A very fun way to waste some time...

The Winter of Scarves and Cowls

I have decided that since I chopped all my hair off (it's boy short), this winter is going to be officially known as: The Winter of Scarves and Cowls for me. I have just discovered the fabulousness of cowls and I feel the need to add some to my wardrobe. I know someone who is an amazing knitter...I wonder if I could convince her to make me one? Wink, wink.

Here are some (from Etsy, of course!) that I am particularly enamored with...

Last days of summer...

Summer is almost over and we are trying to enjoy each and every last moment. This means:

:: organic heirloom tomato and cucumber salad almost every day - we have A LOT of veggies to eat thanks to our CSA - Turnip Rock

:: celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary - can you believe we bought each other the same card AND the same gift!? So, so weird, right?

:: sleeping with open windows during the cool evenings - isn't this heavenly?

:: painting future masterpieces

:: mastering the art of riding a trike

:: finding bugs with a magnifying glass

:: making new friends at daycare - Eliot is loving his new home away from home and we love it, too! Thank you for being so fabulous in every way, Willow & Sprout!

:: and finally, camping, which was a huge hit for the whole family!

We had hoped to camp for three nights and four days, but because of the weather (torrential rain) we ended up camping for two nights and three days. I could have stayed for weeks. It was so fun. I love sleeping in a tent and cooking over a fire. I love being able to see all the stars at night and listening to the crickets as you fall asleep. It was so much fun to watch Eliot explore nature and spend all day every day outside. He was in seventh heaven. One of the days, we cleaned ourselves up a bit and headed over to the Schell's Brewery in New Ulm for a tour. They have incredibly yummy beer and scary statues of deer.

My own camp chair:


Hangin' out with cousin Behr:


Mud puddle adventures:



A nature walk:







The very scary deer:


I love watermelon!

A little love note...

Five years...

Today, I've been married to Jason for five years and I can't believe how fast those five years have gone. It feels like yesterday that I stood on a beach with him and promised forever. I've been trying to find the words to express how I feel about being married to him, but it all seems very cliche when I write it down. So, I'll keep it simple. I love him more and more every day. He is my best friend, my personal comedian, my shoulder to cry on, my butler (on most days), my lover, my everything. I feel so blessed to have this man in my life and I cherish our relationship.

I love you, Jason! Happy Anniversary!

Check out our new look...

So, as you've likely noticed, our blog looks a bit different today. I've had some fun creating a new blog banner and customizing some of our fonts. What do you think? I love it! For some inspiration of your own, take a look at this great website with free fonts and easy to use tutorials:

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)

This spring, we joined a CSA called Turnip Rock so we could get local, fresh, in-season produce directly from a farm and support a local farmer. We do live really close to the Minneapolis Farmer's Market but the CSA is really easy and all we need to do is go pick up our fresh veggies every Thursday. We've loved it so far and we've been pretty good about not letting our veggies go to waste. For more information about Turnip Rock farm, check out their blog: http://turniprock.wordpress.com/

If you're not familiar with CSA's, here's a primer (taken from The Land Stewardship Project website):

At their most fundamental level, CSA farms provide a weekly delivery of sustainably grown produce to consumers during the growing season (approximately June to October). Those consumers, in turn, pay a subscription fee. But CSA consumers don't so much "buy" food from particular farms as become "members" of those farms. CSA operations provide more than just food; they offer ways for eaters to become involved in the ecological and human community that supports the farm.

...being involved with a CSA operation always means sharing the rewards as well as the risks of farming. The rewards include: enjoying the freshest produce available, often harvested the same day you receive it; knowing where, how and by whom your food is being produced; having a direct connection with the people who produce your food; and supporting the kind of stewardship that is good for the land as well as its people.

The risks include weather and pests. Though formidable for small, self-sustaining farmers, these risks are bearable when shared by a group of subscribers. By linking together through CSA operations, farmers and consumers alike can benefit from an agriculture that provides beautiful and bountiful food while preserving the ecological and social basis necessary for coming generations to be so blessed.

