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As moms we tend to be very overwhelmed with all the responsibility that lies on our shoulders as soon as we know we are expecting, we tend to forget that we need to have fun so we can balance our hormones and our mood as much as our kids do.

Last month I had a long-awaited doctor’s appointment, but it was not a good one. The news I was given left me feeling worried and somewhat hopeless. I decided a while back that I wouldn’t allow hopelessness to be in my soul for that long ever again, so I knew at that moment it was time for a deep change, again. A change with purpose and impact on my life and my health.

As a single homeschool mom, I must consider all my moves carefully with my kids by my side. Exercising is one thing that I’ve had to put on hold for a while because I couldn’t find a balance that worked with my family dynamic. After 7 years of doing solo parenting, my doctor said to me: “This level of stress without relaxation is not sustainable Raquel, you have to do something to prioritize relaxation.” This is how the journey that lead me to find the kick scooter that changed my life began.

 Before choosing my kick scooter these are the few options I tried:

• Biking
• Lifting
• Walks
• Yoga
• Gym
• Skating

Now, these are a few reasons why those activities didn’t work for me:

• Need of childcare help
• Physical pain
• Schedules
• Weather
• Feeling like a chore
• Boring

Once I realized I had plenty of experience in trying to relax and not being able to, I started researching activities that resembled what I loved the most which was biking, but that were friendly to my lifestyle enough so my young kids could keep up with me. That is when a kick scooter came to mind, scootering is something my kids do very often so I am familiar with it. It seems like lots of fun, physical enough to break a sweat, small wheels to where the distance can be contained, and easy to transport for fun outings to the park or nearby towns.

Kick scooters are just as beneficial as bicycles, you continue to burn calories after your workout is over. Or should I say playtime? Yes! One of my favorite things about scooters is that the workout feels like a game, like a joyful time playing with friends and enjoying the wind in your hair, but not to disregard them as just toys, kick scooters bring immense health benefits to the table.

These are the top 3 reasons why riding a kick scooter changed my life:

• Happy hormones – After a few minutes of riding and breaking a sweat you start feeling the happiness of the endorphins pumping through your body.
• Better sleep – At night the anxiety is way less and the ease to fall asleep and stay asleep has significantly increased.
• Family bonding – The relationships with my kids have become more fun, we all have in mind that at the end of the day, we want to ride so we are determined to get our responsibilities taken care of early so we get to play all afternoon.

If you are thinking about adding a fun activity that can add some exercise to your routine, help you burn a ton of calories, and have fun with your kiddos I would recommend looking into kick scooters, doing some research, checking out specifications, and choosing the best ones for you and your fam.

I am a tall and heavy woman, If you want me to make a post about the brand of scooter I got let me know in the comments, and I will be happy to write a full and honest review for you.

XO

-Hazel Sunshine

The post 3 Reasons Why Riding a Kick Scooter Changed My Life appeared first on Hazel Sunshine.

We have been homeschoolers since 2015. It all started when my oldest started pre-K. Her then “teacher” made her feel so bad one week that I saw the sparkle in my child disappear. “She’ll get over it” “You’ll get used to it” “They need this” “She’ll be okay” “She needs to develop thicker skin” I heard it all.

If we have to remind ourselves that our 4-year-old children need to develop a thick skin in a world that does not treat them kindly, then maybe the ones who need to go back to school are the adults. But that is a topic for another blog.

Talking with my husband we decided together to give homeschooling a try. And within a few months, we knew we had made the right decision. The more time passed by the more sure we were. And up to this day, with much experience under my belt, both homeschooling and public school, I can confidently say that homeschooling our children has been the best decision me and my husband ever made together.

Now times are different, and my children are getting older. The needs are different, the world is different. And just like in every other aspect of life, we have to adapt. My oldest started to express the need for more friendships and the desire to meet more people who were more like us. We had many connections and friendships with sports people and kids from sports clubs that had many things in common but were simply so different because they were public schooled.

So after a long year in 2023, we decided to step out of sports for a little while and focus more on meeting like-minded people. This brought us to meet beautiful people who have shown us support and friendship, my kids now have several little groups of friends who they hang out with regularly and they maintain meaningful relationships while still homeschooling away.

