One Little Word She Knew

R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey Review

2012-01-29T20:47:00.001-05:00

I am loving our new science curriculum! We are only on Unit 4, but it is going really well. Over the past couple of years I have looked at numerous science options and hadn't found anything that we really liked. REAL Science Odyssey is a great fit for us. looking at an egg and labeling a diagram Heart of Dakota (our main curriculum) contains some very light science. I found it to be rather

Vitacost

2012-01-28T10:53:00.000-05:00

I finally decided to give Vitacost a try. I've seen it mentioned on several blogs, and had never paid attention. I was pleasantly surprised at the prices and selection. For $40.81 I got all this shipped straight to my door: Maranatha Organic Peanut Butter (x3) $5.87 Organic Bay Leaves $5.12 Organic Breakfast Tea $2.82 Organic Brown Rice Pasta (x2) $3.80 Weleda Arnica Massage Oil

Craft Idea: Paint with Q-tips

2012-01-21T20:58:00.000-05:00

My girls received this fun set of paints for Christmas: The first time we used them, I spent all of my time washing paintbrushes. These are not watercolors, so I had to go to the sink and thoroughly wash each brush and dry it when the girls wanted to change paint colors. Today, I had a wonderful idea: paint with q-tips! We used the paints and q-tips for our lesson on seasons (green dots for

The After Christmas Toy Awards

2012-01-17T22:22:00.000-05:00

After all of my obsessing and shopping for the perfect Christmas gifts, its always interesting to see what ends up getting the most use. Here are a few of our most loved: Lucy's Favorite: Twilight Ladybug - Julia already had the Twilight Turtle, and Lucy was thrilled to get the ladybug for Christmas. With the girls sleeping in bunk beds now, having two twilight animals works well. They are in

Fun Felt! (and a Giveaway)

2012-01-15T19:17:00.001-05:00

We recently discovered a great new toy that any little girl would love - felt dress-up dolls! My girls were thrilled to receive a package of dolls, clothes, and a camping background set to review from Story Time Felts. I am extremely impressed with the color and quality of these. All of the designs are bright and clear, and they are soft. They don't feel painted or like the printing will

Book Review: The Nature Connection

2012-01-12T22:50:00.000-05:00

The Nature Connection by Clare Walker Leslie is absolutely the best nature study book for children that I have ever come across! I love the idea of nature study, but am always a bit unsure about how to begin. Winter usually ends up stopping my plans short anyway. After paging through The Nature Connection, I am extremely impressed. The book makes nature study completely doable, with easy

A Simple Snowflake Party

2012-01-10T08:48:00.000-05:00

Esther turned two on Sunday! Its hard to believe that it has already been two years since her crazy arrival. We celebrated at home with family, a few gifts (including her new felt card table playhouse), and some snacks. Our snow themed menu included: homemade popcorn sweetheart fruit salad veggies and ranch dip crackers and a cheese snow ball cupcakes with white frosting and sprinkles For

Felt Card Table Playhouse

2012-01-09T09:34:00.002-05:00

I started a tutorial here, but this pregnant mama was just too tired to keep snapping pictures and figuring out how to explain this as I went along. (Partly because I didn't even really know what I was doing, and I was sewing late at night after the kids were asleep!) Thankfully felt is very forgiving and it turned out pretty well. Allow me to show off our new felt card table playhouse:

Homeschool Update - Beyond Little Hearts For His Glory

2012-01-01T13:01:00.001-05:00

Lucy, age 6, is enjoying Beyond Little Hearts For His Glory. We finished up week 11 just before Christmas, and are looking forward to continuing on with this in the New Year. Over the Christmas break I've been thinking about how I want to tweak things next semester. Here are some of my thoughts: History - We are loving history! I really enjoy reading the history books and Lucy and Julia

Homeschool Update - Preschool

2011-12-31T09:42:00.001-05:00

During the Christmas break, I've been spending some time thinking about our homeschool plans and what I need to change next semester. There are things we started out doing that just weren't working, things we added in along the way, and other things I want to add. Here are my thoughts on Julia, age 4: (Next I will post about what Lucy, age 6, is doing including a review of Beyond Little Hearts

Easy Christmas Treats

2011-12-30T15:58:00.000-05:00

Lucy and Julia enjoy helping me make these simple Christmas treats. They are certainly not healthy, but make a fun easy treat for Christmas parties. Pretzel Kisses bag of waffle style pretzels bag of chocolate kisses (regular, carmel filled, mint, etc) or Rollos bag of m and ms Cover a baking sheet with pretzels. Top each one with a chocolate kiss. Bake at 275 for 3-4 minutes, just enough

Christmas Cookie Tips and a Recipe

2011-12-27T15:22:00.000-05:00

My best tip for baking roll out Christmas cookies? Invite someone over to help! Last year we made our cookies at a playdate. This year Grandma and Grandpa came over to help with the long process of rolling, cutting, and baking join in the fun. The girls loved rolling out the dough and using cookie cutters. Esther put each cookie in her hand and had to show it to everyone before putting it

