Simplify.

I realize I haven't posted an entry in quite a long time.  Life has been a blur of demands this spring and I realize that I've been sucking at everything.  The kids accuse me of looking at the computer too much (which I am guilty of), nothing has been getting done in a timely manner, and it seems that while everyone else in the world can handle minor stresses and duties with great grace, I cannot.  

It seems that I've failed at everything.  There is so much that I've missed as I've been wrapped up in a variety of busy work.  Busy work, its what I avoid ladening my children with and yet, I'm buried under it.  It feels awful.  In fact, it seems as though there is so many little projects that I'm missing the big one.  I look at my kids and realize that I've missed this spring with them too.  They have changed and grown and somehow, even though we spend nearly every minute together, I've missed this.  I find myself tired, cranky, and out of sorts.  We yell.  We fuss and fight.  This isn't who we want to be.

So change is in order:  less computer, less iphone, less distraction--more reading, more listening, more schoolwork.  

Its funny, I realized today that the kids and I had more fun picking strawberries today than we've had in a while.  We've made jam, and done schoolwork, and enjoyed each other's company more today than we have in months.  Perhaps, its time to hearken back to Thoreau and Simplify. Simplify. Simplify.  Maybe watching some ants and enjoying the fish is exactly what this family needs.