Long story short I started a little Art Club for them, I love art, and my kids love art so I thought why not? It is nothing too structured at all, and it is more dedicated to socializing and hanging out. No pressure, no rights or wrongs, just art, and friends. The photo above shows a piece of art that was made by a member of our homeschool group, can you believe how beautiful it is? I was completely floored when she shared that she had never used watercolor before.

We had our first meeting a few days ago and I remember feeling very nervous. I wanted the kids to have fun and enjoy each other’s company while doing something fun that they would enjoy, i felt pressure to make it come to fruition by myself and self-doubt was kicking in.

I prepared myself, visited a few stores, compared prices for the parents, and made a list that was the most affordable possible. practiced new techniques and learned more about color theory. Played with different types of paper to see which one was better for the overall experience of the teens. I made video resources for the parents to see the materials in video format, made lists, and communicated with people in many ways possible. Worked against the odds because Facebook was messing up my post’s visibility. Anyways, it was a lot of work and many good steps into preparing myself to bring value to the kids, yet, self-doubt was there.

Because self-doubt will never go away, you just have to figure out how to quiet it down and ignore it most of the time while moving forward and continuing to have actions towards a goal. So if you’re reading this and your struggle with self-doubt please know that we all do, and that it’s ok. Don’t let it win, it’s not true. Self-doubt comes from your ego and your ego is a big big liar.

The event went wonderfully, we had a few kids that showed up and my kids had an absolute blast with them. All the effort was rewarded and my doubts left the building, now I know the way the nerves feel right before I start the club meeting and it’s only a little bit of butterfly but, the joy in my kids and all the kids who attend makes it all worth it. This is how I give back to my community, I bring opportunities for kids to get involved in something healthy and fun and to stay on the good side of life. I covered the faces of some members in the picture above for privacy reasons.

Art is a constant in my life, something that doesn’t seem to go away. And for that reason I love it. Art is there for me when I feel sad and when I am happy, I can create something beautiful no matter what I am feeling. There is no expectation of perfection, there is no judgment of mistakes, there is just love and acceptance for the results at hand.

I hope this blog inspired you in any way to give art a try, or maybe to consider homeschooling if you are a single mom in texas. It is not easy but in our lives, nothing is easy.

Xo,

Hazel

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I want to take a moment to appreciate the fact that I had a very positive and productive month. Thanks to Hazel Sunshine’s website I get to keep a log of this progress and how good it makes me feel. This is a new approach I am taking to life and so far I am loving every moment of it.

What a way to start the month! January 2024 has left a mark in my heart in many positive ways and I couldn’t be more grateful to God and the Universe for conspiring with my best interest in mind.

This month I decided to take my social media seriously and grow my social presence so I can use that to continue to provide for my family. I am learning as I go but it feels good to try new things and get different results than what I have been doing the last year or two.

My kids started a new curriculum which is more advanced and challenging, so far, they are doing amazing and the challenge is keeping things very dynamic in my house. They are challenging each other, helping each other, learning to do research, writing better notes, getting better at math and algebra, using all their resources to gain information before making decisions and experimenting more with independence in activities in general.

As for my social life, I am trying to put ourselves out there so our homeschool experience can be successful. As my children entered a more complex age I started to notice the needs changing as much as everything else and I either handled the needs or sank under the weight of new problems that I did not want my kids to deal with such as sadness or lack of self-confidence.

I started to look at myself and realized that I can be 100% happy being alone for long periods and that does not align with how social my kids are, so it was time to step up and handle this new challenge. I started by hosting a small get-together with a very sweet group of homeschoolers called Engage – RGV Meetups for Homeschoolers, they welcomed us with open arms and I saw my kids feeling very happy afterwards. Eventually, I decided to offer my time and volunteer to create more events for teens and preteens to hang out and get to know each other. I don’t know what I am doing and I am learning as I go but so far I feel very proud of the four of us for the efforts we are putting in to make this home school experience as beautiful as it can be for us.

I also started to make more videos about what I do daily to connect with more people like me, single moms who are just living life and trying their best for their kids. I feel that even though my story is a bit different, I can relate to the struggles a lot. When I was younger making videos and content was easier and more natural to me, the more I grew and the more responsibilities I got the harder making content has become for me.