Merry Christmas

2011-12-22T23:22:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas! Here is a little update on our busy growing family:Lucy: 6, loves coloring, drawing, and her ballet class. She enjoys being homeschooled and does especially well at reading and handwriting. Lucy is a wonderful big sister and can often be found reading to the little ones or helping them with something.Julia: 4, has a very caring heart and loves to make people laugh. She is

Tex-Mex Chicken Appetizers

2011-12-17T23:07:00.004-05:00

We ate these tasty little appetizers for lunch today because I wanted to test out the recipe before bringing them to a couple of holiday events. I enjoyed these once at a Pampered Chef party but had never made them myself. The recipe is easy enough to mix up and has a delicious flavor. Ross' only suggestion was to add a slice of jalapeno pepper to the top. I think they are perfect as is.

A Toy Garden (Review and Giveaway!)

2011-12-15T17:40:00.003-05:00

I always enjoy browsing A Toy Garden for unique natural toys that my girls will love. They have a huge selection of interesting items that I end up looking at for hours. Seriously... stocking stuffers, dolls and gnomes, travel toys, and more. We recently got to review some absolutely gorgeous toys - the small tractor and trailer and the farm animals boxed set. Esther especially enjoys these

Felt Card Table Playhouse Tutorial

2011-12-11T10:38:00.003-05:00

I started the super secret sewing project last night! (a felt card table playhouse for Esther's birthday) Since several of you were interested, I decided to take photos as I go and post them as a sort of tutorial. I am not including exact measurements for each piece, but I thought it would be helpful to show how I put it together. I'll update this post each night as I work on it. There are

Secrets

2011-12-07T09:19:00.001-05:00

a trip to Illinois for Thanksgiving to be with family and celebrate my Grandpa's life and passing secret sewing projects: (a superhero cape for a special little boy!) another secret sewing project that I am so excited about! (for Esther's birthday) snuggles and books playing games and so much more! What's keeping you busy this December?

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

2011-11-23T08:20:00.000-05:00

It was pure torture to wait long enough to take a picture of this cupcake before biting into it! Pumpkin cupcakes are one of our favorite fall treats. The cream cheese frosting on top is amazing. I'm actually not a big fan of pumpkin pie or fall spiced treats, but this only has cinnamon in it and tastes light and cakey. I even baked my own pumpkins for the first time ever and used the puree

My Recipe Book

2011-11-21T21:09:00.001-05:00

My recipe book has evolved over the years. It started out as a box. There were index cards crammed in there of all shapes and sizes. Cards that people gave me and recipes I wanted to try, along with of course our family favorites. Meal planning was difficult: picture dozens of cards scattered all over my table. Then there were all of the recipes I was printing off the internet that just

Homemade Sauerkraut

2011-11-18T20:29:00.000-05:00

We love homemade sauerkraut! Its crunchy and pickly and sooo good for you, plus its easy to do. The kids helped me make a batch last night (hence the dark photos...). Slice a whole organic cabbage and put it in a large bowl. Sprinkle 1 Tbs salt over top and mix well. Find some kids to help you mash and pound the cabbage. (We used a meat tenderizer tool.) After a while the cabbage and

Christmas Shopping?

2011-11-14T17:28:00.000-05:00

Is anyone else Christmas shopping yet? I'm actually almost done buying for my girls. I love finding deals and planning out their lists. Although they may come up with a few things that they want, for the most part I do the list making. Thankfully we do not watch television, so they are oblivious as to what the hot toy of the season is. With one, almost two little readers in the house, I am

Toxic Toys: Fisher-Price Little People

2011-11-13T22:14:00.000-05:00

Fisher Price Little People scare me. We used to have a ton of them and they are adorable. However, they are made with a soft plastic (PVC?) which could contain phthalates, or other nasty chemicals. Mattel, the parent company to Fisher Price does not have a great track record as far as safety goes. They've had numerous recalls for lead paint and more. I called Fisher-Price and asked them

Easy Dinner Idea: Pepper Chicken and Quinoa

2011-11-12T22:55:00.000-05:00

This recipe is extremely easy. It doesn't take much time to throw together and yet is still completely healthy. Slice an onion and 2-3 red, orange, or yellow peppers and place them in the bottom of a 9x13 pan. (Slice the onions thinly so they cook through.) Cut 2-3 thawed chicken breasts in half and lay over the onion and peppers. Drizzle with olive oil. Bake uncovered at 400 degrees for

Diaper Bag Deal

2011-11-11T22:40:00.002-05:00

I've been looking at diaper bags, as I'll need a bigger one once I'm carrying cloth diapers and odds and ends for four children on a daily basis. I ended up finding a great deal on a Land's End bag tonight and wanted to share. Using the code given here, I got 25% off and free shipping, making this diaper bag only $15.89! Its not technically a diaper bag, but I think it will work nicely. I

My Favorite Baby Things

2011-11-10T08:46:00.000-05:00

Continuing the baby theme this week, here are some of my absolute favorite things for baby (and mom). While there are plenty of baby things that we do not need or use, I do enjoy having quality items that are well made and make life easier. In no particular order: - floppy seat - I remember debating for a long time about buying this because of the high price. It is totally worth it! We keep

What Does A Baby Not Need?

