Self-talk, swimming, and our body

I am in a funk this week.  I'm feeling really tired and not dealing with the stresses of managing a house as patiently as I'd like.  I have been having a lot of feelings of inadequacy this week and haven't had great self-talk either.  I'm trying to regroup and speak more kindly of myself and appreciate the things I am accomplishing and just let go of unnecessary things.  I really feel like this is the year of learning to let go of things.  I don't consider myself to be an overachiever or someone who has to be perfect or anything like that (my house is proof of that!) but I do like to be the best I can and when I feel like too many areas are lacking my attention it just gets frustrating for me.  I am having to retrain my brain and force the negative self-talk thoughts out and just tell myself that I'm doing my best and that is all that matters.  

This week in particular Piper has been really hard for me.  I thought that having her brothers home might make her happier but I think it has made things slightly worse for her.  She wants to wrestle them and tease them and they get in trouble for being silly when they should be working.  She wants to draw and do work with them but she just manages to write all over their workbooks and steal their pencils.  She has been short tempered and difficult.  I try to find things to keep her busy while we work but she just goes from one thing to the next quickly and I can't keep up with her.  I'm pretty sure she has written on every single wall in our house the last few weeks.  She is definitely going through the stubborn "No, I can do it" stage.  I feel like I'm giving my attention to the boys and their schooling and so she is getting pushed aside.  I don't think that is generally a bad thing for kids to learn that the universe doesn't revolve around them and to be more independent but I do feel like she is having a hard time with it.  I've been trying to find some time each day to devote just to her but it honestly adds one more aspect that I feel like I am not measuring up in.  Being a mom is hard stuff.  Being a woman is hard too!  Why can't we just accept our failings and move on?  

This week we are learning more about the body.  The boys are doing reports on Tourettes and we are covering one body system a day.  They are really enjoying it so far.  I cut out a skeleton on my silhouette machine and they have glued it to a paper and then each day add something new.  We did the brain and the nervous system first and then the circulatory and respiratory systems next.  Tomorrow we do the digestive system and then we will move on to a new science theme.  So far we've used bubble wrap, construction paper, glue, yarn, markers...I think it will be cool when it is done and I'll post a picture with their finished product.

 This week we also practiced meditating.  It was hard for the boys to be still and not silly but they did a good job participating and trying to be serious.

 Last week was hot and humid.  This week continues to be humid and hot but it's been raining off and on and slightly less hot.  Last week we spent a lot of time at the pool.  My friend offered to show the boys some swimming strokes and teach them PE.  The boys did a great job!  I don't really know many strokes and wouldn't know how to teach them so she taught them all the correct way to do things and they made huge improvements.  I think Eli is our little swimmer.  He picked up the strokes right away.  We only have a couple more weeks of the pool being open so we have to take advantage of it.

Well, the boys should be finishing up their recess so I better get them back on task.