The Yarn Fast - Month One.

Yup, it's true. I told my sweet husband that I was going to go a whole year without buying any new yarn but was going to knit up projects from my stash. And my husband loves me and so he holds me accountable for those careless words I spoke in my altruistic moment.  And so, I'll be posting pictures as I progress through my stash, knitting projects big and small for my littles and loved ones.

Here is my first sweater of the year that I began last Fall but put on hold for Christmas knitting.  It's the Shalom Cardigan.  I really wanted to add sleeves, but they will either have to wait a year - or I'll just have to knit a second Shalom when I break my fast (or someone sends me 2 Skeins of Cascade EcoWool). :)

This sweater turned out rather well, I think.  I may have reversed my twisted ribs (front and back) but they still stand out enough.  I followed the mods made by some on ravelry - no waist shaping and twisted ribbing on the hem.

This Moment

Joining SouleMama and her followers in this moment - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see. 

A Happy Little Space...

 

I saw it the other day, on the side of the bus shelter; "Kindergarten Registration" - it starts this week.  It was a bit of a shock to me.  Isaiah is old enough this year to register for JK and that shocked me a bit too.   Keith and I have been planning to homeschool our kids since we were engaged. During the past year or so I've been trying to do more learning activities and purposeful play with Isaiah to help prepare him and myself for his homeschooling journey. However, all structure sort of flew out of the window when we moved to Matthew House and the residents moved in.

Well, I reacted to the school situation the way I typically do when confronted with stressful and daunting tasks; momentarily panic, then begin to consider all options in case I can't pull this one off, then begin to furiously research and plan and plan and plan until I don't feel anxious anymore.  My coping mechanism for stress has always been to start to chip away at the problem - it feels active, productive, and usually gives me a better idea of how big the problem really is - which 9 times out of 10 - is not as big as I originally thought.

So, here you have it, a little spot in Matthew House that is for TotSchool with my kids. Fortunately, I've been reading a lot of terrific blogs for some time
and they have all sorts of ideas and links and resources for homeschooling preschoolers.  I'll try to post pictures of the Totbooks I'm putting together.  Most are from 1+1+1=1.  I haven't put them into the folders but put out two or three of the activities at a time.  So far Isaiah is LOVING the dinosaur activities. I think the added structure to the day will really benefit the littles even if they don't learn exactly what I think they should. I think the structure will really help me out as well since balance is still elusive in this odd little world we live in. Here is to a fresh start!

This Moment

Joining SouleMama and her followers in this moment - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see. 

Winter

We've had a quiet week at Matthew House since we returned last Monday.  The residents were still away visiting friends so we've had the place to ourselves.  We did do some bargain hunting this past weekend, looking for a used snowsuit for Isaiah.  It seems the 3-year-old has finally outgrown the size 2T suit we bought him three Winters ago.

Having the right gear for braving the cold makes enjoying the Winter months so much easier.  It takes a bit of work to convince the kids putting on all of those clothes is worth it once they get outside and still feel like it is cold.  It takes some running around, being silly, toboganning, snow-fort building, and tossing-into-powder-kind-of-play to teach them the cold is no big deal. I hope that by nurturing a love of Winter in the kids now will result in less whining, less fighting, more fresh air and bedtime sleepiness. And really, the 10 minutes it takes to get ready is small potatoes when you see how cute the kids look all bundled up.

We're also trying to teach the kids about God's gift of seasons.  That Winter has it's own smell, it's own activities, it's own rituals - like putting on the woolies.  Winter also gives us a few more things to be thankful for, like warm homes and hot chocolate.