What?!? Look who’s blogging again. Yep, this girl. Look at me go. Aren’t you proud? I just can’t quit you and especially outfit posts. They’re where I started and it’s just so deeply ingrained in my blogging mind. I laugh at myself though over the stupid outfits and locations we would go to for pictures. Don’t worry, there is totally a WTF (or maybe WTHeck, sorry Mom) post coming soon. We’ll all be able to bask in the ridiculousness of the outfits I used to put together. I love it though! It’s so funny. At least today, this is legit what I was wearing. And I am for sure taking the pictures in my house because it’s freakin’ freezing out and I am too old to care about taking them outside on a street corner with a cute bag with flowers in them. Let’s just all look at this picture and shake our heads at poor, young, cold Jen from yesteryear (it was literally negative numbers in this picture. I remember because I was FREEEEEEZING!!) Bahahahhah! Oh blogging, you’re so funny!

the girls always want to get in on the pictures.

and one peaceful little corner picture for the bunch too!

OUTFIT DETAILS:
Peplum Plaid Shirt: Joe Fresh/Old (similar here, here and here)
Grey Wash Skinny Jeans: LOFT
Boots: Timberland (similar here and here)

We’d been having a pretty mild winter as far as snow goes, then the winter decided to pick it up and dump allllllllllll the snow in like a 4 day span. It’s been snowing nonstop since 9am this morning. Which has piled up on the already 15+ inches that were on the ground from the other day. And to think we almost pulled the trigger on a vacation to Puerto Rico the other day. GET ME OUT OF HERE!!! Can you tell the seasonal depression has set in? hahahaha. jk. but seriously, winter is the worst. I am good up through Christmas, but then it’s all down hill from there. Anyway, I am trying my best. Everyday we get the whole gang bundled up and we try to have some fun outside. Orion has become obsessed with the snowblower. It rocks his 15 month world! What a cutie.

Anyway, how’s life guys? I’ve been struggling hard with what to do with this blog. Aren’t we all? What is blogging now a days? It all feels so different, yet so weirdly the same. A few friends have dusted off their blogs lately and it’s been fun to read again. Sometimes I want to do the same and other times I feel like I am ok with it being totally over. Who knows. I think I would at least like to have a little more fun with it. Take the pressure off. Write random things, while sitting in bed and watching the bachelor kind of fun. I don’t really have the time to make it all shiny and fancy anymore. Sometimes maybe but not all the time. Are you cool with that? Let’s end with 5 random thoughts by Jen…

1. I am totally a coffee drinker now. Like hardcore. Send help
2. Orion has stopped calling me “mama” now it’s just full on “mom”. He says with with such force too and so demanding. It cracks me up but weirdly makes me feel like he’s 16 yrs. Can I have my baby back?
3. I’ve been a vegetarian for almost 10 years but I think I am going to make the switch to vegan (well, i prefer to say whole food/plant based) I really only eat eggs now and then. Trying to decide if I’m going to take the whole family with me or not.
4. Yoga, Yoga, Yoga. I’ve become obsessed with yoga. Seriously looking into a teacher training in Thailand in June.
5. You know what drives me crazy? Shower heads that have the water come out in a circle shape and no water that comes from the center. Do you know what I mean? It’s so annoying. Hahahahah! You look up to rinse soap off and it’s like water spraying down all around except the one place you want the water to hit. We don’t have a shower head like that, but my parent’s shower is and a handful of other ones I’ve been in lately and I just want to say whhhhhhhhhhy?

So! There you go. Random thoughts, while sitting in bed and watching the bachelor.
There are plenty more where that came from. Don’t you worry.
And I just have to say Corrine? Really? Come on now.

Sweet dreams everyone!

Snow Outfit Details:
Jen’s Northface Coat: c/o Marshalls
Jen’s Volcom Snowpants: Backcountry
Jen’s boots: Sorel
Rowan’s Columbia coat: Backcountry
Rowan’s boots: Sorel
Finley’s Juxt Ski Coat: Backcountry

I’ve been really trying to step up my health game lately. After a few weeks of my stomach not feeling right, I knew something I was eating was just not doing the trick for me. I eat generally pretty clean, whole foods (I’ve always been an 80/20 kinda girl)  but a bite of the kids mac and cheese here, a few of their animal crackers there and it was all making my stomach not feel great. So I’ve been trying really hard to cut out anything overly processed, ingredients I can’t say, etc… It’s been going so much better! I have been feeling great!

