Positive Parenting

My Favorite Thing… about Homeschooling

a corner of our backyard… a project in progress One of the best major life decisions I have ever made was to homeschool my children. I just love so many things about it… and I know I allude to homeschooling all the time, but haven’t really gone directly into how *we* do it at our house… I think I will add that to my list of topics for Thoughts On Health Mondays… But for now, basically it all comes down to this… we focus on whatever is interesting the kids and follow that passion. Every subject under the sun can …

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Through my daughter’s eyes…

My daughter surprised me recently… She picked up my camera, and took pictures of me. Finally at the *other* end of the camera, the object of focus, I felt so loved. It really touched my heart. I’m not used to someone focusing on me… and I don’t say that in a way that demands sympathy. I LOVE being the caretaker… I LOVE being the support behind my family. I love watching my husband shine at work, my kids dance gloriously through life… I cherish it and nothing fulfills me more. But having my daughter focus the lens on me, hearing …

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Why I wrote my first children’s book ever.

Why did I even do this? Here’s why… What Jake means to me. I wrote this book to say one thing: happiness can meet you anywhere. I really want kids to know that. I want grown ups to know that. I want myself to remember that. I want a book that I can pick up to remind me. You can invite happiness in to meet you right where you stand. Nothing needs to change at all. Joy can flow to you whether you live in a cage, in prison, in a diseased body, or are living your very last breath. …

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My Favorite Thing… In My Daughter’s Room

My daughter is going to be turning 9 in two weeks… 9! Almost to the double digits, but luckily I get one more year before I have to face that. What she wants most this year is to re-do her bedroom… making it earthy and organic and painting the walls light brown, putting up a huge mural of a tree on one wall and a big fluffy bean bag chair in the corner. So, in preparation for her new room, I’m painting it this week. She picked the color… it’s Interactive Cream from Sherwin Williams, low-VOC paint. I was pushing …

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Jake book now on Amazon!

Look what finally arrived in the mail! It’s been a loooong road writing, illustrating, and publishing my first children’s book. Proofing the book and finally getting it listed on Amazon. I’ve learned a lot along the way, and feel like I have a grasp of the enormous effort that goes into each book I’ve ever read. Especially all of our favorite children’s books I’ve read to my sweet little ones over the years. Reading this book feels so right. Jake is a tribute to my kids, my love for them, my hopes and dreams for their future, my love of …

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Thoughts on Health… Loving my Daughter, Loving Myself

These preteen years are uncharted waters for me as a parent. I find that they bring up lots of intense emotions for me, and I wonder why. I am finding that loving my daughter, truly loving her, even in her angry pre-teen moments when she thinks she isn’t lovable, brings me a deep satisfaction and often moves me to tears. Don’t get me wrong… when I speak of my daughter being emotional I’m talking about a 15 minute spell of her feeling irritable and stand-offish… understandable when I take a look at her pre-teen body and all the changes that …

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Poem of My Life

This is a poem about my life. It is very raw and real and the truest thing I know, for me. It is the story of my existence. I feel like I’ve had two lives… I’ve been two people… the person I was before my family, and the person I have become, almost instantly, after becoming a mother. The person I was before… I don’t love to think about her. I was creative and full of energy, but also full of nerves and never ever comfortable in my own skin. Often critical of others and preferring to compete with life …

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