Adventures in Year 2

Well, we did it.  We survived another year homeschooling.  I must say that this year I learned more about myself then I did last year.   I became more confident about our decision to homeschool and I became better at articulating why we made the choice.  For the first time I was challenged by others to defend our choices and I think in the end, those people were better able to understand and respect those choices.  Education is not one size fits all.  Goodness, clothing is not one size fits all so why do we expect other things to be that universal!  At the end of the day my goal is like every other mother's or father's...to make sure the children are alive. 

I think I have figured out, at least for now, the kind of planning that keeps me just far enough ahead of the lessons we are actually doing, but not so far that I have to redo it all because I was too ambitious.  I think I have learned what works for us scheduling wise and what is realistic to accomplish in a day.  Most of all,  I am beginning to move away from the thought process that our one room school house must imitate a classroom.  I am becoming more comfortable with recognizing that our real world learning is just that...learning....the extra things we do, trips to the zoo, parades, the grocery store, the farmers market, the museum, the lake, the bait shop, trips to visit friends and family, the places where my children flood the clerks with questions, those are places we are learning too.  It's all part of our homeschool education, and I am finally not worried about it looking like a nice neat little package wrapped in a bow with perfect curly ribbons and just taking it as it comes. 

Learning is messy.  Life is messy.  Both are chaotic.

I hope you enjoy our look back over our last year!

We started the school year with a State Fair Blue Ribbon!

This kid really thrives with hands on type lessons.  The rhyming word puzzles were a big hit!

This one LOVES playing with the light board while his brother and sister are doing other lessons!

A little bunk bed reading.

You know...because who doesn't just let the 5 year old and 2 year old lose with paints :)

Our Co-Op field day!

Our EPIC bike trail ride!

We adopted a dog. 

Do not be fooled by the cool pictures of lessons...this is what most days teaching looks like!

One day he is going to make lots of money as an artist....

School day at the lake!

Co-Op Art Show

Often times the 2 year old provides that extra bit of "help" the first grader needs....

Adventures in Noonday

Let's start at the very beginning.  A very good place to start....(points if you know the movie reference here!!)

Almost 20 years ago I went on a short term mission trip (and yes, I know there are lots of opinions on whether these are good or bad.  We can save that discussion for later!) to Honduras.  We spent a week thatching, pouring cement, repairing, feeding and teaching with the local people in a remote village.  Our last night we stayed in the capital city of Tegucigalpa and visited the local market where I purchased a beautiful handmade clutch from a local artisan.  Of course, now that I am writing a blog about it, the bag is no where to be seen, even though I used it last month for a formal event!!!!   I think that this is where I had my first taste of buying an item that was beautiful, handmade and where my purchase meant something to the creator.  Selling bags on the street is how she made her living, and my souvenir was helping her put food on her table.  For this small town South Georgia girl that trip, most certainly, changed my world view.

Let's fast forward several years.  I still love purchasing local, handmade items.  One of my nearest and dearest friends owns her own jewelry business which you should totally check out if you haven't already from my Facebook posts.  I have several friends, including my sister in law who have Etsy stores where they sell hand made, one of a kind items and I too dabbled in the world of sewing and selling clothing for children.  This is my personal style.  I like knowing the back story to my purchases!

Three years ago I was introduced to Noonday Collection.  I was hooked.  I became enamored with the mission and the stories.  I loved that a company had organically created a marketplace that connected artisans like the one I had met in Honduras to those in the United States who desired to use their purchasing power for good.  And not to mention the accessories are just so cute! 

As a Mama to little ones, I often talk about how we can make a difference in our world. Whether it is by picking up trash on a neighborhood walk or sponsoring a child in a distant country, I want them to know and understand that big or small we can all do something.  This year I decided that I was going to partner with Noonday and become an ambassador.   I want to share with friends and family the stories of the Noonday Artisans, so that they too can learn about and be part of something big. When we combine forces together, we are helping to create and maintain dignified jobs around the world in a powerful way to alleviate poverty. Noonday is a fair trade company that uses design to create economic opportunity around the world.

