The dreaded calendar

For months, I have not looked forward to the monthly task of turning the calendar to the next month. Sure, part of me did look forward to the march towards sunshine, veggie gardens, and about 8 weeks of road tripping with the fam this summer....

BUT....

the closer we get to June, the closer I am to graduating from a pre-school mommy to a full fledged mom of elementary kids. I say goodbye to my daily 11 am pick up that I have done for 5 years now - where every day after I have a morning to do what I need to do, I get to go back to my sprouts school and pick up a smiling youngster. I love it. I love spending every afternoon dating my little princess. We dance. We make dinner. We make muffins. We plant the garden. We shop. We do crafts. We learn piano. We hug, alot.

Didn't school just start???? How is it nearly June?



I truly can not believe that in just a few months, she will be in school all day long as a first grader. Everyone tells me that I will fill my time in, that I will get used to it, and that it will be great to have my freedom back.

I doubt it. I am sure I will get busy but I will always be wishing I could be busy with her by my side like it's been for 6 years.

Rennaissance man wants to talk about our upcoming trips and every time he brings it up my eyes gloss over and I can't seem to stick with the conversation. I figured out why - summer = 1st grader and 3rd grader and right now, I want to savor every current moments of having the priveledge of being with my kindergartner and 2nd grader.


Just yesterday they were my 1st grader and preschooler:

So for now, I savor every juicy second I have with them. I find myself hugging them longer, squeezing their chubby cheeks more, saying "sure" more then "not now", and lingering in each moment.

Summer all Winter Long!

Putting up summer fruit is fun and the easiest way to keep healthy and local organic options available all winter long:

Pictured - organic apple chips (with my little sprout helper!), organic peach, nectarine, and pear leathers, organic peach, nectarine, and pear chips. Our sprouts love these treats.


Just a few of the frozen peaches and nectarines in our freezer.

140 pounds of fruit!
Fruit leather recipe:
Blend up the fruit of your choice...mix and match for fun. Use peaches, nectarines, strawberries, any berry, plums, grapes, bananas.....

Add honey if you want, but not necessary.

Spread on the Teflex sheets in your dehydrater. Dehydrate at 110 degrees or less to maintain the raw enzymes

Eat and be merry!

Consider joining this Army of Women to help researchers find a cure for breast cancer

I have posted several things regarding breast cancer this month as it is breast cancer awareness month. In case there is confusion regarding my thoughts on getting screened for breast cancer, I personally plan to do exactly what the recommendation is - mammography or I might check out this thermography option. I have had some emails about this that seemed to question if they should even get screened. THis is a personal decision, of course, and I am going to chose what seems to be the most proactive approach - routine screens, mamograms or thermography.

Consider joining us in this movement that will take us beyond a cure by creating new opportunities to study what causes breast cancer—and how to prevent it.

The Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation and the Avon Foundation, a global leader in breast cancer research, joined forces to launch the Love/Avon Army of Women.

Their revolutionary initiative has two key goals:

1. To recruit one million healthy women of every age and ethnicity, including breast cancer survivors and women at high-risk for the disease, to partner with breast cancer researchers and directly participate in the research that will eradicate breast cancer once and for all.
   
   
2. To challenge the scientific community to expand its current focus to include breast cancer prevention research conducted on healthy women.

Click here to check it out and see if this is for you:

http://www.armyofwomen.org/getinvolved

Economic crisis meets the Ocean

As I ran along the shores of the ocean this morning, I marveled, as always, at the splendor and majesty of the rhythmic crashing of the surf. It was such a striking contrast to the gloom of the national headlines.

God's creation points us all to His eternal power and divine nature and sure enough, the power of the ocean during this particular run pointed me right back to it's creator for my profound moment of the day (as usual, my aha! moment, happened during a run!)

