Thanksgiving Snow

Thanksgiving snow is pretty unusual in this area, but John is in his element. For me, I stay inside and just come out to take pictures, but it sure is fun to watch them having fun.

Working hard on the first snowmen of the year.

I can hardly believe it, either, but Joran was pushing this snowball around on his own. It got even bigger and started to roll down the hill towards the house before he stopped it!

Of course, Joran wanted an alien-like snowman. He said the twisted willow branch was the snowman's pee-pee. He's 5 1/2 and fascinated with all types of potty talk.

Snowball at mommy!

Now for a real fight!

A couple of hummingbirds are sticking around for the food we leave, making sure it's thawed for them each morning. I see them more now in the snow than in the summer, when there is so much more food around. Now, they only have one place to go.

Potty training -- I know it has nothing to do with Thanksgiving or snow, but it's notable, and a cute picture! Jasmijn runs around naked most of the time, sometimes with a shirt, sometimes with just shoes. She loves all of her various shoes -- girl after my own heart!

We are thankful for:

snow

our beautiful, warm house

a gas fireplace and a wood-burning stove

dinner

lots of indoor entertainment

a passionate, creative family that laughs a lot

friends

the telephone

the newpaper and all the ads

a bouquet of flowers

the internet

water

brisk, pine-scented air

our rooster

Facebook (where you can see more pics)

everything, everything, everything!

Love,

Jolene =)

No Rules

There are no rules here.

We're trying to accomplish something.

~Thomas Edison~

Teaming Up

I love this! Two beautiful children against the backdrop of the environment we love!

Joran and Jasmijn are becoming quite a team. The other day, "Jazzy" refused to hold my hand while out running errands, and would only hold Joran's hand. Joran was proud to lead. He has on-and-off days with her, sometimes wanting to play with her all day, and sometimes wanting to be left alone. She copies everything! He suggests some action, and she jumps to it. He teaches her every bit of "toilet talk" that he knows. It's great to see them loving eachother, in any case.

I did say she copies everything!

So funny the way Jasmijn just doubles over in laughter!

Teaming and scheming again...

I don't think Daddy can move on these hardwoods now.

In other news, I am also doing well, though gaining more weight than the other pregnancies and feeling some discomfort, but the exhaustion and nausea have lifted... mostly. I haven't felt motivated to garden as the weather has turned cold and my body disagrees with all the bending, squatting, pulling and loading. I've looked into hiring help there, but haven't given in, yet, preferring to do things myself in my garden. And in my home. We now have 2 homeschooling babysitters, so I'm getting more time to relax and have peaceful moments. Well, I don't always relax. For example, I've taken to cleaning my own home again, which I find very comforting. I get to all those cobwebs and the little pockets where dust and crumbs can hide for ages, and it feels like I'm clearing corners where energy has gotten stuck.

Speaking of cleaning and clearing, I'm studying ho'oponopono, the ancient Hawai'ian problem-solving technique. It's really simple and pretty much all about taking 100% responsibility for everything in my experience and then "cleaning" it by filling it with love. No special exercises, processes or extensive studying. The key phrase, which is like the ho'oponopono mantra or meditation for cleaning, is "I love you. I'm sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you."Just saying "I love you" works, too. I can speak this to The Divine in reference to the problem, recognizing that everything I experience, even if it's just on the news, is a reflection of a subconscious program, which I share with the people who are directly involved with the problem. No one is at fault, but we are all responsible. We are all One. "I love you" is becoming background music to my life. It's so simple and lovely, I don't know how else to describe it.

Love,

Jolene =)