I'm super excited about this.  I'm not a sales person, but I am a natural story teller. I come from a long line of story tellers.  I admit we don't always use our story telling ability to tell true stories, hey some stories just need a little bit of exaggeration to make them more interesting or at least that is what my Papa has told me.  I do promise that the Noonday stories I tell are 100% truth ;) I want to introduce you to these Artisans and tell you the how and they why, they created the necklace that I love.  I want you to wear a piece and be able to answer questions about it when you are out and about!  I want you to love your new bag, not only because it is super cute, but because it was made with love and hand woven by women in Peru.  Everything in the collections that you see have been handmade by extremely talented artisans around the world, often using natural materials, and preserving techniques and traditions that are native to their area.

I am also not a fashionesta by any stretch of the imagination.  I would say my style could be categorize by the words "Southern Comfort," although as the baby gets older and I am shuttling kids from place to place I have found that my jeans and t-shirt can instantly be dressed up with a cute necklace and bracelet combo or a fantastic pair of sparkly earrings!  When I add just a little flair, all of a sudden I feel a little more put together :)

My most favorite pieces come from Uganda where they hand craft paper beads.  These items come from the Studio of Jalia and Daniel. 

This is one of my most favorite pieces from Uganda, the Latifa Necklace. Those are turquoise  beads and the whole necklace is super light, so it doesn't really feel like you are wearing a statement piece! 

The Sunny Day Necklace is another favorite!  I LOVE the size and shape of the beads.  Every single time I wear this piece some random person stops me and comments on how beautiful it is.  I even had an older lady at a checkout in Aldi tell me she had gone to a truck show and seen this in the catalogue, but didn't realize how beautiful it would be in person!






Another favorite of mine are wrap bracelets! They fit multiple size wrists...no kidding, it is really a one size fits all that works!  The Sofyia Wrap and the Silver Steps Wrap Bracelet are both made {with love} in India!

I am having a Mystery Hostess trunk show to launch into my journey as a Noonday Ambassador.  You can order online or in person.  I encourage you to join my Facebook event. (side note...the event is a Friends only FB event, so if you want to join let me know and I will be happy to add you and you can add friends if they want to be added.  It creeps me out to have public FB events where people can search my address!!) I will be posting Artisan stories and videos, along with giving away some product credit and half off items.  Anyone can host a trunk show: It's simple and fun.  Hosting a show means opening up your home and gathering your friends for style and storytelling.  Hostesses earn free jewelry and accessories and can even help adoptive families bring home their adopted children.  If you have any questions about becoming a Noonday Ambassador or hosting a trunk show please don't hesitate to ask!  I'm willing to travel to give you a chance to see the items in person or to put you in touch with an Ambassador near you!  Unfortunately, at this time we cannot host online trunk shows, but you are always welcome to order at any time from my website. 

I know, I know......you are thinking to yourself what is the girl doing adding another thing to her life!  She is a little bit crazy!  And I am, I fully acknowledge that assessment! But seriously, I love Noonday and I love that I am DOING something for myself, my family and helping to support those in other countries.  Besides, my life would be nothing if it was chaotic.   I seem to thrive in this craziness.

Adventures in Noonday

Let's start at the very beginning.  A very good place to start....(points if you know the movie reference here!!)

Almost 20 years ago I went on a short term mission trip (and yes, I know there are lots of opinions on whether these are good or bad.  We can save that discussion for later!) to Honduras.  We spent a week thatching, pouring cement, repairing, feeding and teaching with the local people in a remote village.  Our last night we stayed in the capital city of Tegucigalpa and visited the local market where I purchased a beautiful handmade clutch from a local artisan.  Of course, now that I am writing a blog about it, the bag is no where to be seen, even though I used it last month for a formal event!!!!   I think that this is where I had my first taste of buying an item that was beautiful, handmade and where my purchase meant something to the creator.  Selling bags on the street is how she made her living, and my souvenir was helping her put food on her table.  For this small town South Georgia girl that trip, most certainly, changed my world view.

Let's fast forward several years.  I still love purchasing local, handmade items.  One of my nearest and dearest friends owns her own jewelry business which you should totally check out if you haven't already from my Facebook posts.  I have several friends, including my sister in law who have Etsy stores where they sell hand made, one of a kind items and I too dabbled in the world of sewing and selling clothing for children.  This is my personal style.  I like knowing the back story to my purchases!