Two huge, HUGE, things I’ve learned in helping set a good mindset for the day, to not just eat healthy but FEEL and BE healthy is to 1. see each day as a whole. Wake up, set intentions for that one day and work towards that. If you eat something you regret, then tomorrow is a new day! No room for guilt! Have an overall health goal, but don’t be so overwhelmed by it. Day by day! and 2. Start the day with a great, empowering, build you up for success kind of breakfast!! I can’t say enough about this. I’ve never been a breakfast girl but over the last year, I’ve totally turned into one. It keeps me from looking for snacks at like 10:30am, it sets me out on the right path for the day, it helps solidify those intentions for the day. Plus breakfast foods are soooo yummy!!

I really love to drink Evolution Fresh® juice in the morning. Almost every bottle of their green juice contains over a serving of veggies. Holla!! It’s so easy to pick some up at the grocery store or at select Starbucks stores. When ever I go through the drive thru (tall misto with coconut milk!) I always ask for them to add a green juice to the order to bring home. Evolution Fresh also cold-presses their juice using high-pressure processing to help protect nutrients and taste, no heating to pasteurize it!  Anyway, I love to pair my morning juice with some overnight oats (sooooo easy) and voila! The perfect way to start the day and take a sip in a brighter direction!!

January 26, 2016, Evolution Fresh launched its first ever National Green Juice Day (NGJD) to celebrate the love for green juice?  This year, Evolution Fresh and Postmates are joining forces and offering free delivery of free green juice to customers on January 26, 2017 starting at 1:00 pm local time and ending when supplies are depleted. You will be able to order 3 free juices per delivery, with a maximum of one 1 order per customer. If you live Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle, Washington, DC, Miami, Phoenix, Orange County, San Diego get ready to order your free juice on January 26!!! And can we just talk about how jealous I am that you live in a city that has Postmates!! For the rest of us not in those cool cities, make sure you head out and get your own Evolution Fresh green juice to celebrate National Green Juice Day.

Follow Evolution Fresh on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Evolution Fresh® for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.

p.s….
Here is the recipe for easiest, most delicious cocao + almond butter overnight oats. In the morning before eating them, I layer in between some organic whole milk greek yogurt or coconut yogurt. Top with banana, nuts and coconut shavings!

Hey guys!
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! We headed south yesterday and are spending 2 weeks down here in Florida with my family. We’re super excited to escape the cold for a bit and get some vitamin D. As usual I was waaaaaaay late to the game with my cards this year. And so it goes every year but at least I got them out and they are so cute! We teamed up with Minted again this year because we just LOVE their choices and quality. I honestly can tell every Minted card I get it mail from friends before I even turn it over. If you ran out of time this year there is always 1. New Years cards. We did that one year and I really loved sending out a little surprise after christmas to friends and 2. next year, right? Don’t let yourself have guilt over it. Some years it works out and some there is just no time. I hear ya!

We’ve done little booklets in the past but this year we went with the standard card format. I love the foil-pressed options Minted offers. They’re so festive and pretty! We left a blank spot inside the cards so that we could write a personal note to everyone. At first it felt totally overwhelming (and like the wrong choice) when all 125 cards showed up with that blank spot starring at me. But a few good christmas movies later, I was so glad we had taken the time to write something to everyone that means so much to us. And let’s talk about how cool it is to create your own personalized stamps!!! The girls thought that was by far the coolest thing ever. Thanks Minted for making ordering Christmas cards a breeze and even letting me keep my entire address book online and print out all the address right there on the envelope for me. Boom.

Sooooo a little story about our pictures. I drive by this abandoned tiny, old church when I drive Rowan to school. I’ve always loved it from a far as I drive by. When we were deciding where to take out pictures, I was all like “what about in front of that church?” The bad part is it’s obviously on someone’s property and there are no trespassing signs up. However, it’s set off the road and no one can really see if you drive up there so… shhhhhh don’t tell anyone. Rowan, our dear first born, extreme rule follower did not like this idea. She had to be bribed out of the car and even then was on high alert for getting caught and in trouble. NO harm, no foul though, right? I did picked up the trash around the church before we left.

Well, we wish everyone a safe, healthy and happy holiday! Merry Christmas from us to all of you!!
xoxox

Back in October, we headed the quick 3 hours north to Montreal to celebrate Kev’s birthday. This was our 3rd time visiting and every time, we fall in love a little bit more. What a crazy cool and beautiful city. There is soooo much to see and do! We never get to do it all, but it always makes us excited to come back the next time. Whenever we travel with the kids, we pack the stroller and just walk around as much as we can. The kids are pretty used to it by now, and have become quite the little explorers as well. We do cycle through the stroller quite a bit. Each one getting a little rest while the other one walks or gets held. It’s a big team effort!! The bummer was that it was pouring rain one of the days we were there. We made the most of it though and checked out the Biodome (is anyone thinking of Pauly Shore now?). It was such a cool place! The kids had a great time! You get to walk through all these different ecosystems and see animals and really great exhibits about each one. Totally worth a trip if you are visiting!

