Rhythm In Our Home: Morning

Our morning begins very much like how our bedtime began, with all the kids snuggling in our bed. Our kids tend to wake up pretty early no matter what time they went to bed the night before (which is why we have an early bedtime!). Usually, they are all awake by 7:00. Most mornings, they climb into bed with us to finish waking up and transitioning from that sleepy state of mind.

Morning is come,

Night is away,

We rise with the sun

to welcome the day.

Wynstones

After several minutes of snuggle time, the boys tend to run off to play while MaKenna and I head downstairs to the kitchen. She is the only one of my children who now requests breakfast as soon as she wakes (probably because she doesn't really eat dinner!). She is at that picky toddler eating stage and really will tend to want the same breakfast for weeks before deciding she doesn't want it anymore. Right now, its O cereal!
While she is eating, I tend to do some quick chores like opening the blinds to let in the sun and letting the dogs out for the morning. Then I prepare breakfast for all of us. Sometimes I have a helper (almost always MaKenna) and it takes a little bit longer, but that is okay. We then all sit down to eat breakfast together. By this time, it is around 8:00. We light our meal candle and say our morning blessing.

Thank you, Thank you Mother Earth

Thank you for this meal.

After breakfast has been eaten, the boys wash their dishes and we move onto chores. This consists of putting dishes away that had been washed in the dishwasher, making beds, brushing teeth and getting dressed.

After chores, the kids are free to play (inside or out) until mid morning when they are generally hungry for a snack. This is also the time we would run any errands if we needed to such as go food shopping or to the library. While the kids are playing, I am usually doing some housework that isn't a part of our weekly rhythm. As of late, it has been decluttering and preparing the house for our upcoming school year. After a morning snack, we are all outside until lunch!

I should note that this is our summer morning rhythm. This will change up a bit in a few weeks when we start our school year!

Rhythm In Our Home: Bedtime

I am joining Nicole in posting a weekly glimpse of the rhythms in our home. I decided to start with bedtime as that really is when their day begins. Odd as that may sound, sleep is so important in the development of children. I have found that with my kids, an early bedtime is best. So our nigthtime routine starts with dinner! I try to have dinner prepared and on the table at a consistant time each night so as not to throw off the rest of the evening. The kids, especially Parker and MaKenna, are generally ready for dinner around 6 anyways and if it is any later, lots of whining and fussiness ensues!


After dinner, the boys excuse themselves from the table. Dishes are cleared and washed and they head upstairs for bath/showers. For awhile, they were taking showers together, as our master shower is quite large, but lately they have been requesting to take baths again. I am happy to oblige as it seems to allow them more time to unwind. I started putting a few drops of lavendar essential oil into the bathwater to aid in the calming process.

After my bath, I try, try, try

To wipe myself till I'm dry, dry, dry.

Hands to wipe, and fingers, and toes,

And two wet legs and a shiny nose.

Just think, how much less time I'd take,

If I were a dog, and could shake, shake, shake.

Wynstones

Once they are all dry and jammied up, we pile into our bed for a story. When they were little, we used to read two or three stories. That generally led into "one more story" and so we settled onto one book for everyone. Right now, it is Winnie The Pooh :-) Daddy is the story reader most nights, but sometimes the boys request that I read the story. Otherwise, I am happy to listen. After a chapter or two, it is time to be "tuckled" in (Jacob's way of saying tucked in).

We do a round of goodnight hugs and kisses for MaKenna and it is off to bed! Hugs and kisses from mama and daddy, blessings for sweet dreams and a new day to begin and lights out. We aim to have them in bed by 7:30. Blake will generally read for another hour and then I will do another tuck in and lights out for him. And that is our bedtime rhythm!

*Now, just to add because this is what is happening in our life, we are in the midst of some sleep issues with MaKenna. She has been so, so, so difficult to get to sleep for the past several days. Since she was an infant, I always rocked her to sleep (nursing her when she still nursed). She was a pretty good sleeper in that she could be laid down awake and she would fall asleep on her own. Several weeks ago, she began climbing out of her crib so we converted it to a toddler bed. She did great! She was staying in her bed and falling asleep with no issues at naptime and bedtime. Fast forward and now she gets out all.the.time. Some days she doesn't even take a nap (which leads to an oh so fun evening). As I am typing this up, she has come out of her room at least 6 times and I have been trying for over an hour to get her to fall asleep *sigh*. I know it is a phase and hopefully, it will pass. But this mama is a bit tired and it is hard to be *on* all day long. I look forward to the time in the evenings when everyone is peacefully sleeping and I can knit, read, talk with Peter, etc. I have been missing that time these past few days! So I am hoping that by being really, really strict with our sleep time rhythms, I can get her back on track!

Filling our days

Throughout the year, at any given moment, it is not uncommon to find the kids deep in the creative making process. Table surfaces are usually covered in all sorts of supplies whether it is yarn, paper, crayons, or pencils etc. I try to keep these items easily accessible so they are free to create when they choose. However, during the summer, they spend the majority of their time outside (as it should be) and their creative energy is expressed outdoors. Now that we are approaching the end of summer, the kids have a renewed interest in the arts and crafting. I must say, it makes me smile to see them busily working side by side, yet seperate, deep in creative thought!

what a difference a few months make- she will now draw with crayons as opposed to dumping or throwing them
early morning drawing session

modelling beeswax provides so much pleasure for the senses- touch, smell and taste

Blake's lego ninja drawing. He requested a little sketch book and has added quite a few drawings

simple little wood kits purchased at the craft store

Blake's biplane

In a few short weeks, we will be starting our school year and once again, the tables will be covered and the kids creations will fill the house. We have a full year planned, but it will be fun and we are all looking forward to the next adventure!