Three years ago I was introduced to Noonday Collection.  I was hooked.  I became enamored with the mission and the stories.  I loved that a company had organically created a marketplace that connected artisans like the one I had met in Honduras to those in the United States who desired to use their purchasing power for good.  And not to mention the accessories are just so cute! 

As a Mama to little ones, I often talk about how we can make a difference in our world. Whether it is by picking up trash on a neighborhood walk or sponsoring a child in a distant country, I want them to know and understand that big or small we can all do something.  This year I decided that I was going to partner with Noonday and become an ambassador.   I want to share with friends and family the stories of the Noonday Artisans, so that they too can learn about and be part of something big. When we combine forces together, we are helping to create and maintain dignified jobs around the world in a powerful way to alleviate poverty. Noonday is a fair trade company that uses design to create economic opportunity around the world.

I'm super excited about this.  I'm not a sales person, but I am a natural story teller. I come from a long line of story tellers.  I admit we don't always use our story telling ability to tell true stories, hey some stories just need a little bit of exaggeration to make them more interesting or at least that is what my Papa has told me.  I do promise that the Noonday stories I tell are 100% truth ;) I want to introduce you to these Artisans and tell you the how and they why, they created the necklace that I love.  I want you to wear a piece and be able to answer questions about it when you are out and about!  I want you to love your new bag, not only because it is super cute, but because it was made with love and hand woven by women in Peru.  Everything in the collections that you see have been handmade by extremely talented artisans around the world, often using natural materials, and preserving techniques and traditions that are native to their area.

I am also not a fashionesta by any stretch of the imagination.  I would say my style could be categorize by the words "Southern Comfort," although as the baby gets older and I am shuttling kids from place to place I have found that my jeans and t-shirt can instantly be dressed up with a cute necklace and bracelet combo or a fantastic pair of sparkly earrings!  When I add just a little flair, all of a sudden I feel a little more put together :)

My most favorite pieces come from Uganda where they hand craft paper beads.  These items come from the Studio of Jalia and Daniel. 

This is one of my most favorite pieces from Uganda, the Latifa Necklace. Those are turquoise  beads and the whole necklace is super light, so it doesn't really feel like you are wearing a statement piece! 

The Sunny Day Necklace is another favorite!  I LOVE the size and shape of the beads.  Every single time I wear this piece some random person stops me and comments on how beautiful it is.  I even had an older lady at a checkout in Aldi tell me she had gone to a truck show and seen this in the catalogue, but didn't realize how beautiful it would be in person!






Another favorite of mine are wrap bracelets! They fit multiple size wrists...no kidding, it is really a one size fits all that works!  The Sofyia Wrap and the Silver Steps Wrap Bracelet are both made {with love} in India!

I am having a Mystery Hostess trunk show to launch into my journey as a Noonday Ambassador.  You can order online or in person.  I encourage you to join my Facebook event. (side note...the event is a Friends only FB event, so if you want to join let me know and I will be happy to add you and you can add friends if they want to be added.  It creeps me out to have public FB events where people can search my address!!) I will be posting Artisan stories and videos, along with giving away some product credit and half off items.  Anyone can host a trunk show: It's simple and fun.  Hosting a show means opening up your home and gathering your friends for style and storytelling.  Hostesses earn free jewelry and accessories and can even help adoptive families bring home their adopted children.  If you have any questions about becoming a Noonday Ambassador or hosting a trunk show please don't hesitate to ask!  I'm willing to travel to give you a chance to see the items in person or to put you in touch with an Ambassador near you!  Unfortunately, at this time we cannot host online trunk shows, but you are always welcome to order at any time from my website. 

I know, I know......you are thinking to yourself what is the girl doing adding another thing to her life!  She is a little bit crazy!  And I am, I fully acknowledge that assessment! But seriously, I love Noonday and I love that I am DOING something for myself, my family and helping to support those in other countries.  Besides, my life would be not nearly as fun if it wasn't chaotic.   I seem to thrive in this craziness.

