{this moment}

inspired by soulemama

jam tart

i made this jam tart the other day and it was delicious... i mean seriously, really, really good. plus it was super easy. you should make one. very soon.

buy organic?

i usually try to buy organic fruits and vegetables.  i do this for a few reasons... one: i do not want lots of pesticides on/in the food my family and i eat.  two: i want to support organic farming practices and three: i think organic fruits and veggies taste better.  but we are on a super tight budget around here these days and sometimes organically grown food is SO much more expensive.  

one night while sam and i were going over our monthly food receipts (i know... we are such party animals), we started discussing whether or not some foods we buy really needed to be organic.  if we bought the conventional grapes, we would save a lot of money.  so i did some research.  i always keep a little list i typed out of the dirty dozen in my wallet, to make sure i always buy those foods organic, but my internet research led me to the clean 15.  have you heard of this list?  this is a list of 15 foods that don't have to be organic because they don't have much or any pesticides on them (after being peeled and/or washed).  i even found a handy wallet list (and iphone app for the technology saavy) so i don't have to type one up myself, it is ready to go! 

i know that buying and eating organic is the best choice, but when our budget doesn't allow for the premium price tag of some organic foods, it is nice to know which ones are okay to buy conventional.

{this moment}

inspired by soulemama.

mother's day

calvin made a gift for me at school this year for mother's day. he was so proud of his work and so excited to give me his gift. he made the entire present. inside the tissue paper wrapping that he had painted and stamped, i found flowers that he had picked out and then planted in a can that he had decorated.

then he attached this handmade card. he had watercolored it and then attached some flower petals to the front.

inside i found a sweet message that made my mother's day (well this and the fact that i got to sleep in until 10! woo hoo!).  i love how he is just discovering that writing has meaning and he attempted to write letters that convey meaning.  the teacher in me is beside herself with excitement!

happy mother's day!

{this moment}

inspired by soulemama.

teacher appreciation week

this week at schools across america parents and children celebrate the special people in their lives that teach them things. as a fellow teacher i could not let this week pass by without a little handmade goodness for the amazing teachers calvin has.

calvin and i talked about a few different things we could make and he decided on bookmarks. this was a perfect project for us to do together. i cut linen rectangles about 4 inches wide by 9 inches long. then i had calvin stamp 'thank you' on each one and draw a picture with fabric markers.  next he picked out fabric that he thought each each teacher would like for the backside.  (i loved watching and listening to his decision making process...)

the we sewed the fronts to the backs and turned them rightside out and stitched around again.  i love how they turned out and he can't wait to give them to his teachers tomorrow!  yay teachers!!!

(these are loosely based on the embroidered bookmark idea in handmade home, but i never actually got the book out to look at it so i am not sure how closely they are related)

earth day & tv turn off week

::discovering grass::

:: one lonely tulip survived the deer and rabbits::

::spring::

::first time climbing this tree... so proud::

last week was rather busy so this post that was supposed to be published last week is only now getting written.  we made it through tv turn off week without turning on the tv.  we are not big tv watchers but i wanted to challenge our family to see if we could completely eliminate it for one week.  normally, the tv comes on in the morning when we are getting ready and we need the kids to be entertained so that we can keep to a timely schedule and sometimes when i have both kids and i am nursing.  maeve has to see what each and every noise is that calvin makes and that makes nursing time-consuming and with the pulling on and off it can be a bit painful.  But this week the tv did not come on the morning instead books were read and toys played with.  during nursing i told calvin he could sit quietly and read a book or  play in his room.  he chose to play in his room and he did so (mostly) quietly and with minimal interruption.  i was amazed that the times when i absolutely thought that i needed tv, i didn't.  we have continued this routine for the most part.  i am not anti-tv and believe in all things in moderation, but when i think about the bigger picture and behaviors i want to instill in my children, the more time they spend actively finding ways to entertain themselves and the less time they spend passively watching something on tv the better.

also, i wanted to post a quick link to an awesome article by my friend (and former college roommate) lisa.  she blogs over at the wellgrounded life and she just posted some wonderful tips on getting kids to eat veggies!