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| photo cred: Violet |
Intentional Outdoor Hours: 58+ hours (of 1000)
Up 10 hours this week and I even got lovely morning for my ultimate favorite soul recharging activity this week. As I informed Grey when he plopped down in the porch chair next to me, I think my heaven will be a sunny morning with a warm breeze where I can sit on a porch drinking my coffee and reading while the birds sing the day to life. He responded with, 'Um, okay mom.' and then proceeded to hop up and ride his scooter all around the sidewalks. But a few minutes later, he scooted back around and said - 'what do you think my heaven should be like?' I told him that he might be too young to know just yet, but maybe standing in a creek with a fly rod like Daddy's will be. and he nodded, smiled, and scooted off again.
Mindfulness exercise: what do you think your 'heaven' will look like (or what does your most joyful peace look/feel like)? I hope it is something you find time to do right now on Earth too.
Reading Untamed by Glennon Doyle and The Opposite of Always by Justin A. Reynolds. I snatched up a whole stack of books from my co-worker and bestie's English classroom while I was at school this week, including The Opposite of Always (thanks Renee!) Still reading The Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo too with Grey.
Celebrating Mother's Day with our Quarantine safe group. We had our Adams family join us at our house for a cookout around the fire. We planted hanging baskets, played kickball, chatted around the table while sipping special mother's day cocktails, and hoverboard'ed around the patio. It was a beautifully chilly, sunny, windy spring day. After, we stopped by to visit Gigi and Mimi each for Mother's day. Mimi got to hold Red (for the first time!) It was so wonderful to see and spend time with each other.
Recognizing that I created addicts when I introduced the kids to Glee. We have been full on singing and dancing maniacs over here. Brandon and I watched Glee when it was on tv and loved it, but there are some mature topics - so the rule has been that they aren't allowed to watch it without a grown up (to talk them through questions and fast forward if necessary...hello Madonna episode with a lot of horizontal kissing!) but the kids have been majorly obsessed and all Alexa ever gets asked to play is Glee cover songs. So we're taking a Glee break for now - it's literally they only thing they've wanted to watch and they ask incessantly to watch again when it's time for a tv break. So - Glee is off limits for the time being until we can get this addiction to show tunes back under control.
Feeling overwhelmed daily by about 4-6p, which not coincidentally is also the bewitching hour for children. Red has been very clingly and I've been sporting the baby carrier for most of the day. As a four time Babywise parent - I know he needs practice and guidance to create a normal napping routine - but also between virtual teaching and homeschooling and chores, it feels a little unmanageable at the present moment. So instead, his naps end up being in the carrier while I shuffle between my laptop and the other kids and the kitchen for the non stop cycle of preparing-eating-cleaning up. And so by 6p, I've been near tears for the past week. Also, it's been about 6 weeks of less than 4 hours of a sleep at a time, so yeah. Only two more weeks until the end of the rotten 8, I can do this!
Discovering my spirit tree, Agnes. Brandon brush hogged the field next to our house last fall and as everything is starting to get green again this spring, the kids claimed a tree to climb. As I was checking out their hideout with them, I felt this huge rush of joy come over me. Looking up from the ground, through the branches and leaves blowing in the spring breeze, I somehow feel connected to the past and future while rooted in the present. I think of farmhouse kitchen curtains blowing and old time aprons and baking bread and falling asleep in the shade of a tree just like this on a summer day. The bark and the leaves and the twisting branches wake some creative part of my soul that has been dormant for so long in this momma-must-tend-to-all-the-other-needs-right-now bustle. A little ways down in the field is my Agnes. She is the same type of tree (pretty sure its wild black cherry) and she is my special girl now.
Listening to all the trees for their names. The big kids roll their eyes at me when I tell them that if you listen closely and ask the trees, they will tell you their name. But even amidst their eye roll they also still have the hope of believing in there. Grey and I stood for a long time listening to a pine tree in the goat pen. He decided that he 'heard' Bowie. We also have a Priscilla (apple), Abigail (wild cherry), Boris, and Spooks (two trees side by side that have twisted vines all over them).
Attending my 6 week postpartum visit. It is always good to see my cousin/midwife/ob Megan and chat, but also a great visit to know that my body has made it through the six weeks mostly unscathed and well. I have been feeling better and more like myself in the last week and a half - so it feels like the official, let's get back on track starting line.