Adventures in Trail Riding

For the last couple of weeks, I have been building up a bike ride the kids and I were planning to take.  The weather is now consistently warm and the canal path has finally opened up after the floods and we had decided this was the week to go!  So, yesterday the kids and I got through school work quickly and set off the get the bikes ready.  We filled the tires, adjusted helmets and tightened training wheels.  I had put our bike trailer in the consignment sale this week and bought a toddler bike seat and attempted to put that on my bike.  The goal was to be on the trail by 10am.  At 11, I realized I most likely needed a new part for the seat and we needed a helmet for the littlest so we went to the store that has it all....Wally World.  They didn't have what I needed, but we left with a bunch of stuff anyway.  We then went to the bike shop by the house and they asked me to bring in the bike and seat and they would fix it right up.  By now it is noon.

At 1:30, after nap time we loaded up everyone with promises of glorious bike riding and headed to the bike shop where we all learned my bike won't accept a bike seat.  We tried several.  Something about the back breaks being in an odd place.  If I did find one that fit, Edwin, since he weighs so much, would make the bike off balance.  Well, at least it was a cheap second hand! We ran home and got the Bob and took off my bike and headed back out, talking and laughing about how much fun we were going to have.  When we pull up we see Police barricades at the canal, which is not open no matter what I had read in the paper.

But this Mama said, "No worries!!  We passed Harbinson Forrest and they have off road bike trails, won't that be super fun!!"  Cheers of "YES!!" and "You are awesome!"  Came from the back and off we went.  Okay, maybe not those exact phrases, but they were excited!  At 2:05pm we were stepping off/riding onto  the trail.  In the parking lot I had checked the map quickly and saw a trail called Firebreak Trail that made a loop which started and ended at the parking lot, and was 1.5 miles.  Perfect for us!!

Almost as soon as we started, I realized this was going to be a challenge for my training wheels little lady, but it was only 1.5 miles and surely the graveling part of the trail was going to open up to packed dirt and pine straw.  In fact, we went over several wooden bridges, so I wasn't too worried!  She fought through and I pushed and after about 30 minutes I was pretty sure we were "almost done."

Super cute wooden bridge
 

At hour 2, her bike chain got hung up on a rock and came off.  An easy fix, if we weren't in the middle of the woods.  I put the bike on top of the stroller and we trucked on.  She and I even ran together for a bit because she was so much faster off the bike vs on the bike and her brother had taken off down some crazy hills!  And you know what, "we were almost done," anyway so it wasn't too bad. 

There were some pretty crazy roots during hour 2.

At hour 3, we stopped for snacks.  I wouldn't say the trail was packed, but about every 15-20 min we would see either runners, dog walkers or other bikers.  It was fun.  Everyone always commented on how good we were doing.  I will say, that by hour three I was beginning to wonder if we had taken a wrong turn, but every sign said we were on the right track!  Our snack conversation went something like this....

Daughter:  "I'm a fancy lady, Mom.  I'm really into things like gymnastics and dance and art."
Me: "Oh yeah, I like those things too."
Daughter: "I'm just not really cut out for this.  Biking and running and doing races just aren't my thing"
Me: "I like races and biking."
Daughter: "Yeah, well, you are just really not a fancy lady."

I had to turn my head because she was so serious and I was about to lose it.  This is the girl who had just "popped a squat," yet, she was the fancy one ;)

Our snack break

It was time to move on.  I was super glad I had given the kids water to carry on their backs and had packed enough snacks to keep them fed and energy up.  It was 5:00pm by that time.  Surely, we were almost done.  20 minutes later, we had to cross a stream.  This was when I almost lost my cool.  What kind of trail had we gone on?  This was definitely not an easy, 1.5 mile trek.  I was starting to really wonder if we were almost done.  The girl child started declaring that she was quitting.  I told her Harlows don't quit and she said they can decide to never do something again.  I will admit I was getting scared she was going to require carrying and that kind of terrified me.  I wanted to quit too.


This is how the broken bike got back to the car...you know the last 2 hours of our trip!

At 6:15pm, the trail opened up into a clearing and my children ran to the car and started hugging it like they had been in the woods for 4 weeks, not 4 hours.  I admit I was pretty happy as well.  As we were leaving there was a box that held trail maps.  This is where I learned we had actually completed 4.4 miles on a Moderate trail.  The Firebreak trail also interconnects the ENTIRE trail system, which is why it is so long. 