The fall colors were really putting on a show for us that weekend. It was gorgeous! I could wander around all day there. Every turn is another charming little street to walk down. Have you ever been? What are you favorite places to go, see, eat?? Always looking for recommendations for the next time!

1.Smart About Sharks by Flying Eye Books
2. The 50 States by Wide Eyed Editions
3. Cabinet of Curiosities by Gordon Grice
4. Maps by Aleksandra Mizielinska
5. Timeline: A Visual History of Our World by Peter Goes
6. The Big Book of Bugs by Yuval Zommer
7. Natural World: A Visual Compendium of Wonders from Nature by AJ Wood and Mike Jolley
8. Beautiful Birds by Jean Roussen
9. Wild Animals of the North by Dieter Braun
10. Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World by Rachel Ignotofsky
11. Atlas of Adventures + Atlas of Animal Adventures by Rachel Williams
12. Animalium + Botanicum
13. Diary of a Time Traveler by David Long
14. The Wonder Garden by Jenny Broom
15. Nature Anatomy, Food Anatomy and Farm Anatomy by Julia Rothman

I’ve always been a bit of a fitness hopper. Never really finding a perfect match that I felt super passionate about. Yes, I run (ran) a lot, but it’s mostly just to complete races. I love the accomplishment of finishing a race. I love that medal, but the training is always challenge. I would feel so exhausted by the running schedule, that I wouldn’t put any other effort into cross training. My legs would feel strong but nothing else. After Orion was born, I really wanted to find something that helped me feel like my best self. I didn’t have a weight goal in mind but just wanted to feel healthy and strong. In between my pregnancies with Finley and Orion, I started going to a hot yoga studio. I had enjoyed it but hadn’t been very consistent. I figured I would start there!

Guys! I can’t not express how much I LOOOOOOOOOVE going to my yoga classes. You can totally do yoga at home but there is something so rejuvenating about getting out of the house by yourself, to a dark, hot room and sweating it all out. Ahhhh my soul! I count down the days until I get to go again. It’s been such an awesome journey to work towards. At first I know it can feel so awkward! You don’t know the names of the moves or the flows and you may feel super inflexible (hand held high here!) or even the teacher may not be a great fit. I challenge you to stick with it! To ttry different classes, teachers, etc… till you find something that fits. Every week I am trying to step forward, to dig deeper, to stretch further (I want to do the splits!) to be open to correction and to learn more. Step by step, right? I love it so much that I’ve even been thinking about taking my instruction training certification. 

No matter what the scale says (I say we all throw our scales out!) if you feel strong and healthy on the inside, I promise it just oozes it out of you. Confidence flows into every part of your life. A bonus for me is that I can model joy, passion and a healthy relationship between food and exercise to my girls. 

Where are you trying to #StepForward in your life? Exercise? Eating? Organization? Minimalism? Patience? Generosity? There are so many areas we could all be working on. I would love to hear about it in the comments below or over on the Famous Footwear Instagram

OUTFIT DETAILS:

Adidas Women’s Neo Baseline Sneaker : Famous Footwear

Black wide leg pants: Madewell

Plaid Jacket: ASOS

Crop Top: Madewell

Hat: Target

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Famous Footwear. All opinions are 100% mine.

When I had Rowan, I had this mentality that I could do it all. I didn’t need help because I was super mom. Whatever the situation, I could handle it by myself. Dear new Moms or ladies nearing this stage of life. THIS.IS.A.LIE! Looking back now I think, why did I do that to myself? Why have we made it so that Mom’s need to feel like they have it all together, all the time?? That we shouldn’t ever need to ask for help. Why??? Why do we feel like this? Why is help seen as such a negative thing nowadays? I know I felt like if I asked for help I was somehow not as good of a mom as other women? Ladies! This just isn’t true. You know what is soooooo freeing? Breaking from this cycle. I was at an Ergo Baby event over the summer and the swag bags were in these awesome tote bags from Savage Seeds that had screen printed on the front “It takes a village”. I started carrying it around as my purse these past few months and the more I noticed the saying, the more those words have struck a cord with me. It takes a village. It.takes.a.village. Let’s say it one more time… IT TAKES A VILLAGE!!

Raising kids is no joke. It’s beautifully hard in the best kind of way but we don’t have to feel like we have it all figured out. I’ve been realizing more and more this year just how grateful I am for “my village”. The women that pour into me, that do life with me, that encourage, that love, that speak the sometimes hard truths, that are the extra ears, eyes, hands helping, watching and loving over my children. This is what it’s all about. Close, dear friends that are there to be your village through the thick and the thin. Who see you in your best motherhood moments and the worst. Who have your back and are there to help in any situation. I am beyond grateful for the ladies (and their kids and husbands) I call my friends. I see our kids playing together as we share tears and laughter and joys over motherhood and it just warms my heart.

