First day of school...

Today marked our very first day of school!  Complete with new school clothes, supplies, and brand new school books.  After much consideration our family has decided to homeschool.  In the end it comes down to doing what is best for our family. (doesn't it always?)  Homeschool works for me by giving me the opportunity to blend Waldorf, Montessori, and traditional schooling in our lives.  Our day is laced with Waldorf rhythm, song, circle time, and play.  We find montessori works with our materials, and some of the philosophies that impact our choices.  For the bulk of our learning we are very grateful to be following the Harvest Curriculum from the lovely women at  Wee Folk Art. 

a self portrait of her first day at school.



Our deciding factor in making this leap?
It was Matt.
Matt of all people.
Matt who was SO opposed to homeshcool in all of our conversations on which path was best.
Ava told him that she wanted to stay home with us, to learn at home.  And that was it. 
Matt told me that "there may not be many years left with her that she wants to be home.  If we can have her with us, even a little bit longer, and give her all she needs, then we should"
And that was it.  I was sold.

Gratitude Mondays....

What I love today....

~Coloring with Ava in my MC Escher coloring book....

~Good neighbors, and big birthday parties...

~Capturing baby smiles on camera....
(more on that later..)

~A little girl who loves me, and believes that
"we are really just like twins"

~A baby who loves to snuggle...

~A little boy who is fascinated by our ant "problem".
He lays on his belly watching them march across our kitchen.
"Aren't the wonderful?  They are working so hard!"

~A partner that not only took our children to the park Saturday morning
he also stopped by the library to pick up my hold request,
AND
found a book he knew I had been wanting to read!
What a lovely surprise

~Trips to Tucson, even the very short ones.


Here's to a brand new week... We start homeschool today!!!!

Newborn Sunrise

I found a camera that I thought I lost.  It turned up in the very place I thought it would be, but I guess I forgot to check there... huh.  I discovered a hidden treasure.  Baby pictures of my barely two week old boy.  A lost moment found...

 

 

 

Oh sweet baby goodness.

One little reason my life is so so good....

 

 

 

 

 

Bubble baths in the middle of the afternoon.  

As a mother of three, this is a luxury that feels almost sinful to indulge in.  

I love my bathroom. 

I love my bathtub. 

I love my afternoon baths.

Go ahead... try it.  You'll love it!

Two Months...

Sol turned two months old last weekend.
I wanted to do a photo shoot with him.
He refused to smile. 
He'll fit right in with his siblings.

I recently read that
"a baby must not double their weight by 4 months".
What are the odds that he wont gain 1.5 lbs in the next two months?
I love my fat baby.

Just a boy, a girl, and ballet...

I went searching for my children the other day and found them mid ballet lesson.  

Ava has taken 3 classes so far, and is now a qualified teacher.

Her student is very eager.

And quite adorable in his tutu, leotard, tights and ribbons in his hair.

Gratitude Mondays...

What I am loving today....

~The garden is getting cleaned out...

~A dear friend came to visit and share her birthday with us....

~Giving homemade waffles to a grown woman for the first time in her life...
(really, she'd never ever had them before!)

~I love homemade pizza on the weekends!
Especially with tiny yellow bell peppers off our plant....

~Finding loving homes for our kittens...
(for two of them that means our home)


~A little girl who is too smart for her own good.  Each time she figures somethings out, a little bit of her magic is taken away.
I wish I could keep her world full of fantasy for ever. (or at least a little bit longer)


~A tiny fat baby who loves to smile at his mama...
and only his mama!

~A little boy who LOVES his baseball clothes.
Morning, noon, and night.
for days on end.


~Water color painting with white crayons...
So much fun, and beautiful results!
Thank you to  Wee Folk Art on Facebook, and CarrieEllen ArtStudio

~A partner who holds me.  Everything can seem right with the world in his arms.



Here's to a shiny new week!  My last week to get organized before we start Homeschool.
Yep, we're going to homeschool!!

Summer's end in our garden...

 The lemons are turning yellow!  They should be ready sometime this fall/ winter.

 The basil has become an enormous bush.  The bees love it, and so do I.

Standing where the sunflower house once stood, Cyrus looks at our happy little baby blackberry patch.

