Nancy East

Hiker | Author | Outdoor Educator

Who Cares if I Blog?

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That’s the thought that has run through my head for the past two years, as I’ve become hopelessly attached to other people’s blogs who have much more interesting and thought provoking things to say than I do. My amazing sister in law has encouraged me since we started the adoption process to start a blog to chronicle our journey. As much as I’d love to “meet” others in the adoption community, that elusive little thing called time always stands in my way to add yet one more thing to my list. But Mama once gave me a book of quotes and readings and told me the one that reminded her of me the most was this, “In spite of everything, yes, let’s!” (Van Gogh). That seems to be my motto most days, hence why I’m finally starting this blog. You only live once–might as well fill it up!

I’m hoping this blog becomes an online journal of the day to day in our family, so as I finally get around to putting our yearly pictures in albums, I won’t forget what the hell we’ve done. It’s a way to keep friends and family who don’t see us regularly in touch with the pulse of our days (and even those that do see us regularly who care to climb on board).  And finally it’s a way to branch out more into the Ethiopian adoption community we are honored to become a part of (hopefully this year).

So without further adieu, my first post, and it’s a fun day to make it the first. SNOW!! More and more and more snow has fallen in the first 10 days of 2011, making for an exhilirating/frustrating/cozy/fun filled start to the year.

Buddy and Lou have had a ball with their best friends, the neighbor’s girls, playing at each other’s houses, sledding, sitting by the fire to play games with me and L, and just having a more relaxed, less structured pace of life. I have to remind myself that it’s okay to not have structure every once in awhile (but that’s very difficult for a very “type A” planner). L is home from work today because of the road conditions. It’s nice having him here (he works in his “man cave” and we stay upstairs to try and prevent distracting him too much).

 
We started the day with some schoolwork. It’s hard to explain to Buddy that school isn’t necessarily canceled when there’s no risk in getting him to school! I try not to make it too painful for him on these days–just the minimum gets done, no extras. Part of the beauty of homeschooling is having the flexibility to take it easy some days and work harder the next. The good news is that he’s thriving this year–I have my guy back. It’s a good….no, it’s a great feeling to know we made the best choice for him. Lou is loving her preschool and has informed us she “doesn’t want to do homeschool” next year. Not sure where we’ll go with that but for now, all is well and that makes me happy.
One of my favorite things to do on snow days is bake.  The kids usually join in the fun and it quickly gets entered as “cooking class” on our lesson plans!  Today we made a banana bread with a chocolate glaze (hey, it’s out of Cooking Light so it can’t be all bad, right?!)
Eventually even these two get bored with the snow.  So after lunch, they sat in front of the fire with Lou’s Tikki Tikki Tembo book that came with a read along CD (thanks to a birthday present from  their cousins)
Static + Lou’s Hair = Great Photo Opp
Just don’t eat the yellow snow
Heading back up to the neighbor’s house for a movie

So that’s all for now!  Who knows when the next post will happen–maybe tomorrow, maybe next year–but at least I can cross “start blog” off my list!  Happy New Year!

**I have edited this post and removed the actual names of people. Yeah, I’m my father’s daughter–paranoid about the safety of some of the world’s inhabitants and certainly don’t want other people uncomfortable with me putting their children’s names in here (and pictures for that matter–just let me know if you ever want me to not write/post photos about you or your children and I’ll respect that completely).

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Comments

  1. Eastiopians

    Yay!!! You did three major things here.

    1) Started a blog (can be a daunting thing to start but much easier to settle yourself into).

    2) Your first post! (Always the most intimidating. But it doesnt' need to be. It could say, "Yo, I am going to start writing about something here and it may be good or awful." But for some reason the first of anything written can be daunting: first journal page, first page of one's novel, etc).

    3) You uploaded pictures AND wrote a great post! I love it. I love peeking into your family life. And I am honored to be a part of it. Paige and Aidan sitting down with the book we got for Paige is extra special to me. I adore them.

    Now, there is only one more thing that needs to be done before you are a serious blogger. Someone has to completely disagree with you and make a rude comment. That is the day you can say, "Okay, I'm official." I was so shocked when I got my first mean comment. But then I realized that I must be pretty special…after all, there is no reason to stress too much over it. So, let me know when #4 happens so we can laugh.

    Much love to you! Sorry I wrote a book. I've just been waiting so long for this day. Your blog. You are a beautiful person Nancy.

    T
    (www.eastiopians.wordpress.com but only my old blogger blog is letting me comment).

  2. andapanda

    I am not surprised at all, that my multi-talented neice, Nancy Paige, has ventured, yet
    again, into a most worthwhile project. First day
    of the Blog and I'm hooked! love it! This will
    definitely be an aid in helping those of us on the sidelines to "keep up". My mind fast forwards to the day when there will be a post and a picture of the completed East family with
    baby Jones ~
    love and love to all~
    aunt anda

  3. kn

    Theresa led me here. Congrats on joining the blog world! It already looks lovely. I have three or four blogs. They are addictive. The snow looks great!

  4. Bridget

    Welcome to blogland! Yup- Theresa pointed me here… and I'm so glad she did! It's so exciting to start something new. When I started my blog, I had NO IDEA what I was "supposed to" write. Then, I guess I realized that there were no rules…and that was so refreshing. And for me- well- it is extremely therapeutic AND I have met some AMAZING people (um, like your SIL!) Blogs are awesome. AWESOME! Welcome! 🙂