2011-11-09T08:58:00.000-05:00

In my "Baby Needs" post yesterday I mentioned that there are many baby products that for various reasons we don't use. Of course, this list, like my other one, is highly subjective. Don't feel bad if you do use all or even some of the things on this list. In a consumer driven world filled with baby registry lists and advertisements for all sorts of things, its just a good challenge to think

What Does A 4th Baby Need?

2011-11-07T21:51:00.003-05:00

As you might already know, I'm an obsessive list maker. I always have a notebook handy with several lists going at once: grocery lists, Christmas gift ideas, blog post ideas, things on my to do list, crafts to make, and so on. Of course I've had my "Baby Shopping" list going for quite some time now, and I'm sure I will still add to it. There are plenty of baby gadgets that we've had over the

Shirley's Prepackaged Crafts (review and giveaway!)

2011-11-05T18:06:00.002-04:00

My girls love craft projects! Even Esther (age 1) will sit and color for a good portion of school time every morning. I sometimes find it hard to come up with enough to keep them busy. When I came across Shirley's Prepackaged Crafts, I knew we had to try it out. We were sent a kit to review, and have another to give away. :) A kit from Shirley's Prepackaged Crafts includes craft materials

Menu Plan In Reverse

2011-10-31T23:03:00.001-04:00

I always enjoy reading Menu Plan Monday posts, it is inspiring and helps me plan our meals. I've never posted my own though, because my menu plan is not quite set in stone. I generally make a list of 6-7 meals and buy ingredients for them. What I make on which day depends on if Ross is going to be home late, what I remembered to take out of the freezer to thaw, or how well behaved my kids are

Undercover Mama

2011-10-31T22:31:00.001-04:00

When I nursed my first baby, I wore the nursing tanks from Target constantly. They covered my tummy when I nursed, but there was not much support in them. I ended up looking kind of really flat. Since then I've tried various nursing tops, but I usually end up getting frustrated with the baggy look and all of the layers. I've enjoyed wearing belly band type things under my normal shirts, but

Nursing Break

2011-10-30T23:42:00.000-04:00

Esther is done nursing. Around 13 weeks into my pregnancy it was just really uncomfortable. While I loved being able to nurse her, I knew that we were at the end of our nursing days. I cried and was upset, not because I love breastfeeding (I was ready for a break.), but because I felt bad for Esther, she's still my baby! She actually did really well with stopping, and just needed a few extra

Notes From My Kitchen

2011-10-29T14:30:00.000-04:00

Sometimes my kitchen feels like a farm! Feed the kefir, feed the sourdough, feed the worms... oh wait, those are in the basement thankfully. The kitchen tasks never end, but I do enjoy cooking and baking for my family. Here are some random notes from my kitchen lately: - I'm on sourdough starter #2. My first one was bubbly and happy, but I didn't feed it often enough and it started growing

Easy Pumpkin Cutting Project

2011-10-26T10:39:00.000-04:00

My girls are still in their pajamas this morning, having a blast cutting out these adorable pumpkins: We're going to have a whole patch in no time! (Click here for instructions.)

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Muffins

2011-10-20T13:38:00.000-04:00

Lucy and I saw some chocolate chip muffins at Costco that looked extremely tempting. Until I checked the ingredients that is... too much junk. After craving those muffins for a couple of weeks, I finally did a search and found this recipe and Julia helped me whip these up. They were exactly what we were hoping for! (I did change it some, less sugar and chocolate chips. I'm posting the recipe

Kitchen Tip Tuesday: Homemade Cream Cheese (sort of)

2011-10-18T09:10:00.000-04:00

My kids enjoy bagels and cream cheese for breakfast, but the flavored cream cheese at the grocery store is full of all kinds of additives. We've started buying plain whipped cream cheese and adding our own flavors: Sometimes I mix strawberry jam in with the cream cheese. Of course though the kids' favorite is when I spread the plain cream cheese on a bagel and sprinkle brown sugar over top.

Pregnancy Update

2011-10-12T23:53:00.001-04:00

Exact weeks/days pregnant: 17 weeks When did you find out? Very early on. I had to go to the dentist and didn't want an x-ray if I was pregnant. The line was so faint I ended up telling the dentist that "I might be pregnant." lol What size is the baby right now? As big as avocado, but babycenter.com says he/she will double his weight in the next few weeks, yikes! Weight gain/ loss: Honestly

Grocery Shopping

2011-10-10T09:02:00.000-04:00

Alright, at the risk of potentially boring you to death, I'm going to talk about my grocery shopping trips this past week. I think its interesting to peek into other people's carts and see what they are buying, and I always think Tammy's posts about her Costco trips are fun to read, so here goes... Costco is about 25 minutes away from my house, so I go once a month and stock up. Meijer is

