I've experienced a lot of personal growth and have learned a lot about things over the past few weeks from deep research and some serious meditation, which has entirely turned around my worldview and has freed me to be an even better person. I also have been steadily learning more about different plants and such in nature, which is such an important part of my life. I truly delight, too, in seeing what joy my children take in learning about their environment.
Gathering together...
Aside from our spending plenty of time outdoors and the kids enjoying lots of free time to do what they want while I have researched and analyzed, we have also all come together regularly to share in activities together. We all gather together, and then we either all write stories, draw pictures, discuss what we like about each other or where we'd like to go most in the world, or do and/or discuss some other fun and stimulating topic that brings us closer and brings us happiness. If we write stories or draw pictures, we then all take turns sharing what we did.
I had to decorate and give a journal book to Elizabeth, because she was the only one who didn't own one.
One day when we were writing short stories, I decided to start a longer narrative which I would continue each time we write stories, and the kids love this, because they want to know what happens next. William asked me why I wasn't writing fiction. LOL I told him I didn't think that was my strong area, though I do plan to soon start working on a Randolph the Grasshopper series based on the stories of the same I've created and told to my children over the years. I am hoping my friend Lisa will illustrate them. She acted interested.
Another day during our time together we wrote about what we loved about ourselves. Nathan and I love watching educational and/or inspiration videos together, often on Youtube, and I found a new (to us) channel about two months ago that we now watch often, and one of the things Ralph says is that you must love yourself 100%, with which I totally agree. (He also is big on being in nature, and I totally agree with that, too!) It inspired me to do this project with my children, because I wanted to remind them how important it is to love yourself. If you give let someone else give you value, then what are going to do when a family member or friend rejects you? And how are you going to be truly happy? You're also going to care too much about what other people think of you and so not be yourself to try to get them to like you.
Elizabeth chose green to scribble, and then I helped her write her name. We got as far as the 'a' before she was done.
Hmmm...I think, if I remember correctly and looking at the picture, Olivia had asked me to spell her name, as she'd forgotten how, exactly, or maybe she just wanted me to write it. I am thinking I must have helped her (in pink at the top), but she did everything else on her own, except asking how to spell "Momma" and "Elizabeth." Since that time she has not asked me again about her name and has no trouble spelling it. She even emailed Amazon (apparently my parental controls were turned off on the Kindle) and simply typed her name and sent it. I know this, because they emailed back saying they didn't have enough information with that message to address my problem!
Remember, this was a project about what we love about ourselves, but Olivia obviously wrote down and drew things she loved outside of herself. That triangle thing is a dolphin or whale. Usually her whales are long ovals.
Trusten, as is common, didn't care much about doing the project, so quickly summed up that he loves his life. LOL Well, I guess that's a good start.
I like Jaden William's, though if it was mine, I'd have written my name on it somewhere. The yellow writing says that he loves being a brother.
Yes! There really are a lot of things I love about myself. I'd taken a previous picture, but then I thought of several things to add once I'd posted my thing on my bedroom wall. This is a good activity I'd recommend to anyone. I could just as easily write up things I hate about myself, but I choose to be a positive person. The reason why I can serve—and love to serve—others is because I first love myself and choose good.
I want to keep reminding my children that though they can appreciate praise from others, not to get their value from that. They need to value themselves and pick out what they love about themselves. This will help them be happier and better persons. I'll make sure to have them do this again in the future, with the hope they all have longer lists.
William's eleventh birth anniversary...
William turned eleven in June, and we did go ahead and take his birthday trip, though we've still got to make Trusten's up to him, since they had been too sick around his birthday to go into public. Remember that our birthday trips are always "fun and educational." We went ice skating, which was a new experience for all the kids and only the third time I've been in my life. Nathan has never ice-skated, but he didn't want to try it out, since if he were to fall or move in the wrong way in order to keep from falling, he could cause himself to be down for days or weeks, because of his back. He's been faring fairly well (considering) with his work so far this summer, and he's hoping to keep it that way. So in that case, Elizabeth stayed with him.
They learned it's not as easy as it looks! Olivia did the best, I think, especially considering her age. I took turns helping all three of them, but at times I took a few minutes to just skate on my own. My legs go a workout, and it was great!
Holding onto Trusten to keep him from falling and to keep myself from falling with him was a strain on my back. I managed to never all once, though, for which I was thrilled! The same can't be said for my poor babies. I got tickled at them and felt sorry for them, both. We even have a video, and in it I'm helping Trusten, and you can see Olivia crawling around like an inchworm on the ice!
You'd think after falling so much, they'd all hate it, but they were talking about wanting to do it again!
After we got home, I made a mulberry cheesecake with more mulberries on top, at William's request. The kids picked the mulberries from our mulberry tree.
Some foods we ate...
I became vegetarian (finally, as my beloved firstborn has set a good example, which put me to shame). I am mostly not eating dairy, though I've eaten things with cheese a few times. Our chickens lay eggs, and there's no way William wants to get rid of his beloved pets ("children"), so we eat their eggs, for now, anyway. I know I'm benefiting from no dairy (as pretty well anyone would).
