Let's Legalize It!

 Pretty much everyone  knows how we feel about whole foods and organics and all that jazz... We cook from scratch quite often and we try to avoid processed foods.
        One thing we have tried recently and will be adding to our menu is Raw Milk. We are pretty excited about this change!

I have to admit that I was pretty shocked to see that it tastes like milk... I'm not real sure what I expected, but I was certain that it would be gross and I would have to learn to tolerate it. Not the case at all! It is good, I like it better than store milk. Quite possibly because it doesn't come in a grossy mcgrosserson plastic container... but who knows!

Anyways- pretty much everyone I know who is not a Raw Milker has given me some form of grief about this decision. So I figure that this funny little site/video might help to provide some education...

I think it is pretty cute though...
Check Out the Video!    For more info you could look to the Weston A. Price campaign for Real Milk.

Peace!
Nikki

One more try!

I am trying a new way to post documents to my blog since the previous method seems to be hit or miss...

I will toss up a few things.. some useful and some not so much. Some people prefer to have their homemaking binder full to the top... if that's you, enjoy the boring/useless pages!

First up is a Babysitter Checklist The colors are kind of lame but it seems to be pretty useful. I might pretty it up later.

Next is Solid Food Schedule This is a traditional schedule based on the information from Wholesome Baby Food. I might be creating a new one with less "traditonal" foods and based on Nourishing Traditions...

Page 2 of the feeding schedule is here... It should take you right up to a year. It's a great tool to have if baby has any feeding issues it's also great to ensure the food introductions are properly spaced.


Hopefully those bad boys will work and then I can tart tossing up more documents.

Peace!
Nikki

Friday is Math Day!

We didn't really have an exciting Math Day.  On Math Day we usually make a better effort at counting anything and everything... and that is pretty much what we did today.

We also played Busy Farm and did Tangrams. Unfortunately I do not have photos....

We made a  school bus/train in the livingroom. Bastian was the bus driver and Gman and I were passengers. After multiple trips to the "grocery store" and the "doctor" Bastian decided to get an easier bus route... This crowd was much less demanding than we were!

 Bastian actually hauled those chairs into the playroom all by himself too! I'm amazed by his strength... I would have bet that he couldn't do that! 

We also made some plantable seed paper. Which is really exciting. The purpose was mainly to figure out what we are doing so that when the time comes and we actually want to give them to someone... they look halfway presentable.  It was super fun and super easy. Bastian loved to stir and measure/add the seeds... we also added some dried calendula and mint just for looks.  In the photo they are still wet and super thick... they should dry quite a bit smaller... 

It will be pretty thick paper this time around though... but that is what a practice round is good for right?

 Bastian and I finished off our day by heading outside and ripping up the garden. We pulled out the tomato plant. We have gotten quite a bit of good tomatoes from it, but lately something seems to be getting to them before we do... and I am sick of watering it! After that we added some brown compost and turned our pile. I am excited that next year we should have TONS of good compost for our garden. 

 So- in the end we didn't do a ton of Math specifically... but quite a bit of Math "theory" type work... I am satisfied with what was done... The joy of homeschool is that you can pick up slack on another day if necessary and you can do it in your undies if you want!  

Peace!

Nikki

Thursday is Art/History/Geography/Finance Day!

Thursday is our day to spread a basic awareness of certain subjects. Normally they would be way over Bastian's head and so we spend very little time on them. Basically we rotate the theme each week, or we do two in one day if the lesson is small.

Today was Art/History

For history we have been practicing the first few presidents. Bastian only knows the first two every time the others are hit or miss. We also practice The Pledge of Allegiance.

Today was initially planned to be a 100% Art day but we went to Mom's group instead and we had to revise our project because we ran out of time!

The project we did do was less cool, but still fun!
We made a bird feeder out of a pop bottle. (Classy, I know!) Who cares... the birds don't care!

First we cut the bottle and crammed his face into it...

Next we filled it with seeds...

Then we got Bastian's mixed reviews...

And then we hung it in the tree. 

I understand that it is barely an art project... but we needed a bird feeder for our upcoming bird projects. It'll do for today!

Peace!

Nikki

Wednesday is Bible Study Day

Today was our first day of our Community Bible Study! It was amazing! Bastian was in his own class of preschoolers and he had a blast. Not only do they practice scripture memorization but they do it in a fun song! The teachers also pray with each child, which I think is super cool!

This is right when we dropped him off in his classroom. When all he could think about was the huge playground that we passed on the way in! 

They learned about trusting the Lord and his Word. He also decorated a folder to keep his work in the year. 

And he made a magnet that has all of the memory verses on it. With it on the fridge we are reminded to review it often. 

When I went to pick him up he didn't want to leave with me! 

Once we got home and had lunch, I put Gman down for his nap and then we read a few stories about Noah's Ark and then got to work on Bastian's CBS homework. 

 

It will hang on the fridge for review until next week when we put the new one up.

We are so excited about CBS. I know it will be a great year!

