Summertime and the Living is Easy!!

So, it's been quite a long time since my last post and rather than bore you with all the mundane details in our little life since then, I thought I'd share with you a few of the big happenings ::

:: We sold our first home and bought our forever home, until of course, we move into that little cabin in the mountains (someday)!! ::

Bye, bye to our first home! We put a lot of work into this little house, including painting the outside and adding that cute screen door... (Also, our house sold in just 3 days! Crazy!)

 Our new house!! (We were the first ones to see it when it came on the market and the first to put it on offer in on it. Fate!)

Our little family on the big day! (Yes, Sienna is in her pj's. It was pajama day at our school. I changed out of mine before coming home!)

:: I completed my first year back in the classroom, teaching 2nd grade, which is still my favorite grade!! I'm very grateful for finding this position at an awesome school in the same town, where we bought our house. ::

My classroom, all packed up and ready for a summer cleaning! I had a camping theme (again) this year.  

I have the best view of a farm field and farmhouse out the window. 

 Can't wait to set it up again for another school year...

:: Sienna danced A LOT this school year. She joined Star Energy (a non-competitive performing team) and had 2-3 dance classes per week, plus a lot of fun performances! ::

:: She also was in the school choir at our little school this school year! ::

:: Forest finished pre-k and is ready to start kindergarten at Mama's school. ::

:: And now, we are summering!! ::

Sienna had a Paris themed birthday party with her two best friends.

She had eclairs for the dessert!

Mama bought a new car!!

 Perfect for our road trip to the redwoods this summer!!

Sienna danced in the 4th of July parade!! 

Forest turned 5! 

He had his requested dinner spaghetti with Mama's sauce and my homemade chocolate cake. 

Tomorrow we are off on our summer adventure, a road trip to the Redwoods!! I'm sure I will have many road trip stories to tell ...

Coming Home

Wow, I can't believe it's been about six months since I last sat down and wrote a blog! I even turned my blog off for awhile and debated whether or not I would start writing again. But, something has compelled me to come back to it this summer. So, here I am. 

Rather than update you on all the mundane things that have happened since January, I will instead share with you about our summer so far, because that's exactly where I am mentally ... in the midst of a hot summer (although today, it's considerably cooler).

In June, we celebrated Sienna's 7th "birth" day twice. One evening with our little family and one day with a few of her friends she made at our homeschool group. For her birthday dinner, she chose a heart shaped pizza with pepperoni and mushrooms. (We also put garlic on the half she wouldn't be eating!) For her birthday dessert, the choice was a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. 

For the last few weeks of June, I participated in a summer soul camp workshop that one of my favorite bloggers, Heather from beautythatmoves hosted. It was the first time I ever participated in something like this and although I found myself unable to finish all of the projects during the two week camp, I know I will continue to work on them this summer.  

As part of the camp, we had to choose a summer mantra and create a vision board for the summer. I chose, "Peace and happiness are available in every step" by Thich Nhat Hanh.

This is my vision board in Sienna's flower bed.  

Also in June, we took a little road trip up to Artist's Point at Mt. Baker. It was quite beautiful there and we settled in for a cozy picnic.

The end of June wrapped up with a beautiful ballet and sweet tap performance by Sienna. She has become quite the dancer.

And so, that was June. It's been quite a summer already and I'm looking forward to many, many more summer adventures and finding peace and happiness in each step...

A Day in the Life

When I uploaded the photos from my phone I had a sweet, little collection of what our life looks like on a typical Friday. (minus the pizza and Sienna at dance class, of course.) 

In the morning the wee ones like to cuddle and watch The Magic School Bus on Netflix while I make them breakfast and briefly write what our day will look like on the whiteboard. We have a regular rhythm to our days, but I also like to write down in more detail what we will be learning about for the day. Forest has been waking Sienna and I up between 5-5:30 a.m. on most mornings. It is still quite dark outside when we begin our days.

On this particular morning, the kitties were playing with something on the floor in Forest's bedroom. I thought at first it might be a bug, but it turned out to be a frog! I captured "Hopper" as Sienna named him and put him in a mason jar. Sienna and Forest watched him for awhile and then, after it got lighter outside, we released him back into the wild.

 

We decided we would have bagels for breakfast from Haggen's, since we also had plans to drive and observe three different types of communities: suburban, urban and rural. Sienna is learning about these in her Social Studies class at the co-op we attend and had to do a project about it. 

I didn't know she snapped these photos of us in the car, but I was happy she did!

When we went home, we did some projects to go along with our read aloud Little House in the Big Woods. We read the first two books in the series a few years ago, but Sienna doesn't remember them very much. So, we are re-reading the whole series together and using them for our Language Arts curriculum. We are also doing writing, spelling/word study and independent reading during Language Arts. Sienna is working on a big project connecting her life today to Laura's as a pioneer. 

On Friday, she made a corn cob doll, just like Laura's first doll.

Of course, Sienna really gets into the learning. She had to dress up in her most pioneer style dress. This is Sienna with her corn cob doll, Susan. Laura's doll is also named Susan.

Later, Sienna worked on her Social Studies project.  

Forest likes to do "school work" with Sienna. He is finishing his bagel from breakfast and helping Sienna finish her work.

Between the next photos, many more things happened. Sienna hung some drawings of deer skins in our living room to play "Little House" and we ate our lunch together. Forest had his afternoon nap. I made pizza dough while Sienna finished up her school work. 

Then, we hurried off to dance class. Sienna is learning so much more this year in dance. She already knows the five positions in Ballet and she is learning lots of new Tap steps! We are also happy she is taking her dance class on Friday afternoon, so we have more freedom on our Saturdays.

 While Sienna is at her dance class, Forest plays across the street at the elementary school on their preschool playground. They have lots of slides and play houses. 

Then when we get home, Daddy has assembled our pizza and is just getting ready to bake it for dinner. The day is nearly over, but what a busy day each day is for Sienna and Forest!

Dancin' Days

Dancin' days were here again and Sienna danced her little heart away at her rehearsal and recital. I was the "room mom" and was able to go backstage with my girl again. She had lots of fun waiting for her recital to begin. 

Next year, she will be taking Ballet/Tap II and she is looking forward to learning from a new dance teacher.