I promise this all has to do with Orion’s birthday party! You see, the first birthday party is really much more for the parents then the baby in my opinion. I see it as a celebration of your village. The people that surrounded you in the first year of that littles ones life. Whether it’s your 1st, 3rd or 5th the first year is all kinds of tough. So we invited all our dearest of friends and we partied to celebrate our friendships and our sweet little Orion a few weekends ago. It meant so much to have everyone there, they all have made such an important impact on our lives. We couldn’t do this without them. Thank you dear friends, you know who you are. XOXOXOXO

I went with a woodland theme for the party since we call Orion “Boo Boo Bear”, but also because Orion is a hunter in Greek mythology. We kept it as simple as we could so we could spend more time hanging out. We had it at a local park, ordered pizzas, played games, sang happy birthday and even had a sweet “after party” at a friends house. It was a great, great day!

^^an epic game of sharks and minnows

If I am honest, this birthday was a hard one for me. I think when there’s a greater chance that it’s your last baby, everything feels so final. It’s the last this, and the last that and the last little baby who will turn one (sad face). I am definitely looking forward to all the new stages in our kids lives as they get older. However, something about the baby not being a baby anymore had me very emotional on his birthday. We started the day off with a bang! (or maybe a pop!) by filling his crib with balloons. He loved it, then wasn’t sure, then loved it, then his sisters got in and he wasn’t sure again and then he loved it again. Typical baby style. The kids played in his crib with him forever! I love the pictures we captured of them. My favorite thing this past year has been to watch all their relationships grow. Siblings are the best! It’s just the sweetest thing a mama can witness. Going from 2 to 3 was an adjustment for sure! More so than I thought but once we got there and things felt like the new normal… Oooooooh it’s been such a sweet spot to be!! I love having 3 kids.

For Kev’s birthday last year we got him a Micro scooter, then for Christmas we got each of the girls one as well. For Mother’s Day guess what I got from the kids? You guessed it… A Micro scooter. Soooooooo it only seemed fitting to get our little Boo a scooter for his big day. He loves it!! Micro scooters are the best!

In the afternoon, we decided to bring Orion to get his very first ice cream! Yay, for ice cream! We headed to the playground from there for some family fun before Rowan had gymnastics. Everything was going great, lots of laughs and games until well, Orion had an accident that left us at the ER (he is totally ok! I’ll just put that out there first before I continue). But, Oh man! Poor dude. Not the way you want to spend your first birthday. There were plenty of tears from everyone that afternoon. We were all pretty scared there for a moment. It was the first time one of our kids have gotten hurt so badly that an ER trip was needed. It was definitely not something I enjoyed or something I will look forward to happening again that’s for sure. Whew! Totally made me realize how in control I think I am of everything, especially my kids. I’ve never been a parent that’s been overly protective. Kids will be kids, right? After we got home though, I felt so full of fear over what could happen next to one of them. Ahhh, what a terrible way to live! I spent a lot of time that night praying for peace and that I could trust that my kids are also God’s kids and that He is in control. He has a purpose and a plan for each and everyone of them. That doesn’t mean there won’t be anymore ER trips (my friend texted me that night and said “welcome to boyhood” Hahaha!!) but knowing God has a greater plan definitely gives me such reassurance.

Ok, back to our little Starman (you can sing David Bowie now if you would like). Orion you have the best personality. You laughter is contagious! You love to laugh at your sisters, to push cars all around the house, to hear the sounds of big trucks, to climb the stairs, to crawl through small spaces, to go down slides, to get into allllll the trouble, to push your scooter around, and to eat snacks. I never knew my life was missing a little boy until you showed up Boo Boo. Everyday you have spent with us has been such a blessing. We can’t wait to find out what this year has in store for us all!! Love you!!

Orion’s Scooter | Rowan’s Scooter | Finley’s Scooter | Jen’s Shirt | Similar Shoes | Jen’s Jeans | Jen’s Watch

I kind of thought this day would never come!! Buuuuut at the moment, I am siting at my kitchen island watching the girls through the window play… Star Wars! Yes!!! I am so much more of a Star Wars fan than say, Sofia the First. So this is a pretty exciting day. The neighbor boys are over as well. We have Yoda, Rae and the Bounty Hunter all running around with lightsabers. It’s pretty stinkin’ cute. What are you guys going to be for halloween? Do you do the family costume? I love themed family costumes.

So here is an outfit. hahahah! I love posting outfit photos but I never really have anything profound to say about them. I woke up, I got dressed and this is what I wore. Inspiring huh? It was a very warm and lovely fall day and I was glad to get to wear these mules another time before I’d have to put them away for the winter. Can you believe they’re Toms? Way to go Toms!

