Seasons of Joy

Looking for a way to bring peace and joy to your day? Seasons of Joy is my 10-week seasonal guidebook to add rhythm and fun to your daily routine. Each guidebook has ten weeks' worth of circle times, stories, arts, crafts, and handwork, painting, playtime activities and more!
Seasons of Joy seeks to empower families to create peaceful rhythms and routines and joyful celebrations that follow the circle of the year. The blog also chronicles our adventures in living simply, loving exuberantly, and Waldorf inspired homeschooling.

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I review for BookSneeze
Seasons of Joy seeks to empower families to create peaceful rhythms and routines and joyful celebrations that follow the circle of the year. This site also chronicles our adventures in simple living, exuberant loving, and Waldorf-inspired homeschooling.

Autumn Seasons of Joy

If you haven’t purchased your Autumn Seasons of Joy yet, now is the time! This not-so-little ebook has a great little price– only $15 for 10 weeks of seasonal activities for you and your family! The book includes:

* 5 autumn circle times, with opening and closing verses. Take a movement journey to the apple orchard, march some friendly gnomes, celebrate the harvest, find joy in the autumn leaves, and visit some creatures in the autumn woods.

The Omnivore’s Dilemma Young Reader Edition: A book report by Michael

Completely unedited by me. :)

The Omnivores Dilemma

Young Readers Edition
By Michael Pollan

Adapted By Richie Chevat

Book Report

By Michael Frontz

Only 13 hours to go on a great deal!

Part of being a stay-at-home mother to four (soon to be six!) is finding great deals. I don’t link them here all the time, but I’ve decided I will occasionally if they’re the sort blog readers might be interested in.

I read somewhere that Eversave.com was offering $5 credit to all new members, so I signed up. I was so excited when the deal the very next day was for $18 worth of yummies–all natural nuts, granola, trail mix, dried fruits and veggies, organic goodies, and more–  from The Nutty Guys for only $6! Factor in that $5 and you get $18 worth of goodness for only a buck. Shipping is a flat rate of $5 for up to 3 pounds of stuff. I was able to get some sweet treats for me and some trail mix to tuck in the labor bag.

Train up a child in the way he should go…

One of the blessings of smallish-city life is the little corner store down the street.  At a not-so-slight mark up, they have pretty much anything you can possibly need. They make awesome subs. They have yummy hand-dipped ice cream. They even have a little notebook where they’ll handwrite your tab and send you a bill at the end of the month. (I do not actually recommend this. It’s amazing how the little things add up when you’re not paying as you go, and equally amazing how many times small children try to sneak treats onto the tab.)

I don’t want to do it all.

I’m sitting here on my bed, watching some mindless show on TLC and gearing up to finish a month’s worth of homeschool planning. The house is silent, as my dear husband has taken all the children to the church picnic. I’ll be joining them in about an hour, but I plan on leaving after an hour or so and coming back home again, alone, to enjoy the silence.

Breastfeeding: It’s about babies!

Happy World Breastfeeding Week!

In a society that seems to want to make breastfeeding all about sexuality, nudity, the comfort of potential spectators, and pretty much anything except what it actually is– the biological norm for feeding human infants– I wanted to share an article on the advantages of breastfeeding your baby, whether it be for one day, one week, one year, or beyond.

From Diane Wiessinger:

How long should I breastfeed my baby?

Breastfeeding your baby for even a day is the best baby gift you can give. Breastfeeding is almost always the best choice for your baby. If it doesn’t seem like the best choice for you right now, these guidelines may help.

A few updates….

Most important, an update on the fundraising for Jenny’s funeral– in a generous outpouring of love and generosity, the funds for Jenny’s funeral, burial, headstone, and flowers were all raised within two days! I’ve been around the internet since the world wide web was brand new and all, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a beautiful display of caring. It’s truly miraculous.

Update on Fundraising for Jenny

People are amazing.  In just a day, over $2,000 has been raised for Jenny’s burial. The expense will be $4,800, not including flowers or a headstone. My tenacious friend who has published the Laying Jenny to Rest website has promised she will not rest until enough is raised to include a marker on Jenny’s grave. If you missed yesterday’s post telling the story of Jenny and the people who love her, you can read it here.

Again, I would like to reiterate my offer to donate 100% of any Seasons of Joy books sold between now and Sunday to the cause. So far, we have raised $50. If you have ever thought of trying out Seasons of Joy, now is the time!

Laying Jenny to Rest

Hello friends! It’s been a while. I’m still feeling kind of blah. Babies are doing great– we have what is alternately known as “The Big Reveal” or “Child Identification Day” bright and early Thursday morning– but I’m still exhausted, nauseated, and occasionally homicidal. But before I drift off to sleep to catch a few zzz’s before one of the babies tap dances on my bladder, I wanted to share with you a story of an amazing family.

The Mommy Wars: Birth as a Battleground

Since I found out about the babies, I’ll admit I’ve spent a fair bit of time sprawled out on my bed, trying not to throw up and napping. To pass away the time, I often find myself sobbing over the plethora of birth shows on TLC and DiscoveryHealth.

Often I cry at the beautiful babies being born. I’m finding myself especially interested in the shows about multiples, hoping to catch a glimpse or a clue as to how this birth is going to go for us. But just as often, I find myself getting angry– angry at the so-called health professionals who tell mothers they can’t birth naturally, angry at the formula industry that sends breastfeeding mothers home with bottles of formula, angry with the parents who sit by and let others make decisions for them instead of trusting their hearts.