A Break, if You Will

We’re taking a break from blogging around here. We’ve had some pretty devastating family news and well… we’re spending every day making the most of every moment. While its too private to share, positive thoughts and energy would be greatly appreciated if you feel so inclined. Enjoy the summer sunshine, the early morning dew on the grass, but most of all go hug your family tight. 

In Peace,

Sheri

A Day for Detergent

Things are in full swing this week.

Ronito is at soccer summer camp. Miss.

Rhiannon is busting a move.

Me? Well apparently, I am on the edge of printing out the most expensive set of snap shots ever in the name of artful negotiations. This is my one last power move, cute snapshots of children. If it doesn’t work, my head may explode. Okay not really, but my hair may start falling out en masse a la clump style.  

One of the many things on the list is to make laundry detergent today. Yup, make it is indeed what I said. Saves a ton on packaging materials and you can tweak it (add essential oils, a touch of this, a hint of that…)  just about anyway you want it. 

1/2 Bar Fels Naptha (grated)

1 Cup of Borax Powder

1 Cup of Washing Soda (Not Baking Soda!)

Mix together and place in lidded container. I use an old coffee scoop to measure and use probably about 1 TBS. for regular loads. This recipe makes close to 30 loads. Go ahead and give it a try. It makes you feel all crunchy and eco geeko.

Consonant Confusion

Ronin went from being a non reader to reader very quickly. He has by all means, entrenched himself in comic books, the Magic Tree House series, and Junie B. Jones ever since.  Oh the life of the young excited reader!  It is such a pleasure to watch as they work through words and discover new adventures at every page flip.

I noticed sometime last week that he didn’t know the difference between consonants and vowels. (We should watch more Price is Right, that would fix everything.) So we pulled out our letter cards and carefully seperated them into two categories (consonants and vowels) played with them, spelled words, and made up songs to remember. We had a jolly good time being silly and giggling away.

As we were putting the letter cards away in their respective zippies I asked if he could hand me one of the bags.

“Yup mom, here are the continents!”

He looked at me and kind of cocked his head to the side. I could see him mentally thumbing through the words in his head.

I smiled and he giggled.

“I mean the consonants mom, not continents. It’s not like I’m giving you Asia or something. “

The Center of My Circle

 

Kuilima Cove, Hawaii

The master sees things as they are

Without trying to control them.

She lets them go their own way

And resides at the center of the circle.

Lao Tzu

Sundays, how I love them. Everything about them I look forward to. From my long run in solitude to the first cup of coffee, to the sunny afternoons that are usually spent as a family doing something fun. (Today snorkeling at Kuilima Cove and Mexican food, yummy!) Best of all is the time for reflection. It’s been a long week, but a good week. Busy, but full of newness and promise. I am slowly, painstakingly slowly accepting the absolute flexibility that this new lifestyle requires and sometimes downright demands. (I don’t recall it being so hard the last time round when Mike was in the Air Force, but sleep deprivation and lack of ability to shower without a child in tow could be making it hazy.) I had a girlfriend back in Virginia who always said that, “If you know and love a military spouse buy them alcohol.” I used to laugh. I don’t find it so funny anymore.

Not because I have an exceedingly huge need to buy alcohol. (Although there are somedays that the pineapple wine at the mini mart looks pretty good.)  But because it strikes a bit of a tender spot. We (as military spouses) have two choices as our spouses enter and exit our lives on a dime. We can either A) Make our significant others exceedingly miserable by complaining and making them feel bad that they have to go away. Or B) We can suck it up and accept it for what it is and enjoy them when they are around. 

For the most part I pick B. Though there are about three days out of the month that I pick A, I’ll admit it. I’ve thought a lot about Lao Tzu this week. A lot about this quote in particular and applied it to this whole “accepting” process. Nope, I am by no means going to confess that I am a new Zen master. Quite the contrary, not even one tenth of my pinkie finger. But I am, as Lao puts it, at the center of my circle seeing things (hopefully) as they are. Noting them, and then letting them pass by. I have noticed this week that no matter what the day brings, if I start the day out in quiet contemplation my whole outlook changes. If we start our school day out with a Dharma reading or mandala coloring, and a three minute meditation together, the day goes so much better. So here’s to another week of motherhood, of being the perpetual student, the military wife, and the all around fix it and make it better lady. I hope that you had a lovely Sunday.  

