Monday 17 November 2014

Telling Stories, Making Stories

I am pretty convinced I am a story teller.

But I am not.

I am a story maker.

This was recently put into perspective for me by my little Miss.

"Mum; I love weekends with you because we DO things"

Now; the things we do, I feel are in no way extraordinary, but for Miss and JD it seems they are.

Every weekend they spend with the Mr and I, we try to find new and different FREE adventures to go on. We strap on our shoes, pack a picnic, grab a blanket and off we go.
We discover our natural surroundings as we explore National Parks, we attend free community music festivals, we take our picnic lunches to parks and to the river and to the sea, we swim and run and play.

We return home with our photo's and our stories and they are excited to return to school and tell their stories as "news"

Our most recent story was made when we attended the "Surfing the Coldstream" Festival in Yamba, NSW. This story sounds like local music, it looks bright and colourful, it tasted like sno-cones and it smelt like circus folk.

Making stories is the greatest thing i can do as a parent, and i feel that there are plenty more to come.

Wednesday 8 January 2014

Cultivating Joy and Thriving

Welcome to 2014. 

This year is going to be about living a full and joyful life. Sharing love, meals and adventures with the people I love while maintaining a balanced sense of self, purpose and direction. 

In a random moment yesterday I started to scribble down some goals, somethings I want to do to embrace my days, and make them my own.

It started off simply More Hugs; giving and receiving the physical intimacy and warmth of a hug, I believe, is one of the greatest gifts we can give each other as human beings. A hug says; I love you, I understand, I am sorry, you are important, I am with you, I support you, I thank you and so much more.  

Take More Photos. I'll be honest, my smart phone has made me a lazy photographer. Why carry a camera that weights nearly 2kgs when your phone is always in your pocket? Because I am more likely to print and use "real" photos that's why!!! Then I had to think of a purpose for using my photos, not being much of a scrapbooker ( too lazy too time poor) I stumbled on "Project Life" via my friend Little Raven Ink. This is memory keeping I can do, put the photo in the slot, write a note about it on a pretty card and pop it in the next slot, I can win at this! The goal one 2 page spread per month.

Then we got onto some bigger stuff Follow The Cleaning Schedule, this probably sounds simple, but for me, it is not. I have developed and achievable schedule, it looks pretty, it's on the fridge and I will follow it. 

Then I had some child related goals, to nurture and assist my little people with their learning and academic pursuits. So far we have had a lot of focus and energy spent on physical activity and achievements and artistic activity and achievements, 2014 is the year to hone our literacy and numeracy skills. Reading, Writting and Mathamatics will be given additional support this year.
The first practical step on this road with be home readers every night that they are in my care, with Saturdays being a rest night if they choose. 

Speaking of study, the next goal is to commit time to My Study. Schedule time and usie it accordingly, this Post Grad work is more important to my career future than anything at the moment and it deserves my full attention. 

Relationship wise I decided that the Mr and I will take one tech free date night per month, that's right, no phones, no iPads, no calls, no texts, not Facebook, no Instagram, No Technology just the company of each other

This one I struggle with because of the convenience of social media, I know what's happening in your life, because it's on my news feed.... Well that's not really good enough! Staying in Touch with absent friends. This will be difficult, but rather than Facebook

I am going to send an email or write a letter, make the occasional phone call or skype. 

And as the man laying beside me has kindly reminded me, the last and most important goal, Get Enough Sleep. I guess that means now.