Just seeing if this works...

Athena with duct tape shoe.


Athena on beach field trip.


Rowan with new helmet.


Rowan's silly smile.


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Monarch Butterflies

We raised 2 of these beautiful monarchs, I thought they weren't going to make it as they stayed in their chrysalis much longer than I had read they would.
Here is when one had just made it's chrysalis, and the other was hanging in a "j" getting ready.
They have spun a sticky silk on the top of the enclosure to get ready to make their chrysalises.
A very hungry caterpillar. They ate the entire $10 milkweed plant, I actually drove to Athena's school to get more milkweed the Friday after Thanksgiving, but then by the weekend they were done eating and on to their next stage.

This was such a special thing to do with the kids. Athena was SUPER into it. We can't wait to do it again.

Tree time

Time to bust out the lights and tacky decorations. I have most of my shopping done for the kids. Just a few more things on my list. We were racing the rain in the photos. Don't want to bring a dripping tree in the house. Wish us luck, here we go.
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Pancake perfection

These were so good. That is all I have to say.


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Break time/giveaway

I'm taking a break from blogging for the time being, but did want to let my readers know about an awesome giveaway happening right now over on Chocolate Covered Katie's blog. Check it out. You could win some yummy raw cacao products!

Promise to update with photos soon...Athena's last soccer game of the season, giant lizard in the house, etc.

MoFo Day 31 - Happy Halloween

We spent the evening at my brother's house so the kids could trick or treat with their cousins. We left a couple of bowls of candy on our doorstep and hoped for the best. We came home to only one of our 8 pumpkins smashed in the street (not bad) and just a few pieces of candy left in the bowls. The kids enjoyed a few pieces of candy out of their treat bags and will leave the rest out for the "Halloween Fairy" or "Halloween Bunny" as Rowan calls it. The Halloween fairy will leave them a present in return, and also a few pieces of candy:) One of the funniest moments of the night was when Rowan was handed a bag of "hot cheetos" and he immediately exclaimed, "Mommy! Them are vegan!" which is his way of saying these days that he sure HOPES they are vegan. Wishful thinking I guess you could say. He never brought them up later though, so I guess he wasn't too excited about them.
The key to a successful vegan Halloween is stocking up on lots of vegan chocolate varieties.:)
I made this basket to pass out to the littler trick or treaters, pretzels, raisins, fruit leathers, and play dough.
Skittles and lollipops for the older kids. My kids actually tasted their first skittles today. wow, what a day:)
Before we went out for the evening, Athena made a plan for pumpkin carving. She carefully designed the faces for each of her 3 pumpkins, big, medium, and little, and drew them on a piece of paper (I think she picked this up from school).
Then Chris helped carve the kids' designs.
They thought this butterfly shape inside the pumpkin was pretty neat.
My race car driver.Pink Super Girl.
Happy kids.
The trick or treating crew, aka "the cousins".

MoFo Day 29 - Birthday

Today is my nephew's 3rd birthday. It was fun celebrating with him and the family. I don't really have a post ready today but look at this awesome vegan cake my sister in law made for the occasion!

MoFo Day 28 - Waffling about waffle irons

I own only one waffle iron, and a silly one at that. My mom picked it up on discount and it is a belgian style maker but in the shapes of farm animals. While I love my waffle iron, I dream of a thinner, crispier waffle. So I'm thinking of asking for a new one for Christmas this year. I feel like having 2 waffle irons in the house might be a bit over kill, but I really think it will get a lot of use since I love making waffles. I also decided I want an electric air popcorn popper. I had one long ago and I don't know why I gave it away. I need to be able to make more popcorn and my pot technique sucks now that we have an electric range. I've pretty much decided that I need to bring popcorn with me everywhere because twice in the last month I've caught 2 year old Rowan eating random, most likely, butter laden popcorn. Both times we were at the playground. One day he was leading a group of toddlers in a found food experiment. They were all shoveling their faces with popcorn they found on the ground (and i have NO idea who left it there)! ew, double gross. The next occasion he was digging into a friend's bag of popcorn and when I told him that it wasn't OK, he shoved a few more handfuls in his mouth. Athena was such an easy vegan to raise. She loves being vegan and never questioned it. Rowan on the other hand, well, he wants to eat the "yucky kind of chicken" (stupid KFC billboard by Athena's school!). My husband and I have always felt that as our kids got older, we would allow them to make their own choices about food, but we meant A LOT older. For now, we will continue to make the decisions, whether Rowan likes it or not:)