Here are some delicious things we ate during the month:
Blueberries, blueberries, and more blueberries! June is berry month where we get to enjoy picking black raspberries (aka dewberries), blackberries, and mulberries; and my Love bought me lots of blueberries from the produce stand just like I love. Blueberries are my favorite!!!! This is one of the wonderful things to which I look forward each year.
Yum! This was the first time I made this, but my friend Lisa made this for us two years ago. Black beans and rice, boiled cabbage, fried plantains (in coconut oil), all squirted with fresh lime juice and rolled into a tortilla (yes, we like to roll everything in it). Mmmmm! So good!
This was the first time I ever fixed a blooming onion. I got the recipe from a copy of Mary Jane's Farm magazine my mother gave to me. It was good, except the center didn't bake enough.
This is one of our favorites! Japanese fried rice with onions, zucchini, carrots, and a little egg (missing the broccoli this time) and mixed with homemade white sauce.
I also got this recipe from Mary Jane's Farm magazine. It's baked French-cut potatoes with carmelized onions and pepper-jack cheese. It was pretty good, but it was oily (coconut oil), so when I made it a second time since I just went ahead and fried the potatoes in the coconut oil, which not only made this all easier and quicker, but they were also less oily, because I drained them before putting them on a cookie sheet to melt the cheese on top.
This was a new recipe that was inspired by a recipe online (but changed by me). It's seasoned with salt, sauteed onion, and chili powder. It includes yellow quinoa, black lentils, corn, carrots, and tomatoes, topped with fresh cucumbers, served with multi-grain tortilla chips. It was a delicious vegan dish.
Nathan's been getting plenty of work, so he bought me a gift, since we love eating popcorn, but it's a pain to do over the stove-top. Look at that! It's the kind of popcorn machine you see at the theaters! He got it off Amazon. The kids think it's great fun to watch it in action, too. Of course the best part is eating the popcorn.
Trusten's decorated box...
I bought the boys new boxes in which to keep some of their things. Jade paid extra so that he could get a bigger box, lol. The one pictured above is Trusten's. As soon as it came in he went to their room and started painting it to personalize it. I love it! He has since received a sweet love note from one of my dear friend's girls, along with some neat thick, hard-paper insect stickers, and he's put two or three different insects on his box, too.
Girls-in-a-Box...
Newly-identified wild edible...
The kids had been playing outside and getting dirty when we got bulk foods delivered, and so after we came in the two girls started playing with the box and crawled inside. :-) I love kids-in-box pictures, don't you?
A newly-identified wild edible. Well, these are very familiar, as I grew up seeing these all the time, and they're plentiful around here, too. I've always wondered what it is. Well, I was delighted to discover that it's yellow dock! (Also called sour dock.) I've used encapsulated yellow dock, ironically. It's good for the liver. Also the seeds are edible, though they're small, and I must use my fingernails to split them open and remove the seeds.
Other wonderful outside memories...
It was a nasty day, and I didn't want to go out, but Elizabeth held her shoes and pointed that she wanted to go out!
I love these precious pictures. :-)
I'm surrounded by love, life, and beauty!
Another prairie ring-necked snake, held by William; a green rough snake held by William. I love them both! It's rarer to see the green ones, and it was a delight when I saw it on the road. Nathan and all the kids walked right by it!
The kids always delight in picking their mulberries. I don't care for eating mulberries, mainly because of the stem. I clipped off the stems when I used them for William's cheesecake.
Miscellaneous...
Lots of miscellaneous play and fun times.
If you missed the post detailing a frog's life cycle, you can click here. We have also have grown some food to eat, visited with our dear friends, enjoyed watching many interesting creatures, and enjoyed "device time" (see how all the kids want to flock to our bedroom when they're on devices, because they still like to be with me). Our young hen Chewbacca laid her first egg, which was smaller than her smaller mother Little Hen's eggs! There are my sweet baby girls napping again when they were sick. They were tired from losing sleep at night. It was so precious how they often got on our bed and curled up together.
Haha! I think I made a mistake with my pictures, hmmm...maybe no one else will notice what I think I did. ;-) We've taken lots of walks, mostly down our road, but we've also walked along our property and different places during our drives. Lots of sprinkler play on the hot days. My precious baby found a cricket while sitting in the tub. She was so delighted! See Olivia's whales she drew?! It's a momma whale and baby whale. :-) We got a surprise package from some dear friends! Some yummy treats and fun gifts to unwrap and some coloring books for the kids. Nathan and I got chocolate bars. And my dear beloved friend knew what one of my favorite chocolates is (orange in dark chocolate!!!). Spanish lessons!!! Yes, we have finally gotten serious about speaking Spanish well. We are using the FREE app from Duolingo.com, and there is some evidence it is better than the outrageously expensive Rosetta Stone that I've not been able to bring myself to buy over all these years. Nathan, William, and I are all working on it, and I also signed Trusten up with our laptop and have helped him a little. Oh, and we all have passports now, so we are so ready to go on a trip down to Central and South America. Things are really shaping up to allow that to happen, too, so far. Nathan's work is going well, and his back is faring pretty well.
It won't be long before I have another update.
Until next time...