Peace,

Nikki

Tuesday is Science Day

Today we strayed a little from our schedules and let Bastian take a bath with Gman.

Gman loves to take a bath with Bastian... that is until Bastian splashes him in the face!

After breakfast and morning nap for Gabriel we headed for 3 Lakes Nature Park for Science Day!

Today we were learning about Leaves. 

We collected leaves. Talked about shape, size and color of them...

We also walked through the Nature Center to see Bastian's favorite animal the Alligator snapper. 

And of course made time to swing!

And after we got home we started our craft project with some of the leaves collected.

We painted the leaf in "Peacock colors" and stamped it on the shirt... then Bastian went crazy on the thing!

He's super excited to wear it to bible study tomorrow!

Peace!

Nikki

Read This, Not That!

I like to read. I usually read non-fiction books about health, nutrition, parenting or something biblical or based in christianity... although I love to read fiction, I have a hard time finding books I like.

My two most recent reads would fall into the parenting category.

We are "attachment parents" through and through... I'm not sure what would possess me to read a book that even mentions crying it out! But I did! The book started out with some great information about sleep patterns and nap timing... but once you get into the actual advice it was junk! The idea of letting Gabriel cry for an hour at nap time and then indefinitely at night makes me sick to my stomach.

The book I'm referring to is Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Dr. Weissbluth.
I do not recommend it at all! Not that anyone asked my opinion... but just in case you wondered!

The book I DO like is called Night Time Parenting by Dr. Sears. We love Dr. Sears anyways... so it is no surprise that we liked this book. Dr. Sears books are what introduced us to attachment parenting in the first place and from them we learned to trust our intuition as parents rather than follow schedules or allow our babies to cry.
This book is much more aligned with our thinking. I truly believe that a child cries to communicate and not manipulate and as the parent it is our job to keep our babies feeling comfortable and give them a general feeling of "rightness"

I know this is a touchy subject... but these are just my thoughts!
Peace,
Nikki

Monday Is Library Day!

September 1st marked the first day of our preschool year! Each Day has a theme and Monday is library day!

Here we are at the Henrico Library!

Bastian reading on the floor!

He really does like the library... he just likes being grumpy more!

Gman LOVES the library! He loves to crawl around and pull books off of the shelves!

Every time we walk in the library Bastian takes a little pencil and a tiny sheet of paper and he writes a "text message" for daddy. Daddy loves to get his messages when he gets home from work.

We love library day!

Peace!

Nikki

Gabriel is 8 months old!

Madness! I cannot believe our baby dude is 8 months old today!

He is roughly 19 lbs and like a billion inches long. Actually, we had a sick baby visit last week and the doctor weighed him but did not measure length... So I have no idea how long he is. More than 29 inches but less than 100.

He crawled for the first time about 3 days ago. But he still just manages to work his way places, but nobody is sure how. We look and he'll be in one place and a few minutes later he'll be across the room... nobody knows how, but he does it!

He is becoming more and more amazed by Bastian. Bastian knows and loves this! He loves to sit and watch his big brother and Bastian loves to make him crack up. Their favorite thing to do right now is scream back and forth at each other during breakfast... awesome right?

He still LOVES O'Reilly! I'm pretty sure that if he didn't need me to feed him that he  would just cling to O'Reilly all day. He loves the stinking dog more than he loves us... we are pretty sure of that. The good thing is that O'Reilly loves him back!

Happy 8 Months G-man!!

Peace,
Nikki

GratiTuesday- 3 Loads of Dishes!!

Today was spent in the kitchen! It was a cooking fest to end all cooking fests! 

We were running low on baby food, so I had to whip up a batch of Gman's tried and true favorites that don't upset his little system. As well as some new foods that we are venturing into. So far we have been stuck in  the rut of Plums, Prunes, Sweet Potatoes and Green Beans.  This time we are trying Acorn Squash, Eggplant and Peaches! Exciting world out there!  

After the baby fooding was done I had to make breakfast for Tony for the week. Which was just a simple Breakfast Casserole. I cook one before each work week and he has a yummy & hot  breakfast all week long. 

Next was the seeds from the Acorn Squash! When I was making the baby food it occurred to me that I could roast the seeds! I love seeds of pretty much any kind and I hate to waste, so this was an awesome discovery!  

Next was (and is) the most exciting part! Fruit Leather! I have no idea how it will turn out because it takes 12-18 hours to make in the oven.  The recipes that I found were for one fruit. But I'm not one to follow directions.. so I am trying sweet potato- apple leather. I'm excited to give it a try in the morning!

Somewhere in there I made a mediocre dinner. For real.. it was boring.

The madness resulted in 3 full loads of dishes in the dishwasher! While I am not a huge fan of loading/ unloading the dishwasher... the fact that I did today means that we have plenty of food on the table. We have the means to prepare our own nourishing foods and that the Lord is keeping watch over our family.  For that I am grateful.

Peace,

Nikki

World's Largest Marshmallows & Belle Isle

Blah blah blah health food smealthfood!