Outfit Details:

Jacket: Older from Abercrombie (similar here or here)
Mock Turtleneck: Madewell It’s on sale and then another 40% off!!
Jeans: Urban Outfitters (I added the rips)
Toms Mules: Zappos
Glasses: Bonlook

The current exhibit was woodcuts and engravings by Albrecht Dürer and etchings by Rembrandt. It was awesome! If you didn’t know, I am slightly obsessed with all things printmaking. I took every class I could in college. The Hyde had wonderful worksheets for the kids to work on based on the art they were seeing. They learned all about etchings, lines, crosshatching and monograms. Rowan and Finley had a blast working on them and especially trying to find all the Dürer monograms with the magnifying glasses. I will say, I did feel overly watched (which I get, but…) by security but everyone was nice enough about bringing 3 small children to the museum. It’s a good lesson for them though! I like bringing the kids to museums not only to introduce them to beautiful works of art, but because they have to learn self control as well. They can’t run, yell or climb. They have to be respectful and understand there is a time and place to get crazy. It’s good for them, even if we always do get into trouble a little bit. Hahhaha! Always. We always get in trouble at least once.

Do you like brining your kids to museums? We’ve been going a lot lately. I feel like I have 2 more museum posts waiting to be posted… MassMoCA and Storm King coming up!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup coconut water
1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1/2 cup cold brew coffee
2 Tbsp of Graze Cacao Powder
1 Tbsp of Graze Cacao Nibs (plus more for topping)
2-3 Medjool dates, pitted (soak them in hot water for at least 10 minutes before blending)
3 Tbsp rolled oats
1 Tbsp of almond butter
1/2-1 frozen banana (depending on how banana-y you like your smoothies)
1 tsp of vanilla
2 cups ice
Optional: you can add a scoop of your favorite protein powder if you’d like as well. I usually add a scoop of chocolate vegan protein.

Directions:

In a blender, combine all the ingredients. Blend on high speed until smooth. Enjoy!

Thank you to Graze for kindly sponsoring this post. All opinions are 100% honest & completely my own. Graze offers the most delicious snacks and their newest superfood collection is beyond awesome! Check them out if you haven’t already.

Ahhhhhh I feel like I can finally take a small deep breath and relax just a tiny bit over this whole homeschool thing (maybe that’s because I am about half way through a pretty strong but totally delicious margarita at the moment, but who’s to say??). It’s been such a major stress for the past few months. All in a good way if that makes sense, but it’s just been a lot to process, plan, figure out, order, set up and get started. THERE.IS.JUST.SO.MUCH.OUT.THERE.TO.CHOOSE.FROM! That was my biggest stress. How did I know what exactly to choose?? I knew from the beginning we did not fit into an all-in-one packaged curriculum sort of deal. First thing first, I did lots (LOTS!) of reading and researching on what kind of teaching philosophy I thought felt right. That was a good starting point. It helped me focus on where I wanted us to head and what my school goals were for our family. This book will be super helpful if you are just starting out! We’ve been following classical education for the past 2 years and have really loved it but as I started reading more and more, I became drawn to the philosophies of Charlotte Mason. I listened to every podcast from A Delectable Education and felt so pumped by everything they were saying. I just LOVE what Charlotte Mason has to say about education, it felt so right! Another good resource and one that I’ve really loved is the At Home podcast. Those ladies have A LOT of wisdom to share on where to start and the up’s and down’s of homeschooling.

Once I decided that Charlotte Mason was the path we were going to head down, I spent countless hours on the Ambleside Online and Simply Charlotte Mason websites. I printed out the Year 1 schedule from Ambleside as the starting point for our year. I read so many reviews raving about the booklists that I knew we couldn’t go wrong. I did switch out a few things that I think work better but still have stuck to a Charlotte Mason type curriculum.

You can find the Year 1 Schedule here.

We follow it exactly for our natural history/geography, read-a-louds/extra reading and then parts of it for our literature (I’ll explain below).

Where I made some changes are:
Math: We use Mammoth Math and Life of Fred

Science: We’re doing nature studies. The topics sort of come up naturally as we spend a lot of time outside. We collect items and bring them back to journal our findings. For example, last week we went to a farm and learned about bees. When we got home we did a journal page diagramming a bee and common nectar sources. However, we do have this guidebook from Simple Charlotte Mason that’s helpful if you wanted a little guidance. The point of our science time is to spent a lot of time outside just exploring and being surrounded by nature.