So basically, it's good for us, it's good for farmers, it's good for our local economy, it's good for the environment - I mean, could it really get any better?! In the past few weeks, our CSA share has had cucumbers, parsley, new potatoes, onion, green onion, beets, squash, romaine lettuce, carrots, sunflowers along with other veggies. Yum! Today, I wanted to use the parsley, cucumber, romaine lettuce, green onion and some mint that a friend gave me from her garden. So we made tabbouleh for supper and ate it along with some organic whole grain pita bread and tzatziki (mixed with chopped cucumber) from Holy Land grocery in Minneapolis. The only thing that was missing was falafel. (Oh, how I love falafel!!) Here's the recipe we used:

Tabbouleh
2 cups bulgur wheat (presoaked for 1 hour)
3 cups parsley, finely minced
1/4 cup mint, finely chopped
3 green onions, finely sliced
2 medium tomatoes, seeded & diced
3 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt

In a large bowl, gently mix together the bulgur, parsley, mint, green onion, tomato, pepper, cumin & salt with a wooden spoon. Add the lemon juice and mix again. Chill the tabbouleh for one hour to let the flavors blend. Just before serving, add the olive oil and mix well. Serves 6.

It was very easy to make and tasted good, but I should have minced the parsley much finer. The pieces were a little too big and the flavor overwhelmed the flavors a little bit. So don't be lazy like me when you make this! Here's what it looked like:


We hope you had a great supper tonight, too. Tomorrow I have to make something with all the beets we have. Any ideas or recipes to share?

Living & Parenting with Intention

“Things which matter most should never be at the mercy of things which matter least." Goethe.
_______________________________

Living with intention is difficult. Parenting with intention is even more difficult. When you have children, your days get very busy and it becomes so easy to just go through the motions of daily life to simply make it through. Days turn to weeks and it all just becomes a blur. You don't intend for it to happen, but suddenly you wake up and wonder where all your time has gone to. I know this feeling all too well. It's difficult to remember that we have choices. We can CHOOSE to live and parent differently. We can CHOOSE to live and parent with intention and purpose. We can CHOOSE to embrace only those things which are most important to us and we can create a family life we love, not just a life of going through the motions.

Many of you know that we practice Attachment Parenting for these reasons (parenting with intention and purpose). In addition, we are continually striving to create a home for Eliot that is consistent with our values, which nurtures and supports him completely. This is hard work. We are not perfect and many days I'm tired and frustrated by the difficulties of our daily life. At the end of a long day, I don't always feel like focusing on and creating a harmonious home environment. But it's important and it's so worth it. I just purchased these two books to help us along this journey and I can't wait to get them and starting reading. Wherever you and your family are on your own journey - Godspeed to you!

_______________________________

Heaven on Earth: A Handbook for Parents of Young Children
Sharifa Oppenheimer

As we witness the shifting of old forms that once stood as the foundation of our daily lives, parents—who must prepare the next generation to meet this changing world—have more questions now than ever before. Although our culture and the nature of the family may be changing, the atmosphere in the home continues to create the foundation of a child’s life. In Heaven on Earth, parent and educator Sharifa Oppenheimer reveals how to make the home environment warm, lively, loving, and consistent with your highest ideals.

Heaven on Earth balances theoretical understanding of child development with practical ideas, resources, and tips that can transform family life. Readers will learn how to establish the life rhythms that lay the foundation for all learning; how to design indoor play environments that allow children the broadest skills development; and how to create backyard play spaces that encourage vigorous movement and a wide sensory palette. Through art, storytelling, and the festival celebrations, this book is a guide to build a "family culture" based on the guiding principle of love. Such a culture supports children and allows the free development of each unique soul.

The Creative Family
Amanda Blake Soule

When you learn to awaken your family’s creativity, wonderful things will happen: you’ll make meaningful connections with your children in large and small ways; your children will more often engage in their own creative discoveries; and your family will embrace new ways to relax, play, and grow together. With just the simple tools around you—your imagination, basic art supplies, household objects, and natural materials—you can transform your family life, and have so much more fun!

Perfect for all families, the wide range of projects presented here offers ideas for imaginative play, art and crafts, nature explorations, and family celebrations. This book embraces a whole new way of living that will engage your children’s imagination, celebrate their achievements, and help you to express love and gratitude for each other as a family.

Eliot's Day at the Zoo

We spent Sunday afternoon at the Minnesota zoo with my parents. Eliot LOVES animals and we all had a fabulous time. You might notice that when Eliot's with Papa he gets to eat pickles and ice cream - just like a preggo lady. So funny!








