Everyday Life for Four Seasons

Today we are:


Loving the play silk I won through Nicole's giveaway last week. The girls immediately knew what to do with it.


Enjoying the beach created out of grains and seeds for the little people...


Wondering when the ice on the garden beds will melt and we can plant some pea seeds...


Hoping the deer find something else to eat soon so they don't destroy all of my shrubs (again).

We went to the library and although we returned a lot of books, we took out a whole bunch. At any given time, I have 20-40 books checked out. Here's what's on the bookshelf at home right now:

Children's tear-jerker: Most Loved in All the World by Tonya Cherie Hegamin

Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner (this is more of a sentimental pick than anything else, as I am not much into fiction these days. The woman who taught me how to knit was in a book group with the author's mom.)

You Are Your Child's First Teacher by Rahima Baldwin Dancy

Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture by Ellen Ruppel Shell

Let's Look at the Seasons: Springtime by Ann Schweninger

An old favorite: Sky Tree by Thomas Locker

Play, play, play, until you're so tired, you just can't play anymore.

That describes all of us. So thankful that tomorrow is relatively free of any plans. We all need a day at home with no structure.

I've been on the run...

a baby shower for a dear friend,

a visit with one of my sisters,

an educational trip to a farm,

and a very special birthday celebration for my 'H', who turned 3 years old today.

:: The pea seeds have sprouted ::

Learning all the time... that describes me, for sure, and my girls too. For the most part, I'm happy with our decision to not send our girls to school this year or next. Even more, I'm happy with our lack of organized "curriculum" because I know that right now it works best for my children. Sometimes though I start to wonder about how I will know they're learning. I know, I know, I sound like a broken record. I've said this before. I wouldn't say that what we do is called unschooling while they're still so young, but I guess it is. I provide opportunites for learning and they pick and choose what they want to do.

I read them stories, take them places, explore the outdoors with them, work on household tasks together, and then I watch the pieces come together. Unschooling probably works well for most children, but 'A' in particular thrives in this environment. She's a self-starter and enjoys working independently. And she's smart. Many, many times she'll come up with an activity idea and implement it and I'm left wondering how in the world she learned to do it! I'm always proud and impressed, and sometimes when my ego gets in the way, I worry that I should have been more "on the ball," teaching her that subject matter earlier, so that she wouldn't have to take it upon herself to figure it out on her own. And then I stop and think about it, and I realize how wonderful it is that she's taken it upon herself to figure something out when she was ready to learn about it! My ego, my ego... it keeps tripping me up when it comes to parenting. I have to tell myself to remember that what she learns and when she learns it isn't all about me.

:: She's sounding out words and asking for help when she needs to... then hangs the signs all over the house ::


:: She's making her own clocks ::


:: She's spending time observing the crunchy, dirty snow on the ground and running inside to draw pictures of it ::


She's learning all the time.

Getting things done!

Laminated: the month and seasons headings I made for our calendar bulletin board. I finally got sick of hoping they wouldn't drop into the cat food and end up in the garbage.

Completed (by 'A'): Baby's skirt! Now she wants to make footed pajamas for Baby. Oh my! One step at a time.

Treated: me! for a cold that just won't go away completely on its own. Finally after huffing and puffing during a slow walk yesterday I decided to go to the doctor.

Found on the internet: a blog by April Davila about taking a month to eat nothing produced by Monsanto seeds.

In progress: a few homemade birthday gifts for 'H', who turns 3 on Monday. Stay tuned for finished photos this week.

These dolls are sitting at a table, eating pizza and markers. Of course. Who wouldn't want to eat markers for lunch?

edited to add: it is heavenly outside... almost spring-like.

Some days I can't find the balance between:

* having a cleaned up, orderly home and having fun-loving, creative children who jump from one activity to the next;

* allowing my children enough autonomy to experiment and make their own decisions and keeping them and my possessions safe;

* encouraging them to find their own inner voice to determine how quickly and how well they put away their things and how quickly I would like to see things cleaned up...

So on these days, I choose to ignore these questions that I can't find answers to and just look out the window instead, thinking that we should all go outside and play for a while.

I hear my inner chatter. I'm starting to feel overwhelmed with daily "to do" tasks. Best to take some time soon to get things done so I can feel better.

If your children or children you know love to play with silks, head on over to Frontier Dreams to enter Nicole's giveaway. You have until March 4. Good luck!

As you may know, I'm taking part in Hip Mountain Mama's One Small Change. The compost challenge that I undertook in January is still going strong - I bring out my buckets twice a week or so and put them on the pile in the woods. Our cloth handkerchief challenge from February is working out well too. So far I've made several hankies and I haven't replenished our paper tissue supply at all. Jeff and I have switched to the cloth full-time and the girls are using up the paper. When they're gone, they're gone! We just toss them in the laundry when we're done with them. I don't do a separate load. The only thing in our house that gets a separate load is 'H's diaper load. I switched her over to cloth diapers while we're at home, and she wears permanent plastic diapers while we go out.
Suzy (Hip Mountain Mama) posted that she is switching her girls from permanent plastic pull-ups at night to cloth, reusable pull-ups. I think I'll do the same for 'A'!

I wanted to choose water conservation for my one small change for March, but I've decided to save that for April and do something else instead this month. I need to get my bag situation under control. I have a few issues to address:

* I make my own bread and need a better loaf bag. I've been using old plastic bread bags but at this point they are months old and are getting a bit gross. I want something washable.