Quite Simply

We are finding ourselves in the midst of a heat wave that doesn't seem to want to end! Most of the time, the children seem oblivious to the oppressive heat and humidity, but this mama is having a hard time enjoying being outdoors. But life goes on and so we are filling our days with the simple pleasures that the lazy days of summer bring.

old tree stumps provide endless entertainment
cowboys who musn't lasso their mamas "unless their mama is a cow"

enjoying the rhythmic pleasure of snapping ends off of green beans


filling, dumping, filling, pouring...life's work for a toddler

water play in the sink

creating a memory with my own daughter that I also shared with my mom as a child

loving the endless amount of kitchen help

I am trying to enjoy these last weeks of summer knowing that it will still be a while before the wind shifts and there is a crispness in the air. But there is still a little part of me that is wishing fall would come just a little bit sooner ;-)

Bringing Summer In

We are quickly approaching the middle of summer already! Where oh where does the time go? The kids and I have been enjoying many hours of outdoor play (when it isn't too hot). One of our favorite things to do is to check on the summer flower garden which is in full bloom right now! It is so nice to cut fresh flowers to bring inside and display around the house.


Zinnias of many colors

almost all of our dwarf sunflowers have bloomed and the bees are loving them!

the wildflower mix (I wish I knew the name of everything, but there are 5 different types of flowers)



We have always loved to collect bits of nature to display inside our home. This is our nature shelf that is hung in our school room (not my choice in paint color!). On it you will find various nests, empty egg shells, nuts of all kinds, geodes and other stones, seashells, feathers from many many birds, butterfly wings, dried blossoms and a bleached turtle shell to name a few. I try to keep it fairly tidy and will replace things as needed, but for the most part, this is how it looks.

Parker wanted me to take the picture above. The vase is a mason jar that he glued tissue paper to. It was a project he did all by himself and he was very proud of it. He likes to cut his own fresh flowers for it. In front is "his" nest...a nest he found and wanted to keep.

This is the view from my kitchen window, above the sink. It also changes with the seasons. Can you see the sunflower garden in the pot in the lower right corner? Those are Parker's sunflowers and the other morning, two goldfinches were eating from the blossoms! How can you not enjoy doing dishes when you have that to entertain you?!







In addition to our nature shelf, we also have a seasonal shelf. I used to keep it on top of one of the toy shelves in the playroom, but Chloe decided it made a great play area for her as well. So I relocated it to the mantle in the livingroom.

I really like it in there as we spend a good portion of our day while inside on that side of the house. It contains both handmade and nature made items and lots of little bud vases for our flowers.

And right now, this is what our centerpiece looks like. The two sunflower candles I purchased years ago at Stone Mountain. I think Blake was 2? I just burned them for the first time last summer! I love them so much and I didn't want to burn them at all, but I think I can make them last by replacing the center with beeswax. That is Parker's vase in the middle...I just moved it there so we could enjoy his flowers more now that we aren't in the school room much this time of year ;-)

We have been having a wonderful summer so far with lots more activities to look forward to. And I know before long, summer will be saying goodbye and we will be welcoming in a new season.

Into the fields

This morning we ventured into the blueberry fields to gather as many blueberries as we could. It is one of our favorite summertime activities and something we all look forward to! We usually begin reading Blueberries for Sal in the weeks leading up to picking season. Today as we were picking, you could hear the boys chanting "kuplink, kuplank, kuplunk!".


Parker was excited to show me the biggest blueberries ever!

My summer baby and her wild hair, happy in all her blueberry picking glory.

Jacob was pretty ambitious and filled the bottom of his bucket fairly quickly.

Kenna on the other hand was very grateful we were picking all those blueberries for her to eat!

But she did manage to pick some of her own.

In one spot, two of the bushes intertwined with each other forming this little house. Inside were some of the biggest blueberries!

We at least managed to pick more than Kenna could eat.

Near the end of what the boys could handle. Being summer in the south, it was hot AND humid and that always doesn't make for such a great time spent outdoors. The boys did better than I expected, but they still got pretty crabby. I managed to finish picking the gallon while they had a picnic lunch and played with their friends. I really wanted to pick another gallon, but soon gave up that idea as I was dripping with sweat myself. In the years past, we have picked in the evenings to take advantage of the cooler temps with the setting sun. I think we will stick to that plan for the future :-) Mmm, now to make the gallon last through the weekend...

Through the eyes of a Two Year Old...

Life is perfect!

It was a good weekend

We had a wonderful weekend celebrating the 4th. This was the first 4th of July celebrated at home in a really long time and certainly our first time since moving to NC. And it was a good one! Despite the humidity and heat, we spent most of our time outside soaking up the sun. There were lots of games of tag, football, bike and scooter races, bubble blowing, bird watching, toad catching, flower picking and good eating! Exactly how a summer weekend should be spent.
Of course there was also firework watching~

sparkler lighting~

and rainbow spotting~

I hope your 4th was just as lovely!