Happy Shopping at Nova Natural

This morning I woke up and discovered that my federal tax return had been deposited into my bank account.

I was surprised and pleased... and what did I do first?

I bought toys for Zac, of course!

Susan Striker says that you should have the biggest toy budget for your child between the ages of 2 and 3, and I absolutely think she is right. (After I bought toys I went and had breakfast at Panera, so I did do something nice for myself too, but the Nova Natural order happened first.)

Here was my shopping method, carefully designed so that I could have the best possible combination of feeling like I was enjoying unrestrained shopping, but not going too totally crazy. I restricted myself to the Toys & Games pages of the Sales section, but I let myself get whatever I wanted from those 3 pages. It has been years and years since I could go through a site and just put whatever looked good in my cart, and I know the feeling will be fleeting because next I have to stop spending and put all the rest of the money into buying this house, but I sure did enjoy it while it lasted.

building blocks
on sale for $79.99

car carrier
on sale for $109.99

street roller
on sale for $49.99

child's whisk
on sale for $2.99

man farmer
on sale for $24.99

pecking brown hen
on sale for $12.99

cow
on sale for $21.99

calf
on sale for $17.99

sand tools and pail
on sale for $24.99

red + white chamber pot
not on sale ($25.00 each)
one for each bathroom

natural easter egg dyes
free with my purchase

In other news, I decided Natalie needs to see the year out in her public school. I've been reading some parenting things about stepping back and not being so controlling (or rescuing) and just calmly saying, "What is your plan?" Natalie needs to bring up her grade but they average her 1st and 2nd quarters to make a semester grade and her 3rd and 4th quarters to make a semester grade, and only those semester grades go on her permanent transcript, so they build in an opportunity for kids to recover when they slip.

I was talking to a friend and I said, "I just don't want her to ruin her chances of getting into a good college. I don't want her to make a forever mistake!" and she said, "Yes, but it's her forever mistake." And she is right. So I decided to just let it go. I can be supportive and encouraging but I can't make all of her decisions for her.

It's so funny to have a two year old and a fifteen year old. I feel like I get to see both ends of the parenting thing, when they're born and when they leave the nest, both at the same time. It's beautiful but it can also be a little disorienting.

This post contains affiliate links to the materials I actually use for homeschooling. I hope you find them helpful. Thank you for your support!