Our CSA Bounty This Week!

In a CSA, I basically pay for a “share” of the harvest and receive my share once a week. I also order a dozen fresh eggs every week. The total for this comes out to about $38/week. And every week I receive the most beautiful, locally grown, organically grown vegetables. I was concerned about joining a CSA because I am such a planner and I didn’t know how I would handle having to design my weekly menus based on what I received.

I am so glad I did it. I think for the first time in my life I am truly eating in season. You are somewhat forced to do so based on what you receive each week. This summer has been amazing! I have been trying so many new recipes and having a blast in the kitchen. Our meals and snacks are lighter, have great color washed in the hues of summer, and so fresh. It is has been so cool. Even with the kids snacks, I find us eating more carrots, cucumbers, grapes, bell peppers – a lot of fresh, crispy, cooling things. I don’t think I have had this much fun in the kitchen in a long time!!

I am over the moon. And I must give thanks to my new cookbook, Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. His recipes are simple and delicious. Also, you MUST check out an awesome blog, Frugal Foods – a Mom in one of my Mama’s group spends $225/month on groceries and blogs about how she does it while cooking these amazing, healthy foods. I have gotten some great recipes from her and have been able to cut my grocery bill utilizing some of her tips. And try the vegetarian sausages – they are amazing! We grilled them and I was really impressed – so was hubby!

Cooking is so fun these days….and so colorful! Summer cooking is such a blast!

Black Bean Croquettes with Yogurt and Salsa, Squash Skillet and a Spinach Salad with homemade oil and vinegar dressing – YUM!! Light and Delicious!

I feel like I am trying on new personalities or something. With staying home and focusing more on our home rhythms, I have really strayed from our nature adventures. I don’t know why – all of the sudden they seemed like such work. We haven’t been hiking in months I think.

With the summer heat, we would usually head to Bull Creek, but there are severe water quality issues there that concern me. I am hoping that maybe in six months things will be clear up, but given all the reports in the news I didn’t want to take any chances.

Turkey Creek is my other zen spot and I decided that Monday we would check it out. Being summer in Texas, it was very likely that all the water was dried up. The hike is a very shady one, so at least it would be a cool hike even sans water. Well, as expected, the first water crossing was dry as a bone. The second had none. At this point, Tyler is telling me that Turkey Creek is “ruined” without the water. We get to the third crossing point and find stagnant pools of water. I was holding out hope for the fourth crossing – our usual stomping ground anyway. Sure enough, there was flowing water there. It was cool and clear and flowing just enough that I felt comfortable with the kids frolicking in it.

And what goodness! We had such a wonderful time playing in the water, watching the fish and then the greatest surprise of all – tadpoles! Ah, the hunt was on after that! Even Mama got in on the action – they are fast little things! Tyler caught one all my himself too!

And I sat there soaking up this beautiful place, this wonderful day and wondering why on earth we had been away so long. We had the park to ourselves and it was so peaceful. I am searching for this perfect balance of nourishment for my kids and myself. Stretching myself in some places and yet, needing to remember what was good in the “old” days.

Heading into the forest	Quinn – She looks so cute balled up by the edge of the water
Exploring, Fishing…	Tyler Catches a Tadpole!
Quinn holding her treasures so tightly!	Watching Tyler, it was like he went into primitive hunter mode. It was quite fascintaing to watch him so focused.

I sent an email to some friends and had to post part of it here….

Yesterday Quinn woke up way early from her nap and part of me wanted to just go get ice cream with the kids.  Then I had this internal discussion saying to myself, “no, don’t give up – you can totally stay here and have a great time.”  And we did.  The highlight was getting buckets of water and soap and having a car wash where the kids washed their bike, fire truck and whatnot.  I helped for like 10 minutes….and then for another 10 minutes they remained completely engrossed in their task.  After that we played with the water hoses…then we came inside for a while and I made them a rabbit hole out of couch cushions.

The “old me” would have bolted from the house trying to kill as much time as possible.  It was a really cool day and I was glad I stuck in out and had faith in my creativity and ability to guide us through the rest of our day.