 

 

 

Field Trip Friday

At the beginning of the week I asked the kiddos to set some goals. What do you want to do this week? What things do you want to learn about and how are you going to get there? Turns out that with the help of a quick family planning session in the morning and using Sunbird I can usually fit most of the things that everyone wants to do.If not, we tweak, we talk, and then as a last resort roll it to the next day.  (As well as get my studying in too! I am loving the Cultural Anthropology class by the way.)  

The reward for our planning and teamwork? Field Trip Friday! Madame and Monsieur were pretty united on this one. There is a pool on base that they have had their eyes on since we got here two months ago. So Friday morning we packed up Brutus the Beast and off we went. Boy, was it worth it!

There was a Bouncy Castle good for giggles and jumping around like kangaroos!

A humungous slide that emptied into a 12 foot pool. (Rhiannon enjoyed this one on her own. ) 

A high dive great for cannon balls, pike jumps, and conquering your fear of heights!

Yummy packed lunches, oodles of sunscreen, and ice cream perfect for eating and cooling off with.

And the climbing wall, oh the climbing wall. Many a minutes were spent eagerly waiting in line, stretching reaching, and moving to the top and then crashing into the water below. 

It was a great day indeed!

Thankful Anyway Thursday

Thankful Anyway Thursday

It’s easy to be thankful for the good stuff, can you be thankful for the not so good?
(as serious or light-hearted as you like)

Hello, my name is Sheri and I am the official plant killer of avenue “x”. It would appear that my Virginia green thumb has slowly blackened the closer that we get to the equator. Several weeks ago Ronin wanted to plant sunflowers. Me being the groovy homeschooling parent that I am jumped on this. We built a raised bed (because the soil in the backyard is rock and more rock). We hammered, we hinged, we poured bags and bags of soil and top soil and then off we went to buy seeds and plants. Sunflower seeds, moon flowers, watermelon, tomatoes. You name it we bought it. Not to mention, plants to place around the house. Red begonias, hibiscus, salvia, all went into the car with much anticipation of how beautiful they would be once they were planted. Anticipation… what a lovely lovely thing.

Until every single thing dies for no apparent reason. When I say everything, I mean out of forty plants I have four left. (Three of them in the same pot.)  Plants shriek when I walk by and trees shudder at my presence. The hell is that about? Is this blackening due to the vog and volcanic rock? Is there some kind of cat spraying and eating away at things? The simple answer is, I don’t know. I simply do not know…

But, despite all of the massive death and pillaging around me I’m thankful anyway. 

I’m thankful anyway because my red hibiscus, a survivor,  continues to bloom and this always makes me smile. 

I’m thankful anyway because even as I watched everything die, I still was seeking organic methods and didn’t reach for the pesticides. I still remained firm in my intention to honor the earth, even when it was tempting not to. 

I’m thankful anyway because it gives me time to return to methods that I used before. Planting with the moon phases and watching the tides. Finding new ways to work with nature and not against. 

And finally, I’m thankful that my children could see that not everything that adults do turn out as planned. Sometimes even with the greatest effort and the best intention, the answer is still no.

Busy as Bees Beginning

The last ten days have flown by. I have to chuckle when I think back about a month and genuinely worried that the kiddos might get bored. It seems that we are constantly finding ourself at the beginning of something. A jumping off point if you will. Whether its new or slightly scary or overwhelming or tantalizingly fun, there we are, eager to begin. 

Ronin found the most perfect of perfect Tae Kwan Do Class. It fit my rather lengthy list of criteria (believe me I had a big one) and its within walking distance of the house. Bonus!  Aside from building confidence and self control, I feel like its giving him a huge self esteem boost. My favorite line of the week involved Ronin running away from his sister through the house screaming “I will not hit you back. I will not dishonor my oath of TAE KWAN DOOOOOOOOO!” Fabulous!