* We buy as much of our food in bulk to cut down on packaging (oatmeal, popcorn, nuts and grains). I need to have a better bulk bag storage selection that fits nicely into my reusable shopping bags.

* We buy greens at the farmer's market every week. They come packed in clear plastic bags with holes punched throughout for circulation. I can't reuse these for the cat litter or for garbage. What am I going to do with them? I have too many that are starting to pile up.

* We have a pellet stove and the pellets come packed in plastic bags. We haven't thrown any of the bags away, so now I have an enormous stack of big, thick plastic bags! Some I use under the cat box, some we can use for garbage, but what about the rest?

There you have it, my bag crisis. I need to address it! I need some order in my life.

Jeff, 'H' and I went to 'A's final dance class to watch her dance. It wasn't a formal recital, it was more of a chance for the parents to see what the children are doing in class. 'A' is a sweet girl. She picks out her outfits for each class and will only wear what she wants to wear. So, there she was, dressed in her pink leotard and her pink ballet shoes, following along with the dances. Before class started, she told us she was happy to be at dance class but not happy that people would be watching her dance. During the class, she had a moment that we weren't expecting, but at the same time, we weren't the least bit surprised that it happened. She melted down. At first, I whispered to Jeff that she looked really tired. Then he said that she looked starstruck. Before we knew it, she was running to my arms with tears streaming down her face. She sat on my lap for a bit and watched the other girls dance, and then decided to rejoin the group. After that point, she was fine.


When the class ended we gave her a single rose with a sprig of baby's breath and talked about feeling nervous and about how proud we were that she decided to go back on the stage and have fun dancing. She's looking forward to another 6 week session of dance, complete with another final class where the parents will come to watch. I'll tell you, if I had been in her shoes, I wouldn't have gotten out of my mother's lap and rejoin the group, and I wouldn't have wanted to sign up for another round of classes. I'm so proud of her!


This situation has brought up a topic of discussion for Jeff and me, something that comes up again and again. Parenting styles. How do we parent and help our children navigate these life situations in a way that works for both them and us? How much of the conventional wisdom do we listen to and how much of our inner voice do we listen to? What happens when they are in conflict? What about the times when things happen so fast, when we haven't had a chance to think things through, when we have to react quickly to reassure our children that they're OK, and at the same time help them find their way?

I guess this is where all of the other discussions that Jeff and I have come in handy. We talk (and I think) a lot about how to parent our girls. Most of all, I want them to feel comfortable with who they are. That's easy to say, but how do you get there? I keep that idea of wanting them to accept and be comfortable with themselves in my mind all the time. I try to honor it before I react, before I speak, before I ask them questions, as I answer questions, while I comfort them, and while I am encouraging them to try something new. A lot of times my actions and words will come from that place, and things will flow so well, both between us and within ourselves. Sometimes they don't. Sometimes my own childhood experiences cloud it up, or my mood that moment overrides it. Perhaps my own insecurities that I've cultivated over the years will make that place of love and acceptance just disappear. But it comes back pretty quickly, and I always make an effort to start things over when I'm feeling in tune again.


I think about these things as I watch her cry and run to me in the middle of a performance. And as I watch her experiment with cutting her tights with scissors and then strongly regret doing it when she finds out she can't wear them again. She did that tonight and was so upset that she covered her ears and yelled at me when I tried to talk with her about it. I made some space between us and found that place of love and acceptance, recognized that she is feeling so awful about it that even my neutral words sounded vicious, and decided to just sit and hug her in silence. That healed us.


The rest of these photos are from our trip to the winter farmer's market on Saturday. It's almost March, and pickings are getting slimmer, but we still have a lot of variety. We're still convinced that we can eat local produce all year long and love it.

We had Squasharoni for dinner tonight. My sister introduced us to it and Jeff and I love it. The girls have enjoyed it in the past but for whatever reason decided that they didn't like it tonight. Mmmmmm, it is yummy!
A few notes - I don't bake it, I think it dries out too much that way. I leave out the breadcrumbs and use toasted, crushed ramen noodles instead. Tonight I added 1/4 cup of silken tofu I had on hand and doubled the miso. I blend my squash/tahini/miso mixture in the food processor so it gets nice and smooth and bright orange, just like mac 'n cheese.

Ingredients
12 oz dried elbow macaroni pasta
2-1/2 tbsp olive oil
1-1/2 cups sliced onions
5 cups peeled cubed butternut or buttercup squash (approximately 1 large squash)
1/2 cup water
1 tsp salt, divided
1/3 cup tahini
1 tbsp white miso
1 tbsp umeboshi vinegar
1 tsp tamari
1/3 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 tbsp dried parsley
1/2 tbsp dried oregano
3/4 cup dried whole-grain bread crumbs

In a large saucepan, cook the pasta in boiling water until tender but still firm. Drain, rinse, and set aside. In a large, deep ovenproof skillet, heat 1-1/2 tablespoons of the oil and saute the onions for 3 - 5 minutes or until translucent. Add the squash and water and bring to a boil. Add 1/2 teaspoon of the salt. Reduce heat to medium, cover, and cook for 15 - 20 minutes, or until the squash is soft.

Preheat oven to 375F. In a small bowl, stir together the tahini, miso, vinegar, tamari, and remaining salt. Add the tahini mixture to the squash and mix together until creamy. Add the reserved pasta, remaining oil, the walnuts, parsley, and oregano. Top with the bread crumbs and bake for 20 minutes. Serve immediately.