PARENTING FREEDOM

attachment parenting, homeschooling, gentle discipline

  • .: My Children :.

  • .: Status Updates :.

    Friday, December 21st, 2012 10:23 am

    Hundreds of hurting people visit here every day, most of whom are searching for comfort after loss. Please reach out for emotional support as you begin the healing process. Be patient with yourself. Allow yourself to grieve. Let it out. May God be with you.

    Permanent Link | Post a comment | Miscarriage | ALL STATUS UPDATES

  • .: Quotes :.

    "My times are in thy hand."
    Psalm 31:15

    • A Regular Walk in a Winter Wonderland

    | December 31, 2010


    The children, Nana, and me


    Beautiful Scenery


    The pictures don’t do it justice.


    Baby GC sleeping in the sling in the crisp air

    Category: Canadian, Facebook, Homeschooling Activities, Journal 2010 | No Comments »
    Tags:

    Children are a Gift of the Lord

    | December 31, 2010

    Baby GC was the latest among the five best gifts I have ever received (outside of the gift of eternal life.) How did I get the best toy in the world? She is such a life-like doll. Just like a real baby! She has been such an incredible delight and joy in our lives. We are all very thankful for her. We have been having so much fun with her. Having a baby at this age is just as great as everybody (with that experience) told me it would me – even better! It is EASY because everything comes second nature by now. I know what to do, I know what works, and I am more relaxed. I am not exaggerating (much) when I say that I spend most of the day looking at her and making her laugh and smile. I get little else done, but you know what? I don’t even care!


    Miss Christmas ~ 3 1/2 months old


    Baby GC reading ~ getting close to four months old


    Baby GC in the sling enjoying
    the winter wonderland of our beautiful province

    Category: Facebook, Holidays, Journal 2010, Parenting Attachment, Parenting Babywearing | 2 Comments »
    Tags:

    Watching the Seasons Change

    | December 31, 2010


    Our lawn on Christmas morning!


    Same place: Our lawn four days later!!


    The river, Christmas morning


    Same place: The river, two days after Christmas


    The river, Christmas morning


    Same place: The river, two days after Christmas


    Our backyard, 3 days after Christmas


    Early Sunset

    Category: Canadian, Facebook, Journal 2010 | 1 Comment »
    Tags:

    I’m Loving Babywearing as Much as Ever

    | December 31, 2010

    I have tried my new baby wrap a few times. It is comfortable, but it takes forever to get Baby in and out. (She’s sound asleep in the picture). I love my sling so much better, but I do use the wrap every week when I take Baby GC, C9, and L6 in the swimming pool. After five babies and owning about 20 carriers/slings, the tie for first is between an unpadded, wide/long ring sling and my Tough Traveller backpack. Both are extremely useful with different purposes.


    Baby GC in my favorite sling

    Category: Facebook, Journal 2010, Parenting Attachment, Parenting Babywearing | 1 Comment »
    Tags:

    My Computer

    | December 31, 2010


    My computer area in the kitchen with a rarely used (by me)
    new video baby monitor and a new mousepad (desk is usually messier)


    My Boys and their favorite computer activity (next to World of Warcraft):
    Glenn Beck’s Insider Extreme (especially fourth hour with Stu and Pat)

    Category: Facebook, Journal 2010, Media Glenn Beck, Science Technology, Website | No Comments »
    Tags:

    Christmas 2010: Adventures with our First Advent Calendar House

    | December 31, 2010

    I miss personal blogging. I miss the old way I used to blog. I am so behind that it almost seems hopeless. I stopped posting regular family pictures around July and never picked it up again. I haven’t even written Baby GC’s birth story. I want to get back into it, so for now, I think I will skip the summer and fall and only go back as far as the beginning of Advent 2010.

    We had a very slow, low-key month of December. I made the choice not to do many of our annual traditions. I wanted peace without commotion. I was tired of feeling tired, so we did very little. It still felt very much like Christmas.

    One new idea that proved to be quite fun was our new Advent calendar house. After Christmas last year, I ordered it on EBay. It sat in its box all year, so it was rather amusing when we opened it. Do you notice anything unusual about it? I didn’t until the children mentioned it.


    Our Advent Calendar House

    I bought some secret things. (The treats were often things we would do anyway, or candy from the Bulk Barn, or things we could have saved for Christmas presents. I had lots of ideas we didn’t even use.)

    And I made a list of hiding places. (Examples: Look in the organ… Look in the drawer under the sock monkey… Look in the doll house… Look by the doll on the stairs… Look behind the ceramic Christmas tree… Look in the front bench… Look in the fridge… Look by the Cascade… Look on the computer desk… Look in the bathtub… Look in the black cabinet in the bathroom… Look on the dryer…)

    Each day of December, I would either stuff a small treat or a “Look under/in/behind” note behind one of the doors. Instead of getting it ready all at once, I would do it one day at a time, so the most appropriate treat would go on the most convenient day.

