I am sooooo EXCITED!!!

How psyched am I to know that for a week I will get to go to a Waldorf childcare seminar with the author of the above book, which I read when Layla was a baby! It's part of a program called Lifeways... And if you are interested in Waldorf for young children you should check them out. http://www.lifewaysnorthamerica.org/ I got the curriculum for the Lifeways course I am enrolling in and I am just so excited to learn more and hear ideas from people doing what I hope to do with my program! I can't wait! The big debate right now is how staying in Boulder during the program is going to look. I don't know if I will be there and DH will stay here with the kids or if we will all go and DH will hang out with the kids during the seminar. Anyway, however it works out I am so happy to have found this at such a perfect time, alhamdulilah. I feel like I've been blessed with this preschool idea... Every time I start to struggle something comes along that eases the burden. I feel like this will give me some real perspective on accomplishing my goals with my program.

Writing and other stuff...

If you follow me on Twitter or friend me on facebook you already know that my current obsession is Nanowrimo. I have started outlining my plot and am chomping at the bit to get writing.

The daycare is coming along and in prep for going back to work I am trying to get the house under control. I said trying, not succeeding. One of my brainstorms was to have the kids each have only one dish (a big shallow bowl) and they are to was it and eat out of it all day. I got the dishes and wrote names on the sides and showed the kids to wash them. Only to find my sink clogged with cereal since the 6yo forgot the throw your food in the trash can part. So much for saving time in the kitchen!LOL Seriously, I think once they get used to it it will be helpful.

I am also researching Waldorf schools and was happy to find someone running a preschool in Boulder that I can visit sometime, insha'Allah. I also think I will enroll in a national program for Waldorf educators that I found. It takes about a year, and I think it would be worth it.

We are down to the final things in the daycare, and my yard is my current project. We have a cedar play-set and I am looking into using landscaping elements to make a "natural" playground. Hype and craziness aside... It's a cool idea. I like the way you can use hills and tree stumps to make play areas, and I think the simple natural look is what I need with the Waldorf inspired curriculum. I am looking into having rabbit hutches in the yard too. I would love to have chickens, but apparently birds in general carry disease and are to be nowhere in the vicinity. I hope to work around that, but for now bunnies are fine.

Other than that???? Well the usual. I have thoughts, I'd love to talk about Mubarak and setting up his son for the presidency (if you can call it that still)... I am fighting a 3 million dollar daycare being built by a local millionaire with state money (like he couldn't pay for it himself)... And of course I am struggling to keep my sanity with 4 kids (5 if you include my DH).

So I hope to see some of you out there doing nanowrimo. If you are my name is ummlayla, make me your writing buddy!

I still love my blog...

I have been neglecting the whole blogging scene due to lack of time. I try to read the blogs I love and comment... But sometimes I just don't have time! WAHHH! So I am neglecting my poor little blog it seems.

What's going on with me and mine lately... All 6 of us apparently have Type A influenza, which means most likely the dreaded H1N1 virus. It hasn't been that bad really, masha'Allah. It does mean that the kids are taking a week off school and we are all under voluntary house arrest. I did some online shopping, we made chicken soup and beef broth and ate it with rice and boiled potatoes almost every day!LOL

Also, the construction for the daycare is really progressing now. Insha'Allah we are only a month away from opening. Of course you just never know and we aren't committed to a date yet.

I am still working on the podcast. I have been trying to get a good take which doesn't seem to be happening. I am sleepy if I get up and try to do it before anyone wakes up and then if I try to do it in the afternoon or evening someone always bugs me. I will get it up eventually!LOL

I have been twittering away. I think I'm addicted!LOL I like it because interesting things come up in a compact format. Just sound bites that lead to more thought on the subject. I follow some authors and I love how ordinary their tweets are... It makes me feel like they aren't so high above really, anyone can write.

Speaking of which, I hope someone out there will join me in National Novel Writing Month this November. I did the novel in the month thing once before and had fun with it. I think doing it in November will be even better, insha'Allah. Drop me a comment if you are at all interested, maybe if you are hedging I can talk you into it!LOL The whole idea of doing it in November is the working together.

On the creative front... I have many many UFO's (unfinished objects for those of you who don't speak craftinese) that I keep promising to work on. One of the cool things about having four kids is that sometimes if the intended recipient outgrows something before it's finished I can give it to the next kiddo. Oh, come on crafters out there don't act like you never had a sweater on the needles in a size four when your kid was a size six, I know your secrets!LOL I also plan to make some skirts for my 3yo, she likes these girly girl things and I saw a little tutu inspired skirt on the Hanna Andersson site that just begged me to copy it. Also, I want to make some sweaters that are messed up into little wool leggings and skirts, insha'Allah. toddler clothes are quick and fun, and they can't complain about not liking something *insert evil laugh here*.

So if anyone is still with me, I miss you all *sniff, sniff*. I will blog more as we settle into a routine with all the school and swimming and violin and what-not. And of course once things settle with the daycare. Oh, and if anyone knows the blogger American Muslim Writer please keep her in your dua... Her last post suggested that she is going through a tough time and she hasn't posted since. I'm worried about her.

Salams!