The Chronological Archive

Select the month / year which you'd like to search

List
Post

Oct 25

Orion’s Birthday Party | It Takes A Village

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

Oct 25

Orion Turns One!!

Oct 25 | Lifestyle

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!!

Oct 23

My Everyday Style | 10.24.16

Oct 23 | My Everyday Style

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

Oct 08

The Hyde | Glen Falls, NY

Oct 08 | Family Adventures + Travel

Late in the summer, the kids and I headed up to Glens Falls one day to check out The Hyde. It’s this super cute art museum in a beautiful historic house. I had never been there before but was excited to explore around. It was a beautifully warm August day and we made the most of it. We visited the museum, stopped at a coffee shop and got drinks and snacks and enjoyed downtown a little bit.

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!

Oct 04

The Best 3pm Pick-Me-Up Smoothie Ever! (coffee, cacao and almonds, oh my!

Oct 04 | Clean Eating Recipes

The 3pm hour is rough for me. My eyelids get sooooooooo heeeeeavy! If I could just sit for like 2 quiet minutes, I know I would be fast asleep. Since a nap isn’t in the cards, I treat myself to a little pick me up just about everyday at, you guessed it, 3pm! This smoothie is perfection! It’s coffee, chocolatey goodness and something you don’t have to feel bad about after. I love including superfood ingredients into smoothies as much as possible!! This smoothie uses Graze Cacao powder (and the nibs) which are packed full antioxidants, and contains high amounts of magnesium and iron.

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.

Oct 03

Our 2016/2017 Homeschool Plan

Oct 03 | Homeschooling

our first official day of homeschool

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.

Motherhood

Lifestyle

Fashion

Do It Yourself