Quarantine safe grouping - Gemma and Rust had a sleepover with Abba and Chum,Violet had a sleepover at Aunt Uch's house, and Grey got to stay at Uncle Jonny's house after turkey hunting on Saturday and he was overjoyed. It has been so incredibly valuable to their emotional souls to get some special one-on-one time with people they love. They all, but especially my girls, have been suffering from attention deficits during this isolation #bigfamprobs, but even more so because we've added a new baby to our family right in the middle of it too. Violet whispered to me the other day after she sat and watched me sing a lullaby to Red while he stared into my eyes cooing for 3 minutes straight, "Momma, I wish I was a baby again so you would do that to me." I did pick her up and pretend to hold her like a baby and sing to her and we giggled about it, but I hear you girl, we are all in need of a little special attention right now.
Welcoming six new chickies into our home. I sent B and the two biggest out to pick up take out for dinner and get dog food and chicken feed from Tractor Supply...and instead they got the dog food, chicken feed, and brought home six little all white chicks. No take out though. hah! The chicks are already two weeks old and getting feathers, so the store was sort of desperate to sale them. So, Brandon got suckered in by the Grey and Gem's pleading (and the pleading of the sales ladies!) Third year in a row that we have the baby chick set up stationed in the dining room.
Not turning away from the violence and heartache of our black and brown brothers and sisters in this country. I know I have the privilege of looking away because I am white with a white husband and white sons and daughters. But to look away is to give silent consent to the systemic racism that I have been soaking in (and subsequently benefiting from) all my life. My heart aches for Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor and their families; but also for all the black and brown families who are fearful and tired. How can I do better to promote human kindness? How can I be a better ally and example to my children, to my students, to my adult friends?
Mapping out where we plan to install the goat pen. Yep, you read that right. Straight up farmette goals over here.
Zoom birthday party attending for Uchie's bday on Friday night. We chatted, virtually cheer'sed our drinks, did a Just Dance, played Notice the difference (thanks youtube!), and played virtual rock/paper/scissors Survivor style (if you lost, you signed off! HAHA). Afterwards, I cleaned up the kitchen while listening to the Live concert from The Evergreens (a local band) that played a request for Uch's birthday (!) It was a perfect Friday quarantine night.
Homeschooling and finishing another packet in time for drop off (barely - we had 10 minutes to spare when we pulled into the parking lot, hah). More of the same around here - ya know, missing zoom meetings and arguments about finishing their work. I make mental notes all day long about how much education their getting otherwise to make myself feel better. Like, Grey cooked breakfast by himself, that's math, STEAM, and reading the recipe. Gemma helped pick out flowers from the nursery, that's science and math working out the price. I mean, the learning is happening - they just want to fight me on the worksheets.
Virtual Teaching with kids listening to music! We did a música focused week where students were to listen to Spanish (or Spanglish) music and answer questions each day with a little extension activity. We are down to the final two weeks of school for my students! I headed into school on Tuesday to clean out my classroom and the first thought was "oh Gosh, why do I decorate so much?!" Hahhaa, but for real - a rainbow threw up in my classroom. Thankfully, I stayed focused on the task and then Brandon came down from the admin building to help me and we got everything done! It was kind of sad to take everything down myself, each year the students help disassemble my room and it is such a comforting exercise in going back through all the memories and things we did that year. The students are always saying, "Aw, I remember this" or asking to keep work...but B and I were just like ripping things off the wall and closing up shop as quickly and productively as possible.
Making
breakfasts: egg sausage casserole (made by Grey for mother's day), cereal (twice), eggs and sausage in a tortilla, egg and ham sandwiches, cupcakes (for Uch's birthday), and toast
lunches: Mother's day feast (church picnic chicken, shrimp, homemade strawberry shortcake including homemade whip cream (!), and Mother's day sangria), ham and grilled cheese sandwiches, leftover chicken over zucchini, salads and wraps, take-out from Tailgatez, and lunchmeat sandwiches
dinners: hot dogs, frozen pizza, fundraiser spaghetti take out (for my student who lost her house to a fire), buffalo cauliflower and burgers, korean style ground turkey and green beans over rice, pizza delivered (from the Vorndrans - thank you!!), and leftovers.
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