I am pretty sure that we made memories yesterday.  My children are fantastic at remembering the awesome times where Mommy got them lost, made them walk 10 miles up hill both ways, or took them on an adventure that didn't quit pan out the way she said it would.  But it's okay.  At least they know I'm not perfect.  And at least they knew they were safe.  I'm pretty sure the oldest will always be double checking the trail length and difficulty from now on.  It may be a bit before I can convince the fancy lady to go with us again, but she sure did make it fun!  I think we all embraced the chaos and that in and of itself is an important lesson to learn.  Next time however, we will be taking the .7 mile, hard packed dirt and pine straw, Discovery trail.

My finger got a little in the way, but for the hardest parts they worked together to get his bike over the gravel and large roots!

Adventures in being Okay

**Edited to add.  I am using my point of view as a Mother.  It is not meant to say that Fathers do not have the same struggles, but I'm not one so it would be wrong of me to act as though I totally get it from a Father's point of view!  But Dads I do think you need to hear that it is okay as well.  :)

Lately my thoughts have centered around doing enough.  I think we all struggle with doing what is just right without succumbing to the thoughts that because we are not doing it all or we are not doing it like our neighbor we are doing this parenting thing wrong. 

I think we also hesitate to be real.  I don't necessarily think this is comes from a desire to hide our true selves, but more from a place where telling about the hard parts of life makes us feel guilty because our hard is not as hard as our neighbors hard.  I think sometimes the church does a bad job of making women, especially young mothers feel as though a crazy day with littles should only be viewed as a blessing and not as a hard day, because "they grow up so fast."  Or that a teenager who comes home from school with an ugly heart moment, could be much, much worse..".at least they are coming home."  And while both of those thoughts are true and it could be worse, all that Mama wants is for you to acknowledge that it was a hard moment, give her a hug and tell her it is okay.  Not that it could be worse or that she should be thankful for her blessings. Because seriously, life is just hard sometimes!

So, if you were sitting in my kitchen sharing a cup of coffee in the wee hours of the day or on my porch as the sun goes down while our children draw chalk pictures in the drive way, this is what I would say....

Dear Mamas,

It's okay.  No, really it IS okay.  It's okay that you stayed in your warm bed another 10 minutes while the baby let you know she was awake.  It's okay that you caved and gave your children string cheese for breakfast.  It's protein, right!?!  It's okay that your floors haven't been swept in several days and the laundry hasn't made it farther then the couch.  It's okay that you just realized your children are enjoying marshmallows that they found in the couch cushions!

It's okay that you took a 10 minute time out in the bathroom with your stash of good chocolate...or stood in the garage and ate a spoonful of cookie dough.  It's okay that you dreamed about a sunny beach vacation while your 5 year old read 2 pages in 20 minutes.  It's okay that you took out a pair of pants from the dirty clothes for the 8 year old to wear to school.  It's okay that you forgot today was picture day.  It's okay that you ate your lunch in 5 minutes so that you wouldn't have to share.  It's okay that you have worn the same pair of yoga pants three days in a row.  I mean you changed underwear each day.....or at least you think you did!

It's okay that no one really got dressed today.  It's okay that your school day consisted of learning how to do chores, badly.  It's okay that you fell asleep during naptime and the to do list didn't get done or that naptime really just consisted of watching the same movie with your pre-schooler for the 10th time in 4 days.  On that note, it's okay that screen time was most of the time.  It's okay that you can't remember the last time you washed your baby's hair.  It's okay that you forgot that soccer practice was at 5:00 and it's now 6:00. It's okay that you are serving pizza for dinner.  Again.   It's okay that you skipped bath time tonight......and bedtime stories.  It's okay that bedtime is when it gets dark, even when that is 6:00pm, and it's okay to be sad that it gets dark at 9:00pm in July.

All of these things are okay, because you are a good Mama and you love your babies something fierce.  Just because you have had a hard day or a hard few weeks doesn't mean you don't appreciate all that you have been given, it just means that life can be crazy hard. 

Because even in the midst of all chaos, I want you to know that it's all okay!

Much Love,
A Mama who needs to remind herself often that it's okay.