We are the Happy Hippies and this is a glimpse of our life
It makes me happy to see so much good in the world. It makes me understand I’m not missing out on anything because there is so much goodness to choose from.
There is goodness in girls camp but there is goodness in family vacations too.
There is goodness in public school but there is goodness in homeschooling too.
There is goodness in movies and books and I don’t have to feel like I need it all in my life. I can choose the goodness right for me and not feel like I’m missing out.
Putting Edgar to bed I asked: “are you cozy?
Edgar: what is cozy?
Me: it means you’re comfortable.
Edgar What is comfortable?
Me: It means you’re relaxed and happy.
Edgar: what is happy?
And it goes on and on.
Edgar Arlo ago 4
I put Edgar in a sweater for church and on the way to church I told Edgar if he gets hot we could take off his sweater. He quickly declared he was already Hot.
Gwenevere jumped in and agreed.
“Yes, Edgar you’re really hot. She went on to explain “Hot means you’re pretty.”
Edgar excited by this new understanding starts declaring everything as hot.
“Look at those hot flowers.
Look at that hot store. Look the road is hot. And he did that all the way to church. 😂
James’ nicknames are The warm-y Guy and HotStuff. I think we might have a Jr HotStuff on our hands
I get asked often how I can handle homeschooling and being a stay at home mom. “Don’t you ever get burnt out?” Yes.
When Everett was 1 and we just started homeschooling and life with three littles was emotionally draining there where times when I felt burnt out. I remember the Spirit telling me to take a year for myself. My workouts came before homeschooling, park days came before laundry. I took time to rest and I felt so much better. I took a whole year to heal from burn out. My kids watch more tv that year and that was ok. I wanted life to continue this way forever. However, unsurprisingly and also surprisingly, almost a little over a year later I felt impressed to do more. Make my kids education first priority and home care second with lots of breaks as I needed them in between. The change wasn’t as easy as I had hoped but within time I realized I needed far less me time than I thought. To this day I feel that way. Self care can be as simple as resting without your phone by your side or cooking a meal with music playing.
I will be the first the point out staying at home and homeschooling my kids is made much easier with James’ flexible work schedule. Some weeks I’m grateful we works four days in a row. He’s days off tend to be used for family fun, errands, and even me time. James only works 4 days a week and it provides lots of flexibility. But it’s also nice when he works 4 days in a row and life is filled with routine of schoolwork, laundry and cleaning. I love the balance in my life. I love watching my kids grow and become more emotionally regulated and independent. I love seeing their brains and bodies grow and develop. I love seeing the cycle of growth on a larger scale. The phases you see in a baby and toddler continue on. Parenting doesn’t get easier, but with all things, the more time you put into parenting the more growth you get out.
So now I have days of burn out but I don’t let them stay for long.
That’s my long winded answer to the common question I get asked.
Our ward isn’t the most organized and when they planned a youth temple trip the very first weekend of January I figured they’d also be setting up temple recommend interviews too, but no. 🤪. It was so frustrating and I wasn’t going to try to go since it felt like the youth program wasn’t going to be much help but at the last minute I messaged our ward secretary who contacted the bishop and he gracefully agreed to interview Grace 30 minutes before the departure time.
I felt bad putting Grace on the spot and with such short time to prepare. But she read through the questions and got dressed and away we went. While she was reading the temple recommend questions I got in family search and printed out four family names.
We invited Gwenevere to Tag along with us and away we went to Portland.
Gwenevere stayed in the car since she wasn’t feeling good.
Grace followed instructions asked questions and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. She was one of the last to be baptized.
When we came out of the temple Grace immediately said “I wouldn’t say it was fun, but I liked it.” We took a few pictures and then rushed to the car to meet up with Gwenevere. We drove to ikea and dinner and spent and hour planning and dreaming of a kitchen remodel and a game plan to convert the school room into a spare bedroom.
In our way home we picked up milkshakes and pretzels at sonic (Gwenevere’s favorite) and arrived home tired at around 10pm.
I hope to never forget the sweet moments in the temple watching Grace so beautifully demonstrate her testimony as she participated in the gathering of Israel.
For our family records I wish to record the names of our family members Grace stood in proxy for.
Gertrude Fagg
Ida Fagg
Margaret Clifford Moore
Ella Snider
the other day, while feeling overwhelmed and on the verge of anxiety overload, I took a moment to breathe and the thought that came to me was
“I am bravely strong.”
Then the other day while chatting with a friend about the ins and outs of the day my friend interrupted my questioning of why I even try with this amazing statement
“you are a domestic goddess”.
My friend then went in to stay that I am ever tweaking my family’s home life.
I had to ponder what it means to be a domestic goddess. My own interpretation
“I am ever tweaking and creating a universe within my home that only i can create.”
I love it!
“I am a domestic goddess here me roar.”
In other news. I received my back to homeschooling blessing this week. I was given foresight to know what my children will need and an extra measure of the ability to love my family.
I am so grateful for direct revelation my Heavenly Parents give me.
Mama wants me do blog so here I am. uhh I don't know what do write so here is a pic of Rocket, a friend's cat.