Watermelon.  Thank you watermelon.  You've been Amazing!

Each of us does our part to help our garden flourish.

Its fall planting season here in Arizona.  That may sound crazy, and yes the weather still reaches around 110* in the afternoons, but its true.  Its time for us to head out and clean up.  Time to pull the weeds, and the plants gone to seed.  Time to remove the over heated dead plants, and start the new.  Time to take stalk of what's thriving, and what's to come.
We are so very grateful for our summer's crops. 

Sol's moment....

I spend most of my time with him.  Most of my time thinking about him.  He's a part of me.  It seems right that he has a post dedicated to him today.

 He's mostly quiet. 

He likes to nurse, cuddle, and sleep.

He loves to be held.

He loves singing.

He is just starting to ooh and ah.

He's easy to smile.

 He has had two baths now.

Not very many, maybe, but each one has been special.

He likes to float in my arms.

He's been very kind not to poop on my during our magic bath time.

He's never cried.

Not tears,

not once.

 He knows how to frown though.

Lord help me,

I love that frown!

I would move mountains to take that precious frown off his face.

First Dance....

Ava is at the beginning of a new era.  Her journey through life has led her towards school.  She may not be entering traditional school this year, like we once thought, but she has started her formal dance education.  And might I just add that she is the absolute cutest ballerina that there ever was.  Seriously. 

(Does she look a little nervous here?  It was her first day!)

Ava has fallen in love with her ballet class.  She adores her teacher, and takes the work they do very seriously.   She announced tonight that she may want to learn French, as her teacher told her it is the language of ballet.  Ava has also gone as far as designing special hair clips to wear with her bun.  She came to me with a flower off an old dress and asked there was some way she could sew it onto a hair clip.  Once I showed her what she needed, she found a few more flowers to make a set.  Have I mentioned how much I love that girl!?

Her recital is in June. Its pretty clear that I am just as excited as she is!

Balance.....

I have this beautiful little boy.
Every day I am amazed by his capacity for...
Joy
Love
Laughter
Energy
Creativity
even peace.
And I am so grateful for his capacity for peace.
His quiet moments of play
His daily bubble bath.
With out these quiet moments...

I would fear for my sanity.
My joyful loving energetic creative little laughing peace maker is also
Beautifully
WILD

I wouldn't have him any other way.

Gratitude Mondays....

What I am loving today....

~August is half way over!!!  I start to celebrate fall in September, (hot Phoenix weather be damned) and I am so ready for it!

~A fat fat baby who is growing out clothes AGAIN!  Someone tell him to stop!  First it was the newborn sizes, now its the 0-3 months.  I love that he is healthy, and I love me some fat babies, but he's my last.
Slow down baby!

~A little girl who discovered a hidden talent.  She can sing opera.  What does she sing in her operatic voice?
Take me out to the ballgame.
Not kidding.

~A little boy who wakes up before the sun.
This weekend he set up a baseball game (complete with decorative flags, of course)   in the living room while he waited for us to wake up.

~Newly switched and organized closets.  LOVE organized closets.
We have something very big starting soon, and I need to be ready!

~A partner who hung shelves for my new art closet!
If I had tried I know they would have been slanted.

~Fall garden planning!
(We would have started this weekend, but we did closets instead, for that I am very grateful to Matt.
I know how much he wanted to start the garden this weekend.)

~Last minute brownies on Thursday...

~And Sunday's warm peach cobbler....
(yummmmm)

Here's to finishing projects, and a beautiful week for all of us!

Little boats...

Hands down my favorite thing about this camping trip were the little boats that Ava made.  I've read about bark boats in waldorf books, and countless mothering blogs.  I haven't ever told Ava about them, she came up with this all on her own.  When she showed me her collection of boats that she wanted to float I just about cried.  They are so pretty!  Oh I Love Her.

Can you believe them!?!?  I LOVE these boats.  The little flowers and mushrooms are the people on the boats.  I love that each of the three are so different.

She loaded them up and we headed to the lake for her to set them free.

 

Not to be out done Cyrus found his own boat....

I love camping.  I am so exited to see what happens next year!