My efforts are working though, I feel more confident the more action I take which with my own set of mental struggles is a big win. I am also learning what works and what doesn’t, where I want to go, and where I don’t. So the learning never ends yall! and the journey of self-development that I started back in 2016 is still very much in progress.

Art has been a part of my life since I was a little girl, but I sure have neglected to spend time with it for a long time. I am getting in touch with it again. Part of it is because I love it and it relaxes me so much and part of it is because I am hosting a few social gatherings for homeschoolers while they do some art projects as well. Now that I am creating more often, the flow of painting continues to heal my soul from wounds I thought were already healed. Art is a friend that never goes away.

Between homeschooling, selling jewelry and more, writing, painting, recording, and being a mom, my schedule is always full and I can feel overwhelmed. Finding joy in activities that I can do while the kids are around has helped my journey as a widow and painting is one of them.

One fun thing I have noticed this month and that is the way people stare when you are filming in public. it makes me laugh with nervousness when it happens because they are not ashamed not one bit to fully stare and turn their heads to follow what you’re doing. But now that I have footage of it happening it makes me feel better because on the video you can tell I’m minding my own business not hurting anyone and they can look so silly. So now that I see not everyone does that and most people don’t care what you’re doing I feel more confident to continue to do my vlogs.

I have a few vlogs filmed right now but I’m still figuring out the editing part of YouTube. I want my channel to be consistent and to have my weekly episodes come out on time, so I know now for a fact I’ll have at least a month and a have of content for youtibe before I go live. I am giving myself a few weeks to figure this out and if I can’t I’ll have to give the job to someone else and hire an editor.

My numbers are growing slowly and I’m ok with that because I am moving forward and not staying stagnant even when dealing with fatigue or mental health. I feel very hopeful of whats to come and how things can develop for me and my kiddos. I trust God in this journey and I am here, listening and paying attention to the inspired thoughts. The best thoughts to have.

Xo,

Hazel

The post Looking back at January. Hazel’s life. appeared first on Hazel Sunshine.

Dear Diary:

Welcome to my website. I have this idea of how my website will look yet, I am very far away from accomplishing that vision. So I decided to make this website live and create as I create if that makes any sense. 

I don’t know yet if I’ll leave this section of my site on forever, I am still making decisions. I don’t want to overthink this project at all though, I want to do it with heart and passion and not so much strategy. 

I have a couple of other projects going on where I have to think and strategize before I make moves and research my blogs so well before I publish them. I want this journal to be more organic and just a way to share my thoughts as I go. Not everyone’s cup of tea, but something might be there. I’ll try it out for a while and see how you guys respond to it.

I did create a more structured area for my blog called crafts, my intention inside that section is to share tutorials of the art and creations I”ll sell on my website. 

Having several ideas and options to go with is a constant conflict within myself. I can’t help it, I am creative to a fault. Please someone tell me I’m not alone in this in the comments below this article. I have new ideas every week, some are great and some not so much. I am biased but I feel that I could have a job giving people ideas about businesses they can start based on their strengths. Ideas that they haven’t thought of before. 

Wow, I am rambling now lol. It’s ok for me though, I am widowed and I homeschool three kiddos, they are growing fast and life is as busy as ever. But on thing is for sure, at the end of the day when i am sitting bymyself ending the day and counting my blessings loneliness can feel really heavy, so this outlet may just be a great creative option for me to lay all my thoughts and make something out of nothing. 

Vulnerability and creativity are my two favorite things when it comes to creation. My best art has come from pain and vulnerability. But with my busy life is sometimes hard for me to find the time to dedicate to myself or my art. 

I am grateful for this idea today, I am grateful to be writing this journal entry on my site today and letting all of you into my brain a little bit. 

My brain and my heart are the best parts of me, so be kind. Not just to me but to one another, life needs more people who practice kindness. 

Ok, thank you for reading my rambles. I appreciate you being here. we’ll see where this journal side of my website ends up. I’m thinking I can share about my day and what solutions I came up with, what products I used, and what ideas I thought of. 

And we can go from there.

Thank you

XO

Hazel.

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