family....

Jaden, Annie and Eliza with their Great Nana and Grandpa...

Birthday wishes...

This is my beautiful little sister Jame Ella. She is 23 today! She is am amazing human being.
She is currently in Vt visiting family and friend before she heads to Haiti with her boyfriend Matt. This is her 4th? time in Haiti I believe, I've lost count. Anyway she will be living in a vegan community learning their sustainable farming techniques and ways. Something that is very much needed on the other side of Haiti (they will be near the Dominican Republic side.)They will spend 3 months there before returning to the states and going off on another adventure, one that is in the works but may involve: bikes, and country roads!

Although we will miss her dearly and have very much enjoyed having her around the last 4.5 years I am quite excited to see where she takes herself in this world. Plus it's great material for encouraging world studies in my little homeschoolers!

and if you have any interest she has her own blog.

she screamed and insisted she hold the box.....

the box just so happened to be an open box of corn starch....

She ate some...


and looked ridiculously cute ....



she made hand prints

and then just stood up and walked away.....


just kidding....those feet are not quite ready to move just yet, close but not yet.

A soup for my sick girl and a healthy breakfast for me...

This morning Jaden, Eliza and I found ourselves awake at around 5:30. We dozed on and off for the next 15min. Then just laid quietly in bed for a few more moments till Eliza fully woke and began laughing at Jaden, not wanting to wake Annie just yet we slipped out the door and down stairs. Jaden snuggled on the couch with Eliza, while I made coffee and spent some time on the computer. Then Jaden's lunch was made, Annie was woken up and we were out the door. None of this is truly exciting except that I find when I wake early, say before 7, I find the day starts off in a totally different direction I get moving earlier, I am not rushed, I don't drag the morning on and on and on. It' really quite nice. It also seems that when this happens I actually cook myself breakfast! A good breakfast at that.

and that what I did. With some potatoes that I was craving, some chard that needed some attention from the fridge and a left over sub from last night. I added in some eggs and then ate it all, actually I didn't eat it all... I sat down to eat it all and Annie took one look then one bite and insisted she needed her own bowl of it!! It's the most surefire way to get your little one's to eat, Make a meal sit down start eating and let them come to you and nibble and try and almost always they want their own bowl!!..





As for the soup well Annie woke with a stuffy drippy nose and I figured a soup would be just the thing for her this morning. Here are the veggies cooking in the pot. I sauted them lightly in butter and a bit of oil then added homemade chicken stock and a bit of water. The veggies are carrots, garlic, onions, chard, and a parsnip. I added a few peas and corn too after the stock went in. I season with salt and pepper. Its my standby sick soup. Just a basic sort of recipe sometimes I add baby pasta, like little stars or tubitini to it. Sometimes I add more seasonings if Jay or I are going to be having some too.


There is a snowstorm on the horizon so there will be more soup being made in the next few days. Soup and bread and hot chocolate plus lots of crafting!!

These hearts are on the schedule for today.

and these I think are going to be made for Jaden's valentine's for school, I just need to double check the food allergies in his classroom.

Phil visits

This past weekend our house was full. Full of family and love, laughter and giggles. Full of movies and games. Full of good food and beer.

My brother and his two darling children came down from the cold, snowy state of Vermont to visit us, and of course my sister joined us in our fun filled weekend.







::Charlie-Ella::



::Phife::



::Running::



::This man can cook::



::phife and jaden, being themselves::



::Hugs::



::more hugs::



::a proper goodbye needs a high 5::





Goodbyes are always hard but the memories that we are left with are enough to remind us of the fun we had and the love we shared until the next time we do it all over again!