Dear Family,

“Sometimes I think the difference between what we want and what we're afraid of is about the width of an eyelash.”
― Jay McInerney

——

Eliza: Dragons need HUGE caves.

Ivy: Why?

Eliza: I dunno…I guess cuz they need to fit.

——

Ivyisms:

“Mama? I wuv you more than myself AN my flip flops.”

“I’m hoppin’ around like an Eastern Bunny!”

An Ivy Ditty: “…Because I’m an edible nut, I wish someone could eat me, pew pew pew pewie pewie pew...”

“I want NORMAL shorts, wif no skirt and only legs!”

Dear Family,

“It’s difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary is dependent upon him not understanding it.”
—Upton Sinclair

“Though the problems of the world are increasingly complex, the solutions remain embarrassingly simple.”
—Bill Mollison

“The present moment is the only moment available to us, and it is the door to all moments.”
—Thich Nhat Hanh

——

Ivyisms:

Dear Family,

After I sent my last update, some alert readers pointed out that maybe I might have made some of my readership feel bad by proclaiming, “When we fail to speak out against the act of eating ‘food’ that is addictive and nutrient poor, we fail our children, and our future children’s children - if they are someday able to conceive them.”

Since it was absolutely the opposite of my intention to make any individual feel blamed for the current public health crisis in our country, I want to briefly clarify my opinion:

Dear Family,

“The true test of character is not how much we know how to do, but how we behave when we don't know what to do.”
― John Holt

——

Way back at the beginning of the autumn, I decided our family’s homeschooling approach needed a massive upgrade. I’m still planning a separate update on this, but basically: I sat down with the kids and told them that in addition to following their interests over the course of the next year, I was going to implement a semi-compulsory yet very flexible daily educational structure.

Dear Family,

I'll admit, I'm not always the best with birthdays. Even when my family makes me the nicest birthday cards ever. I'm just so tired of children crying and requiring feeding after I cook expensive, delicious food for them. And I don't want to get any older. Plus, I'm super tired of Anything Difficult. Plus, on top of everything else, I got my braces installed this week, which means my mouth hurts AND I get to eat everything pureed (and let me tell you, pureed sauerkraut and kale and chicken is Not Good).