• Quinn, as we are walking home from a bus ride, we pass our neighbor’s house where outside sits a new generation lime green VW bug. She is riding on my back in the mai tai. As we pass I hear her comment, “Ohhhhh, cooool car!” Yes, from the mouth of my almost two year old daughter.
• Quinn is on the stool at the sink and Tyler is wanting to get up to wash his dish as well. Tyler is beginning to get upset when Quinn looks down scoots her tiny feet over and says, “There’s room Tyler”, inviting her brother up with her.
• Quinn inspects her purple Keen sandals closely observing some mud caked on the bottom. She utilizes the nearby convenience of the dog’s water bowl and dips her shoes in to clean them saying, “I get some water for my shoes.”
• We were drawing with our new crayons one day. Lately the kids enjoy huddling around Mommy’s art helping her transform it. I was drawing some flowers on a page and Tyler decided that night was coming. So he begins drawing some night in the sky and then draws some night on my flowers saying, “There is some night melting on your flowers.”
• We went to El Arroyo and Tyler orders for himself saying, “I would like a cheese enchilada with chicken in a wrap, please.” He actually first gave his order to the seating person upon entering walking right up to the glass counter..
• The letter Q. The other day we were drawing and Tyler said he was going to draw the letter Q. I say okay and sure enough he drew two of them. I asked him who taught him that and he replied, “no one, I just wanted to draw a Q.” Mama was pleased as punch with that one. It further supports my views on education is some ways. And to see him have the pride and joy of figuring that out all on his own, well that was a priceless moment for me.

Some days around here are not stellar and I do muddle through. It isn’t always elegant how we get through the day, but we get there. As I review the day, I will pat myself on my back for not giving up or checking out. That has been one big change for me – if things are starting to go downhill, I remain engaged and shift directions. Kids throwing books/toys? Build them a cave on the couch which eventually leads to jumping on the couch (which is totally fine). Downstairs getting old, move upstairs. I am feeling hungry and grumpy, think the kids might as well – make a quick batch of always-pleasing popcorn.

Typically a Cave or Tunnel, but today we were climbing up a mountain…

I am starting to slowly build my arsenal. I got this great idea from a class I took at Blossom Family Center on 3 year-olds about using a lot more imaginary stuff and visual scenery. One day I couldn’t get Tyler on the potty, so I told him to go get on his tractor. I sat in the hallway with him, got on my tractor and took Tyler all over my farm – we fed the horses, checked on the sheep, got some eggs from the hens. And he loved it. Now he tells ME to go get on my tractor while he is on the potty and tells me where we are going. This morning he asked me if I had pigs on my farm…I guess I need to add some.

I am working on doing a better job of setting the stage for play. When I do that and get them engaged, I can usually pull away and get things done while in the same room/area. And I find that as I use my creativity more, the ideas are starting to flow more.

The last two days we have all been in a slump. Maybe I have been preoccupied or just out of sync with the kids. We have our Summer Blossom class starting tomorrow, so that will be fun for all of us. I find that going to that class really helps “reset” me and get me back on track.

Setting the stage for play..I started building bridges creating “loads” and before long Tyler had grabbed his forklift and was hard at work….

Finally, those rhythms and anchors are so necessary. There are certain parts of the day that are always the same. Even when I don’t want to do what is next, I make myself sing the song and get a move on. The continuity really helps all of us settle in to our day. We have a pretty solid morning routine, lunch and rest time routine and then after Quinn wakes up. I even drew a visual aid and Tyler loves it. One day we were out of order and Tyler had to check it and let me know! Things just flow.

Our morning routine: wake, breakfast, dress/brush teeth and hair, and out the door – either to walk the dog, head to our local park or into the car for an adventure

This home stuff is all starting to come together so beautifully. I found a calendar from 1.5 years ago and the way I planned my days were AM – out, then nap, then PM – out. I never wanted to be home. And slowly, this is where I want to be. There is so much fun to be had right here. The days aren’t all perfect, but they aren’t horrible either. Even today, I decided to just clean the house and the kids were fine. They kind of did there own thing, made their own messes, and I got a ton done.

