December 3-22, 2012

December has been a very fun [full] month, full of seasonal outings and explorations. We spent very little time in the school room.

Early in the month, I was definitely still suffering a lot from my back injury. Regular visits to the chiropractor helped me a lot. Now (January 3rd) I can say that my back is finally feeling back to normal.

My camera's lens was not behaving most of the month. It was having a hard time focusing, and just not taking the beautiful pictures that it once had. Thankfully, for Christmas, I received something from Santa to solve that problem. :)

Redskins- Ravens Game

Visiting Great Grandma to celebrate her birthday.

Here is us being matchy at Rainbow Girl's Girl Scout Christmas Party.

You may recall, we all went to the Grand Illumination at the beginning of December. We were disappointed that we really couldn't see much of the decorations, or find Rudolph, because of the masses of people. We promised Rainbow Girl that we would go back before Christmas, and we did! We found Rudolph right away, and Rainbow Girl was so pleased.

This is a photo of our city all illuminated. The photo was taken by me from the top of The Boathouse restaurant on a date with the man.

Here they are taking fire wood back to the fire pit because they knew we were planning a fire the following weekend.

Here, Rainbow Girl is signing Christmas cards. She signed all 45 cards!!!! She said, as she was signing, "Now everyone will know how Christmassy I am!!"

We went to The Nutcracker Ballet with Rainbow Girl's Girl Scout Troop. Sugar Bear stayed home with daddy for this one because it was after bedtime.

I love Christmas Carols. It is a passion that I inherited from my mom for sure. This year, I wanted to sing with friends, but caroling around to neighbor's houses with little ones sounded like a cold, colllllld evening. The solution was to sing together around a fire. It was truly a wonderful experience. Friends gathered, singing together around a fire. 

My brother, the fire master, playing his ukulele. 

My next blog features our Christmas celebrations, and mostly pictures using my new lens!

The Transition from Plastic Toys to Simplified Natural Toys

From an early age, I noticed that if given too many toys, Sugar Bear misbehaved. He dumped and threw toys- but never actually played with them. I narrowed down the amount of toys in front of him more and more until there were one or two toys- then he played. This was never an issue with Rainbow Girl who loved to sit in a pile of toys, playing with them all. The "buckets full of toys" organization was not working anymore once Sugar Bear was mobile.

Many months later, I read Simplicity Parenting. It inspired me to really simplify everything around my house. It has been a slow process. We had so much stuff, and still aren't where I want to be yet. I did not want to simplify too much, too fast. I didn't want anyone to get upset, so I have been going slowly, a little bit in every room.

Rainbow Girl is fantastic at donating things. She recognizes when she has not played with something for a while and usually volunteers items up.

Sugar Bear on the other hand has a very hard time letting anything go. Even things that he has no use for or has had no interest in for a very long time. When going through things, I have to do it without him.

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When I began reducing the things in the house, I started with toys. I gathered all the toys in the house. That's right, all of them. It was quite a disturbing pile. I went through and threw out all the cheap-o toys, toys missing pieces or toys that were broken. Then I chose half to donate. Finally, I chose half of the keep pile to put away in the attic. 

When I was going through, I asked these questions of every item.

• Is it broken?
• Is it missing pieces (that I can not find)?
• Has it ever been loved/ How long has it been since then?
• Does this make a terribly annoying sound/song that has been bothering me for months? (I got rid of a few toys that were loved because of this reason.)

After a few months, I went to trade the keep pile with the keep pile in the attic. I felt the urge to donate again and was able to eliminate half of both the keep piles, still only keeping half downstairs.

I came to realize that toys that do things were toys that do not inspire imagination. Boredom is important! Constant entertainment is unnecessary. If a child is entertained constantly at home, how will they react to waiting in line at a store or while visiting family? Since that realization, I have donated 95% of the toys that do things. Much to my delight, I have seen nothing but positive results. The kids both play better, argue less, and use more imagination with the remaining toys. 

