Farm Fresh Family Update

Brielle and Finnella looking for books on CD

I haven't blogged for six months! I have lots of good reasons/excuses, depending on how you look at it. But I miss it and I enjoy it and I am doing it for me, so I'm back! It's hard to let go of expectations--like how blogging has kind of turned into article writing, and I don't always (ever) have the brain space for an actual article, so I felt like I couldn't compete. But with whom am I competing? And why!?

I'm learning a lot about myself and being a better self.

The Farmer: He's busy with the farm as always. He's got more cows than ever, and more feed lot cattle too. He's putting up a lot of forage (hay, rye) for the winter and to hopefully sell. He's working on spraying now. He does his best to take children with him whenever he can and to be home for dinner, or at least bedtime. As any working parent knows, it's a challenge to be pulled in a lot of different directions, and with farming, you can't leave your woes behind at the office, it's always there. Staring you in the face. Glaring at you.

The Farm Fresh Mama: I've got my hands in a lot of different pots. I've gotten back into serving my community as a doula and love holding space for mamas so they can see their own power. It's a beautiful, celestial calling.

I have more than doubled the garden this year. I'm doing Square Food Gardening and trying something new, Straw Bale Gardening. I don't think my peas are going to make it, and will have to start over with them, but everything else looks good. I've gotten a new hobby of "planning", which is writing my to do list and decorating it, and writing down what we did in quick bullet points in a composition notebook. It's a fun segue between scrapbooking and keeping track of what I need to do on the backs of kids' drawings. Writing "water garden" in my planner helps it actually get done. Funny how that works.

Finnella on Memorial Day

I'm doing something new with the boys for school, called Easy Peasy Homeschool. The woman who put it together did a curriculum for ALL THE GRADES, of activities to do with links added. It's amazing she did this and I am so thankful. It eliminates the problem of never being able to find the book I need. It doesn't matter how organized I am, there is always a missing book! They like being able to play games and be on the computer. 

I love homeschooling and seeing their successes and the delight for learning gleam.

Aviana: This child is almost as tall as I am and it blows my mind. She weighed as much as a bag of sugar when I brought her home from the hospital and now she's looking me in my eye. IN MY EYE! She earned Memory Master again this year. I am proud of how she puts her mind to something and attains it. She's going to be a seventh grader. She plays piano and earned a spot in a special recital for students who have been given a Superior rating three years in a row at festival. She took up violin this year too and we are putting her in orchestra at the junior high. I'm feeling nervous about that, almost like sending a child off to kindergarten!

Brielle: She's as precocious and adorable as ever. She achieved Memory Master in Classical Conversations this year, as a nine year old. That is a big deal! She plans to do it the next two years and try for National Memory Master, which would put us on a cruise (and makes her my favorite)! I love how much she can do when she puts her mind to it! 

Cadrian; My sweet boy has grown so much this year! He is reading better than ever, helps me garden, and is our chief breakfast maker. He specializes in Toad in a Hole and oatmeal. He is amazingly thoughtful and kind to me (which is why he's my favorite), and absolutely likes to stir the pot when it involves his siblings. 

Denton: He is learning right along side Cadrian and often feels shuffled in the middle. He's sensitive and tough at the same time, the tough being a cover up for the sensitive. I wish people could see the sweet and sensitive easier, because it's so easy to start off going toe to toe with him. I'm so thankful I discovered what Gentle Parenting really means before he ever got spanked (because he's my favorite). It's hard enough to figure out how to help him reach his full potential with the respectful parenting tools I DO have in my arsenal. He's as bright as a brass button and full of his own ideas. 

Elivette: She is talkative and adorable and loves to say "Pwetty Pwincess Pwease". She sports dresses all the time and often a tiara. She is smart as a whip and as thoughtful as you please. She has an amazing memory and astounds me with what she comes up with. Her three year old year has been so completely different than the older girls' (probably because she's my favorite). I can't help but wonder how much my parenting shift has had to do with it. She 

Finnella (my favorite) has turned one! She has been taking some steps here and there. She loves being outside and in point of fact is sitting right next to me on the couch literally screaming at me because I am not taking her outside. I stood up with her just now and she stopped screaming. I took her outside and put her in the swing and she smiled. She knows what she wants and doggedly goes after it.She likes her swing in the tree the best, but will happily crawl around where ever we are. She doesn't like the feel of the sidewalk or grass so crawls on one knee and one foot. She waves, babbles like crazy, and lets you know her needs, but doesn't sign anything yet. 

One more thing that I wanted to mention is how vital my mama tribe has become. I have always had friends, but in the past couple of years, I have been given the gift of people who understand my heart and my very soul in a way I haven't experienced. It has helped me become more like the person I've always wanted to be.

D, F, E, B, A and C and me on a hike at Starved Rock State Park