Madame Rhiannon started a hip hop class. She totally wanted to and yet when faced with walking into the actual class, well… that took a bit of pep talking. She totally stepped outside her comfort zone and jumped into a class where she was popping and locking with teenagers and adults before the end of the hour. Converse have been added to “items to be picked up this week”. If I can get her to bust a move, I’ll be sure to post it.

Rainbow Marina

Rhiannon also found herself taking her first round of sailing lessons, twice a week for two hours a piece. ($10 a month through MWR, can’t beat that!)  She started on Monday and was pretty stoked when she climbed in the car. Earlier this year she read Carry on Mr. Bowditch, and it just so happened that she remembered quite a bit of it. She floored the instructor with all her navigational terminology. (That’s my girl!) I was a bit worried for today because today they did capsize recovery where they purposely, yup you guessed it, capsized the boat and then recovered it using their own strength. I knew she could do it, but was worried that she would somehow psyche herself out with her nerves. However, when I pulled up just a couple of minutes early I found this …

 

My baby girl, bringing in the sail boat!

She volunteered to help take care of the sail boat. Turns out, she sailed it to the docks. No one else had that chance today. The sailing high didn’t wear off for hours. 

What a great week indeed. Oh, and then there’s me. Kai is beginning to be house trained and the two of us are slowly coming to an understanding. It goes along the lines of, I clean and mop the floor in the kitchen and he poops on it. I’m beginning to question my own sanity. Oh yes, and one final beginning. I went ahead and signed up for a class, Cultural Anthropology. It began last week and is so much fun. I’m such a book nerd, highlighters and notecards make me giddy.

Mr. Livingstone I Presume?

History is not one of those subjects that I enjoyed studying as a child and I think I may have passed this on to my kids. Drat! However, as I was flipping through all 54 of the new messages in my inbox. (Yeah, I don’t check email a lot.) A message from the History channel popped up. I’m not sure what came over me, maybe I hit the wrong button. (That’s the only thing that makes any kind of sense.)  Whatever the case, I opened it and started reading and I’ll be darned if I wasn’t actually interested.

Expedition Africa is a reality based TV show where 4 explorers retrace the steps of Sir Henry Morton Stanley’s journey to find famed explorer David Livingstone in Tanzania. Technology be damned because they are only armed with a compass and a pretty basic looking map. We pulled out pillows and blankets and hunkered down to watch what would unfold. We were surprised that the History channel felt the need to have the Navigator explain what a compass is and what it does. Does the majority of the population not really know about magnetic north and degrees? I suppose not. 

We absolutely loved the Wildlife Expert! I know that Rhiannon identified with her love for nature and animals. The spitting cobras made the top of Ronin’s “coolest thing to see on TV but don’t want to see in real life” list. While the Maasai Warriors were my favorite throughout. They were so regal looking no matter what the situation. I loved the fact that they were so relaxed about fighting lions and wildlife. To be so calm…

I highly recommend the show and we give it two thumbs up here at Chez Homeschool. It’s a great launching point to talk about cultural differences, geography, history, and even orienteering. Oh and if you’re historically impaired just like me, the History channel even made up an Educator’s guide so that we can cheat our way through.

ASL – Rhiannon Style

Madame is having fun studying ASL. She often finishes a lesson and then gives us her favorite Top 5 favorites signs of the day. (Most of the favorites usually mimic some kind of booger picking act. It would appear that bogie humor does not disappear with the onset of preteen-ism.)  

 

And to be fair, because Grandmas and Grandpas read this too, here’s the Roninator hard at work practicing Jedi moves.

From the Archives

When we were staying in the hotel sans toys, Mr. Ronin got a bit creative. All photos and sculptures are Ronin originals created and photographed by him alone.

Y Bomber from Star Wars

My Mommy

Leaning Tower of Fruitsa

Water Powered R2D2

Melon and Pals

 

Thus proving that kiddos can find something creative to do with almost anything.