Pop Up Cities

2011-10-08T08:38:00.000-04:00

I recently saw these pop up cities linked to from a blog that I read. Here are the versions we created: I drew a castle on full size posterboard and Lucy colored it in. We made it big enough to fit Playmobil people through the door. When she was finished coloring I used a sharp razor-blade to cut around each piece so that we could stand it up. Julia wanted a city complete with a store,

Eye Doctor

2011-10-06T21:58:00.001-04:00

I almost missed the fact that my daughter was going blind in one eye. Neither my husband or myself wear glasses, so going to the eye doctor was never something that crossed my mind. Of course I take my kids to the dentist, but I didn't realize that they needed a regular checkup with an eye doctor too. One day Lucy happened to mention to me that if she covered up one eye, it was blurry to see

Busy Bees

2011-10-05T21:16:00.000-04:00

We've been busy bees around here! I promise I have several homeschool update posts half written, and will finish them up soon. :) We're enjoying Heart of Dakota this year and getting settled into our fall routine. Speaking of HOD, have you noticed the blogroll page? Over 50 bloggers have joined so far. Have fun browsing the blogs, sharing ideas, and being inspired! For now, here's a

Giveaway: Sweet Baby Things

2011-09-28T21:44:00.001-04:00

Baby got his/her first baby present the other day! :) My friend Monica just added the most adorable baby toys to her shop, Sweet Baby Things. All of the proceeds from her shop go toward their adoption of two babies from Africa. Her family has already adopted two children and now they are raising funds for two baby boys that they have been matched with and hope to bring home soon. I love

Crock-pot Chicken

2011-09-26T06:28:00.000-04:00

This is the easiest, tenderest, juciest, best chicken recipe ever! Chop an onion and place in the bottom of the crock-pot. Mix together the following spices and rub over a whole chicken. I also loosen some of the chicken skin and rub the spices right on the meat. 4 tsp salt 2 tsp paprika 1 tsp cayenne pepper (Sometimes I leave this out; its great, but too spicy for the kids.) 1 tsp onion

Newborn Stash?

2011-09-24T21:10:00.000-04:00

What's your favorite newborn diaper? I just got a few new diapers for the baby. Bumgenius are on sale buy 5 - get 1 free, so after selling some misc. cloth diapers on Craigslist, I was able to buy these. I also had a $10 credit to Diapers.com and found this adorable little FuzziBunz XS on sale for $11.16 (sold out now). Its soo tiny! I haven't decided what to use as newborn diapers yet.

Heartbeat

2011-09-18T22:35:00.001-04:00

Last week we got to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time! I took all three girls along to my midwife appointment, and they were very excited. All morning before we went, there was plenty of chatter about "the baby's heartbeat". I had to laugh at one point when I looked over and saw Esther doing this: Smart little girl! linked to Gratituesday

Making A Worm Bin

2011-09-07T08:50:00.000-04:00

Sometimes Mom gets crazy ideas and decides to run with them. I've been reading about worm composting bins for a while now and finally made up my mind to give it a try. We followed these directions to make our bin, and it was actually fairly simple. The conversation I had with my father-in-law was pretty funny though: Me: "Can I borrow your drill?"Him: pause... "You want to borrow my power

Labor Day

2011-09-06T20:26:00.002-04:00

I just saw this cute post (here) and had to share it in honor of labor day, even if I am a bit late! The hardest work I've ever done: How long were your labors? 8 hours 3 hours 1 1/2 hours - yes, total! How did you know you were in labor? my water broke and flooded all over the place the day after my due date my water broke and flooded all over the place, this time 2 weeks early contractions

Sneaky Carrots

2011-09-06T08:21:00.000-04:00

One of my children in particular is a very picky eater. It is nearly impossible to get her to eat any veggies... except when she doesn't know she is eating them. ;) Whenever we have macaroni and cheese for lunch, I add two cubes of pureed carrots and no one can taste the difference. To make the cubes: - Peel, chop, and steam a big bag of carrots. - Puree them in a blender with a bit of

Sisters

2011-09-03T15:48:00.000-04:00

Want to see a couple pictures of my adorable girls? :) They wanted to match, all wearing their birthday shirts, and then wanted me to take a picture. Esther is trying to put her arm around Julia's neck just like the other girls. :) playing iPod I love my sweet girls! They play together very nicely most of the time and are so much fun to be around. Do you think we'll be adding another girl to

Our New Table

2011-08-30T11:41:00.001-04:00

The kitchen table that we've had for six years now was just getting way too small for our growing family. Esther didn't even have a chair, aside from her highchair. I had been considering getting a preschool art table for school use this fall, but we eventually decided that we really just needed a bigger kitchen table. After searching Craigslist, we ended up finding a wonderful table with

Green Eats

2011-08-28T08:18:00.000-04:00

Looking for safe children's tableware? Check out Green Toys new line - Green Eats! We love Green Toys around here, and have been trying out their new tumblers. These are made of recycled plastic milk jugs, and contain no BPA, phthalates, PVC, or external coatings. Definitely a safe choice that I am very happy with. My girls enjoy the colors and like to use their new cups. I would love to