    Day 1: pack of crackling candy to share (funny)

    Day 2: four lollipops and four Double Bubble gum (to divide among four children)

    Day 3: four chocolate loonies

    Day 4: Decorated wooden Christmas tree ornament crafts with marker and glitter

    Day 5: Made T.V. advertisments with video camera – Sham Wow, Goldline

    This was fun. We spent additional time watching home videos. (It makes me feel bad that I didn’t take more during the past few years. I have hardly ANY of Baby GC, but I guess it doesn’t matter.)

    Day 6: bag of peanut M&Ms to share

    Day 7: four chocolate peanut butter balls and four mints

    Day 8: four mints and four rockets

    Day 9: four pieces Hubba Bubba gum

    Day 10: chocolate rocks (It took them a while to figure out you could eat them. It looked like a bag of real stones.)

    Day 11: Ice Cream Moon Sand

    The three middles really enjoyed this project.


    Playing Moon Sand
    See Baby and cat and lights?
    I was getting ready to put the lights on the real tree.

    Day 12: Decorated Gingerbread houses with Daddy

    Derek is always responsible for the construction of the gingerbread houses.


    Our Gingerbread Houses 2010

    Day 13: Gum that tastes like SOAP. I can’t let them get TOO spoiled. It was hilarious, but they were mad and thought it was a dud. ROFLOL After, I told them if they had reacted like good sports, they would have got something else, but… FAIL… ?! (To clarify, for the biblically minded, it was a joke, not a character test… and they read the label before they tried it.)

    Day 14: foam sticker wreath craft with glitter glue, one KitKat to share


    Christmas wreath foam craft

    Day 15: watched Ramona and Beezus on PayPerVu

    I knew C9 would like this especially. I think she has read all the Beverly Cleary books by now. It will be a sad day when something happens to our cat. I LOVED all the baby wearing in the movie! Even Ramona was carrying around her baby sister in a forward facing carrier.

    Day 16: four candy canes

    Day 17: four lollipops and four Double Bubble gum

    Day 18: Three oldest went to Voyage of the Dawn Treader in 3D with Daddy… L6 watched Cats and Dogs 2 on PayPerVu

    I didn’t want to take Baby GC to Voyage of the Dawn Treader because it was only available in 3D. There is nothing worse than a seeing a 3D movie without the glasses, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep them on the baby, and she LOVES to watch the big screen, so I chose to skip the movie.

    Day 19: The middles painted plaster tree ornaments with me, Derek, and his brother who happened to stop by.


    Painting Christmas Tree Ornaments


    Decorating chocolate cupcakes with icing
    and Christmas sprinkles (with Derek’s brother)

    Day 20: I forget what it was.

    Day 21: two Kit Kats and two O’Henrys

    Day 22: four pieces of Hubba Bubba gum

    Day 23: four kinds of juice cans

    Day 24: made things out of clay


    Making things out of clay on Christmas Eve


    Some of our clay creations

    We had a nice, relaxing Christmas Eve.

    Day 25: four mints

    Category: Facebook, Holidays, Homeschooling Activities, Journal 2010, Parenting Babywearing | 4 Comments »
    Tags:

    Schooling in the News

    | December 30, 2010

    I Was Raised By Wolves [Carol's note: excellent essay]

    “Parents are losing their Christian children to the world in droves because of the wolves who are truly raising them.”

    “Some school teachers literally tell the students not to tell their moms and dads what happens in class.”

    Teacher Effort Is Linked to Difficult Students’ Inherited Traits
    http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101216122016.htm

    The 1,000 primary schools failing our children: 11-year-olds leave unable to read or write
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1338514/Primary-schools-league-tables-1000-fail-11-year-olds-unable-read-write.html#ixzz19cUN0U7e

    Boy, 13, Busted For Illegal Marker Possession [Carol's note: This isn't even The Onion!]
    http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/bizarre/boy-13-busted-illegal-marker-possession

    Muslim kid in Spain traumatized by hearing his teacher say “ham”

    I used to be traumatized by the word, “homework”. Maybe I can still sue.

    Category: Homeschooling Controversy, Public School | No Comments »
    Tags:

    Wow… Worth the 12 minutes…

    | December 30, 2010

    (Click bottom right of video to make it fill the screen.)

    The Procedure

    The women in the waiting room looked like they had been exploited and abandoned and then treated like cattle going to slaughter.

    Category: Abortion, Family Planning, Feminism | No Comments »
    Tags:

    WARNING: No more texting, cell phones while driving in this province beginning in January

    | December 30, 2010

    “The Last Text”

    Category: Canadian, Science Technology | No Comments »
    Tags:

    WARNING about Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

    | December 30, 2010

    SIDS Spikes on New Year’s Day
    http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101215193102.htm

    “The number of babies who die of SIDS, or sudden infant death syndrome, surges by 33 percent on New Year’s Day. The suspected reason? Alcohol consumption by caretakers the night before.”

    Category: Health, Parenting General | No Comments »
    Tags:

    Next Page »
    Copy Protected by Chetans WP-Copyprotect.