Minnesotan is to Winter as Woman is to Birth

It snowed all day again today and I loved every minute of it.  Snow, I love snow!  How could I have ever been mad about snow!  Look how beautiful it is!  So peaceful!  And all the fun things we can do...



And I do.  I just love it right now.  I guess I'm just thankful (and still surprised) because after last "spring" I really thought I would be miserable this winter.



In other news I had the most glorious nap today (never mind what or who caused me to be in such need of a nap).  After I got Nora down the big kids listened to a Sparkle Story while I snuggled on the couch in front of the fire.  When I woke up I had this glass of water and note waiting for me...



Good things.

Happiness

{bird feeders we made with our homeschool group}

The snow was so beautiful today.  I am so surprised at myself by how much I am loving the snow this December.  There is something so peaceful about a fresh blanket of white coating our little farm.  I feel myself letting out a deep exhale at the thought of all of the work of summer being put to rest for awhile.

While today contained many moments of the stay-at-home-mama-with-three-small-children usuals ("mom, Grace wrecked my paper airplane", etc, etc), as I sit here tonight it is the moments of gratitude I am struck by.  Sitting in the cabin in the woods near the river (that our homeschooling co-op has been graciously allowed to occupy every Tuesday for FREE at Camp St. Croix) in front of a toasty fire- chatting with other moms and watching Jackson run outside to play with the other children (without his sister- that is new) and Grace coral a group of friends into playing a game she brought- my cup is overflowing.

Later in the evening while Ryan took Grace to dance and my mom was inside with Nora, Jackson and I got to enjoy a "night" walk.  In the field next door we came upon four deer prancing around (it was hard to see in the dark but maybe two bucks trying to impress some does?).  With the huge fluffy flakes of snow falling from the sky the scene was breathtaking.

My day ended in my favorite spot in front of the fireplace with a new magazine in hand and my dreaming notebook.

Yes these are the moments I will take with me to bed tonight.

Weekend Highlights

~ Of course Thanksgiving.  Family, good food and a warm cozy (sightly too small) house to celebrate in made for a wonderful day
~ Katie and Kris sleeping over
~ Leftovers (more turkey next year! 20 pound turkey way too small)
~ Getting our tree
~ Having our favorite neighbors over for pie
~ Decorating the tree
~ Taking a crochet class with Grace (may have been my number one thing I did- we made these cowls which I love.  plus it was so fun to have the morning just the two of us.  and we of course couldn't go to class without a chi tea from our coffee shop)
~ Going to visit the house Ryan remodeled and then to Choo Choo Bob's (Nora especially liked this stop)
~ Taking the big kids to see Grace's best friend in the St. Croix Ballet's version of the nutcracker.

The Tree

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving

The turkey is brining, cornbread and apple crisp are baked, Christmas music is playing and my helpers are helping (and "helping").  Holiday happiness in the making.

A Week of Homeschooling

Monday 11/18

~Circle time (seasonal songs and verses, right now we are learning some Thanksgiving songs and one Spanish one)

~Grace made omelets for everyone

~I told the story of Hiawatha (I love this story)

~Math work

~Spanish lesson

~Decided we wanted to have our own lantern walk
~Recess- worked on making a path for our walk

Tuesday 11/19

~Homeschool group (this week camp St. Croix staff put on a puppet play for us of the Lorax and then we got to make our own puppets followed by some outdoor games)

~Jackson and Grandma worked on our path for our lantern walk

~Grace ballet and tap

Wednesday 11/20

~Circle time

~I retold the Hiawatha story

~Main lesson book work related to the story

~Rock climbing field trip

Thursday 11/21

~Circle time

~Letter games

~Learning about the body (enjoying this book and this book)

~Kids drew their own bones/muscles/etc by feeling them and looking in books
~Recess- worked on our path

Friday 11/22

~Co-op day/grocery shopping

~Practiced letters

~Had the Melanders over to make lanterns and for our lantern walk (which turned out to be a lot of playing, laughing and not as much lantern walking since the wind kept blowing our candles out... but still so much fun!)

Field Trip: Vertical Endeavors

Ever since this field trip, Grace and Jackson have been begging to to do some rock climbing.  I finally found this place in St. Paul which has a homeschool day once a month.  So today we ventured over there and boy did they love it.  They are hooked.  It was even fun watching them.  They kept challenging themselves to go higher and higher.

I'm thinking (hoping) that with a nice mix of fun outdoor activities (hiking, skiing, snowboarding) along with some really good indoor activites like this one (plus swimming, gymnastics, and bowling) we just might make it through our first winter of homeschooling.

Weekend Highlights

~ Our Friday field trip with Kirsten and her kids to the science museum.  (I'm pretty sure I was never interested in dinosaurs as a kid but suddenly at 37 while learning about them with my children I am fascinated by them.)

~ While Grace and Jackson got to spend the weekend up north at Grandpa Glenn's with Daddy, Nora and I spent the weekend at Grandma Lee's.  Sometimes it's fun to have special time away with just one or two kids.

~ Friday night Katie slept over too.

~ Saturday I got to spend some time (alone!) at our house cleaning out closets.  I realize how boring this sounds but honestly I was in heaven.  I brought 5 garbage bags full of stuff to the Goodwill.

~ Going to Katie's for dinner on Saturday (and getting to hang out and talk for five hours without any interruptions).

~ Going to church on Sunday.

~ Going to Grandma Sam's to celebrate her birthday with family and her friends.

~ Coming home, getting a fire in the fireplace, things put away, kids tucked into bed, and planning a good start to my week.

Lantern Walk

Tonight Grace got join her second grade class for their annual lantern walk.  It was so fun to see everyone again and participate in such a beautiful tradition.

Cooking Class

We have been into some serious cooking around here.  While cooking and baking (with helpers) is something we/I do a lot of, over the past few weeks it has been in the form of a role reversal.  I decided that I was going to "teach" cooking for some of our lessons which meant that they picked the recipes, they read as much of the recipe as they could (in Grace's case at least), and then they did all of the measuring/mixing/cooking, while I merely stood by as the assistant.  What better way to have fun AND learn reading and math.  Last week Grace made blueberry muffins and Jackson made cornbread.  Later in the week we made these homemade tortilla shells which made our enchiladas absolutely amazing.  This week we made soup- Grace creme of broccoli and Jackson clam chowder.  Sounds like crackers is going to be our next endeavor.

Gratitude

"To be thankful is to have a sense of wonder about the beauty of this world and to welcome all of life as a gift.  Thankfulness is a path to contentment." (The Family Virtues Guide)

Today I am thankful for...



~ The snow.  Despite my resistance to winter this year I found myself giddy right along with my children when I woke up this morning and saw the snow.  So beautiful.



~ Homeschooling and all of the opportunities for connection, inspiration, and growth it provides



~ Clay.  How is it that I forgot how much I love clay? Grace, Jackson and I spent a good two hours creating with clay this afternoon.  I think we could have happily continued on forever if it weren't for a certain one year old waking up from her nap.



~ The healing power of art.



"Thankfulness is being glad for the special things which come along.  It is also being grateful for the little things which happen all around you and within you every day." (The Family Virtues Guide)



~ Our homeschool group.  This week we made soup together over a fire, played games and read the story of Stone Soup.  I feel so lucky to be apart of this community of families.



~ Swim season has arrived.  Last Sunday we spent the morning at "our" pool.

~ The cozy chair in front of the fireplace where I can just sit and rest my soul.



"Thankfulness is a way to get perspective when things don't look good and you start to loose hope.  It is a way to grow when painful things happen, by looking at the gifts which are always there, even when they seem hidden." (The Family Virtues Guide)