Zucchini Cheese Bake

2011-08-27T15:20:00.000-04:00

I don't know what to call this, "Zucchini Cheese Bake"? Except that you don't really bake it, you broil it... Whatever its called, my dad made it up and its delicious! The key to this recipe is using lots of butter and garlic salt. 3-4 zucchini and summer squash onion, chopped 1 can diced tomatoes mozzarella cheese, shredded garlic salt (lots!) Saute onion in butter until tender (use 1/2 a

Update

2011-08-21T22:10:00.000-04:00

Evidently I'm not very good at blogging while nauseous. Or cooking dinner for that matter. Or doing dishes, blech. Hubby saved me today though and washed the massive pile of dishes that I couldn't stand to tackle. He also gave in to my pregnancy craving and got me a piece of hot fudge cake with pudding and whipped cream on top from a local restaurant. :) Yes, if you still weren't sure after

Easy Anytime Lemonade

2011-08-11T16:35:00.001-04:00

Costco sells a large 1 liter bottle of organic lemon juice (not from concentrate) for only 3.89. We enjoy having lemonade on hand, but I don't always want to make up a big batch of it. We found the perfect solution - freeze the lemon juice in ice cube trays. To make a glass of lemonade, simply pop a lemon cube in a glass of water and add two spoonfuls of sugar. The lemon melts rapidly and

Mysteries Revealed

2011-07-30T20:36:00.000-04:00

So... I can't post to my blog that I'm going on vacation for a week, I just have to tell you after the fact, sorry about that! And then of course there is the packing and the unpacking and the laundry (that's still piled up in my bedroom), all of which keeps me away from blogging. Now that I'm home, I'm not feeling very inspired either. We're eating McDonald's way too often and barely keeping

Gratituesday

2011-07-12T09:20:00.002-04:00

Yesterday a crazy storm blew through our area and left behind a ton of tree damage. I was driving home when the storm hit: the sky turned black and bright and green all at once. My windshield wipers could hardly keep up with the downpour. I pulled into the driveway and sat in my car for a few seconds wondering if I should wait for a break in the storm or run inside. I looked up and saw a huge

Pretty Girls

2011-07-09T13:58:00.001-04:00

The girls asked me to paint their nails yesterday and were so cute I had to take a picture. Lucy wanted purple for her fingers and pink toes. Julia had to have one of each color. (This is so Julia's personality.) on her toes too: of course its super safe Piggy Paint. (If you're local, EcoBuns has some.)

Homeschool Planning

2011-07-04T10:33:00.000-04:00

I said I was going to homeschool through the summer. Nope. I need a break. Although we enjoyed Little Hearts For His Glory, at this point it is too easy for Lucy. We're shelving it and going with the next level in the fall. Lucy is still reading through the Emerging Readers set; I certainly can't stop her. She asked for books for her birthday and loves to read. :) We may still read

Potato Salad with Garlic Scapes

2011-07-03T13:11:00.000-04:00

Sorry, my food pictures are pretty lacking, but this is an amazing potato salad recipe worth sharing! 4 cups red potatoes, diced and cooked, with skin on1/4 cup olive oil2 Tbs lemon juice2 Tbs minced onion (can use chives or green onions)1 1/2 tsp salt1/2 tsp dill weed or 1 1/2 tsp fresh dill, minced1/4 tsp black pepper1/8 tsp garlic powder (or fresh minced garlic or 2-3 garlic scapes)4 Tbs

Earth Mama Angel Baby Calm and Clean (Giveaway!)

2011-06-24T23:09:00.002-04:00

I LOVE Earth Mama Angel Baby® products! Organic ingredients, zero toxins, completely pure and safe. We've been using the new Calm and Clean Hand to Toe Wash - the lavender vanilla scent is awesome, love it. Seriously, what else can I say? I really trust Earth Mama Angel Baby products and their mission/ philosophy. Their products are rated zero in the Cosmetics Database - that is pretty

Summer

2011-06-18T21:55:00.001-04:00

I know, I'm slacking around here! I've been enjoying summer with these three people: trips to the beach, a visit from Grandma,garage sale treasures that entertain my kids for whole days, freshly picked strawberries, a fun new haircut (thanks, Mom!),summer reading club and a little girl who cannot stop reading, what fun things does your summer hold?

And the winner is....

2011-06-06T08:51:00.001-04:00

If you read this post you know that for the last several months I've been researching vacuum cleaners. I considered many different manufacturers and contacted them for more information. I was searching for a vacuum cleaner that has sealed HEPA filtration, as well as being compliant with RoHS so that it contains fewer toxins. (See this post for my explanation.) I've updated my original post

E-book Sale!