Eliot's favorite part of the zoo was the prairie dogs. Weird, huh?! He couldn't get enough.

I have sand in my underwear...

We're home from Mexico! We had a very relaxing and fun week and it only rained once! So much for that forecast, huh?! Our trip did start out a little rough, though. We had to be to the airport by 4:30 am to catch our 6:30 flight and when we woke up, we found out we had no hot water. Well, showers were required (can you say "stinky"?) so we restarted the water heater and waited 3o minutes for warm water. This meant we got to the airport about an hour later than planned and almost missed our flight. Stressful. Once we were on the plane, we realized that we had left our folder with some of our travel documents, health insurance cards, credit cards, etc. at the American Airlines ticket counter. Stressful. We needed some of those documents for our hotel stay and we were worried about the credit cards. We were able to work it out with the hotel and my mom was very gracious and drove to the airport for a second time that morning to pick up the folder for us, which had ended up in the Lost & Found. When we got to Cancun, the car service was waiting for us but didn't have the carseat we had arranged so Eliot got to sit on my lap the whole way to Playa del Carmen. Stressful. If you've ever been in Mexico, you know that sometimes they can drive a little crazy so I was pretty nervous for the 50 minutes it took us to get to our hotel. But we arrived safely and were FINALLY able to relax. Our days there almost all looked about like this:

7:30-8:00 am: Wake-up call (courtesy of Eliot)
8:30-9:30 am: Breakfast
9:30-11:00 am: Swimming in the pool
11:00 am-1:00 pm: Eliot's nap - Jason and I took turns laying out by the pool or reading in the hammock on our balcony
1:00-2:00 pm: Lunch
2:00-3:00 pm: Swimming in the pool
3:00-5:00 pm: Hanging out on the beach, playing in the sand, swimming in the ocean
5:00-6:00 pm: Shower and get ready for supper
6:00-7:30 pm: Supper
7:30-8:00 pm: Bedtime routine for Eliot
8:00-midnight: Jason & I read on the balcony - we usually had a fight over who got the hammock. I read three and half books during the week and Jason read one and a half. It was very luxurious to have so much free time for reading.












One of the mornings, we got up early and walked down 5th Avenue all the way to the other side of town to the beach/ruins where we were married five years ago. It was really special for Jason and I to be there again with Eliot and remember what it was like on the day we promised to be together forever... We took these photos there.







This was us five years ago on our wedding day.




Eliot made two friends while we were in Mexico. Manuel is a four year old from Guadalajara who played with Eliot all week - they are now pen pals.


And Fabiene is an eleven year old from Holland who thought Eliot was the sweetest thing ever.


We had great fun with both of them. We also found out that a waiter we had met when we were in Playa six years was working at our hotel. We got to spend a good amount of time talking with him and catching up. It was great to see him. We are so very lucky to have the lives that we do! In Mexico, the people who work in the hotels work six days a week, 11 hours per day. They don't get vacation, they don't get sick time, they don't get benefits. But they are so grateful for their jobs and they WORK SO HARD. We take so much for granted...

I also need to give a huge shout out to the ladies of Fresh, Meredith & Shawn. They helped us out with transportation and some yummy organic groceries while we were in Mexico. If you're ever in Playa and need ANYTHING, you must call them immediately. They're amazing! Thanks ladies!

The trip home was difficult and might best be described as awful. It involved flight delays, almost missing a connecting flight, long lines in security, running through airports, Eliot not getting a good nap and turning into a little monster, three hours of crying on the final leg our flight home, etc., etc. Lessons learned: (1) Direct flights are always better, (2) Never fly in or out of Miami if at all humanly possible, (3) Benadryl to help a child sleep is sometimes ok, (4) A "lap child" is a bad idea, (5) Mean, childless businessmen are horrible people without hearts but karma will take care of this eventually, (6) Travelling with a toddler is generally difficult and the sooner you accept that reality, the better and (7) As difficult as our day was, we're incredibly lucky to have the opportunity to fly somewhere on a whim.

Tomorrow it's back to work. No complaints here. I'm so thankful that we were so blessed to be able to take this vacation together as a family.