 The other day while shopping  for organic something or other at Martins I ran across the biggest marshmallows in the world! So I pretty much had to buy them and then we had to make s'mores with them.

We had our friends Andy and Danielle over for a late Birthday Shindig for Andy... being the rockstars that we are we bought him a meat thermometer.  Cool right?

They were too big to fit on a graham cracker! They were insanely messy... it was so dumb.

And here is the sad part... they were really gross! I don't think anyone finished even one! And nobody wanted s'more! ( I'm a hoot!) They all met their doom in the fiery pit of the fire pit.  Danielle took the rest of the marshmallows home for a marshmallow fight... I think they are good for that purpose, but that's about it. 

After church today we decided that we needed to check out Belle Isle again, It has been a while since our last trip.  The weather was perfect! We walked out on the rocks for a while, Bastian and Tony tossed rocks into the water, we watched bare chested men with puppies flirt with the ladies, we watched a bunch of people try to look cool and fall in the water and then we watched a Rottweiler haul a piece of driftwood larger than himself out of the water! What a great Sunday!

Coolest Dog Ever! 

Peace!

Nikki

Happy Birthday to Me!

On August 20th I turned the big 25! That's right friends, I can now rent a car! We were in VA beach with friends and it was a great way to spend  the day! (With the exception of Bastian yakking all day long!)

When we got home there was a mysterious box on the table... When I opened it I found these!

My sweet thang noticed my ridiculous excitement over the stainless steel cups at Michie Tavern and he bought me eight 16oz cups and four 32oz cups for my birthday! I was so excited! We are one step closer to being completely plastic free! ( Our goal is by Jan 1st to be completely plastic free... I sure hope we make it!)

So anyways... whatta guy! I must say I feel like a lucky lady every day anyways... but I feel super special when my dude pays attention to my ramblings and then buys me some sweet cups!

Peace!

Nikki

America's Divine Destiny & Restoring Honor Rally & DC Fun!

Tony and I were lucky enough to get tickets to "America's Divine Destiny" at the Kennedy Center on August 27th. It was an amazing experience. We were super lucky to be a part of it. 

     We walked from our hotel on Wednesday night to see how far  it was (Tony would be leaving around 4am to try to get tickets for the event!) We got there around 6pm and the line  was around the building! Tickets wouldn't be available until 10am the next day! We decided that Gabriel and I would stay, and Tony and Bastian would walk to the hotel get the car then I would go back to the hotel room with the boys and Tony would camp out at the Kennedy Center all night in hopes of getting a ticket. While I was in line Glenn Beck came and talked, prayed, signed books, bought pizza... some people in line were going crazy over him!  I think he's an ok guy... He has some great ideas, but I could do without the waterworks! The ladies around us in line wanted to marry him or kidnap him and take him home... I'm not sure which! It was freaky either way!   The great thing about it was they gave us all tickets and let everyone go home at 9pm! The show was sold out 11hours before tickets were supposed to be available!  

In line for tickets!

The event itself was awesome! The entire purpose was to pray for an American Revival. They  had amazing speakers like Miles McPherson from The Rock Church in San Diego. His message was so motivating. I love that his message was intended to get the Christian off the couch and out in the world. Tony and I definitely feel like the Lord is guiding us out into the world so we were able to relate to him big time! Lives are not saved on your drive to and from church... It was great. 

Another great speaker was Dave Roever He has a sad story, but he was a riot. He had a great message about why we should never give up and that God has a plan for us.   I loved him!

Chuck Norris was another speaker. It cracked me up that he was there, I think he's a great guy but to be honest I was el bored-o during his speech! 

The event as a whole was awesome. Beck invited thousands of Pastors, Rabbis and other church leaders. He stated that many churches have gone soft and we need to remain diligent about keeping God in our country. It was such an amazing experience! The best part was the we had both boys with us and they both slept the entire time!

We left the Kennedy Center at 11pm  and had to walk through the pitch black woods for 2 miles through DC with 2 kids. Can you say MORONS! I was so tired, but I was able to sprint-walk the entire time. I am certain that my pupils were the size of dinner plates and that I could have fought off a bear with all of the adrenalin pumping through my body. I was horrified to say the least. 

The next day was the big "Restoring Honor'' Rally. It was the same idea with some fresh speakers.  The little men were exhausted and a little tough to wrangle... I spent a good chunk of the day sitting on our blanket rocket Gman and playing Hulk vs. Wolverine  with Bastian. I missed a fair amount of the rally so I am pretty excited that I was able to go the night before. 

Here are some photos!

Before America's Divine Destiny we were able to spend some time wandering around DC. We checked out some Monuments, fed some pigeons, had a sword fight in the park and then went to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. Bas had been pestering us to see dinosaurs for quite some time and we were finally able to show him! Tony and I realized that we had never seen a dinosaur before either... how crazy is that!! 

We logged about 13 miles on foot on Friday and Saturday... by the time that we got home we were SPENT! Getting out of bed on Sunday was tough for everyone! But it was definitely worth it! 

Peace!

Nikki