2011-06-03T19:21:00.000-04:00

I am a huge fan of Laura's recipes at Heavenly Homemakers. I have had great success with them and appreciate that there are no junky ingredients. Which is why I am about to tell you about an AMAZING sale she has going on right now!! 10 ebooks for $20! This ends Monday June 6th at midnight, and then these will be on sale for $30 for a few more days. Don't miss out on this one! (I'm an

Costco

2011-05-30T22:02:00.001-04:00

I went to Costco for the first time a couple of weeks ago and am now a big fan! Tammy always raves about Costco, and I've heard others say that they had a decent selection of organic foods. My mother in law has a membership, so I was able to get in and take a look around. After comparing prices, I'll definitely be back! organic tortilla chips at Meijer $5.49 for 22 oz = .25 cents an ounce

Inexpensive Real Food?

2011-05-29T15:47:00.000-04:00

One of the biggest issues people have with eating "real food", is how expensive it is. Lately I've been thinking that some of the foods we eat are actually pretty inexpensive. sprouts - A bag of alfalfa seeds only costs a couple dollars and lasts a long time. Sprouting is an easy frugal way to boost your nutrition. kefir - Making your own kefir is inexpensive as well. We use kefir in

Blueberry Oat Bars Recipe

2011-05-26T14:09:00.001-04:00

I was planning to make baked oatmeal for sign language class at my house this morning. However, I ran out with the girls to run a quick errand and when I came back we saw this: and this: So in between making toast for the girls for breakfast, hiding all my dirty laundry in the bedroom, and putting away dishes, I threw together these blueberry oat bars. I had already printed the recipe to try

Homeschool Curriculum Reviews

2011-05-21T14:44:00.002-04:00

If you are homeschool curriculum shopping, you'll want to check out a post The Happy Housewife put together with links to reviews done by many different blogs (including me!). Definitely a great resource to check out! Enjoy browsing. :)

Spelt Shortcake

2011-05-19T13:44:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the bad picture, its hard to photograph this recipe it disappears so quickly! Spelt flour makes a wonderfully spongy shortcake that is easy to whip up and just perfect for summer evening desserts. I buy spelt berries at our local health food store and grind the flour in my Nutrimill. 2 1/2 cups spelt flour 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp baking soda 1/2 cup sugar 1/4 cup oil 1 egg 1 tsp

Steps Toward Eating Healthier

2011-05-13T16:52:00.000-04:00

For several years now our family has been on a journey toward eating healthier. Its something I think about often and spend quite a bit of time working on. I go through stages including being inspired, frustrated, lazy, successful, and more. It helps to take a look back and realize how far we've come. I'm definitely still learning quite a bit and trying to feed my family the best I can.

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-08T16:46:00.000-04:00

Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful ladies! Check out the giveaway here for a Mommy Necklaces gift card. Yes, I got a Mommy Necklace (or two...) for Mother's Day, and yes, I would love more of them, and Yes, I'm obsessed.

The Popsicle Molds Everyone Should Have

2011-05-05T08:07:00.000-04:00

We bought these popsicle molds (using Swagbucks) off of Amazon recently. I really like them! I purchased them because they are made from polypropylene (a "safe" plastic that doesn't contain BPA), whereas I was unsure what type plastic my old set was made of. Now that I have these, I think the design is genius! My other popsicle mold was all one piece, so I had to run the whole thing under

Baked Brown Rice

2011-05-03T23:09:00.000-04:00

I have failed at cooking rice sooo many times. My rice always turned out sticky, not to mention sticking like crazy to the bottom of the pot. I tried using a rice cooker for awhile, but it had a non-stick coating inside (ie toxic chemicals), and was big and bulky to store. When we switched to eating brown rice instead of white rice, that presented even more challenges. I'm happy to say that

Arbor Day Tree Craft

2011-05-01T11:15:00.001-04:00

Friday April 29th we celebrated Arbor Day! A friend showed us how to make these super cool trees from paper bags. The girls and I have already made several and have thought up some fun variations - gluing leaves and flowers on, adding a bird's nest, etc. Here is a tutorial (each set of instructions refers to the photo underneath): Start with a small lunch size paper bag. Fold it in half and

Book Review: The Portable Pediatrician

2011-04-29T12:44:00.001-04:00

The Portable Pediatrician is a new book by the Sears family, a comprehensive guide to children's health. I have several of the Sears' books and this one has definitely earned a place on my bookshelf. It covers basic child growth, with a blurb on each of the well baby check-ups, and then the bulk of the book addresses pediatric concerns A-Z. After seeing the price on Amazon of only $14.95, I

Book Review: Secure Daughters Confident Sons

2011-04-27T09:26:00.001-04:00

Secure Daughters Confident Sons: How Parents Guide Their Children into Authentic Masculinity and Femininity interested me. I mean, who doesn't want to raise secure daughters and confident sons? However, I didn't really find the book to be as "eye-opening" as the back cover claims. Part 1 discusses "A Clear Vision For Authentic Manhood and Womanhood". Although the book is written from a

Happy Pretzel Day!