Even with the elimination of the toys that do things, 90% of the toys we had were still plastic. When you by wooden toys, you know they are nontoxic. You know that they do not contain PVC, phthalates, lead, or bisphenol-A that some plastic toys have been known to have. Natural toys are sustainable, biodegradable and generally more durable than their plastic, cheapo counterparts. Toys made of natural materials are so much more of a positive overall sensory experience. Time to reduce again, and invest in a few new toys!

I know that we need to watch less TV. That is my New Years resolution. I feel like that is one of our final steps in simplifying the constant flow of entertainment. 

This is the phase that I am in right now. I am trying to eliminate the amount of plastic toys by at least 80%. Santa has been told about our hopes for natural toys, and I am excited to see what he brings! I can tell you that I know he did 90% of his shopping at the following sites. 

Nova Natural

Mama Made Them's Etsy Shop

Sarah's Silks

Zulily

Ok, you pressured me enough, I'll give you a sneak preview of one of the gifts. 

Stay tuned. I'm very excited to show you all the natural toys and art supplies that Santa is bringing!

Happy Holidays!!!

On the Tragic Sandy Hook Shootings and My Children

REUTERS (22), REX USA (4)

A little over a week ago, 1 innocent mother, 6 elementary school staff members, and 20 babies aged six and seven and lost their lives. It was a tragic, sickening day. When anyone is killed, it is tragic, but there is something much more incomprehensible when a child is involved. A child. Twenty children. Children who, as President Obama said, "had their entire lives ahead of them -- birthdays, graduations, weddings, kids of their own."


In times like these, we, as humans, can not help to ask the questions, "Why?" and "How could this happen?" We look for reasons and sources of comfort. I do not believe or belong to any particular religion, but I do believe in a higher power. In her fantastic blog on the topic, Mayim Bialik discusses her views to the question “Where was God?”
"Am I a “Everything’s great in God’s world” blind faith religious fanatic? Not at all. That’s not my shtick. I simply don’t believe in a God that monitors the world and eliminates evil and makes way for good as I deem it. I think history has demonstrated that that kind of God simply doesn’t exist and although there are strains of religions that believe God is weeding out the unworthy and the sinners, that doesn’t fly with me.

The Judeo-Christian God is a vengeful one for sure. And the Old Testament God rains down terror on the unworthy and sinner left right and center. But that’s not the whole picture of God. God has a path for all of us, and the path includes free will, and it includes evil, and it includes mental illness, and it includes all of us living on this crazy planet trying to survive and thrive and procreate and make something beautiful from the human condition which is, frankly, very complicated.

..........

God does not get to step in and save who we want saved, even if it’s small children in Sandy Hook who I wish could have been saved. We can’t understand God. That’s why God is God and we are not."


I found her words soothing.

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I first heard a clue that something had gone wrong while on the way to my chiropractor around noon. The radio announcer on light 98 said something to the extent of "There has been an accident in Connecticut ...well, a shooting." She said to go to their sister station for updates and they continued to play Christmas music. I was worried, but very sadly, it would seem that I was numb to hearing "shooting" and I went along with my appointment and drove to my parent's house listening to a cd without a second thought. When I arrived, my parents had the TV on mute, which was strange. I greeted my kids who had stayed with my parents while I was at the chiropractor, then I sat down on the couch and read the caption at the bottom of the screen "At least 18 children dead in Elementary School shooting" and my heart dropped. The kids were both doing other things and not giving the TV a second glance. When the police held a press conference, I gave the kids the iPad in the other room to watch cartoons so that we could unmute the TV.

Through the next hours and the next few days, the news was just more and more tragic. When the pictures of the children started to appear, I had an even harder time keeping my emotions contained.

I held my babies tight and was so thankful that they were with me.

REUTERS / EMILIE PARKER MEMORIAL FUND

The first child's picture that appeared was that of 6 year old Emilie Parker. Already, I had been thinking how any one of these children could have been my child, then I look into this Angel's face and I felt it even more. Emilie. She was an artist who carried around pencils, markers, and paper to make cards for people.

