my past week

was spent 

taking walks

enjoying the sun

in our garden

playing with our puppy

spending time with friends

playing music around a bonfire

being at the beach (we go pretty much every day now)

reading new and good books

getting rest

being inspired

it has been a good week.

Shea has still been difficult, but God has been giving me extra bits of patience lately.

I've been able to find time to read and be quiet at least a few times this week.

I also finally caught up dishes...for a couple of days.  Dishes used to never be a chore to me.  I never really minded doing them after every meal, or finishing them at the end of the day.  Lately though, I just stare at the pile of dishes in the sink and it takes me hours (or days) to muster up the determination to tackle them.  So, I was very pleased the other day when the entire kitchen was clean.  Gotta get on that again today.

I've been working a lot on the preschool.  I have my new room mostly set up now, I just need to work on organizing a few more things, creating flyers/brochures/registration forms, and setting up bulletin boards then I should be ready for my open house at the end of July!  I also need to get going on planning out my curriculum for the next year.  I am hoping for 5 students (plus Shea) for fall.  I don't know why, I just feel like 6 children would be the perfect amount, and having 4 paying (one of them is getting free tuition in return for the mom being a teacher's aid) would bring in just enough money for our family to make it through Jeremy's winter hours.

I applied for a job, also.  It's for a bookkeeper for the Port of Indianola.  They also have a secretarial position open, and it is only a "few hours" each month, so we will see if I hear anything back from that!  It sounds within my skillset and they are looking for someone in the community, and even if it was only 5 hours a month, it would make a difference for our family.  Not to mention help us to create more connections in the community.  But I don't really care if I never hear back from it, it was just a random thing that popped up int the local newsletter.

I sewed a little, too.  Jeremy just got rid of a bunch of his t-shirts, so I saved them and am turning them into bed shorts/pants for Shea.  This little boy loves his "comfy pants" as he calls them.  He was ecstatic about his two pairs of shorts I made so far.  And it's fun, because we get to save some of the designs on Jeremy's favorite t-shirts.

I was so happy for a rainy day the other day!  I love this house in the rain.  There are windows all around and I love hearing the rain drops on our three skylights in the main area of the house.  Also, our loft bedroom is so much cooler on days like this (although, I haven't ever felt TOO hot to sleep yet).  And a break from watering is nice!  Our garden seems to be doing really well - all of my plants are thriving and looking very healthy.  I go out every morning and look to see what has popped up.  All of my pumpkin seeds came up looking super healthy and my carrots and zucchinis from seed are starting to pop up too.  So exciting to see happen!  I recently got a book from the library called "Urban Homesteading" and I have been poring over it - it is an excellent book so far.  Everything in it I resonate with and feel passionate about doing.  It is all about living a simple and sustainable life and gives so many practical and frugal ways of achieving this.

It can get a little overwhelming - reading all the information and researching about how I can better embrace this lifestyle I find stirred up to embrace, because there is SO much change needed.  But, the important thing to me is that I am making little changes here and there, and over time that amounts to much.   Stressing over whether I am really doing as much as I could is a joy stealer.  On a side note, I realized this morning at breakfast that I hadn't bought a prepared frozen food (other than frozen fruit and vegetables) in over two months, and I hadn't even noticed.  Now that is a change.

Also - don't think I expect everyone else to drop what they are doing and become some radical hippy person. This is just where we are and I do find that my friends and family think I am becoming a little radical, but its okay with me. Most people in the area I live don't think I'm too odd, but I don't know what would happen if we moved back to the city.  I'd be that crazy lady with a food forest instead of a driveway.

Ok enough with the tangents.

Now I'll end with some moments captured from this week.

feeling much more like myself this week!

our silly dog loves the stroller!  She curls up and sleeps in it throughout the day. haha.

Hailey is my beach bug!  She does so well just sitting right by me in the stroller or on a blanket. One (mostly) content baby!

And my Shea is still as handsome as ever.  He is growing to be so sensitive about things when he actually stops to think for a minute!  He has the funniest way of looking at life, I love it.

My morning the other day.  Hailey was sleeping and Shea was playing in the playroom.  Love these quiet moments I can steal away during the day.  Especially a rainy day with a cup of coffee.

Shea's new chore chart!  I need to make it a little bit more reusable, but he LOVED it.  He did all his chores as quickly as he could, and it helped me focus on praising his good behavior instead of his bad actions.  Every time he did something I could praise him for, he received a smiley face which counted as one book before bed time.  He could earn up to 8 books, and if he earned all 8 smiley faces he would've gotten another little prize (like playing wii with daddy).  Unfortunatley, he lost two smiley faces, but at least it works better than time outs all day!