2011-04-26T21:04:00.000-04:00

Did you know that today is National Pretzel Day? Me either. But Laura knew, and invited us to bake pretzels and celebrate right along with her. So we did. :) These turned out great! Instead of butter and salt we used butter, cinnamon, and sugar on a few. Yum! We might have to celebrate Pretzel Day every year! :)

Haba Organic Pull Toy Review

2011-04-17T15:21:00.003-04:00

Could Haba toys get any better? We already love Haba, so when I saw their new line of organic toys I was excited! Julabug sent us the Pulling Toy Cotti to review. It is adorable, and just the right size for Esther. Esther is very into pointing and saying "ear", "eye", etc. In the photo above, she is showing me the lamb's cheek. :) She enjoys pulling him all around. The wheels work

Slow

2011-04-16T14:55:00.000-04:00

Its been a bit slow on the blog here lately, sorry about that! We are in the process of selling our house and phew, its been hard keeping things spotless. I am going to be without a computer this coming week as well, so posting is going to be scarce yet again. I'm trying to have patience in this whole process, but I am definitely looking forward to being settled in our new home and back to

Whipped Body Butter (Giveaway!)

2011-04-12T22:53:00.002-04:00

One of my readers contacted me about reviewing some whipped body/ hair butter that she makes. After reading her story, I was thrilled to! Kiara is selling these body butters to raise money to fund an adoption. This will be their fifth child, third adoption. You can read their story here. I received two gorgeous tubs of body butter, and a chapstick too! These are made with all natural and

CSN Stores

2011-04-10T14:45:00.000-04:00

I recently got to update my kitchen bakeware with new stainless steel products from CSN stores. I chose two muffin pans, a pastry blender, a whisk, and a cheese grater, all of which badly needed replacing. My muffin pans were rusty and the pastry blender was downright dangerous. It had a really sharp corner right where you hold on to it. Oh, and my cheese grater was missing two of its three

Isabooties (Giveaway!)

2011-04-03T15:06:00.001-04:00

I love seeing little tiny people just learning to walk. Esther has been walking since 9 months! I didn't even believe children could walk that early. Lucy was close to a year old when she started to walk, and Julia was 10 or 11 months. Esther has two big sisters to keep up with, so she didn't waste any time. At 14 months now, I'm pulling her down off of the coffee table and anything else she

Feeding A Picky Eater

2011-04-02T13:35:00.001-04:00

Do you have a picky eater in your home? I do. I am definitely not an expert on the matter, but I have a few thoughts to share. The picky eater in my home shall remain unnamed (but she's 3 and has curly hair and her name starts with Ju- and ends in -lia). We have struggled tremendously with her eating habits and have tried many different approaches. I understand what an issue it can be. Here

Little Hearts For His Glory - Week 6

2011-03-28T21:36:00.001-04:00

I can't believe we are through week 6 already! We are enjoying Little Hearts For His Glory. The girls have gone from "No.... I don't want to do school." back to "Yeah, I love school, Mommy!". Julia (3) enjoys jumping in right along with us. She doesn't do workbook type things or any phonics yet, but loves the read alouds and any activities. I love that she doesn't have to feel excluded from

I am...

2011-03-26T20:33:00.000-04:00

reading: One Thousand Gifts <--- maybe the best book I've ever read. seriously. Raising Your Spirited Child Nourishing Traditions cooking: homemade hair gel chicken and biscuits (This was my fourth or fifth attempt at biscuits and they actually turned out!) Tammy's pinto beans happy: That my car wasn't actually stolen, I just forgot that I parked on the other side of the parking lot. I did

Homemade Cream Soda

2011-03-25T23:20:00.000-04:00

I am completely addicted to homemade cream soda! It used to be a treat that Ross and I both enjoyed on the rare occasion we were out to eat somewhere that happened to have real cream sodas. Now we often enjoy making our homemade version after dinner, its so good its almost like dessert. I adapted the recipe just a bit from this one. Make the vanilla syrup ahead of time: 2 cups cane sugar (

Miessence Review - Includes Giveaway

2011-03-20T11:47:00.000-04:00

One of my friends recently became a consultant for Miessence - certified organic skin, hair, body, cosmetic, oral, and nutritional products. I got to attend her first home spa party. (Yay, Jessica!) Jessica is a stay at home mom of three and is passionate about all things natural and healthy. I had never heard of Miessence, but I'm impressed. They are certified organic, which means no yucky

Doorposts Giveaway

2011-03-15T09:25:00.001-04:00

Doorposts has a new blog and is doing ten days of giveaways to celebrate! Check it out! I included one of Doorposts' products in my post on character training recently. I'm looking forward to reading more of their blog. :)

Kitchen Experiments

2011-03-13T23:36:00.000-04:00

I usually keep a running list of recipes I want to try. Most weeks I include at least one new recipe in my plans. Other times I am on a roll and knock several off my list. I try to experiment on the weekends when I have a bit more time to spend in the kitchen and Ross is here to help watch the little ones. Here are some of the recipes I have tried recently: whole wheat noodles - These were

Organizing Children's Clothing

2011-03-08T16:07:00.000-05:00

This is what my stored children's clothing used to look like: This is what it looks like now: A couple of months ago I pulled up every box and bag of children's clothing and piled it in the living room. It took a few days, but I went through it all. After having three girls and rummaging through the clothes numerous times to find swimsuits, store out of season clothes, look for a snowsuit,

Muffin Tin Monday

2011-03-07T13:19:00.000-05:00

Its Muffin Tin Monday! Lucy and I started pulling leftovers out of the fridge: garlic toast, a yellow pepper that looked good... It was feeling a little random until I remembered that it was Monday. A muffin tin makes it all better! We rounded the meal out with ranch dip, cheese, crackers, and lunchmeat. (Actually Julia had sauerkraut in her tin, but no peppers or lunchmeat.) :) Happy

The Vacuum Cleaner Search Continues....

