Make This Wreath

This is the cutest thing! It's great for a birthday party or anytime of year. I made this one a few months ago.

 I've been wanting to make a July 4th wreath but that hasn't happened. I don't think it's gonna happen but it was a nice idea.
Here's the tutorial from How Does She.

Vegan Virgin

Well, the veganizing of my family is working!! It's working so well that my dad is now on board. Shocking.
I have successfully made vegan pizza-which my kids loved, seitan-although I'm still not sure exactly what that is, and vegan ice cream. My family is eating it all! They are actually eating more of my cooking now than when we ate meat and dairy. I am pleasantly surprised. Although, apparently my husband didn't get the memo because he keeps taking the girls to get ice cream and bacon.
I am still learning the ropes of eating dairy free. It's challenging. But well worth it.
Is it hypocritical of me to be a vegetarian/vegan but have a business selling cake pops made with a lot of dairy?
Maybe a dairy free cake pop is in the future. Maybe.

I have a new project....

We are going vegan. Shhh, don't tell my family. 

I've almost finished reading The China Study and I am fired up and ready to make a change! The science and research is too hard to deny. Now that I know what I know I can't NOT make a change. I'm looking at food in a whole new way. 

I feel I'm giving my children the gift of good health by starting while they are so young, but actually they are leading the way. We gave up milk a year or two ago due to Maren's sensitivity to it. We drink almond milk and we all love it. My smarter-than-smart 5 year old became a vegetarian when she met a vegetarian/vegan friend in her kindergarten class (the same one who has the crafty mom.) Roma stopped eating meat at home so of course Maren followed her lead and I went with it as well. But now I'm taking it to a whole new level. 

I think the hardest part for my kids will be eliminating dairy, especially cheese. (Although, I am burning cheese pizzas in the oven as I type....) But I'm sure it can be done. We aren't eating cheese as much as we used to, which is good. Eating out will be a challenge, but we don't eat out that often.

The biggest challenge for me will be the work involved. It's going to take a lot more preparing and cooking to make creative meals that my kids will love. And I'm going to have to read and research about this new world of veggies. It's easy to not eat meat, but it's not as easy to make sure you are getting all the nutrients you need and staying away from pre-packaged food. I've become kind of lazy in the kitchen. I guess I'm going to have to get to work and keep telling myself it's for our health. 

I've already found a couple websites (Vegan Yum Yum, VegNews, VegWeb), some cookbooks and an iPhone app, so I'm well on my way. I've also gotten my kids hooked on Banana "Ice Cream." It's just frozen bananas, almond milk, cinnamon, oat bran (for added fiber), and a little agave or honey. Just blend until the bananas are smooth and it's the consistency of soft serve ice cream. We've been known to eat this for breakfast....yum!

How I Survived Kindergarten

Kindergarten ends tomorrow. I can't believe it went by so fast and that I passed with flying colors... despite my somewhat pathetic start. (Oh yeah, my daughter did great too!)

I am looking forward to sleeping past 6:30am and having the freedom to run errands past 2pm. I won't have to make PB&J's with my eyes half open, rush around looking for socks and shoes, get gas in my pajamas. I've never been a morning person and this school thing has been hard! But there were some unexpected great things about kindergarten as well....

Last year at this time I was suffering from kindergarten depression. If anyone mentioned kindergarten or I even thought about kindergarten the tears started flowing.  I'm sure people thought I was a freak! I cried when I ordered the backpack and lunch bag. I cried during drop-off and pick-up. I pretty much cried from May to October. And before all the crying even started I was on a mission to find the "perfect" school for my precious, never-been-to-any-kind-of-school child. I was convinced that the school we were zoned for couldn't possibly meet my expectations, although I wasn't even clear about what they were. I visited private schools, a new alternative school, considered homeschooling, and researched the other public schools in a 50 mile radius. Nothing felt right. I finally stopped fighting it, gave into the fact that kindergarten was going to happen, and went with the school 2 minutes from our house, where we were supposed to go.

I was disappointed when I found out I couldn't help out in class on a regular basis like some of my friends had done (in other schools and states.) I wanted to be on the "inside," see what was going on, spy on my child. I waited for a written invitation to get involved but it got lost in the mail, so I crashed the party.... subtly, and accidentally. I hit the "moms in the know" jackpot!

Actually, my daughter helped me do this. She unknowingly became the Kindergarten Mom Matchmaker. With her 5 year old intuition she sought out and bonded with the one girl in her class who had the perfect mom for me....it was a match made in crafting heaven! She began talking about this new friend the first week of school. I remember thinking..."I sure hope her parents aren't weirdos!" It sounded like this friendship was getting serious and I didn't want to have to deal with the "freaky" mom at play dates.

We met on the first day of dance class. It was like a scene from a movie... Our girls saw each other across the crowded room of tutus and tap shoes. My daughter squealed with delight as she realized they were going to be in the same dance class too! I said a prayer..."Please let her mom be normal"...as we walked over to them. And then I saw it... the awesomely cool fabric necklace she was wearing....  she was fashionable and cool! The only thing that would make this moment better was if she made it herself. SHE DID!! God had answered my prayers, I heard angels singing and everything was in slow motion, just like in the movies.... my daughter's new kindergarten friend had a COOL AND CRAFTY mom!! I tried to stay cool and calm and hoped she didn't think I was the freaky mom, but I probably seemed like a stalker. I wanted to exchange numbers right then and there, set up a play date, I couldn't let her get away, but instead I went back to my side of the room. Is this what guys feel like when they like a girl and get all weird? I think I was experiencing my first mom crush...

I happened to run into her on a rainy day in the office when I was picking up my daughter early. She was talking to other moms who seemed like they knew things...veterans... they could probably sense that I was a newbie but this was no time to be shy. I knew I had to wriggle my way in, act like one of the cool kids. My plan worked. I met several other awesome moms who all have older kids so they knew the answers to all my questions and they held my hand and walked me through this year, step by step. I'm sure I would've gotten through it on my own, but it would not have been pretty!

All of that crying, worrying, doubting, and generally freaking out was for nothing! Things always turn out for the best. Not only did I make some new friends, I got lots of new craft ideas from my cool-crafty-mom-friend!! And I thought kindergarten was just about learning to read and write.....