Lunch Love

-Boiled egg half
-Cherry tomato heart
-Sunbutter and jelly on Rudi's gf bread with hearts cut from a blueberry fruit strip
-Chocolate hearts
-Smoothie with coconut milk, banana, strawberry, almonds.
-Giant heart stickers that I've been saving for so long

I wish I'd been able to arrange to come to school for lunch tomorrow so that I could be there when they open these. Even though neither one is eating tomatoes right now, and the girl is on an egg strike, I think this will be a fun lunch for them. The fruit strip hearts are glued to the bread with little dots of sunbutter so they won't fly around the container, and they each have a tiny marshmallow hidden inside one of their chocolate hearts.
The eggs didn't turn out very well, I think they were a little too fresh and a little too small to fill out the mold all the way. There is such a fine line with those. Store-bought eggs tend to be too big, but our eggs generally fit them pretty well. But, with the recent cold weather, the chickens aren't wanting to go out to play quite as much and their eggs are smaller. The smoothies are also different since we ran out of cashews. I'm planning a bulk order though, and should be getting enough to last through the end of school. I can't wait to make cashew butter with the kids!
The girl has been asking me to make chocolate hearts for weeks, so she'll especially appreciate those. They are so simple to make. I melted about 1/4 cup of Enjoy Life vegan chocolate chips with about 1/4 teaspoon of coconut oil, and poured into a silicone mold. If I'd had more time I would have filled them with peanut butter, yum!

Ornaments and smiles

Our mostly-handmade holidays were a success. The majority of the ornaments were made by me (with help from the kids, of course), our pj's were made by Marisa of Funky Giraffe (who also stocks with me at K&F Shops), and I made all the cloth gift bags. This was the first year that we have put up a tree, and it really makes the house look bright and festive.

A Long Year

I can't believe it's been a whole year since I've last updated this blog. Now that Blogger has updated the way that photos can be loaded, I'm hoping that it's a little easier to integrate pics into posts. The old way was really frustrating and contributed a ton to my lack of posting.

As can be expected, the kids have changed a ton in this last year. They are really creative, and have such cute and funny ideas. We have started doing some homeschooling/unschooling, and lots of crafts. Lately, we are working on winter crafts and holiday decorating, and I hope to soon have a bunch of photos of all of our projects.
 

Busy all the time, yet still a to-do list a mile and a half long?

I haven't updated in over a month!! How did that happen? 

I feel like I'm working all the time, and getting so little done. My days are all toddler, evenings are dinner, bath, and night-night. That just leaves the night for all things Bootie. And I try to fit some sleep in there too. I think that I was expecting to be able to get a little more done during the day as the kids get older. My expectations are changing constantly as reality trumps my guesses. But, when I stop to really think about it, I am helping two really amazing kids learn and grow, and I'm pretty sure that doesn't count as slacking.

I've been trying to work a bit each night on things for the upcoming (Dec. 6th)  Holiday Craft Fair at Sprout Soup. I'm planning on having a nice selection of green/reusable holiday items and some cute gifty things in all price ranges.  It's a little bit of a departure from my usual products, but I'm feeling the need to help reduce the amount of disposables in my community and offer a more sustainable alternative.

I've also been working on some really fun custom orders, for some of my favorite customers. Which I should get back to. 

Internet Frustrations

I've been having issues with my wireless connectivity for the last couple of days. Hopefully I've able to resolve it quickly, and inexpensively. It's so annoying to be replying to an email, hit send, and get an error message instead of the satisfaction of a sent message. Crossing fingers and toes for a speedy recovery.
Thanksgiving with the family was nice. Good food and a good visit. My brother hadn't seen the kids since they were pretty fresh, and my dad hasn't been here in a few months. They had so much fun seeing all the new tricks that they do. The babies had a great time too. Fun for all!