2011 – Page 18 – a hippie with a minivan

hmm… can I dehydrate that?

We did it… we now have a dehydrator. I have been wanting one for years, especially since last year when I borrowed a dehydrator for my placental encapsulation process but there were things that I wanted/needed more that needed to be crossed off the list first… Now the time had come for it to be at the top and we went for it and I am so happy!

I went with the Excalibur 3900 and I am glad I did. It might be big, but we fill up the 9 trays easily.

I have been having so much fun finding things around the house to dehydrate… Apples, Oranges, Strawberries, pineapple, herbs etc…

The kids of course are having a blast eating it all…

One of the finds in the back of my cupboard was some Plum-Vanilla Apple sauce that I had made 2 years ago. I mixed in a bit of blueberry syrup that a friend gave me and I poured it out onto the trays and made the greatest Fruit roll ups!

Khéna is really enjoying the apples… He is not a big fruit eater, so if he will eat more like this, I have no problem making a new batch every few days especially because I found a permanent place on my counter for the dehydrator (Not an easy task with the size of that thing)

I loved the Pineapple and Wilhelmina is enjoying the strawberries….

There are so many things that I can’t want to try… Next time I make a creamy soup, instead of freezing the leftovers and forgetting about them, I am going to try dehydrating it and storing it within arms reach for a quick homemade cup of soup… I can also make flax crackers… and jerky…

There are so many possibilities!

Do you have a dehydrator? What are your favourite dehydrator treats!

Ankles and Kettlebells….

This morning I woke up and I realized that I didn’t limp out of bed…

My left ankle is finally on the mends … though it is still a bit painful to the touch, when I move it a certain way, or when I am on the stairs, the pain is pretty much gone.. My right ankle was at this stage last week and is pretty much completely better, so I am guessing that in a week I should be pain free…

I am not sure that I am going to go back to running any time soon, though it is something that I still want to do one day… I did go swimming soon after I got hurt, and I love being in the water… but the amount of time it takes (go/swim/come back) just doesn’t fit into our routine very easily and it means that I have to have supper ready on time, but can’t eat with the family…

2 weeks ago, I was reading on a forum and read about Kettlebells, it peaked my interest and I read more, and read more, and then asked questions and then decided to try it out… Though my ankle was hurting when I walked , working out with the Kettlebell did’t hurt at all… and what an amazing workout! I have been doing 20 minutes every few days doing various exercises including swings.. By the end of that 20 min my heart rate is way up, I am breathing harder and my legs are feeling a bit jittery… but I feel great! I feel sore the day after, but it is a good sore and it actually surprised me that I did feel sore because though I felt it was a workout, it wasn’t too hard and it was fun..

I have to say… I am sold!

I had found a 10 lb Kettlebell at Zellers which is great to start but I had the feeling that I would be outgrowing it soon, especially for certain excersises, so I found some on sale at treadmillfactory.ca with decent shipping prices and while I was at it I also picked up a mini-trampoline that was on special as it is something I know that we will all have fun doing…

20-30 min a few times a week is so easy to fit into our family routine…

Here are some great links:

How to do the two handed swing:

This blog is a great resource and inspiration (she used to be 120 lbs heavier and is now a Kettlebell trainer)… http://tracysfoodandthought.blogspot.com/… she shares workouts and videos etc…

smiles…

Thanks you so much for sharing what makes you smile…

Each comment did the same for me.

I let a new plugin on my blog select the winner….

greenteacher:

oooohhh! it is so beautiful! It would be an honor to have that piece on our dining room table 🙂 what makes me smile the most these days is when the kids do something completely new, like sing almost every word from a song they have known since they were born, but used to only know bits and pieces of. It never ceases to amaze me how much they change in such little time! (as you already know)

Congrats!! I can’t wait to get the table runner to you!!

1000 posts and a giveaway!!

Just one month shy of my 6 year anniversary of starting this blog…

This, is my 1000th post.

It might not be that much compared to others, as it shows that I don’t post every day, but it also shows that there has been a lot of time and a lot of myself invested here.

When I started out… these were my kids…

(Xavier ~ 2.5y and Colin ~ 7 months)

and now… a thousand posts later…

I am mom to these amazing kids…

We, as a family, have all grown with this blog.

In a thousand posts I have shared the good and the bad, my worries, my joys, my hopes and dreams. I’ve gotten advice, given advice, worked through problems and ranted. It has been a both a place to share and an outlet. I have shared two unassisted pregnancies and births and many adventures. I have shared recipes and crafts and my favourite things…

I want to thank you all for reading and taking part…

To show my gratitude and to mark this occasion I am giving away this hand made by me mini-quilt/table runner made with many of my favourite fabrics…

(I am going to leave this open for the weekend and pick a winner at the beginning of next week)

To participate… tell me what makes you smile…

Dungeons & Dragons

Xavier’s interest in Dungeons and Dragons was sparked a few years ago…

(From March 2009)

He found Simon’s old Monster Manual and started looking at it and memorizing all of the monsters and creatures. We bought him the new edition and we started to realize that he could read when he could name all of the monsters and tell us details about them that he could only know through reading. It was D&D that led him to reading at the level he can read now , playing D&D based games on the computer and reading the Monster Manuals and other related books. (to those who don’t understand how unschooling can work and how kids can learn to read by themselves… this is a prime example)

His interest soon went into the original role playing game (RPG) and both boys along with Simon started on their adventure.

(June 2009)

Last month Khéna joined in the adventure and to our surprise, his attention span can at times can outlast that of his brothers…

If you know how D&D works, it is not a fast paced game. Each move is calculated and thought out. There is adventure, imagination, strategy a need for patience.

Simon has been journaling their adventure here on a Blog called Kaleth’s Journal

This blog, in the form of a character journal, is a quickly-written summary of the D&D 4e campaign (in a customized version of the Forgotten Realms) I started with my two sons in 2009, and which my 3rd son joined in 2011. It’s compiled for their future enjoyment. Simon (35 years old) is the DM and plays a level 3 human wizard; Xavier (8 years old) plays a level 3 dragonborn fighter; Colin (6 years old) plays a level 3 eladrin ranger; Khéna (4 years old) plays a level 1 eladrin swordmage.

With the family growing and time with Simon is somewhat limited, Playing D&D is a great way for the boys to connect and I love hearing their adventures as they play…

Anyone else a D&D fan?