English/reading/grammar: We are using English Lessons Through Literature and Reading Lessons Through Literature. We love them so far. This is the only reason why we aren’t following the Ambleside schedule exactly in these subjects. A lot of it overlaps with what we need to read daily for our English Lessons Through Literature work. We do lots of narration and copywork based on what we are reading. We also work on memorizing a poem. 1 or 2 per month- right now our favorites are from Robert Louis Stevenson. I really highly recommend the Ambleside booklists- such wonderful books to read to your kids.

History: Beautiful Feet: History Through Literature. For 1st and 2nd grade you use the Early American History Primary and Teaching Character Primary. I am in love with this curriculum so far! LOVE IT!

Bible Study: We read a chapter from The Bible Story by Arthur Maxwell and then we read Training Hearts, Teaching Minds everyday. Each week we memorize a new bible verse, as well as work on a hymn study(probably one per quarter). I am not following a specific hymn study, I am just working through old hymns that mean something to our family. The bible verses are either from Finley’s preschool curriculum or a bible verse from The Rizers because we love that cd.

Each quarter we will choose an artist and composer to study. Right now we’re learning about Degas and Bach. I take out all the books I can find and we read about them and then study the work as much as we can. We listen to Bach during the day, we paint pictures like Degas, we visit museums, etc…

We also have a monthly handicraft we’ll work on. This month and maybe next we are working on sewing. Rowan has been begging me to teach her how to sew, so that’s where we started. I like picking things based on what is sparking her interest at the time.

Miss Finley: she goes along for the ride with most of what Rowan is doing. She listens to all the stories and has the same memory work for bible verses and poems. I just don’t force any of it on her, we take it slow and if she wants to participate she is more than welcome. She of course wants to be a part of it all though! I do follow The Peaceful Preschool Program with her. It’s such a wonderful curriculum! I can’t say enough good stuff about it. I didn’t want some crazy, complex curriculum to do with her. She’s still so small! This is the perfect balance of good literature, gentle learning and fun activities.

Another lovely resource I highly recommend is the Wild and Free community. I love everything they share!!

Well that’s about it for now. We’re only a month in, but we are really loving it so far. It’s been such a blessing. I’ll write another post soon with more specifics of our daily schedule and how it all works out with Orion in the mix.

We started our new homeschool journey last week. What a whirlwind! It’s something that’s so very near and dear to my heart though. We homeschool for a lot of reasons, but one of the main reasons is that I want the girls to take charge of their education. I want to raise passionate, life long learners. For us though, that requires them to help out. A lot. From the time they wake up, to the time they go to bed, they are a part of our day and our daily tasks. Helping making meals, cleaning, laundry, and well, anything that sparks their interest. We also do a lot of art projects and handicrafts where I try not to step in to help. I have a tendency to help and do the next step because it might “make a mess”. We quite literally get our hands dirty with education these days. It means saying yes a lot more than maybe I would like, in an effort to help them learn and experience more. If they are interested in something, then we are going to explore it!

For someone who likes an orderly, clean house, it’s been a lesson in letting go. To see the greater purpose in all the little spills and messes. It will pay off in the long run right? hahaah. That’s what I keep telling myself. Do the work now and soon you will have kids who know how to care and clean up after themselves. Who love to try new things, and know the mess is worth it, but also know how to tidy it up. You know what makes it easier though? Having a good rug and carpet cleaner! Our school room rugs are two of my most favorite rugs in the house. They’re what I call my “thrifting prize possessions”. I found both at the Habitat Restore for a steal and well, I love them a little more than I should. I may have shed a tear (I kid, I kid) when Finley spilt yellow curry powder all over the rug this morning as she was counting spices and learning to screw each of the caps on (working on our fine motor skills over here for PreK). She then worked hard at “cleaning” it up. Which of course was great and I am glad she took ownership over her spill. However, we all know what a spill looks like after a 3.5 yrs old cleans it up. It was a big yellow circle smeared all over the carpet. doh!

Enter STAINMASTER Carpet Care. We teamed up with the brand to try their line of carpet care products, which are specifically designed to treat stain-resistant, nylon, and polyester carpets and rugs. My favorite part is that they are also designed to remove tough stains with out leaving a sticky residue. That sticky residue is the worst! Stainmaster Carpet Care leaves behind an invisible shield of protection to protect against future messes. It’s made it so much easier for this homeschooling Mama be open to allllllllll the new learning experiences in our day to day. Now when Finley wants to help make her own lunch with fresh berries and a smoothie, am all like “Sure! You can do it! You can even have a picnic out in the school room on my favorite rug!”.

Cheers to the freedom of not caring about the messes!

This post was sponsored by STAINMASTER Carpet Care. Be sure to check out their wide variety of products. Thanks!

Wow! I just came on to post some pictures and realized, whoops! it’s been a whole month since i’ve been on here. How does that happen. I know we’re all like “time goes by so fast” but man! time goes by so fast. Hahahaha doh!

