Thoughts for August...

I CAN'T BELIEVE it will be August this week! I don't know where summer has gone. Wednesday begins another fasting period. In some ways I look forward to these fasting periods during the year. It gives me a time to refocus and slow down a bit. Often times there are more services, our meals are a bit more simple and we are forced to slow down and redirect our attentions.

August also gets me thinking autumn is just around the corner, school plans to finalize, up coming birthdays and names days to plan. Autumn is one of my most favorite times of year. I love the weather, the inspirations for crafts, decorating... on and on it goes. It also gets me thinking of knitting projects. I know I've been doing lots of quilting, but I need to begin my knitting or the kiddos will freezing this winter.

I've been getting out my needles now and again and now the kids are getting in on the act. The kiddos have Knitting Towers to learn. They love making their long "snakes" of yarn (simular to i-cords) with their towers. Soon we'll have snakes throughout the house!!

I'm in the process of finishing up a hat before I get started on some winter jumpers for the boys. Because of a mix up with an order earlier in the year I have a bunch of skeins on lovely grey merino wool. I think I'm going to get a skein each of their favorite color so I can do some color work so they can be a bit different. I also have some lovely wool to make a cozy cardy for my little bit. I also found some adorable mushroom buttons for her sweater. But I'll share the photos of those when I begin that project.

As for now we just need to finish up with our visiting family and begin to finalize the structure of our upcoming shift in cycle. I also need to think about the new year. The "new year" you ask? Well, the beginning of the new Church year is September 1st. We usually have a blessing service at church and then we sit down as a family and talk about what we would like to work on during this new year to help our relationship with our Lord. Our new years "resolutions" so to speak. Each year as our children grow older they take on more of living their faith with the rest of us. For example in our family our children don't completely partake in the fasts until they receive their first confession. Then as they grow they work on it each year until they can keep the fasts more completely. This year my 7 year old will begin to serve on the altar with his older brother, which is very exciting. The new year is just a time to examine our walk with the Lord and what we can do better. We really do this before each fast as well, but we make a bigger deal about it for the "New Year".

So as we prepare for the Dormition of Our Lady, we can also be looking for her Nativity in the new year! Hope you are enjoying your summer! Have a lovely day!

Almost a Month...

IT'S BEEN ALMOST A MONTH... since I started this Blog venture and I think it's going fairly well. I'm hoping for this to be a place that I can share my Orthodox Homeschooling journey and that by sharing those of you reading this will take away some encouragement, support and learn something you didn't know. I would love to hear your comments about what things are useful. I would also be honored if you feel anything I blog about is worth passing on.

Now that we are on the verge of summer, I'm thinking most of my posts will be more about playing, crafting, cooking and trying to get back into the liturgical rhythm. While I do, do some schooling with the littler kids, it's more unstructured learning. I will also be sharing other blogs and information that I come across that strikes my fancy.

Hope you had a wonderful long weekend. I had so many plans for things to do, but at least I finished my first sweater!! I am extremely proud of it.

We had lots of playing in, mostly, sun this long weekend. And I took a walk around our yard and was able to put this wonderful bouquet of flowers together. It just makes me smile every time I look at it. God Bless your Day!!

Meal Planning

IT'S RAINING...IT'S POURING... The old man is snoring...he woke up in bed and bumped his head and couldn't get up in the morning...

When I looked out the window today that's exactly what I thought. I also must have bumped my head because I didn't want "to get up in the morning". We had kind of a lazy day, packed with loads of games, stories and mom knitting. Lots of tea, too! Sometimes, even though I can't kick everyone outside in the sun all day, I love these lazy kind of days. I especially like lying in bed listening to the rain falling outside.

This was a day to play and plan. Since this is my shopping week, I'm planning meals for the next two weeks and getting my shopping list in order. Over the past few months I've been lazy about actually planning meals and have been running into the dreaded zone of "what's for dinner?" and not having a clue. Or the zone of thinking of what to make only to find you don't have all the ingredients. Quite frankly meal planning is my least favorite thing to do. Coming up with dinners and ensuring that it's something that the majority will eat. I'm sure none of you have ever had this challenge!

I have been making meals for a life time. Since it was just me and dear ol' Dad growing up , I began cooking at an early age. Little did I know that once you begin making meals for people you never get to stop! At times I feel like a walking menu. Do you ever feel like that? A child comes to you with the complaint, "I'm hungry". You respond, "what would you like to eat" only for them to answer, "I don't know". Grrrr.... I then offer options and to each the reply is "no, I don't feel like eating that". Grrrr....

Maybe you don't have this dilemma in your home, but I go through this on a regular basis!! So any time I am invited any where for dinner or any meal for that matter it is such a blessing!! You could serve me a TV dinner and I'd be happy as a clam! Just thought of what to eat and then making it is a chore I really would love to avoid. I have often said if I was wealthy that is what I would have, a full-time chef! Even though I do like to cook, some times the chore of coming up with what to cook is more than I can bear. I'm a big baby, huh?? I know that's what you're thinking. Anyway I feel like I've taken a trip down the 'bunny trail' here....

Back to the topic at hand... Did I have a topic? Oh yeah, I was going to talk about Allrecipes.com. I love them! Even though I've gotten out of the habit of using them lately. I can get new recipes or use my own and can build a menu complete with a printable shopping list. Or I don't even have to print it, I can just use my "smart" phone. Love that!! Over the last couple of years I have added my recipes so that I can have a digital way to organize them. It's wonderful. I have a menu for fasts, strict fast, fast free weeks, etc. It's great!! So now I'm back to using it and I happy to say I'm almost done with my shopping list for my outing!! It takes the stress out of it, at least for me. That's always a good thing!

