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Starting a 5-Year Diary
This quote from Annie Dillard has always resonated with me:“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.”I’ve also been thinking a lot about how quickly my children are going to grow up. Henry just celebrated his 5th birthday. In two more of those, he will be turning 15 and getting really close to leaving the house.I also see how quickly former students grow up on Facebook. And those are other people’s children! I feel like my own life is going to blink by.So I bought a 5-year diary. I wish I would have started one many years ago. I… Read More -
Another Season of Gardening
And so the cycle of gardening begins again. We pretty much garden year-round in Central Texas! Well, actually, it is year-round here.The boys and I just pulled up the fall/winter garden. We harvested a bunch of cabbage. It was fun to watch broccoli completely flower (it attracts so many bees!). We pulled out all the lettuce, as well. We left our artichoke plants (they seem to grow all year long!) and our Brussels sprouts.Henry pulled a lot of snails out of our garden and moved them to a better spot. During the process, he noticed, “Mama! The snails are mating!” Sure enough, they were. It’s so fun to… Read More -
Enrolling My Son in Martial Arts
Henry just turned five, and up until this point, he hasn’t really been enrolled in any extracurricular activities (aside from a safety swimming class when he was a toddler). I definitely subscribe to the ideas explained within Simplicity Parenting around giving children wide-open time to play outside, create, explore, get bored, and decompress. I haven’t felt like the benefits of extracurricular activities outweigh the drawbacks at this point. We are already a stressed out family with two full-time jobs and full-time school for the boys.However, at our recent conference with Henry’s teacher, she mentioned that she thinks he would benefit from a formalized activity that helps him channel his… Read More
