the ins and outs

January is always a busy month. I always forget that. I expect that after Christmas and the holidays that we can transition back into the everyday. I had made a goal that we would get back into our groove this January especially because it has been such a long time since we have had a rhythm to our craziness with the move and all it entailed. We have four birthdays in January which adds another element of running around. One year I may be organized before the holidays and be able to just slip into this birthday month....one year maybe, but not this one :)
So that leaves us a little scattered, and without a feeling of flow, yet at the same time we are clear in our purpose.
January has meant lots of crafting, first for Shai and then for Chris. At the end of the month Elias and Grammy (top secret). We also have new duvet covers and curtains underway. There is some knitting and learning new knitting going on.

We have a few projects in the kitchen. Elias has a recipe book he began shortly before Christmas (which strongly lean towards his sweet tooth) and continues to treat us with some wonderful goodies. We have decided to try a new meal each week, first choosing a country and then tracking a recipe down on line. Our travels have taken us to India, Italy, Greece and Israel. This week we are planning to go to China, as we also celebrate Chinese New Year.
I don't normally freeze meals, but with Chris travelling so much I have been making double recipes and putting one away. Anything that brings ease is good !

We have been enjoying the provincial park close by for skating, snowshoeing and tubing. We also joined the local homeschoolers for the weekly swim that just began. It turns out I was the only mum who braves the waters. The rest enjoy coffee in the watching area. Now I know better.

The atlas has been coming out a lot as we follow Chris around all the warm states he is visiting. It turns out most of places have a daily average temperature that is higher than the temperature in our house. We thought about turning up the heat and pretending we were there...but its not the same!

Yoga. Aria got Yoga Pretzels; 50 Fun Yoga Activities for kids and Grownups by Tara Guber and Leah Kalish, which are cards demonstrating different poses, different relaxation techniques and meditations. We have all been having fun with them.

Dominoes. The wood blocks came out the other day after being away for at least 6 months. We had lots of fun building courses of dominoes. We were trying to get multi level tracks going, the tricking part is building it before Shai has noticed you and knocking it all down before you are done!

This year we wrote out family new years resolutions. We had different categories like something we wanted to learn together as a family. As part of this learning, we will seek out individuals and field trips from which we can learn. We will each gather information and share it with each other. We decided to learn about the night sky. It is something each of us knows a little bit about, but not really enough to feel confident in what we do know. The sky here, with the little interference from town lights really gives us an incredible view of the stars when its clear. It really is breathtaking. So we have started gathering books, regularly going outside to notice what we can.

Survivor Man. We just got this show out from the library on dvd. We have never seen it before, but I understand its been around for awhile. The kids have been loving it. There are some big plans - big plans! There fire building skills are travelling to new heights.