reminds how peaceful it is to be in the presence of animals. My daughter decided that she wants to live on a farm, the more horses and goats, the better. Continue reading

It's been a while. I gave up this little blog some time ago. It all seemed okay for a while and then little by little, I started to miss it. It isn't much, but it is my space and I suppose we all need that sometimes. I am up and running again if in a simple mode for now. The kids keep me on my toes so I'll be popping in when I can. Thank you to those of you who take the time to drop by or let me know that you missed visiting. Continue reading

We are lucky enough to have birds nesting in a gourd hanging in our yard. I think it has been home to several bird families over the years. Each time is equally exciting for us. We feel lucky to have the birds choose our yard for raising their young, and we catch glimpses of the eggs as they hatch and watch the baby birds wait for the next meal. It is a wonderful experience for our children to learn about the natural world. There are eggs inside but no way to get a picture of them without getting too close.... Continue reading

We are taking in all the lovely weather we can. It has been so pleasant with plenty of rain to get the fruit trees and plants off to a good start. We love having a very natural yard. We have lots of room to run, play, and enjoy--our own little place to experience nature. Continue reading

What Do Vegans Eat? Posted By kmiddings February 26, 2010 "Mom, I'm hungry!" In my experience, these are probably the three most uttered words in the English language. As a mother of children who seem to eat non-stop, I can tell you that a considerable amount of money, time, and planning goes into the food choices for our family of four. Particularly because we are vegan. Was that a gasp I just heard? When being vegan comes up in conversation, I am used to curious omnivores asking, "So what do you eat?" The implication, of course, is that there's pretty... Continue reading

Letters and more letters. Inspired by soulemama Continue reading

If you have visited my blog before, you know that I have two little ones. They are healthy, vibrant children who both began as good-sized babies. People often comment on how big and healthy they look, especially after finding out that we are vegan. "That isn't what you'd expect a vegan baby to look like." I take it as a compliment and hope that it helps others see that being vegan can be a healthy way of life, even for children. I take feeding my little vegans seriously. It is important to me that they get the best start in... Continue reading

capturing a moment from our week Continue reading

The 30 Minute Vegan by Mark Reinfeld and Jennifer Murray was a gift I received on my birthday. It couldn't have come at a better time either, as I was feeling a need for some new inspiration in the kitchen. So far I have made 6 of the recipes from the book and they have all been wonderful. Macaroni and Cheese This is my new favorite macaroni and cheese sauce. It comes out just right and has a bit of curry powder in it, the non-spicy kind. Adah likes it, too, minus the black pepper. Crispy Kale I was a... Continue reading

We were home looking for something crafty to do when I remembered that we had solar paper just waiting for a beautiful sunny and not too windy day. So we open it up and let our imaginations soar. If you haven't worked with solar prints before, you are missing out. The paper reacts to the sunlight leaving a print of the objects you select. We started with a tea set and moved on to flowers, sewing notions, barrettes, toys... It is so much fun trying to come up with new objects for each print. I'm not sure who had more... Continue reading

Lately, I have seen projects using corks all over the place. My favorite way to reuse these is by making a cork board. I had a thrifted wooden frame that was in need of a good upcycling project. Thanks to my mom's thrifting and my husband's friend John, I had plenty of corks to work with. I searched for instructions and found this pattern (two corks, horizontal, two corks vertical) suggested as the most forgiving. This project is so easy and has such a cool look. It came together in no time. Since I used a thrifted frame, my corks... Continue reading

It started with a trip to the store and the purchase of a glue pen. We now needed something to glue. Never one to wait around, Adah started writing her name in glue on a blank sheet of paper. A family project was born - name collages. They are simple to make: .:write the desired name in glue (or let your child give it a try) .:cut out small strips from an old magazine, used wrapping paper, or newspaper .:glue it down to create the letters of the name (Adah designed and glued the paper down on this one by... Continue reading

Veg of Interest for February 2010 Heather Nicholds Victoria, BC Canada www.HealthyVeganRecipes.net Heather is currently studying to be a Registered Holistic Nutritionist. She shares her knowledge and love of vegan cooking on her website where she shows how to create delicious, nutritious vegan meals. Mama Veg: Tell us a little about yourself and how you became a vegan? Heather: I became a vegan when I learned about the environmental impact of the meat, dairy and egg industry. I also took this ethic to the plant side of my diet and buy organically grown produce, grains beans etc, and I try... Continue reading

Happy Valentine's Day! Hope you enjoy this lovely day! Continue reading

Helping her brother The inspection My Jonah is beginning to move around. It seems that lately he is never where I put him down for very long. He cruises around the furniture, rolls, scoots and is trying to crawl. With this new-found mobility, we decided it was time to invest in some vegan soft-soled shoes. The typical soft-soled shoes are leather, which we don't buy or wear. Instead we found these lovely shoes made by IsaBooties. My daughter wore IsaBooties until she outgrew them, and we loved them. Now that Jonah is becoming mobile, we are return customers. They are... Continue reading

I'm loving this kid-friendly arrangement of books and activities. It is so much easier to put the books away, and it is just the right size for kids to reach. This is only our children's book collection and doesn't include some of our vintage books. Oh my! Continue reading

Vegan cupcakes were made, Fun was had, Friends and family were enjoyed, Mexican food was eaten, Gifts were received, Organic dark chocolate was eaten, Non-leather shoes were bought, and a celebration was had for 36 years. Thank you! Continue reading

It reads, "I picked this for you." Adah loves to pick flowers for her Mama. I love her sweet demeanor as she gives them to me. The moment has been captured for many years to come. I didn't let the fact that I am not an artist stop me, and I am so glad. "Did you make this for me, Mama?" Continue reading