Storytelling Rocks

Rev and I have been making "storytelling rocks" this week. We went and found a bunch of nice smooth stones around town on Monday and then cut and glued little people, objects, scenes etc. on them. We now can make up lots of fun stories with our little rocks. We just used my fabric scraps and then painted a nice thin layer of modge podge over them.

Pumpkin Carving

Clay and Rev carved our pumpkin last week in our back yard. Rev was a bit hesitant about sticking his hand inside and pulling out all the insides. He had fun though!!



I forgot to post these pics of Clay and Rev carving our pumpkin!

Homemade Granola Making Day!

Rev and I spent some time this morning making lots of homemade granola. We put it in little bags and are taking it to friends and neighbors today. This is a great recipe and very easy to make. No need to ever buy boxed granola anymore!!!

Em and Rev's Granola

1 cup wheat germ with cinnamon and flaxseed (Hodgson Mill brand)

3 cups rolled oats

1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut

1/2 cup dry sunflower seeds

1/2 cup raw pumpkin seeds

1 cup walnuts

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp allspice

1/2 cup virgin coconut oil

3/4 cup honey

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup raisins, currants or any dried fruit of your choice

Preheat oven to 325. Combine dry ingredients in large bowl. In a seperate bowl combine oil, honey and vanilla. Pour over dry mixture and mix well. Pour on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes turning one or two times. Remove from oven and add raisins or dried fruit. Cool and store in baggie or air tight container.

Homemade Granola

Dress Up Closet

In September Rev, Calvin and I started going to many thrift shops looking for items for their dress up box. I knew that the thrift stores would start putting out lots of halloween costumes, hats etc. since Halloween was approaching. We found many new items and so I ended up turning one of our closets into a "dress up closet". Rev has been pretend playing a lot lately and enjoys wearing his outfits when we go run errands. On Monday he was some sort of super hero and I thought this was a funny picture of him helping me pump my gas!

Swine Flu-One of the Most Massive Cover-Ups in American History

We subscribe to Dr. Mercola's newsletters and emails and received this today. Very interesting.

Halloween 2009!

A few months ago I found this little one piece outfit at a thrift store and Rev immediately fell in love with it and calls it his "jet ski driver outfit". So... for halloween this year he wanted to be a "jet ski driver". He was very creative and added the goggles and gloves to his outfit. I think the gloves are to a race car driver outfit he has. We dressed Calvin up as a baby sumo wrestler! It worked perfectly since he is already a bit on the chubby side these days. This was Rev's first year to trick or treat and he thought it was really fun. He was amazed the first time he rang the door bell and someone came to the door to drop free candy in his bucket!! Happy Halloween.

New Yummy Recipes

Clay has been making this smoothie recipe for breakfast and it is super yummy.

Banana Almond Smoothie

2 Tbs ground organic flax seeds

1 handful of organic raw almonds or raw walnuts

1 frozen banana

2-3 cubes of ice

4 oz of organic almond milk

spoonfull of organic hemp seeds

Blend until smooth in blender

I made this yummy bread recipe today and its defiantly a keeper!!

Pumpkin Gingerbread

2 cups whole wheat flour

1/3 cup sucanat or brown sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 can pumpkin

1/2 cup molasses

2 eggs

1/3 cup coconut oil

1/4 cup almond milk

1 T grated fresh ginger root

1/3 cup chopped raw walnuts

Grease the bottom of two loaf pans. stir together 1 cup of the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon. Add the pumpkin, molasses, eggs, coconut oil, almond milk, and ginger root. Beat with a mixer for 1 minute. Add remaining flour and beat until well mixed. Divide evenly in pans. Bake at 350 for 30 min.

This Quinoa salad is very good too!

Southwest Quinoa Salad

1 cup cooked quinoa

1 3/4 cup water

4 tsp olive oil

1 cup cooked chick peas

1 medium tomato

3 T lime juice

2 T minced cilantro

1/2 tsp cumin

2 cloves garlic minced

1/4 tsp salt

cook quinoa, drizzle with olive oil and add other ingredients. Stir well.

Thank you Kristin!!!

My wonderful friend Kristin sent Calvin a cute little knitted hat. Kristin and I have been friends since we were young girls. I have pictures of us cooking, crafting and being creative when we were just 8 years old! Kristin now lives in Durango, Colorado and is physicians assistant at a dermatology office. I don't get to see her very often but we still keep in touch and she always sends me awesome birthday and Christmas gifts! Thank you Kristin for Calvin's little hat!!!

8 months old

Calvin is 8 months old today. He is crawling, pulling up on everything, and has started this new thing where he scrunches up his nose when he laughs!! Its really funny. This picture was taken on our recent trip to Boston and New Hampshire. We took a train up to the top of Mt. Washington and when we got to the top it was 15 degrees and snow was everywhere. We went inside to the observatory and had hot chocolate and Calvin had a cracker. Will be posting more pics from the trip soon.