Bringing It In | Weekending
Very often I use my blog as a note-taking tool. Remember this. Do this. Or never do this again. Today I'm doing the latter.
#1. Nix the Stockings and Sugar Fest
I have to say -- buying gifts for the sake of a full stocking? last minute shopping where you're stressed and rushed and desperate to just-buy-something-quick? We ended up buying toys and candy and things that were not worth the money and have since been discarded or lost. My vote is to not do this again.
There is a lot of pressure to decorate the house, bake cookies, countdown the days, buy gifts, basically just do #allthethings everyone else is doing. In the name of tradition. Family fun. But can't we decide what is fun for our family? Can't we choose to skip gifts and cookies and sugar sugar sugar FAT? Man, I feel rebellious. The kids don't need it all. I sure don't. Next year? A fresh tree decorated by the front door. Garland and lights on the banister. Trips to the snow. Ice skating. And that's about it. Cabin in the snowy woods for a few days? Even better.
#2. Two Weeks Vacation is a Long Time
I haven't written my essay about school yet, but the reason we decided not to homeschool this year is pretty simple -- the kids are more extroverted than I! They need a pretty significant amount of people interaction and activity in their day to be satisfied and content. I need a significant amount of quiet time to do solo things in my day. Our school schedule has been right around perfect for all of us. So when two weeks off comes.........dude. I thought I was prepared with a list of activities and such. Not so much. I feel like there might be a high-pitched whine filling the house, especially these last few days. "Mommy, what do you think I can doooooo?!"
I realize this problem is complicated. School shouldn't be a crutch that we lean on at the expense of our own personal creativity. I realize summer is coming and we'll be right back here again. Solutions in my mind often include travel -- where we throw schedules to the wind and go adventuring. Or spending afternoons outside playing with neighbor friends. Both of which we plan to do this summer. Temperatures above 32 degrees help.
Also on my mind is how to jump-start my five-year-olds creativity, who isn't like his brother who at this age was drawing circuits and saving all his money for a Lego EV3. He has a different brain, different interests -- and we're still figuring him out. I hope we hit gold soon.
These Instagram collages are fun because they show the best of our lives. Yes -- we've had fun these past two weeks. But 16 days = 384 hours = 23,040 minutes. We couldn't possibly be awesome for all of them. So yeah, there was downtime. And boredom. And whining.
Maybe you'll notice the irony in this post -- wanting to do less in #1 and wanting to do more in #2. The story of my life. Not the easiest problem to solve.
weekend shares ||
Eating: some really yummy cookies with pumpkin and chocolate #cookieswithchocolatewin
Enjoying: yesterday's night run with my honey
Listening: to Ellie Holcomb on Pandora #loveher
Planning: an early bedtime tonight, with a foot rub #hopefullyhereadsthis
Watching: the trailer for about time, where he can time travel
Feeling: scroogish and over it
Resolving: to make different plans for next year's holiday
#1. Nix the Stockings and Sugar Fest
I have to say -- buying gifts for the sake of a full stocking? last minute shopping where you're stressed and rushed and desperate to just-buy-something-quick? We ended up buying toys and candy and things that were not worth the money and have since been discarded or lost. My vote is to not do this again.
There is a lot of pressure to decorate the house, bake cookies, countdown the days, buy gifts, basically just do #allthethings everyone else is doing. In the name of tradition. Family fun. But can't we decide what is fun for our family? Can't we choose to skip gifts and cookies and sugar sugar sugar FAT? Man, I feel rebellious. The kids don't need it all. I sure don't. Next year? A fresh tree decorated by the front door. Garland and lights on the banister. Trips to the snow. Ice skating. And that's about it. Cabin in the snowy woods for a few days? Even better.
#2. Two Weeks Vacation is a Long Time
I haven't written my essay about school yet, but the reason we decided not to homeschool this year is pretty simple -- the kids are more extroverted than I! They need a pretty significant amount of people interaction and activity in their day to be satisfied and content. I need a significant amount of quiet time to do solo things in my day. Our school schedule has been right around perfect for all of us. So when two weeks off comes.........dude. I thought I was prepared with a list of activities and such. Not so much. I feel like there might be a high-pitched whine filling the house, especially these last few days. "Mommy, what do you think I can doooooo?!"
I realize this problem is complicated. School shouldn't be a crutch that we lean on at the expense of our own personal creativity. I realize summer is coming and we'll be right back here again. Solutions in my mind often include travel -- where we throw schedules to the wind and go adventuring. Or spending afternoons outside playing with neighbor friends. Both of which we plan to do this summer. Temperatures above 32 degrees help.
Also on my mind is how to jump-start my five-year-olds creativity, who isn't like his brother who at this age was drawing circuits and saving all his money for a Lego EV3. He has a different brain, different interests -- and we're still figuring him out. I hope we hit gold soon.
These Instagram collages are fun because they show the best of our lives. Yes -- we've had fun these past two weeks. But 16 days = 384 hours = 23,040 minutes. We couldn't possibly be awesome for all of them. So yeah, there was downtime. And boredom. And whining.
Maybe you'll notice the irony in this post -- wanting to do less in #1 and wanting to do more in #2. The story of my life. Not the easiest problem to solve.
weekend shares ||
Eating: some really yummy cookies with pumpkin and chocolate #cookieswithchocolatewin
Enjoying: yesterday's night run with my honey
Listening: to Ellie Holcomb on Pandora #loveher
Planning: an early bedtime tonight, with a foot rub #hopefullyhereadsthis
Watching: the trailer for about time, where he can time travel
Feeling: scroogish and over it
Resolving: to make different plans for next year's holiday