Our pace of life has been delightfully slower since Christmas. Tony had almost 2 weeks off work (he went back on Monday this week) and it was lovely having him at home, having lazy days with no plans. We watched the cricket, played on iPads, played outside, listened to music, played board games, watched movies, chatted, read books, I pottered around and sorted some cupboards and tidied things up when I felt like it. Tony took the kids swimming and to a friend's house and he and Caitlin and LiAM went to the last day of the Melbourne Test Match (cricket). I only left the house once in the week after Christmas (I took LiAM and Millie to a friend's house, had a cup of tea, then Caitlin and I went for a swim and picked up our milk, then back to pick up the other kids, then I came home and had a lie down). I was SO tried after Christmas and it really took me a bit over a week of having no schedules before I started to feel OK again.
This week I'm feeling much better, and I've decided to go with the no schedule thing as much as possible. I've made vague plans with people for a few things, which will be confirmed on the day and no sooner. I don't want to push any of us more than we feel like being pushed. As it is we've had a busier week, which has been fun and manageable, with all our decisions about outings made on the day.
On Monday we went to Melbourne Zoo and met up with some other homeschoolers. I was reminded why I usually choose to avoid the zoo in school holidays - there were so many people there and we all felt overwhelmed. It was an enjoyable day though, especially for LiAM who met a couple of other boys his age and spent most of his time with them - great to meet another family who we click with. On Tuesday we went to a friend's house, lots of iPad, Playstation, jumping on the trampoline, make believe games, water play, while my friend and I caught up on lots of chatting and tea drinking. We've been to the library a couple of times this week - our closest branch had been closed over the holiday period and everyone enjoyed being back there, reading, borrowing new books and DVDs, using the internet (ours has been incredibly slow for the last couple of weeks as we used our allowance very quickly this month), and even catching up with friends. Yesterday we spent most of the day at home, watching movies, playing minecraft, playing with lego, reading books. When Tony got home from work we all went shopping and used some money we got for christmas to buy some chairs to take camping with us - we had a table to go with our camper trailer, but no chairs. I also did a grocery shop as we were rather low on a lot of items - now we have lots of food and I can make some things I had requests for during the week. Oh I did make a caramel slice yesterday which has been very popular! (Even without the chocolate icing. I only had dark chocolate and LiAM would prefer me to use milk chocolate, so we left the icing off and the slice is quite delicious as it is. It was funny too, when I gave LiAM the first piece, he said 'I don't like it as much' and put it down after 1 bite. My initial reaction (which I held back) was to feel frustrated as I had especially made the slice for LiAM. Then I thought 'I chose to make it for him, as a gift, that doesn't mean that he has to like it - someone else will eat it anyway'. Then I was glad I hadn't said anything because he clarified 'Oh it's really good, I just don't like it as much as the condensed milk by itself' (I had let him clean the tin with a spoon). And he loves the slice and ate several pieces throughout the day. It was a good reminder for me to take a moment to breathe before reacting, especially when I start to feel defensive, and also not to have attachment to any expectations of how things will work out when I do something - that can simply create pressure on others and lead to tension. I'd prefer to have peace, which I can help to achieve by doing things because I want to do them, and not needing a positive response from others to make it worthwhile).
The weather has been quite warm this week (high 30s and up to 40 on some days) and a change came through last night. We are expecting a lot of rain over the next couple of days - will be great to see our lawn growing again and a bit of relief before more hot days I'm sure that will be coming.
On the hottest day (last Saturday), when the fire danger was extreme, none of us wanted to be at home (although home is slightly more bearable on hot days now thanks to a new blind outside our kitchen window, made by my good friend L), so we went to the movies. The boys wanted to see The Hobbit, while the girls were not keen, so Tony took LiAM to The Hobbit and I took the girls to see Annie - I was really impressed with it, enjoyed it a lot. Afterwards we met up, bought a hot chook and a tub of ice cream and went over to Ringwood Lake for a picnic tea and a play in the playground. A very pleasant way to spend a very hot day.
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