This smart, beautiful girl shuts us out of part of her life because she is afraid of messing up. As I work through an online homeschool conference session and tonight as we put her to bed, it is on my mind. She wants to play Dance Party 2014 but doesn’t want you to watch. She reads eloquently to her brother and sister but won’t let us listen to her. She knows how important reading is to both her mom and her dad. All I know for sure is I want her to believe that this is her safe place to land in the world. I want her to feel secure in messing up all over the place in all sorts of ways, coming to understand that no failure will diminish who she is and what she means to us. We love you, kiddo!
*side note: as I contemplate pushing the button to publish this, I struggle with my own perfection hang ups, worrying about showing the internets my concern about this
When your toe is creaky,
It makes me feel freaky.
When you go creak, creak, creak…
~A Monster Poem by Lily
Weird.
Wacky.
Wonderful.
Wild.
Wound up.
These words describe my children today. It all started when Emmy helped me start a load of laundry this morning and then helped herself to one of the Pods. From her face, I’d say she didn’t enjoy it, yet she managed to empty it into her mouth and down her(just dressed for the day)self. FF to the evening when dinner included a family sing-along. As I filled water and gathered binkies for bedtime, I noticed the entire box of crayons dumped upside down in the kitchen, while upstairs the sink in the kids’ bathroom overflowed with water. Do you know what tomorrow night will have? You guessed it: a full moon and I think the kids caught the fever.
3littlewees 