Sweet Potatoes

Today was an idyllic day. How long has it been since we had one of those??? I got up early and took a shower, then woke up the kids and they got dressed and had breakfast. Our weather stick took a downward turn and sure enough it began to rain. That meant rainboots for the children, always a favorite. After we took Natalie to her school the other two and I came back home and took a walk out to the mailbox since the rain had cleared. Then we played for a while. Rebecca challenged herself with a big pile of books (she can sit look at books quietly, so content, for SUCH a long time it is amazing). Leah did pattern work with some little beads and then moved on to sorting buttons from the button box. We were playing a game from our button book over the weekend but the buttons proved so popular they have stayed out on the coffee table and the kids absolutely love playing with them! Then Leah helped me wash a bunch of sweet potatoes which we popped in the crockpot (whole, dripping wet, poke with a fork) to cook for a few hours. The girls enjoyed a bath, then lunch which was pasta and peas and yogurt. I let them watch Mister Rogers and head off to naps. This afternoon is their pizza night with their father so I will be running errands (post office, grocery shopping, and so on).

I was thinking today about why I haven't been posting lately. Part of it is that I'm just too busy. Part of it is that I feel like there's nothing to say. We are just doing our usual stuff. Books, cooking, playtime, Nature walks, art projects, housework, and so on. It is really a curriculum of inclusion. I have to wash dishes... they help. Ditto with sorting laundry and sweeping the floors. It is nice to buy kid size and/or duplicates of everything. We're stenciling Rebecca's bedroom floor. We eat together. We do projects together. We do everything together, that's just the way it goes. Feel like going outside so we do. Feel like staying inside? We do. And so on.

Some notes I have for the remainder of this week include going to the hardware store to get supplies for a plumbing fix (that should be fun, and very enlightening). The children were thrilled yesterday when we went to the mechanic to check the oil and Leah was so excited to see under the hood of the car. Then she watched me pour oil in through the funnel and she thought that was the bee's knees. I'm sure the plumbing project will be just as exciting. We are still focusing on modeling. I think next week will be sidewalk chalk if it warms up a bit. I'd like to do a field trip to Annmarie Garden as well, it has been a while since we went there. They have some nice kids art programs starting up which I want to look into. Next week is of course Groundhog Day/Candlemas so we have a nature program for that and will probably make some earth candles.

Just enjoy your kids and do your thang, that's all I have to say. I have a bunch of positive thinking mantras which I'm working on. My favorite right now is yesterday is gone forever and tomorrow will never come but today is a gift. That's why they call it The Present.