The little things . . .

I don’t know about you, but my family seems to be busy all the time. If you’re not a homeschooler, you probably look at those of us who are and think “you’re home all day every day – you should have plenty of time!”  Well, think again!  Yesterday, we started what will be our new fall schedule.  We’ve been trying to fit school in, here and there, for the past few weeks; but yesterday started THE SCHEDULE. 

What that looks like for us is Orchestra Rehearsals for Gracie (twice monthly, for now) on Mondays, Piano Lessons for Gracie and Voice Lessons for Ashley on Tuesday, Violin Lessons for Gracie on Wednesday, Work for Ashley on Thursdays.  And, we’ll toss in Soccer Games for Ian throughout the week and some Saturdays for the next few weeks.  Brian comes home early on Fridays, so that kinda throws the idea of using that as a catch-up day for school directly out the window!  We’re on the go all the time! 

As I’ve been pondering this school year – which is Ashley’s last and Ian’s first – I’ve been thinking of ways to make it more special.  I’ve been reading Educating the Wholehearted Child by Clay & Sally Clarkson (excellent book that I hope to post more about soon) – and I just want to focus more on the kids than on the  books.  And I got to thinking . . . sometimes it’s the “little things” that mean the most and create the best memories. 

So, my goal is to start blogging about those little things in our lives.  They might seem like nothing at all to you – or, then again, they might spark your interest and/or creativity – and you might like to share some of your “little things” too.  I hope so! 

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Over the past week or so, we’ve done some little  things that I’d like to share:

For months, I’ve been eyeing up the tie-dye Mickey t-shirts posted on Disney Dreamer Designs blog. Then, I found out that I was chosen to review a tie-dye kit for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine.  Timing is everything – so I considered it a sign.  Time to do it!  While our attempt didn’t turn out nearly as cute as the originals posted on the blog, the kids think they turned out pretty great!  The one pictured to the right is Ian’s t-shirt.  We made the boys’ shirts with blue Mickeys and the girls have green Mickeys. I think we might attempt another color combination too.  We’ll see.

Making the tie-dye shirts inspired me.  It’s been SO LONG since I’ve actually taken the time to do any crafting.  I was browsing on Etsy and getting some ideas and dreaming when it struck me – hey, I could do that.  We’re planning to spend a day at Animal Kingdom on our next trip to WDW (we haven’t spent much time at that park on our last few trips) and we have a character meal planned there too.  I wanted something fun for us to wear.  So, we went to Wal-mart, bought some black t-shirts, some animal print material, some tan material, and voila!  Again, this shirt is Ian’s – the rest have our own initial in the middle.  I even stitched around the heads with my sewing machine.  Yep, I’m feeling pretty clever.  Ask me what I’ve got up my sleeve next . . .

On Monday, my brother and sister-in-law stopped in and announced that we had a kitten.  I thought they were kidding, ‘til I went outside and heard a little tiny meow. My brother and I followed the sound and found not one – but TWO – teeny little kittens in our flower bed, with no mother in sight. We’ve been giving them round-the-clock care and love for the past few days.  This morning, I was able to take them and drop them off with a lovely lady who runs an Orphaned Kitten program a few counties over from us.  A few more days, and I’m afraid I might have become too attached to give them up!  The kids loved helping to take care of them – how much more special is that than anything you can learn in a textbook?  And I hope I’m raising children who will grow up to help not only helpless animals, but people too.

(We found out today that the tabby one is a boy and the black one is a girl.
We got to name them – but their names had to start with “N” for the program.
Gracie and I chose Nancy and Ned!  If you know of our Nancy Drew obsession,
this will make sense.)

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So tell me about the little things that are making your days more fun. . .