I was also able to get more done on my knitting project. In between Wii Sports tournaments with the boys. I guess I don't mind video games when we are all doing them together. And I'm happy to report my foot is on the mend after my spill the other day. Hopefully I'll be able to wear a shoe for a more significant length of time soon. Hope you're enjoying the weather too! Blessings!

And it's beginning to look like a sweater!! I'm so happy!

WHAT A WEEKEND... Some times weekends are blissful and you don't want them to end. Then there are some that, well.. you don't mind seeing the back of. My weekend was somewhere in between, with all the high and low points!

Before I had my children, I was... well, quite materialistic, vain, self-centered to name just a few. I was mostly a 'girly-girl'. I loved to fix my hair and play with make-up. I was into the latest styles and quite frankly much different than I am now. Then I had my first child. I was shocked to be introduced to a whole new world of emotions! For a while I didn't quite know how to handle it all. Having a boy... a HIGH NEED boy, really threw me for a loop. For years I was so caught up in taking care of him that I don't think I really had the time to think of myself. By the time he was eight years old, I started to feel like I was coming out of the fog and well, I didn't recognize myself. I began to consider doing things, not "mommy" things, but my things. Then when he was almost ten I had my second high need boy. Luckily my peanut boy was not as high need as his predecessor, however being thrown into the "new mommy" thing was a bit of a shocker! Then two years later, boy number three arrived and while I LOVE my boys, I felt that I was doomed to the world of dinosaurs, 'man-eating' plants, things that could kill me and all things gross! While I was a 'girly-girl', I'm not squeamish and can hold my own in the world of boys. Through all this I somewhat lost my sense of being a 'girly-girl'. But now that I have my girl, she has revived the 'girly' side of me.

So back to the weekend, I began the weekend by going into the salon and getting a new look. Now that I have begun to rediscover 'all things girl' I feel like I'm reinventing myself a little. My oldest says I'm going through a 'mid-life crisiss'. I don't feel like that however. I just feel like I'm actually making time for myself. Having little ones again this late in life, I feel like I need to figure out what I'm doing now and stop waiting around for later. To that end I'm making more 'me' time and I think that is making me a better mom. I don't feel so neglected and under valued. I'm just more happy about life and that's always a good thing.

As I said Friday I got a new look, then Saturday I was able to go to some of the South Sound Yarn Crawl with a friend. It was lots of fun. I bought some yarn for new project and got to get a lot more done on my current one.

Next project...

Now on to the sleeves...

Now the low point... Saturday evening I managed to slip down my stairs on a small child's boot and hurt my right foot rather badly. Due to the pain I was in, I missed Liturgy and the baby shower I had been invited to Sunday. It was a bummer ending to a fabulous weekend. On the bright side, since I was stuck stitting around with my foot up, I was able to get quite a bit of knitting done. And it was a misty rain kind of day and boy, the tea tasted good! Now I just need to heal so I can get on with the week ahead...

Be Creative...

HAPPY BELATED MOTHER'S Day... Hope you all had a wonderful sunny weekend. We really had a nice weekend. A wonderful balance of together time and mom getting some alone time. What a blessing!

I was able to get some much needed crafting done! Crafting is what keeps me energized!! It's just to bad it took me 16 years of motherhood to figure that out!! For me it's so important to be creative. Homeschooling and just being a mom gives me lots of avenues to be creative, but I have to admit that they don't always leave me re-charged. They definitely take lots of energy, because those things don't always come naturally. So for me there is creative and creative.

So first I was able to get my Thimbleberry done! I changed the pattern up a little, but I am happy with how it turned out. And it gives me another "twister" or "pinwheel" pattern I can do. Love that!!

I also got to work a little more on this little sweater for the little Ms. This time it seems to be the right gauge and should fit her. I'll keep my fingers cross! Ha! Ha!

Now I'm frantically trying to get this baby quilt done. I did actually have one almost finished, but I decided I didn't like it. I wasn't able to do it the way I had intended and was just going to go with it, but as I was quilting I just couldn't do it. So I'm taking it a part to fix it, but now I'm running out of time. So I'm making a whole new one and will deal with the other one later. Call me crazy, but I feel like life as a mom is a life full of compromise. In my crafting world I just can't compromise, it has to be RIGHT!

Here are some photos of my crazy, creative process!

The colors....

Playing with design....

Now it's Monday and back to the business of all things education and child exploration!! Have a magnificent Monday!!!

Time Marches on...

Isn't amazing how time flys! We are in the birthday zone again. My peanut boy just turned 7 and now my little knight turns 5 today!! My little Miss will be 2 in just a few weeks. It just blows my mind! For so many years we only had one, it still amazes me to see pictures of our family. I have found myself thinking, "who are those people" and then I think oh, yeah that's us! Just amazing!! Time marches on whether you're ready for it or not.

Now that spring is finally here, or at least for the time being, we've spent a lot more time outside! I'm trying to start this little sweater for the little Miss, but I'm not getting a very good start. I got this new book and was so excited to get started...

But I had to rip it out and I'm beginning again. So we'll see how it goes this time.

I'd love to get back to my projects, but the sun is just to WONDERFUL!! Today we will have my little knight's 5th birthday celebration and I pray that we have the lovely sun to compliment our picnic outting! Whatever happens it will be a fabulous day!! Hope yours is too!