2011-03-07T09:29:00.000-05:00

A friend recently mentioned the Shark Navigator Lift Away vacuum cleaner to me. I had not come across it in my earlier research, but it looked great! After reading quite a bit about it, I was almost sold. The vacuum cleaner is a sealed system and says that it offers HEPA filtration. I never got a reply from Shark about whether or not they are RoHS certified (which would mean they regulate

Building Character

2011-03-05T15:56:00.001-05:00

I recently asked on a couple of homeschool lists for ideas on character building. Teaching our children to be loving, kind, and obedient is much more important than teaching them facts and multiplication. I realized that I was spending all day teaching things like reading and writing, but not really knowing how to deal with character issues. I didn't have a teacher's manual for character

Food Documentaries

2011-03-02T12:46:00.001-05:00

Ross and I watched a couple of food documentaries on Netflix recently and were totally inspired! (Ok, not really recently, I wrote this post months ago and forgot to post it? lol Its still good though.) This is a must-see. Really, everyone should see this movie. We learned so much about our food, where it comes from, and some of the (shocking) politics behind it. Food Inc is very well done

Little Hearts For His Glory Week 2

2011-02-25T08:20:00.001-05:00

We are on our second week of Heart of Dakota's Little Hearts For His Glory and are having a blast! Lucy has already done My Father's World K and we were part way through first grade when we decided to switch. It was a bit hard to do, wondering if this was really going to be better for us or not. I realize that each program will have it's ups and downs, but MFW 1st was just not working for

New Cell Phones

2011-02-23T09:25:00.000-05:00

Ross and I both got new cell phones this week. He needed/ wanted an iPhone for work, and my phone wouldn't stay charged any more. We did a bit of research before choosing the phones; here is what we had in mind: - First of all, I knew we wanted a phone from one of these companies who "have publicly committed to phasing out all brominated fire retardants: Acer, Apple, Eizo Nanao, LG

Soaked Baked Oatmeal

2011-02-21T14:58:00.001-05:00

This is probably my family's favorite breakfast! We all enjoy this cakey tasting oatmeal. The hardest part is smelling the wonderful aroma while we wait for it to bake in the mornings. I usually get asked 10-12 times "Mom, is the baked oatmeal ready yet?". The night before, mix the following in an 8x8 pan: 2 cups oatmeal 1 cup yogurt (Stonyfield vanilla whole-milk yogurt works well.) 1/2

Finding a HEPA Vacuum Cleaner

2011-02-19T11:21:00.007-05:00

Did you know that the dust inside your home can be pretty toxic? Chemicals from plastics, furniture, electronics, and more "shed", releasing toxic particles into the air and dust in your home. PBDEs are one particularly toxic class of chemicals that are plentiful in household dust. PBDEs are flame retardants used in everything from electronics to couches and pajamas. The chemicals build up

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T23:06:00.002-05:00

This morning we enjoyed heart shaped toast with raspberry jam for breakfast. The girls were thrilled to find new headbands and stickers on the table when they woke up. :) I love how excited they get about special days like this. Lucy and Julia enjoyed a Muffin Tin Meal for lunch - shark crackers, yogurt, clementines, heart shaped cheese, strawberries, and lunch meat for Lucy. We also had

Heavenly Homemakers Sale

2011-02-12T20:17:00.000-05:00

Every downloadable product at Heavenly Homemakers is on sale! Use the code VALENTINE for 15% off! (good through Tuesday at midnight) This does include their awesome preschool curriculum - Learn Your Letters Learn to Serve, just not the print copy. I used the cocoa recipe cards as gifts at Christmas, and recently bought the vanilla recipe cards as well. Ok, so I also just bought the e-book

The Beginning Readers Bible Review

2011-02-12T11:37:00.000-05:00

I have looked through quite a few different children's Bibles in the last few weeks. The Early Reader's Bible and The Beginner's Bible are both used by Heart of Dakota's homeschool curriculum. I checked them out from the library to see if Lucy is ready for one of them yet. The Early Reader's Bible is probably my favorite because of the cute pictures and simple text. The Beginner's Bible has

Hexavalent Chromium?

2011-02-11T22:00:00.001-05:00

Have you seen the latest EWG research? They tested and found hexavalent chromium in 31 out of 35 cities. Hexavalent chromium (or chromium - 6) is a cancer causing chemical. There is no legal limit for this chemical, and water utilities are not required to test for it. Just another reason I love our Berkey water filter. We recently changed out the PF-2 Arsenic and Fluoride filters for new