I'm inserting the "homeschool kick-off" photos and journaling in my scrapbook...I thought I would share my journaling here :)

Of course...with pictures.

September 19, 2011

It was time for me to get back into a routine for the kid’s homeschooling.  We had enjoyed our summer and literally were cramming all the previous years curriculum in so we wouldn’t start too late for their 1st and 2nd grades.  I decided to make it fun by having a “back to school kickoff” - going to Chick-fil-A for breakfast and then to Starbucks so I could indulge on a Pumpkin Spice Latte while the kiddos journaled and I looked over what was ahead in our Konos curriculum.  

The kids brought their freshly filled pencil boxes and new journals along.  I guess one can tell that Mamma had alot of influence on the design of their journals.  They truly did have fun painting the cover and picking out their little paper pieces they wanted.  Ashton and Parker had been patiently waiting to get to use their new supplies.  I said that they had to finish all of last years work before enjoying the new stuff so they were definitely excited to start the new year!  This year, I splurged and let the boys get these nifty twist up crayons.  They were a few dollars more, but honestly I think it’s worth not having crayon wax all over my floors this year :)  Plus, how much fun do these crayons look!  I love how you can kind of see through the barrels to each color!  I’m always a sucker for office supplies though...

After the boys sipped up their last bit of chocolate milk in their kid sized Starbucks cups, they started on their journaling...I love allowing my kids to be able to express themselves however they want to in their journals everyday.  It’s such a great start to the day, plus I usually get a good laugh to start out most mornings.  Today, they journaled Target, since that’s where we were. It was so sweet to watch their faces as they tried out their new crayons!  

We also saw this little bird with one leg.  It was such a sad sight but gave a great opportunity for me to talk to the kids about determination.  Although this bird only had one leg, he was just as active as all the other birds.  Of course, our pity couldn’t keep us from sharing our crumbs of biscuit.  I believe the bird was happy to oblige :)

It was a fabulous morning to start off a fabulous new year of school!  Parker is so excited to be in 1st grade and Ashton always welcomes new challenges.  I am thankful that I can do this for my kids...it’s not always easy, but it’s times like these that I can look back to when it gets rough.  I never thought I possessed the patience to do this...but for now...I’m doing just fine.

Recipe anyone???

So I have been asked for this recipe a couple of times and 

thought I would just make it official by making a post about it.  

My family and I started a little journey to eating healthier about 5-ish months ago and since then I have learned SO much about the truths of FOOD.  I have realized that just because you are skinny does NOT mean you are healthy.  Not saying that thinner peeps aren't healthy, but that MY personal reason for eating better didn't need to JUST be about weight.  Although, cutting out sugar and such absolutely has been effecting my weight :)  

So, we have tried to slowly switch out our pantry items for better organic choices.  Granted, when folks come to the house I think it overwhelms them a little bit, but I like to encourage by saying, "It took over 5 months, changing one little thing at a time."  One of our first switches being getting rid of iodized salt in our home and switching to a good grey celtic sea salt.  I learned that just because the bag says "sea salt" doesn't mean that it is packed with all the minerals associated with it's name.  If the sea salt is white, then it ISN'T real sea salt...so get a good colored sea salt.  Then it went on from there to going from pasteurized milk to raw milk, and then finding a good source for our organic veggies, then finding a source for grass fed and finished beef and range chicken meat...some of these things were super easy to do...some weren't.  But through it all, we have FELT a difference in these small changes...

Over time :)

SO, with that said, I was needing to fix lunch for the boys one day and had to get creative with what I had...so I invented this soup.  The boys called it a "veggie smoothie."

All ingredients are organic :)

Pound of celery - wash and cut roughly

10ish carrots - washed with ends cut off, cut about 1/2 in. pieces

Half a BIG onion or a medium onion - peel and cut into chunks

About 3 - 4 garlic cloves - same as the onion

2 large tomatoes - wash and YUP!  Cut into chunks

Celtic Sea Salt to taste

Organic chicken stock paste 

OR, if your super domesticated, use some real chicken stock you made up from the bones of a roasted chicken, and substitute for the water...but I'm not that super domesticated yet, so I just use organic chicken paste.

*Remember to leave the skin on your carrots and also to cut up all the wonderful leaves from the celery and throw that in too...these are both wonderful sources of extra minerals.

I'm seriously so lazy with the cutting.  PLOP, yes...plop all the veggies into a big pot.  This is what mine looks like...

Except, this is a double batch and I took this picture before realizing how AMAZING this soup would be with the tomatoes...so let's just imagine that there are happy little tomatoes in there...

There, much better.  

Ok...after plopping, cover the veggies with water about an inch over the veggies with filtered water.  

(If you have that real chicken stock, use that instead of water)

Put about 1 to 1 1/2 tsp of celtic sea salt to start out and just boil until all the veggies are tender.  When veggies are tender, then add the chicken paste to taste.  I use Better than Bullion organic paste and usually like mine slightier more "chicken-y" then what the ratios are on the jar.  Incorporate that through thoroughly to make sure the paste is all dissolved and here's the fun part...

Get your blender out and put about 4 cups of the veggies and liquid into the blender and BLEND BLEND BLEND!!!  You can either put the blended stuff in a different bowl to mix it all up good OR you could be like me and just PLOP it back into the pot.  Sure, you'll have a few stranglers that will be stubborn and will want to escape your ladle, but everyone will live if they get a yummy chunk of carrot in their bite of soup.  I've even lived through a small celery leaf once ;)

So after it's done, it will look like this:

Well, kind of...you will probably have more since your family wouldn't have devoured half of it while you went to go grab your camera ;)  That's ok...we can pretend that there's more in there...

And lets go ahead and make it happy too...

So that's it!!!  A deliciously simple and did I mention CHEAP?!?!?!  Meal to make for your family.  This soup is really yummy and Dave has likened it to the tomato bisque soup at one of our favorite Montana restaurants called Rikki's.  Although our "veggie smoothie" is so much cheaper and WAY more healthy.

Hope you are able to try it out and let me know if you explore any other variations...I would love to try :)

Have a FABULOUS weekend!!!  XoXo

Horses...inspired by...Horses

I love how entertaining my munchkins are...