With that the kids are home and it is bath time….

Update:

It is midnight and after futzing with a broken sewing machine for an hour, I fixed it and stayed up late to finish sewing our birthday flags! I will post pics tomorrow! They will be used to celebrate each family members’ birthday.

Tomorrow I start making Quinn’s birthday crown – it is so cute and I am so excited! Tyler already asked me if he was getting his own crown (since I told him the flags were for all of us) and I told him that “yes, he gets his very own special crown”. Oh, this is such fun!!

Birthday Flags!

I was so excited to re-post my last post with lots of cool photos I’ve taken the last few days.  Then I did the stupid thing…I tried to do this late at night when I am tired and instead of downloading cool photos from my camera, I deleted them.   Nothing life shattering, but dammit – I had some fun things on there as well as some great photos I had taken for a website I am building.

Well, that just shot my motivation to post at all and pissed me off.  I am off to make myself a chocolate milk with hot chocolate mix and half and half.

Dammit!

Some days around here are not stellar and I do muddle through. It isn’t always elegant how we get through the day, but we get there. As I review the day, I will pat myself on my back for not giving up or checking out. That has been one big change for me – if things are starting to go downhill, I remain engaged and shift directions. Kids throwing books/toys? Build them a cave on the couch which eventually leads to jumping on the couch (which is totally fine). Downstairs getting old, move upstairs. I am feeling hungry and grumpy, think the kids might as well – make a quick batch of always-pleasing popcorn.

I am starting to slowly build my arsenal. I got this great idea from a class I took at Blossom Family Center on 3 year-olds about using a lot more imaginary stuff and visual scenery. One day I couldn’t get Tyler on the potty, so I told him to go get on his tractor. I sat in the hallway with him, got on my tractor and took Tyler all over my farm – we fed the horses, checked on the sheep, got some eggs from the hens. And he loved it. Now he tells ME to go get on my tractor while he is on the potty and tells me where we are going. This morning he asked me if I had pigs on my farm…I guess I need to add some.

I also have started getting playdough out once a week while I am making dinner. That has been helpful. I also bought each kid a tin of beeswax crayons and blocks. I am trying to get things in containers because I find things that seem to be packaged get treated a little better. Quinn is two so that is lost on her as she dumps them, but she does love to put them away and sing the “tick tock” clean-up song. Tyler LOVES his and gets them out all the time asking to “draw”.

I am working on doing a better job of setting the stage for play. When I do that and get them engaged, I can usually pull away and get things done while in the same room/area. And I find that as I use my creativity more, the ideas are starting to flow more.

The last two days we have all been in a slump. Maybe I have been preoccupied or just out of sync with the kids. We have our Summer Blossom class starting tomorrow, so that will be fun for all of us. I find that going to that class really helps “reset” me and get me back on track.

Finally, those rhythms and anchors are so necessary. There are certain parts of the day that are always the same. Even when I don’t want to do what is next, I make myself sing the song and get a move on. The continuity really helps all of us settle in to our day. We have a pretty solid morning routine, lunch and rest time routine and then after Quinn wakes up. I even drew a visual aid and Tyler loves it. One day we were out of order and Tyler had to check it and let me know! Things just flow.

This home stuff is all starting to come together so beautifully. I found a calendar from 1.5 years ago and the way I planned my days were AM – out, then nap, then PM – out. I never wanted to be home. And slowly, this is where I want to be. There is so much fun to be had right here. The days aren’t all perfect, but they aren’t horrible either. Even today, I decided to just clean the house and the kids were fine. They kind of did there own thing, made their own messes, and I got a ton done.

With that the kids are home and it is bath time….

Update: It is midnight and after futzing with a broken sewing machine for an hour, I fixed it and stayed up late to finish sewing our birthday flags! I will post pics tomorrow! They will be used to celebrate each family members’ birthday. Tomorrow I start making Quinn’s birthday crown – it is so cute and I am so excited! Tyler already asked me if he was getting his own crown (since I told him the flags were for all of us) and I told him that “yes, he gets his very own special crown”. Oh, this is such fun!!