May Day Celebration

I am just bursting with joy today as I reflect on the amazing amount of fun that we had yesterday sharing in the celebration of May Day and the welcoming of Spring with a nearby Waldorf school that so generously allowed us to join in with their families.

We had never been to the park that we were all to meet at and I wasn't quite sure what to expect as we made our way down a gravel path leading behind the industrial buildings along the roadside. Not far along we crossed a wooden bridge with a small creek running below it and just beyond was a wide open field surrounded by forest.

It was as if we had stepped out of the city and directly into a country field as the surrounding brush and trees closed out all signs of the bustling streets beyond.

  

There were colorful blankets placed around the field with a cluster of children and parents in the center busily working together creating flower wreaths to be worn in their hair. The children and I found strings of ivy that had been cut into long lengths just perfect for creating the sturdy bases of our wreaths and we settled on a rainbow colored blanket to weave our ivy and flowers into wonderful floral creations to wear :)

It was so cute to see all of the little ones running around and playing in the sunshine with their flower crowns on and as everyone finished up we joined in a large circle around the May pole to get started. The littlest children in kindergarten were first as they sang and weaved around one another, sometimes into each other, but so bright were their faces as they performed what they had learned for the special day.

As each group of children took turns skipping around the May pole and winding up the ribbons in different patterns it was finally time for any visitors or parents with tots to join in and my little guy in the photo above was beyond excited as he had thought he wasn't going to get a turn *grin*.

My oldest son even took part in one of the rounds with his crown of flowers upon his head :) 

He's 13 years old and growing up so quickly but I'm so thankful that he still enjoys joining in with the younger two and has fun doing it.  

When all of the children had taken a turn around the May pole it was time for just the adults to try something a little trickier. We were all numbered either a '1' or a '2' and then both groups moved in different directions around the pole as we weaved over and under one another as the waldorf teachers sang White Coral Bells. What a challenge that proved to be *grin*. Once in a while there was a little mix up but we all giggled and smiled as we fudged through it while creating a lovely braid down the May pole.

With the festivities winding up for the afternoon we shared a lovely snack of fresh fruits and veggies, raw brownies and other goodies and made our way back home where the children have been talking about it ever since :)

Hugs,

Rosina

Sunday Strolling

What a beautiful Sunday :) Weather wise it was ho-hum but the rain held off and allowed us to spend a little time just roaming around, dancing under the trees ring around the rosy style and taking in the fresh air.

This time of year always calls for a little bit of self reflection as our homeschool year is coming to an end and I evaluate what worked and what did not. It's a time to think about plans for the fall, what books I want to use and where we need to re-focus.

I came across an interesting article today called 'Our Cluttered Minds'... What the internet is doing to our brains.
.... computers are destroying our powers of concentration. As the blogger Cory Doctorow, a co-editor of the wildly popular Web site Boing Boing, has observed, the typical electronic screen is an “ecosystem of interruption technologies,” encouraging us to peek at our e-mail in-box, glance at Twitter and waste away the day on eBay. And so we lurch from site to site, if only because we constantly crave the fleeting pleasure of new information...

I'll admit I'm guilty of wandering past my desk frequently throughout the day to do a quick mail check and if I'm not careful it is awful easy to get sucked into a half an hour or more of mindless browsing time. Why is it that I can cut the television out of our lives yet I'm a slave to the computer?! It's an amazing resources for educational material for the children, a crafting bonanza for the creative types and yes the social part of it is a great perk especially when you live rural and don't see many people on a regular basis as is my case but holy doodle I can see how it could suck your day away. Thank goodness I've got some will power or I could see myself locked in a room 24/7 with only the glow of the monitor to keep me company. *shudder*.

Oh boy, I've got to shut his baby down immediately before it sucks my last brain cell out through my retina! LOL.
~ Rosina