Christmas

We have entered our second, and last, week of our school break. I cannot even tell you how tempted I am to take a month-long break from school. Alas, we are planning to get back to work next Monday...or Tuesday...we'll see. Without the pressure of school work, Isabella and I have regained some of the fun in our relationship that I'd lamented had been sucked dry and lost in an abyss. To be completely honest, I like her more. And she probably likes me more, too. And yes, this whole thing has made me think about just dropping her off at the local elementary school next week, but I'm not going to because I am committed to what I feel is the best education for her and the schedule that is best for our family as a whole. Homeschooling is not really just about the child receiving the education, in our house it is about our whole family--if that makes sense...sorry, I don't feel like explaining right now. I'm kind of in an anti-writing phase. 

(Just do me a favor and ignore the fact that every black and white process looks different.)

Christmas this year was wonderful, and relaxing, and full of joy as we watched Isaac move through each day and what would normally be a challenging group situation, with confidence. There was rarely a melt-down, and aside from his usual afternoon nap, we never had to leave a family gathering just because of his sensory overload. This was a tremendous change from previous years where I would end up at home, alone with Isaac who could not longer handle a social activity.

Isaac and Isabella had a blast playing with their cousins.

Praying before opening gifts Christmas morning...

So, just a heads up, you know you've been watching too much Nikita when, as your daughter is shooting the wall with a Nerf gun you say, "Isabella, make sure you keep your eyes open so you can see your target. You can't shoot with your eyes closed." Personally, I think that's good advice, but my family did make fun of me for several minutes after making that comment.

If you happen to need a new bracelet, tell Isabella, she'll whip one up right away. Personally, I'm attempting (faux) Rainbow Loom greatness and am trying to make the Starburst bracelet. I failed the first time which made Isabella cry, "You mean you didn't do it right? You messed up?" Yo chica, I have never claimed bracelet making perfection. I'll get it next time.

We had a lovely adults-only dinner with my family (thanks to my mother-in-law for watching the kids!). I already miss my sister so much. Thank goodness for Isaac's iPad and the chance to facetime.

New Year's Resolutions...I'm not really a fan, but we came up with a couple. Walter's resolution is to exercise less. This may prove challenging, actually. I think he would have to commit to taking fewer steps each day to make this an achievable goal. My resolution is to floss more, though I really wouldn't mind following Walter's lead and choose to floss less, instead.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Sierra

A Day in the Life

These pictures are from several days but collectively, they are good representation of our day to day life.  

Last Monday Stella spent the day at the vet's office throwing up a very large quantity of dark chocolate that she stole from my birthday gift bags. She has not learned her lesson and continues to take any opportunity to pilfer food. I quickly forgave her because she is my favorite since she doesn't complain, ask me for food, goes to bed when I tell her to go to bed and as an added bonus, can pee and poop on her own. As you can see, she also guards Candy Land so I can have a break from playing the stupid game.

Oh my. This picture of Isabella is nothing special. In fact, I don't even think it's in focus, but I came across it while editing and shed many tears because she is growing so quickly and at the oddest moments her growth and maturity catch me off guard. She also rarely looks at the camera without making a weird face.

"Ma ma, I'm going to learn a lot about birds and then everyone can call me a birder."

Our front yard has the perfect sledding hill for Isaac.

Chicken meeting. They are discussing the tastiness of these weeds.

The moment I knew that in six years of attachment parenting, I'd done something right...

Forced Coloring

Most days, I am bewildered by Isabella. I can't really figure her out in terms of what motivates her and what she enjoys aside from playing. If a kid could win a "Best at Independent and Creative Play Award" she would have that one in the bag. I sign her up for various activities mainly because they sound fun, and also because she's not attending a school where they churn out perfectly socialized children (if you don't know me, please note the sarcasm). After all, I don't want my kid to be the weird one. So, I signed her up for a ten week art enrichment class provided by the art education students at Kent State University. Every week she'd walk out of class appearing a bit too underwhelmed for all of the effort I put into driving her there and back, so we talked about the class and whether she liked it or not. She said, "I just don't like people forcing me to color." It must be rough being six.

Even though those mean college students forced her to color, she was thrilled to show off her art work to her grandparents.

In case you can't tell, this mask is Walter, laughing.

The art show was a little too much for Isaac to handle. After we got home it took him an hour to recover from this "deer in headlights" expression.