kids

Master Chef Jr.

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My children have an addition.  They cannot seem to get enough Master Chef action on Hulu.  My oldest especially, wants to audition for the next season of the show, or at the very least, start her own restaurant in the very near future.  In fact, she recently asked the owner of our favorite local restaurant if she could live there.  Precious.

So to curb their enthusiasm, I told each girl she could prepare her own dish to serve at dinner.  And I must say, I was thoroughly shocked at the result.  This five-year-old and three-year-old created two different dishes that not only tasted good, but in the words of Gordon Ramsay were “visually stunning.”  It is truly fascinating to me what the minds of small children are capable of when left to run free without boundaries or restrictions.

At This Moment

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At this moment I am…

~thrilled that it appears we will have a bit of a raspberry crop this year after all.

~watching two pajama-clad girls running around the yard on this beautiful morning.

~proud of myself for overcoming some major fears this past weekend in The Warrior Dash.

~tearful about Wednesday, the day my oldest baby will head off to all-day kindergarten.

~saddened that this week marks the end of summer.

~getting that itch for fall and everything that comes with it:  leaves, apple cider, football and woolens.

~excited to pick the next piece for my book club 🙂  I’m thinking of choosing this one…One of my top three favorite books of all time.

~thankful for a lovely afternoon yesterday with a wonderful group of women and their families.

~wishing you all a wonderful week filled with fabulous memories!

A Summer Snack

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We have found ourselves surrounded by fresh veggies.  They lay on every flat surface of our kitchen and sunroom right now and I have been trying to find clever ways to eat this plethora of veg in the freshest way possible.

The biggest issue I seem to run into with my little ones is they need to have the vegetables prepared and ready to go if they are going to eat them.  So, this week I decided whip up a really quick and simple tzatziki dip with cucumbers from our garden.  I then slice up a bunch “dippable” vegetables (carrots, sweet peppers, small tomatoes) and store them in a sealed container.  Now any time a member of the family gets that urge to snack, there is a nice healthy snack waiting for them in the fridge.

{A little work from a friendly fairy always helps a bit too 🙂 }

For my tzatziki, I mix together:  Greek yogurt, cucumbers (seeds removed and diced), fresh or dried oregano, onion powder, fresh lemon juice, salt and pepper.  I just taste along the way and adjust my amounts accordingly.

At This Moment

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At this moment I am…

~glancing out my kitchen window at the garden and all of the weeds that need to be picked today.

~preparing for yet another garden extension after being inspired at this past weekend’s Heritage Garden Festival.  (Check out this link:  Our family was photographed for our local newspaper when we were attending the festival 🙂 )

~mustering up some motivation to do quite a bit of laundry today.  The pile seems extremely tall and overwhelming on this Monday morning.

~thankful for the crisp morning air.  Something we have not felt in a very, very long time.

~planning activities for the last few weeks of summer.  Where did it go?

~priming the kitchen for a day of tomato sauce making.  Our tomatoes are coming out in full force right now.

~wishing you all a wonderful week filled with fabulous memories!

Friendship

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This morning when my alarm woke me at 5 am, I was shocked to hear the sound of rain pounding down upon the roof above me.  Wonderful precious rain, finally.  So instead of leaping immediately out of bed to start my day, I decided to lie there a bit longer, thanking God for this storm that He has brought us.  From this place of gratitude, my mind began to wander to the fabulous weekend my family and I just shared with a wonderful group of friends.

It is amazing to me how strange, small circumstances, brought us all together nearly 13 years ago.   And those seemingly meaningless situations have carried us to this point of true friendship.  These women are people I have worked with, learned with, and lived with.  I have shared my passions and fears with them.  So many times we place so much emphasis on our family, those people that are related to us biologically through the blood we share.  But the bonds of friendship can be just as strong as those familial ties, and that line then blurs between family and friend.

We have now added so many beautiful children to the mix, and it is always amazing to me that at these gatherings, despite the fact that many of them have not seen each other in over a year, they seem to have a shared bond.  It is a miracle to watch these tiny people, mold lifelong friendships through their play.  Their reckless abandon and ease in which they interact with one another is breathtaking.  There is no awkward point where they are shy or uncomfortable, like so many adults often are upon first meeting or after not seeing someone for an extended period of time.  Instead, they fall instantly in step with one another as if this is something they do each and every day.

