Beauty in the chaos!

Hello friends :)

It's been, well, a while since I've sat down to compose an actual post that is not about a book I just read, or the Happy Homemaker Monday feature.

I've been surrounded by an insanely busy few weeks, there's a lot going on, places to be, appointments to keep and just life in general.  Sometimes I feel like life has thrown me upside down and left me laying there grasping at any helping hand, and hoping to be saved.....but then that is how it goes for a lot of us isn't it?

We've been trying to get on a good schooling schedule with Nick.  He hates school, hates everything about school and finds it very hard to focus just by himself.  Last year I gave him free reign and stepped back to let him take control and to learn how to be responsible for his lessons and take initiative.

It didn't quite work out very well and by the end of the year, it became quite apparent that he needs help to focus and stay on track.

With that in mind, this year we are trying to find the perfect schedule, the right routine and the best time to get things done.  I've taken the reign back and we now sit and do his schooling together.  It helps him to stay focused and he also finds it easier having me there to talk things through.

Nick is a very visual learner and he also has a way of working things out in his head, that isn't always accepted by the school.  It's frustrating as a parent to see how incredibly intelligent your child is and how 90% of the time he gets the right answers, but because he isn't getting them the way the curriculum dictates, it's "not right".  We're working with that as well, trying to bring the two together in a way that makes everyone happy.

I tell you, homeschooling has opened my eyes and taught me so much, not just because I'm learning as I go through it with them, but it's taught me what kind of learners my children are and what they excel in.  It's been amazing for sure :)

Much as I love blogging and being present online, my family comes first, my children especially and I've had to take a step back from the daily blogging to work on the schooling, but it seems like everything is finally falling into place so hopefully soon I can resume my normal blogging schedule.

In the meantime, I thought that I would share another day in my life with you all, and show you that even through the chaos of my life at times, there is always beauty, in everything we do.

Come with me and let me show you a bit of my day.

By now I'm sure you know that my typical day starts with some good ol' coffee and toast.  Now that I have my tomato jam replenished, I've really been enjoying toast with butter and jam.  It's one of my simple pleasures.

Making my bed is a bit of a challenge, because a certain someone HAS to be on it the whole time.  He's not exactly easy to move around so I gotta shoo him around.

I've been so behind that I didn't even update my menu, so spent some time doing that.

It's getting to the time of the year where Fall is upon us, which means that I tend to start shifting things around the house.  One of the things I always do is switch the couches with the dining table.  In the colder months we like eating dinner closer to the fireplace where it's warm and cozy.

I'll be moving everything around this weekend but for now, it's business as usual and the daily chores of wiping down, tidying and such must go on.

One of Marley's favorite times of the day is when I say "let's go check the mail".  He gets so excited, runs to the front door and then to the edge of the driveway, where he stands and waits for me.

My days seem to go so fast.  By the time we are done with school in the afternoon, I have to get dinner started.  I'm not going to lie, I do love being in my kitchen and so I quite look forward to this time of the day.

I started another blanket, this time using the Charlotte's Dream pattern from Dedri Uys.

When I started it I had the thought of combining it with some of my other favorite girl named patterns, like Sophie or Demelza etc.  I still plan on doing that, but after much going back and forth and trying to work through stitch counts and which part of which pattern to go where, I quickly realized that I bit off more than I could chew and it needs to be a project for another time.

I'm going to just make a bunch of these and turn them into a pattern, and I think I may use it for a Christmas gift.  Matter of fact I have so many blankets on the go that I was telling hubby I really should think about using my talent and the things I've already made and gift them.

So we will see if I can get this one finished in time, which I'm sure I will :)

One thing we also took time to do, was start going through the kid's boxes and have them pick out what they wanted to keep or what we could throw out.  Truth is we've been hauling boxes around for years, since Arizona, and in the meantime the kids have both grown up, Jasmine is now an adult, Nick is 14 and we have boxes of babyish toys that are just taking up space.

We started with one of Jasmine's and it was quite a trip down memory lane, I may or many not have gotten emotional at times.  There are so many memories in these small items, almost like an instant jump back to a certain time and place.

She picked quite a few things to hold on to and others to get rid of.  I even held on to some items that were hers, just as mementos.

So there you have it my friends, I think you're all caught up now on what I've been up behind the scenes.

I'm headed to bed, I am dealing with cramps and a headache.....don't need to say anything else do I? Hahah

Have a blessed night everyone
xoxoxoxoxo