Anyway, the last week of August Orion and I hopped a plane and headed out to Vancouver to visit my sister. She’s lived out there for awhile now, but I’ve never had the chance to visit. What a beautiful place! Like, it blew me away!! My sister lives about an hour north of the city, surrounded by beautiful mountains. It’s not called Sea to Sky Country for nothing. I was there a week but I know I only barely scratched the surface of the area. We drove up to Joffre Lakes Provincial park one day to hike, spent time in Vancouver and Whistler, hiked around Garibaldi Provincial Park, enjoyed an evening at the top of the Sea to Sky Gondola and just spent time catching up. Miss being near to my sister!

It was such a fun trip. I wish everyone was there with me to experience it. I know Kev and the kids would have loved it. I sure could have used the help carrying the babe up all the those mountains. Ha!

Thanks for being such a good host and tour guide Carrie. Love ya!

^^best little welcome home committee I ever did see!

This post is sponsored by our friends at Zappos. 

Have you guys ever read books about birth order? It’s something that totally fascinates me. I believe there is real truth there. I am the first born in my family and obviously so is Rowan. I can tell already with her that she is sooooooooooo a first born. Rowan looooves to follow rules, is super bright, hardworking, and very motherly to her siblings. It’s fun to read about each child and what characteristics they might have based on the order they were born. One thing I’ve paid close attention to is what they say about middle children. Dear, sweet, sensitive Finley. I really try hard to not, what we like to call “middle child” her. We try to give her as much individual time and attention as we can and make sure she always gets her very own special things. I try to keep the hand-me-downs to a minimum. That’s why I was so excited to team up with Zappos and let her pick out these new Leepz sneakers by Stride Rite. I knew she would feel so special since these were our very first venture into light up shoes in our family. She has been walking, jumping and skipping around the house making them light up. It’s been so, so cute. I think (I mean I know) a part of her really likes hearing Rowan say she wishes she had a pair as well. I love being able to give her special moments that are all her own. Finley is also super excited because, as the middle child she’s so in looooooove with her older sister, and she can’t wait to take her new shoes to the track and be like Rowan. She told me she thinks she will be able to run just as fast as Rowan does. We found a high school in the area that has weekly family track meets. Everyone is invited to come race, no matter what age you are. Finley races, Rowan races, Kev races, it’s awesome!! The kids have been having such a great time going every week and with Finley’s new shoes you can bet she is going to run like the wind.

These are the perfect shoes to take her from the end of summer and keep her running straight into the back to school season. We don’t need tons of back to school gear this year because we are homeschooling the kids (I can imagine there will be lots of pajama days) but new shoes were definitely on the list. I am glad that we could easily (Zappos makes everything easy!) check that off the list. Whooohooo!

A few from the past track meet…

^^go FinFin go!!

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Last year for Rowan’s birthday we decided to get her, her very own camera. She has carried that thing around with her everywhere ever since. I’ve been meaning to post the pictures she takes, but I’ve just never gotten around to it. We had a mess up with a memory card at one point, and lost a ton of her photos. Total bummer!!! However, here are some of her pictures from the last few months. I love looking through them! It’s like a little inside glimpse into what she thinks is interesting or beautiful. The camera we got her isn’t marketed as a kids camera but honesty, I can’t imagine an adult buying that camera for themselves (Sorry if anyone has it for themselves- hahaha!) I mean, there is a slideshow function with dancing bears?? And all the borders?? Anyway, what sold us on the camera for her, was that it was waterproof and shockproof. It’s had its fair share of drops, etc… and it’s still working perfect. It’s a great little digital camera for any kid (it also takes videos).

It’s back to school season! I love this time of year. I’ve always, always felt like this is the real “new year” more so than January 1st. Anyone else? I love the buzz in the air, the school supplies, the change in season and of course… back to school shopping! We are starting a new homeschool journey this year with the girls. We couldn’t be more excited about it!! So even though the girls don’t necessarily have a actual need for back to school clothes- Everyday this summer I’ve looked at them like “how in the world are you guys this big? this grown up?” Crazy! Rowan put on a pair of her jeans the other day and I swear they barely even came to her shins. Everyone needs new clothes for fall. For me, ease is key to shopping for the kids, and that means shopping online. I love when shopping can be easy!! Anyone with small children knows that going to the mall can be a disaster waiting to happen.

We teamed up with Gymboree today to share their new easy to shop, back-to-school bundles. Each bundle was handpicked by a expert stylist, making it easy to find pieces that work well together and cover all the bases on your shopping list. I love seeing the girls styles emerge as they get older. I let them look around the bundles and pick out the outfit they wanted. Finley is always looking for poofy skirts or dresses. Anything pink or purple with glitter and sparkles. Rowan on the other hand is growing in to a much older style. She has ditched the pink and purple and seems to go for denim and blues/greens. So cute!