"...His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being
understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." (Romans 1:20)

It was on this most glorious, blue sky, ocean side beach run that I noted to myself, with a smile as I ran, that apparently the ocean had not gotten the memo that the world economy was crumbling. I looked up to the mountains and saw them, like they always did, standing in a posture of praise, looking to the heavens. They too have obviously not read in the Wall Street Journal about the world food shortage crisis. The seagulls of the air and the fawn of the forest were still about their business. No late nights with CNN for these creatures fretting over the energy crisis.

Even the rocks will cry out if we don’t praise Him. They aren't waiting for us to stop praising Him to lift their praises. They seem to inherently know who their Maker is. “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” (Psalms 19:1). We could learn something from this.

No grumbling. No panic. No concern about anything more than what their Creator set them here to do. And they do it, and do it every day to their best ability pointing to His full glory.

It’s why nature has such a way of settling peace on my soul like nothing else can – because it’s here that God’s order is simply: being.

I left this run realizing that come what may, I know who my God is. His Order is what is in charge. The world will remain in color and not revert to a black and white version of itself. The rivers will still run. The Ocean will still rage. The mountains will still boldly look to the heavens.

This “perfect storm” world crisis is going to be OK.

No, it’s going to be glorious...look whose in charge.

America, come what may, remember this:

“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever…"Heb. 1:9

Who Needs stuff!!?...

...when you have each other?

Here's some more ideas from blogging friends:

Amanda P from A Thousand Words said...
I have some fresh ideas;Mud pies. Don't tell me you've forgotten the fabulous feeling of squishing mud through your fingers!Games. Games for sibs to play together, even better, games that I play with my boys to teach (counting, number and letter recognition, the meaning of symbols, rules, order, shapes, colors, etc.)We keep 99% of the toys in a closet, and each boy gets to choose a "new" toy each week, after they've cleaned up their room well enough to be vacuumed.Books, when 'advertised' around the house will be read!Craft stuff- as Julie says. My experience is that if you make it available (kids 4 and up) will use is correctly, and only correctly. Scissors, yes!Nature hikes, love 'em.Lincoln logs and plain old blocks mixed with cars or small animals.Train tracks are made to be built.Legos, doctor sets (do include notepads and pencils) old costumes/dress up clothes.I agree wholeheartedly with Julie that all this stuff doesn't provide much more than lust for more stuff. I see too that we must me intentional about setting up our stuff (ie: Julie's garage foosball table, or "letting" the kids make a huge mud pit in the backyard) Say yes to mess!
September 29, 2008 8:42 PM

Jennifer in OR from http://www.diaryof1.com/ said...
Hey Julie, great list! We love our homemade playdough, as you know. This would fall in the craft category, I suppose. Lots of regular cookie cutters of all designs to go with it.Leftover building materials are also fabulous. Since we just finished building, we have lots. For example, the bits of leftover tile - the kids are using this for their own "garden paths," and are also making mosaics out of it.
October 2, 2008 8:18 PM

BeccaB said...
When I was little my brother and I made lots of sock puppets. You take a piece of cardboard and cut out a circle, fold it down the middle and stuff it to the end of the sock. Mom can put a little stitch in the middle of the "mouth" to make it stay. Add yarn, google eyes and felt pieces and you've got characters for all kinds of stories. We even have some elaborate ones with sock arms and legs, noses, beards and clothes!When I was in high school and babysat I even brought materials for those kids to make some puppets to keep them from watching TV all summer. I saw them the other day (now in high school and college) and they started talking about those puppets! Good times!
September 29, 2008 5:51 PM

Mandy from http://creatinggoodsoil.blogspot.com/ said...
Here's a couple more thoughts for your list:

1. http://www.freecycle.com/

2. school supply recycling: At the end of the year, tons of still good supplies get dumped. Gather 'em up and reuse 'em. We don't need the shiny new scissors, your old ones will still work. Kids get this stuff...they'll be thrilled to help their earth.
October 3, 2008 11:29 AMsaid...