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My children rarely see any news, especially right now. I will not be telling them about this tragedy for a long time. Innocence only lasts for so long, and enough children were stripped on theirs that day. My children do not attend school, so I am not worried about them hearing it from somewhere else. If they do hear something and have questions, I will answer them as best and simply as I can.

Some have views about being completely honest with their children about everything that happens in the world. To them, not telling a child everything that is happening in the world is sheltering them. Knowledge is power after all right? In the matter of tragic events such as this, I feel that there is no benefit to telling them. The only thing that would happen would be added stress, fear, and sadness.

Rainbow Girl knows that there are bad people in the world. She is not oblivious to that. At this point in her life, there is no need to know much more than that.

Will you or have you already told your children about the tragedy at Sandy Hook? How old is/are your child(ren)?

November 26- December 2, 2012 (the park, a visit with a firefighter, the Grand Illumination and a bonfire!)

Sorry for the delay in blogging, my dear readers. December first, I threw out my back. Very badly. I'm finally starting to feel better.

This week, we spent a lot of time outside. We visited our favorite park for running and collecting things for our nature table.

Dino Boy!

This week at Girl Scouts, we had a local female firefighter, Jenny, come to speak to the girls. It was a wonderful experience. Meeting a firefighter in a setting such as this was also something I fondly remember from public school that I was sad Rainbow Girl was going to miss out on. Not any more!

Jenny showed the girls the different components of her gear, all the way down to how she sounds with her mask on. She also spoke about fire safety and answered many questions from the girls. 

On the way home from the meeting, Rainbow Girl said, "I did not know that girls could be firefighters."

WOW.

The time came to talk about how girls can have any profession that they want to! It's amazing what life discussions we end up having in the car.

On the same ride home, we saw a car on the side of the highway (going the other direction) completely engulfed in flames. Rainbow Girl said that we should call Jenny to help. 

The next day, Rainbow Girl had Spanish class in the morning. After nap, we prepared to go to the Grand Illumination. This is a special event where the city illuminates a million Christmas lights throughout the city, including a giant tree and many reindeer. We haven't been to the event since before the kids were born- although, they have gone to see the lights on a following weeknight. 

Rainbow Girl decided to write a letter to Santa to put in the "Letters to Santa" box. 

Her letter reads "Dear Santa, I have been good. I would like a candy cane please. Love, Skylar"

The area was packed. I haven't seen so many people in the same place since the Obama rally. Thank goodness the kids were good about holding hands and behaved while we made our way through the mass of people.

We mailed our Santa letters, went to the Starbucks, and went to the bathroom. All three things were in the same building, but took over an hour to complete.

Waiting in line for the bathroom

Then, we finally made it outside. Generally when we visit the lights, we go to the huge Christmas tree and take pictures beside it. This time, there was a band playing by the tree with a fence surrounding them, blocking us from the tree. Rainbow Girl was upset with that. We also always go find Rudolph. Always, one of the reindeer in the grassy area has a red nose. There were so many people there that we could not find Rudolph!! That was also upsetting.

It took a long time for us to get back to our car in the depths of the underground parking lot. We are looking forward to trying again soon and doing all that we wanted to do. (Starting with parking on the street.)

Now we come to Saturday. The day my back exploded. All that I did was pick up an angry Sugar Bear off of the floor in Target. I tried to deny it all day and tried to stay on my feet. Once I sat down, standing up was excruciating. 

I planned on having a welcome December bonfire that night, and did not want to cancel it, so I pushed through. With my mom and brother's help, Everything went on as planned.

Wonderful friends, magical fire, amazing conversation. It was fabulous. 

The next morning, I could not get out of bed. I am not exaggerating. My husband had to dress me while I was in bed, and it took over an hour to muster the strength to stand, and even then I was curved over like the Hunchback of Notre Dame. 

I went straight to the doctor where I was diagnosed with a bad lumbar sprain. I was prescribed a pain reliever, anti inflammatory and a muscle relaxer- as well as told not to lift over five pounds for two to six weeks. I was heavily medicated for the remainder of the day- and very thankful that my mom and husband had off that day.