Make sure to head over to Gymboree and shop all these cute pieces!!!

(p.s. omgosh you guys! If these aren’t the cutest dang pictures of my kids to date!!)

OUTFIT DETAILS:

Rowan:
Plaid Dress
Ankle Boots
Denim Jacket

Finley:
Tutu Skirt
Kitty Tee
Sparkle Sneakers

Orion:
Roar Tee
Jeans

This post was sponsored by Gymboree. All opinions and pictures are my own.

Do you guys want to know what one of my most favorite foods are? Pizza! I don’t mean plain cheese pizza though. I’m talking fancy pizza. You know, the kind of pizza with crazy delicious toppings that you don’t normally see on pizza. Now that’s what I’m talking about. Mmmm, my mouth is watering just thinking about this pizza. I’ve shared pizza recipes before on the blog, but today we’re making pizza with roasted butternut squash and caramelized onions. Are you ready to have your mind blown? One of my other favorite things about homemade pizza is that it’s pretty quick. This recipe took no time with our oven’s no preheat feature- Ahh I love that feature. I hate waiting for the oven to preheat! Love how it makes cooking a quick dinner, that much quicker! Let’s get started shall we?

Ingredients:

3-4 cups butternut squash, cubed
2-3 cloves of garlic, skin removed, halved
2 tablespoons of olive oil
Pinch of sea salt and freshly ground pepper
Pinch of cinnamon and chili powder
1 tablespoon of maple syrup or honey
1.5 Sweet onions, sliced thin
1-2 Tablespoon of butter
1/2 cup of shredded parmesan cheese
1/2 cup of gorgonzola
1 cup kale leaves, finely chopped
1/2 cup pine nuts
3 pieces of Naan bread

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Add cubed butternut squash and garlic to a baking sheet and drizzle with 1 Tbsp of olive oil. Sprinkle with sea salt, pepper and a pinch of cinnamon and chili powder. Toss to coat.
3. Bake for 20-25 mins or until soft
4. While the veggies roast, caramelize the onions. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat with butter. Add the onions and cook about 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until softened. When done turn off burner and set aside.
5. When veggies are done roasting, transfer to a blender or food processor and add remaining tablespoon of olive oil and maple syrup. Blend until smooth. Adding a touch of water to adjust if consistency is too thick. You want the texture to be spreadable but not too liquidy so that it won’t hold it’s shape.
6. With naan bread, spread the butternut squash sauce down as a base for the pizza.
7. Top with caramelized onions, kale, parmesan cheese, gorgonzola and pine nuts.
8. Turn oven up to 425 and bake pizzas on rack for about 10-15 mins, or until edges of naan are getting crispy and cheese is melted.
10. Slice, serve and eat up all the deliciousness!!

This post was sponsored by Frigidaire Professional. All opinions and pictures are my own.

First and foremost… HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAURA!! I LOVE YOU.

Ok, now on to a good ol’ outfit post. Thank you to everyone who left a comment on the post the other day. I love all you guys! and I love hearing from you all. I don’t plan on stopping blogging anytime soon. This has become our family journey and it will always hold a special place in my heart. Not sure what is up this week but I’ve been bitten by the blogging bug. 4 Posts this week so far?? Who am I?

I wore this outfit to church on Sunday and decided to take some outfit pictures when we got home. I wasn’t planning for the girls to be in the pictures but they love the camera (or should I say the remote) and wanted to jump in. I can’t say no to some pictures with my girls. I can’t help but look at Rowan lately and think she is just so grown up! I mean first grade soon?!?! That is crazy. She is so smart, artistic and funny. Love her!

I’ve been trying to only really invest in quality clothes lately for myself. I don’t buy a lot but I buy a few nice items every season. It ends up being the same expense as buying a ton of random things every time I go into old navy, target or forever 21. Most of that stuff doesn’t last and doesn’t fit me great. I am starting to see the value in doing that for the kids as well. The only clothes that are in the boxes downstairs to save or pass on to younger kids are the clothes I spent a little more money for. I search the sale section of Tea Collection, Hanna Andersson and Boden like whoa! Hahahahah. Love a good deal and love the quality of all their kids clothes.

p.s. loving a more straight leg cropped jean this summer!

Details:

JEN:
Top: Madewell (They have a size L over here– also in black and white)
Bottoms: LOFT
Sandals: last season (similar)
Sunglasses: Urban Outfitters

ROWAN:
Dress: Tea Collection (she also just got this one)

FINLEY:
Dress: Was Rowan’s from Gap (similar)