True friendship is so difficult to come upon, and this weekend brought this concept back into the light for me.  I am so very thankful for these women, their husbands, and their babies.  Our family.

At This Moment

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At this moment I am…

~thankful for a wonderful weekend filled with old friends, lots of children, wonderful chaos and lots of laughter.

~excited to watch my little ones at their swimming lessons again this week.

~creating my new “sewing nook.”

~praying for rain.  We need rainfall so very, very badly these days.

~preparing for the influx of tomatoes about to come to fruition this week.

~looking out my kitchen window at my garden, and willing myself to become motivated to weed today.

~excited (for some strange reason) to clean the house today.  Maybe it’s the new vacuum I just bought.  It’s the little things in life right 🙂

~wishing you all a wonderful week filled with wonderful moments!

At This Moment

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At this moment I am…

~preparing a list of supplies to make black raspberry jam.

~reminiscing upon the fun times had this weekend celebrating Daddy.

~contemplating a multitude of ideas floating about in my head involving a potential new project that could impact my children, as well as my community, in a positive way.

~mulling over the powerful words and ideas contained in Will Allen’s book The Good Food Revolution.

~trusting that rain drops will fall from the sky today to give our garden some desperately needed hydration.

~thanking God for my wonderful family.  I am so truly blessed.

~wishing you all a wonderful week filled with fabulous memories!

A World All Her Own

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Whenever I look at my little ones, I marvel at the imagination coursing through their tiny minds.  “What are they thinking right at this moment?” I ask myself multiple times throughout the day.  I often wish that I could go back to that time, when perception is broad and the possibilities are completely and utterly endless.  Anything is possible.

While my oldest was away at camp yesterday, I took some extra time to simply sit back and observe my tiny three year old daughter.  I heard clinking sounds echoing down the hallway, so I followed the sound to find this beautiful girl, decked out in a mermaid costume.  When I entered the room she didn’t know I was there.  She just continued to tinker way in “her” kitchen, picking up various utensils, humming and speaking quietly to herself in the lilting tones of a young child.

After a bit of time passed, she noticed me standing in the threshold.  She looked at me with beaming eyes, held out a kettle and said, “Mommy, I am making egg pie with blueberries and lemon.  It is going to be soooo yummy!”

Yes, yummy indeed my little one.  Such imagination.  Such creativity.  Such a precious being standing right in front of my eyes, in a world all her own.

Burlap Placemats

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While on our visit to Growing Power in Milwaukee, Wisconsin back in December, we were told that burlap bags worked great as covers for compost bins.  Our tour guide told us that they obtained all of their burlap bags from local coffee roasters for little to no cost at all.

It just so happens that there is a local coffee roaster housed just two store fronts down from my husband’s fitness business, so we decided to investigate and I’ll be darned that they literally had closets full of burlap!  The owner said that there is one local farmer that comes regularly to pick up some of her extra bags, but other than that she was just waiting for someone to take them off her hands because she hated to just throw them out.

Well, my husband walked out of there with a tower of burlap sacks, towering far above his over six foot frame.  While we did use a few of the coffee bags to cover our compost bins, we were left with a lot extra stock.  So, I started to look through my crafting books for different things to do with burlap and I came upon one of my Amanda Blake Soule favorites, The Creative Family.  In this book, Amanda discusses the use of burlap to introduce children to sewing.  The wide spaces in the burlap make for easy needlework for young children.

After feeling inspired, as I so often do after reading Amanda’s books, the girls and I got to work.  The girls each took turns sewing using roughly 1 X 2 foot pieces of burlap (I simply cut up one coffee bag), embroidery floss, an embroidery hoop and a large needle.

After the girls reached a point where they were satisfied with their work, I removed the hoop and used my sewing machine to sew on a bit of fabric to the back of the burlap.

This quick project (It only took about 45 minutes from start to finish…including clean up.) ended up turning out quite well and the girls now have their very own hand crafted snack-time placemats.

Now I just need to come up with some more projects to use up the other twenty burlap bags I have 🙂  If anyone has any crafty ideas, please feel free to leave a comment.  I would love to come up with some more ideas.